It’s near the end of Month 2 on the World Race, and my experience in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia has been such a gift.
From the tailored jackets to the coffee shops “UB”, as it’s informally called, feels so much like home. People here have that similar Pacific Northwest attitude: independent, tech-savvy and resilient. Some people may see it as cold and standoffish, but for some reason, I can see where they are coming from. I get it and I love it. Maybe that’s why it’s been pretty easy for me to connect with people here in this modern oasis in the middle of the vast mountainous desert.
My team has been staying with another team in a downtown apartment. Our mission is simple: help our church build relationship with this city. Practically speaking, this looks like hosting English classes at our apartment twice a week, as well as hosting church services in or apartment every Sunday afternoon. We go throughout the city making new friends and inviting them to English lessons and to church services if they are open to it. While this may seem odd from a Western perspective, there are many people here eager to visit with foreigners and practice their English skills.
Our “ministry time” is 11:00am-4:00pm from Tuesday’s through Friday’s. Before that time, we spend an hour praying as a group. We pray, sing or read passages in scripture during that hour. It’s amazing how charged up and ready to go I feel after that time. It’s not scripted in any way, and yet the Spirit of God moves in power and unity through the group. After that, there’s often this sense to go one way or another in the city. We team up and follow those subtle hints with an excitement and an expectancy. From there, good conversation bubbles up, and sometimes we find incredible things we didn’t expect.
In my next post, I will share more about some of those hidden treasures I’ve found in this beautiful city.
But for right now I would like to sign off with a BIG BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me on the World Race. This experience has strengthened and stretched more than I would have never expected. It’s pushed me to depend on God in deeper ways– to trust Him not only with my future but for my everyday. I’ve seen his protection in big things and small things. And I am so thankful to be on this adventure with Him and with the people He has placed with me on my squad.
