Mongolia
The month of July was like no other month that I’ve ever experienced. We were nomads living among nomads. We tented behind their yurts, ate meals around their tables and attempted to help them in their daily chores, which ranged from churning cream to sheering sheep, and chopping logs to making bartsak (Mongolian fried dough). For most of the month we were living without a translator; mastering the art of charades.
It wasn’t until the end of our month that we were able to communicate how valuable our time with them had been to us. We shared how great it was to see them model the body of Christ as they lived in community. Through our translator we were able tell them how we witnessed them living as the body of Christ. They were always quick to offer us tea or make sure their neighbors’ children were taken care of and how they opened up their homes to us on the cold rainy nights. In response, they warmed our hearts as they told us their favorite moments from the month. It amazes me the way God worked through language barriers and so many cultural differences and ultimately showed how people who love him can be identified by the way they love others.
Here are some of the moments that made this month the craziest one I’d ever experienced.
- I got to play nertz in a yurt!
- There was no electricity, no showers and no bathroom. For a majority of the month there wasn’t even a squatty potty.
- I milked a cow.
- We ate a goat. A whole goat. Liver, kidney, intestine, brain, ear, eye and washed it down with a salty milk tea which we called chayche.
- The hills were beautiful and covered in cows, horses, sheep, goats, yaks, dogs and the occasional child.
- I saw goats herded by a motorcycle and butter churned by hand.
- I walked an hour to shower. In a river.
- At 2am I had to get up to chase cows away from grazing on my tent.
- One of my favorite moments was from the month took place with a yurt full of people singing half singing in Mongolian half in English, but all belting Blessed Be Your Name.
