My first stop is in Mongolia. The beautiful country of Mongolia is mostly at higher elevations (averages at 5,180 feet). The weather consists of very cold winters to cool to hot summers. The temperature difference between winter and summer can get up to 80 degrees difference. It can vary up to 55 degrees in a single day. Due to the higher elevations, the amount of rainfall increases. Because of my recent experience out at H.E.A.R.T, I have found a new love for plants and animals. Vegetation varies depending on the elevation you are at. There are four different types of vegetation in Mongolia: forest-steppe, steppe, semidesert, and desert. Grasslands is the predominate zone, covering more than three-fourths of the territory.
In the animal kingdom, the northern forests have the beautiful harbor lynx, maral, roe deer, and musk deer. They all accompany the brown bears, wolverines, boars, etc. There is a variety of domesticated animals and birdlife. But the people are the focus of the trip. In Mongolia, there are 3,213,000 people. Out of those people, only 2.2% of them are Christian. Most of the people are either Buddhist (53%) or have no religious affiliation at all (38.9%). Chances are we will be working with those of a different religion. One thing that I learned is that 32% of the population lives in rural areas, which by experience are those who live up in the higher elevations. The main income for the majority of Mongolia comes through agriculture, either crops, animals, or both. This helps me because I spent the last 15 weeks working on agriculture things that I hope to be able to share with the people.
For all you sports fans out there like I am, they focus on three sporting events. First, wrestling. For those who win the bouts, they get to dance around while the loser walks under the “wing.” They can receive four different titles: Titan, Lion, Elephant, or Falcon. The second sport is archery. Archery shows who the best marksman is. They use an old compound type bow. The last sport is horse racing. The race can be distances up to 20 miles long, depending on age of mares and geldings. Generally, these sports are considered to be “three games of men,” all done during the national festival beginning on July 11.
