I have been very busy over the last few months. Preparing lessons and curriculum is very time consuming. I started my third semester two weeks ago. My students are typical teenagers. They love American pop and rap music and all of them have cell phones and I-pods.   They are all from middle class families.

Here in Ulaanbaatar it has been bitterly cold even though there is only a little snow. The countryside has been hit with a lot of snow and over 60,000 animals have died. About two weeks ago it was extremely cold here in the city.  It was snowing and very windy. It was reported to be  - 60 below zero one night.  It has started to warm up and is now around -30 at night. My Mongolian friends are telling me that the worst is over and now it will begin to warm up.

Ulaanbaatar is surrounded by Ger (gher) districts. The Gers (white felt tents) are heated with coal.  All the apartment buildings and factories also use coal for heating water pipes. For this reason the city is very polluted now. It is like a heavy fog.  I wear a mask when walking to school. Sometimes it is really hard to breathe. I live on the far west side of the city and it is not as polluted as the downtown. Even so, the air is extremely heavy with smoke.

On Christmas day I worked at an outreach center  where  I have worked  for the last 10 years whenever time permits.  I try to go there on the weekends to help out. On Christmas we prepared food for the 200 children who eat there each day and also made  Christmas dinner for the volunteers and staff.  It was a real blessing to serve them. We made chicken, rice, potatoes and gravy.

I had an opportunity to travel the Singapore during our school break.  While there I was able to attend a church that has almost 17,000 members and growing. The church is sending missionaries to Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and all over Malaysia. It was so exciding to see what God is doing in that part of the world.

Many Mongolians live separate lives. The husband or wife may be living in America, England, Japan or other foreign county. Because they are living illegally in these countries, they only come back to visit their families once every five years or so. Many never come back.  One of my students, who is 17 years old, has not seen her mother for 11 years.  Her mother is living in Switzerland and works for a restaurant delivering pizzas.  I asked my student if it was difficult not seeing her mother. She said she really did not know her mother and so it did not bother her. But I could tell from her reaction that it did.  Another student told me her mother is a lawyer who is living in the States.  This student is 16 years old, is living with her grandmother, and has not seen her mother in over three years.  I hear similar stories all the time from students and other Mongolians.

The apartment building where I live is quite large. It has eight stories with ten separate entrances. Each entrance has it’s own janitor. It is usually an elderly woman. In my entrance we have a husband and wife. They have two small children. They live in the stairwell on the ground floor. This area can only be about 5’x 8’, if that big.   They only have a small bed, TV and a hot plate. There is a shower located on the ground floor that they use. It ceases to amaze me how they can live in such a small area.

Riding buses in Mongolia is a real challenge. They are usually packed with people and there always seems to be room for one more. Sometimes I feel like I am in a pickle jar. I always pray that when I get off I’ll still be in one piece. The trick is getting off the bus. You don’t walk off.  You sort of pop out like a cork and hope you land on your feet. God is so good. Whenever, I am on a bus and I’m completely surrounded by Mongolians I thank God that He has allowed me to be here among these precious people. I always feel so blessed during those times.  

About a month ago, when I was riding a bus,  a woman with two small children got on. The woman was filthy and was wearing a dirty coat. Her two children, ages 3 - 4 were also very dirty. They had dirt caked on their faces and their hair was all matted.  It broke my heart.  It was so hard to see them in this condition.  As people began getting off the bus she stood next to me.  When our eyes met I could only see total despair and hopelessness.  I was able to slip her some money as I exited the bus.

Because of the economic situation here many Mongolians are really suffering. The government is so corrupt. Millions of dollars have been given to Mongolia over the years from foreign countries. With a population of only 2.5 million people, everyone here should be a millionaire.

Most cities and towns in Mongolia have problems with too many dogs being bred. About once a year they have to cull them.  About 1,000 dogs are being killed in Ulaanbaatar because they are becoming health and safety risks.  When I lived in Sainsand, which is near the Chinese border and takes 11 hours to get there by train, I first heard about the killing of dogs.  I was told that one Christmas there were piles of dogs everywhere in the small town.  When a man was arrested there for drunkenness he was given a gun when he got out of jail. His penalty was to go out and kill dogs. Many Mongolians believe that their departed relatives come back as dogs.  When I have asked them how they feel about dogs being killed they can’t answer or they say that maybe these people were bad.  There is a Christian Vet NGO working here in Ulaanbaatar. They are training local vets, but still have a long way to go to get the dog population under control.

God has opened the door for me several times recently to be able to share the Good News with complete strangers. I am also developing relationships with several students and teachers. Please pray that God will continue to open doors for sharing

 -that God  will continue to  keep me in good heath

- that my relationship with my students and Russian teachers will continue to grow

- that many Mongolians will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

- that godly men will rise up in government and corruptions will cease.