Welcome back to Mongolia

I have noticed immediately that I am back in Mongolia: pot-holed roads, overly warm apartments, cramped living conditions, and cold showers.

When we arrived last night Pastor Ganpurev was there to meet us. We were some of the last ones out the door of the plane which made us some of the last ones through immigration which meant that we passed through customs as one of the last people.

Pastor Ganpurev had arrived early and found a parking spot right near the door. But then he had to wait some time for us to arrive, pass through immigration, and show our items to customs. He was waiting patiently and faithfully. Those two characteristics describe Pastor Ganpurev well: patient & faithful.

We had an interesting chat on the way to the Ritchie's house. Pastor Ganpurev talking in his best slow, patient, easy-to-understand Mongolian; I kept remembering the words I had forgotten. Both of us eagerly trying to understand one another.

We arrived at the Ritchie's house about midnight, right on time. They were kindly waiting up for us and welcomed us in warmly. They had water, offered us food, showed us a comfortable room, and generally made us feel at home.

We actually found a full night's sleep. A little after midnight, we put our heads on our pillows and were soon asleep. I was up from 5:00-6:50 and read my Bible & prayed during that time. My devotional time always is slower when my head is groggy from jet lag. But after that I returned to bed and was soon asleep again. It was after 8 a.m. when we finally woke up.

Then came the quintessential Mongolian experience. I rose, gathered my things together, and went to take a shower. Unfortunately, there was no warm water. After allowing the water to run for about five minutes, I eventually submitted to a cold shower. Nothing like a cold shower to cap off a 24 hour journey! But it brought back to my memory all the vagaries of Mongolian life.

We are in Mongolia! (The cold shower was an unnecessary reminder). I wrote out a list of people to visit and goals to accomplish while I am here. I will probably post the goals tomorrow. Today's goal is to get set up to live in Mongolia for a few weeks and begin the process of discovering what will be required to accomplish my banking goals.

I will try to post once a day with a prayer request. Today's prayer request is for help with my Mongolian.