August 21, 2007
Back from Mongolia
I'm back, got in yesterday morning after a 2 hour flight, 2 hour layover, 12 hour flight, 4 hour layover, 4 hour delay, arriving in Tulsa at 2am, 4 hour drive, arriving in Texas at 6:10am on Monday. It was a great trip and at the moment I have 8.1 gigs of pictures and video files, 2,500 pictures and videos. Need to sort them, delete a few blurry ones, etc.
TUMEO.
August 14, 2007
From Mongolia, Days 5, 6 & 7
Things are still moving along here, so here's some more information.
DEMONSTRATION 3
On the last 2 days I have traveled outside of the main city in Mongolia, and seen a lot of the countryside. I saw a lot of horses, and I took some pictures. I am very tired right now, but tomorrow I will not have to wake up into later in the morning, so I will be able to get plenty of sleep. On Sunday, we went to the House of Life Church that was close to the first church we visited. It was a much smaller space. There were 52 people that came, and 26 of them raised their hands to accept Christ for the first time or to re-dedicated their lives. Afterwards we went to the Living Word Church that we visited on Saturday to teach some of the people a lesson in martial arts for about an hour. It went really well, and then they showed us Mongolia Wrestling. It is basically just taking the other person down to the ground, and the first person who's knee or elbow hits loses. After this we saw a buddist temple nearby, then we went to a place to eat that took a long long time to bring us our food. After this it was rest.
DEMONSTRATION 4
On Monday we woke up early and left for the prison. It was a long trip, nearly 5 hours, on very bumpy, dirt roads, as the only paved streets are in the main city, extending just a little bit outside of it. We never actually got to go into the prision, and it was evident that Satan was trying desperatly hard to work against us, as they told us we could go in, then no, then we could, then no, and then once more that we could do a demo for the gaurds, but then no again. It was very strange. On our way out we stopped by the small village were workers at the prision lived. We started to do a demo to about 20 of the workers and their family, and were almost through, when one of the gaurds came out a little drunk and was telling everyone to leave. He was 3rd from the top in the prision. It was clear that he was probably the reason we didn't get to go in.
DEMONSTRATION 5 & 6
Today (Tuesday) we did 2 demos, again in places outside of Ulaan Bataar. The first was the Love of Jesus the Third Church, where we ministered to 48 people, 38 of which raised their hands for the prayer. After this was the New Revival Mandal Church, where 93 people, more than half of which were children, watched, and 68 raised their hands for decisions to Jesus.
I have a lot more detail about everything than this, but that is all I will write about for now.
Oh yeah, as far as the food, well, we've actually eaten at a Korean place a few times, or had some food at the office, and that is about normal for food. I guess I'm not really a good person to ask about the food, because so far nothing has been odd or different, it just seems normal or fine to me, and I have no trouble eating it. We did have a traditional Mongolia meal, called something like a Hoosar, which is a dough like thing filled with meat, onions, cabbage, etc. It was really good, though, as usually with "foreign" foods to me, tasted similar to things I've had before in my life.
Ok, now to write more in my handwritten journal, as I'm on page 14 of it, and I still have 2 and a half days more to write about in it.
TUMEO.
August 11, 2007
Mission Trip: Mongolia :: Days 1 to 4
Hello from Mongolia! It is nearly 6:00PM here on August 11th, which means it is 5:00AM where most of you are (central time zone). The weather over here is beautiful, and so are many of the places in the city. The city is surrounded by mountains, and it looks wonderful when looking out at the distance. This is day four of my trip, though really only the second day in Mongolia.
Traveling to Mongolia only took 18 hours in the air, but two days passed because of layovers (one 5 hour layover) and time zone crossings. All the flights were fine, and the food was good as well. I was able to sleep and get rest on the plans, though I would have gotten more if my neck was not hurting me. The drive from Dallas to Tulsa, with all the jarring and shaking, cause my neck muscle to tense up again, a lot.
We arrived in Ulan Bator around 8:00PM their time, on Thursday the 9th. Brian and I met Igor at the airport and he introduced us to Bold and Shilham, his 9 year old son. We drove to the Bible League office where we would be staying while in Mongolia.
DEMONSTRATION 1
On Friday, We traveled to an outlaying area of the city, to a church called the Way of Hope, or Righteous Way. From there we walked to the nearby houses in this area that could be considered a “ghetto”. We gave out several testimony cards, telling people to come to the Church for our demonstration. It was a rather hot day, so most of the people were down by the river to help keep cool. We decided to move the demonstration down by the river. It was mostly children and a few youth that gathered, about 60 altogether, with some more people coming and going while we did the demonstration. It was interesting doing it outside on the dirt, grass, rocks and broken glass, but things went great. We did pick up the pace and make it a little simpler as it was mostly children and they were easily distracted with it being outside. In all, about 20 people raised their hands to accept Christ.
DEMONSTRATION 2
The next day, today (Saturday), we went to another Church. This one was more towards the middle of the city, and not far from the Bible League office. It was in an old movie theatre that the Church had bought. It was the Living Way Church. It was a service for the youth, though the majority of the Church is a younger age group. The demonstration went great, and out of 175 people, nearly 100 raised their hands to accept Christ, and almost all of them raised their hand to re-dedicate their lives and walk closer with God.
I’m keeping a journal, but it is already 10 pages handwritten, and I don’t think I should write that much detail on here, as most people don’t want to read a novel. In any case, the food so far as been very good, and people are very nice. We’ve taken many many pictures, and some videos. Already over 1.3 gigabytes worth.
Now I’m going to go and work with some photos and videos on my laptop. Tomorrow we have another demonstration at a Church, and then on Monday we have 4 demonstrations at a prison, where we will minister to the entire population of around 800 people (broken up in 200 people groups to fit the small area we will be performing in). I might update tomorrow, or the day after… or maybe not until I get back home, can’t really say at the moment.
TUMEO.
August 07, 2007
Day before Mongolia
First, an interesting article: Levitation is Here!
So it is the day before I fly out to Mongolia. I'll be leaving on a 6am flight out of Tulsa. Gotta love those early flights. I'm about to leave to Oklahoma from Texas, have a 3 and half hour drive ahead of me. I hope I packed everything I needed, guess I'll find out once I'm there.
I got my first "real" massage today as well. Went to a place and got my neck and shoulders worked on. Feeling pretty good, might just get another one after I get back from Mongolia. 10 days after I get back I'll be moving into my own apartment, fun times.
Well, I'm sure there was more I wanted to say, but it's not coming right now. If I have the chance, I'll post in Mongolia, but at the moment that most likely that won't happen. There's always a small chance though.
TUMEO.
August 01, 2007
I have a Blog??
I have a Blog? Wait, when did this happen? Seriously, why didn't anyone tell me!?!?!?!?!?!?! Don't let the fact that I have 700+ entries before this one fool you, I really was unaware, or else I would have been posting this ENTIRE time.
And, now to dissuade you from thinking any further on the previous logic, a picture!!!!
Alyssa looking at the shirt Léia gave to me from Brasil:
Yeah, so about a million things have happened, and I've been a combination of busy & lazy and haven't gotten around to posting. I have, on many many occasions, thought about posting, and at times, even had great things to post about, but I didn't. It's the thought that counts, right???
So, I'm living in Texas now. Right now I'm at my parents' house. I've found an apartment, and I will most likely be moving in to it in September. I have a job, I'm teaching Martial Arts. Soon I should have my own school that I will be the Head Instructor at, waiting on some red tape to clear before that happens. I'm working with my original karate instructor, Mr. Boecker. I'm also talking to the Church, and might start a school there as well, just waiting on the chance to actually sit down with them.
August 8th through the 19th I will be traveling to/doing a mission trip in/and return from Mongolia. It should be a good mission trip, and I'm excited about going, not so much about the 20~24 hour flight, but still. The plane tickets cost a lot on this one, but thankfully people were generous, and I raised enough support for this trip. The next trip is scheduled for southern Sudan (not northern where there is some unpleasantness going on). It'll be out in the boonies, grass huts and tents and all that. That's scheduled for October.
I've been messing a lot with webpage stuff, soon I'll be revealing a new gallery for the potter family, and possibly a change in the blogging, at the very least, upgrading it to the newest version, which could result in a few hiccups. There's another blogging utility that I could use, that can incorporate the new gallery I'll be using inside of itself, so everything well be better linked together. This probably won't happen until I get back, though, since I'm leaving in a week.
Quakecon is coming, actually, starting tonight at midnight or some such. Bunch of people are coming down from Oklahoma for it, and I'll be popping in on several of the days. I have a few work related things that will keep me from being there all the time, but it should be a fun event, and at the least, I'll be able to see people.
That is all for now, I'll try and post some more things in the coming days before I head out for Mongolia.
TUMEO.