Invited for Coffee

Written by Denise

Wednesdays are special.  We don't open the coffee shop until noon.  We spend the morning gathered around a coffee table.  After everyone has a hot cup of tea or coffee, and sometimes a snack to share, we study and discuss a small passage from God's word.  We sing.  We share about what's going on in our lives and pray for one another.  We live LIFE together.

There's a new coffee shop in UB called Cafe de' Amor.  It's a small coffee shop nestled in to this big city next to the Cuban Embassy.  The front has two large trees, and they built their deck around these trees, so you can sit and sip your coffee under the shaded bows of two large Pines.   UBean has been helping this small coffee shop get set up and running, and supplying them with the best fresh roasted coffee from UBean of course.

UBean works hard at establishing friendly relationships with each new coffee shop we supply with coffee.  If I have learned anything from living in Mongolia this year, it is that trust and relationships have to be earned.  A relationship takes time, effort, honesty, trust, patience, and care.

Last Wednesday we were invited by the owner of Cafe de' Amor to come hold our weekly staff meeting and study time at his cafe.  He wanted all of us to come see the newly opened cafe and enjoy this peaceful little oasis in the middle of the big city.   It really is a great cafe, and the coffee is wonderful!  We admired the cozy furniture, artistic decor, and menu choices.  

The owners daughter has gotten to know UBean's Roaster, Garid, from his frequent visits and immediately grabbed onto this hand and didn't let go.  School is out for the summer and she now spends her days at the coffee shop.

After we finished our short study, I noticed that she was rather bored sitting at a table starring out the window. I'm sure she'd rather be out playing on a playground with her friends then sitting inside on a nice summer day.   I asked her to come over and join us.  She immediately came over with a big smile.  She told me her name was Nandin Erdin.  Her name means, "Special Treasure", and I'd say her name suites her well.  Nandin is a delightful 8-9 year old girl, with long black hair, and a big toothy smile.

Garid, Mashka, and Nandin Erdin

I told Nandin that we were about to pray together and asked if she would like to join us.  She shook her head yes eagerly.  When we asked her what she would like us to pray for her, she surprised me.  Most young children ask prayers for things, like...I hope we get to go to the movies on saturday, or  I find my lost stuffed bunny named fluffy.  Nandin didn't ask for anything for herself, rather she asked us to please pray for her father's cafe.  This little girl has an understanding that her family has put everything on the line starting this business and that it needs to succeed.  She folded her hands and prayed with us for God's blessing & provision upon Cafe de' Amor and her family.  I hope you will pray for them too, and pray for the relationship we continue to nurture and develop with this family.

Our time in Mongolia is ending soon, less than 3 weeks till we leave.  I try not to think about it because the tears well up and it starts to hurt knowing how many people I am going to miss.






I will miss this beautiful country and their beautiful language.  I wish I could speak more of it.  Here's a sample of Mongolian worship and praise songs.  Even though we can't understand the words, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


Click Here to listen to Mongolian Praise & Worship Music

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Written by Jim Manchester

Changing Direction

These past months have been a time of major transition for me, and for our family. For some time now, I have been questioning if and when it would be the right time for me to transition out of the business that I have co-owned for the past 17 years.

Over the past five years or so, as I have been involved with ministry in our church back in Evanston, I have been sensing that God wanted me to pursue a more active roll in the church. When I first sensed this call, I didn't feel like I was in a position to do so. My business depended on me significantly, and I didn't want to leave the business in such a way that caused its collapse, and the livelihood of my business partner and employees with it. So, over the past five years I have been working to train employees to be able to take over those things that I had sole responsibility for, while I worked on continuing my education in international business. I was also fortunate that God provided the opportunity for me to become the new Worship Director at our church during this time, working on a part-time basis.

Last year, when the opportunity came up to be able to come to Mongolia as the bookkeeper for CAMA Services, I was able to arrange for the business to continue in my absence, with me providing financial oversight and programming support remotely over the Internet. With Skype, I could check in as often as necessary, either over the phone or attending meetings over Skype video conference calls. As the year has gone on, I have been able to continue to work at the business less and less each week. As spring came around, I knew it was time for our family to make some decisions on what the next step would be when we returned to the States in the summer.

Although this time in Mongolia has been a blessing to us in many ways, there are a number of factors for our family personally that do not make full-time service overseas possible, at least not at this point in our lives. We decided that whether we are to do this type of work overseas in the future or not, that we wanted to be involved in making a difference in other people's lives.

Based on my desire to make this transition, and with the support of my family, I began discussing my transition out of the business with my business partner back in March. I also began the process of applying for provisional licensing with our church denomination at that time. Over these past two months, I also did some searching for opportunities in ministry within our church denomination. Of the positions that were open, one in particular stood out in Iowa that would put us a lot closer to Denise's family in Minnesota and Illinois. It meant huge changes for us, with a lot of uncertainty, but we really felt like this was the time for our family to make this transition.

Since March, a lot has happened. At the end of April, I signed the share transfer agreement for my half of the business. Last week I was able to complete the provisional licensing process with our denomination when I was interviewed before a board here in Mongolia. With the provisional licensing in place, at the end of this week we were extended a call from that church in Iowa to become their new associate pastor for youths and young adults, with responsibilities in tech and worship. There are a number of reasons we feel like this opportunity is a really good fit for us, and are excited to start this next adventure.

So, we will be returning to Evanston in two months, on the evening of July 13^th, but we will be beginning the process of moving to Iowa so that we can be there in time for Elise to start school at the end of August. We are sad to be leaving our home and friends in Evanston, but we are excited about this new direction in our lives. And we are also hopeful that the lower altitude will be beneficial for my Mom's health, since she will also be relocating with us.

Much like this time last year, we are on the precipice of another major change in our lives. Our experience this past year in Mongolia, and in the time leading up to our coming here last year, has taught us that we can count on God to provide for us in these weeks and months ahead. We're excited about what comes next, but apprehensive about our transitions as we say goodbye to friends both here in Mongolia, and back in Evanston. We have formed some very close relationships

here in Mongolia, and we know it will be really hard for us when it is time to leave here. We'll have about a month to reunite with our friends when we get back to Evanston, and then unfortunately we'll have another series of difficult goodbyes.

Some very busy days are ahead, and big changes and adjustments are coming as we re-integrate into American culture, and as we get settled in a new community. We would sincerely appreciate your prayers over the coming weeks, and we are looking forward to sharing with all of you the details of our continuing adventure!

A Shoe Box In Mongolia

Written by Denise:

It is May in Mongolia, but lately we've been celebrating Christmas.    Wait....did she just type Christmas?   Yep! Christmas!  

Let me give you a bit of back history first ~

Every fall at my church in Wyoming, Evanston Alliance Church, we filled empty shoeboxes and plastic tupperware containers with school supplies, tooth brushes, t-shirts, socks, matchbox cars, chap stick, stickers, baby dolls, combs, and other items that children between the ages of 5-14 would enjoy receiving. Each gift shoe box was unique and created with love, carefully and thoughtfully put together for an unknown boy or girl.

After all the boxes were gathered, wrapped and labeled, we would pray for the journey it was about to go on, and for the child who would receive it.  These small shoe boxes demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children all around the world.

Together with the local church worldwide, these boxes share the Good News of Jesus Christ, and that is the mission of Operation Christmas Child.

Listening to the Good News story.

Steve, After-School Sports Coord.

Learning new games

This spring I was personally blessed with the opportunity to go to a school in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia and help distribute Christmas shoe boxes.

After many years of making shoe boxes, I never imagined
getting to see the end result with my own eyes!  I invited my friends Zaya and Zolo to come with me, and together we joined along with an after-school sports program to teach the school children new games and laugh with silly clowns.  The children even sang for us and performed dances.  It was a wonderful time for everyone.

Going on this box distribution made me realize just how loving and amazing God truly is.  I use to make one box each year.  My church use to collect and donate around 100 - 200 boxes each year.  This year I learned that 70,000 boxes were being distributed in Mongolia alone!  That's just one country!  My head begins to swim thinking about all the boxes that people worldwide donate annually!  And then realized.....that is ALOT of LOVE!!!!

Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center

Here are some statistics from Operation Christmas Child:

I hope you will take 3 minutes to watch the video my friend Zolo edited for me showing our day with the school kids.

Major Tom to Ground Control

I have commented to friends that somedays I feel like I followed Alice down the rabbit hole, somedays I've felt like I'm in the middle of an old Twilight Zone episode, and lately I've begun to feel like "Major Tom," the fictional "Space Oddity" astronaut drifting farther and farther into space, as we continue to live here in Mongolia. 

For some reason, lately, it has been particularly surreal. We've been here over seven months now, and in some ways it feels like as time passes, we drift farther and farther away from life as we knew it before we left for Mongolia last June. It's hard to explain - life continues on back home, people are changing there, and we know we are changing as we experience life here and adjust to the home we have made here.

We are so thankful that we live in a day when it is possible for us to so easily stay in touch with our friends and family who are so far away. I can remember as a child, thinking that the concept of video phone calls was something that was science fiction, in the far off distant future. Yet, here we are, thousands of miles from home, able to video chat with people back home - for free, no less. We are thankful that I am able to stay in contact with my business back in Utah, and even work on accounting at the office, and make programming changes to customer's homes from across the world. I've always been a bit of a tech-geek who loves a good science project, so I am taking the opportunity to test the limits of what I can do remotely. When the Internet is working here, which has been more reliable lately, it's actually pretty cool what we can do remotely.

While we have been able to keep up with all that goes on, there have been some interesting oddities that we have experienced. In these days of social networking, we learn of all of the latest "goings on" of close family members, friends, old acquaintances, and even some new friends whom we barely know, from Facebook and the Internet, long before we are personally contacted about the news. Over the past few months, we've learned of new engagements, pregnancies, births, deaths, and several friends moving away. It's a bit of an odd experience, sort of like watching a reality show about your friends and family from some alternate reality.

A few months after we got here, I shared with a friend here about the difficulties we anticipate when we have to leave this July. We are building relationships with the people we work with and with others that we have met since being here, knowing that we will have to leave this summer. In some ways, it might seem easier to not let relationships grow too deep, because of the pain we may experience when life takes us somewhere new. But when we do that, we may avoid that future pain, but we miss out on what God had for us in those relationships.

We said a lot of good-byes before we left last June, which wasn't easy, and now we recognize we will be facing it again this summer. We've already had to say a number of good-byes here, as many people have left Mongolia since we've arrived here. Yet, the time that we shared with those who have left Mongolia has left us better for having shared life experiences with them - and the time we continue to share with our teammates and friends who are here continues to enrich us.

I am truly grateful that my attitude towards relationships with others has changed so dramatically over the past several years. I've always tended to be a bit of a loner, preferring to do things on my own. I can honestly say that I feel like God did a major work in my heart to make me want to experience a greater depth of relationship with others. And while more relationships and deeper relationships will likely mean a lot more difficult good-byes in our future, we are grateful for how our time spent with others has changed us and opened our eyes to the myriad of blessings we have taken for granted in life. Perhaps the greatest blessing we can take for granted - the opportunity to live life together with those around us: to rejoice together, mourn together, and bear one another's burdens.

UBean Staff Christmas Holiday Get Together at the Apartment

Hope is Beautiful.

Ponder this question:  Would you go to a church on Sunday morning if it meant spending two hours in a small cramped room with no electricity, no heat, and it was -30 F below zero temperature? 

I won't even add the other conditions such as no child care, no sunday school teachers, no praise & worship team,  and the bathroom is located outside.

Our family spent thanksgiving in the northern Mongolian city of Darkhan with some of our team mates who live and work there.  It was nice to get away from the big city of Ulaanbaatar, and enjoy the peaceful quietness of a smaller town, and visit with friends.

Road Headed To Russian Siberian Border

Sunday of that weekend, we were invited by our friends, the Bergevins, to drive up to the Russian border to attend church with a small group of believers who lived there.  It was an hour long car ride on roads that were freshly covered with snow.   The scenery on the trip was breathtakingly beautiful.  We passed by herds of two humped camels showing off their thick winter coats.  The four young Bergevin girls admired the pine trees along the way and each picked out the one they thought would make the nicest Christmas tree.

We arrived in the small border town of Sukbaatar just before noon.  The city is so small you can see the entire town when driving in from the distance.  We pulled up in front of a small white building that was adorned with a cross.  It was good to get out of the car and stretch our legs, but we soon realized how cold it was.  The still cold air took your breath away and we were all thankful for the warm layers of clothes we had brought. 

Sukbaatar Church

Teaching

Several ladies were standing outside waiting to greet us.  We soon learned the electricity was out and there was no heat in the building.  Inside the church there was a large room with wooden benches and a pulpit, but we passed through it and all gathered into a small room in the back so we could use our bodies to help heat up a much smaller space.  Eleven of us squeezed together in the freezing cold to spend time with God, worshiping, sharing testimonies, hearing God's Word taught, and fellowship.  One lady who had been a Christian for 10 years preached and shared from the bible, while the other five ladies who attended church that day all got out their notebooks and pens to write down as much they could.  They were so eager to learn from the bible.  They joyfully sang songs of praise to God, and we even sang Amazing Grace in both English and Mongolian at the same time.   

Singing

Writing in notebooks

We were happy to get to spend time with other Christian believers that day, in a place that was far from home, even if it was in a language we could barely understand.  We knew what passage we were studying, and we read our bibles while they studied theirs.  We prayed for one another and spent time with our Lord.  Even though we didn't have electricity, the light shining in thru the window provided enough to read and write.  

It was encouraging that despite the cold conditions, they still faithfully gathered in a small group to hear God's word and pray together every sunday.  It is difficult to put into words, but the ability to freely read and learn about God is still a relatively new concept for Mongolia.  They will all tell you it has given them hope again.  And hope is a good thing in a place that is tough to live each day.  Hope is beautiful.    

More Than A Coffee Shop

I am blessed.

I want to share with you about how incredibly cool my daily job is at UBean Coffee House & Roasterie.

UBean Coffee House/Grain of Wheat Community Center

It's 12:05 pm, and I just walked 2 miles across the city streets of Ulaanbataar, Mongolia to arrive at the Grain of Wheat Community Center, where the UBean Coffee House rents space on the first floor.  I pass by the white board propped up against the handrail outside listing the soup of the day.  As I open the door, I hear the bell ring.  The sound of the small brass bell that rings when the front door opens and hits it and has become a pleasant and familiar sound.  Each time I hear it ring, it means someone is coming into the building to either visit the cafe or use the community center.

I hear the muffled sound of electric guitars and drums coming from the basement stairwell, which means students are downstairs using the new music room.  Today I go down and listen to their latest song their learning and give them an encouraging smile.

Inside UBean Coffee Shop & Roasterie

I walk back up the stairs and enter the cafe.  The cafe is buzzing with people and the usual sounds & smells of a coffee shop.  I can hear the beeping sounds of the cash register as the barista rings up an order.  I say hello in Mongolian to the two young female students sitting on the first couch drinking hot Lipton tea.   I pass by two men drinking cappuccinos who are deep in conversation with one another, discussing a passage from the bible.  I recognize one of the men.  He's a pastor who is discipling the other man who is a new believer in Jesus.  The whirring sound of the coffee grinder comes on, and the barista is filling up the portafilter with fresh ground coffee.  The coffee house is filled with the smell of coffee.  I love the smell of fresh roasted coffee, and it is even more amazing when mixed with the delicious smells that are coming from the bakery case.  The baker is filling it with a fresh batch of cinnamon rolls just out of the oven, covered in white icing that is melting on the tops of each warm roll.

Barista, Ariuka

The baker and baristas faces light up with huge smiles, and they greet me with Mongolian greetings of hello, how was your rest?  I smile back and bravely answer them that I rested well, trying my best to speak and pronounce my newly learned foreign language correctly.   They are so encouraging, patient, and helpful giving me opportunities to practice.   The barista tamps the coffee and attaches the portafilter onto the espresso machine to pull a shot.  She starts the timer.

I pass by one of my American co-workers having coffee and chatting with a large group of Americans from YWAM Idaho visiting Mongolia.   Steam shoots out the steam wand nozzle of the espresso machine and begins to make the milk sing in the cold silver pitcher.  The Weepies are playing on the ipod shuffle, giving the coffee house that hipster background music vibe that adds to the peaceful serene ambiance.

Garid, Head Roast

Ganna, Assistant Roaster

As I walk closer to the kitchen the hum of the coffee roaster motor grows louder.   The roaster drops green coffee beans into the roasting drum and starts the timer.  He carries over the lastest batch of coffee from the roaster so I can smell and see the quality of coffee he roasted.  He does his job with such joy and pride because he knows he's the best roaster in all of Mongolia.  I put my nose near the coffee and inhale the scents of butter, warm nuts, and dark chocolate.  I set my backpack down and hang up my jacket.  After tying on an apron, I grab a spoon and sample the soup of the day, mmmm White Chicken Chili.

Ethan, MaryBeth, and Zach from YWAM Idaho

I walk back out into the cafe and say hello to the group visiting from Idaho and ask if I can take their picture to put on UBean's facebook page.  I tell them that I live in Wyoming, and learned that one of the young men in the group, Ethan, had stayed overnight at my church in Evanston.  I told the group a story about one time when a group of teen YWAM'ers from Idaho stayed over night in our church and someone had lost a wallet down the couch and I had returned it to his mother this past spring.  Ethan tells me that it was his wallet, and we both laugh in amazement realizing this little story has come full circle and we are now reconnecting with each other on the other side of this small planet.

I know I am truly blessed getting to serve my amazing God this year overseeing the UBean Coffee House and Roasterie.  I sometimes still have to pinch myself to know that it is a reality.

I can see God at work everywhere in the building, using his faithful followers to invest in and disciple the people who come into the community center and cafe.

Anu

If you don't mind reading just a little bit more, I'd like to share with you a more personal story on how God uses a small coffee shop in the middle of Mongolia to further his kingdom.  A young college medical student named Anu began coming to Open Mic Night on saturday nights.  She sings like an angel!  We encourage her to sing every time she comes.  Anu is a Christian, and got involved in leading a Campus Crusade group at her college.  This fall Anu asked if she could use UBean Coffee House as a place where her CC group could meet on friday nights in the cafe.  Anu's group came and met at UBean every friday night for 4 weeks where she shared with other medical students the good news of Jesus Christ.   Because of Anu's heart for God's lost people, there are now seven new believers in Jesus.

Campus Crusade Mongolia

Please continue to pray for God's blessing upon UBean and the Grain of Wheat Community Center, that we can continue to reach out and make an impact in this community.  That this new business would continue to grow and prosper and become known for having the best fresh roasted coffee in all of Mongolia.  Pray for Erik & Christina Wahlen and their family during their year in America.


~ God's Coffee Servant

God Is Not Finished With Us Yet

Written by Denise:

It's been nearly a month since the car accident and I've been wanting to write this blog post for some time to share what happened with everyone.  Writing about it means re-living it, which we all have been individually.... processing the events of that day & week over and over in our minds.

Jim, Bernie, Cori, Ellie, Jonathan, and Denise

August 4th, 2012 The Manchesters were all packed and ready to travel with our friend Bernie Anderson and his two children Cori & Jonathan in their Land Cruiser to the Mongolian Secret History Camp, which is about 2 hours away from the city of Ulaanbataar (UB). I sent a quick facebook message to Renee' Anderson telling her the "Manchester Family is packed and ready to roll!" I had no way of knowing that 2 hours later I would literally be rolling!  We were going to spend a week in the country side with all of the other CAMA families from around Mongolia at the annual Field Forum.  A week of rest, prayer, reflection, worship, business meetings & planning, and fun with one another.

We were almost there, only 10 miles away from the camp,  when the rear passenger tire exploded and sent our vehicle into a series of skids.  When the back tire dropped off the asphalt and onto the dirt we all knew what was going to happen next.  We were going to roll and the passenger side was going to take the first impact.   Except Ellie who was sitting in the very back of the vehicle and couldn't see what was coming because of all the luggage packed in around her.  Bernie was driving with Jim riding shotgun in the front seat.  I was sitting behind Bernie, his daughter Cori was in the middle and son Jonathan was sitting behind Jim.

As the land cruiser began to tumble Jim said he felt a strong sense to go limp and relax his body.  I put my hands up near my face and silently asked God, "Is this it?"   I felt the thud of the first impact.  I was still alive, and we were still tumbling and I could see Cori's body in front of me on the ceiling.  I asked God again, "Is this it Lord?", seriously questioning whether or not today would be the day I met my maker.  The second impact was harder than the first because we had caught air and landed hard on the drivers side.  My shoulder stung a bit and the top of my head was now sore where my sunglasses had been resting.  The car came to a sudden stop and the dust quickly settled.   Bernie was crouched over and  lifted his head from between a small space where the roof had caved in above him and met the steering wheel.  He rose up stuck his head out the wide open moon roof and turned around  to look back at all of us at the same time Jim did.  Almost in unison they both asked if everyone was alright.  Everyone answered they were okay, but no one heard Ellie way in the back.  Jim panicked for a second and then she shouted, "I'm alive!" and we all exhaled a breath relieved because EVERYONE was still alive!

Considering the airbags never deployed, things could have been so much worse and overall the injuries were minor.  We all sustained some minor bruises & rashes, small cuts, and general soreness from being in a car accident.  Six people walked away from the crash without any broken bones or major injuries.  I am still amazed that our friend Bernie was not more seriously injured.

People who saw the vehicle after the accident were asking, "how many died?".  We were able to say, none!  God didn't take our lives that day.  He wasn't finished with us yet, and for that I am thankful.

But there is more to the story than just telling about the crash itself.  It was fortunate that no other vehicle was following closely behind us or oncoming at the time the tire blew.  But there was an oncoming car further up the road who saw the whole accident happen from start to finish.  The driver was the Head of the Mongolian Secret Police.  His position would be equivalent to whomever is in charge of the US Secret Service in the United States.   He was traveling back to UB with his family and they stopped to help us after our accident.  The officer helped flag down a vehicle to take Bernie, Cori, and Jonathan to the camp we were headed to.  The top of Bernie's head was bleeding and our field doctor, Dr. Nia Pham, was there and could assess their injuries.  After ensuring everyone else was okay, the officer and his family left to continue driving back to UB.  Jim, Ellie, and I stayed with the vehicle and began picking up all of the items that had been thrown out of the vehicle during the crash.

Luggage Rack & Front Windshield

The first impact of the crash tore off the luggage rack and blew out all of the windows.  Anything small and loose inside of the vehicle went flying out the windows.  Cash, receipts, ipods, ipads, stuffed animals, backpacks, shoes, marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers.....it was all scattered several hundred feet in the ditch.

As we were picking up debris, another vehicle stopped to help us.  We quickly realized we knew these good Samaritans!  Our next door neighbor Tony, who lives in our apartment building with us on the 15th floor!  What are the chances that your next door neighbor would be driving two hours outside of the city on the same day as you and stop to lend you a hand?  God sent him and his co-worker Mark to help us on that day.  God knew we would be comforted by having someone who spoke English in our time of need, and they helped us unload the packed land cruiser and put all of the luggage into the back of their SUV.  They even helped pull our vehicle off the road so it was no longer blocking traffic.

Mark, Tony, and Bernie at the Mongolian Secret History Camp

An on duty Mongolian police officer showed up at about the same time as some of our team mates who had driven from the camp to help us.  It was a blessing to have team mates who spoke Mongolian to help Jim answer the police officers questions.  The officer let Tony and his co-worker take Ellie and I onto the camp with all of the luggage while Jim stayed with our team mates and the officer.  It is not uncommon for people to be fined money or lose their drivers license for a period of time following an accident here in Mongolia.

Dr. Pham

The next morning, we heard this police officer had showed up at the camp around midnight wanting to question some of us about the accident.  We were all asleep and he left angry.  The next morning our team mate Esther Yim received a phone call from the head of the secret police, the gentlemen who first stopped to help us.  He was driving back thru our way again and asked if she would meet him at the police station near the accident sight in an hour.  Esther and Dennis Maves, our Field Director, went to the police station.  The secret police gentleman instructed the other police officer to close the police report & investigation and write the driver was not at fault for the accident.  This was wonderful news for Bernie!  And an affirmation that God was at work in every aspect of this accident.

At the end of the week we all had to get back into a car and drive back to UB.  Everyone was a little bit anxious, especially when we passed by the area where the accident had occurred.

The day after we got back from Field Forum, I had to go into work at UBean.

Ayuna & her daughter.

The staff and I were busy cleaning all morning around the cafe, and around 11 o'clock I said, it's time for tea!  Four of us ladies were sitting around a table taking a break and I started to tell the story of what happened in the accident.  Ariuka, UBean's coffee barista was translating to Ayuna (the cleaner) and her daughter.  I told them how I had asked God if this was it.  If this was my time to die?  And I told them that if God had decided to end my life that day I would have been okay with dying and at peace because I know where I am going after this life.   I asked Ayuna a question.  I asked her if she wanted that same kind of peace that I had and to know she would be in heaven if her life were to end unexpectedly.  She and her daughter both said yes they wanted this same peace and to know more about Jesus.  After much discussion, we all prayed with Ayuna and her daughter and they made a decision to become followers of Jesus.

I have so much to be thankful and grateful for.  The accident "could have" been so much worse but it wasn't, and I refuse to mull over the "what if's".  I still have my family here with me, and that God's not finished with us yet.

 2 Corinthians 4:8-12    But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

2012 CAMA Mongolia Field Forum (missing 5 families).