New friends

  A group of us got together to wish our Brazilian friend, Ivania, a farewell as she ventures off to another part of Mongolia. It was quite the international night, having made friends through Mongolian classes, the neighborhood etc. I giggled as I watched the Filipino and Australian chat in Tagalog, while the Brazilian and Korean laughed through a mixture of Mongolian and charades and the American practiced her Chinese from Chinese classes with a lady from China. What fun! Essentially, the human heart is to connect and communicate- even if it takes work, concentration and trial-and-error. Hopeful to get together with these ladies again soon!

KIDNEY stones?

Wednesday night I woke up with sharp pain in my side and back. After numerous trips to the bathroom and tossing and turning I realized this wasn't a pain I had experienced before, not digestive, not ovaries etc.. I woke my husband up and he prayed for me in Fijian then went back to sleep. By 6am I was hit with nausea and asked to be taken to the hospital. That began by adventure with the medical system and my American assumptions as to how it should work. By seven we had stopped at three different doors on the hospital only to be asked to come back at 830. We went to another more private clinic a 830 to get bloodwork and urine test done only to find out results would not be available until 2 pm. Concern for appendicitis led our teacher to take us to another private doctor in old darhan where i was able to quickly get an ultrasound. That doctor said I was okay but my kidney was large. The doctor poked and prodded and agreed it must be the kidney and said to wait until the test results. Finally getting the results back and a trip back to the doctor came the vague diagnosis of ~bad kidneys~and an emphasis that it was from the cold and to stay warm in Mongolia. Of course with translation I just clarified that they were putting me on an antibiotic. In a world where a typical American has a good basis of how the body system works, viral vs bacterial infections, blood counts etc it was difficult for me to be confident in my diagnosis. But i remember who the Ultimate Doctor is, and that is my God who knows my ins and outs much better than I. I believe it is kidney infection or stones and have begun the antibiotics (by pills since my eyes got big when i saw the size of the needles and the process for mixing the medicine in vials before it goes into the needle, which my kind husband would have to give me every 8 hours!). If things have not improved greatly in the next two days we will take a trip to the capital city where they have more choices including a Korean hospital and an International hospital. At the moment I am not feeling the sharp pains very often, just a dull pain and was able to sleep. Thanking God already for His healing and believe the prayer support around the world is the source of that healing process ...

Not unusual

Walked into the toilet marked with the woman with the skirt to find a buddhist monk (male) using it...awkward right? That wasn´t the unusual part....the unusual part is that I did NOT find it unusual at the time....lol  (oh and of course no toilet paper)

Place to lay our head

No place to lay our head...
We had a beautiful and quick trip back to the city of \Darhan from Erdenet only to find no room available at the YWAM base. A quick call gave us room with our Brazilian friend Ivania, even though she only has a studio apartment. Her hospitality has saved us as it´s taken us this full week to find an apartment. The new trend is for owners to want the entire years rent pay and living by faith, on a month to month basis, means we cannot reach that need. God opened doors for us and last minute (ivania moves tomorrow) we found a one bedroom apartment for reasonible rent, and will do 3 month rents. Its a bit further from our Mongolian school than we would have liked but we look forward to nice walks until it gets too cold. God provides in His timing and we move tomorrow! As my husband recently put on his facebook page :

"A scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.'" [Matt 8:19-20] and Jesus replied - "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Mickey Mouse and kissing the puppy

Today I was able to skype with my niece, April and family. My sister and brother-in-law are spending the weekend with my parents (happy birthday dad!) and since my sister does not have Internet at home, this was my chance to skype with them. My beautiful sister is pregnant with twins due soon and it brings joy to my heart to see her healthy and ready to be a mommy again. Little April is just about 2 years old and her jabbering sounds so grown up. Skyping was fun , seeing her confused look turn into a little grin as we begin to talk. I suppose that would be confusing that the 'tv' is talking back and calling her by name. But she seemed to catch on and we had fun giving kisses to her toy puppy and baby, and singing Micky Mouse. She's getting so grown up! Being on the missionary field, it's one thing that often gets stressed in my prayers : that God would guard my family while I'm away. In reality, even if I was living in the same house, His hands are much better protection and provision than mine could be! Being far away however, not even a phone call away at times, brings it into a different perspective. To get back home would easily take me up to 30 hours of travel time, and that's only if a plane was leaving that same day. On another hand, its somewhat to think that while I'm sleeping, the family back home is living, and while they sleep its my turn to pray and cover the day. I'm so very grateful for my church family back home because you know that they will fill the voids, if there are any, just as we would for their families. Missing my family back home today but thankful for the opportunities that the Internet provides for me to stay connected! Imagine the missionaries years ago, where a letter would take months to arrive. Hoping to get back to American around the holiday season to reconnect, make memories, and meet the new arrivals :)

Those who understand the heavenly vision of what His house is called to be will, like Abraham, leave everything to wander in places where they do not even know where they’re going, but do know what they’re looking for—the city that God is building. ~Rick Joyner. 

Thinking about this quote and the different places God has called me. Some have the misconception that missionary life is wonderful because of all the travels and sightseeing. While we absolutely appreciate the beauty of where God takes us, that is not the motivation (for most of us!). The inner unrest at knowing that we are the Kingdom of God, and that there are still more daughters and sons of God out there in the vast diversity of the nations, unaware of their inheritance and the beauty of the love of God  - THAT is what we pursue, and THAT heart longing is what gets us out of bed in the morning. Mongolia is known as the "Land of Blue Sky"....but underneath that sky is my call - the gorgeous owners of this land who live in the darkness of shamanism (worshiping many different gods/spirits, using trances and crafts to touch the supernatural) or who aimlessly practice the traditions of Buddhism...those who are still in need of our Creator God to save them. They motivate me.  

And tomorrow...it may be another nation and another country...but ALWAYS it is my neighbor.

Titus Graduation

Last night we graduated our Titus Project students. Ten of these students (YWAMers) will continue on with their outreach phase (teaching) while the rest will return to their ministries (pastors, sunday school teachers etc). We are SO proud of the steps each one has taken and love seeing them inspired to teach others what they've learned!






The night started with some munchies, and worship. We then handed out the individual diplomas with picture taking time. The meal (provided faithfully by the YWAM base cook) was devoured along with raisin juice (boiled raisins with some sugar). The night wrapped up with what I call a 'talent night' as many were called up to sing, dance or share a poem. Jeanine from the Dominican Republic taught us the "salsa dance" while Manasa taught an abridged (and hilarious) version of the "haka". The Mongolians loved it , the children might have been a bit frightened hahaha.
We also were called up to learn a traditional mongolian dance which was fun and I look forward to learning more.

We were given thank you cards and a gift, which was most practical for Manasa and I - a pair each of "slippers" as well as coffee...they know us well! As staff we debriefed and brainstorms ways to improve the next TITUS and look forward to seeing it run again here in Mongolia.

English TV

Mongolian fact of the day: On a minimum salary you will collect US$150 a month for full-time work.

Browsing through the TV there are only two English stations - one is  "Outdoor Channel" and the other is "RT" (business news). Thankful for one Chinese channel that sometimes has English movies with subtitles rather than dubbed voice overs.  I noticed a Russian channel is Russia MTV....  Thankful for the Internet which of course offers more options and news updates in English!

Keeping our youth pure...one step at a time

Reading through some of the recent news item and came across this article. Appears that one of the founders of the campaign not only is a Christian but belongs to the family that owns the magazine (ironically)....interesting to see where this goes! This compaign is aimed at keeping our youth pure... in this case by keeping pornographic descriptions off the shelves and away from wandering eyes. Warning: does contain graphic description (which is the point of this petition! To keep the buyers 18+)  Feel free to click the link and sign!

Change.org|Free Online Petitions

Im so American!~

I'm soooo American :) I'm in charge of snacks each day for the students of Titus school ...last week I made M & M cookies, and today I made hazelnut BROWNIES! Can't get more American that BROWNIES!! YUM

Mongolian Countryside

A few pictures from the Mongolian countryside- horse milk , lots of good food, and football for a relaxing day.

toilet paper necessities

So in every culture Ive run into 'toilet paper' stories, usually running out of it (in one Pacific island after two days of no toilet paper supplied, I asked what the locals did, and the answer was to go straight from the toilet to the shower...so I began wearing my flipflops in the shower each time and bought my own toilet paper). The one thing Ive learned from these experiences is to always travel with toilet paper/Kleenex. And when I say travel, I don't mean a move, or an airplane run...I mean to the grocery store, to church, etc.... You never know!  Here ins Mongolia there are places where you have to be careful not to flush the toilet paper as it easily blocks the system. I've noticed often times that the brand of toilet paper used is a thicker version- I guess comparable to the paper towels dispensed at public places in the USA- the brown thick , most likely recycled, kind. There is nothing wrong with that but when it comes to deciding whether to flush the toilet paper, or place it in the waste bin as asked...i prefer to buy my own, thin white flushable kind. I'm sure there is a happy medium but this is just another moment of taking MUCH more thought in another culture on something that used to come naturally.  :)

Greetings From Mongolia

Since our last newsletter, we arrived to Mongolia safely on August 8th from Fiji. We had to stay an extra few days in the capital city of Ulaan Baatar as we worked on our visa to stay in Mongolia. We are currently studying under the 'student visa' and will be taking Mongolian language classes starting next month. We were surprised at some extra expenses this visa incurred, including monthly class fees but are confident God will provide to keep us here in this beautiful country. We spent one week at the Darhan YWAM base, and were busy looking for apartment, running errands, setting up classes etc. We were happy to take a break from the business to take a base outing to the town of Selenge to see the border of Russia and enjoy nature (despite the poor weather). Alissa has been adjusting to the new culture, trying new foods and repeating Mongolian words. We made our way over to Eredenet to staff the YWAM 'Titus' school (www.titusproject.com). We were so encouraged to start with just a few participants but have 19 show up on the first day, with three more following the second day. A mix of pastors, church teachers and YWAM staff make up our participants and they are passionate about laying a firm foundation of Biblical teachings in their ministries. The church in Mongolia is only 20 years old so the importance of accurate teaching is essential during this time. The participants are spending three weeks in class with a focus of being equipped to effectively teach the Bible, followed by an outreach period later this year. We are thankful for the support team including us, Jeanine from Dominican Republic, Bogi from Mongolia and Pascal from Switzerland. Manasa spoke last week on “Inductive teaching” and was well received. There will be more teaching the next two weeks.

Here is an overview of the purpose of this school: “Titus Project was born out of a vision to bring Bible training to areas of the world where there is great need, great hunger, and limited opportunity to receive Bible training otherwise.  We aim to provide training for pastors, church leaders, and church planters passing along tools for Inductive Bible Study so that they can more effectively study God's Truth for themselves and then in turn pass that along to their congregations.”




Prayer Points: One of our great prayer needs right now is for continued protection. This week we've faced a few spiritual attacks in the physical form. While Alissa was walking home from grocery shopping she was confronted by a lady who grabbed her bags and stole the snacks that were for the YWAM students. That night we also had pounding on the door (probably teenagers). Last night (Saturday) the pounding at the door reoccurred and Manasa called a few church friends to come and confront the young men. Each of those instances provided us an opportunity to thank God for the chance to be in this country and increase our heart for the natives here. We don't believe it a coincidence that each of these occurred on the evening before Manasa was to teach or preach.

A second prayer need is that we are still searching for an apartment in Darkhan. The one that was to be provided for us required the entire year's rent payment and as we live on a monthly budget we were unable to meet that request. We are still currently looking for a safe apartment within our budget for our return in two weeks.

A third prayer request is for our computers. Manasa's computer has been acting up recently and we are faced with the usefulness of our computers in our ministry. We keep all our training and correspondence as well as research on our computers, using it daily. We pray that God will provide what is needed for us to continue to be effective in our ministries.

We are asking for continued prayer for our finances as we are trusting God and being wise stewards of our blessings. Please let us know if you would like to be a monthly donor, or if you would like to receive more information about direct deposit into our bank account or through “Paypal”.

We appreciate all who have kept in touch with us and most importantly those who cover us daily in prayer.

Manasa & Alissa Qaranivalu

I can read..... or not

Being introduced to a new country has its adjustments. I often find myself sighing at the things I took for granted. A daily example is grocery shopping. After scouring the individual stalls, I realized I was getting frustrated. I'm used to 'one stop shopping'. Grocery stores carry numerous daily needs (toilet paper, cleaning supplies) and with the likes of "Walmart" you can find everything you need in one stop (even gas!). After telling Manasa I was getting frustrated we made our way to the closest thing to a grocery store and I felt relieved. Manasa left to the other side of the store to look for needed supplies for the YWAM school and I realized I had two items "on hold" because I need him to translate the label for me. An added level of confusion is that Mongolia imports many products from Russia so neither Manasa nor I can read the label. Ive attached a picture as an example. We both thought we were buying ketchup (notice the nice juicy tomatoes on the label). The first time I used it I looked up at Manasa surprised. "Did you put hot chili in the dish?". After trying each individual ingredient we realized the 'ketchup' was spicy. There really should be a law that spicy food should carry a big red hot chili (pepper) picture on it! Good thing Manasa likes "hot" food as I may not be enjoying the rest of that bottle! The good news: I'll know better next time!

Vows to protect

As Manasa and I married, we took our vows seriously. But I didn't expect to see the protective side of my husband so soon. Recently, we've been facing some spiritual warfare in the form of physical. A series of unrelated events, always the day before Manasa is to teach or preach, has been an reminder of the verse in Proverbs 91:
"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." vs 2. I was walking home from the shops when a homeless lady followed me home and stole the cookies intended for the YWAM base. On one hand, I understand that a few dollars of cookies lost is nothing. But the bigger picture was a frustration with not feeling safe. Even though I am in another country, Mongolia, I want this to be MY neighborhood. Not knowing the language after only being here a couple of weeks prevented me from asking anyone for help. Of course Manasa was beside himself when he found out. Later that night we had some neighbors kicking on our door and running away. Finally Manasa chased them and they did not come back (they may have been surprised when he yelled at them in Mongolian asking what they wanted). We assume this same group of young men, a week later, came again to pound on the door only this time I was home alone while Manasa was meeting with pastor. I called him and he was already on his way home so once he spotted the young men in front of our apartment he stayed back and called the pastor and a close friend. Once they arrived a small scuffle ensued and the three men confronted the boys, called one of their mothers etc. Manasa let the Mongolian men do the talking and hopefully the incident is resolved after apologies were done on both sides. I was proud that my husband could get up the next morning, and preach his sermon without distractions. I don't know that I could say I would have done the same. We spent time asking God to give us an even bigger heart for the Mongolian people, especially those who persecute us (even unknown to them) and those being used by the enemy. I will say that I am affirmed in the love of my husband, and I believe him when he says he will do anything to keep me safe. But most importantly is the joy in praying with my husband, thanking God for His unconditional provision and protection. Knowing that God will not give us more than we can handle allows these incidents to be put in their proper place: a distraction to the battle we face to spread the Gospel and disciple His people. With or without family, God is my fortress, and my refuge.