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.

Students

We started off with just 4 official applications for this school last Wednesday. By opening day we had 19 students with another 3 joining us today (the second day). Praise God for the interest in laying a firm foundation of Biblical values and teachings in this land of Mongolia!

Titus School has started~

We started TITUS school with YWAM here in Erdenet and are so excited to see ywam staff, local pastors and teachers attend. The purpose of Titus is to equip each of us to be more effective teachers of GODS word. We will spend three weeks learning and reading and also can do outreach to put into practice the teaching methods etc that we've learned. The picture shows the staff- Bogi Jeanine and Manasa have been inspired and working on translations etc for Titus for the past 2 years. Also joining them is myself and Pascal (Bogis boyfriend from Switzerland). Manasa will be teaching and I am supporting the team by being in charge of hospitality . We look forward to the journey God has taken us on!

Diary from middle of the week

Manasa has been busy studying most of the day so I made lunch, set up the kitchen, put away our clothes into the wardrobe so we dont live out of a suitcase, dyed my hair and started a load of laundry. Am i domestic today or what? We went grocery shopping and it was so funny, down back alleys and in the basement .... little stalls of vegetables and mutton meat laid out on makeshift tables. And NO CHICKEN!  Yikes! so glad manasa has an idea of what he is doing since Im still learning. We both laughed about what if we were doing this without knowing the language. Once some more money comes in maybe I can buy some flour and make some muffins or something. But then again school will starting so might be busy.

We had a meeting this morning to finalize the schedule for Titus school starting next week. We are excited because quite a few pastors are interested in taking the lecture phase (3 weeks) to improve on their teaching methods. Titus is focused on instructing Bible teachers how to most effectively teach the Bible. Im excited to sit in on the classes. Currently we only have Mongolian students signed up which will cut down on some translating from Mongolian to English. I will be helping to prepare welcome baskets, help with daily snacks etc.... The 'behind the scenes' things that are so important but releases our main staff to focus on their teachings. We have quite an international group of staff- myself from the USA, Manasa from Fiji, Bogi from Mongolia, Jeanine from Dominican Republic and Bogi's boyfriend Pasqual from Switzerland. All united with the same goal of equipping Mongolians to lay the foundations of Christ's teachings. Inspiring! 

Please continue to pray for the team as we settle into routine, prepare teachings, fundraise the rest of the money needed to buy materials etc...

New Foods

People often ask about the food. Mongolians eat a lot of meat, and the children are often surprised if their meal does not include meat. They also use a lot of the fat from the meat which is quite an adjustment for my stomach.  Some common vegetables used are potatoes, carrots, and cabbage etc. Pickles are also common. The bread/biscuits tend to be on the harder side.
A ritual drink served to guests and at special events is horse milk. I tried by first sip last week as we were invited into our neighbors Gher tent. A band of brothers had arrived to ask for the family's daughter's hand in marriage so they had prepared traditional meal items including Buj (the pastry dough with meat in the middle, first picture with a carrot salad). They served us a large bowl of horse milk (tasted fermented) followed by a clear liquid in a smaller bowl which I found out was also from horse's milk (heated milk and collected the vapors) which is a stronger version of the first bowl. Then they follow it up with a shot of vodka. Another item , with a strong taste, was what looked like a white cookie however it was dried horse's milk. It was soft in texture but had the same bitter fermented taste. I was so thankful to try this tradition but even more thankful that my stomach was not upset after since it was so strong.
At our YWAM base we often eat noodle base dishes, and they make the noodles from scratch each day. This picture shows me eating the noodles with fried meat, and pieces of carrot.

Camels

Did you know they have camels in Mongolia? I was so surprised because Ive always had the idea that camels needed to live in the desert. While some of Mongolia is desertland, it gets very cold in the winter. The ones that I saw were drinking water surrounded by rolling green hills on the way north almost to the Russian border. When I asked what they did in the winter the reply is the same as the cows and horses, they are kept under a shelter and let out to graze on the grass that peaks through. Learn something new everyday.

Outing to the border of Russia

Outing to the border of Russia, only about 1 and half hour drive from Darhan.
First picture is of Manasa and I , with Russia in the background
Second picture is a common monument ( called ovoo) constructed to pay tribute to the gods, in high places (blue bands are even placed on tall trees)...donations of money and empty vodka bottles were made at this one (Shamanism).

Made it to Mongolia Safely

We've made it safely to Mongolia. Spent the first week at the YWAM base in Darhan (pic of a group outing) and today traveled to Erdenet where we will be staffing the TItus school with the YWAM here. They are accommodating us at a guest apartment off base so it is nice as a newly wed couple to have our time away from everyone, and our own kitchen! We are still trying to nail down an apartment in Darhan for our return so that is one major prayer requests as well as finances to cover our rent, staff fees, and school fees when we begin Mongolian language class next month. Adjusting to new culture, food, language etc. Was blessed with a YWAM outing last saturday that included a trip to the Russian border! Its COOOOOOLD :)