Mongolia Vol 2

This has been a hard week - not crazy, exhausted postpartum kind of hard; but the kind that leaves you emotionally tired - empty tanks. So much of living here is different from Burr life in the states - and I have something going on in my gut, after talking with my nurse friend I think it's probably worms. Good times. :) So this morning I was just wanting to hole up in my room and forget we are in Mongolia. I recognize this feeling. This is the same feeling that comes around when God is getting ready to move and my flesh is screaming "NOOOO!!!!!!!! Let's worship Ami today!!! You deserve it - you'll be without your husband for most of the week!!!" Yeah, my personal favorite person to adore and worship. A.M.I

Anyway, I've been doing this gig long enough to know that I could hole up in my room (not really with 5 kids here, but you get the idea) and Jesus would still love me and work through my prayers. But I like to fight the enemy...probably a little too much (makes it hard to rest) because I have performance issues...and I had been praying for my friend Khishgee that I'd met at the park all week and I wanted to meet her for coffee. I had been fighting/praying for her to have a revelation of Jesus' love and I wanted to be around to see it happen.

UB traffic

Stressor number ONE for me in Mongolia...holding out your hand on the side of the road and asking a perfect stranger to stop and give us a ride into town without knowing how to to TELL THE DRIVER HOW TO GET WHERE I WANT TO GO!!!! JESUS!!!! If you're sensing that I have control issues...you're riiiiiiiight!!! You win the prize! So here we go, me and my three daughters - out to the main road, past the crazy village dogs and people staring at us because we're not Mongolian. :):) We get a car and somehow I point and try to say right and left in Mongolian and we get to the coffee shop where we are supposed to meet my friend and her 18 yo daughter, Daigie.

As soon as we sit down and I ask my toddlers to "Please, don't slide up and down the booth or sit on the floor...just get up here with us." a few times and my latte arrives...and we start talking, I start crying. Looking into my friend's eyes I get to tell her how much Jesus loves her and that unlike the Buddha she's served, who requires a table full of offerings for him, that Jesus is the only god who is God in the flesh - the Most High God - and He has prepared a table for her...His bride...she's smiling and finding this hard to believe that He would forgive all the times she tried to live like she didn't need Him - making her own way.

We talk some more about Daigie getting into college in the states - maybe with Catherine in Waco, Catherine is WAY excited about this idea - and we finish our treats and then it's time for my girls and me to head to church. As we're leaving we say "You're welcome to come with us if you'd like..." and they do come with us. Can I be honest here? As happy as I was to have my friend and her daughter coming to hear about Jesus with us...I was WAY more happy to have a bilingual person help me get a taxi. Not joking.

You know - we all have different gift mix. And mine is NOT evangelism. I share and share and share. And there's no immediate harvest. Ever. For years. So at this point in the story of my life I'm not anticipating anything because I've learned how to move past condemnation and into trusting Jesus that he will take my obedience and be glorified whenever He's ready. My friend hearing that she's loved, she's invited into community/family, she's a part of a bigger story - that brings Joy to my heart. So much Joy! It's my part and I'm at peace with the outcomes.

Anyway, we sit together at church and hear the pastor talk about how Jesus rescued him and his family from living life without hope and my friend says yes to Jesus and I'm crying. Many years ago someone told Chris and me "You're bridge builders." and we've tried to explore that with Jesus as we can. And so I look up to see my friend praying with Ashely, our adopted *daughter* although I think I would have been a mother at 11yo if she were my real daughter - but you know, spiritual daughter. :) And then I'm crying because I know the many times I've said no to Jesus and that the times I've said yes, oftentimes with a poor attitude, He came and took my weakness and made me strong and He was glorified in the end. I like stories like that better than the ones that have no arch of character, no need for a hero because the main characters have it all figured out.

So I'm listening to the rain fall on the dusty streets in the ger district we live in waiting on the Lawman to get home. The baby is in bed - missed his nap - and little girls are making Father's Day cards for daddy and I'm gearing up to be without my partner in this life for three days as he speaks at a business conference here in UB. If you think to pray about it - pray that these businessmen would hear something deeper than ethics in law or how to handle cases, pray they would hear Jesus.

It's a long week for the Burr's here and I'm trusting Jesus to come and find us ~ rescue us. He is full of compassion - He knows how crazy scary this planet can be for His kids. And He keeps coming and pulling back the veil and saying "I love you. More than you could ever comprehend and I've made a way for us to always be together."

Blessings from of His great love from one of the most beautiful lands in the world!!!