What fun!

Just to illustrate how different this mission is from other missions...

As far as the government is concerned, we are only English teachers.  Then, in our spare time, we are permitted to talk to people about the Gospel of Christ, but only by invitation. That's why there is no proselyting.  Or street contacting.  But, nevertheless, we have a lot of investigators.  If people ask what we're doing, we usually respond "English teachers," but that doesn't stop us from having wonderful investigators.  

All the American missionaries only can serve in Ulaanbaatar, where there are about twenty different areas.  Our English teaching assignments stay the same the whole two years.  Currently, we both are an hour commute away from our assigned schools because we live in the absolute farthest apartment for missionaries, but most of my other areas should be in walking distance of my work. I start next week, by the way! When we teach, the teaching missionary teaches and his companion just waits and studies.  Not the best situation, but it is how it works.  Now, my companion and I will probably overlap, which usually doesn't happen.  We'll just have to figure it out! That's what you do on a mission.  

The Lord gives us success.  There is no way we could teach here, what with English-teaching and no contacting of any kind, if the Lord didn't prosper our work.  This really is the Lord's work, and he will forward it.

This is a great mission. By great, I mean, occasionally frustrating and difficult, but also great.  If missions were measured by the tastiness of the food and your freedom to contact people, it wouldn't be very good.  But since missions are measured by the worth of the souls we are here to teach, Mongolia is the best mission.

By the way, so far, I have met Mongolians who speak all the languages I know best: French, German, Russian and Chinese. What fun!