More updates...as the days move on...

So its Thursday morning and I wanted to publish further updates on our goings on for Wednesday and Thursday. We're doing pretty good. We're pretty deep into the rennovations. Here's a quick overview of what we've been up too, along with some great stories.

First we've had the most awesome group of helpers from the Church! They just rock. They have show us how to remove paint in record time from a ceiling. They also have taught us a lot about humility, having a servants heart, and faith beyond compare.

We also have been show how much we need to rely on God. A number of times we've had to deal with "renovation issues" that have required a lot of reliance on God.

One of the areas God has gone beyond our expectations is in translation. We found out early on Monday that translators were going to be a problem for most of the week. We were blessed to have one of the women of the church who understands a good bit of english (Ingke) to join us on Tuesday and she has been a Godsend. Each time we need to go shop, she will go with Geelge and two of us, and we are able to communicate through her for most of what we need to figure out.

So as for rennovations I've attached a couple "before" pictures and some "in progress" pictures. We have all the new windows in, and are working on finishing them, which involves building up the concrete and plastering around the seals of the windows. We also are going to begin renovating the electricity today, which should be kinda interesting. Also today we're going to be continuing to rebuild the bathroom. We're having to fix a good bit of the concrete with fresh mortar, and then hope to try to put in tile tomorrow if possible.

Funny story, we ordered new marble window sills on Tuesday, which was an experience in and of itself. We were told to return on Wednesday to pick them up around 4:00pm. Mike, Ingke, Geelge, and I went to the construction district to pick up the sills at the appropriate time to find out that they hadn't been started. We went with the "owner" to see the "factory" where they were making them. We followed them up a couple of alley-ways to a couple one room marble cutting buildings. Once we arrived construction began and we spent the next two hours drawing and helping in the making of the sills. Amazing to watch the Mongolian craftsmen work and craft with limited tools. They produced good results. At some points in the process Mike and I were pretty sure we were about to start an international incident and that one of us was going to end up on the marble saw. They weren't particularly happy about us watching, and intervening...at least until we brought them some bottles of water from a nearby shop, then we became the "cool americans".

Because of the length of one of the sill's Mike and I got to carry it home to Building 28, about a 15min walk. We got some great looks, I'm sure the folks looking at us funny were thinking...Gee didn't they see the truck drivers that you could hire for that?"

After we got back, we joined Geelge, Ingke, and the rest of the Mongolian brothers and sisters for a Wednesday evening prayer service. What a wonderful time together. We shared about who we were and spent some time singing praise and worship together. It was a great time and allowed us to meet some more of the Eternal Light Wesleyan church body. After church we shared dinner with the group and it was great. Mongolian traditional foods that are much like Russian and German foods. Lots of meat and potatoes...Midwest eating at its finest. And just so you get a sense of the difference in $$$ we fed 17 people last night for about 45.00USD. Yup, you can barely feed 4 in the US for that, and the food was incredible!

So with that I'll close, and will add more either tonight or tomorrow. Continue to pray for our health (a few of us are dealing with some intestinal issues). Pray for our progress on the rennovations. And pray for continued preparation for the men's retreat.

More later...