Today was our last full day together. It came off on a bad start because by the time an hour had passed after waking up, the entire lower half of my body was sopping wet in E.D. (it's a long story). At any rate, after the prayer meeting, we hopped on a bus and a van and trucked ourselves to the countryside, where we would go horseback riding. On the way, we saw many things: mean guys that stopped us on the road and picked out with amazing accuracy the Americans on board, charging us double for the entrance fee; the Praying Guy rock; the Turtle rock; and other random rocks. I was pretty inactive during this time because I didn't want to shake things up, if you catch my lariat. But it was a lot of fun just sitting around with the people, watching them cook and eat, observing the way they mauled each other in "Killer," and listening to the bus driver snore.
We wanted to get back for the cell groups, but we couldn't because we ran a little late. A few of us came back more than an hour after taking off on a horse (causing arguments with the horse owners, who charged by the hour), and we had to eat, and clean up, and then deal with the horse owners again who didn't get paid because one guy ran off with all the money. The bus ride was a long one, which we spent singing familiar tunes from last year. So by the time we got back, all the cell groups were already in progress or finished.
However, we would not allow that to stop us from having fellowship! At 9:00 that night, they all came over to the hotel and we exchanged emails, took an uncontrollable amount of photographs, hugged, and in general, did all that gushy mushy stuff. Tulga and Tseegi gave me one of their wedding photos, in which they were standing together in the church beside Dosho and Naraa. Today was the last day we saw many of the people. By the way, on this page you can most obviously tell which pictures were taken by me.
Taking a break from the bus, we took a short walk outside to see the mountains and breathe some good air. This is Jean, Tsengee, Dosho, and Bulgan.
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Dosho and Tony went to climb this humongous rock while everyone else rode those camels around in circles.
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Tuul, Bulgan, and Vincent watch as the group rides the camels. I would have taken pictures of the camels, but they charge 2,000 Mongolian for it!
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We inquired about the horse riding here, but Nyambaa said it was too expensive, so we skipped these folks. Jonny and I were disturbed by that guy's shirt.
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This is the river, which we actually drove the bus through. Some of us went into the river, but I didn't, of course. I also didn't go horseback riding, which we did here too.
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This picture is so cool: Dosho, Dembee, Gambaa, and Ganbaa talk in the office and look really tough.
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Nyambaa and Tuya lead a cell group in the church room at night. We would have gone, but we came back too late from the countryside. Doh!
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Me and Dosho! He is really quiet and shy but he leads worship like a maniac! His guitar skills are excellent (self taught) and his piano and improvisation technique is inhuman (he has studied two years so far at school).
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Nyambaa, me, and Tsengee. How did that guitar case get into the picture as if it were one of us?
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Jean and Charles here, from Seattle, Washington. When I first learned they were coming along for the ride, I had my doubts, but man, they were awesome!
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This was supposed to be a rad group picture but the flash was too weak and so the whole thing is too dark! But I fixed it up a little Photoshop.
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This is me, Seegii, and Dembee. Don't we all look great together? Of course, we'd look even better if I wasn't in the picture at all.
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Leedah stands with Tulga and Tseegi. How nice. You may have noticed that I am starting to sound like Helen after spending so much time with her on the trip.
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Okay, now you see Tulga and Tseegi with Vincent. Everybody wanted a picture with those two. They had better name their kid Jon.
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Posing: Tulga with his opera singing, Dembee with his vampire, Nyambaa playing basketball, and Leedah being...Leedah.
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Dembee and me. This is the last time we were to see him before we left (sniff). I wish he could have taught us more man's games.
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Vincent, me, and Tuya. Who cut Tuya off? And why do my photograph smiles always looks so fake? I can never make a genuine smile.
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Medic! Wayne, Leedah, and I writhe in agony. Someone forgot to use the flash here. I did some more Photoshop fixings, but that couldn't get rid of the bluriness.
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What a girly picture: Tuya, Cindy, Saruul, Gloria, Helen, Tsengee, and Baigalaa.
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Okay, this was SUPPOSED to be the boy-ey picture but whoever took this photo a) didn't use the flash, and b) moved the camera.
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Naraa, me, and Saruul. There's another one of my cheesy smiles. Naraa is going to Malaysia this year to study at a seminary. Why does someone keep cutting people off?
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This is Saruul and Leedah. You can clearly see which photos are mine (i.e., the sharp, well-lit, centered ones) and which ones aren't.
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