Update June 27th (By Mom)

Hi all,

I wanted to give you an update on Jesse. He has been really busy and hasn’t had much access to internet. Late in May, Jesse, Steven and Sukhee were preparing for the Athlete’s in Action team coming out from the States. AIA arrived in UB on June 2^nd. The AIA team is lead by John Peterson (of the famous wrestling move – The Peterson!

The first morning, after a time of sharing and prayer, the team heard from Jon the camp director explaining that these next two weeks have been part of Gods plan for an eternity and to be expectant to see Him at work.

They started the 2^nd day with a 4 mile run through the Ger district. This was the first time the AIA team got a taste of the Shamanistic nature of the Mongolians seeing several worship poles and a Buddhist shrine. After that, they went to the juvenal prison and played basketball with the inmates. Chris C. of Oklahoma State shared his testimony. Others shared about their faith and Ian shared the gospel towards the end of the presentation while Suhkee interpreted.

On the 3^rd day they team had mat workouts and weight checks. A bunch of the guys worked out with the Mongolians there to develop a bond and get to know them a bit.

There has been some political unrest in UB and talk of not allowing large gatherings, but they gave their appoval for the John Peterson International Tournament to take place June 4^th and 5^th.  The Cadets wrestled on the 4^th and Juniors on the 5^th. The AIA team, then takes the top three winners in each bracket to the countryside for a wrestling camp. There were about 100 wrestlers at the camp that takes place in a location about six hours north of UB by bus.

A typical day includes morning calisthenics, stretching and conditioning. In the afternoons there is a 2 hour workout session. It’s during this time the AIA team of wrestlers share their faith, testimonies and share the gospel with the campers. The Mongolians look forward to this tournament every year because of the high caliber of coaches and wrestlers AIA sends over.

Jesse said the food at the camp was more diverse than the last wrestling camp he attended there. In addition to the course of soup with meat and main course of meat, they added a salad with meat. Top that off with the hot tea provided after practice and meals and you pretty much have the food covered! No carbs to be seen anywhere. (Jesse is so excited to have a Gatorade!) His job was to run the skits in the evening in a Young Life type club event. I hope he took some video!

They got back to UB to prepare for the trip to the Ukraine to put on a similar tournament in Keiv and a camp in the countryside.

You may know, Jesse’s visa had expired and we were wondering if he was going to be able to leave the country without too much difficulty. Their strategy of lying low, seemed the best. He had to pay a fine that was less costly in time and cash than a trip out of the county and back and a new visa. Jesse was never worried, but we were relieved he didn’t spend time in a Mongolian prison!

I believe program is pretty similar in Kiev as it is in UP.  We haven’t heard from Jesse since his first day or so in Kiev.  At this point he is “off the grid” and we may not have contact until he steps into the terminal in Sacramento!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support this past year. As is typical, God has done “immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” Eph 3:20

I can’t believe Jesse will be home on Sunday!

Chris

Update 16 May

Hello everybody, I hope you are having a nice spring!  Last month we had a great trip to China, we were in Beijing for a week, and we pretty much saw everything there was to see.  I've seen so many pictures of the Great Wall and stuff I almost felt like a had been there already.  We had a lot of fun just being in the city, the weather was great and the people were all super nice.  The last two days we were in Beijing we were able to wrestle with some of the guys, and girls I should say, at the National Sport University.  They weren't the best wrestlers in China, but it was good to work out with them , and we also were able to hook up with an Athletes in Action guy working in Beijing and help him make some connections with the wrestlers there!  Joe left from Beijing back home and arrived safely, it was a joy and a blessing to have him out here!

Sukhbaatar has been Korea for the last month-he just got back last week-so things were a little slow with our ministry without his connections and translating abilities.  We were able to do one program with some orphans here in the city, and play with them and share a little about Jesus.  I have been able to a lot wrestling and lifting and training-type stuff with the free time so that has been good!

In June we, AIA, will put on the John Peterson wrestling tournament, and then an Athletes in Action wrestling camp right after.  A team of American guys is flying out to help us, and teams from Inner-Mongolia, China, Buryatia, Russia, and possibly North Korea are also coming to compete and go to the camp if all goes according to plan.  The last month, has been a lot of preparing for these events.  These are both very big ministry opportunities, and hopefully the Lord will help us to make the most of them!

Thanks for checking in with me, please be praying! and I hope all is well back home.

And by the way I did get accepted back into school last week, so that was GOOD news!

Update 11 April

Hello hello!

It has been a very busy and exciting month or so!  Joe and I had a great time in Russia, and really enjoyed the training we got to do there.  We also got to go to Lake Baikal and see some cool stuff there.

We've had a lot of time for wrestling lately, and haven't been able to do as much ministry work because Sukhee is gone in Korea and most of the Mongolian wrestlers have been doing a lot of traveling lately.  However I know that God is still using us here!  These last couple weeks we have been meeting a lot of new guys and wrestlers and hopefully being witnesses to them.

Although there were a lot of complications Steve, Joe and I just got our visas to fly to China this evening!  Steve has to go to Beijing to renew his Mongolian visa (don't ask why, it really makes no sense) so we decided to make a trip out of it.  Through some connections we've made we are hoping to practice with the Chinese freestyle and greco teams while we are there.  Also we've been in contact with a Athletes in Action guy who lives in Beijing, and he is planning to put us to work with his ministry there so pray for that!

Joe will be flying home to America from Beijing, so we will be saying goodbye to him.  It really has been a blessing having him out here!  This last weekend we were able to visit Terelj, the national park which Joe hadn't been to.  It was pretty evident, to put it lightly, that I am a legitimate cowboy.  We did some horse riding and stumbled across a herd of yaks, so we spent a while driving them around.  I was natural, and I'm fairly confident if the Air Force doesn't accept me I can get a job herding cattle.  It's always good to have a back up plan!

Anyways thanks for you prayers!  Things are going good out here and I hope all is well back home!

Outside our hotel in Russia

our good friend Lenin

This is a very typical Russian window frame

Lake Baikal

I wasn't kidding...

Update 9 March

Sorry to keep you waiting! Its been a busy couple of weeks.  Right after my last post we left for the country side.  We drove west of UB and visited the Bogd Aimek, Erdenet, and Darkhan.  We visited wrestling clubs and and sports clubs in all three cities.  It went really well with all our programs and all the kids were extremely grateful for their Shoebox Christmas presents.  Joe and I were mostly in charge of playing some games with the kids, and then we would mostly just say a little bit about ourselves, and a little about the Gospel.  Steve and Sukhee mostly say the important stuff.

I was continually amazed again by how many of the presents are from local California areas.  It really is special being able to pass out these gifts for all the people that I live so close to.  The highlight, was one present from a girl at the Loomis Basin Charter School!  I emailed my mom a picture so she could bring it into the school.

After we got back from the country was the Tsagaan Sar celebration here in UB.  It's the one week celebration of the Mongolian New Year.  Literally everything in town was shut down for three days.  We didn't understand this at first so we walked around for three hours trying to find somewhere to eat lunch.  Needless to say, we were unsuccessful.  We did get to visit a couple Mongolia families, as is the holiday tradition.  We were basically forced to put down some really strange foods and drinks, but we were good sports.  We took advantage of the down time to visit the Ganden, the biggest Buddhist temple in Mongolia, and Hustai National Park, which is one of two places where you can see the Przhevalsky horse in it's natural habitat.

The next week we found out Monday that Joe and I would be leaving Monday night to join the Mongolian National wrestling team at their training camp out in the country side.  So we got to ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad 12 hours out of UB do some wrestling.  It wasn't as tough as US training, but we learned a lot wrestling with the guys.  I was really great to get to hang out with all the wrestlers for the week and build better relationships with all them.  I'm praying it will help our ministry with the guys in the future!  What we weren't expecting was a week of soup, meat, and hot tea three meals a day!  We made it, but i was really craving some cold gatorade and some carbs by the end.

I had to rush through this post today because we are heading back out the country side again tomorrow morning.  This time we travel to three eastern most Aimeks (states, or provinces) of Mongolia.  We will be working with local churches this time, and doing programs in the cities out east and giving away SP presents to the kids.

Thank you so much for your prayers I could definitely see God working around me these last weeks!  Keep it up and pray for our programs that we could honor God and reach to the hearts of the people around us!

Thanks again, I hope all is well!

and by the way....
This was definitely a quick over view of all that happened these last couple weeks so if you would like to hear more about it email me or call me on Skype sometime!

Update Feb. 18

Thank you for your prayers! The last couple weeks have been very eventful and very good!  We've started doing more and more with the Samaritan's Purse Shoe Box presents and have been visiting clubs throughout UB.  In the last two weeks we have probably visited 6 or 7 wrestling, boxing, gymnastics and ping pong clubs.

We usually play some games with the kids or wrestle with them if its a real club (wrestling club), and then talk to them for a little bit.  We all share a little bit about ourselves and the AIA club.  Steve and Sukhee talk a little about the meaning of the boxes- Christmas, and who Jesus is.  But the best part is watching the kids open the boxes, they absolutely light up!  It's pretty fun to go around and show them how to use the various toys and things they get.

It's also pretty amazing to see God working in little ways.  It seems like every place we visit our information wasn't quite right and we aren't gonna have enough boxes.  But, somehow, even if it usually comes down to one last bag hidden in the back somewhere every kid has left with a gift.  I am constantly being amazed every place we visit.

Also for those of you who donated shoe box presents, know that they are being put to good use!  I've seen kids get boxes from Rocklin, Roseville, and Lincoln already!  Out of 8 million donated around the world they came to Mongolia!

It's truly an honor to be one of the people helping these away.  I had to rush this post because early tomorrow morning we are leaving for the countryside.  We'll drive probably around 10 hours total and visit Darkhan, Erdenett, and one other city west of UB.  Please pray for our trip, the God would use us to reach out to these kids and the people we meet, and that we would be lights for Him!

Thanks, I will try and let you know how the trip goes soon!  Thanks for your prayers and I hope all is well!

Update Feb. 2

It's been a good couple of weeks!  Joe got in the Sunday before last and it has really been a blessing having him here.  He's a tough wrestler and definitely a good partner to work out with when the practices are a little slow.  He's also a great addition to have to help with the bible studies and ministry, building relationships with the wrestlers here.  And as Cindi said, my best friend out here should't be a 56 year-old man, referring of course to Steve.

This last week we got both the youth group and the wrestling bible studies back up and running.  They both went very well.  At the wrestling bible study a wrestler came who had never opened a bible in his life, and it was really a cool to get the opportunity to share with him.  Also, I recognized the value of this wrestling ministry a little bit more.  Cool Stuff! We have both the same bible studies later this week so please pray for those!

As for the next couple months we pretty much have the same stuff on the table as before.  We should doing some traveling out to the country side with the SP project (Samaritan's Purse) in the next couple weeks.  And we're also trying to get a few visa's to visit a couple other countries if that works out.

My camera also broke this last weekend so wasn't able to get a ton of new photos.  I'll be going to try and get it fixed this weekend so we'll see how that goes, Sorry!

Anyways, thank you for your prayers and I will keep you updated!

Back to Business!!

Boom!  Back to work, I arrived in back here in the coldest capital in the world, Ulaan Baatar, last monday and was greeted as such.  It's below -40 this week, but on the bright side my friend Minga informed me that these will be the coldest two weeks of the winter.  Then it will start to sloooowly get warmer (I guess thats a good thing).

This last weekend was the Mongolian Open, so it has been a very busy couple weeks.  I helped a little bit hosting some of the Americans who were here to wrestle in the tournament.  This included the entire US Women's team, four men's wrestlers from Iowa, and myself.  I lost my first match, getting caught in a lot of funky positions, but wrestled decent.  Then that guy lost a round or two later so I was done.  It was still a good experience wrestling in a big international competition, there were something like 14 or 15 countries, including North Korea, which was kinda cool.  Three women took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and we didn't have any men's placers.

It was fun having them in town; however, and I got to show them around a little bit.  We also had a few banquet type things for the tournament, and then visited the US Ambassadors house here in Mongolia.  All that stuff pretty much dominated my first week back, but now I'm getting on a schedule.

Tomorrow I will start leading the youth group once again, and I'm excited to get that back rolling.  On Sunday Joe Schumacher from North Dakota should be flying out here.  He is another wrestler about my age who's coming out here to do basically the same thing I am.  It will be nice to have someone working and training with me!

In the next couple months I will be continuing to wrestle and train a lot, and I should get the opportunity to wrestle in a few more tournaments.  Also, in February, we will begin traveling way out to the country side, helping with the Samaritan's Purse Project,  giving away shoe box Christmas presents, and sharing with the kids and people out there.  There is lots of exciting stuff ahead!

I had a great time at home and I'm sure I got to see most of you.  I'm also excited to be back out here, and to see what God has in store for me!  Keep me in your prayers please and I will keep you updated!

...and I got some cool pictures this week!