Once upon a time...

I love kiddies, being around them, playing with them, even just sitting with them. That’s mainly the thing that’s stuck with me the most from this recent trip to Mongolia. The landscape was breathtakingly beautiful. But above that were the people. The kiddies at camp, the teachers and translators we worked with, my 40 other teammates. This trip didn’t cause any radical transformation within me, but it was REAL and honest. I can’t really put it into words. It just felt natural. Being in Mongolia, going with the group of churchmates, interacting with the kiddies. Way too many things happened to share all of them with you.

I’ll share one specific story. From this camp, the kiddies taught me so much about myself and how to better love others. There was this one 18-year-old boy that I bonded especially well with. He actually reminded me a lot of my brother Enoch. He was in my “family” for the first week, so we got to hang out a lot. Up until then, we had a teasing/joking atmosphere going on. I guess he was more or less a clown and enjoyed making people laugh. One night during the second week, we the team, were treated to a “good-night song circle” where all 120 camp kids and us held hands in a huge circle and they sang for us several Mongolian songs. All us foreigners spread out and distributed ourselves around the circle. I inserted myself between two little boys and held their hands.

It was dark, so people were still settling into the circle. Then I saw a figure running towards me from across the circle. After some squinting, I realized it was my 18 yr old guy! He ran over and smoothly squished in beside me while we all made room for him. Throughout the singing, I tried hard to keep my tears from spilling over. I think he realized that I was close to crying so he gave my hand a reaffirming squeeze. I’m glad it was dark that night. Just the fact that he ran over to stand next to me showed how much love he was capable of. Someone whose parents left him at a shelter since he was a little boy. And I, someone with so much, have a hard time demonstrating my love to others. So from this boy, I've learned to take courage and to SHOW others my love for them. Put my words into actions. Because you never know, the smallest smile or touch could move and touch a person beyond any words you may say.

(Doesn't he look like my bro??)