Mingyong, 27, went for a 6-month Short Term Mission trip to Mongolia.  He was assigned to teach in 2 private school and 1 government school.  The followings are some of his experience, observation and thoughts.  

Teaching.

I was attached to a local NGO.  My main ministry in Mongolia was working with the youth.  Thoughout the 6 months, I was assigned to teach.  My students age group ranges from 9 -17 years old.   

As it was my very first time teaching and working experience with young people, I encountered lots of difficulties and problems.  Firstly, I had to learn how to teach. Then, I needed to learn how to reach out to them by being their teacher.  It meant a lot of heartache, disappointment and frustration.  The situation was worsen by the fact that quite a number of students were not interested in learning as my teaching was mostly in English which they couldn't understand..  

Many times I was driven to my knees crying out for help from God.  God answered my prayer.  My teaching skill improved and my relationship with the students grew stronger.  We started to have more meaningful and in depth conversation as I got to know their background, lifestyle and behavior better.  I was given the opportunity to pray and share Christ with them.  I pray that  the good work  the Lord has started will be harvested some day.

Young Church.

Only after the Iron Curtain had fallen in 1992 was there a church growth registered in Mongolia.  However, the church at the best is in its growing stage as the oldest Christian in terms of spiritual age is only 16.  There had been cases of untrained pastors with wrong teaching and church workers running away with offering.  

Super cold winter.

The weather was cool there.  -18C to -25C is considered normal and good in winter!   My coldest experience was -34C.  A windy day was even worse as the wind blew mercilessly across your face. Having ice flakes on hat, scarf and glove was pretty common, not to mention the minor frost bite.  The cold had caused the people in the "ger" (more about it later) district to burn anything (plastic, tyres, clothes) to stay warm.   This caused severe air pollution and a fellow missionary had his doctor advising him to stop smoking.  But he never somked at all!!

The people.

I found that people from countryside are generally more friendly than the ones in the city.  City dwellers generally put on an "unfriendly"  look which seemed to ask you to keep an arm length away.  However, most of the people I got to know were very friendly and hsopitable though the first impression might not be so. 

Customer service.

Talking about unfriendliness, then one must mention about customer service in Ulaan Baatar.  In UB, customer service practically didn't exist.  Staff, not the customers  were the king.  Bascially, there was no "welcome", "thank you" were hard to come by and smile was almost non-existent.  The bottomline is if you want to buy, you buy;  if not, forget about it.  Don't expect customer service...     

The city.   

There are 3 main streets running through UB where most shopping centres and restaurants are found.   Keep to the 3 main streets and you will be never get lost in UB as they are practically just 3 straight roads.  Housing in the city are usually apartments that bear the culture of the Russian under communism.  

The Ger District.

The less fortunate will have to make do with "huts" built by themselves.  They tend to gather in the same location and it is called the "ger" district.     In these districts, there is no proper sanitation, electricity and water system.  People will have to dig their own toilet and carry  their own water.  Heating is provided by the burning of coal and wood.  Due to fast urban migration, these "ger" districts are expanding at an exponetial rate.