Mongolia Visa Trip - Surprise USA Trip

Okay, so I'm on the train from Ulan Ude, Siberia

to Ulan Bator, Mongolia

. . . getting smokey out there in the forest . . .

And there's the fire!

Train housing for the night . . . depart about 2 pm . . . 7 hrs (w/ no restroom) at the border . . . arrive at 7 am

Hot water on the train . . . coal heating . . . don't burn yourself!

Okay, so Mongolia is kinda of like modern meets nomad! I love it!

The yurts are an economical way to claim the land until they can build . . . cars, Soviet style apartment buildings, modern buildings, and everything else all mashed in together.

Hope Church . . . great place with translation into English!

Okay, so I can kinda read along since it uses the Cyrillic alphabet like Russian & Greek, but understanding is a whole different deal!  Thankfully, the older generation usually speaks a bit of Russian & the younger generation speaks some English . . . PHEW!

Here's a Soviet monument on Mongolian soil . . .

some kind of show of unity or peace between them.

Ghenghis Khan . . . in Sukhbataar Square . . .

 . . . and one of his horse riding warriors!

Samantha's (purple hat girl) Soccer Party! WHAT?!?  So, for the first time EVER, the consulate wouldn't do my visa in Mongolia, & I had to go on to the States.  Thank God for one of the cheapest places in Asia to buy tickets!

  It was a surprise 6 day trip, but what a treat to see my family!

Yes, & my other two nieces . . . Brianna & Dani

. . . guess I didn't take a lot of pix on this trip :-)

I did get my visa in record time in Seattle, but I will say that double jet-lagging yourself within 6 days & a 16 hour time change is a painful experience! Especially when you are prepping to teach a Youth Ministries Course a week later that will be simultaneously translated into Russian & Mongolian . . . can we say "headache????" How about "grace???" God was very good!!!