Ulan Bator – my ministry to the coldest capital city on earth

Jona with his ‘morin khuur ‘- a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument.

Jona is currently undertaking „Alternative service abroad” with HELP International Mongolia instead of military services in Germany. Below he describes his recent personal experiences.

 

For now more than six month I live here - in the country of wild horses and rambling nature. But for now I mainly live in the coldest capital city of the world at its coldest time of the year:
The crazy traffic, the dust, the winter smog which fades the sun red in the morning and makes it hard to breath. The Ger areas (Mongolian round tents) with its inscrutable roads, the straying dogs digging in the garbage at the side of the road, children queuing with their canister at the water houses and thousands of corner shops – It seems I already got used to all of that. 

Than there is the ‘Зах’, a market where you literally can buy everything. But after two hours shopping, one flees because of the cold, and I ask myself how the sales man can bare that hour by hour and day by day without freezing to death.

’100-аль’ and ‚Цайц’ are DIY stores where we often buy construction material, they work like a flee market, at every stand they pile up numerous things, and if they can’t find what you are looking for, they run through the iles to find it for you at someone else's stand. There are also supermarkets like ‘Home Plaza’ where you have a familiar ring because the shelves are filled with common reasonable priced branded goods – even though they are not particular favorable here.
My every-day work is to help in our alcohol-rehab and to help to care for homeless people. I like this work. We see the thankfulness of the people and sometimes we really see, how a life is changed.

More about HELP Mongolia >>

 

Three Months In Austin

Hello, my name is Peter.
For the past 10 years I have been living in Lüdenscheid, Germany and am a member of the FCJG fellowship. I have always wanted to make a mission trip abroad and find out what it is like to live as a missionary.

So that's why I decided to come to the United States for three months to serve alongside the HELP for all Nations team. Since July 2009 our team has been living on a large property about 20 miles outside of Austin where HFAN is building the LIFEHOUSE Training Center.

This place offers a lot of practical work. In the last three months we have done so much. Last week we finished a 550 yard fence. That was pretty hard work!

We also take the Cream And Sugar trailer to the streets of Austin three times a week to serve the homeless and drug addicts. I myself was a heroin addict for many years but I have been set free by the power of Jesus. I was very surprised that there are so many young and also elderly people who live on the street. We serve those people in a very practical way. We build relationships and welcome them just as they are. Most of them are very grateful and love to visit us at Cream And Sugar.













On the LIFEHOUSE property we are now at the point where we are able to take in guests fromthe street. I will not be able to see this for myself because I'm leaving in a few days. However, I am very excited about what God is doing here. For me it was a very good time with many challenges. It is wonderful to see how this ministry is developing. This trip has definitely been worth it! What I learned most is to trust God with everything. I was able to see how the team is trusting God and how the Lord is providing for them.

To find out more about internships at HELP for all Nations, visit: http://www.hfan.org/internship/. If you would like to make a donation, you cando it here.

Ike Relief

From HELP Texas: "The house had been nine feet under water and everything was damaged and full of mold. Our job was to tear down and remove all the inside drywall and spray the frame with mold treatment."
As I stared in disbelief at the piles of rubble in this house that had once been a home, I wondered what I had gotten myself into!
On October 17 to 19, our team went to the Houston area where Hurricane Ike did the greatest damage and supported an organization called CORE. CORE coordinates volunteers from throughout the United States for disaster relief and is referring them to owners of destroyed houses.


At midday, we arrived in Nassau Bay, where CORE uses a Lutheran Church as a base of operations. We were equipped with tools and a coordinator accompanied us to a house. The owner was a retired widow, about 65 years old, she had been evacuated before the hurricane struck. When she was able to return to her home, she was obviously overwhelmed with all the damage. She was particularly concerned because, like many Americans, she was not insured. We were able to help her by doing the groundwork for the construction workers, who will repair her house in the next few weeks.
That was really an exhausting job, but at night we had a good time in the camp. We had two other groups were there with us, so this added to the fellowship and fun. One group was from Baylor University (in Waco, Texas) and the other was from Mississippi.
The next day we spent with a family whose house in Galveston Bay had been completely under water. We removed plasterboard from the wall and then sprayed the frame with chemicals. When we finished only the frame of the house was left. It was an amazing transformation down to the bones of the house. Ordinarily, it would seem depressing to see a house like this. However, knowing what the house looked like when we arrived, you would have to say it was a happy sight!
The owner was an amazing man and showed such a great attitude. He is sailor; his boat was about 200 meters away from the house, next to the harbor. It was tossed from the water onto land! He was so grateful to have our help that he prepared some real Texas food for us. In the middle of the construction site with the garbage piled around, he made turned the radio on, listened to his music, and prepared spareribs and beans.

Nassau Bay is very nice, but it is really sad to know that many peoples retirement homes were literally washed away. Some areas in town have been cleared from debris or were not as badly devastated, but other places are totally wrecked. One woman had a jet ski lying in her backyard. When I asked her if it is hers she replied only: "No, this is my neighbors, he lives three houses down the road." The jet ski had been washed over garden fence. Unbelievable!
It has a high impact on me to witness such devastation with my own eyes. This is something you usually only know from television. However, more than the devastation, it is good to witness the fellowship and willingness of so many volunteers who have come to help out. You don't see feel that very easily on the television, either. Our work was a huge blessing for these people, since many will pay $5,000 U.S. dollars or more for the removal of the drywall. And doing the work was a huge blessing for our team. God is good!