Tuesday
Oct102006
My First Open House
Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 9:55PM
For those of you who were part of our lives in Franklin, you know that one of my favorite things to do was have an Open House. This is something I did every year at Christmas time, and if I could find an occasion, at other times as well. I loved to prepare a smorgasbord of different appetizers, desserts and beverages. I would work for weeks on a menu, shopping list and other phases of planning. Then I would cook for days before while Bernie and the kids would clean up and run various other errands.
Last week I had the opportunity to do that here in Mongolia. God has provided our little church with a new facility. We are renting a theatre for worship services and have four rooms in the basement for various ministry purposes. After a weekend of ministry training by a visiting Korean short-term team, the students went out into the streets to invite passers-by to our new worship place and then to a fellowship celebration afterwards.
So about two weeks ago I started putting together the menu and making my lists. I knew it had to be quite different from those I would do in the States because of limited access to ingredients and the Mongolians’ simple food tastes (i.e., meat and potatoes). The completed list looked like this:
Overall, I was pleased with the list. The ladies on our Mongolian team have a secondary agenda to introduce vegetables into the student’s diet. I knew they would love the sandwiches (which they coat with mayonnaise) and fruit. I hoped they would try the veggies, and who doesn’t like cookies?
Junhy Kim suggested we explain to them about the food before starting, but her husband Jacob was eager to get started, so he prayed to bless the food and turned them loose. Here is what happened:
• We had three tables in a corner of one room. The drinks and plates were on the first table, the meat, cheese, crackers, etc. on the second table and the sweets on the third table. They have no concept of forming a line here, so they all grabbed plates from the first table, skipped the second table and went to the other end of the dessert table. They filled their plates and then moved en masse to the second table.
• They were very intrigued by the cauliflower. They thought it was a type of mushroom. Juhny had to show them to dip it in the Ranch dressing and assure them it was good. Some were convinced to try it, some weren’t.
• Some of them put two or three things on their plate. Some of them piled their plate with huge mounds of food – three plates full!
• I had purchased the mayonnaise in a squeeze bottle to make it simpler. They had never done this before, so Junhy had to put the mayonnaise on their bread.
• Many of them didn’t try the European cheese. Narah had six slices – on her banana bread.
• They were confused by the dip. Some of them put it on their sandwiches, some on their banana bread and some of them put it on their sugar cookies (with icing and blue sprinkles).
Overall, it was successful. They ate all the meat, bread, fruit and cookies and about half of the vegetables. They didn’t eat very much crackers and cheese. Most of them cleaned their plates. We threw away very little food, except for one plate of someone’s uneaten cookies. I think I saw a tear in Dennis’ eye when he had to throw that away. Our field director loves his cookies.
The food was not the only interesting dynamic. Bernie and I had invited one of our language teachers and she came with two Korean friends. That was exciting for us. There was also a good response to the invitations given out by the students just before the service. There was a little street boy who came to the service and took the opportunity to ask all the foreigners for money. There was the older gentleman in traditional Mongolian clothing who went outside to smoke a joint between the service and the meal. They all had one thing in common – they realize their hunger for food. They need to know that the hunger in their heart can only be filled by God.
The students themselves were very encouraged and seemed to have a good time. Dennis asked us what we learned. As an afterthought, I know what I learned. Every one of the guys came up to me with a big smile on their face, shook my hand and thanked me. None of the girls did this. Moral of the story – regardless of what culture you are in - the way to men’s heart is still through their stomach.
Last week I had the opportunity to do that here in Mongolia. God has provided our little church with a new facility. We are renting a theatre for worship services and have four rooms in the basement for various ministry purposes. After a weekend of ministry training by a visiting Korean short-term team, the students went out into the streets to invite passers-by to our new worship place and then to a fellowship celebration afterwards.
So about two weeks ago I started putting together the menu and making my lists. I knew it had to be quite different from those I would do in the States because of limited access to ingredients and the Mongolians’ simple food tastes (i.e., meat and potatoes). The completed list looked like this:
Luncheon Meats (salami, bologna and various other fatty meats)
Fresh Bread
Veggie Tray with Ranch dip and Spicy Salsa dip
Fruit Bowl
Crackers and Cheese (Cheddar and Mozzarella – NOT Mongolian)
Peanuts
Sugar Cookies (decorated by Cori)
Banana Bread and Strawberry Bread
Chinese Donuts
Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Overall, I was pleased with the list. The ladies on our Mongolian team have a secondary agenda to introduce vegetables into the student’s diet. I knew they would love the sandwiches (which they coat with mayonnaise) and fruit. I hoped they would try the veggies, and who doesn’t like cookies?
Junhy Kim suggested we explain to them about the food before starting, but her husband Jacob was eager to get started, so he prayed to bless the food and turned them loose. Here is what happened:
• We had three tables in a corner of one room. The drinks and plates were on the first table, the meat, cheese, crackers, etc. on the second table and the sweets on the third table. They have no concept of forming a line here, so they all grabbed plates from the first table, skipped the second table and went to the other end of the dessert table. They filled their plates and then moved en masse to the second table.
• They were very intrigued by the cauliflower. They thought it was a type of mushroom. Juhny had to show them to dip it in the Ranch dressing and assure them it was good. Some were convinced to try it, some weren’t.
• Some of them put two or three things on their plate. Some of them piled their plate with huge mounds of food – three plates full!
• I had purchased the mayonnaise in a squeeze bottle to make it simpler. They had never done this before, so Junhy had to put the mayonnaise on their bread.
• Many of them didn’t try the European cheese. Narah had six slices – on her banana bread.
• They were confused by the dip. Some of them put it on their sandwiches, some on their banana bread and some of them put it on their sugar cookies (with icing and blue sprinkles).
Overall, it was successful. They ate all the meat, bread, fruit and cookies and about half of the vegetables. They didn’t eat very much crackers and cheese. Most of them cleaned their plates. We threw away very little food, except for one plate of someone’s uneaten cookies. I think I saw a tear in Dennis’ eye when he had to throw that away. Our field director loves his cookies.
The food was not the only interesting dynamic. Bernie and I had invited one of our language teachers and she came with two Korean friends. That was exciting for us. There was also a good response to the invitations given out by the students just before the service. There was a little street boy who came to the service and took the opportunity to ask all the foreigners for money. There was the older gentleman in traditional Mongolian clothing who went outside to smoke a joint between the service and the meal. They all had one thing in common – they realize their hunger for food. They need to know that the hunger in their heart can only be filled by God.
The students themselves were very encouraged and seemed to have a good time. Dennis asked us what we learned. As an afterthought, I know what I learned. Every one of the guys came up to me with a big smile on their face, shook my hand and thanked me. None of the girls did this. Moral of the story – regardless of what culture you are in - the way to men’s heart is still through their stomach.
Reader Comments (4)
Rene, It's good to see that all of you are getting so settled in. You are much braver than I could ever be. God knows who to send and who to let stand by the stuff.Good to hear that yur work is beginning to fall in place. We miss you here. As I tell Fred, "go easy on the 'black dog soup" big joke here. Keep in touch and may God keep His hand on you all, D. Mitchell
You seem to go out of your way to do wonderful things for others. How blessed that is Renee. I am doing all I can to take care of the Missions Dinner at church on the 25th of Oct. Not my gift maybe. Thanks for the encouragement.
Wendy K.
Hello,
This is my first time reading your posts. Daniel Cruver from his blog told his audience to come to your blog yesterday. I am fascinated with missionaries in Mongolia. My first encounter was Victor Plymire's biography from being a CMA missionary 100 years ago in Mongolia and other Central-Eastern Asian countries.
My family and I are from College Station, Texas. My wife has a heart for Asian peoples. Keep your family blogging, we'll be reading it.
~Paul
Hi Renee,
How fun to come back and read your blog after having been there with the Alliance Women Vision Tour and spending a little time with you all! It was such a wonderful trip and Mongolia has definately grabbed a big place in my heart. Keep up the great work, and know that we will be praying!
Shari