by Anthony & Vita Trujillo

Greetings from Mongolia! Last year, when the two of us came to Mongolia with the Peace Corps, we really had no idea what to expect. Images of Chinges Khaan, nomads on horses and gers ("gairs") in the middle of the steppe came to our minds. Now add businessmen in suits, bloc apartments and the construction crane parked across the ger across the street.

We are living in Darkhan, Mongolia's second largest city with about 100,000 people. I (Vita) volunteer at an American NGO that assists micro entrepreneurs in developing their businesses. The main focus of my assignment is to build the capacity of the Mongolian staff as well as work with several small business clients.

My work is challenging but rewarding. Recently, I've been working with vegetable farmers, teaching them about vegetable companion planting, herbs and home remedies for insect control without the use of harmful pesticides.

I (Anthony) am an English teacher at a secondary school of about 1,600 students and six other Mongolian English teachers. A large part of my job is to find ways to help motivate teachers and students to explore the world and communicate using English. This year I have been teaching classes and developing an English library with stimulating materials.

The larger part of our job is simply to do our best to love, encourage, and help people. From the Peace Corps perspective, hopefully this demonstrates the goodwill of our country. Furthermore, our hope is that we can demonstrate God's "peace and goodwill toward men."

Through this experience, we are learning a lot about ourselves and how Christ sustains this world. You'll be glad to know that the Mongolian Church here is young and vibrant. Most of all, we want to thank you for your prayer and encouragement. Before we left, we asked you to pray for a Christian community here that we could be a part of and we have been extremely blessed to find Christian friends in the Peace Corps and in our city.

If you would like to know more about Mongolia, Mongolians and what we're up to, send us an email at atrujillo23@yahoo.com and we'll be happy to include you in our mailing list.