Morning run and abiding in Christ

We woke up this morning and went on a run into the Ger(Yurt) district near our hotel. We saw many kids going about their day carrying carts with jugs to get water. There is no electricity or running water in the Gers.  Mongolia is a very shamanistic culture, as we ran the two miles or so to the top of the hill we kept seeing piles of rocks, and sticks coming out of them with prayer flags tied to them. At the top of the hill was a Buddhist statue overlooking the city. Steve and Jesse explained about the Mongolian beliefs and the high places. The flags are tied to the stick coming out of the rocks and they worship the place or the area god(road god, sky god, river god). It was a great way to start out the trip to see where many of the people are spiritually and how all of us need to hear the good news of the Gospel. We ran back to the hotel after our brief talk, and stopped to do some buddy carries at one of the hills that shoots off the main road on the way back. Our hotel is right near Steve B. house so this is a run they do often.

Today's team study was on abiding in Christ from John 15:5 "the vine and the branches" . It was good to remember that to abide means: "an intimate relationship,  commitment to know, grow, spend time with, and being in fellowship with" and that for a vine to grow it must be pruned. Old growth does not produce fruit only new growth. Ian did a great job of relating it not only to our relationship with Christ, but to our upcoming competition. Often times in international competition the referring can be "questionable" if you are not from the home country. Ian reminded us that when things go against us it is a great time for us to able to reflects God's love by not over reacting, calming down, refocus on God, and take things in strides. Hopefully it is not a situation we will encounter as Mongolia has a rich wrestling history and tradition. But it is always good to be ready.