A little later this summer Big D is going to Mongolia.

Mongolia.  Until just a few years ago, I had given very little thought to the country of Mongolia.  It ranked right up there with the likes of Timbuktu, Djibouti, and Belize as far as geography was concerned.  I knew it was the country of Genghis Khan….and that was about it.

Then in 2006, my pastor and his family just up and became missionaries to Mongolia, and what do you know?….Mongolia became a place we heard about quite a bit and talked about over dinner and coffee.  (Obviously there’s a little….or a lot….more to the Andersons’ story which you can read about and follow at www.remembermongolia.org .)

Big D was invited on a missions trip to Mongolia with Watermelon Ministry to help with some photography projects.  It was a no-brainer for us really.  As soon as Big D told me he had been invited, I knew it was the right thing for him to do.  I say that nonchalantly, but that in itself is a major God-thing, as sometimes I’m not sure I want Big D to go to Kroger without me.  Sending him half-way around the world is a big step of faith for me…and him…and all of us.

Since that time just a couple of months ago so many things have fallen into place that it’s just crazy to think about.  I would not have been more in awe if I had woken up one morning to a neon sign flashing “Go to Mongolia!” in our front yard.

Spiritually, Mongolia is a dark country.  One thing Big D wanted to do was have a little something to give to locals as he took their pictures.   He thought of flashlights, and on a whim, he contacted www.coastportland.com to see if there was any way they would like to assist is bringing light, literally and figuratively, to Mongolia.  They said “yes”!

Yesterday Big D got a big box from Coast, and I’ve never seen him more excited.

Light.  Lots and lots of light….batteries included!

Big D  is a big fan of LED lights (so is Dirty Harry and his bird chest), so it was like Christmas opening the box because Coast included more than the 100 little lights.  They sent the two lights Big D is opening above.  They sent the lantern you see here…

And they sent this…

The X21.  Now I don’t know a ton about LED lights, but apparently this is the brightest one there is.  It is the Big Daddy of LEDs.

If the X21 had been on when I took this picture, I would be blind now…or dead.  Maybe.

We don’t even know exactly what Big D is going to be doing with these hundreds of dollars worth of lights yet, but God most definitely has a plan, and I’m getting so excited to see what that is.  Stay tuned as I’ll be following the saga here on my blog every step of the way!

In the meantime, let your light shine, people!