A Few Days of Family Vacation

     We took a few days of vacation time between the church camp and a village trip.  Even though it was August, the weather was still nice (usually it's cooler and rainy this time of year).  We stayed at our friends' hostel and enjoyed times playing on the beach together.  Ira told us about an amazing beach that had NO GARBAGE and no rocks!!  It was great.

      We prepared most of our meals, but went to this cafe two evenings.  I called it "my favorite restaurant in the world".  Everyone thought I was joking, but I wasn't.  We got to sit in outdoor seating, overlooking the town.  The weather was perfect.  The food was good and inexpensive.  AND because of the way the tables were, we could talk in normal voices in English without people staring at us.  Perfect.

 

I love this picture that Irene took of Ella and Leif.  I love these guys!

 

       One day we drove down the road about 10 minutes to "Turtle Rock".  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed climbing different rocks and exploring.

     Irene and the kids enjoyed finding treasures on the beach like rocks and broken glass.  In the background you can see the famous turtle rock (with a tree sticking out of it's shell).

     Near our perfect no-garbage beach is a new development of fountains and gazebos.  Here, we were trying out the panorama setting on our camera... you can see 2 Anneka's.  =)

There were all sort of fun little walkways.

     Me and my little guy!  This place was such an interesting mix of really nice new things paired with totally undeveloped vast areas of dirt and weeds.

We all toured the lighthouse one day.  

Such a great view!

     It's common to see Buryat culture mixed into buildings and architecture.  I'm guessing this yurt will be a little cafe someday.

Irene snapped this great picture of the kids dogpiling me.

     The water was COLD, but we still enjoyed being here.

     On the last day, our friends took us to a smaller lake nearby and gave us their boat to use all day!  They are so gracious and kind!  I think this is Leif and Anneka in the background.

     There were a lot of bees on the shore (Ella got her first sting!), so we were happy to get out on the lake.  When we returned to shore, we set up our tent on the shore to protect from the bees.

 
     We fished along the way.  Ike caught this fish all by himself with a piece of corn.  He was the only person to catch anything.  He was so proud!  =)

     A highlight of this trip for me was at the very end.  I ran to the pharmacy for some hydrogen peroxide and ended up picking up a hitchhiker who was looking for a ride to the next town.  I told her that she'd need to come back to pick up my family with me first before we set off.  It turns out that she's a Buryat believer and had prayed for a ride.  It was very encouraging talking with her.  When I brought her back to our hostel she talked with our friend, at first not knowing that he's not a believer.  She asked him if he's a pastor.  He chuckled and said no.  (at that point, I had the thought- wouldn't it be wonderful if he became a pastor one day?)  Then she began to preach at him.  It was a little awkward, but I'd just prayed that morning for boldness in sharing Christ with him.  So I just prayed and trusted God knew what He was doing better than us!  And then when we got in the van she said that she believed the Lord told her that our friend would become a pastor one day... a very kind pastor.  I pray that this is true and love to think of it!

     It was nice to have this time together, and we thank God for His many blessings!