This is my first time blogging. I guess I write it more as a journal, but I’ve been meaning to write for a while now.
There have been a few places that have felt like home to me. Of course, when I was a child, every place my parents were felt like home. I lived in ten different houses by the time I was old enough to move out, and all of them felt like home; they had the stability of my good parents. But, I guess I have a different meaning when I say “home” here. Here it means a place that calls to me even when I’m not there and comforts me when I am. The first place like this was Burlington, Wyoming.
Burlington, Wyoming 44.4472° N, 108.4323° W
I spent a lot of time by myself outdoors. We moved there when I was almost 12, and I loved exploring. Later in life, I spent a lot of time with family and friends in the badlands south of Burlington which are called Tatman. I went there for recreation, for family time, and sometimes for comfort. That was the first time I learned to love a place.
There were winters there when the temperature dropped to -40°. Wyoming is landlocked and very dry. It has a very low population density–second only to Alaska. These are characteristics that it shares with the next place I think of as home.
Mongolia 47.9221° N, 106.9155° E
Within a few degrees of being exactly on the other side of the world from Burlington Wyoming is Mongolia. It, too, is landlocked. The elevation of Ulaanbaatar (the capital) is only four feet higher than the elevation of Burlington, Wyoming. Mongolia is tied as for the country with the least population density of any in the world. Winters in Mongolia get very cold, often reaching -40° or colder. When I arrived there on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 21, 2000, I recognized much of the ruggedness in the land that I had come to love in Wyoming.
I have wanted to return to Mongolia ever since I left. I love the people. I love the culture. I love the language. I love the land. She isn’t my country, but I loved my time there. I talked to Jennifer about my desire to return someday. We talked about it back when we were engaged to be married. She has grown to love Mongolia also, and we hoped somehow we would be able to go back–not just to visit, but to move there. Jennifer felt strongly the day would come. I thought too much time has past and that the opportunity was lost to me.
Parkerfield, Kansas
We’ve been living here in Kansas for three years. I love it here. I love the pace, the people, the sunrises and sunsets, and the peace. This has been such a peaceful and positive time for our family. This is where we were planning to retire. I’m 45 now, and I’m much less adventurous than I used to be.
On July 30, 2025, I got a text from a close friend in Georgia telling me about a podcast he had listened to. It was about the history of our church in Mongolia. I listened to the podcast on a drive home from Wichita with tears steaming down my face. I remembered how much I love the Mongolian people and the country itself. I though too much time had passed, but the Spirit bore witness to me that it was time to go back to Mongolia. There are so many people that I feel are more talented, more capable, better Mongolian speakers, more righteous and more financially stable than I am. I don’t know what I can to add to what others have done. But I’m very grateful to my Heavenly Father that this is happening.
At the end of September 2025, I flew to Mongolia to see if I could get a feel for how things had changed in the 25 years since I’d been there. It wasn’t long before I felt at home once again. It was a good visit.
We purchased tickets for August 24th of this year for our whole family to fly out there. Jen and I just found out yesterday that we won’t be able to keep my job with IBM while I’m there. The people I work with and under at IBM have been so good to me. I’m very grateful for my job there. IBM doesn’t have a presence in Mongolia though, so there are a lot of reason I can’t work for them from there. I don’t often feel what others describe as a burning of the bosom when I feel the Spirit. I more often feel thoughts or ideas that I need to pursue. When I hung up the phone after speaking with my friend and boss, though, I felt the everything was going to be okay. Not only that, but separating from IBM was part of the process.
So, there are a few things we have questions about, but I want to track them because I know they’ll work themselves out.
Questions & Answers
- Question: How will we pay for tickets to Mongolia.
- Answer: Just before Thanksgiving 2025, I was rear-ended, and my car was totaled. The insurance company took good care of us, and we used some of that money to get passports and purchase tickets
- Question: What will we do with our house?
- Answer: I don’t know yet
- Question: Where will we live when we get there?
- Answer: I don’t know yet
- Question: Where will the kids go to school?
- Answer: Lucy will most likely complete her high school education online. For everyone else, I don’t know yet. Some of the kids are thinking about going to Mongolian public school and learning the language.