Mongolian Wisdom: A Story from a Missionary in Wisconsin

Following up on my last post about the emergence of the Church in Mongolia, let me share a story from one of the elders from Mongolia who served in Wisconsin, as related by a fellow missionary. The brief story shows the deep wisdom of the Mongolian people, wisdom that the Western world would do well to adopt.

The Mongolian elder, shortly after arriving in this strange land of America, was invited to a dinner appointment in a member’s home. In the middle of the meal, the elder was shocked and troubled about the animal that walked freely into the room. He couldn’t believe that the family simply sat back and tolerated the presence of that animal, which he viewed as a wild pest on the order of rodents, something that should at least have been kicked out of the house. It was difficult for him to accept that Americans treat cats this way.

There is deep wisdom there. I think we need to reconsider our ways. Please don’t assume that I speak from any sort of personal bias, possibly affected by growing up with cats and thinking for years that I had bad hay fever when it turns out I’m allergic to the darling little devils. I actually like cats, but the Mongolians have a point.

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Author: Jeff Lindsay

4 thoughts on “Mongolian Wisdom: A Story from a Missionary in Wisconsin

  1. I really don’t think that the Mongolian missionary has any point at all as a matter of fact all it shows is that he was biased towards another culture that he did not understand , which sees cats as a pet rather than some rodent or something that should be on the menu .

    Now is the problem the missionaries or the fact that he was not taught or versed correctly on american culture and their affection towards certain animals , I dare say it is the latter .

    I don’t think the missionary should have commented at all on it. I now it’s only a small thing I mean cats who really cares about them , after all cats really don’t care about humans lol .

    Sometimes I get tired of missionaries especially the ones that feel they can comment on what they find in your home the type that when your speaking to them , their eyes are wandering around your house trying to take it all in scanning your book shelf to see if everything is ok not to mention your dvd collection.

    They should never forget they are there as guests nothing else as a matter of fact if they where not members of the church you wouldnt have half of them in your home anyway, personal opinion anyway

  2. Personally I love having missionaries over at my house and who cares if they are curious what I am reading or watching.

    This post reminded me of another thing about mongolia… The missionary who taught our family thought it disgusting that americans eat corn, in Mongolia, at least where he lived, corn was for animals, not humans.

  3. Yeah, corn seems to be popular in the US but scorned many other places.

    In North Vietnam, the communists gave fresh sweet-corn on the cob to American POW’s thinking they were insulting them by giving them animal food, but the POW’s loved it.

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