Lhagva’s Strength.

The camels were hunched up together, their humps looking like ski slopes. The snow and wind were both biting when I first saw him.

Lhagva came towards the van with a pronounced limp in the right leg, withering right arm locked up near his body and his hand was bent at a permanent right angle. He was wearing a light green sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. I was freezing in three layers of clothing.

Over the next 40 days,  two unlikely people would become as brothers. I could speak no Mongolian. He could speak no English. At first  I wasn’t sure if he could speak at all. He helped with the family’s goats in Mongolia’s South Gobi Desert.

I noted in my journal that I thought that he might be ‘slow’. He has an odd laugh and occasional seizures. Lhagva is thirty years old and lives with his parents and younger sister.

Lhagva’s abilities became obvious on the fifth day of my forty day venture. Needing some space I decided to climb the 700 foot high sand dunes. It became obvious that he wanted to go with me.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to be slowed down by possible seizures, his limping gate and useless arm. I wanted to say ‘no’, but ‘ok’ came out of my mouth.

I would have failed without him. He knew the best route. When he got too far ahead of me, he waited. Lhagva let me rest when I caught up with him. When we finally reached the highest point, he stepped aside to let me claim that little spot of glory ahead of him.

His abilities far outweighed his limitations. Throughout the forty days his weaknesses made room for strength. Bent on learning English he devoured new vocabulary words with the same odd laugh. Lhagva now speaks Mongolian, some English and displays much courage.

Lhagva inspires me every day.

“Mind your toes.” “Please keep away for safety.” “Please take care of all of your belongings.” The Chinese are surely a polite people. I am amused at the translation of the basic warnings, but their communication is effective.

The purpose of communication is to transfer a specific thought from one person to another. I like the “McDonalds Drive Thru” method of communication …. 1) I order something over the loudspeaker. 2) The receiver repeats it back to me ending with the question, is that correct? 3) After I confirm that I was understood, the receiver asks, “Is there anything else?”

Maybe I should explain the one about “Please mind your toes.” It was on the escalator, just below “no trolley’s.

The flight from Chicago to Beijing China was awesome. I was assigned emergency row seating. I felt like a school crossing guard. A lot depended on me getting the door open if there were an emergency. And the traveler next to me was as generous as he was friendly.

“Terry” was born in China, educated in Japan, and for the twenty years he has lived in the United States. Ohio is his present home. He works in research and development for a pharmaceutical company. He was baptized in the Chinese church of Chicago and took a great interest in the work I do, especially concerning those in Mongolia. When we parted company, Terry slipped me a handful of $20 dollar bills.

Fifteen hours in the Beijing airport isn’t bad. I consider it training for the Gobi Desert. Coffee shops, restaurants, and iPhone charging stations dot the landscape like life giving oasis’s here in the PEK airport, Terminal #3. Will the Gobi have coffee shops?

In five hours my flight leaves for Ulaanbaatar. Time enough to hit a few more local watering holes. “KUNGFU” is next.

Keeping food on the table is job #1 through a career transition.

I had been hanging around home for nearly a week and knew that I needed to make some money while I figured things out. A friend offered to wash the windows of our house and reluctantly I agreed to help. What I learned surprised me.

With the proper equipment and technique, washing windows wasn’t the torture I had imagined. I borrowed  her equipment to help another friend launch a new Italian restaurant. I showed up with the bucket, mop and squeegees and soon ‘Bernadoni’s’ giant panes were ready for opening day. Through the sparkling glass I saw a Mexican restaurant across the street. Mmmmmm

I walked in with all the confidence of a professional and said, ‘I see your windows are dirty, I’ll clean them for ten bucks plus lunch.’

“OK” he said. Those words were the turning point for me. Three windows and fifteen minutes later I had ten dollars in my pocket and a burrito special on my plate.

For a hundred dollar investment, I had every thing I needed to go into the window cleaning business. My homemade business cards said “Clean Windows By Dan”.

It was easy to spot the storefronts with dirty windows. The sales pitch was over in fifteen seconds and sixty seconds later I was either working, or moving on to the shop next door.

I left my house in the morning, unemployed and with an empty money bag but came home at the end of the day with a couple hundred bucks, tired and feeling good. I knew that food was always going to be on the table.

Fifteen years later I still get an occasional phone call asking, “Is this ‘Clean Windows by Dan?”

Not anymore.

Dan Hennenfent is a Professional Life Coach helping people make career changes that move them toward service through ministry. Since December 1999, Dan has been the Executive Director of a non profit 501(c)3 Public Charity that serves the poor and disadvantaged. danhennenfent@me.com

Change was in the air on Friday March 5. The boss invited me into his office … on a Friday afternoon. The company was consolidating with another. “We are getting leaner, becoming more efficient” he said.

Maybe you have been in a meeting like that one.

It was that Friday afternoon talk with the boss that opened the door to my midlife career change. I wouldn’t call it a crisis because the unknown held at least as much hope as fear. But I really didn’t have a plan.

I admit that I had considered making changes long before that Friday. Twenty-some years into a career in Agriculture had been good to me. Banking, consulting, sales and teaching put food on the table, and more. But I had reached the point where I loved Friday too much, rarely looked forward to Monday morning.

I felt fulfilled when I led city wide ministry events. I organized concerts, helped men become better husbands, fathers, and followers of Christ. I liked working with church leaders from many denominations. I wondered if I could ever serve others through ministry and provide for my family at the same time.

Then it was like I was motoring down the road of life one Friday afternoon and came to a fork in the road. The diverging paths each had their own sign. One sign said “This Road Will Be Familiar And Straight”   The sign that I followed  said, “Beware – Unmapped Curves Ahead.”

Where are you going in your journey? Racing down familiar highways or on a ‘road less travelled’?

Are you a lover of Mondays yet?

I would like to travel that unfamiliar road with you. I’ve been there and done that.

Dan Hennenfent is a Professional Life Coach helping people make career changes that move them toward service through ministry. Since December 1999, Dan has been the Executive Director of a non profit 501(c)3 Public Charity that serves the poor and disadvantaged. danhennenfent@me.com