Preparing to Return - Prayer Letter from June 2006

As I travel and speak in churches, I tell them of my decisions as I make them. Then I forget that most of you are not in those churches, but are in some other church where I have already been. So it may be that some of you are not aware of my plans.

Our first plan is to return to Mongolia in August. We have tickets to fly on Monday, August 14, 2006. We are very eager to be back in Mongolia, ministering to Mongolians, and speaking the Mongolian language. Many churches have generously provided items for us to take back. Because of luggage restrictions we will be hard-pressed to get it all back to Mongolia. What a wonderful blessing! We are so grateful to those of you who have given so generously to us. Between now and our departure date, I only have a few more meetings with churches, but I have several meetings with individuals who pray for us and love us. Also, there are several opportunities to preach at my home church and to serve there in other ways.

Once in Mongolia we plan to pick up where we left off–evangelizing and discipling Mongolians. We talked to Ganpurev and Ulzee on the phone in late June. They are doing very well, but Enkhee and Bayambaa seem to be struggling. We cannot say thank you often enough for those of you who faithfully pray for us and our friends in Mongolia. We know that your prayers have an effect on what happens in Mongolia. This year of reporting back to our churches has been a wonderful time to strengthen our friendships, remind people to pray for us, and report about the progress of the work in Mongolia.

Several months ago while preparing to write a similar letter, I mentioned to my wife the fact that I hoped people read our prayer letters. It would be discouraging to spend so much time and effort trying to communicate if there was no one with whom to communicate. The next month, several of you from different churches mentioned what a joy the regular prayer letters were. It was as if God was saying, “There are people who notice your efforts to communicate.” Those who read our letters and pray for us faithfully are an encouragement to us.