Mongolian decorating tip

This is no Martha Stewart decorating tip, but you might be curious to know how Mongolians decorate at this time of year. Many of the places that I visit have strings of tinsel hanging down from the ceiling. Here is how it's done.

For this decoration you will need cotton (or cotton balls), bar soap, water, and tinsel. Shave bits off the bar of soap (laundry bar soap works best) into the water and mix gently. Dip the cotton in the soapy water. Take wet balls of cotton, attach a piece of tinsel (often the ball of cotton is put in the middle of the tinsel so that two strings hang down from the ball), and throw the ball up on the ceiling. The balls of cotton wet with soapy water stick to the ceiling and dry. I've added a picture of the final result.

Prayer update

This Sunday we will be hosting a New Year's Eve party at our home. Several Mongolians who cannot come Sunday mornings have said that they will come this Sunday evening. It will provide Mongolians an opportunity to celebrate the New Year without alcohol (a rarity in Mongolia) and will provide us with an opportunity to present the Gospel to them. Two saved families have already remarked how excited they are to have an opportunity to celebrate without alcohol. Please be praying for those who come and for the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.

Don't forget: your prayers enable our ministry!

the Sunday before Christmas

We took advantage of the day before Christmas being a Sunday this year to invite out people for the Sunday services. That is to say, we always invite people out, but this past week we'd point out that if they came on Sunday they would learn more about what Christmas is truly about. God blessed us with two first time visitors, both young men. I've included a picture so that you can see everyone who came.

For those of you who are keeping track of names: sitting in the foreground of the picture is Matthew Patenaude. His family has been working with our family since our return. They currently are making plans to return to the U.S. for a furlough. Next to him on his left is Ulzee (you can't see her face but that's her) and then her husband Ganpurev. Sitting next to him is Bilgee whom you can't see at all because he is sitting in a low chair. Buren is sitting in the corner, and you can only see his ear and sweater. His daughter Chimgee is sitting next to him, and on her left sits Kristie whom you all should recognize. Sitting next to Kristie in the green top is Bayambaa, an artist who saw our "Bible lesson" sign when it was in storage and decided to come. She has come faithfully for about a month now. Next to Bayambaa on the couch are Dagvaa and Gasraa. They are two of my English students who came for the first time. Please pray for their salvation and that they would come again. Both listened to the lesson intently and said that they would come again. Of course, we hear that many times and yet the person who said they would come fails to come. In fact, three other people who attend sometimes said that they would come today but were unable to make it. Last, there is a person sitting whose face you basically cannot see at all. He is another missionary who recently returned to Mongolia from a furlough. His name is Roland Gay.

Please pray for direction as some important decisions face us in the next few months. We need another place to meet and are praying for a place that would be convenient for the Mongolians to find public transportation so they can attend. Also, with the Patenaudes leaving, there are several other missionaries who have offered to help us. We need wisdom in the decisions that we will make. We know that your prayers will make a difference!

Ministering at home

One cultural difference between Mongolia and the United States is that Mongolians don't call before they come to visit - they just come. Many times this is very inconvenient: the neighbor next door comes over while Kristie is trying to fix dinner, I'm having a quiet evening with my kids when there is a sudden and loud invasion of neighbor children, I'm trying to digest a good book when a friend comes over to talk. I've had visitors come as late as midnight.

But, praise the Lord, He gives grace to deal with the seeming distractions. Plus our "open door" policy has led to multiple opportunities to witness to Mongolians. We had another example of this the previous week.

It started two weeks ago when two young ladies, Chimgee and Lkhagvaa (Chimgee attends our services on Sunday), came over to have help translating a brochure about India from English into Mongolian. I really didn't want to help them, after all, it was one of my few nights at home with my family. Still, I decided to help out. It took over an hour to help.

Friday night the two girls returned. I was out with a neighbor, and Kristie was trying to do some Christmas time baking. It seemingly was a most inconvenient time for visitors. In fact, when they started knocking on the door, Kristie took her time answering the door because she thought it was just the neighbor kids. But when she answered it there stood Chimgee and Lkhagvaa. Thinking that they might have come over to have something translated again, Kristie invited them in, seated them in the living room, and gave them a hot drink (all standard Mongolian hospitality). After taking a few sips of their drinks, the two ladies said that they had come over to help around the house.

Charissa and Emily were engaged in cleaning and washing so Kristie declined their health. Instead she took the opportunity to ask Lkhagvaa what she knew about Jesus Christ. This led to a discussion of Jesus Christ. At the end, Kristie invited Lkhagvaa to come with Chimgee to the meeting on Sunday. Lkhagvaa who became more and more interested as the conversation deepened said that she would come.

But what would have happened had our doors been closed to Mongolians coming to our house? What if our friends did not feel comfortable visiting anytime? The small inconveniences are worth it for the opportunities to give the Gospel to Mongolians. It's most important to realize that ministry isn't just what happens on Sunday or Wednesday or whenever the church is meeting. Ministry is what happens everyday as we interact with friends and neighbors and co-workers and others that God brings into our lives.

Prayer update

I must share this story with you! You remember how Enkhee was saved in the month before we returned to the States. I had a few Bible studies devoted towards discipleship before I left but felt I had left Enkhee when he was still a newborn. For a while James followed up with him, but Enkhee needs a lot of attention. After James left, Enkhee was left to himself.

There are several obstacles to overcome: he lives on the other side of town, he also works seven days a week, and he is generally not very talkative. So when one drives thirty minutes to visit it often seems that he is uninterested. But I've been assured by people who know him personally that this is not the case, that indeed he is interested.

Well, Sunday Ganpurev and I went to see him. When we arrived at his ger about 7:30, he still had not arrived from work. But we only had to wait twenty or thirty minutes for him to arrive. We ate dinner with the family and then Enkhee suggested that we study the Bible. So we opened up a discipleship book that I had given to him and looked at confession and repentance. But much of the time was spent listening to Enkhee tell us about how God had been protecting him at work.

He said once that he left work with two other co-workers. The two co-workers soon returned to work and stole some tools. When he found out, Enkhee was concerned that he would be blamed too and prayed that God would reveal the truth. Well, providentially, there was another man on the job-site who saw the two men come back and take the tools and noted that Enkhee was not with them. This incident also increased Enkhee's boss's trust in him.

It is just so exciting to hear stories like this come from young Christians! It shows how God is building their faith and teaching them to rely on Him. I was so excited when I heard these stories. I emphasized to Enkhee that we must grow every day. We also set up another Bible study on Saturday night. Enkhee has said that he would make time to be there.

Also, pray about the New Year's celebrations. Most Mongolians will spend New Year's Eve drinking. Liquor will be abundant at every celebration. To help our young Christians avoid temptation, we have arranged a New Year's Eve/Christmas Party at our house on Sunday evening, December 31. Please pray that many would come. The Gospel also will be given clearly at this party so please pray for Mongolians to be saved.

A Smoky Capital

More than the cold the difficulty with winter in Mongolia is all the smoke. The picture on the left is taken on a clear morning. The picture on the right may appear to be taken on a foggy morning, but it's not fog. In fact, the air is probably quite dry. That's smoke that obscuring your view. Sometimes the smoke is even worse than this.

Most of the smoke comes from families in the ger districts who burn coal for heat and cooking. Ulan Bator is in a valley, and the smoke can get trapped in the valley and sometimes linger for days.

Sunday school children's party

It's always a thrill when you do something and the Mongolians enjoy it so much that they want to do it again. Such was the case with the Sunday school children's Christmas party. Two years ago (last year we were in the States for Christmas) we held a Christmas party at our home for the children who were attending Sunday school. It was a little surprising when about a month ago, one of our neighbor boys who has been attending Kristie's Sunday school said to Kristie, "Are we going to have a party this year?" He was so excited about it! Kristie actually had been considering something else, but our neighbor boy was so eager to participate again that we decided to go ahead and have a Christmas party for the children on Saturday, December 16.

The children started by decorating bags into which they could later put their goodies. We were disappointed that two of the older Sunday school children missed the party because they had school lessons on Saturday. There were lots of ribbons, stickers, colored pens, and other things with which the children could decorate their bags.

After the bags the children cut out and decorated sugar cookies. The ladies had made some sugar cookie dough, and the children had a great time punching out the shapes and decorating the cookies with food coloring, sprinkles, and various other embellishments. This was the highlight of the party for most of the kids. Mongolians don't make cookies and don't have all the various shaped punches with which to cut out cookies. They thought it was great fun to roll out the door, cut it into various shapes, and then apply decorations to it.

Then while the cookies were baking, there was a gift exchange. Like all children, Mongolian children enjoy opening gifts and watching others open gifts.

After the gift exchange we had a Mongolian game of Pictionary. We had a white board and some simple Mongolian words that my wife had thought up and written down on slips of paper. The children had a blast drawing and guessing the drawings. It was fun to watch the five and six year olds try to draw and the older children seemingly scratch their heads trying to figure out what it was that they were drawing.

Then the activites were done, and the children left with their cookies and a Gospel tract. They all have heard the Gospel in Sunday school and it is our prayer that not only the children but also the parents would be saved. Please pray for our ministry to children in Mongolia and pray that it would continue to provide opportunities to be a witness to the parents as well.

We wish you a smoky Christmas

Christmas in Mongolia is much more low-key than Christmas in the United States. For one thing, Mongolians don't celebrate Christmas When the Russians came to Mongolia, Mongolians began to join them in celebrating New Year's Eve on December 31. Before that they only celebrated a lunar new year usually in February. So they often mix the New Year's Eve celebration with Christmas. My Mongolian neighbor asked me recently if I celebrated Christmas on December 31.

The stores do have sales in December that they often characterize as Christmas sales. But since the Mongolians neither give presents nor recognize December 25 as a special day it is difficult to understand why they chose to call them Christmas sales. I think the stores are using Christmas as an excuse to stimulate materialism and greed in Mongolia. It is sad that Mongolians would view Christmas as a commercial holiday (which is what it has become in America) rather than as a religious holiday.

As a consequence Christmas Day is often a very relaxing day. During the weeks preceding Christmas, we invite over Mongolian friends for some celebration and usually have a party for the children that attend the Sunday school.

Along with celebrations to mark our Savior's birth when I was teaching I often had special classes to conduct and final exams to give because it was the end of the semester. In fact, one year I was rather busy with classes on Christmas Eve.

Then on Christmas Day we usually stay at home and spend the day as a family. Our first Christmas in Mongolia though had its share of excitement. But first, you must understand a little about our dwelling situation. We were living on the fifth floor of a nine-story building. Our building had multiple entrances. Each entrance had a stairway and a tiny elevator. The elevators were so small that four adults would find it uncomfortable to be on the elevator together. Clustered around each elevator and stairwell were four doors that led into four different apartments. Behind the elevator shaft was a trash chute.

When our first Christmas in Mongolia arrived we had been in Ulan Bator for about three months. We had read the Christmas story and opened gifts. We had eaten a delicious Christmas meal and were in that stage where the kids fiddle with their gifts as the parents watch. We pick at the leftovers, help ourselves to another serving of dessert, and clean up the mes. Much of the litter that remains afterwards on Christmas - torn wrapping paper, boxes of various size and shapes, ribbon, smashed bows, and the little twist ties that hold so many items in their boxes - had been picked up. I decided to take it all out to the garbage chute. As I opened the door, I noticed that the stairwell/elevator area was smoky, more smoke than I had ever noticed before.

When I went back inside I remarked to Kristie that there was lots of smoke in the stairwell and elevator area. I thought I ought to check on it again after an hour or so. I told my wife that I would hate to be trapped on the fifth floor of a burning building because we couldn't use the elevator - you should never use an elevator during a fire - and would be unable to escape down the stairwell because of the smoke. Remember in the winter there is very little or no ventilation in Mongolian buildings. Any smoke in the building gets trapped there because there is no way for it to escape.

The other consideration was the weather outside. Late December in Ulan Bator is cold. The temperature was probably zero outside. Because we had three children and Caleb was less than a year old at the time, taking everyone outside was a half hour of preparation - another half hour for the smoke to build up. Finally, we didn't have a vehicle at the time ... so where would we go if we abandoned the apartment?

The smoke out in the stairwell wasn't bad yet, and I thought if I waited it might clear out. But when I checked again less than an hour later, the smoke was so bad that I thought we might not make it down the stairwell. Concerned that it would take us a half-hour to get prepared to go outside into sub-freezing temperatures, I made a decision that we should start preparing to leave the apartment immediately. Once we were ready if we discovered that the smoke was clearing, we could always take our warm clothes off again.

Wondering where we could go, I called Buren, my closest Mongolian friend at the time and told him in my broken Mongolian that I thought there was a fire in my apartment building and to come over. Meanwhile, Kristie began getting the children ready for the Mongolian ice-box. As soon as I had completed my phone call, I rushed to join her.

Having completed my phone call with Buren, we hurried to get the three young ones ready to hurry out the door. Of course, the children were upset, here we were on Christmas Day suggesting that we should leave all their toys. Charissa in particular was worried about leaving a stuffed animal that meant a lot to her. But despite their young age, we must have communicated the urgency of the situation because in record time, we had put on sweaters and hats and gloves and scarves and something on the girls' legs. As we rushed out the door, I noted that the smoke seemed to be even worse than before. Used to riding the elevator down, the girls headed for the elevator shaft. However, the elevators in Mongolia can often be unreliable anyways and one should never take an elevator in a fire. So I herded them towards the stairs.

Interestingly enough, as we headed down the stairs, the smoke lessened until by the first floor it was quite bearable. As we rushed out the entrance of our apartment, Buren drove up in his car. We put the children in his car and drove the short distance over to Buren's house. The kids seemed short of shocked as we entered their house. We had been there several times before but they had expected a quiet, calm evening with their newest toys.

Buren and I headed back over to the building. I was interested to try to find out what was going on. Were there others who needed evacuating? When would the fire trucks pull up? Could we go back to our apartment tonight? When we arrived things were still quiet. I tried to explain in my three-month-old Mongolian just what was going through my head. I was surprised that there wasn't more activity. In the hustle and bustle and anxiety of evacuating my own family, I hadn't noticed how quiet the building seemed. But now as I returned with Buren my senses were sharpened trying to discover what I could. Buren and I entered the quiet building and I immediately noticed that the smoke had lessened already.

We worked our way up to the fifth floor; the smoke didn't seem so bad up there now. When we went into our apartment it was still relatively smoke free. I was surprised that the smoke seemed to be lessening. There didn't seem to be anyone fighting a fire, and it had been growing worse for the previous hour.

I asked Buren if he thought it was safe to return to the apartment. He said that he thought it would be safe. I asked him what he thought caused all the smoke. He explained (several times since I couldn't understand everything immediately) that often people throw burning material down the trash chute. If there is much trash at the bottom it can cause a lot of smoke. The trash is too soggy to really burn so it just smolders and creates a lot of smoke. The smoke then spills out from the garbage chute into the stairwell and elevator shaft.

After Buren explained it all to me I felt really silly. My family never had been in any real danger. I went back to Buren's house, collected my family, and returned them to the apartment feeling very silly.

It's a story that illustrates some of the pressures of living in a strange country: the lack of understanding of what is going on, the feeling of helplessness as you try to describe what you are thinking in an unfamiliar language, the dependence on others patience when you do strange things (like abandon your apartment when there is no danger).

Prayer update

Snow, ice, and wind - it has been a cold week here in Mongolia. Yet God has warmed our hearts with the interest of people in Jesus Christ. We had twelve Mongolians come on Sunday and three others were prevented by illness from joining their families.

It is exciting to see this ministry grow, even though the growth is slow. We started back in August after our arrival with one Mongolian family of four. Last Sunday we had twelve Mongolians representing six families. Our goal is to see every member of every family saved, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and attending church services regularly.

Towards that end, Kristie and I went to visit Bayambaa who has been attending regularly. Her husband, however, has not attended with her. I wanted to meet her husband and have an opportunity to speak to him about our Savior. We had a pleasant visit and a chance to talk about Jesus Christ. Her husband, Mandaa, says he is non-religious and is not interested in Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers. I trust that someday we will be able to report that Mandaa has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

Two Cultures, One Mind

As I was recently reading the biography of a man born in India but who has spent the last several decades in the U.S., I came across this idea of two cultures in one mind. The author writes, "God makes an incredible investment in you when He combines two worlds into your mind. ... Being able to speak in two languages from opposite ends of the world helps you to be sympathetic, and, I believe, effective in not just hearing but listening; in responding not just to the question, but to the questioner. For this, language and shared tragedy are indispensable. You really only learn to think like the other when you learn their language and share a cultural DNA."

There's much to think about in that quote although unfortunately few Americans can speak with experience about knowing two languages and two cultures from opposite ends of the earth. Let me take this opportunity to encourage all of you high schoolers to learn a foreign language and practice it with people for whom it is their heart language.

And pray for us here in Mongolia. Language learning is a life-long process (even learning English should be). Sometimes it is frustrating when you've spent four years of your life learning a language only to go out and be stumped by something that someone said. We need dedication to the task of learning the language, ability with our tongues to speak, capable ears to hear and comprehend what is being said, and patience to stick at it when the other three are lacking. Recently, it has been exciting to me as I speak this language; for Kristie, it's been just the opposite. So pray for us as we continue to make speaking this language as fluently as the Mongolians a priority.

Prayer update

Wednesday afternoon was quite busy here. About three o'clock, we had a piano teacher teaching Charissa piano, a Mongolian lady teaching Emily and Caleb the Mongolian language, and Kristie teaching a neighbor boy the English language. Meanwhile a neighbor lady and her daughter were over to visit too!

Thursday evening Kristie and I are scheduled to make a first-time visit to a family. The wife, her name is Bayambaa, has been coming on Sundays, but we have never met the husband. Please pray for fluency and freedom as we speak Mongolian. Also pray that we will be able to witness to her husband. We are grateful for your prayers and know that they impact our work in Mongolia.

Update on printing press & translation work

Some of you remember me mentioning a printing press that was to be brought to Mongolia. I'd like to update you on that so that you can pray. Actually, there are two different things that are happening at the same time. The first is that FirstBibles International helped FirstBibles Mongolia obtain a printing press and ship it to Mongolia. The press arrived in July and is now set up. A man from the U.S. came to help Mickey Cofer, president of FirstBibles Mongolia, set up the press. He plans to return in the spring to begin running the press and to train someone else to take his place.

The goal of having a press in Mongolia is not only to print Bibles but also to print discipleship materials and tracts, etc. The work of printing Bible materials and tracts should start next spring.

Let me give a brief overview of the current Bible translation situation. Currently, as I see it, there are two translations in common use in Mongolia. One is a translation of the New Testament although a complete Bible with a revision of the New Testament has been "near completion" for several years. This Bible (so far a New Testament) sacrifices accuracy for readability. Having talked to several of its proponents, I believe that they would agree with me that readability was given a much higher priority than accuracy.

The second is a complete translation of the Bible. It has its own set of problems. It stresses literalness over readability. Also, it was rushed out in a short time, and it's my belief that the translation could have been done better if there had not been a rush to complete it. Because of its hurried nature, this translation has already been revised multiple times since it was first published.

Further, these two translations are very different in their choice of terminology. The first favors "descriptive phrases" to try to explain concepts that are lacking in Mongolian culture (and many concepts are simply not understood). The second tries to use religious words in current use even though those words do not carry the same meaning as the Biblical terms which they were chosen to represent. Much more could be said about both translations, but this is a summary of their strengths and weaknesses.

Recognizing the difficulties with the current translations, several groups have begun to work towards a new translation of the Bible. Two of those groups are independent Baptists who have been working in Mongolia for some years.

One of those groups has a connection to FirstBibles Mongolia, FirstBibles International, and through the latter to the Trinitarian Bible Society. FirstBibles Mongolia has offered their printing press to print Bible portions initially and the complete Bible when it is done. FirstBibles International has offered to assist with funding and translation checking. Also, the Trinitarian Bible Society has offered to assist with translation checking. This group wants to form a committee of foreign and Mongolian translators who would translate the Bible. There is a meeting tentatively scheduled for January 9, 2007, at which a call will go out to interested churches to support the translation effort.

Please pray especially for the right people to translate the Bible. Bible translation is an awesome task and a exacting responsibility. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.