New Year's Eve meeting

Since New Year's Eve was on a Sunday this year, we held a combined potluck meal, preaching service, and game night at our house. I invited neighbors, friends, and the people who come regularly to our Sunday meetings. My wife warned me that I was inviting a lot of people for one house.

We ended up with forty-seven people coming over! We were swamped. We even borrowed chairs from our neighbor's house even though we had nowhere to put them. Of those forty-seven, twenty-one were Mongolian adults, the rest being Mongolian children or Americans.

We started by sharing the food that was brought. The Americans brought American food: chicken, barbecued sandwiches, delicious desserts. The Mongolians brought Mongolian dishes such as bansh, buuz, and various salads. We ate until everyone said that they were full and it seemed as if they had barely touched the food.

Then Roland Gay, another missionary here in UB, had a chance to preach to them. He did a good job presenting Christ as the Savior of the world and the answer to a glorious new year. Although all of the adults had heard the Gospel before from me personally or Kristie, it was good to get another chance to present them with the Truth. We covet your prayers for the work of the Holy Spirit that will draw these Mongolians to Jesus Christ. After Roland's preaching, I reminded those assembled that my desire was that they all would trust Jesus and that if they had any questions I would be happy to answer them.

After that, we started the game time with charades. Mongolians have never played charades. I had my Mongolians neighbors help me come up with Mongolian phrases that could be acted out. Since the Mongolians had never played charades before they continually wanted to explain what they were doing. I had to keep saying, "Yu ch yirch bolokhgui," which means, "You can't say anything!" Some of the phrases were easy and were guessed quickly. Sometimes it took a while.

Then we split up and played various games. Pit was a popular game and one that went almost the entire night. There is a picture of eight people around the table trying to play Pit. The Mongolians also played Settlers of Catan, Scotland Yard, and Ticket to Ride. Mongolians do not have games like this in their country, so they really enjoyed the game time.

Overall, I'd say the evening was a good success. Given a chance, I think most of the Mongolians would gladly come back for another evening. Most importantly, they had the opportunity to hear again about our wonderful Savior.

Thank you for your prayers. Buren, Mendee, Vantchaa, Bob, Mandaa, and Bayaraa were the men that were there who are unsaved. Please pray especially for their salvation!