Imagine choosing between God and work

Imagine if you lived in a country where unemployment was high and even those who had employment often went unpaid because their bosses "had no money." In the most recent case of this, my friend's boss took the money that he had been paid for a job and spent it all on alcohol. Then when payday came, he was unable to pay his employees. So they received no paycheck. Other friends of mine have worked for months only receiving half their salary and an excuse about how little money the company has.

And imagine that you live in a country where there are almost no protections for employees, and no method for mediating a dispute with one's boss. Sure, you could leave your job and be unemployed. But the hope of a paycheck (even if you only receive one occasionally) is better than absolutely no hope of a paycheck.

Now imagine that your boss began to ask you to work most Sundays. Would you have the faith to tell your boss that you had something more important to do on Sundays? Even if you knew that your boss might fire you and you would have no recourse? For many Christians here in Mongolia, these are the choices that they face. I had yet to see a Christian with enough faith to tell his boss that he would not work on Sundays ... until this month.

Ganpurev's job used to be strictly Monday through Fridays, a rarity here in Mongolia. Then his boss asked him to work one Sunday and then another and another. Soon she was asking him to work more Sundays than he had off. Recently, he told her that he would no longer be working on Sundays. That is easy to say ...

So his boss called him this past Sunday morning, said something urgent had come up, and that she needed him to work. He politely declined and reminded her that he would not be available for work on Sundays. When I saw him Sunday, he told me, "I might not have a job tomorrow." He was not joking.

It shows a great amount of faith for a Mongolian to decide that setting aside his Sundays for God is more important than working. I can see how God has used these difficult months at work to build faith in Ganpurev's life. Please pray that his faith would continue to grow and that his decision would be a testimony to other Mongolians.