Sunday debriefing

This post is a debriefing instead of an update because I want to cover many things besides the events of Sunday.

Our attendance was down yesterday. Still the singing was good, and I felt that the preaching was strong. Roland preached from I Timothy 6, and my sermon focused on Peter's question, "We have left all to follow you, what will our reward be?" Many Mongolians purposely say that they will follow Christ in an effort to gain some material benefit: a job, food assistance, the prestige of being with foreigners. I want to teach the Mongolians that God has entrusted to me that we follow Christ not because we believe that we will receive some material benefit but rather because we love the Savior and realize our debt to our Creator and Redeemer.

Buren was in the hospital, and one of his daughters did not come; I am not entirely certain why she did not come. I had known that Buren was in the hospital but had been unable to visit. So on Sunday afternoon, I went to visit Buren.

He told me that Thursday night blood was gushing from both nostrils so profusely that a handkerchief that he held up to his face quickly became soaked with blood that it began to drip. Two of his daughters that were with him were very afraid. They called an ambulance at 7 PM. When it did not come immediately Buren's brother drove him to the hospital. (The ambulance ended up showing up at 10 PM, but hey, it's free because they have nationalized health care here).

Doctors finally cauterized a blood vessel in Buren's nose on Friday. But Sunday when I visited, he still had some minor bleeding. He has taken many tests, but the doctors cannot seem to determine the cause of the bleeding. Please pray that this strange medical problem would help Buren realize his own mortality and bring him humbly to our Savior.

In other news, on Thursday night I was visiting Bayambaa and her husband Mandaa. We had a chance to talk briefly about Jesus Christ, and I invited both Mandaa and his brother Manlai to our special Christmas-oriented service on December 23. By the way, I met Manlai for the first time on Thursday night while I was at Mandaa and Bayambaa's house. I had been at their
house for about thirty minutes when Manlai came in. He came in not sober at all but a very talkative drunk. He claimed that he had seen my car outside of Mandaa and Bayambaa's hashaa and came to meet me. He knew enough English to say, "Hello, my name is Manlai. How are you?"

We made some conversation and talked about Christians. He asked me to teach them all (Manlai, Mandaa, and Bayambaa) English and said that he would come to a church service. But I never place much confidence in anything any Mongolian says while he is not sober.

Later, I found out that Manlai had come by their house not because he saw my car and wanted to meet me but because his wife had kicked him out of the house because he was drunk. He spent the night at his brother's house. In the morning after the others had left, he stole some things from his own brother's house probably to buy more alcohol. Needless to say, we did not see Manlai on Sunday.

Several of our church members and regular attenders are facing serious pressure from their families not to identify themselves with other Christians. We know that this opposition is from the Enemy and that if our Christian brothers and sisters respond to it appropriately they will be stronger for it. Please pray that God would pour His grace upon these young Christians, enabling them to be a bright light for Jesus Christ in a very dark society.