Prayer update

It is comforting to know that we plant, others may water, but that God is faithful to give the increase. About a year ago in a visit to Ganpurev's, I ran into one of his relatives whose name is Sambil. We talked about Jesus Christ and His claims. At the time Sambil was rather opposed to Jesus Christ claiming that Mongolians were Buddhist. But we had planted a seed.

Ganpurev met Sambil again a couple of weeks ago. He was surprised to learn that Sambil was interested in the Bible. Sambil had run into a friend of his whose life had been transformed by Jesus Christ. His friend took him to his church where the seed that we had planted was watered.

Knowing of Sambil's interest in the Bible, Tuesday night Ganpurev and I went together to visit Sambil's place. We were excited to see that his multitude of idols had been cleared out of their prominent place in his home. He was eager to talk about the Bible. I was glad to see Ganpurev do a good job of teaching.

Ganpurev later remarked to me that he took great encouragement from Sambil's seeming change of heart. First of all, it is his first relative (his cousin) who has shown more than a passing interest in Jesus Christ. Second, he told me that if someone like Sambil can become a Christian, then anyone can become a Christian. Sambil has a wife and four grown children who live at home, all of whom are not Christians. But the door is open for us to return and continue to preach Christ to the family. Please pray with me for the salvation of Sambil's family.

The Christian and Sacrifice

"For one who rejects Christianity because he misunderstands it, ten reject it because they understand it too well - because they know it is a call to the selfless and sacrificial life."

I do not remember where I picked up this quote but would like to make two remarks about it. First, I would not say that in Mongolia the ratio is ten to one, but there are several people to whom I have witnessed who reject Jesus Christ because they realize that Christianity is not simply fire insurance to keep them out of hell (in which they obviously do not believe anyway), but rather they realize that to be a Christian is to submit to Jesus Christ's claims to be Lord of all.

I am aware of the "Lordship salvation" controversy in the United States and only have this to say: anyone who desires to have the eternal life that God offers through His Son Jesus Christ must desire to have freedom from the penalty of sin. Which naturally leads to the question: what is sin? Sin is a transgression of the law. Whose law? God's law. So anyone who desires salvation from sin must admit that he has broken God's law and is worthy of punishment. That implicitly admits that God has the right to make the rules, and that man has an obligation to keep them. In my witnessing I make this explicit for Mongolians usually think of right and wrong as relative. But God's law is for all mankind; and it is because all men have a sin nature that desires to break God's law that all men are condemned.

Consequently, it is very clear to those to whom I preach Jesus Christ that salvation from sin's penalty requires accepting the truth that all men - Americans and Asians, Mongolians and Montanans - are bound to keep God's law. It is because our sinful natures are in rebellion against God and because that rebellion reveals itself in our acts of sin that we are justly condemned.

Simply stated: we humans do not like to hear that we are wrong, sinful, condemned. So there are those who reject Christianity because they ignore the truth that there is a hell of eternal punishment and do not desire to submit to God.

But further, I believe that missions - that is, the cross-cultural proclamation of the Gospel - is hindered because Christians do not want to admit that the Christian life is a life of selfless service and often tangible sacrifice. Jesus reminded his disciples that "even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many." Why should Christians think that it should be any different with us? We should be expecting to minister to others and to give our lives to introduce people to the Savior.

I am not in Mongolia primarily because I enjoy it here (although I have no complaints to share). I am not in Mongolia because I would rather be here than in the United States (I would rather be near family). I am not here because I am seeing a great harvest of souls and believe that I am seeing more souls saved and more spiritual growth here than I would in the States (I believe my ministry could be more "fruitful" in the United States).

I am here because this is where God wants me. Even if it seems to others that my life is "wasted" if it is wasted doing God's will than I am sure that I will stand before the Savior who gave His life for us and hear, "Well done, though good and faithful servant."

Heating in Mongolia

Those of you who heard me speak during our furlough in the United States may remember that I mentioned that we cannot control the heat in our apartment through a thermostat. Someone sets the apartment heat for the building and walks away. If its too cold or too hot, there is nothing that the building occupants can do other than complain to the people who control the building's hot water system, and I am still not sure who that is.

One consequence is that buildings and some districts have obtained a reputation as a "hot" building or "cold" building or "cold" district. It can even affect the rental value or resale value of an apartment. The first apartment we had was in a cold building and the problem was exacerbated by the old, leaky windows. We sealed the windows as best we could, bought several space heaters, and wore sweaters.

Our current apartment is in a warm building with vacuum sealed windows. It is a "hot" building and has stayed warm all winter. Amazingly, we only pay about $15 a month for the heat.

However, the rooms that I use for an office and church meeting place are in another building nearby. Last week there was a leak in the hot water radiators. All night hot water steadily dripped on the floor while I was away; by morning, the carpet in one of the rooms was soaked. I have included a picture of the doorway that shows the frost build-up around the door. The warm water would evaporate from the floor, fill the air with moisture, and then freeze when it reached the door.

The plumber who deals with such things was called and came and fixed it. However, he said that he thought the pipes were too hot and that the hot water running through them needed adjusting.

Sunday the temperature in the rooms was fine. Monday morning, a church member came by to inform me that there was no heat in the rooms and that it was very cold over there. I went to check it out for myself and, sure enough, the heat had been turned completely off. It turns out that Sunday night, whoever controls the heat turned it off. A Mongolian had them turn in back on, but it is still chilly over there. And no wonder, it was about -30 below over night and perhaps has warmed up to zero outside today.

My wife heard that some buildings in the city have had their heat turned completely off overnight and by mornings apartments in those buildings are chilly. I speculate that the city is having trouble providing heat because of all the new buildings that are being built. But it is hard to say. Just another part of living in Mongolian, I guess.

Sunday update

The weather was clear and cold in Mongolia today. I think we missed reaching zero; the high was about -5, I think. A Mongolian told me yesterday that the weather was beginning to warm up. When it has been as cold as it has been here, it is unsurprising that the temperature is becoming warmer. I cannot imagine it becoming much colder.

Despite the cold, we had our best turnout in some time. Our two visitors from last week returned. She used to be one of my English students the first year that I was here. She has come with her mother two weeks in a row. Hongoroo was recently married and is now expecting her first child. I think she is walking through the sub-zero temperatures for about a mile to come to the church services.

Ganpurev taught again and did a good job. He taught for almost an hour about false teachers, their characteristics and condemnation. He and I work for hours to prepare his lesson before he works by himself to polish and finish it. Maybe I will take another post to talk about Ganpurev's preparation to teach.

Hudson Taylor quote

Why should a foreign aspect be given to Christianity? We wish to see churches of such believers presided over by pastors ... of their own countrymen, worshiping God in their own tongue, in edifices of a thoroughly native style. - J. Hudson Taylor

Prayer update

History tells us that the Mongols were the only army to make a successful winter attack on Russia. From my experience I can tell you why: Mongolians know winter as few others do.

The cold persists. The lowest low this past week was -40° F; the highest high was five above. All week the temperatures have been between those two "extremes." Yesterday's high was -15° F. The cold seems to put everyone into hibernation. Small shops that are supposed to open at ten sometimes are still closed when it is nearly noon. Nobody wants to meet in the mornings except for a few hardy expatriates who have vehicles. It can be a challenge just to leave the confines of a warm home to brave sub-zero temperatures.

During this past week, I have felt as if I have had to force myself to go out into the weather. But God blessed me with a very productive and positive visit to a church member who has been struggling. Pray for me to have boldness to continue to get out and visit when the weather is so cold.

Ulzee is out of the hospital

Ulzee was discharged from the hospital on Monday a little unexpectedly. She had just begun a five day regimen of treatment on Saturday which I thought would keep her in the hospital until Wednesday. So I was a little surprised when her husband Ganpurev told me that she was discharged Monday morning.

I asked him about the five day regimen of treatment. He told me that she was completing her treatment by visiting the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday. He then went on to explain that they discharged her because she had been in the hospital ten days (the magic number in Mongolian medicine it seems) and they needed her bed for another patient.

So she is home now.

The Expat Life - WSJ.com

The Expat Life - WSJ.com

I found this article interesting. This article may enlighten those of you who have not experience living outside North America for extended periods. Those of you who have may be interested to contrast your experience with his.

Let me say that unlike the writer of this article our children do not need to worry about being spoiled by fancy private schools, household help, or five-star Asian vacations.

Our idea of an Asian vacation is to travel out a couple hundred of miles from the city where there is no electricity, showers, or toilets and spend a week with the sheep and goats.

Charissa and Emily wash dishes, fold clothes, and generally make themselves useful around the house and all the children are responsible to clean their rooms and make their beds.

Charissa, Emily, and Caleb experience the joys (and frustrations) of school at home with Mom and Dad. Elsie will start next year.

But missing family is one thing that we do have in common with the author's family.

Which brings me to another way that you can pray for us: pray that we would accept that grace, peace, and joy that God offers us as we are away from our loved ones. Also pray that we would find comfort in the God of comfort and be able to comfort other expatriates who are experiencing the heart anguish and loss of being away from family.

By the way, I only read the article, not all the comments so read at your own risk.

Sunday's attendance

We had two first time visitors this week which was a good thing because there were several regular attenders who were absent because of illness. Ganaa has been sick all week, and Ulzee is still in the hospital. I am not sure when Ulzee will be discharged from the hospital. It seems to me that the doctors have not yet decided.

Prayer is a mighty instrument ...

Prayer is a mighty instrument, not for getting man’s will done in Heaven, but for getting God’s will done on earth. – Samuel L. Brengle

Wednesday night prayer meeting

We have a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights primarily for the men of our church. That is not to say that women cannot come, but almost all the men of the church work close to the church rooms and so we invited them to come directly after work to pray.

Often we only have one or two Mongolian men attend. I cannot remember a time when no one came, but there have been times when just Roland and I started the prayer meeting and the sole Mongolian came late.

That is what makes last night so special. I was working at the church rooms (my office is there too) waiting for others to come. The first knock at the door was about ten minutes early. It brought me to my feet; I expected it to be Roland who is usually the first to arrive. But it was not Roland but Bilgee. Shortly after, Bilgee opened the door for Ganpurev. After Ganpurev came in, Bilgee's phone rang. He talked briefly with someone and left which surprised me. But in a minute he returned with his friend Jagaa in tow. Jagaa is a Christian young man whom I have met on several other occasions. He attends another church in town and works for a man from New Zealand that I know.

A few minutes passed and then, right on time, another knock. But it still was not Roland but Dashgaa who had been unable to attend the prayer meetings recently because his wife's pregnancy meant that he had been picking up his children from school (no school buses in Mongolia). Roland followed shortly after and entered the room to see not one or two or even three but four Mongolian men gathered to pray for the salvation of others and the strengthening of our church. It was encouraging to me to see such a good turn out. As you pray for us and Faith Baptist Church in Mongolia, please remember to pray that these young Christians would see the power of God through prayer, realize the importance of prayer, and make attending corporate prayer meetings a priority as well as give time to prayer in their personal lives.

the cold front

We are in the coldest part of the year according to Mongolians: I believe it! The high yesterday was -8° F. I won't even tell you what the low was.

The doctors have decided to treat Ulzee with medications and not with surgery. She will probably remain in the hospital another week. Continue to pray for her and her family.

Mongolian cold

No update on Ulzee yet but I'll keep you all posted.

The weather here is cold. I've not seen it this cold in several years. Last year was a relatively mild winter and two winters ago I was in the States. It is almost 2 PM here, the warmest part of the day, and the current temperature is -15° F. The high yesterday was -6° F and the low was -35.

I would like to publicly thank our great God for providing a warm and economically heated apartment. I paid our December heating bill today, and it was less than $15. You can't beat that when the weather outside was not above freezing all month.

George Muller's view of language acquisition

We all know George Muller's faithfulness in prayer and utter dependence on our Almighty God for support. Any of you familiar with Muller's life also know that he was born in Germany but spent most of his life in England ministering in English. His biographer commented on his views on language acquisition.

"He was wont, therefore, to counsel those who propose to work among a foreign people, not only to live among them to learn their language, but to keep aloof as far as may be from their own countrymen, so as to be compelled to use the tongue which is to give them access to those among whom they labour."

In a country where most Americans have chosen to minister through translators, I found this insight of Muller's to be most encouraging. Please continue to pray for Kristie and me as we continue our lifetime effort to become more and more proficient in the Mongolian language.

Ulzee is in the hospital

I have a prayer request: Ulzee is in the hospital suffering from a cyst. Currently, the plan is to treat the cyst with medication and see if that helps. If this large cyst does not respond by Monday, doctors are considering removing the cyst surgically. I do not need to tell you what I think of facing surgery in Mongolia.

Ulzee is in quite a bit of pain. Ganpurev must take her two meals a day. (We are working on helping him with that burden). I am sure that they would appreciate your prayers. I will keep you updated; look here for the updates.

Weather update

It has turned cold here in Mongolia. We were spoiled last year because it never really became cold like it usually does. The weather stayed pleasant through October. In November, I mentioned to one lady that perhaps we would have another mild winter. She became very animated and complained that mild winters meant dry summers. Last summer was quite dry. So I think that Mongolians are glad for the cold because they think that it means the weather will be normal.

How cold is it? -33° F at night warming all the way up to zero during the day. In the next few days weather forecasters are predicting a cold front from Siberia that will take night time temperatures all the way down to -40° F. The all-time low is -56° F I understand so we still have a ways to go to break the record.

Video: Buddhism Rebounds in Mongolia

If you read this blog regularly, you really should see this video, the link for which was sent to me by my friend Dick Siemers. (He really finds the most interesting news on Mongolia.)

Video: Buddhism Rebounds in Mongolia

The first reason you should see this video is because it is true that most Mongolians are turning to Buddhism for their religious needs. There is indeed a "God-shaped vacuum" inside each one of us. But instead of turning in faith to the true Creator of us all, the natural tendency of sinful man is to turn to gods of our own creation.

The second reason that you should see this video is because it illustrates the mixing of religious tradition that makes Mongolia a unique contribution to Buddhism. The video states that the current leader of the monastery mentioned at the beginning of the video is a shaman. Shamanists are not Buddhists; and Buddhists are not shamanists. But in Mongolia, shamanistic beliefs and Buddhist beliefs often run together. Indeed it can be difficult to detect what is a Buddhist belief and what is shamanistic. Though it does not matter to me which wrong belief belongs to which wrong religion, Mongolian acquaintances have called me on it on more than one occasion. But even more importantly to Christians, this comfort with casual syncretism can lead to disaster for Christians. As one pastor once told me, "Weeds grow faster than wheat." That is, false beliefs spread more easily in a sin-cursed world than Truth. Already, I have seen some results of syncretism among so-called Christians here in Mongolia. Although this video does not address the syncretism among Christians, it does show the casual syncretism that is very common among Mongolians: a shaman leading a Buddhist monastery. (Let me put it in Western terms for you. That would be like a witchdoctor running a Catholic monastery.)

The third reason that you should see this video is because I know David Gilroy. Isn't it a small world? David and I taught English and studied Mongolian at the same school for several months years ago. I knew that he was a graduate student with a degree in biology and that he was here to do some study, but had no idea that he was working with taimen.

Enjoy the video.

Prayer update

Monday night I visited Ganzorig's house. Ganzorig is older than me and works as a carpenter. He fell down a flight of stairs at work and severely injured his leg. The doctor who examined it said that nothing was broken but the injury was severe enough that he has been off of work for several days and does not anticipate going back for several days more. In Mongolia where there is no workman's comp insurance such a break from work without pay most likely means the injury is serious. Although I have met him before at other's homes, I had never had a chance to witness to him. It was to witness to him that I visited. As he talked he asked (unusually for Mongolians), "Did you come to tell me something."

"Yes," I responded, "I came to tell you about Jesus." It was a great way to break the ice and start introducing him to my Savior. Given his reputation, I was concerned that he might be angry. (He once got into a knife fight with a friend of mine.) However, he listened without saying anything and took a Gospel tract that I offered him. I told him that I would be back to talk more with him about the tract, and he did not refuse. Please pray for the salvation of Mongolian men and that God would raise up Mongolian men to be leaders of the church here.

Sowing

It is said that David Livingstone only had the privilege of directly leading one African to our Savior Jesus Christ. But the seeds he planted continue to grow today. A friend recently passed on to me a reference to Marvin Olasky's article, "Fear God, work hard" in the November 10, 2007 issue of WORLD Magazine. In it Olasky points out that although Livingstone only saw one convert personally, the land of Zambia over which he traveled invites Christian missionaries to come to their country and has been a stable democracy for decades. Livingstone himself wrote in his journal, "Future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon. We prepared the way for them. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few cheering days except such as flow from faith in God’s promises. We work a glorious future which we are not destined to see."[1]

His quote reminds me of Jesus' words to His disciples after His meeting with the woman at the well, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured and you are entered into their labours."[2] Several years later His disciples would preach and see thousands added to the church. They certainly reaped a great harvest. But how many others had a part in sowing? We often take that verse as a encouragement to labor because we never know when we might reap. However, the verse is also an encouragement to labor because although we may never reap, others will reap where we have sown. Edward Judson made this observation about his father's life, "The sacrifices of my father's life were more fruitful than his labors. If you succeed without sacrifice, someone has sacrificed before you. If you sacrifice without success, someone will succeed after you."

I have friends in Cambodia, and the reports that I hear from there are simply incredible: people being saved every week, churches of hundreds, new towns being reached. Even more amazing, Cambodia has been "safe" for Western missionaries for less time than Mongolia. So what is the difference between Cambodia and Mongolia? Who can say exactly why God pours out his blessing on one place and not on another?

Interestingly enough, I have had the opportunity to observe two missionaries sent out by the same church at about the same time using the same methods. Although I do not know the missionary in Cambodia as well as I know the missionary in Mongolia, I can say that the missionary in Mongolia is probably the hardest working, most prayerful missionary in Mongolia. He has a church that runs in the twenties. His counterpart in Cambodia whom I assume is also hard-working and prayerful has a church of hundreds. Same amount of time, similar methods, same God-honoring character - why is one reaching tens while the other is reaching hundreds?

What most people in the United States have forgotten was that there was a Christian witness, seemingly fruitless Christian witness, in Cambodia in the 60's before Pol Pot turned Cambodia into a killing field. There were those who were preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified and distributing Bibles and Gospel literature. Another missionary whom I know in Cambodia shared with me that when he visited a home for the first time an elderly lady pulled out a dirty, used copy of a Bible portion in Cambodian and told him how her family had hid it for years during the terror of Pol Pot. Now she was overwhelmingly grateful for someone to come and teach her more about the Bible. She was wondrously saved!

But what about the missionary who left that Bible portion with her family. He goes unremarked and unremembered ... except to God: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."[3] As Olasky put it in his article, "Missionary work is more often a lonely twilight struggle against principalities and powers."[4] But God remembers those servants of His who have worked willingly and labored long and prayed passionately and yet only left behind the seeds that someone else would reap as fruit.

A good military metaphor for what I am describing comes from the D-Day invasion. The 29th Division, 116th Regiment, Company A was assigned to assault Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. The only problem was that the defenses on Omaha Beach were well-designed with interlocking fields of fire, pre-positioned artillery, and concrete bunkers. A further problem occurred when ocean currents carried two companies that were intended to land next to Company A a kilometer east leaving Company A an isolated company completely exposed on the beach to all the firepower the Germans could bring to bear. Stephen Ambrose records Sgt. Thomas Valance's experience of the assault:

"As we came down the ramp [from the landing craft], we were in water about knee-high and started to do what we were trained to do, that is, move forward and then crouch and fire. One problem was we didn't quite know what to fire at. I saw some tracers coming from a concrete emplacement which, to me, looked mammoth. I never anticipated any gun emplacements being that big. I shot at it but there was no way I was going to knock out a German concrete emplacement with a .30-caliber rifle. I abandoned my equipment, which was dragging me down in the water. It became evident rather quickly that we weren't going to accomplish very much. I remember floundering in the water with my hand up in the air, trying to get my balance, when I was first shot through the palm of my hand, then through the knuckle. Private Henry Witt was rolling over toward me. I remember him saying, 'Sergeant, they're leaving us here to die like rats. Just to die like rats.' [I] staggered up against the seawall and sort of collapsed there and, as a matter of fact, spent the whole day in that same position. Essentially my part in the invasion had ended by being wiped out as most of my company was. The bodies of my buddies were washing ashore and I was the one live body in amongst so many friends, all of whom were dead, in many cases very severely blown to pieces."[5]

Besides being hit in the hand twice Valance also was shot in the left thigh by a bullet that broke his hip bone. He also took two additional flesh words, the chin strap on his helmet was severed by a bullet, and his pack was hit twice. As he said, all he did was abandon his equipment, crawl up on the beach, and hide behind the seawall. Certainly, Sgt. Valance is not our idea of the valiant soldier who overcomes all odds to suceed in a dangerous mission.[6]

The historian summed up Company A's work this way:

"Company A had hardly fired a weapon. Almost certainly it had not killed any Germans. It had expected to move up the Vierville draw and be on top of the bluff by 0730, but at 0730 its handful of survivors were huddled up against the seawall, virtually without weapons. It had lost 96 percent of its effective strength."[7]

At that point in history, huddled against the seawall with the survivors one would be tempted to characterize the attack as a failure. But listen to the historian's assessment with the advantage of hindsight:

"But its sacrifice was not in vain. The men had brought in rifles, BARs [Browning Automatic Rifles], grenades, TNT charges, machine guns, mortars and mortar rounds, flamethrowers, rations, and other equipment. This was now strewn across the sand at Dog Green [the codename for Company A's landing]. The weapons and equipment would make a life-or-death difference to the following waves of infantry, coming in at higher tide and having to abandon everything to make their way to shore."[8]

What is significant about this history? It is a reminder that sometimes events that appear to be failures may really be God's way of planting seeds. It is all too easy to concentrate on the revivals and mass conversions that occur around the world. We like the good news, the excitement, the victory of hearing about hundreds or even thousands saved. I once asked a missionary in Mongolia if he thought his pastor would come to visit Mongolia one day. His response was something like this, "Yes, if we were baptizing a bunch of people. He would come. But as long as there are only have a handful of people, he is unlikely to come."

And yet it is the missionary who has invested his life in a country only to see a "handful" of people come to Christ who needs the most encouragement. After watching missionaries come and go in Mongolia, I am convinced that it is not difficult for the missionary who is seeing hundreds saved to persevere in a foreign land. One of the missionaries I know in Cambodia lost his wife in a tragic accident, took a brief furlough, and returned to Cambodia. It is the missionary who sows and sows and sows and sows and is not blessed to reap that needs to be encouraged, strengthened, perhaps even challenged not to become half-hearted or complacent.

This is not a plea for my sake. Yes, our work here is slow; but we are seeing people saved; we are baptizing people. This is a plea to note the ones who are only sowing. Everybody knows the names of the missionary who has planted multiple churches and trained scores of preachers. This is a call to hold up the hands of those who labor and sow but do not reap. One day, by God's grace, someone else may come along who will reap the fruit of the seeds that he has sown. Another missionary will arrive at the beach and find it strewn with the equipment that the one "who failed" left behind. He will be noticed, be hailed, be honored.

One last thought from from another missionary biographer.

One has sown, another watered, but God gave the increase. There is a tendency to judge the life’s work of missionaries by human attainments of others and the feats they have achieved. It is true we have had outstanding missionaries the world over, but to judge all by the achievements of some is using the human yardstick alone, and discounting the calling and appointing of God to missionary service. Truly, none of the early Church missionaries may have been as outstanding as Paul, but none were appointed to special tasks that Paul was appointed to – an apostle to the Gentiles. Peter and others accomplished outstanding missionary labours, but the Holy Spirit did not choose, in recording their life’s work, to throw the spotlight on their work with the same brightness as He did on Paul’s. Some of our missionaries have laboured in almost total obscurity for years with meager result to show for their labour, while others have laboured successfully in the limelight of known achievement and the applause of men. Yet, God has called and appointed both.[9]

Endnotes
[1] Marvin Olasky, "Fear God, work hard," WORLD Magazine, November 10, 2007.
[2] John 4:38
[3] Hebrews 6:10
[4] Marvin Olasky, "Fear God, work hard," WORLD Magazine, November 10, 2007.
[5] Stephen E. Ambrose, D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995, p. 328-329
[6] ibid p. 328-329
[7] ibid p. 331
[8] ibid p. 331
[9] from Memoirs of An Indian Whiteman

Sunday update

We almost doubled our attendance from last week's low. We also had our first visitor ever come from seeing out sign. It was quite a Sunday for us!

Halfway through our service a lady came in and seated herself. People were polite but subdued because it was an unusual time for a visitor to come in. As soon as the service was over, I introduced myself, and the Mongolians began to talk with her. I was excited about the way that our regular folks just began to chat with her. In the past I have often felt that the regulars were unsure about the way to treat newcomers. I understood from the conversation that she was walking past our church's meeting place on her way home from her regular church's service when she saw our sign and decided to check us out. I was glad that she came in.

Our number's were so down last week that our attendance could only go up. Still, it was gratifying to see so many come.

Ganpurev was scheduled to preach in my place. We have been working together the last few weeks to make sure that he was prepared. He did just fine and just needs to continue to prepare and deliver sermons. He does a good job of explaining the text; his weakness seems to be in making application. We will be working on that.

Ganaa did not come today. Kristie talked with her some this past week and believes her to be struggling with discouragement. She started a private kindergarten so that she could stay with her two-year-old son all day. But the private kindergarten has not been very successful and is a lot of work. Now she mainly works with young elementary students as a tutor which is not very profitable. Her husband Bob continues to be antagonistic towards Jesus Christ and works to discourage her. She needs our prayers.

Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off?

Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off in a local store? We've had times when a store would not sell us a particular item. Most memorably, Kristie and I were shopping once and picked out some shampoo; the item and price were clearly marked on the shelf. When we arrived at the counter, the item would not scan. A manager was called who said that the item was not in the computer yet and told us that we could not buy the shampoo. I even argued that we were willing to pay the price listed on the shelf. But the manager confiscated the contraband item and, probably, returned it to the shelf where it belonged.

But this is different: whole shelves blocked off but filled with items behind the sheet. The other side of this aisle also had an entire section blocked off. Store after store that I visited on Thursday showed a similar sight. Entire aisles with paper, sheets, or other coverings blocking one's view of the items behind it.

What could be the reason? What products are covered behind those shelves?

It turns out that the Mongolian government has prohibited the sale of alcohol: liquor, wine, beer, etc. A distillery in Baganuur obtained some pure alcohol from China. Unfortunately for the consumers, it was not pure grain alcohol but pure wood alcohol. It was mixed into a batch of vodka in Baganuur. Unsuspecting Mongolians drank the poisoned brew on New Year's Eve; and by New Year's morning, eleven people were dead and thirteen others were in the hospital including the president of the distillery. Since then, another person has died and now over sixty people have been poisoned by the methanol.

The Ministry of Health acted immediately to prohibit the sale of alcohol and to warn people about the possibility of other contaminated alcoholic products. The sale of all liquor, wine, and beer has been temporarily suspended which is the reason for shelves of items to be covered in every store.

Saddest to me is the fact that the government moves to warn people about alcohol after people die quickly. Thousands of Mongolians die every year from the effects of alcohol. Some drink, pass out on the way home, and die from exposure to the cold. Some destroy their livers after years of drinking and die of various liver diseases. Some die from poor judgment caused by the consumption of alcohol. All of these deaths the government ignores. But when eleven people die suddenly, the government steps in.

But this story also illustrates man's perverse fascination with sin. Sins with immediate and overwhelming effects, of course, are seen for their evil and generally condemned by society. Few Americans would try to countenance murder, for example; and everyone thought that Enron's dishonesty was deplorable. But most Americans refuse to admit that deception is always wrong. Sins whose effects are obvious and tragic grab our attention. But all of us make excuses for allowing the "little" sins whose effects may not be as immediate or deadly.

The recent debacle with alcohol in Mongolia was a good reminder to me to guard my own life from the "little" sins which threaten to destroy gradually and to be on guard against the rationalizing, "Oh, this little bit won't hurt."

A happy new year to you all!

Let me take the first day of the year 2008 to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who are praying for us. I know that God has great things in store for us all in 2008. As William Carey said, "Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God."

I know that your prayers are what keep us encouraged and excited about what God will accomplish in 2008 through our ministry to Mongolians. So keep praying and come back once a week or so to see what God is doing here in the land of Genghis Khan.