Church camp

We had 17 adults and 10 children at our church camp - the first we have ever done in Mongolia. I was encouraged by the good turnout; and except for one accident which I will tell you about in a minute, we all had a good time.

About a third of the adults that were at our church camp were unsaved. At my first opportunity I preached an evangelistic sermon for them and to remind the saved ones that salvation is not something that we do therefore we cannot be proud of being saved and boast of our own righteousness. I used the other two preaching opportunities to preach on Christian living.

There were late nights playing games and laughing, a soccer game during the heat of the day on a field covered with cow chips and pocked with holes, a creek nearby to splash in and wash our faces in the mornings, basketball played with an old soccer ball, and competitions such as throwing a small inner tube and trying to land it on a fence post.

One of the competitions was a tug-of-war between couples. After winning our initial bouts, Kristie &I were pulling against Buren & Sonin. For being a man about the age of my father, Buren has amazing strength. With his wife, he had already beaten Ganpurev & Ulzee. We pulled and pulled, they got the initial upper hand but we seemed to be making progress. Then it became apparent that they were winning. The goal was to pull the other team past a stake that had been posted in the ground. As Kristie neared the stake, thinking that we were done, I let go of the rope. Buren and Sonin both tumbled to the ground. Sonin bumped her head on the ground. She had to be helped to her feet and took a few seconds to get up but said that she was ok.

However, a few minutes later Buren saw her sitting in the shade by the tents away from the action. Buren and later I went over to join her. She complained that she was feeling funny and had no feeling on one side of her head. She thought she might be about to vomit. I was concerned that she might be experiencing pressure inside her cranium from the knock on her head. She could also tell that her blood pressure was very high. She has trouble with her blood pressure. She just wanted to lay down in the shade.

To make a long story short: I prayed and prayed, Ganpurev went and found a nurse in the local village who was willing to come out to the campsite and competently administered some treatment. After she was feeling somewhat better, Buren took her home.

Sonin saw a doctor on Monday and as of Tuesday was feeling normal. I will post again if I find out more information.