Prayer update

I have noticed that Christians seem to go through a few stages. The first stage is the initial excitement of salvation. As the Holy Spirit fills a person for the first time, there is a joy and peace that they have never experienced before. It is so thrilling to watch.

Then there is often a stage where everything is new. The baby Christian begins to ask questions: can I participate in this activity? should I be watching this? why do you always choose to do that? As a lover of people, this fills my heart with joy. To watch a Christian who wants to please his Savior reminds me of that first love that we all have to avoid forsaking. This reflects some of the meaning of the verse in 1 John - "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

I have been watching a Christian in this second stage recently. Gantsetseg recently lost her job. She had been hired as a teacher at a local school and thought that it was a permanent position. However, she ended up being replaced by a teacher with more seniority who had left on maternity leave. (Mongolian mothers can receive up to two years of maternity leave.) The school told her about two weeks before school started that she no longer had a job. She has looked diligently for another teaching position; however, it is hard to find a teaching job this close to the beginning of the school year. Gantsetseg has been so eager to serve and has also been asking questions about living the Christian life. Her summer job took her about an hour outside the city, but she made it a point to attend the service each Sunday only missing a couple of Sundays all summer. She told me that she has been challenged by the sermons of tithing this past summer (there were two sermons on giving) but now she is without work. Please pray for her as she grows in grace and knowledge and as she looks for work.

Also, I mentioned Aya and her cancer treatment in another recent post. She and her family continue to think that it may be better for her to forgo radiation treatment and continue her chemotherapy. Her daughter Ulzee realizes that the reality is that she may become very sick and unable to take care of herself. Please pray for Aya and her family too as they face this difficult time together. Pray that God would use what humanly seems so traumatic to bring glory and honor to Himself.

We also had a memorable weekend with our neighbors. First, I was very sick last Thursday and could hardly get out of bed. I recovered enough by Friday to go to camp but was still week. Kristie had an opportunity to witness for some time to a lady named Selenge who lives in our building but is preparing to go to Dubai to work. I had an opportunity to tell the story of Jonah and the whale to the children there and emphasized that only the God of the Bible is able to save us. We are excited to see how God will use these seeds we planted as we go forward.

We insisted that we had to leave Saturday because we had a church service on Sunday. My neighbor Temulen suggested we could just skip church. When I insisted that we needed to be there, it was interesting to me that it was Selenge who agreed with me and emphasized that it was important to be in church.