Annoyed by a drunk

Last night just after six, Bill Patterson and I were standing outside by our vehicles waiting for our wives. It had already turned dark, and we were passing the time profitably discussing ministry in Mongolia. I noticed that an obviously drunk man was standing several feet away from us staring at us. Often drunk people stare at foreigners so I did not think much of it.

After staring for a minute or so, the man walked up to Bill and poked him hard in the stomach. I thought to myself, What is this man doing? What he was doing was trying to pick a fight. He clenched his right hand into a fist. Bill wisely avoided being punched by reaching out and taking the man's clenched right hand as if to shake it and greeting him kindly both in English and Mongolian.

But the man wanted none of that. He continued to sway back and forth for a few seconds without doing anything as if he wondered what to do next. Bill took a step back to avoid confrontation but the drunk man stepped towards Bill again with a clenched fist. As if to confront Bill, he said in Mongolian, "Do you know what the word 'disrespect' means?" Hoping to calm the man and avert trouble, I stepped forward and put my hand gently on the man's shoulder. He hesitated a second and then grabbed my hand and thrust it away. Bill tried to talk to him. The man claimed he knew a little English and kept saying, "Two dollars." The drunk brought out his wallet and showed us it was empty repeatedly saying, "Two dollars," first looking at Bill and then towards me. Knowing that he would only spend the money on more alcohol, we politely refused.

Then he pointed to Bill and said, "One dollar," and then to me, "One dollar." We shook our heads to refuse his demand. Then he moved toward me. Bill got out his phone perhaps to call someone for help. The man started speaking Mongolian saying, "Is he going to call the police?" and laughed histrionically. Then he reached for his back pocket as if he had a knife and whipped he hand back toward me threateningly, but I could see that he had no knife.

Bill and I moved away from him again but he followed us. He said to me, "You understand Mongolian. I'll bring the police here and kill you. Do you know the word 'knife'? I'll kill you." I must admit I chuckled at his obviously silly threats. He was so drunk that a strong push would have knocked him to the ground. Besides, why show fear?

And then as abruptly as he came, he walked away. We were in a very public place and two or three dozen people must have passed us as we stood there. But no one chose to intervene except one man who walked up who looked as if he might live on the streets. The drunk waved him off and told him to go away which the man did.

I never really felt as if I was in any real danger. The greatest danger seemed to me to be to get in a fight with a drunk man and seem to those who passed by to be picking a fight with a drunk man. But God gave us grace that enabled us to avoid a confrontation. Soon after that, our wives came out and we left.

Sunday update

Kristie has been sick for almost a month now. First she had a cold and fever. The fever went away after a few days but the cough remained. Then she had a really nasty stomach virus that kept her in bed or near the toilet for a few days. After that went away the cough returned. Last week, she would feel decent during the day but in the evenings she would feel sick at her stomach and dizzy in her head, especially if she stood or sat. Lying down, she might feel only slightly sick although one night even lying down did not help.

I have been trying to help with the homeschooling but do not think that I make a very good substitute teacher. I have also been making dinner and feel better with that job. It would be nice if Kristie would feel completely better. Then we could get our family back to normal.

The turnout was good again on Sunday with 17 Mongolian adults. That is about double the adult attendance of last year. We have one new family that has been faithful the last few weeks: Byasaa and his wife Ganchimeg. They both say that they are saved; however, I am not sure what to think. Ganpurev started this week teaching them a Bible study. He and I will be working with them closely to make certain of their salvation, to see them baptized, and to make them disciples of Jesus Christ. Please pray for these and many other young Christians with whom we are working.

Funeral for Bold's sister

"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that it the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." Ecclesiastes 7:2

I attended the funeral for Bold's sister today. Bill went with me and was an encouragement to me and, I believe, to Bold also.

It was different than most Mongolian funerals in that there was no Buddhist monk present at the funeral. Nor had a Buddhist monk visited the family's home. The mother had refused to allow a Buddhist monk to enter her home.

We left for the funeral at 5:45. Mongolians always have very early funerals. The temperature outside was a little above zero as we stood in the early morning sun and watched the ceremonies that mark the depositing of a body and casket into the ground. My feet began to lose their feeling because I chose to wear a pair of dress shoes rather than my winter boots. Still I was glad to be there to encourage my friend during his time of mourning.

Quote of the day

"To me there is nothing more tragic or shortsighted or lacking in insight than the assumption, made by so many, that the Church herself is all right and all she has to do is to evangelize the world outside. Every revival proves clearly that men who are outside the church always become attracted when the Church herself begins to function truly as the Christian Church, and as individual Christians [should act]." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

"Weep with them that weep"

I had been sitting for almost an hour, the conversation in Mongolian swirling about me. I have never been good at these kinds of things.

There was no light in the room except for the faint evening sun that was blocked by the building directly to the south. On the table in front of me sat three tall thermos flasks filled with milk tea; several plates with sliced salami and cucumbers; and a large bowl piled high with candies, dried curds called aaruul, and other small treats.

I was waiting for my friend Bold who had left before I arrived to obtain his sister's death certificate.

Bold's sister Oyungerel had surgery several months ago to completely remove a cancerous kidney. Her surgery had been followed by a series of chemotherapy treatments. As far as I knew from Bold her recovery had been slow but steady until about a month ago.

On a warm Wednesday in September, I came at my regular time to meet with Bold to work on Mongolian translation work. I found the whole house in a panic; Bold was very apologetic. "I'm sorry," he said, "I cannot meet with you today. This morning my sister suddenly discovered that she has no feeling in her right leg from her hip to her knee. We're just getting ready to take her to the hospital."

I felt awkward because I had already loaned out my jeep to a Mongolian friend to use to take his mother-in-law to the hospital to continue her cancer treatments and could not help Bold transport his sister to the hospital. Instead I began to pray and asked the church to pray.

Bold too was praying. Bold was saved about eight years ago and was left in charge of a house church when some missionaries from Germany returned home about four years ago. Our time of working on translation together has drawn us close. Sometimes instead of translating we will spend almost an entire session discussing a Biblical response to Mongolian culture or the latest news among Christians in Ulan Bator. It has been very helpful to me to have a Mongolian friend with whom I can discuss such things.

His sister Suvda is also a Christian, but the rest of his family continue to worship false gods though they respect his "religious beliefs".

Bold's pre-occupation with his sister and my parents-in-law's visit kept us from our regular meetings for the past month. But through a phone call and sneaking in visits I was able to follow his sister's condition.

The doctors came to realize that the cancer that they had thought was confined to her kidneys had already begun to spread before her surgery. Although the doctors completely removed her kidney, the already metastasized cancer was swiftly working its way into her spinal column. Its growth there caused pressure on her spinal cord which resulted in the loss of feeling first in one leg and then the other.

Because of the delicate nature of the spinal cord and the spread of the cancer, the doctors were not certain that more surgery would be successful. Besides Oyungerel did not want to go through surgery again and declined further treatment. Barring direct intervention by God, it became a matter of waiting.

I will close the curtain of privacy on the details of her decline. But the family reached a point where they needed some relief from caring night and day for Oyungerel. Someone suggested hospice care, and for two weeks she was in the kind and gentle hands of Christian people who exhibit far more grace and skill than I have.

She returned home last week. On Wednesday Bold and I met briefly and talked. She was not doing well. As a church we began to pray. Almost every day I communicated briefly with Bold telling him that we were praying.

Monday morning I received the message that she had passed away.

Though I had not ruled out God's direct intervention, I was led to pray for the salvation of Oyungerel and Bold's mother and for the comfort & peace of the Holy Spirit for Bold and Suvda. God answered one of those requests as I found out Monday from Bold that while Oyungerel was in hospice care she had told people multiple times that she had received Jesus and trusted Him.

Because the Mongolian custom is to visit the home of the deceased as soon as one can after receiving the news, I found myself at Bold's house sipping milk tea and eating the aaruul.

The Mongolians spoke their language around me sometimes addressing the whole group of almost a dozen of us, sometimes chatting more informally in little groups of three or four. Even in English I feel uncertain what to say at times of grief, and in Mongolian I am concerned that I might say the wrong thing and intensify everyone's grief. So I sat silently, speaking if spoken to and waiting for Bold to return.

Finally, the group that was there, primarily people from Bold's church, took time to pray and then left. I was left alone with Bold's mother and sister Suvda and aunt. There was some light joking as I was introduced as Jeff because before me had been another foreigner to visit also named Jeff.

Shortly after that an even larger group of people, teachers from the school where Bold's mother taught, came to visit. The room quickly filled and then began to overflow with people. The family invited me to wait in another, smaller room.

I had only been waiting a few minutes when Bold returned from his visits to the officials. He came into the room where I was and we exchanged the usual Mongolian pleasantries. He began to explain mechanically the nature of his errands even showing me the newly acquired death certificate.

I put my arm around him and said in Mongolian (even though he speaks good English), "I don't have any fancy words to say. I want to say I love you." Mongolian men do not usually cry but Bold did. We embraced, and I gave Bold the chance to recover.

"It's hard for me," he said, "being the only man in my family." His father had passed away when he was a boy, and he has no brothers. "Everyone wants me to be tough." Nothing was said for a minute or two and then his aunt came in to discuss more burial preparations.

Oyungerel's death is real; her eternity is now decided. The recent news is another painful reminder that death is all around us. We tend to try to sanitize death and its details to insulate ourselves emotionally from it. But death is real. Which makes our work here in Mongolia all the more urgent and important.

Picture of Bob

We are still rejoicing at the recent salvation of Bob. His wife told us today that Bob told all his friends that he had become a Christian. She said that there was a long pause and then they said, "I guess that means you'll be changing." Please continue to pray that God would protect Bob from evil influences.

Sunday our attendance was down a little. But we still had 34 when we counted the Mongolians and Americans. I would have been very happy to have 34 people at a church service this time last year.

One of my Mongolian friend's sisters passed away this morning. Her name was Oyungerel, and she finally succumbed to cancer. I spent some time this afternoon and evening with him. Please pray for comfort and peace for Bold and his sister Suvda who are Christians. And pray for the salvation of Bold's mother who is not yet a Christian.

Details of Bob's salvation

It was not so many weeks ago that Ganaa (also known as Bolroo) was baptized. She was saved when we first met her in 2001. (She was Kristie's language tutor and helped me as well.) However, she was not a very mature Christian.

It took us a long time to see her baptized. We certainly encouraged her to be baptized; however, she usually had some excuse. We fully expected her to come to our previous baptismal service and be baptized and were disappointed when she missed.

I have also witnessed to her husband Bob many times. As a matter of fact, Bob was the first person to whom I witnessed in Mongolian. In 2005-2006 when we were on furlough, we asked our supporters to pray for his salvation.

It seemed to us that immediately after her baptism her problems increased. I was sure glad I did not promise my listeners that if they were baptized all their problems would go away. On the advice of his drinking buddies her husband told her the next day that she would have to choose between Jesus and him. Then he called me and asked my family to stop having Ganaa teach our children Mongolian.

The day after that, Ganaa, Kristie, and I met. It was amazing to see the peace that Ganaa had as she told us that Bob told her that if she followed Christ she would need to leave the house. She told us plainly, "I will follow Jesus even if I have to move out." She was seeking advice on what she ought to do. We began to pray with her that God would soften Bob's heart.

On the Saturday following I was going out to visit people. I was not sure if I should visit Bob's house or not and finally decided against it because I was concerned that a visit might make the situation worse for Ganaa. After all, he had not yet insisted that Ganaa leave. Instead I was led to pray that God would give me an opportunity to run into Bob. Strangely enough, I had completed all my visits and was returning home when I stopped at a local grocery store to buy some cheese. Who should be there but Bob! Providentially, God brought us together. I determined that I would show him that I loved him. My father-in-law (who is also my pastor) had offered to bring something with him to give to Bob as a goodwill gift. So I asked Bob if there was anything from the States that he wanted. He asked for two pair of jeans.

My parents-in-law visit was the perfect opportunity to have Bob over to our house. We held an open house for our friends to meet our parents and invited Bob and his family to come. Kristie's parents had brought with them the pairs of jeans that Bob had requested. Bob came with his family and seemed to enjoy his time with my pastor.

My pastor who was preparing to speak on Sunday told him that he could pick up his jeans at the church service. So Bob came again on Sunday. My pastor spoke and then Ganpurev preached an evangelistic message. Bob picked up his jeans, asked if he could meet with me and my pastor, and said that he would be back the next week.

A few days later Bob invited our family to come over for a meal. On Saturday, we went to Bob's house where he gave us plenty of good food to eat. Afterwards, my pastor and I took the opportunity to witness to Bob. It was not that Bob was unaware of the claims of Christ or needed to know the way of salvation. I had, in fact, been witnessing to him several weeks before his wife's baptism when he cut me off and said, "I know all that." His problem was that he did not want to place his trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior from sin. It was a classic situation where a person knows that Jesus claims to be the way, the truth, and the life but does not want to believe it.

Bob shared with us that Saturday that he was afraid that if he became a Christian he would be a hypocrite. He said he knew many men who said that they were Christians but continued to drink, lie, and deal dishonestly. It was apparent that Bob understood the basic concept of repentance; that is, if he were to become a Christian God would want to change his sinful life. A Christian's life should stand in stark contrast to the world.

My father-in-law wisely reminded Bob that we cannot be worried about God's responsibility but must accept our responsibility. Our responsibility is to respond to God with faith; it is God's responsibility to save and sanctify us. Bob said that he would think about it. I pressed him to give us an answer, and my pastor reminded him that no answer was to continue to resist the Holy Spirit. I asked if he would give us an answer the next day; he said that he would think about that too.

The next day, a Sunday, Bob again came to church. When we sang "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" to close our service, I noticed that Bob was singing the song, something that he has never done before because he believes as I do that it would be hypocritical for him to sing any song if he does not agree with the words. I noted this change of character in him and wondered what it might mean.

After the service, I asked Bob if he was ready to put his trust in Jesus. He said, "Let's talk, the three of us" referring to my pastor and me and him. So we found some privacy in a little storage room and talked. The conversation probably lasted an hour. Bob continued to express a fear that he could not live the Christian life. We agreed with him that he could not live the Christian life, showed him Galatians 2:20, and emphasized that the Christian life was simply allowing Christ to live through us. We also pointed out that he could only take one step at a time and that today's step was to put his trust in Jesus Christ and to ask God to forgive him.

Finally, after about an hour Bob said, "Okay, I'm ready to do that." So I suggested that he should pray and tell God what he had just told me. Bob bowed his head and without any prompting told God that he was a sinner, asked God for forgiveness through Jesus, and asked God to begin to change him. It was very moving for those of us who know how proud Bob was to see him humble himself before a holy God and admit his sinfulness.

For many years, I have witnessed to Bob, sometimes even angering him with my boldness. Now the Holy Spirit has transformed him, and it is exciting to see God at work.

(Bob's family is in the picture to the right)

Weekly update

I want to share with you a victory in prayer. I earnestly believe that your prayers are significant to my ministry here and want to assure you that God does answer your prayers. In last week's prayer update I asked you to pray for our meeting with Bob; this week I am rejoicing as I report that Bob made a profession of faith over the weekend. Let me bring some of you up to date on who Bob is and why the events of this past week are so momentous to me.

Bob is the first man that I ever witnessed to in Mongolia way back in 2002. Sometimes he would seem open to hearing the Gospel; sometimes he seemed almost possessed, railing against me and falsely accusing his Christian wife of all sorts of evils. But that is one reason that his salvation is so significant: his wife is a Christian. We want entire families to be united in Christ. Other missionaries have come to Mongolia, seen the difficulties in the marriage of a Christian to a non-Christian, said it was hopeless, and encouraged the saved spouse to divorce the unsaved spouse. I believe that God is greater than our "impossibilities," and Bob's salvation is another reminder of that!

If you were to ask me two years ago or four years ago who I thought the most unlikely man to become a Christian was, I would have answered without hesitation Bob. His pride, his self-sufficiency, his addiction to sin, his many unsaved friends - there is no doubt that Bob was the least likely to become a Christian. Again, that is why his salvation is so significant.

Finally, he has friends and acquaintances everywhere. We cannot walk down the street together without Bob meeting someone that he knows. One of them just recently became a member of parliament. Imagine the impact Bob's godly life could have on those friends. Some of these friends are very evil. One of Bob's greatest fears is that his evil friends will pull him back to a life of sin.

Let's pray together that the same miraculous power that God exhibited to draw Bob to Himself would be exhibited in Bob's life. I am praying that God would protect him from sin and cause him to grow spiritually. I am praying that through all of this God might be glorified and another light may shine brightly for our Savior in this dark country.

Victory!

Where to begin? Yes, yesterday our attendance continued to rise with over 45 people in both the morning service (Mongolian) and the evening service (English). We literally spilled out of the room we are in. We need more room! (I'm not complaining, it's a good problem to have.)

But the best news of the day was Bob's profession of salvation after the morning service. Pastor Jaquith and I had gone to see him on Saturday and had a profitable opportunity to witness to him. We pressed him to tell us whether he would surrender to Christ and beg God's forgiveness for his sins. When he said that he needed to think about it, Pastor Jaquith asked if he could give him an answer tomorrow (Sunday). Bob said that he would think about it.

Pastor Jaquith preached in the morning service on some duties of the Christian. Ganpurev followed up with an evangelistic sermon. To close the service we sang "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus." We have sang this song many times before, but I noticed this time that Bob had joined in the singing with us. That's odd, I thought, he's never joined in singing this song before.

After the service, I approached Bob and asked if he had an answer. He said that he was ready "to believe" but that he wanted the three of us to talk. We found some privacy in a storage room and began to talk. At the end Bob bowed his head and prayed confessing his sinfulness and asking God to change him.

There's so much more I could write about. I will try to do so soon. I know that many of you have been praying with me for years for Bob's salvation. Praise the Lord, I believe that God has answered those prayers. Now pray for Bob's spiritual growth and for protection from temptation.

Prayer update

We certainly enjoyed a good Sunday. Pastor Jaquith preached twice for us. We had 43 total people in attendance in the morning and 39 in the evening. Bob came to church for the first time in months, and his wife Ganaa taught the children's class. This past Sunday was truly a highlight Sunday.

Speaking of Bob, he called me last week asking to meet with me. He has pretty much tried to ignore me for the last year. But last week, after calling he came to my house to meet me. He expressed some remorse for some of his recent actions. Again, I preached to him that Jesus is the only way to peace. He said something like, "Do you really believe that?"

After the Sunday service, Bob came and asked if Pastor Jaquith, he, and I could meet this week. Many of you, Ganaa (Bob's wife), Pastor Jaquith, and I have been praying for Bob's salvation for many years. I have been praying especially fervently recently that now would be the time of salvation for Bob. What glory it would bring to God for this hardened sinner to come to salvation through Jesus Christ. Please pray for us as we meet this week.

Pictures of Mongolian Christians

I was recently asked for some pictures of people who have been saved through our ministry. I decided to go ahead and post these pictures for those of you who frequent this blog.

First snow!

We woke up this morning to snow. It's our first snow since last spring. Winter won't be long now.

Quotes of the day

"I am never tired of saying that what the church needs to do is not to organize evangelistic campaigns to attract outside people, but to begin herself to live the Christian life." - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

And later he also said, "The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it."

Prayer update

I met twice last week with Baska for Bible study and visited Hashbayar at his sister's home where Ganpurev and I preached Jesus Christ to him. Bob met me at my home today and seemed more open to the Gospel than he has been in a long time though he remains unrepentant. He did say that he would come to the church service on Sunday to hear my pastor preach. Ganpurev is preparing an evangelistic service. Pray that the unconverted who come this Sunday would understand their wickedness, repent of sin, and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation.

Attendance the last two Sundays has been great! Two Sundays ago we had 32 Mongolians in attendance and last Sunday 30 Mongolians. Considering that last year's attendance in September averaged 13 Mongolians, I feel that we are off to a great start to a new school year!

Grandma & Grandpa, the Jaquiths, arrived safely last night and are already enjoying their grandkids. Kristie is sick, however, and unable to enjoy her parents visit fully. Please pray that Kristie would get better soon.

Aya's health

I have been wanting to update my blog for some time. But let's just say that I've been providentially prevented from updating my blog.

Aya's doctors seem encouraged by her body's response to treatment so far. The tumor is softening and shrinking they say. However, the doctors are now suggesting more potent treatments. I am not sure how Aya's body will hold up.

Ganpurev & Ulzee were very encouraged by the doctors' prognosis. The doctors were saying that the outlook was not very good; now they are saying that there might be hope for a full recovery. Keep praying.