Weekly update

To those of you who faithfully (and maybe not so faithfully) pray for us:

Some of you may wonder a little bit at this week's greeting. It is not intended to be an insult to anyone. I am well aware that some of you intercede for us; you spend much time each week lifting up us and our relationships to the Father. To say that we and those Mongolians who are impacted by God's power are eternally grateful is no exaggeration.

But I also know that some of you may only be curious about our ministry here. My intuition tells me that some may even be a little skeptical: perhaps you disagree with my method or mock my results or question my sincerity. Whatever brings you to read this update, welcome! May God use this update to inspire your love for God, increase your love for souls, and instill greater interest in Central Asia.

Sunday night after a long day of ministry, I thanked the Lord for His goodness in letting me minister in Mongolia and asked Him to take my human efforts done for His sake and multiply them. In other words, I considered my ministry outside of my family to be done for the day. We locked the front door and began to spend some moments together as a family before retiring for the night.

There came a knock at that door. One of the children going to check the door thought it was Buren. She called me, and I went to the door to talk to Buren. Only it was not Buren, but a fellow that I met once on the stairs of our building. I believe that at the time he was casing our apartment building looking for things to purloin.

To make a long story short, he had come to my place to ask me to forgive him for stealing a Bible several years ago when he had visited my house. He admitted that he stole it to sell it for money. He then stated that he needed help. It seems the police are looking for him because of his involvement in crime. He also tells me that he wants to be saved ... from the police, it seems. Despite meeting with him three times in the last three days and presenting the Gospel clearly multiple times, he tells me that he does not want the salvation from sin that God offers because he is afraid that he will be forced to turn himself into the police.

He was waiting for me this morning when I left for a meeting with another missionary. I truly wish that I could help him, but he does not seem to want the help that God offers. Please pray for me to have wisdom to deal with these difficult situations. One never knows whom one will meet when he goes out his door in the morning.

Praising God for His goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men,

Scott Dean