Received our residency permission

Today, I received my residency permission that is valid until May. I mentioned this last week. Join me in thanking the Lord for His goodness.

109 years ago...

The year is 1902 , one hundred and nine years ago ... What a difference a century makes!!

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven years of age.

Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.

The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year!

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.

Ninety percent of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

The five leading causes of death in the US were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.

Crossword puzzles and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.

Quote of the week

“The Bible was not so neglected a Book when the great revivals of 1857-1859 swept over the United States and Great Britain. Neither was it so neglected in Moody’s time. During the late Manchu dynasty, scholars were expected to know the classics of their sages by heart. How do the scholars of the so-called Christian lands measure up to that standard as regards the “World’s Great Classic”? It is nothing short of pathetic how so many, who come professedly to represent the Lord Jesus Christ..., know so little of His Word. Thirty years ago the missionary ideal was to know the Bible so well that one would not have to carry around a concordance.” — Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit [emphasis added]

COLD!

As you can see from the top photo, it was predicted to be cold all week with temperatures staying below zero even during the day. Today it won't even reach the -4 that was predicted. As you can see below, the temperature at about noon today was -26 F. It may get a little warmer today but not much, I think. I have been out walking in the cold twice today; and believe me, it is cold.

Please pray for Dashka

You really must pray for Dashka. His older brother died tonight which is the third death of a family member in the last month. His younger brother died suddenly of a heart attack and his wife died several days later after several years of battling cancer. Now his older brother's death from cancer is the third death in January.

We know that God does all things well. We know that God has a plan in all this. We know that God can be glorified even in personal tragedy. Pray that through such extreme circumstances Dashka's faith will be strengthened.

Many of you have let me know that you are praying for Dashka. I have passed those notes of encouragement on to him. Continue to pray.

Deans' weekly update

Last week there was no weekly update because I was in Shanghai, China looking for wood and tools for a carpenter shop. You may be wondering what a missionary is doing with a carpenter shop. Simple, I need a way to stay in the country and as long as I am running a business I can stay here ... maybe. But leave that "maybe" for now. Secondly, Proverbs teaches us that "In all labor there is profit." (14:23). I want these Mongolians to learn to work with their hands and see the fruit of their labor. But it's not primarily going to be my ministry. My father has agreed to come to Mongolia to teach the Mongolians the skills that he has learned over his decades of working in a woodshop. He even agreed to pay for the tools that would be needed to start the endeavor. So the money that you have sent me won't be used to buy woodworking tools. My father has always pledged enough of his own money to cover the cost of wood, as well.

Thus I went to Shanghai to visit my friend Matthew and check on obtaining supplies and tools there that we cannot find in Mongolia. It looks very promising except that a company that said they would help ship our purchases to Mongolia later changed their mind and said that they could not do it. This means that I need to find a Chinese export and shipping company. Another friend suggested a company in Ulan Bator. I will check with them this week.

Also, I will be dealing with the Mongolian bureaucracy this week to extend my residency permission. The law is set up so that I should be able to extend this permission without difficulty. But recently, the Mongolian bureaucracy has been making it more and more difficult for foreigners to stay in Mongolia. Many foreigners have left or been required to change jobs to stay. Please pray for God's will to be done. If He wants me here, they will extend my residency permission. Also pray for the proper shipping company to ship the wood and tools that my father needs for his project.

Good article to read about Mongolia

Bill Patterson sent this article to me, and after reading it I pass it on to you.

This Day in Baptist History

This day (January 21) is considered an important date in Anabaptist history. It is the day that Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock were baptized upon their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The had previously been baptized as infants but came to the belief that baptism was intended for those who professed faith in Christ. Hence the name Anabaptist or re-baptizers.

Quote of the week

"We are apt to have a disproportionate view of a Christian because we look only at exceptions. The exceptions stand out as exceptions. The extraordinary conversions and phenomenal experiences are magnificent specimen studies of what happens in the life of everyone, but not one in a million has an experience such as the Apostle Paul had. The majority of us are unnoticed and unnoticeable people. If we take the extraordinary experience as a model for the Christian life, we erect a wrong standard without knowing it, and in the passing of the years we produce that worse abortion, the spiritual prig -- an intolerant un-likeness to Jesus Christ. The man or woman who becomes a spiritual prig does so by imperceptible degrees, but the starting-point is a departure from the evangel of the New Testament and a building up on the evangel of Protestantism." - Oswald Chambers

Deans' January prayer letter

January has already been a busy month. Tonga passed away on the 4th without having made a clear profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Although her eternal destiny is sealed, her death motivates me to do all I can to get out the good news that Jesus saves. Kristie and I both told Tonga the good news of a Savior and only regret that she obstinately refused to consider the claims of Christ.

On January 2, Battulga (pronounced Bat´·toll·luck) and Burnee (pronounced Bur·nay´) made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This couple has two little girls aged four and two. Because we want to see entire families united in faith, this husband and wife’s salvation is a joy to us all. Already we have begun discipleship lessons with them. So even in sorrow God has given us joy.

Tomorrow we will move into our new facilities. It will be a blessing to have expanded facilities. With the extra opportunities come added responsibilities, which the Mongolians will need to assume. I believe that God has been preparing them for this. Now pray that, as the Macedonians of old, their great trial of affliction and deep poverty will be the opening that God uses to show His joy and provision when we allow His Spirit to work through us.

These events are all the accumulation of many months and years of work. We are so thankful to God that He has called us to serve in Mongolia, and we look forward to many more years of service. Please pray for our residency permission renewal which must be completed by the first week of February. Although I do not anticipate any difficulties, since all our paperwork is in order, I know others who have left Mongolia recently because of difficulties maintaining their residency permission. I never forget that I am a foreigner in Mongolia by permission of the government - permission that could be withdrawn. Your prayers are appreciated.

Quote of the week

"Any believing child of God may safely gauge the measure of his surrender to the will of God, in any matter, by the measure of his impatience he feels at obstacles in the way; for, in proportion as self-will sways him, whatever seems to oppose or hinder his plans will disturb or annoy; and, instead of quietly leaving all such hindrances and obstacles to the Lord, to deal with them as He pleases, in His own way and time, the willful disciple will, impatiently and in the energy of the flesh, set himself to remove them by his own scheming and struggling, and he will brook no delay." — A. T. Pierson

Today is James Bedford Day

He was the first man to be cryonically preserved. In other words, his lifeless body was frozen in hopes of one day bringing him back to life when technology was far enough advanced to treat his disease. That was 1967; forty-one years later his body is still frozen.

Those who died in Christ have been experiencing the blessings of the presence of the Savior for centuries now without expensive suspended animation. Isn't God good to give us so many blessings without cost to us!

Tonga's passing

Today I am sitting here with a cup of tea. The temperature outside is -26 (-32 for those of you who use Celcius). Too cold for much outside travel. Yesterday was slightly warmer which was a good thing because I stood outside some.

Yesterday was the day that we participated in the ceremonies surrounding the passing of Dashka's wife Tonga. I mentioned in last week's update her desperate condition. My visit to her ger last week is a scene that has been burned into my memory. The next e-mail that I wrote following my weekly update was to announce her passing.

Yesterday was the funeral. There were several occasions where we stood outside for a ceremony or waiting for a ceremony. It was cold yesterday. The silence and tears are the same for every funeral service. But the single largest contrast with a Christian ceremony was the lack of hope. Not one of the many non-Christians in attendance is certain of Tonga's fate or future. They draw no lessons from her passing unless it is the hope that after their demise someone will have the rituals performed for them. There is no talk of a loving, holy, creator God. There is no mention of His provision of salvation. There is no reference to the eternal Life, Jesus Christ.

Yesterday was an apt illustration of Paul's words, "Sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." The home-going of a loved one is difficult, but the death of one in a society that refuses to recognize the true God is tragic.

Today, please pray for Dashka and his children Ankhmaa (14), Amraa (8), Hobo (6), and Ămey (2). Ămey (short 'a' as in "cat") is the youngest and was born prior to Tonga's diagnosis with cancer. Her name means "Life" and reminds us of our Ray of Hope, Jesus Who is our Life in this dark hour. Even in darkness God has given us hope for the children.

Some books to read

I recently had someone ask me about books that could read to better understand missions in Mongolia.

First, get some perspective on missions. Read From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya which is a great overview of the missions effort.

Get some history about Mongolia. See if you can find The Secret History of the Mongols. There's a book put out by the Library of Congress called Mongolia: A Country Study. I have the 1991 issue. It's actually a decent and concise source for 20th century history. If you just like history you should try to borrow Weatherford's book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. But that's all ancient history to the Mongols of today.

Get some missions background. There's an invaluable book Steppe by Step. It presents all religious work, Catholic, etc, in the same light; but it's a helpful book. Just skip the chapters on Catholic missions. But don't skip the chapters on the Nestorians! Bonus reading: find out about the Nestorian controversy. It won't help you in Mongolia, but it may be interesting to you. Also find anything you can by James Gilmour. Among the Mongols is one of his more well-known works. He was a missionary with the London Missionary Society in the late 19th century before communism came here. If you can find anything about missionaries Stallybrass and Swan who worked on a Mongolian Bible translation 150 years ago that may be interesting.

Get some background on Tibetan Buddhism (also called Lamaistic Buddhism). The ultimate book for this (in my opinion) is Sharing Christ in the Tibetan Buddhist World by Marku Tsering. I've attached a picture of the cover. It's hard to find and expensive when you do. But if you could borrow a copy, do it!

There's a book by a journalist called The Lost Country by Jasper Becker. It gives a secular approach to the country, its traditions and history. But it's an interesting read and even talks a little about missions from a non-Christian perspective.

You don't have to read about Mongolia but get some good reading material for 2011. "Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine"

New Year's Eve church celebration

With Tonga's recent passing I have hesitated to post about the church's new year's eve celebration. Here goes.

It was a great time; many of the folks who attended told us how much they enjoyed their time. Many Mongolians stay home on new year's eve to celebrate. Getting together as a church family for the celebration was special.

We began with a sermon on the necessity of repentance and faith in Jesus because there were many visitors some who perhaps for the first time heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Afterwards, Baysaa led in prayer.

Then there was food—what is a Baptist fellowship without food! Lots of good food both Mongolian and American.

We also had a ping-pong tournament. I made it into the quarterfinals (that's not hard when you start with 12 players). Dashka ended up as the champion on the men's side. Kristie took the championship for the women's side. Many of the people seemed to enjoy watching as much as they did playing. A special thank you to the people of Westgate Baptist Church who provided that ping-pong table several years ago. It has been a source of many hours of enjoyment.

We also played a game of pictionary which I think is a new game to most Mongolians. They enjoyed trying to guess what their fellow Mongolians were drawing. There was a small difficulty as we had some other Americans in attendance. They also wanted to guess; but my mind had difficulty listening to both the English and the Mongolian at the same time.

There were also some table games. The game Set has become very popular with the Mongolians and is language independent which means both Mongolian speakers and English speakers can play without needing to communicate verbally with each other.

It was a relaxing evening with a few visitors and lots of food. We may have fellowships like this more often now that we are better set up for these types of activities.

Quote of the week

"Habit both shows and makes the man, for it is at once historic and prophetic, the mirror of the man as he is and the mould of the man as he is to be." — A. T. Pierson in reference to George Muller (italics in the original)

I regret to inform you all that Tonga passed away in the night. I will be heading out to see Dashka in about an hour. I do not know more at this time.

New births for the new year

Every person is different. God’s grace is sufficient for all, but man’s response to God’s grace—and I believe that God calls for a response from man—is distinct for each individual.

The first time that I met Burnee (pronounced Bur·nay´) was at our church’s summer camp. She came along with her two children as a guest of Gantuya (pronounced Gone´·toy·aa). We encourage visitors to come to our summer camp where the preaching is directed both to the saved and the unsaved. It is a friendly opportunity for new people to meet us; and it gives us an opportunity to spend some extended time with our new acquaintances.

But visitors who come to the camp do not always return to Sunday services. Visitors are not uncommon at our Sunday services—October 10, 2010 was a big day for visitors; but visitors that come back several times are unusual. The reasons for this are many.

So I was excited to see Burnee continuing to come to Sunday services after attending camp. Because our goal is always to see the entire family saved and growing, after the service one Sunday I told Burnay that I would like to meet her husband. It was not more than a Sunday or two before she came with her husband whose name is Battulga (pronounced Bat´·toll·luck). When she introduced her husband, I told him how happy I was to meet him. He was very quiet and seemed almost eager to avoid talking to me.

After that service, I told them that I would like to visit their home. Visiting people in their homes provides me an opportunity to talk privately with them about their faith. They are more open to asking questions and expressing disagreement which gives me an opportunity to overcome obstacles with Scripture. Also, they are more frank about their spiritual attitudes. I have observed that such open conversation enables the Holy Spirit to pull back the veil so to speak through the use of Scripture to answer their questions and overcome their objections.

They said that they would call me when they had free time and promptly disappeared for several months. It would not be the first time that an offer to visit someone in their home scared them from coming back to the service. But I was disappointed: here was a visitor who had almost become a regular attender who suddenly quits coming after I meet her husband and suggest visiting their home.

After many weeks, Burnee showed up again one Sunday with her husband. She explained that her husband and she had been working all these past Sundays and that they still wanted me to come to their home. By now, it was early December which is always a busy month in any church ministry. We made an appointment for a Monday night (one of the few open nights in the month of December for me, it turned out).

They had specifically requested that my wife come, and my wife and I decided that we would take our entire family on this visit. Battulga & Burnee lived across town. I have visited that side of town but do not know its landmarks as well as I know the landmarks on my side of town. Because Mongolians do not talk in street names but landmarks, that meant that I was at a disadvantage in finding the proposed meeting place. I will not bore you with a call-by-call account of my vain efforts to locate the place where Battulga was waiting for me. We both struggled for about an hour: he to describe over the phone the place where he was waiting for me and how to get there, I was struggling to understand where he was.

He would say, “Do you know this place?”

I would respond, “No, but I know where this place is.”

To which he would respond, “Yes, but that is not where you want to go.”

It took about an hour for Battulga and I to find each other. I finally asked him to meet me at the biggest and most well-known landmark in the area which he did walking through the cold without complaint holding the hands of two pre-school children in order to come to the landmark that I knew.

He then got into our vehicle and directed me to his ger. It was in a place I never would have located without his help.

We had a very pleasant visit at their home. They fed us large amounts of delicious Mongolian food, and their ger, like most gers, was warm and cozy despite the freezing temperatures outside. After the meal I brought out a Bible that I intended to give to them.

They very eagerly listened to a presentation of the Gospel. I have rarely had Mongolians listen so eagerly to a Bible teaching on the first visit to their home.

We agreed that I would come back to teach another Bible lesson on the Sunday after Christmas. They would come to church service on Sunday; afterward I would take them home and teach another Bible lesson in their home.

I was not surprised when they did not show up on Sunday. So many times just as I feel as if I am beginning to get traction with a couple, I get stuck in the mud. Relatives had come from out of town and prevented them from attending the church service.

But I saw them on Friday night at the New Year’s Eve service when they made an effort to comeout even though they live so far away. They seemed very happy to attend the New Year’s Eveservice and said that they would be at Sunday’s service. We arranged for me to come over after the service on Sunday.

So this past Sunday found me at Battulga’s ger eating buuz & salad and talking more about our great Savior. I try to be thorough in my presentation of the Gospel. We had started in Genesis and worked our way to Ephesians 2:8-9. I was using the Scriptures to show that we are saved by faith when Burnee interrupted with a question, “But what do we have to have faith in?” It is so exciting when the Mongolians are asking the right questions!

Such an excellent question leads back to Jesus Christ. I taught them that as many as believe Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God. I showed them John 3:16 and explained that whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish (the wages of sin) but have everlasting life. I explained it about three times and different ways how faith is the key ingredient to our salvation. God has already provided His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. Now He calls us to believe in our hearts that He raised His Son from the dead.

In the end they both professed to put their faith in Jesus Christ. I visited them again today (Tuesday) with Ganpurev. As far as we can tell they are sincere in their faith. What a fantastic way to start the new year. Please pray for these two to grow in their faith.

Dashka's dilemmas

I can say without reservation that Dashka is in the crucible of affliction.

In the spring of 2009, Dashka’s wife Tonga began to experience some abdominal pain. She put off going to the doctor for several months. Evidently, although she is a doctor she does not like going to hospitals. Perhaps she thought that her symptoms would go away with time.

When her symptoms became worse she finally went to see the doctor in the summer of 2009. The doctors diagnosed her with stomach cancer. The cancer had already advanced to the stage that treatment would require the removal of her entire stomach followed by several rounds of chemotherapy. Surgery to remove her stomach and replace it with a pouch made of intestinal material occurred in July 2009.

Surgery went well, and the doctors told Dashka and Tonga that with chemotherapy she might make a full recovery. Her successive stages of chemotherapy went well. By August of 2010, doctors gave her an examination and said that her cancer was in remission. She was even able to attend our church’s summer camp in August. She was thin but seemed healthy and hopeful.

About the same time, Dashka’s older brother Dawaa (pronounced Dow·waa´) was diagnosed with late stage cancer. He has not actively sought medical treatment for it and had progressively become worse. His brother’s cancer, his lack of faith in Jesus Christ, and his lack of interest in seeking aggressive treatment have all been a temptation to discouragement for Dashka. I am not saying that Dashka has been discouraged; on the contrary, in spite of it all Dashka has remained steadfast in his faith in God.

Not long after his brother’s cancer diagnosis, his wife began to experience abdominal pain again. He took her back to the National Cancer Hospital where doctors gave her a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. They recommended more chemotherapy. At the beginning, Tonga was upbeat about her prognosis. With time and increasing difficulties, she has become more and more discouraged.

As if that is not enough, Dashka has been dealing with unsympathetic relatives who blame him, in part, for his wife’s cancer and lack of health.

In addition to his brother’s cancer and his wife’s cancer, his older sister recently became a shaman. Mongolians know that shamans deal with evil spirits. However, they prize the power that such evil spirits can bestow on the person. Shamans are their gateways to accessing the power of these evil spirits. His sister’s recent decision to interact with these evil spirits has been another temptation to lose the peace that God offers to Dashka.

Then over this past weekend as we all celebrated the new year, Dashka’s younger brother who was living and working in Korea died suddenly of a heart attack. He was younger than I am. Dashka heard the news after the service Sunday morning when he went to a family get-together.

Also over the weekend, Tonga gave up all hope of beating this cancer. She quit taking her medication which I believe was intended to prepare her for her next round of chemotherapy. Sunday night into Monday morning, she refused to sleep, instead sitting up in bed almost all night. She says that she is going to die. Some of the time she is incoherent when she talks.

Amazingly, as we were sharing prayer requests this morning, Dashka through his tears expressed his continuing faith in God. In spite of tragedy, Dashka refuses to deny his God. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.”

As Dashka’s pastor, I do not know how to comfort him. He knows that we are praying for him, he knows that we are ready to assist him, he knows that we want to see his wife saved. Please pray for peace, comfort, perseverance, and grace for Dashka. I will update you as I know more about his older brother and wife. Outside of Jesus Christ, there is no hope. Dashka said today that he still has hope that in the end his wife’s will accept God’s offer of eternal life and that he will see his wife again in eternity.

Some night pictures from Ulan Bator

Recently, the newly renovated children's park re-opened here in Ulan Bator. Here are some pictures that I took from outside the park.

Happy New Year!

Just a post to wish all my readers: "Happy New Year!"

I've not been writing much. It's been a slower week for me this past week. But look for more post this coming week. I have some pictures from the church's New Year's Eve celebration to post, thoughts on the Christianity and technology to mention, and some other ideas I'd like you to read.

Dashka and Tonga are still hanging in there. She's been through two rounds of chemotherapy so far. I've not heard that she's scheduled for a third round yet. She still is resistant to hearing about Jesus. I pray for her often during the day as I contemplate what seems to me to be a very hard heart. Dashka mentions that he needs our prayers for patience and love. He knows that his family is watching his responses to these difficult circumstances.