Deans' weekly update

In a country where every victory seems dear, the most recent story of Aya (pronounced Eye’ya) seems like a playoff win.

I wish I could bring you to Mongolia to meet these folks about whom you read. These are not fictional characters in a book; these are real life, flesh-and-blood, people with an eternal soul that will spend eternity either in the presence of God or the torments of hell. It can be easy even for me—and I live in Mongolia—to become apathetic and view these stories as just that: stories.

Aya is Ulzee’s mother. Aya’s mother Buurai (Bore’eye) had seven children. Some live in my city, some live north in another town, but because of the vicissitudes of life the family is very close. Buurai passed away some years ago. Because I had a burden to witness to her, I asked to be introduced to her once when she came to town. I told her that Jesus was the Savior of all men. She readily agreed that Jesus had been good for Ganpurev and Ulzee but tragically failed to see the need for personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Her oldest child is Aya. After Buurai passing, Aya became the matriarch of the family. At Tsagaan Sar nearly every member of the extended family comes to Ganpurev and Ulzee’s house to visit Aya. This has enabled Ganpurev and Ulzee to be a powerful testimony of God’s righteousness to the relatives.

I have had a couple of opportunities to witness to Aya in the past. She recognized the impressive change that God had worked in Ganpurev’s and Ulzee’s lives. Finally, several years I asked Aya if she had faith in Jesus. She told me that she was trusting Jesus in her heart.

Her son-in-law and daughter told us that she had given up the Buddhist rituals that she had done all her life.

About three years ago, Aya was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer. Aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatments over the course of a year seemed to work wonders. However, the Christians of Faith Baptist Church knew that it was the power of God that spared Aya’s life. We prayed regularly for her health and entrusted her to God’s care. Though initially the doctors said that Aya’s cancer was too advanced to have any hope for long-term survival a year later the doctors were amazed that the initial tumor had shrunk to insignificance and other signs of cancer were non-existent. The entire church praised the Lord for sparing her life at that time. Aya herself expressed gratitude for our prayers.

Recently, Aya’s cancer which was in remission returned. The doctors have ordered tests some of which will take two weeks before the results are known. She is in some pain and cannot walk well.

A few weeks ago, someone asked Ganpurev in front of me about Aya’s spiritual condition. He admitted that she has professed personal faith in Jesus Christ and given up performing her Buddhist rituals in public. But he said that perhaps she continues to keep up her Buddhist traditions in secret. Because of Aya’s matriarchal position within the extended family she would be unlikely to abandon her Buddhist religion unless she were truly a Christian. However, I did not respond to Ganpurev’s comments.

Since hearing of Aya’s illness, I have been praying that she would have a way to express her sincere faith in Jesus Christ to her family and relatives.

Because most Mongolians are nominally Buddhist, on the occasion of one’s death in Mongolia Buddhist monks are called to begin making decisions about when and where to bury the body and which rituals need to be performed in order to lead the soul forward in its migration to the next life. Of course, all of this Buddhist tradition is nothing but lies from the father of lies.

It is tragic how relatives will almost ignore the physical needs of a family member who is terminally ill. However, once the person dies they will go to great lengths to provide for them in their after-life. When I mentioned this to a Mongolian Christian who is a member of another church in the city, he agreed that it was regrettable to see the way a family would neglect a sick person and honor their corpse.

Returning to Aya’s condition: Ganpurev and Ulzee have been a shining light to their family in their sacrificial care and seeking of treatment for Aya. Their selfless acts stand out to Mongolians because it is so unusual in this society.

They have taken Aya to see several doctors within the national health care system. Last Friday Aya’s son came to visit. He was concerned about his mother though it was his first visit since he heard of the return of his mother’s cancer. He and his wife offered to take her to a private hospital to see if the doctors there could perform any cancer treatment. Ganpurev and Ulzee did not accompany Aya when she went with her son to the private hospital.

The private hospital told Aya and her son that while there was not any Western treatment that could be performed that would heal her cancer, there was a private hospital nearby connected to a Buddhist temple. They might have a traditional treatment that would help Aya.

So they went next door to the hospital with its Buddhist treatments. They suggested an herb that would alleviate some of her pain. Then they proposed that they perform a Buddhist ritual for healing. Aya refused. So then they recommended that Aya walk a prescribed path by a series of idols because it would help her. Again Aya declined and insisted that she did not need to do that.

When the report came back to Ganpurev and Ulzee it seemed that the son was surprised to hear of Aya’s refusal. Reality in Mongolia is that many people make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. But when illness comes or tragedy strikes they often revert back to their old Buddhist ways. To Ganpurev, Aya’s refusal to do so was a clear indication of her sincere faith in Jesus Christ. I cannot think of a better way that Aya could have made clear her turning from idols to the living God.

We need to pray that the family would respect Aya’s wishes both now and in the future. It would not be unexpected for the relatives to begin to pressure Aya to forsake the “foreign” religion and return to her Buddhist “roots” as they see it. My prayer is that Aya’s stand for the true God would be a lasting testimony that Jesus is the Savior of the world to her extended family.

Also, Aya’s position as the oldest member of the family makes her testimony of faith in Jesus Christ more culturally significant than other family member’s witness. This is one reason that I have been praying for her to make a clear profession of faith in Jesus to her relatives. Pray with me for this!