Weekly update: unloading the container

This week is a mixed bag of news. I know I missed an update last week: that is part of the good news. But I will start by telling you the bad news. Sunday morning, we started the church meeting with three adult Mongolians! We had more adult foreigners when we started; seven Americans were there and only three Mongolians. But the numbers picked up and by the end of the meeting we had 29 Mongolians. Maybe we should start the service later …

The good news is that the container for which my father and I had been waiting finally arrived last week. I received a call Tuesday telling me that it would be here soon which I mis-interpreted as a call that the container had arrived. I then spent half of Tuesday preparing to take possession of a container that still had not come to Ulan Bator.

On Wednesday, I received a call stating that the container was in the rail yard. I picked up the paperwork after lunch and spent the rest of the day trying to list and categorize all the material that was in the container.

It took us most of Thursday to finish categorizing the packing list. Then there was the expected customs duty and value-added tax to pay. What was unexpected was that it would take me several hours to pay it. The first bank branch I visited was closed because the computer network was non-functioning. While attempting to visit the second closest branch we became snarled in a traffic jam. We were the last customer at the bank. In fact the teller was in such a hurry to close her window that she gave us the receipt for a payment before we gave her the money.

We spent all day Friday at the rail yard jumping through various hoops (some nearly flaming) to have our container inspected by a customs official. First, we had to get a crane to move our container into a position where it could be inspected. Then, we waited for the customs official to inspect it. Then, we waited some more for the customs official to decide that all was in order. Less than an hour before the yard closed for the day we received the last of the stamps we needed.

Knowing that it would take all day to unload the container, we decided to begin Saturday morning early rather than Friday evening late. Early for Mongolians means 9:30 in the morning, hardly an early start. Needless to say, we did not finish until dinner.

Now, however, all the materials and tools are in the shop, and the men are eager to get started setting things up. Already we have had several people ask about ordering furniture. It is a good start. This week I would ask you to pray for safety as we set up the shop.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is our opportunity to remember the soldiers who fought and died to protect our freedoms. Don't forget to read a story of someone who gave his life for freedom this weekend.

Some pictures of the wood

Here are some pictures of the wood that we unloaded yesterday. According to the packing list the wood alone weighed almost 22 metric tons. We had to unload it all from the container and put it on trucks, then we had to unload it from the trucks to put it in the garage.

The picture above is the hardwood dimensional stock. That is, it is solid hardwood. It will be cut up into smaller pieces to face the veneer and to make doors, etc. There is hundreds of board feet of lumber. My dad gave me the money, and I bought the material sight unseen. I am grateful to Matthew Patenaude who made the purchase possible. My dad was excited when he saw the amount of raw lumber we had purchased. I told him it was about 7 cubic meters, but meters don't mean much to my dad.

This picture is the hardwood veneer. Similar to plywood in that it has many "plys" of wood that compose each board, it is different than plywood because both "faces" of the board are a thin layer of high quality, hardwood veneer. We received it in the three standard sizes of 1/4" (6 mm), 1/2" (12 mm), and 3/4" (18 mm). Two Mongolians asked me specifically what it was yesterday when we were unloading the container. There must be limited quantities of such material in Mongolia, but I've been unable to find any.

My dad starts on Monday to place the machines that we received. We need an electrician to do the wiring of the machines. More pictures are coming when all is set up.

The container is unloaded

The container that is an important part of our plan to stay in the country indefinitely arrived on Wednesday. After three days of dealing with customs—no problems to speak of, just normal stuff—we finally unloaded the container today. We started at 9 this morning and finished about 4:30. Not bad for a days work.

I'll post some pictures here soon. And come back to see some more pictures after the shop is set up.

Quote of the week

"God does not waste suffering, nor does He discipline out of caprice. If He plow, it is because He purposes a crop." — J. Oswald Sanders

On applying for residency permission

For the last several years we have been required to apply twice a year to the Mongolian immigration office for permission to reside in Mongolia. While the process is not terribly complicated it always involves hiring someone with more time than I have to visit various government offices over the course of two weeks and demands that I spend some hours filling out paperwork. Usually, the registration process also entails a day-long, personal visit to the immigration office. Sometimes the officials at immigration act as if they will not continue to grant me permission to stay in Mongolia. Other times, the officials seem almost eager to issue me a renewal of my residency permission. For some years now, I pray all year for my residency permission to be granted when the time comes to re-apply.

This past occasion when I applied for residency permission, I had a new assistant with me. Initially, I had a lawyer who legally established my company and obtained residency permission for us. He died several years ago. Then for a few years, some fellow missionaries, who had a legal assistant, were kind enough to share his services with me. This past year, my company hired an accountant with experience dealing with the immigration office. Bolormaa (pronounced Ball•or•mah') worked in a job previously where she was required to handle the company’s employee’s requests for residency permission and visas.

Despite our diligent efforts to prepare everything the day before we went to the immigration office, Bolormaa found out the morning we planned to request an extension of our residency permission that we needed another tax document. Now obtaining a single tax document may not seem like a daunting task—especially if you pay your taxes as I do. However, waiting to obtain the tax document can be challenging. Sometimes people wait hours to meet the tax official who can give them the stamped document that they need to show their payment of tax liabilities. When Bolormaa told me that we would need to stop by the tax office before we went to the immigration office, I thought briefly of panicking.

Rather than panic, we prayed before we left for the tax office eventually headed to the immigration office. When we arrived at the tax office a few minutes before they opened we found a parking lot that was already filled with vehicles. We had prayed, and I determined to leave the timing of our day in God’s hands. As Bolormaa left the car, I told my father that we should go ahead and wait outside the car because it might be some time before Bolormaa returned with our certification of tax payment.

But within about ten minutes Bolormaa returned amazed that our request had been dealt with so promptly. We hopped back into my vehicle and set out for the immigration office.

The first thing everyone does when they enter the immigration office is to take a number to wait for service. The next step is to purchase the forms needed to apply for residency permission, a visa, or whatever service one is requesting. Then while we were waiting for our number to be called we began to fill out the forms. There were nine forms that needed to be filled out. Within a few minutes of completing all the forms, our number was called. Again it was providential: we completed the forms just in time to be called to the window.

As the conversations swirled around me I noticed some officials were asking many questions of the people at the windows. In the past, I would get nervous as I imagined all the questions that they might ask and what my answers would be. But this time as we filled out forms, I prayed for patience and wisdom, peace and calmness. The Lord was good to answer my request, and during the entire time we were at the immigration office I was at ease.

Our number was called. Bolormaa and I went to the window to present our forms, letters requesting an extension of residency permission, bank details, a letter of domestic registration from a local government official, a tax document, passport pictures, passports, registration documents of two types, and copies of our apartment deed. (There may be a few more items that I have forgotten.) All the pieces of paper made quite a stack. The immigration official flipped through the stack, asked two straight-forward questions, and approved our paperwork.

Again, Bolormaa was surprised at the ease with which we obtained residency permission. I assured her that it was because we prayed.

Bolormaa is not a Christian although she has attended several church services. These clear answers to prayer are an important witness to God’s power and care for His servants. As you think of her, please pray for Bolormaa’s salvation.

Quote of the week

"Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness ultimately comes from being weary of pleasure." – Ravi Zacharias

Deans' weekly update

It has been a blessing to have our parents in Mongolia for the last few weeks. Because Kristie has once again struggled with her health, my mother has been an essential help to the family.

There are many prayer requests to mention this week. Let me focus on the changing of the guard, so to speak. In the next two months, two missionary families will be leaving Mongolia to take a furlough. Also, three missionary families will be arriving in Mongolia though not necessarily to take their place.

Living in one's country that is not one's own can be like that: expatriates come and go as health, family, finances, and other pressures and purposes interact with our primary desire to be God's ambassadors to a dark land. Please pray for us to have wisdom as we direct our ministry to both Mongolians and expatriates.

Some pictures from a Sunday

Quote of the week

"Every person thinks. It is the fundamental nature of our brains to produce thoughts. Sometimes these thoughts occur randomly, with no apparent connection to the moment we’re living in; sometimes spontaneously in response to the stimulation of our immediate surroundings; sometimes in a detached, reflective, stepwise form of internal ‘dialogue,’ registered in our acquired native language. The challenge we face is not producing thoughts, it is producing useful thoughts. These are thoughts that are capable of analyzing the formidable but fascinating complexity of the world in order to guide actions to yield the most appropriate or best result." — Michael LeGault

Deans' weekly update

I trust that all of you reading this update had a great Mother's Day. I was particularly blessed of the Lord this year to have my mother with me in Mongolia. This was also the second year in a row that I was with my mother on Mother’s Day because last year I was with her in Oregon.

Although Mongolians do not celebrate Mother's Day, my family and the English service commemorated the holiday on Sunday. I even learned a new word from the holiday: I learned the word for "corsage."

I think we broke our record for attendance on Sunday night. We had 73 people from Cuba, South Africa, Germany, Britain, the United States, and Mongolia there. Afterwards we had a fellowship.

Bill Patterson has been preaching on the Bible: its revelation, preservation, and translation in the morning service. Our desire is that the Mongolian people would develop a reverence and love for God's word. Brother Patterson's preaching is a part of that effort.

I challenged the Mongolians to read through the New Testament this year. Next year I plan to challenge them to read through the entire Bible. I think many of them are struggling to set aside the time to read a chapter or two each day from the New Testament. Please pray for their growth in grace.

Happy Mother's Day!

One of the greatest difficulties of serving the Lord in a foreign country is separation from family. But this Mother's Day God blessed us with a visit from my mother and father. This is the first time that my mother has ever been in Mongolia for Mother's Day. Not that I'm complaining; there are some missionaries who probably have never been with their mother in a foreign country on Mother's Day.

So I am thanking the Lord for His goodness and rejoicing in His provision of a wonderful mother!

Quote of the week

"We are privileged to live in days of much Christian activity; but while there is so much energy and zeal, it is possible to engage in 'good works' without being 'throughly furnished'—and thus the works themselves suffer." — Ada R. Hadershon in Study of the Types (1957)

a "white" Mother's Day

Some people dream of a white Christmas. Here in Mongolia some may be dreaming of a white Mother's Day. We had a couple of inches of snow fall today. More snow tomorrow?

Weekly update

We had a great Sunday. Not only did we have over twenty members in attendance, we also had over a dozen children from the local area who came to visit. With various others, the total came up to sixty-one in attendance. Without checking my records, I think that is the most people we have ever had at a Sunday morning service. It’s certainly the most people we have had at a Sunday morning meeting since we returned to Mongolia. Bill preached about the record of God’s communication to man.

It has been an encouragement and a help to have my parents with us. They assist us in just about everything that we do. My father has been acting as usher, and my mother has already taken over teaching the children’s class in the evening.

If you have not yet heard, our request for the extension of our residency permission was approved last week. We submitted our passports and will be picking them up with the new residency permission stamped in them this Friday. This is an answer to our prayers and a confirmation that our work in Mongolia is not yet finished.

Please pray this week that God would give me clear direction as I seek to develop spiritual maturity in Mongolian believers. This past Sunday we invited a Mongolian lady to speak at a special Sunday afternoon class. Half of the ladies left before the class even started despite our pleading with them to stay for the lesson. We are not discouraged but burdened for these young believers to put God first. Only then will they begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

P.S. In the picture that I posted, that's my father Steve standing in the back acting as the usher.

What God Has Been Teaching Me This Past Month part two

We find in Romans 8 that God works all things to good to those who love Him and are the called according to His purpose. The “good” mentioned in this chapter is often misunderstood as what I perceive as for my good.

But the “good” that God is discussing is defined for us in the next verse as shaping us into the image of His Son. God sends us people and circumstances to make us more like Jesus Christ. The situation of waiting on other people without any assurance of what their decision would be was exactly the circumstances that God needed to conform me to the image of Jesus, remaking my character to be more like the character of our Savior.

Also, God was teaching me to trust His leading. During times of temptation and doubt, I kept repeating to myself a phrase that I had heard someone else say, “Never doubt in the darkness what God has called you to do in the light.” I knew that God had brought me in Mongolia. I was convinced that God wanted me to start a church in Mongolia. I was certain that He had led my parents to come assist us. I had no doubt that I was to order a container of wood and tools. Each part of the plan that seemed so fruitless, I knew God wanted me to do.

I do not say that to insist that all these plans work out the way that I was intending them to come to pass. I was fully prepared to accept that God may lead me along a certain path only to change my direction before those plans came to fulfillment. Throughout life, I have noted that a mistake some Christians make is to refuse to accept that God is changing their path. They erroneously assume that God will bring all their plans to pass before He moves them on in another direction.

My God was conforming me to the image of His Son, building my faith, and teaching me to walk in His way even though I could not see the end of my path. I learned trust, patience, diligence even when there is no assurance that there will be fruit for my labor.

One morning this past week, I walked into the Mongolian office for dealing with the questions relating to foreign citizens. I have never been calm before when I have visited that office to renew my residency permission. In fact, the week before I had visited that office to register my parents arrival in Mongolia and had been nervous even knowing that what I was asking for was a standard procedure. The temptation to recall all the hindrances to renewing my residency permission was there.

But this morning I was calm and confident. I knew God wanted me to apply for a residency permission. If they denied it or if they insisted that they needed to do an internal investigation, I was confident that God’s plan would be revealed to me as I simply took the next step. This was the next step for me.

I had my father and my accountant with me. My father is my shadow during his time in Mongolia. My accountant was with me to answer any questions about my company’s work in Mongolia. We had prayed before we left that God would guide our path, and therefore I had no doubt that God was guiding us.

We took a number and had about 30 people ahead of us. There was paperwork to fill out and so we began to fill out the paperwork while we waited. We needed a few copies and had those done. Sometimes that numbers would come up quickly and sometimes there would be a lull as the available immigration officers dealt with the foreign citizens.

It took us about forty minutes to fill out our paperwork. We were down to some final copies when the man who was at the copy machine disappeared. Just at that time, the numbers started to come up quickly again. I prayed a short prayer, “Lord, please keep our number from coming up before we are completely prepared.” The man at the copy machine returned, we received the final few copies, and we still had two people in front of us.

Within a minute or two of completing our final preparations, our number was called. The Lord had caused the completion of our paperwork and the calling of our number to occur at a most welcome time.

We moved to the window, answered a few questions, and began to give our officer the documents and forms as she required them of us. She assured us that our applications for extending our residency permission would be accepted but that I needed to bring in the whole family. The government of Mongolia was instituting a new system that required all foreign nationals residing in Mongolia for more than a year to give their fingerprints and have their picture taken. (A passport photo was already required to be attached to our residency permission request application, but the office wanted us to come in person also to have pictures taken.)

I called ahead, and my family was waiting for me when I arrived back home. I packed them all up, left my father behind, and returned to the office for dealing with the questions relating to foreign citizens. We stood in line for the pictures and fingerprinting and re-submitted our paperwork to our assigned officer. She accepted the paperwork & passports and told us to return the following week to pick up our passports.

Then in a providential show of God’s humor, I arrived home to find that my container from China was scheduled to be packed the next day. Two answers to prayer in one day! God could have given those answers at any time, but to better shape my character after the character of His Son He had waited and given me two answers in one day.

So the next time you are tempted to worry, to fret, to doubt, remember to be patient, trust God, and keep working. His plan is so much bigger than ours.

What God Has Been Teaching Me This Past Month

There are times in one’s life when everything is contingent on someone else’s decision. Because the one awaiting the decision cannot move forward very well without receiving the decision, he or she is partially immobilized waiting for that fateful decision. It is a disconcerting feeling. One wonders what will happen to his plans and his family.

This past month has been that for me. My residency permission expires on May 8. I continue to hear rumors and stories about bureaucratic obstacles to people obtaining visas and residency permission. One friend of mine reported that he saw people being turned away at the airport for lacking proper visas. Last week I received an invitation from the United States Embassy in Mongolia to attend a meeting where new immigration and residency rules will be discussed. A friend’s company is facing closer scrutiny and the threat of forceable closure. Some foreign nationals are required to fill out forms with rather invasive questions (at least questions that seem invasive to Americans). At one point several weeks ago, I despaired of obtaining a renewal of my residency and began to worry.

Then as the Holy Spirit dealt with me, I realized that my despair and worry revealed a lack of faith in God. Either I believed that He was in control, or I did not believe. If I believed that God was in control then there was no purpose in worrying; He would show me step by step and day by day what to do.

At the same time, there were several other temptations to worry that were also occurring. I had been working on a shipment of tools and wood from China. This was part of an overall plan to begin a carpenter shop in Mongolia. In January I traveled to China and picked out the materials that I wanted to buy. There was not time before the Lunar New Year to arrange shipping but after that holiday in February I began to work on the shipping. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan must have messed up shipping across Asia because I could not get my shipping company to do anything for me the month of March. Here it is April 27, 2011, and the wood is just now being prepared for shipment.

So I called my father who was scheduled to come to help set up the shop. Without the wood and tools there would be no reason for him to come to Mongolia to help me. I explained to him the situation and asked if he wanted to postpone his visit until after the tools arrived. He told me that he felt that they should come now and not wait to visit Mongolia. This was a much more difficult decision than I realized

Though I did not know until my father arrived, he also was facing some severe temptation to worry and fret. My brother, his son, was facing some difficult decisions and potential pressures. My father was torn between staying in the United States to help and counsel my brother and coming to Mongolia to assist me. As he described his situation to me it sounded as if he was facing the same temptations that I was.

Meanwhile, I had been in contact with a new missionary coming to Mongolia for over a year. He was planning to come with his family in mid-May and was hoping that I would be around to assist in his adjustment to Mongolia. I worried about what would happen to him and his family if they came to Mongolia expecting me to be there and I had already left.

Then a friend from China asked if she could visit us during the summer. I wanted to be an encouragement to her but could hardly tell her to come if my family would not be in Mongolia.

At this time also, our co-worker in Mongolia told us that he was considering taking a furlough in July. If our residency permission could not be renewed we would be facing the prospect of abandoning suddenly this fledgling church.

So if I forced to leave Mongolia suddenly in the beginning of May, I would be abandoning my parents, my church, my friends who were depending on me to help them adjust, and the work that I had been seeking to build since 2007. As I said at the beginning I felt as if I were in limbo waiting on other people’s decisions and unable to make decisions of my own.

This was exactly the place where God wanted me to be. In my next post I will tell you the lessons that God wanted me to learn.