Choosing to be there

Chimgee is a member of our church who works Monday through Saturday and has every Sunday off. Such an arrangement is rare in Mongolia outside of professional occupations such as teachers, lawyers, etc. But the restaurant where she works is closed every Sunday.

This past weekend, the restaurant closed early and took the entire staff to the countryside for relaxation. Mongolians love to go to the countryside. Our camp every year is the most well-attended activity that the church hosts. So I was surprised to hear that Chimgee would not be going with the rest of her co-workers to the countryside. Sunday morning, Chimgee was in church having passed up an opportunity to travel to the countryside for two days of relaxation for free.

Please pray that all our church members would have such a desire to be in church every Sunday. Chimgee could have reasoned that she comes every Sunday so missing one Sunday would not matter. Instead she declined her employers invitation to rest and came to the service. It was an encouragement to me to see that.

Deans' weekly update

We have many difficulties awaiting us in the year ahead. Here are some of the pressures that we face this week. Gasoline is now being rationed. Typically that is not a problem for us because we don't drive all that much. However, when one is asked to go the airport five times in one week, it can lead to waiting in long lines at the gas station to get fuel.

Kristie is not well. She has not been consistently well living in Mongolia since October of 2008. Some of her reasons for not being well we understand. We do not understand the cause of this week's symptoms, headaches, general physical weakness, insomnia. We have taken Kristie to the doctor in Mongolia before on several occasions. They always assure us that she's not having a heart attack or TMJ or whatever but usually are unable to diagnose her symptoms.

One of the children is also increasing the pressure on the family. Some of the children respond to pressure on the family with increased respect and obedience. One child sees increased pressure on the family as his/her opportunity to "take charge." Because either the parents or the child can be in charge, this inevitably leads to significant conflict. Conflict increases the pressure on the family.

While my parents were here (thank you again for visiting us, Mom & Dad), they were a tremendous help and encouragement. Their absence is sorely felt now. Which leads me to mention another pressure: the Pattersons are leaving tomorrow for a one year furlough. They have been a great source of friendship, fellowship, leadership, and assistance for the past three years. Their departure will leave holes that are currently impossible to fill.

For example, their children are our children's best friends, and losing their best friends does not improve my children's moods. As you can imagine there is a scarcity of American children here whom our children can befriend.

Another complication in filling the holes that the Pattersons have left is that our most faithful church members are currently facing serious pressures of their own: terminal illness of a parent, difficult pregnancies, the recent loss of a spouse. It is difficult, for example, to go to someone whose parent is dying and say, "You need to be more active in church work."

And another pressure that one would not expect after ten years in Mongolia: the language. If you would have asked me before I came to Mongolia how many years it would take before I felt comfortable using the Mongolian language, I would have told you something like, "Give me three or four years to get comfortable in the language."

Strangely enough, there are still days when I do not feel comfortable using the language. I might be tired, some days I have a mental block to speaking Mongolian, other times it seems that people do not understand me clearly. Whatever the reason, I still feel stymied by this language. It is not every day. In fact, most days I am quite comfortable using this language and conveying my thoughts. I recently went through a month long period of feeling confident in speaking Mongolia. Then today I wake up and cannot speak it fluently. What does that mean? I cannot tell you the cause or cure, but I can tell you that it adds pressure to ministering in Mongolia.

All this could be borne more easily if there were fruit. After all, what missionary does not want to write home about folks believing in Christ, people being reconciled, and churches growing? But when one writes "home" about declining attendance, unfaithful church members, complicated relationships, and … it is difficult to understand the reason the missionary should remain at the task.

Which brings me to verses that give us hope and promise of God's grace.

Some verses that has brought me great comfort recently is Psalm 27:13-14. "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

Then I recently finished reading Green Leaf in Drought Time by Isobel Kuhn. The whole book is based on Jeremiah 17:7-8. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." It is a great read if you have never read it.

Finally, the famous verse from Isaiah 40: "They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Notice the common theme in all these verses: waiting on the Lord and hoping in Him. Our hope is not in men or circumstances or results. Our hope is in the Lord.

So it is safe to say that we will be here for as long as God asks us to stay. Some day, He may move us on. But we ask for your help in dealing with all the little, daily frustrations; the bigger, more complicated obstacles; and the long-term vision of leaving behind an indigenous Baptist church in Mongolia.

Pictures from Pattersons' last Sunday for a while

Yesterday was the last Sunday that the Pattersons will be with us for a year. After more than three years in Mongolia they have become such a fixture that it will seem very different without them. The church gave them a gift, and we took some pictures with them.

Aren't you glad we don't pay ESPN to pray?

"In 1978, I was one of two people hired by RCA to penetrate the cable-television marketplace and basically convince new emerging networks that satellite distribution of their television product – as opposed to terrestrial distribution – was the wave of the future. RCA had launched a satellite called SATCOM 1, but no one understood that this thing was real, that it actually existed. Think about it: you couldn’t see it, you couldn’t touch it, and there was no way to demonstrate that it really was up there 22,300 miles above the equator. So it was a concept sale.

"The first deal that I made was with a reverend who called me and said he wanted to buy one or two hours of satellite time. I said, 'Sure. Where is the uplink going to be?' He said, 'We’ll use your New Jersey uplinking facility,' and I said, 'Okay, great. Now, where do you want us to bring the signal down? We have facilities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, wherever.' And he said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'Well where’s it going, where do you want the signal to go?'He said, 'I want it to go to God.' I said, 'What do you mean you want it to go to God?' He said, 'This is a program that my parishioners and I have put together. It’s our message to God, and we want to send it to Him by satellite. Its just going out there; its not coming back.' So I said, 'Okay.' It was a $1,200 or $1,300 deal. That was the first order that was ever on RCA SATCOM for cable television age."

— according to Al Parinello, RCA Manager

Picture of the week

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

Quote of the week

"The power of the world, the spirit of its literature, the temptations of business and pleasure, all unite to make up a religion in which it is sought to combine a comfortable hope for the future with the least possible amount of sacrifice in the present." — Andrew Murray

Deans' weekly update

My parents left on Monday. We are so grateful for the help and encouragement that they provided to us during their stay. They could have traveled nearly anywhere in the world. They certainly could have found a more pleasant climate. But they wanted to assist us in our ministry in Mongolia and so came to visit us.

During their time with us, my mother helped Kristie with homeschooling the children and made time to spend with each grandchild separately. She also took over teaching the children's Sunday school class on Sunday evening for our English service.

My father was a big help in setting up the shop. He trained Ganpurev and Bysaa in woodworking skills. They are doing a fine job considering it took three months for the container to arrive which meant that for the first five weeks of my father's visit there was not much with which to work. He also acted as an usher on Sundays and oversaw the construction of several cabinets for the church's use. It was a blessing to have my father around to give advice and counsel. We already miss them.

Continue to pray for Mongolians to take on more responsibility for the ministries of their church. We already have some promise of help to replace some of what the Pattersons are doing.

On Father's Day

Much of Proverbs seems to be written from a father to his son. It is the father’s way of passing on his wisdom to his son, a reminder that one of the chief influences in a man’s life could be his father.

I am very grateful to God for placing me in a family with an earthly father who took seriously the admonition to raise his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Amazingly enough, it was because my father’s earthly father abandoned the family when my father was young that he wanted to be a father who passed on to his children a godly heritage.

Not only was my father a great mentor and instructor to me as I was growing up, he has continued to be a support and encouragement to me. His prayers, his concern, and his money has made our continued residence in Mongolia possible.

Do not misunderstand and think that my father is rich. He is not. But he has showed self-control and deference to God in his finances in order that he could help us on the mission field. It was his vision that made me consider a carpenter shop in the first place. It was primarily his money that paid for the carpenter shop to be set up here. It is primarily his time and talents that have paved the way for these Mongolian men to work at carpentry.

Many missionaries are in the difficult situation of having parents who are not happy that their children have taken their grandchildren to a far off place. But in our case, we both have parents who are thrilled to see us serving the Lord. Both have shown by their time, attention, and money that they would not have us be in any other place.

On Father’s Day, I want to thank the Lord for giving me Steve Dean as a father.

Deans' prayer letter for June

On of the church's memory verses this month was Phillipians 4:6, a reminder that we are to bring all our requests to God. We know that many of you pray for us, love us, and therefore want to know how we are doing. This spring has been a long, dry period of ministry for us, and we have some added pressures going into the summer.

The Patterson’s have been dear friends and diligent co-laborers since they came to Mongolia some years ago. It is now time for them to take a well-deserved furlough. They were crucial to the continued development of the church in our absence, for which we are very grateful. We intend to do our best to see their ministry emphasis during their time in the United States.

However, we cannot do the ministry of two families. So we have been looking for Mongolians to step up and help. Some of our most faithful families are facing their own pressures at this

time: terminal illness in a parent, pregnancies, etc. As I see it, God is making it necessary for other families to step up and assume some of the responsibility for the ministries of their church. That is a good thing. But I need wisdom as I challenge people to increase their commitment to the Lord and patience as I allow God time to work in their lives.

[The picture taken on Mother's Day has the Pattersons, my parents in the middle, and my family on the right]

During the many summers that I lived in the United States I always had compassion for those who struggled with allergies. However, I could not say that I understood their struggle. Now I can. The last few summers in Mongolia I have had very bad allergies. Medicine sent from the United States for my relief did not seem effective, and medicine I could get locally made me drowsy. I think I have some medicine now that does alleviate many of my symptoms. Several of the children have also struggled with illness. We have usually been such a healthy family, for which we thank our God, that we are not used to the obstacles to service that illnesses bring. Again, we know that God is in control and trust that He is using our weakness to show His strength. Our prayer is for patience and wisdom.

Many of our dear Christians are being tempted to think that money and possessions deserve their attention more than the Father from Whom all good gifts come. Please pray for wisdom and authority from on high as we labor to bring glory to God.

Quote of the week

"If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." — Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States

Deans' weekly update

This last Sunday numbers were down in both the morning (Mongolian) and evening (English) services in which we serve. Many who often attend the evening service at least have an excuse: they were gone to the countryside. The summer months often bring ministry travel for people as they go from their base in the city to minister in the rest of the country. Two people from the morning service were also gone to the countryside to minister. However, many simply did not come.

Their absence was unfortunate because my mother spoke to the ladies through a translator. Ganpurev had a good message for all of us. And I felt comfortable preaching in Mongolian. But I was reminded today by another missionary again of the importance of waiting on the Lord.

The summer will be busy for us in other ways as we have a number of missionaries coming to visit or passing through on their way to visit elsewhere. Pray with us that the Lord would send more laborers to Mongolia including Mongolians. And remember to pray for us to have wisdom and perseverance as we minister.

Mongolia feels a lot like this

This Dilbert comic represents one struggle of living in Mongolia:

http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-06-12/

Quote of the week

The story is told of a young missionary who asked a great missionary statesman how he came to be so successful. “By making good decisions,” the senior leader said. “Yes, but how do you learn to make good decisions?” the young man asked. “By making bad decisions,” the old man replied.

Do we learn from our mistakes or repeat them?

Four ingredients for effective service

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

Our Lord promised us that without Him, nothing can be accomplished. Any work for God, any advancement of His plan, any attempt to glorify our God will fail without the power of the Holy Spirit guiding, sustaining, and accomplishing it. But the Spirit does not lead us blindly.

Our work for God takes VISION. Without a Biblically-founded goal, we lack the stability that is required to make a significant impact. While God in His wisdom and power has sometimes used a man without VISION, history shows us that we often do not reap the blessings God intends to pour out unless we have a VISION that gives a purpose to our lives.

To maintain such a vision in spite of obstacles and setbacks requires PERSEVERANCE. Sometimes people mistake apathy for PERSEVERANCE. They mistake passively waiting for actively working toward a result even when circumstances are unfavorable. PERSEVERANCE recognizes the need for diligent effort while patiently waiting on God to provide the results.

But there is no reason to wait patiently for God to work when we refuse to OBEY His clear commands. OBEDIENCE to God gives Him the freedom to work on our behalf. While there are examples of God in His mercy intervening to bring about a godly result from disobedience, we must also recognize that God desires to bless those who are OBEDIENT.

These four lead us to TRUST. The man who TRUSTS God understands his need for the Holy Spirit to work through a long term plan and perseveres in spite of setbacks to obey God. Such a man allows God to work at His own pace without becoming discouraged or apathetic. He believes that God will bless obedience even if he does not see that blessing in his lifetime.

Deans' weekly update

Thank you for praying for the container and set-up of the carpenter shop. Everything is in place and looking good. Pray for the men's safety as they work around these power machines.

Here are some pictures of the shop and the men at work.

And below is the first cabinet that the men have made.

Also, I would ask you to pray this week for Elsie and me. Both of us are suffering from allergies. We have tried a variety of treatments: herbal and medicinal. Regardless of our attempts to find relief the allergy symptoms seem to only be partially mitigated. Additionally, Elsie has been struggling with a cold and cough. She was really suffering over the weekend. Please pray for our health.

Quote of the week

"A defeat that leaves a believer humble is more beneficial than a victory that leaves a believer proud." — Roger Voegtlin