Deans' weekly update

I was reminded this week of these verses from Philippians 1: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Those verses aptly describe all of you! I am so grateful that you pray for us and believe that your fellowship in the Gospel is an integral part of our ministry.

The next verse in that chapter is well-known. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." There are two ways to look at the difficulties that we are facing. First, we can take the pessimistic view that our struggles are because God has forgotten us. Or we can take the Biblical view that our struggles are a constant reminder that God is at work in our lives working all things together for good to conform us to the image of His Son.

So, Monday was the first day of Naadam which is the big summer celebration in Mongolia. On that day, a thief broke into a church member's little shop and stole several items of value. We know without doubt that God was still sovereign the first day of Naadam. While we do not know the reason we know that God is working to conform those church members to the image of His Son.

Aya is Ulzee's mother. Her health is progressively deteriorating. We know that she has terminal cancer. There is no hope of successful treatment for her from the doctors. We can only hope in God. Currently, she is having trouble sleeping and is in quite a bit of pain. When Kristie and I visited Saturday, she was in good spirits as always. We see this as evidence of God at work in her life. When we talk to Ulzee about her mother's condition, you can see the tears come into her eyes. The pessimist says that maybe God is unconcerned. But Biblically speaking, God has promised to continue His good work in both Aya and Ulzee.

For example, someone recently gave Aya some medicine and told her that when she took the medicine she had to say a mantra to a particular god. However, Aya refused to say the mantra because she believes in Jesus and the other gods are false. When we consider that many Mongolians as they age tend to revert to their traditional religion, we are encouraged to see Aya remain steadfast in her faith. What a great God we serve!

We have people in the church with unexpected financial demands because the transmission on their car broke suddenly. We have people whose mother just died. Ulzee's mother Aya's condition is worsening. Their are members with ulcers. But rather than worry, we praise the Lord that He continues His good work (Eph. 2:10) conforming us to the image of His Son.

But we need wisdom, perseverance, strength. We are so happy to serve a God Who gives us all these and more without reproving us. Pray with us this summer that we will see the fruit of God's work in our lives and the lives of church members as we yield to the Holy Spirit and remain faithful to our loving God.