Deans' September Prayer Letter: Church Camp

Mongolians enjoy leaving the city to camp. Living outside the city seems

somehow therapeutic for them, as if it clears their mind and allows them to

relax. I know that many families find it relaxing to camp, but you must

understand that this activity in Mongolia is unlike what most Americans

think of when they think of camping.

Because of their desire to have a break from the city, our church's summer

camp has always been a well-attended event. With a mix of church members and

unsaved family or friends, camp has unique opportunities to preach the

Gospel. So my first goal for church camp was to preach the Gospel to

Mongolians. The second goal was to see the Mongolians do more to organize

and serve. Ganpurev and Ulzee have always assisted wonderfully in camp

planning, preparation, and serving. Bill has also been a great help. But

this year neither of them was able to attend. Their absence was an

opportunity for others to step up and serve.

In late May, I first brought the idea of planning for church camp. I thought

people would be eager to begin planning. I determined that this year, I

would let the Mongolians do a majority of the planning and preparation.

After all, this is their church, they enjoy camp, and they are much better

than I am at knowing the possibilities and potential in Mongolia. I

determined not to be sucked into planning camp; instead, I would watch from

a distance and assist them in communicating with each other.

I was a little surprised when I brought up the idea of camp in May, that the

Mongolians casually deferred a discussion of camp until later. Mongolians

are great procrastinators. They rarely plan more than a few days ahead. In

my role as pastor, I required them to set a date for camp, and we decided

that we would use a new campground for this year.

A few weeks later, I met with two key men for lunch and asked them to do the

planning. They agreed to my suggestion, and we divided up responsibilities.

There were about six weeks left before camp was scheduled. I would call or

speak to them in person once a week to determine how much they had

accomplished and urge them to keep planning.

The camp was called, and our reservation was made. This year's campground

offered cabins, beds and bedding, meals, and a few amenities like a

basketball hoop. In past years, we have had to transport food, tents,

bedding, clothes, and many other supplies to camp. This camp would allow us

to bring a few clothes and toiletries and leave everything else behind. I

thought that having much of the details already prepared by the camp would

make it easier for the two men to plan and prepare.

There were several decisions made about camp that I would have done

differently. The camp fees were collected from the people attending at the

camp rather than the week before. However, the camp required payment in full

before we left. The church supplied the money for the camp, and after camp

the fees were put back into the church's funds.

Our church camp always takes place on Friday through Sunday, with Sunday's

church service being held at the campground. It works well for our people's

schedules. In the past, most members have attended, which meant that there

would be almost no one in the city to attend the church meeting if we held

it there. We were preparing to leave on Friday afternoon and travel by train

to the campground.

The Thursday before the Friday that we were to leave, one of the two men

planning for camp called me and asked if I could meet them immediately at a

place near my home that was the campground's city headquarters. "There is

something that we need to discuss," was all that he would tell me. I thought

it odd the day before camp that there would be something to discuss; after

all, everything had been planned. The people had been told the departure

time and what to bring, etc. But I agreed to drop everything and meet them.

I remarked to my wife at the time: "They probably want to change campgrounds

or have reserved the wrong weekend or something."

When I arrived at our agreed-upon meeting location, it was immediately clear

that something was wrong. So I just asked, "What happened?"

"The camp already has people staying at it. They just told us. We thought we

would have the whole campground to ourselves. What if the other group is

going to party and drink alcohol?"

I thought it was a little late to change campgrounds and told them so. "It

might be strange for the campground to mention at the last moment that

another group will be at the camp with us, but what can we do?"

One of the two men seemed more irritated than worried. "We'll find another

campground. There are campgrounds all over."

"That's true, but we'll need to prepare food, tell everyone that our plans

have changed, and things like that," I reminded them. I should not have

mentioned it. Mongolians usually plan only a few days or weeks ahead. The

two men immediately met my objection with the decisive remark, "That's no

problem. We'll start planning right now."

". . . and call everyone to tell them our plans have changed?" I added.

"Yes."

I started to bring up objections: Who will buy all the food? How will we get

there? (The train tickets had already been purchased.) Who will cook?

For every objection they had an answer that went something like this: "You

have a way to do that, don't you?" I assured them that I did not have a way

to transport 30 people, buy all that food, etc. in a single day. But they

remained unfazed. "We will do it all," they said.

I went home to tell my wife what had happened and to plan on packing

bedding, tents, etc. Of course, my wife is a more practical thinker than I

am.

"What about plates, forks, cups? What will we eat on?" she asked me.

"I'll find out."

The two men were holed up nearby planning all the details (or so I thought).

So I went to their office to try once more to dissuade them from changing

all the plans for camp a day before we were to leave.

But when I arrived, they were even more earnest than during our previous

meeting. "Everything is coming together. We have another camp. We found a

cook to take with us. Tomorrow we'll go to buy all the food."

"What about dishes, utensils, bedding?" I asked thinking this would at least

slow them down.

There was a pause. Good, I thought to myself, the enormity of changing all

our camp plans less than 24 hours before we leave is starting to sink in.

One man's answer broke my thoughts, "We'll have everyone bring their own!"

he suggested cheerfully. And that answer seemed completely satisfactory to

both of them.

I was faced with a dilemma: I could tell them to stop their planning and

make an executive decision to continue with our plans to attend the camp for

which they had been planning. However, if I did that, would I really be

letting them plan? Or would they wonder, the next time I gave them a project

to plan, if I was really going to allow them to make the decisions.

I decided it was time to let them make the decision and bear the

responsibility. After all, the worst that could happen was three days of

difficulty. Kristie and I would do our best to prepare our family. But I

could see people arriving at camp without bedding and begging to borrow a

blanket, which would be totally inadequate for the weather. Even in summer,

temperatures at campgrounds in the mountains reach near freezing at night.

Or someone would neglect to bring plates and cups. They would ask to share

"after you're done with it, of course." We would need dish soap to wash all

the dishes. And who would pay the camp cook. All these ideas began to run

through my head.

Kristie had even more concerns. As all mothers do, she was thinking that

added to the necessary clothes and toiletries should also be added dishes,

blankets, a tent, and assorted sundries for a whole family.

We began to change our plans.

Several hours after the decision had been reached to change campgrounds, one

of the two men called me to say, "I don't think we can make all the

necessary preparations to change plans. Could you please call the other man

and tell him I think we should go to the first campground?" Hearing this, I

was truly confused. If he felt that way, what reason would he have to call

me? Could he not tell the other man himself?

Nevertheless, I called the other man to express the first man's concerns,

which were similar to my own. The second phone call only left me more

confused because when I called the second man, he expressed that he never

wanted to change plans. He was changing plans only because the first man

wanted to do so. With both men convinced that changing plans at such a late

hour was difficult, it did not take long for the decision to be changed

again. We would no longer be going to a campground where we would need to

take our own food and tents; instead we were back to the original plan and

the initial campground. The men called everyone again and told them that we

were back to plan A.

We had a wonderful camp. It turned out that the other group at the

campground was a church group whom some of us knew. They were not loud or

raucous. Our church ended up having a great time.

I learned something: The Mongolians didn't seem to be bothered about all the

last-minute confusion. They seemed to think that things like that happen.

And in the end, everything worked out. In this case, it's all a matter of

culture.