Deans' weekly update

We've had a little bit of a "heat wave" in Mongolia over the weekend; Sunday the temperature was 9 above zero (-13 for those of you not in the United States). That feels warm compared to some temperatures that we saw in December. My parents took a break from Mongolia to travel to Hong Kong. When they left Hong Kong in the afternoon, it was 70〫. When they arrived in Mongolia a little after midnight, the temperature was -30〫. They said, "We're not suffering from culture shock, we're suffering from temperature shock."

We had a strong crowd out on Sunday morning. I preached on giving our firstfruits to God. Many of us have a difficult time setting priorities that please God because we are focused on setting priorities that please ourselves. I wanted to challenge the church to put God first. At the end I gave them an opportunity to respond. Nearly every adult listening to my sermon stood to say that they would work to put God first in 2012. It is gratifying as a pastor to see so much positive response to a sermon. As they were standing, I told them that their public decision was an agreement to which I would hold them accountable. But a single day's response is not enough. Pray for these Mongolians to follow through with their decision. For example, as part of putting God first, I gave everyone that stood a Bible reading schedule and told them I would be asking them if they were reading their Bible daily.

My family and I are all healthy and well except for Kristie's painful tooth. We called the dentist that we trust for an appointment and found out that he is on vacation until next Monday. Rather than find another unfamiliar dentist, we've decided to try to wait until next week to see Dr. Cruz. The entire family are enjoying my parents visit. They leave in less than two weeks, and we are sure that the time will seem to go by too quickly.

Happy New Year!