Picture of the week

It has been too long since I sent out a "picture of the week." I wish I would have kept up with it. I am going to make an effort this spring to send out a picture nearly every week.

This week's picture focusing on the lunar new year holiday that Mongolians call Tsagaan Sar (or White Month). It is about 3-5 days - in the city, at least; countryside events last longer - of eating, seeing family and friends, and generally having a good time. Check out my blog and search "lunar new year" for more details.

In the picture Kristie is delivering the traditional greeting (which even has its own name) to Sol, Ganaa's mother. Younger people are to put their arms underneath the arms of their elder and ask, "Are you peaceful?" Sometimes the younger person gives the older person some money. The celebration started on Wednesday this year, and we have a few visits on Saturday that should wrap it up for us.

Early morning prayer meeting

Today is the first day of the new year according to the Mongolian's lunar calendar. They even have a special name for it, "Shinii Negen," which means "first of the year."

Many Mongolians will go to their local ovoo or special high spot to be there when the sun comes up. They do this because they believe that it will bring them good luck in the coming year. One particular spot is considered to be very lucky if one is there when the sun rises on the first day of the new year.

As Christians we wanted to do something different. We don't worship the rocks or false gods at special high places. But we want to honor the Creator of the heavens and the earth. So we decided to meet before the sunrise and spend time in prayer.

When we started it was still dark and cold outside. When we finished the sun was shining although it was still cold. It was time well spent praising our God, thanking Him for His goodness, and asking for his blessing on our lives and church for the new year. We need more prayer.

Exciting news!

Exciting things are happening here in Mongolia! To understand all of what is happening, you must remember that in last week's prayer update I mentioned that Gustavo a Cuban man had come with his wife to our services last week.

This past Sunday, Roland asked Billy Patterson to speak at our church with Roland as translator. Billy Patterson grew up in Mexico and speaks fluent Spanish. So when Gustavo came in the door to attend our church service Sunday morning, Brother Patterson realizing his opportunity preached in English, allowed Roland time to translate into Mongolian, and then restated whatever he said in clear Spanish. That meant that in one service we had preaching in English and Mongolian and Spanish.

After the service, Brother Patterson spent some time talking with Gustavo in Spanish. Gustavo told him that he had reasons not to come to the church service and almost decided not to come but in the end came to hear the preaching anyway even though his wife could not come. He also mentioned that he had an aunt who used to read him the Bible in Cuba. In the end Gustavo and Brother Patterson got down on their knees to pray. Later, they told me that Gustavo had become a Christian. A couple of hours later, Gustavo sent me an SMS message that said, "Very good day today thank."

I plan to follow up with him and his wife this week. I probably can communicate better with his wife Bayarmaa in Mongolian that I can communicate with Gustavo in English. Please pray for this couple. Also, Gustavo's brother Daniel lives here in Ulan Bator. Pray for his salvation too.

To me, it was just amazing the way that God worked it out for Billy Patterson a fluent Spanish speaker to be here at the same time as Gustavo. Praise the Lord for His omnipotent sovereignty.

Tsagaan Sar Day 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, my celebration of the Mongolian luner new year or Tsagaan Sar has been complicated by a series of meetings on the Mongolian Bible translation project. I sat done and figured out that I have been in eight hours of meetings the last two days along with visiting five Mongolians' homes.

Today we took three of our American visitors with us as we visited Mongolians' homes. I was impressed with the way all three of them enjoyed themselves and tried all the different things that they were offered. It helped that all of them have spent some time on the mission field: two of them, Billy Patterson and J.B. Godfrey have spent almost as much time in countries other than the United States as I have spent living.

We first visited Ganpurev's home. As always they were very gracious and offered us some excellent buuz. Some of the buuz were made with beef and some with horse meat. There was the head, back, and fatty tail of a sheep from which we took slices of meat to eat. Various other dairy products, candy, and salads rounded out the meal.

After that, my guests wanted to see the inside of a Mongolian ger so Ganpurev took as to visit his nephew and neighbor, Ankhaa. My guests took lots of pictures.

Finally, we headed over to Bilgee's place. Bilgee also wanted to feed us a whole meal, but I had neglected to tell my guests that they would be eating again. We ate what we could and had a good conversation with Bilgee who speaks English.

Then meetings kept me busy until about 8 in the evening. After which, I prepared for Sunday.

Tsagaan Sar Day 1

Today was the first day of the Mongolian lunar new year or Tsagaan Sar as we call it. I only had two visits but my day was complicated by the arrival from the United States of over a dozen people most of them interested in the Mongolian Bible translation situation. They wanted to meet. So from 8:30-10:00 this morning, I had a meeting. I left the meeting and visited Bold's house for Tsagaan Sar. There we ate loads of buuz, platefuls of potato salad, slices of beef (with the fat), and handfuls of dried curds (aaruul).

From there, we went to Buren's apartment, where we ate more buuz, more platefuls of potato salad, slices of mutton (also with fat), and American type cake and cookies (Buren's family's own special take on Tsagaan Sar). By the time we left there we were stuffed. I ate a light snack late in the evening, but other than that I did not eat anything else after that.

After our visit to Buren's house there was a short break and then headed over to meeting regarding Bible translation in Mongolian. After that three hour meeting, I invited Mr. J.B. Godfrey, the Far East director for BIMI over to my house. He had come with the group to Mongolia to see the country and talk to missionaries here.

So it was a busy day. I think I'll have three lunar new year visits and another Bible translation meeting today. I'll update you later.

Tsagaan Sar is coming

The biggest Mongolian holiday of the year Tsagaan Sar is rapidly approaching. It begins on Friday, February 8 although Thursday is a day of preparation with its own name. Tsagaan Sar could be translated literally as "White Month" but is really the Mongolian lunar new year and associated celebrations.

Most Mongolians in the city will celebrate Tsagaan Sar for at least three days. In the countryside the celebration can stretch into weeks. For expatriates without Mongolian spouses Tsagaan Sar means a virtual standstill for businesses for at least three days. Since the first three days of Tsagaan Sar are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this year, most businesses should be open again on Monday. However, when Tsagaan Sar falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday it means a week with little open.

Tsagaan Sar is celebrating primarily by visiting relatives and consuming large quantities of food and alcohol. The person receiving visitors also gives gifts to those who come. In many ways it is a similar to the commercialized version of American Christmas/New Years in the U.S. which also is marked by gift-giving and food and alcohol consumption.

And also like many Americans during the Christmas season, Mongolians will go into debt to give gifts and provide food and alcohol for their guests during the celebration. I recently asked a Mongolian how he plans to pay back the money that he borrowed for Tsagaan Sar. He told me that his family will eat so much food during that celebration that they will not need to eat for a month. Of course, he was not serious but sales of everything here must fall off precipitously after Tsagaan Sar.

We too will visit Mongolian families, sometimes all six of us and other times I alone will visit. For the missionary it is a wonderful time of year to visit, meet new people, and strengthen old friendships. Because people do not need an invitation to visit, I often use the week of Tsagaan Sar to visit many people. While at their homes, I often meet new people among their friends and relatives. More than one person has come to the Savior partially because of a "chance" meeting during a Tsagaan Sar visit.

I will try to post daily updates during the first five days or so of Tsagaan Sar. If you are interested in my experience during last years celebration, click on the "Lunar New Year" tag that you see below this post. It will pull up last years blog entries about the Mongolian lunar new year.

Lunar New Year - Day Seven

The invitations for Lunar New Year visits just kept coming. I think we are finally done having completed two more visits today to make thirteen visits in all. I think I am tired of eating buuz, drinking milk tea, and trying to make small talk in Mongolian for two hours.

However, all the hours spent at Mongolians homes in the past week have not been wasted. During the Lunar New Year's celebrations we have had the opportunity to be in several homes where we would not be expected to be the rest of the year. I also had several opportunities to be a witness for Jesus Christ.

There is also exciting news about Ganpurev. He and his family went to the countryside to be with Ganpurev's relatives this past week. Two interesting things came out of this. First, Ganpurev has come to be known among his relatives as the person whose God does not allow him to drink alcohol. It is an interesting appellation. It also means that he is no longer under so much pressure to drink.

Secondly, he had the opportunity to witness to several brothers. At first, one was quite antagonistic to hearing about Ganpurev's God because he realizes that the true God is a threat to his gods. But by the end of the hours long conversation, he seemed to be questioning his long-held beliefs. For those of who praying for Mongolian men by name the two brothers are Byasaa (whom I mentioned hearing about God's salvation when he was in UB in January) and Ulzeet.

It is exciting for me to see my sons in the faith go out and be a witness to others without my help. I have been thinking about the possibility that Ganpurev and I might travel to the countryside several times a year to continue witnessing to his family.

Lunar New Year - Day Three

Again, I'm writing my blog entry the morning after.

Yesterday was Third New Day (according to the Mongolian's lunar calendar) and saw us at three more homes. Actually, I visited a fourth home by myself but that had nothing to do with the Lunar New Year's celebrations. We have been asking our Mongolian friends how many homes they have visited. Most of them have visited at least ten homes and some more than a dozen in three days. Many have more visitors coming to their home on Third New Day or Fourth New Day.

However, most folks in the city will be back at work today which is the fourth day of the new lunar year. We had to stock up last week on staples because most stores have been closed the last few days. Even the ones that are open often lack such these as bread and eggs because the supply chain is disrupted. One year there was no bread for a week after the start of the new year. I have not checked yet this year.

What happens at a Lunar New Year visit? Well, when you first arrive you spend several minutes taking of coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and various other warm clothing. Then there is a special greeting that you must give to everyone. The younger person holds out his arms to support the older person's arms while the older one moves in to kiss (or more often to sniff) the younger one's cheeks. As you are doing this you ask, "Is your rest well?" There are various other saying and polite questions that can be asked at this time. You only use this greeting once a year the first time that you meet someone after the Lunar New Year. Mongolians even have a unique verb for this greeting: zolgokh. In most homes, the next thing to do is to sample the various items that have been placed on the table. There is usually meat, candy, Mongolian potato salad, and various milk products. The hostess begins to make the meat dumplings called buuz which are the traditional food for this celebration. Most homes also offer the guests some vodka and a traditional blessing is said. The host and guest may also exchange snuff bottles and some more polite questions and words during this time. The rest of the time is spent eating and talking.

The difficulty comes when you visit two homes in a row; and at both places, your hostess wants to feed you a meal. We had that experience last night. I thought I only had one visit scheduled when someone called and scheduled a second one. I think that my family is almost done with our visits. We may have another one tomorrow or Friday. I have one more and maybe two that I will do by myself.

Keep praying for men to be saved.

Lunar New Year - Day Two

I wanted to post this last night but did not get in until late. So I am posting it today. Check back tomorrow for another update.

Our first visit on the second day of the Lunar New Year was to Bilgee’s family. Even though we did not arrive until 11:20, we were still the first ones there. Most visits during the Lunar New Year are composed of talking. So we talked with Bilgee and his mother for some time. After we had been there about an hour more family members arrived. We also talked with them; some of them are Catholic. After about two hours at that place we excused ourselves to make another visit.

During the Lunar New Year, families buy many different gifts. Instead of the visitors giving gifts to the host, the host gives gifts to the visitors. There actually is a polite question that asks, “Have you received many gifts?” As far as I can understand, the question really is intended to ask if one has visited many homes or not. One consequence is that during this celebration our children receive much candy and sweets, and Kristie and I receive soap, ties, belts, and other things.

Our second visit was to Tovshin’s house. Tovshin is actually much closer to our American friends, but he is kind enough to invite us over every Lunar New Year celebration. We went with another American family. The unusual part of our visit to Tovshin’s was that he spoke English to us despite the fact that one of his Mongolian friends was visiting who spoke little English (I asked.) Whenever we would make a statement or ask Tovshin a question in Mongolian, he would respond in English. We spent nearly two hours there.

We then went home and had a relaxing afternoon. After several hours, I left to make a final visit for the day. I was going to visit Ganbold’s home. You might remember Ganbold from previous blog entries (first here then here and here). He is interested in studying the Bible, but because of his work schedule, we have been unable to establish a time to meet. I understood from other family members that he must return to work on Tuesday, and that if I was to visit him, I should do it on Monday. Now Ganbold had not invited me to his house; however, the nice thing about the Lunar New Year is that you can visit just about anyone you know without causing offense.

My visit to Ganbold’s was very pleasant. He seemed glad to see me. When I arrived there were about a dozen other family members that were getting ready to leave. After they left, Ganbold and I were by ourselves. Though Ganbold knows that I do not drink, he offered me some wine. In Mongolia when you tell people that you do not drink arkhi (the word commonly used for alcohol) then they assume that you do not drink hard liquor. They still expect you to drink wine or beer. I told Ganbold and his wife that I do not drink any intoxicating drinks. Surprisingly, Ganbold’s wife said, “That’s wise.”

He told me that he has been reading the Bible that I gave him starting in Genesis. He repeated that he would like to study the Bible. When I asked him when he would like to study the Bible, he said that he would call me when he had free time. That was the same response he had given me on my previous visit. The only trouble was that he never called. So this time, I told him that I would call him on Friday so that he could tell me whether Saturday or Sunday was the better day to visit.

Ganbold and I then went to a adjacent ger where his son lives. His son’s in-laws were visiting and were very drunk. They offered me vodka and insisted that I drink some; I refused as politely as I could. They insisted that I at least taste it. I explained that I did not drink any intoxicating liquor. Later, they decided to do a very common Mongolian practice: everyone would drink a shot of vodka and then sing a solo. Well, I explained that I did not drink and did not know any Mongolian songs. They said that I could skip the drink and just sing a song in English; then they just stared at me waiting for me to sing. So I sang “How Great Thou Art.” They said that they liked it. I must learn a Mongolian hymn by heart so that I can be prepared for the next time. Between the talking and songs I spent more than three hours at Ganbold’s place.

Please pray that Ganbold would make time to study the Bible with me and that I would have wisdom as I teach. As always, I am well aware that your prayers enable our ministry.

Lunar New Year - Day One

For the rest of this week, my posts will focus on the celebration by Mongolians of the Lunar New Year or "White Month" as a strict translation would have it. In the countryside, the Lunar New Year is celebrated for more than a week. Here in the city the celebration lasts most of three days but people will continue to visit for the rest of the week.

Usually, Mongolians refer to the days of the week as "First Day," then "Second Day," etc. Saturday is "Half Good Day," and Sunday is "Whole Good Day." But starting with the first day of the Lunar New Year, they refer to the days as First New Day, Second New Day, Third New Day, etc. So the invitations will not be "Can you come to my house on Tuesday?" but rather "Can you come to my house on Second New Day?" Since the Lunar New Year starts on a Sunday this year, Second New Day is First Day; this has already caused some confusion among folks that I know.

Today is Sunday - First New Day. We had a special early service. The Mongolians thought it would be a good way to start the new year. Then I went to visit Enkhee and his family. I was the first one to their house, and they said that they were honored that I was the first one to greet them in the new year. I stayed for several hours. We have several more visits tomorrow and then several more on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll keep you updated.