Manlai's wedding

About two months ago, Ganpurev told me that he would need some time off to travel to the countryside in October because his nephew was having a wedding. I thought little of it; his nephew is in his early 20's and has already served his time in the military. It was about time that he got married.

Last week, Ganpurev told me that Manlai was still looking for a bride. I was surprised and told Ganpurev so. "I though Manlai was having a wedding. How can he be having a wedding if he isn't getting married."

Ganpurev explained it to me this way. To countryside Mongolians there are usually two things that happen at a wedding which is called хурим in Mongolian. The first is that two people get married. However, at the same time the groom's family gives him a ger for him to live in with his new wife.

It seems that Manlai doesn't have a girlfriend, but his father has a ger prepared for him. Another relative was getting married nearby at the same time. So Manlai's father thought it would be handy to have both weddings at the same time. After all, the ger is ready and wasting away in storage.

So whether there is a bride or not, there will be a wedding for Manlai in October. Manlai seems convinced that he'll find someone to marry him in the next few weeks. I hope he does.

The source of evil

Recently, I came across an article most likely written by a non-Christian that had a very interesting statement about the source of evil. In the article two people who were held in captivity on two different continents discuss their painful memories from captivity.

Towards the end of the article the two former captives discuss the impact of their faith (or lack thereof). One did not feel he could pray during his ordeal for two reasons: first of all, he had not been praying before he was kidnapped and felt it would not be right to start then. Secondly, he heard over the radio of people whose condition because of war was even worse than his own and believed that if God was not helping them, God would not intervene on his behalf. Curiously, when he was released from captivity, he failed to see God's intervention in his release. That simple omission may reveal a foundational problem in his attitude: he is not seeking God and therefore is not "finding" Him.

The second captive challenged his thinking by commenting that the first captive had been asking God the wrong questions. She went on to say that the source of the world's ills was not God or His lack of intervention. According to her, the source of the world's ills was mankind.

I do not know her spiritual state; she may be a Christian or she may not. However, her insight is impressive. It is not that God wants sin and evil to be present in the world or even that He allows it. What God grants mankind for good or ill is the ability to choose. Robbed of our right to choose but allowed to express our opinion, we would probably complain that God was keeping us confined. Conversely, having the right to choose, we complain that it is God's fault that men are so evil. There is certainly something sinfully perverse in mankind's thinking.

I do not claim to be able to understand or explain how God's complete sovereignty interacts with man's free will. However, I do know this: as I look at the social ills in Mongolia and the United States, I see people consumed with selfishness and willing to injure others in their efforts to advance their own interests. The problem of evil is not God's but ours.

Belt-tightening comparisons

With all the recent financial news it seems to me that Americans will need to start tightening their belts. Mongolians too are preparing to tighten their belts. I'd like to give you some comparisons between what Americans may face in uncertain financial times and what Mongolians may face. Please read on.

An American family may consider only having one car instead of two in difficult financial times. A Mongolian family may contemplate what it would be to walk an hour to reach home in -10° temperatures because they can't afford the 65 cent bus fare.

An American may consider warning his children to be careful to turn off the lights whenever they leave a room. A Mongolian may consider cutting back to having only one light in his ger.

An American may decide to quit buying a coffee from the local coffee shop. A Mongolian may consider skipping a meal each day.

An American may wonder how he is going to pay his heating bills and lower the thermostat. A Mongolian may consider burning trash that he can collect alongside the road instead of buying coal.

An American may decide to cut up his credit cards; a Mongolian may beg money on the streets.

An American may face the challenge of looking for a new job. A Mongolian may face the challenge of not receiving his salary at the job he currently holds because his company lacks the money to pay him. Of course, he cannot quit that job because there is no other work to be found.

"I had a dream last night"

I received an urgent SMS this morning from a young lady who has attended church a few times and whose home Ganpurev, Ulzee, and I have visited. She had a very vivid dream about her mother in the night and wondered what she should do about it.

I quickly called her to ascertain the situation. She was obviously very upset and repeated her story: her dead grandmother appeared to her in a dream that seemed very real. Mongolians take such "appearances" very seriously and usually make an immediate trip to the Buddhists lamas to fulfill some ritual.

Her question was which ritual did the Bible prescribe when a dead relative appeared in a dream. She was very serious about her question. I explained to her that there were no rituals to perform, no need to exorcise any spirits even though her grandmother had seemed so life-like in her dream. I urged her to ask God for peace and pointed out that sometimes dreams can be tools that devilish forces use to upset us.

Her call was a reminder that in this superstitious culture dreams and visions are still taken quite seriously. Even today one can visit a shaman or witch doctor who will try to explain one's dreams. And demonic opposition is very real here too. Pray for these very young Christians that they would grow in their faith. Also pray for these unsaved yet sincerely interested Mongolians to realize their desperate need for Jesus Christ.

Life in Mongolia

Recently, a new family came to Mongolia. After studying for two months, the wife was doing her best to communicate with a Mongolian lady. The Mongolian attempted to listen and then said something like, "For studying for two months, you sure don't speak the language very well."

I would be lying to say that Mongolia is an easy place to live. There is a certain amount of extra spiritual warfare and deep struggle that occurs. Instead of being surrounded by family, friends, loved ones, missionaries sense a certain amount of isolation. No matter how well one speaks the language, one never truly becomes "Mongolian." People call us names, accuse us falsely, cheat us because we are foreigners, make fun of us, misunderstand us (intentionally or not); any normal human would respond with some kind of defense mechanism.

Different people choose different ways to protect themselves and their heart from this isolation and rejection. Some adopt an "us vs. them" mentality that allows us to be as critical of Mongolians and their culture as they are of us. "Mongolians drive wrong," or "Mongolians smell funny," or "Mongolians don't do this right." These are some common complaints that we hear.

Some missionaries withdraw from Mongolian society all together, congregating in compounds, fellowshipping with other foreigners, and visiting the expatriate hang-outs that exist in any capital city. Surrounded by a few thousand foreigners and a million Mongolians they know more foreigners than Mongolians.

Sometimes we just leave the country completely. Without God leading us away, missionaries strike out to new lands or return to the States.

Margaret Clarkson famously wrote about missionaries' experiences in her song "So Send I You."

So send I you to loneliness and longing,
With heart a-hungering for the loved and known,
Forsaking home and kindred,
Friend and dear one -
So send I you to know my love alone.

Many years ago, long before I "became a missionary" I sang that song in a church service and contemplated its bleak outlook on missions life. It was only today while looking again at that song that I came across her other verses written many years after the first verses were written.

After a life of experience and a wealth of pain (a father and mother who divorced, migraines, back trouble, and childhood arthritis), Miss Clarkson looked back and realized that her initial verses were an unbalanced reflection of the Christian life of service. She wrote several new verses to bring her song into balance.

So send I you - by grace made strong to triumph
O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death, and sin,
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer
So send I you - my victory to win.

We have seen victories, we have seen defeats. We have been blessed, we have been oppressed. To those of you who pray for us I say - continue to uphold us in prayer. We need God's power to avoid the natural defense mechanisms and the victory of the Holy Spirit-filled life to minister in this place.

Annoyed by a drunk

Last night just after six, Bill Patterson and I were standing outside by our vehicles waiting for our wives. It had already turned dark, and we were passing the time profitably discussing ministry in Mongolia. I noticed that an obviously drunk man was standing several feet away from us staring at us. Often drunk people stare at foreigners so I did not think much of it.

After staring for a minute or so, the man walked up to Bill and poked him hard in the stomach. I thought to myself, What is this man doing? What he was doing was trying to pick a fight. He clenched his right hand into a fist. Bill wisely avoided being punched by reaching out and taking the man's clenched right hand as if to shake it and greeting him kindly both in English and Mongolian.

But the man wanted none of that. He continued to sway back and forth for a few seconds without doing anything as if he wondered what to do next. Bill took a step back to avoid confrontation but the drunk man stepped towards Bill again with a clenched fist. As if to confront Bill, he said in Mongolian, "Do you know what the word 'disrespect' means?" Hoping to calm the man and avert trouble, I stepped forward and put my hand gently on the man's shoulder. He hesitated a second and then grabbed my hand and thrust it away. Bill tried to talk to him. The man claimed he knew a little English and kept saying, "Two dollars." The drunk brought out his wallet and showed us it was empty repeatedly saying, "Two dollars," first looking at Bill and then towards me. Knowing that he would only spend the money on more alcohol, we politely refused.

Then he pointed to Bill and said, "One dollar," and then to me, "One dollar." We shook our heads to refuse his demand. Then he moved toward me. Bill got out his phone perhaps to call someone for help. The man started speaking Mongolian saying, "Is he going to call the police?" and laughed histrionically. Then he reached for his back pocket as if he had a knife and whipped he hand back toward me threateningly, but I could see that he had no knife.

Bill and I moved away from him again but he followed us. He said to me, "You understand Mongolian. I'll bring the police here and kill you. Do you know the word 'knife'? I'll kill you." I must admit I chuckled at his obviously silly threats. He was so drunk that a strong push would have knocked him to the ground. Besides, why show fear?

And then as abruptly as he came, he walked away. We were in a very public place and two or three dozen people must have passed us as we stood there. But no one chose to intervene except one man who walked up who looked as if he might live on the streets. The drunk waved him off and told him to go away which the man did.

I never really felt as if I was in any real danger. The greatest danger seemed to me to be to get in a fight with a drunk man and seem to those who passed by to be picking a fight with a drunk man. But God gave us grace that enabled us to avoid a confrontation. Soon after that, our wives came out and we left.

Naadam: Mongolia's summer holiday

We are in the middle of Naadam which runs from July 11-14 every year. This is Mongolia's major summer celebration and sort of a summer version of Tsagaan Sar. Instead of buuz Mongolians eat lots of huushuur.


I visited the special opening ceremony on the morning of July 11 when a troup of horsemen come and transport the nine yak tails symbolizing the authority of the Mongolian government from the Parliament Building to the stadium.


There was a military band playing while the horsemen rode out. The loudest complaint was that there were more foreigners there than Mongolians. It seems that more and more, official events and traditional holidays are planned more for foreigners than for the Mongolians to enjoy. I know quite a few Mongolians who worked yesterday.

some updates

Ganpurev arrived safely which is no little feat considering that he disembarked from the bus he was riding along an empty stretch of road and was picked up from that same lonely stretch of road by a brother who has no phone and lives in an area with no cell phone service. (That seems well-nigh amazing to those of us who grew up with scheduled stops and cell phones. It probably seems commonplace to those of my grandparents' generation.) He will be in with his family for about ten days. In the countryside especially everything about a funeral is determined by the Buddhist lama: where the body will be buried, which direction the body will face, which rituals need to be performed, etc. Please pray that Ganpurev will have the fortitude and wisdom to not participate in the Buddhist rituals while still showing the appropriate respect to a family matriarch. It can be a difficult thing.

Gustavo, the Cuban man, called me today to tell me that his wife may be having her baby soon. Bayarmaa is due in a week or two; but, you know, one can rarely plan these things.

I saw Bob on Sunday at a family gathering (Bilgee & Ganaa's family's gathering; I guess I am part of the clan). He was friendly enough, but we did not discuss anything "religious." I told him that I would try to visit this week. However, on Monday night Batzorig came over with Bilgee; and I was able to witness to him. Tuesday night, a recent attender of our church's services Narantuya came over for dinner. After dinner we had a good conversation. Wednesday night after a time of prayer, Bilgee and Jagaa and I studied the Bible together. So I have not yet had a free night to visit Bob. I plan to call tonight and see if he is available.

Someone predicted that there will be an earthquake in Mongolia this month that rivals the earthquake that shattered Chinese cities last month. Some said that the earthquake was going to occur last night (Wednesday night). I even had an acquaintance send me an SMS saying to be careful because there might be an earthquake. Mongolians seem to be taking this rather seriously. There is a genuine spirit of fear and superstition here that motivates people's actions.

Sunday update

This past Sunday was an interesting one for me personally. Ganpurev preached from Psalm 23. Now I have heard many sermons from Psalm 23, but I have never heard a sermon from Psalm 23 preached by a true shepherd. Ganpurev has not read books about shepherds and sheep; he has been a shepherd. It was very interesting for me to hear a shepherd preach on Psalm 23.

Mongolians are easily offended when they are compared to sheep because they know how stupid and defenseless sheep are. You can say, "All we like sheep have gone astray," and emphasize "like sheep." But the unregenerate Mongolian hears, "All we like stupid and defenseless animals have gone astray." The end of that statement just reinforces in the Mongolian's mind the first part of that statement. He thinks, "Of course they've [he does not want to admit this about himself so ...] of course they've gone astray - they're stupid animals." You see a Mongolian knows that a good part of a shepherd's time is spent trying to find lost animals. It is a frustrating task because the animals have become lost through their own stupidity.

So I followed Ganpurev's lesson eagerly as he explained the roles of a shepherd and how they matched the roles of our Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. His explanation of sheep and our resemblance to sheep was also fascinating. He did an good job of using the sheep illustration to work in man's need for a Savior.

For those of your wondering about attendance we had nine Mongolian adults this past Sunday which is a down day for us. One member was in the hospital with her son, another told me that family matters would keep him from attending.

Please keep praying for Ganpurev as he grows in his ability to preach.

News

Ermune, the little boy that we have watched a couple of times in the past, is in the hospital. The complaint seemed to be a particularly bad bloody nose. However, the the local government health clinic did not seem to be much concerned.

Bayambaa then took him to a private hospital. The private hospital diagnosed a liver problem and sent him on to the National Infectious Diseases Hospital which is near our apartment. He will be there for fourteen days.

Strangely enough to the American mind, his mother is required to be with him 24 hours a day every day until he is discharged from the hospital. So not only is Ermune in the hospital, his mother is as well for the next eleven days. She had a baby that she was nursing but had to give the baby over to her father to take care of because she could not bring the baby into the hospital with her.

Meanwhile, her husband Mandaa continues to work while they are in the hospital. His birthday was over the weekend, and he chose to go out and get drunk with his buddies while his wife and son were in the hospital and the baby is with grandpa. I'm still a little confused about the situation - not the facts of the situation which I know quite well, rather I remain confused about people's reasons for doing what they are doing.

It seems to me that because it is liver related, the doctors think that Ermune has hepatitis. The symptoms that have been described to me are the bloody nose, jaundice, and trouble with his liver. They think that he caught this disease from his environment because the disease is often spread in Mongolia by mice and cockroaches - both of which are very common.

Still, the doctors have not yet started a regimen of treatment. Ermune was admitted to the hospital on Friday, and some tests were taken. However, the pathology department does not work on the weekends so Bayambaa must wait until Monday to find out what the tests show. Then the doctors will prescribe a course of treatment. She has asked us to pray, and we'd ask you to join us in prayer as she and her son are in the hospital. I will give you more updates as I am aware of them.

Do you want your car washed?

Some things about Mongolia just trouble me ... well, not just me: they trouble all of us expatriates who live here. Certain happenings are frustrating especially when it seems that foreigners are being treated differently.

It often happens here that boys wash one's car unsolicited and then expect payment for a job poorly done. It would be difficult to endure at that, but it is especially difficult when I overhear the youngsters telling each other things such as, "Over there, a foreigner just got out of his car - go wash it!"

An American friend of mine came to Mongolia burdened particularly by all the poverty here. He determined by God's grace to give money to every person who asked him for some; not much, usually he only gave money worth 50 cents or a dollar, but he consistently gave to everyone who asked him. He even would make the effort to get the small bills in Mongolian currency that amount to about a half dollar or dollar from the bank in order to have something to pass out.

He gained such a reputation about town that groups of children would seemingly instantly materialize whenever we went downtown. We would step out of his car, begin walking towards a store or restaurant, and before we reached the door we would be surrounded by dirty-faced boys and girls holding out their grubby little hands for money. He would graciously and without prejudice hand them all a Mongolian bill worth fifty cents or a dollar.

However, if one of these greasy-palmed children dared to try to wash his car he would become upset with him. He could not speak Mongolian but still would often complain to the boy, "Why are you washing my car?" He would lament to me and others that he could not stand people touching his car with a filthy rag.

I remarked to him one day that his attitude seemed odd to me. To anyone who asked he was willing to give money without question; but if someone tried to earn his money by washing his car he would become upset. "If you want to give money away why not let them work for it?" I pointed out. But to some men, a car is an important possession and not just anyone should touch it.

Well, if you feel that way about your car, do not come to Mongolia and drive. Mongolian boys will spot you parking your car and run over to ask, "Do you want your car washed?" Sometimes they do not even come over but just wash it anyway. But now police are getting in on the racket.

Today, I parked my car to run into a building and conduct some car insurance business. I did not need any money and was not planning to buy anything so I came without any small change. I had some larger bills (the smallest amounted to about $10 US). So as I got out of my car and crossed the street I waved off several boys who asked me, "Mister, do you want your car washed." The boys often claim that they have no change and want to take the entire $10.

As I was on the stairs in the building, I looked out the window and sure enough my car's windshield wipers were sticking up - a common signal used by the boys to announce, "This car is to be washed." I frowned as I made my way out of the building. I had no small change and did not want to give up a whole $10 for a job not well done.

I got in my car and started it. Before I could pull out, two boys came and planted themselves on my window. It would be difficult - they knew this - it would be difficult for me to look behind me and pull out into traffic without running the risk of "accidentally" hitting one of the boys. Hitting someone with a car even if they are not seriously injured can be an alarming experience especially for foreigners.

I rolled down my window to have a discussion with the boys in an attempt to move them away from my car. The conversation went something like this.

Boys: "Hey, where's our money for washing your car."

Me [using my most authoritative voice]: "Did I ask you to wash my car? Why did you wash my car? I don't have any money to pay you (that is, I had no bills to offer them). If you would have asked me I would have told you not to wash my car."

Boys [looking a bit put out as if I had deceived them]: "But we washed your car."

Me: "But how am I going to pay you? I don't have any money [to pay you]."

Boys: "Do you have any money?"

Me: "All I have are big bills. Do you have change?"

Boys: "You could get change."

Me: "You get the change and I'll pay you."

At this one of the boys began to call to other boys - "Do you have change? Do you have change?" None of them had change. (Strange because they had been washing cars all day for small bills but suddenly they had no change.)

The other boy sat with his hands on my window sill looking dejected as if he had just lost his favorite pet. "Don't you have any bills?" he asked with big, sad eyes.

"I don't have any small bills," I repeated gently.

There were two policeman just down the street stopping motorists. I contemplated shutting the car off, getting out, locking the doors, and walking down the street to talk to the officers. But being a foreigner and seeing they were busy, I decided against it.

Instead I told the boy, "This is getting old. Just go." He had probably spent all of three minutes running his soiled rag over my vehicle.

He just stood there leaning against my vehicle his hands inside with his look of sadness. Finally, an older boy came over. With a very disgusted look the older boy said to me, "What! Don't you have any money?"

I responded firmly, "I didn't ask these boys to wash my car. If they would have asked me, I would have told them not to wash the car because I have no small bills."

The older boy asked, "How much change do you need?"

"Nine dollars and fifty cents," I replied knowing that fifty cents was the going rate for such a small service. "But these boys don't have change, and I didn't ask them to wash my vehicle. Do you have change?" I asked the older boy.

To which the older boy responded, "No, call the police." I was not certain if he was talking to me or the little boy attached to the door of my car, but I said anyway, "Call the police," little expecting what would happen next.

Within a minute or two, one of the officers made his way down the road, "Do you need change?" he asked holding out ten dollars worth of change the smallest of which was worth a dollar. I thanked him, handed him a bill worth $10, and took the money. Before the bills were hardly in my hand the policeman said in a surly manner, "Give [the boy] the money." At first I was surprised at his commanding tone, but taking the hint I took one of the bills worth $1 and handed it to the boy who then pealed from the side of my car and went off to make another dollar.

I was surprised first of all that a policemen had change and secondly that he seemed to be on the little boys side. I will not say any money changed hands for the policeman's part in finding change, but I will say that the policeman is well aware as I am that the going rate for the wipe down a person's car with a dirty rag service is only fifty cents. And I will say that it is very unusual for a policeman to leave his post in traffic to deal with other matters.

But like I say, if your car is an important possession to you and you do not want just anyone to touch it then maybe Mongolia is not the place for you.

Mongolian food

I have had many "ethnic" foods in the course of my life. Travels within Asia, an abundance of international dinners while visiting churches, and the gracious generosity of many hosts from various countries who have provided meals while I was traveling. Generally, I enjoy the new tastes of foreign foods.

One of my favorite restaurants to eat at when I lived in the United States was Mongolian barbecues. If you have never eaten at one, such a restaurant provides raw meat, fresh vegetables, spices, and a variety of sauces. The customer loads up a bowl with his choice of meats, vegetables, spices, and sauce and takes the bowl to the cook. The cook pours out the contents of the bowl on a hot grill and cooks it all. I could not wait to get to Mongolia and discover the source of these restaurants. I was sorely disappointed. Mongolian barbecues in the U.S. are nothing like Mongolian food. There are few vegetables - mainly limited to potatoes, carrots, and onions - almost no spices, and certainly no sauces. The result is very bland food except for two flavorings that seem to permeate most of Mongolian cuisine.

If you like to drink buttermilk and eat cold fat than Mongolia is the place for you. Because of the lack of refrigeration in previous generations many of the milk products that are enjoyed in Mongolia are soured or fermented. Yogurts, dried curds, even the milk itself can have a slightly sour taste. We have come to call it: the Mongolian taste.

Mongolians also like to eat fat. Buuz is the Mongolian delicacy. It is a dumpling made with a meatball surrounded by dough. If Mongolians want to make it extra-special they include a chunk of fat in with the meatball. Once steamed, the dumpling contains a high amount of grease in it. One danger of eating buuz for foreigners is that one will get grease on one's shirt; take a bite of buuz, and the grease will come pouring out. Mongolians avoid this by taking a bite and sucking out the grease.

There is a unique Mongolian flavor that combines both of these tastes: shar tos or "yellow oil." As best as I can tell shar tos is rancid grease. It has the distinctive odor of rancid oil and comes in large blocks that initially might pass for huge slabs of margarine. This oily grease is added to all kinds of dishes to increase the flavor and is usually a taste Mongolians savor. I once visited a home and was welcomed with a steaming bowl of hot rice with raisins. Growing up rice and raisins was a breakfast that I enjoyed and without smelling the dish I raised a large spoonful to my mouth. No sooner had I tasted it than I realized that it was rice and raisins but also contained a third ingredient: shar tos. Needless to say, it reduced my enjoyment of the meal although I took seconds to please my host.

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.

Video: Buddhism Rebounds in Mongolia

If you read this blog regularly, you really should see this video, the link for which was sent to me by my friend Dick Siemers. (He really finds the most interesting news on Mongolia.)

Video: Buddhism Rebounds in Mongolia

The first reason you should see this video is because it is true that most Mongolians are turning to Buddhism for their religious needs. There is indeed a "God-shaped vacuum" inside each one of us. But instead of turning in faith to the true Creator of us all, the natural tendency of sinful man is to turn to gods of our own creation.

The second reason that you should see this video is because it illustrates the mixing of religious tradition that makes Mongolia a unique contribution to Buddhism. The video states that the current leader of the monastery mentioned at the beginning of the video is a shaman. Shamanists are not Buddhists; and Buddhists are not shamanists. But in Mongolia, shamanistic beliefs and Buddhist beliefs often run together. Indeed it can be difficult to detect what is a Buddhist belief and what is shamanistic. Though it does not matter to me which wrong belief belongs to which wrong religion, Mongolian acquaintances have called me on it on more than one occasion. But even more importantly to Christians, this comfort with casual syncretism can lead to disaster for Christians. As one pastor once told me, "Weeds grow faster than wheat." That is, false beliefs spread more easily in a sin-cursed world than Truth. Already, I have seen some results of syncretism among so-called Christians here in Mongolia. Although this video does not address the syncretism among Christians, it does show the casual syncretism that is very common among Mongolians: a shaman leading a Buddhist monastery. (Let me put it in Western terms for you. That would be like a witchdoctor running a Catholic monastery.)

The third reason that you should see this video is because I know David Gilroy. Isn't it a small world? David and I taught English and studied Mongolian at the same school for several months years ago. I knew that he was a graduate student with a degree in biology and that he was here to do some study, but had no idea that he was working with taimen.

Enjoy the video.

Choosing a word for 'God'

The story highlighted at the end of this article gives some hint of the trouble of working in a foreign language. Imagine that you are in Malaysia and the majority of Malaysians tell you that the Arabic word "allah" is a generic term for "god." What would you do?

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Malaysian row over word for 'God'

Where have I been? Why I'm glad you asked ...

I know that some of you are wondering why I haven't written more updates recently. You may even be asking, "Where has Scott been?"

I've been out tasting goat's head; and believe me, it's one of those things that you just have to experience. Most Americans don't like to be able to identify the animal's body part that they are eating. (I consider myself to be one of those Americans.) If you want to eat liver - I like liver, by the way - you want it chopped up with onions. No one that I know wants a whole liver to be brought out to them on a platter. One should view animal's body parts at a dissection not at a dinner.

So I was a little bit taken aback Saturday night when I went to visit Bilgee. When I arrived something was boiling covered on the little stove that serves both to warm their shack and cook their food. (As an aside: I really wish that I could post pictures of the interior of their tiny shacks, the Mongolians huddled around a metal box, a few chunks of coal their only source of heat when the weather outside is below zero. But I feel awkward taking pictures of such primitive conditions because Mongolians know that these conditions are primitive and feel ashamed. If you want to see such poverty, you'll just have to come to Mongolia yourself.)

Bilgee happily announced that they had a delicacy on tap for that night: goat's head. Sure enough, when his mom whipped the lid of the pot, there sat two goats' heads. Bilgee pulled one out and placed it on a platter. There was the head of a goat; his eyelids had swollen in cooking and covered his eyes, so you couldn't really say it was looking at me. The tongue was slightly hanging out of his mouth as if the poor creature was slyly sticking his tongue out at me. I fought back the urge to stick out my tongue at the now lifeless beast. Bilgee made some cuts along the side of the head from the edge of the mouth back and, with a mighty crack, pulled the head into two pieces. He cut of the ears and offered me some with the advice that they were a little chewy. I passed on eating the ears. He then cut the tongue up. I've had tongue before and was happy to eat that. Goat's tongue is a little strong for my taste but at least it can be chewed. Bilgee looked as if he was chewing shoe leather as he worked on one ear.

I tried a few other pieces but missed out on the eyes. I guess you have to dig those out of the eye sockets with a knife. All in all, my first experience with goat head went rather well as I was able to chew and swallow everything I took without mishap. And my stomach felts fine the next day. Happy times indeed.

Mongolian First Haircutting Ceremony

Mongolians hold off cutting their children's hair until the child reaches a certain age usually about 2 or 4 years old for boys (3 or 5 years old the way Mongolians count age) and about 1 or 3 years old for girls (2 or 4 years old according to Mongolian custom). The first haircutting is a significant ceremony (purely secular I'm assured) that involves lots of food and an invitation to friends and family. They even have a name for the celebration: daikh avakh (if you don't want to sweat the details, just say "dike avak"). We were honored with an invitation to our neighbors to participate in this ceremony, the first that we have participated in.

Our neighbors invited us to come at 11 AM, so we were fashionably late and arrived at about 11:30. Still we were the first ones to arrive. There was lots of food there and we started to eat almost immediately. The party really got underway about noon when the grandfather of the child cut his hair for the first time. The grandfather then tied up the hair in a khadag and said a word of blessing.

After that the rest of us took turns cutting the child's hair, then gave him some money and a small gift. There was plenty of food and the eating never really stopped. We left about the time that they broke out the vodka and starting toasting the child. Of course, the child was not allowed to drink any alcohol.

We anticipate being invited to several more of these as our friends' children grow older. Please pray for wisdom as we try to direct these traditional ceremonies to God. Our neighbors are not Christians yet, and therefore we did not have an opportunity to suggest any changes to the ceremony. Perhaps if a Christian performed the ceremony they would want to take the opportunity to dedicate their child to God and ask His blessing on their child. Your prayers to the God of all wisdom for insight as our Mongolian Christians approach these ceremonies would be appreciated.