News from Sunday

We had a good crowd on Sunday with eleven Mongolian adults and half a dozen children. I keep thinking that we should have more. But when ones considers that we started with three adults last September, we are making progress.

We are planning for some special meetings in about a month and would appreciate your prayers as we plan and prepare. The meetings will mainly be designed for our regular attenders but we would love to see some people saved during the meetings as well.

Ganpurev's and Ulzee's Post-Salvation Testimony

Two Saturdays ago, I shared with you Ganpurev's and Ulzee's salvation testimonies. Today I want to post their post-salvation testimony. Eventually, I will combine these as one post.

The very next day, my wife met with Ulzee and greeted her. The typical Mongolian greeting goes like this:

“Are you well?”

“(I’m) well? Are you well?”

“(I’m) well. What good news do you have?”

“Nothing. (Everything is) peaceful.”

No matter what has happened recently you must answer this way. I have seen a situation where one’s father had just died and the opening greeting went just like this. “Everything is peaceful,” he said despite the recent death. Another time a wife had a major fight with her husband, came to our house and told Kristie, “Everything is peaceful,” before launching into the story about the fight with her husband. Kristie and I have both discussed how strange it seems to us as foreigners to hear people invariably respond by saying, “Nothing” or “Everything is peaceful” when one knows from the look on their face that not everything is well.

So it was this morning. Before Ulzee came to our house, Kristie, who knew all about the events of the previous night, asked me, “What should I say to Ulzee?” I said, “Don’t say anything. If she doesn’t say anything, ask her what happened last night.”

When Ulzee came, the conversation went like this:

Kristie: “Are you well?”

Ulzee: “(I’m) well. Are you well?”

Kristie: “(I’m) well. What good news do you have?”

Ulzee: “Oh, (everything is) peaceful. I became God’s child last night!”

I was thrilled that as soon as she could (within the limits of her culture) she told my wife that she had become God’s child. Not only with us but with many other family members they were very open about their new life in Christ.

This would soon cause me some hesitation, me of little faith. Before I explain why, you must understand some about Mongolian Buddhism. Mongolian Buddhism was imported from Tibet many centuries ago. Mongolian Buddhists today still revere the Dalai Lama and call him the Living God.

When Tibetan Buddhism came to their country, Mongolians mixed it with their pre-existing shamanism to make a mix of superstition and religious ceremony that survives to this day. However, shamanism and Buddhism, superstition and religious ceremony all have a common object: the manipulation of supernatural spirits or forces to cause them to do the will of the supplicant. Whenever a Mongolian visits a Buddhist temple or a shaman they have a clear goal of what they want from the gods or spirits. Sometimes the goal is to build up spiritual good works that they can call on later when they have a specific request; it is like depositing money in a spiritual bank account so that the worshipper can draw on it later in a crisis.

As Mongolians see it, people who observe the superstitions and customs will be blessed; people who ignore the superstitions and ceremonies will be cursed. Just as I warned them it would, trouble came to Ganpurev and Ulzee despite their new-found faith in Jesus Christ. In retrospect, I am so glad that I emphasized to them that Christians still experience trials but that they can still find grace, strength, and peace in Jesus Christ.

About two weeks after they made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and began telling everyone about their Savior, Ulzee contracted appendicitis. This was just before the Mongolians celebrated their Lunar New Year. That meant that all of their family members were soon aware of her sudden illness.

The pain started on Sunday. Ulzee went with her husband to the hospital where they told her that she definitely had appendicitis and needed surgery. However, the doctor informed that the hospital did not do appendectomies on the weekends and that she would have to come back on Monday. She returned home and the pain increased through the evening. Late that evening a fellow Christian came to their ger and prayed for her to feel better. She immediately felt relief from her pain which continued until the next morning.

Monday morning she returned to the hospital to have her appendix removed. We did not hear from them until Ganpurev called late Monday morning to tell us that Ulzee had an appendectomy. My first thought was that this was a severe test for such new Christians. I also wondered what the rest of the family would think. I could imagine them thinking, “Here Ganpurev and Ulzee forsake their gods for a new God; see what happens: Ulzee gets appendicitis.”

I asked Ganpurev if Kristie and I could go with him to the hospital to visit Ulzee. Because Mongolian hospitals only provide one meal a day of varying quality, the family always provides food for those that are in the hospital. I asked if we could go with Ganpurev when he went to deliver her meal. I expected since she had just had an appendectomy that we would be admitted to her room, stand around her bedside, pray with her, and try to encourage her. We went around the back of the hospital building to an obscure entrance that seemed more like a fire escape. We went up several flights of steps. Each flight of steps had a closed door. We stopped at the top of a flight of steps where the door had a window in it. Ganpurev stuck his head into the window and called for a nurse. He told the nurse that he wanted to see his wife and gave the nurse her name. The nurse disappeared and a few minutes later I was surprised to see Ulzee, holding her stomach with one hand and nearly bent over double, approaching the door. Evidently, visitors were not allowed into the ward. The patients had to meet us at the window. We spend a few minutes at the window with her and told her mainly that we were praying for her and wished her well. She talked a few more minutes with her husband and then made her way slowly back to wherever she came from.

Humanly speaking, they had every reason to be gloomy; but amazingly on the way home Ganpurev shared blessing after blessing that they had received from the Lord. I could see how God was using Ulzee’s sickness to strengthen their faith and bring honor and glory to Himself. The rest of the family may have wondered if their new-found faith was the source of their “bad luck.” However, they also saw how the peace of God that passes all understanding also guarded Ganpurev’s and Ulzee’s hearts.

Since then, I have been much less concerned about how difficult circumstances will impact a person’s faith. It was a vivid reminder that God brings difficulties, illnesses, obstacles, and diverse temptations into our lives to strengthen us and teach us patience. Pray the Lord for His faithfulness!

Small steps

It is not every week that I am privileged to witness someone turning from idols to the true and living God. This week’s update is about one of the more incremental changes.

Dashgaa was saved through the witness of many Christians over a period of about ten years. He was a Mongolian teacher at one of the language schools here in Ulan Bator. After his salvation he was baptized by Roland and began attending a group that met with Roland on Sundays. Through various circumstances, the group of people that James and I had been teaching was merged with a group that Roland was teaching, and Dashgaa began to attend our meetings on Sunday mornings.

Dashgaa on left with Roland & Ganpurev

Dashgaa’s wife Tongaa is not saved. Her family is very Buddhist and although Dashgaa and Tongaa have their own ger they live in the same little fenced area. This means that there is much pressure on Dashgaa to deny his Christian faith and return to his Buddhist roots. Dashgaa and Tongaa have three children about the ages of our children, a daughter age 11, a son age 4, and another son who is a toddler.

Dashgaa’s wife is quite antagonistic to the Gospel, does not want to hear about Jesus, and refuses to attend our meetings on Sunday morning. I am determined our family will do our best to love their family to Jesus. Towards that end, my family had visited their home during the Lunar New Year and enjoyed our chance to get to know them. A small step.

Then about a month ago, we had a celebration on Thursday night for International Women’s Day which is a holiday in Mongolia. Because I was planning a game involving couples, I invited Dashgaa to bring his wife which he did. I was a little surprised to see her come. She had a chance to meet the other ladies in our little group and seemed to enjoy her time. Another small step.

Two weeks ago, I asked Dashgaa if I could visit his home. Normally, I try to ask the first time that I visit a Mongolian home and then just show up after that. (Did I mention to you that it is rude for a close friend to ask if he can visit? A true friend is expected to come over without asking.) I picked him up from work, and we went to his house. On the way there, Dashgaa said that when he told his wife that I was to visit, she basically said, “Why would he want to come to our ger?” Many Mongolians are embarrassed to host a foreigner in their ger. I asked if that meant she did not want me to visit. He assured me that she did not mind me visiting. If she had not wanted me to visit she would have said so directly.

I had a pleasant visit and was able to acquaint myself more closely with his family. Towards the end of the evening, I mentioned to Tongaa that my wife taught a Bible class for children and asked if her children might attend the class when her husband came on Sunday. Tongaa became very quiet and gave me no response. I moved on to other topics since she seemed agitated by my request. But the visit and the invitation to send her daughter were another couple of small steps.

The very next Sunday, Dashgaa was unable to attend on Sunday. Frankly, I forgot about the invitation that I had extended to Tongaa to send her daughter. So you can imagine my joy when this past Sunday, Dashgaa walked in with his eleven-year-old daughter behind him. I was so glad that I wanted to jump for joy. Yet another small step: such small steps, you might think, but such small steps lead to Jesus. My prayer is that through patience and love we would see this entire family united in Jesus Christ. Please pray for Tongaa’s salvation and that God would bless us with wisdom, love, and patience as we endeavor to show her the love of Christ. For the love of Christ constraineth us …

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Every day is a new day to serve God and Sunday, April 15, 2007, was no different. We had a good attendance in the morning; the number of those who come is slowly growing. Those that came paid good attention to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. It is thrilling to be here and watch these young Christians grow in their understanding of and desire for God.

In the evening I went over to Ganbold's again to teach a lesson. Three of his sons were there and listened well. They all certainly have heard the Gospel multiple times now. Continue to pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit that would lead to their salvation.


I took this picture of Ganbold's family while I was there. One unmarried daughter is missing. This picture gives you some idea of the ministry that I have. The grandmother in the back sitting next to Kristie is Soli and is a Christian as is Ganbold, I believe. Ganbold is the one holding the little girl. Most of the rest have heard the Gospel clearly but have not yet responded.

News and prayer requests

I hope that there are some of you who still check this blog regularly for updates. In Mongolia, there are some weeks, months even, where not much of interest happens. I have learned to take a breath and prepare because at some point I will plunge into a swamp full of responsibilities. The last few months have been rather slow until Ganbold's recently renewed interest in studying the Bible with me. But this week it seems that the logjam of uneventfulness is starting to break free. I just hope that I have taken a deep enough breath.

Of course, this past Sunday, I saw Ganbold's change of heart and noticed that his idols were gone. This has rejuvenated my hope that events will start moving faster with his family. He has three married sons, a college-aged son and daughter, and a high school age daughter. There is so much potential there. Not only his children, but Ganbold is the oldest in his family. There are eight of them, and three are now Christians. Age and birth order bring significant respect in Mongolian society. The other two were the younger ones in the family, but Ganbold is the oldest. I suspect that should Ganbold's life change as radically as others have, his whole family will sit up and take notice.

Then another thing came up this last week. Enkhamgalan and I had some conversations last year, but recently have had little contact. When I visit Bilgee at work and see him in passing, he often teases me by speaking Mongolian very quickly and saying odd things. However, when I saw Enkhamgalan on Thursday, he was very serious and told me that his father had stomach cancer. His father has had an operation and is still in the hospital. Obviously, this has upset Enkhamgalan very much. He told me that he intends to came this Sunday to our meeting. The peace that he is desperately seeking is only found in Jesus Christ.

That was Thursday. Friday Daimkaa came over to my house. It has been years since Daimkaa came to my house, although I visit Daimkaa's ger several times a year. His life is in turmoil too, he says; and the answer to him is to move to Ireland. But to move to Ireland he needs several thousand dollars which he does not have. I told him (again) that what he really needs is Jesus Christ. This time he listened to me. He response was that he has heard all this before and respects the Bible. He just does not believe. But he agreed to meet with Ganpurev and Ulzee and hear their testimony.

So you can see that there will be more opportunities in the coming weeks than there have been in a while. Pray for the salvation of Ganbold's children, Enkhamgalan and his father, and Daimkaa. I will keep you updated.

Missions quote

Francis Schaeffer once said, "The problem that confronts us as we approach modern man today is not how we are to change Christian teaching in order to make it more palatable … rather it is only a problem of how we may communicate the Gospel so that it is understood."

I would modify that to say, "The problem that confronts me as I approach Mongolians is not how can I change the Gospel in order to make it more palatable, rather it is only a problem of how we may communicate the Gospel so that it is understood."

Resurrection Sunday

This past Sunday we remembered our Savior's resurrection from the dead showing His victory over the grave. Unfortunately, two of our faithful men were called away by work, and for the first time since our return to Mongolia, we had more women at the service than men. For those of you who are interested in the numbers there were seven Mongolian adults (four of whom were women) and seven Mongolian children.

But the best news of the day came in the evening when I went to teach Ganbold and his family another lesson from the Bible. In the past his wife, who seemed quite antagonistic toward my Bible teaching, would always leave as soon as I began my lesson. This last Sunday night, I asked her if she would stay for the Bible lesson. She surprised me and agreed to stay. Along with his wife, Khorloo, three of his four grown sons were also there.

Another surprise was waiting for me when I looked around Ganbold’s ger last night. All his idols were gone. When I asked him where his idols were, he told me that he had disposed of them. I followed up my initial question by asking him why he had done that. He told me that he now believed in Jesus and no longer needed them. At the end of our lesson Ganbold also prayed to ask the Lord God for forgiveness for his sins. Many of you have been praying for his salvation, and I am glad to report that although I cannot see his heart, I believe that he has shown the fruit appropriate for repentance.

Monday, when I told one of Ganbold’s relatives that his idols were gone, she expressed surprise that Ganbold would have already given up his gods. Ganbold’s father was a Mongolian shaman, and the idols that were in Ganbold’s house were his. The whole family felt that he would never give up his idols because they had been his father’s. To me, his willingness to give up his gods is just another evidence of the Holy Spirit regenerating a wicked heart.

Khorloo & Kristie

Sunday, I also asked his sons if they wanted to pray to ask God to forgive their sins. They said that they were not ready. Frankly, even before I asked I expected that they still were not ready. However, I am not discouraged because they are still listening to the preaching of God’s Word. I told Ganbold that he needs to pray for the salvation of his sons. I will prepare another lesson on salvation next week and be back to preach Jesus Christ to his family. Please join with us in praying for the salvation of Ganbold’s sons: Gantulag, Gerel-od, Gerelsaikhan, and Darkhanbold. Certainly do not neglect to pray for his wife, Khorloo. She seemed genuinely interested in the Bible teaching last night.

Ganpurev's and Ulzee's Salvation Testimony

It has been some years now since Ganpurev and Ulzee were saved from their sin, raised with Christ, and set with Him in heavenly places. Still, remembering their child-like faith and the struggles that strengthened it are a great encouragement to me. I share them with you to urge you to pray faithfully for Mongolians by name.

Kristie and I first met Ulzee in the summer of 2003. She was the cousin of Ganaa who had been our language tutor since we had arrived in Mongolia. I wanted to meet her husband Ganpurev as well; but at the time that Ulzee came to our house to meet us, Ganpurev was in another place working on a construction project. I feared that Ganpurev was the kind of husband that only lived with his family when it suited him. Some Mongolian husbands seem to come and go like that: sometimes living with their wife and children, sometimes traveling about, sometimes working in another part of the country.

It was not until late summer that I finally had an opportunity to meet Ganpurev when he came home from his construction project. I had determined to speak of Jesus Christ the very first time that I met Ganpurev. Ulzee had mentioned to me that Ganpurev had returned home. I went to their home to visit them. At that time they were living in a ger. As I entered their ger I was surprised to find nothing there. There was a small chest or two and several coarse rugs on the floor. But their ger lacked the beds and chairs that most other Mongolian families had.

Ganpurev listened politely as I tried to explain that Jesus Christ was the Savior of mankind to him in my broken Mongolian. However, it was as if I was speaking about a completely new topic to him, and he had no point of reference with which to understand what I was saying.

A few days later, one of Ganpurev’s jobs paid him with a truckload of logs. Ganpurev needed some help picking up the logs from another part of town and asked me for help. I agreed to help and spent much of a day with him. We rented a truck and moved the logs from the train yard where they waited to Ganpurev’s ger.

At the time because Ganpurev’s father was in poor health I began to pray for his father’s health and more earnestly for his father’s salvation. Soon after my first meeting with Ganpurev, his father went into a coma. Ganpurev hurried away to his home aimag (province) to be with his father. During that time, I prayed that his father would be preserved until he had heard about Jesus Christ. I wanted to see Ganpurev saved and then for him to have a chance to witness to his father.

Ganpurev’s father was in a coma for some time and then amazingly seemed to recover completely. He came out of his coma, started to talk and eat, and left the hospital to be with his family. Ganpurev came back to Ulan Bator excited about his father’s recovery. I redoubled my efforts to pray for his father’s salvation.

Several weeks later, I was home when a call came that Ganpurev’s father had suddenly died. Ganpurev was in the city at the time and had no opportunity to see his father before his sudden passing. Ganpurev left immediately to be with his family for the funeral and was gone several weeks.

During that time, winter came. His plan was to cut the logs up to use to heat his ger, but his father’s sudden passing meant that he had left his family with some large logs. When I asked Ulzee how they planned to cut the logs, she replied that the family had a small handsaw with which they were cutting off chunks of firewood from the logs. I knew another American missionary in town with a chain saw and asked him to help me cut and split the wood for the family. The two of us and his two sons went over one day and within hours and completed the task of cutting the logs into rounds and splitting most of them into firewood. The family was very grateful, though I found out later that we had not split the firewood the way that most Mongolians do.

Ganpurev took the death of his father really hard. Since moving to the city, Ganpurev’s work had not been steady. Some times he had lots of work and other weeks he would have none. During the weeks that he did not work, he often drank heavily and spoke of his sorrow.

I started to visit about once a week. Usually I could turn the subject to Jesus although occasionally I was thwarted. Once when I went over, Ganpurev had been drinking with another Mongolian. By the time I arrived he was drunk. That day he did not want to talk to me at all. Another time when I visited, I found Ganpurev already lying down with the blankets tucked around him while the rest of the family was awake. Since it was only early evening I could not

Ganpurev's family in 2003
figure out why Ganpurev was in bed already. Was he sick? Not long after I came in, he rose from his bed and began to help his wife with dinner. He did not seem to be sick or unusually tired. We had a very pleasant evening together. Later, I heard from his wife that they had experienced an argument just before I arrived. A ger is a one room dwelling with no privacy. With winter raging outside and the temperature below zero, Ganpurev had nowhere to go. So instead he went to bed and pulled the blankets around him.

At the same time, I was teaching Bible stories weekly to Ganpurev and Ulzee’s two children as well as some other children that lived nearby. Often Ulzee would come, and occasionally Ganpurev would come, but Ganpurev did not seem as interested in the Bible as Ulzee did.

Because my goal is to reach Mongolian men while not neglecting women and children. My desire was to see Ganpurev saved not just his wife and children.

One day Ulzee came to me to ask me for help. I was more than willing to help but wondered exactly how I could be a help to them. Ganpurev seemed uninterested in truth and was drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Ulzee asked if I would ask Ganpurev not to drink so much.

This was an awkward request for me in several ways. I tried to explain to Ulzee my apprehensions. First, I was a foreigner who had only known Ganpurev for a few months. Why should Ganpurev listen to me: a foreigner and an acquaintance? Second, in Ganpurev’s mind, he had a very good reason for drinking. Also, I did not see Ganpurev privately very often. It would be considered rude for me to scold or rebuke Ganpurev in front of his family. Last, Ganpurev made no claim to being a Christian; what could I say to him that would make a difference. His wife, however, shrugged off all my objections. According to her, he would listen to me because he respected me. I felt like pointing out the time that I had visited when he was drunk and he would not even talk to me. Did he respect me then? I realized that I was only making excuses and that indeed God had pointed out to me a way that He wanted to use me to love Mongolians.

Several days later, I was taking a few friends to the airport. The airport is some distance southwest of town. We live in the eastern part of the city as does Ganpurev’s family. At the time, I knew that Ganpurev was working in the western part of the city north of the airport. He was traveling for about and hour and a half one way on public transportation to reach his work. After dropping off my friends at the airport, I thought I would go by Ganpurev’s place of work, see if he was ready to leave, and if so take him home. It would give me a chance to talk with him privately about his drinking but more importantly be an excellent opportunity to tell him that Jesus Christ was the only answer to his sorrow.

His work was not quite finished when I arrived, but he asked for and received permission from his boss to leave work early. Providentially, on the way to Ganpurev’s home traffic was terrible and the trip took twice as long as necessary. The long ride just gave us more time to talk.

I mentioned to Ganpurev that his drinking was a bad example for his son, was stressful to his family, and was not about to heal his sorrow over his father’s death. I told him that there was a God who loved him and cared deeply about his sorrow. His response was interesting to me, “My family worshipped many gods when I was a boy.” He did not say this in a way that was critical or skeptical. He seemed to be trying to put me at ease and tell me that he indeed did believe in the gods. Only I was not trying to strengthen his faith in the Mongolian gods but trying to teach him about the one true God. Today, I think about the verse in the Gospel of John, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” In a monotheistic society, that verse may not mean much but here in polytheistic Mongolia, it is a verse packed with truth. There are many false gods but only one true God.

That led us to a long discussion about Who the true God is, His absolutely unique position as the Creator and Lord of the universe, and His free offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. Ganpurev again listened carefully, but as with his comment about worshipping many gods, it seemed as if we were talking on different topics: I was talking about one true God and he was talking about many false gods.

My weekly visits after this took a more serious turn. The visits became more focused on the core message of the Bible: Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world. Ganpurev was a quick learner, but my teaching seemed only like so much head knowledge to him. He could parrot back to me without any compunction that man was a sinner and deserving of hell. I realized that pray and the power of the Holy Spirit was the only way that he would ever come under conviction and turn to Jesus Christ.

This continued for some time. One Monday morning I met Ulzee and told her that I did not think that coming to her house to teach them the Bible was profitable for Ganpurev. Although Ganpurev was listening, he only treated it as so much head knowledge.

Now, the previous day, my family had listened to a sermon in English on Matthew 9:36-38. It says in part that Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So that next morning, Ulzee came to our house and began to talk to me about various troubles that they were having. Their main trouble is that they built their ger on poor soil and now their ger is sinking into the mud. After telling me about a recent episode when all the furniture in their little ger fell over because the ger is sinking, she said (in Mongolian, of course), “We are like ownerless sheep.” The Holy Spirit immediately brought the phrase “shepherd-less sheep” to my mind. I took the opportunity to show her Matthew 9:36 and point out that Jesus had compassion on those people who were as shepherd-less sheep.

Before I went over to Ganpurev’s house on Tuesday, I prepared a lesson from John 10. Jesus said that He was the door of the sheep and the Good Shepherd. Since Ganpurev and Ulzee come from the Mongolian countryside, they know more about raising sheep than I do. I thought that Jesus’ parables about sheep might have a singular effect on them.

So it was that Tuesday night I was able to arrive at Ganpurev’s earlier than I expected. I arrived about 6:30, played a few games of UNO with Ganpurev and his son Bilgoon, and then ate dinner with them about 7:30. Having eaten at home, that was my second dinner. After dinner, the children left and the three of us – Ganpurev, Ulzee, and I – sat down to talk. I taught from John 10 about the role of shepherds and the role of sheep. Ganpurev echoed his wife’s remark of the previous day that they felt like ownerless sheep. I picked up on that and said, “Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He was to take care of you.” We came to the conclusion that Jesus loves us and calls us by name, but that the Bible teaches that we must respond to His call and follow Him. Then I asked, “How can we follow Jesus?” Both of them said, “We don’t know. How can we become one of Jesus’ sheep?”

Let me take a moment to explain about sheep and Mongolian sensibilities. Because Mongolians are much closer to animals than the average American, they are much more aware of various animals’ characteristics. Sheep are considered the stupidest and the most difficult animal with which Mongolians deal. One way to insult a Mongolian is to say, “You’re a sheep.” Because they are ignorant about sheep Americans usually are not offended when they are called sheep. But Mongolians know! So I am always careful to begin by saying that the Bible teaches that we are like sheep. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). Even saying someone is “like a sheep” can cause offense. I have found that when a Mongolia is humble enough to receive God’s gift of eternal life, they realize that indeed they have been like sheep.

Therefore when Ganpurev and Ulzee said of themselves “How do we become Jesus’s sheep?” I knew that they had overcome that cultural obstacle and were willing to humble themselves as a little child (Matthew 18:3-4). We actually looked at many different parts of the Scripture, but I used the book of Romans as a guide. I gave them a brief explanation of Paul’s arguments in each chapter. I especially concentrated on several verses. First, we looked in depth at Romans 3:10 & 23. We went back to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and talked about sin. We decided that they had broken just about every command – especially in light of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 which we also looked at. We talked about God’s holiness. I emphasized that our sin offends God; it breaks His righteous law. Then when we arrived at Romans 6 we talked about the penalty of sin. After a brief explanation of that verse, I asked them, “What does Jesus save us from.” Ganpurev immediately answered for both of them, “Jesus saves us from bad things.” I was heartbroken. Time and time again, I had told them that Jesus does not save us from all trouble or even most trouble. I had taught them that Christians have trials and trouble. But at least now I knew what misunderstanding needed to be corrected (again). I said, “No, that’s wrong. Believing on Jesus does not mean that your problems will go away. If you believe on Jesus, it does not mean that your ger will quit sinking or rise up out of the mud.” That seemed to get their attention.

I asked again, “Then what does Jesus save us from?” Ganpurev tried a second time, “He saves us from death.” That is good, but still not quite accurate. We looked at I Corinthians 15:55-56. We talked about the “wages of sin is death.” If Jesus saves us from our sin, we do not need to fear death! They understood that clearly. Then Ulzee said, “Don’t we become God’s children?” I responded by showing them John 1:12 and Romans 8:15 (we were almost there anyway). One of them made a comment about knowing the Bible well.”

We made it to Romans 10. We looked specifically at verses 9 and 10 that deal with believing with your heart and confessing with the mouth. Some more discussion followed to discern, as best I could, if they understood the Scriptures. Then Ganpurev said, “Before I understood what you said but did not comprehend its significance. Today, I am beginning to perceive what the Bible says.” You cannot imagine the rejoicing in my heart as I heard him say that. I saw that it was not anything that I said – I had said most of those same things before – but it was the Holy Spirit revealing the importance of these truths to him.

When we looked at Romans 10:9-10, I said, “If you believe in your heart, do you want to confess with your mouth what you believe in your heart?” Then Ganpurev hesitated. “I don’t know,” he said. His wife immediately said, “What?! Do you have doubts?” He replied, “Well, I have doubts about myself. What if I believe now but tomorrow or the next day, what happens?” I think he thought that he somehow had to make himself continue to believe or he would lose his salvation. What a joy to take him back to John 10 (remember we had started out there) and assure him that the permanency of his salvation rested not on what he would do but what Jesus already did!

After another half hour or so of discussion in which we recapped much of what we said before, Ganpurev said, “I’m ready to believe on Jesus.” I asked Ulzee, “What about you?” I think Ulzee had been ready before, but I thought it would be best if Ganpurev as head of the family and more contemplative than Ulzee made the decision first. I knew that Ulzee would follow her husband. So I was not surprised when Ulzee said, “I’m ready.”

Then it came time to pray. I am a firm believer that a person’s first prayer to the true God should be from their heart. That means that I do not need to lead them in prayer. They can pray for themselves. If their heart is truly repentant and they believe on Jesus then the Holy Spirit will direct their prayer. Further, they will be less likely to wonder later if they meant it since they prayed themselves. So I asked them if they believed on Jesus in their heart to pray out loud so I could hear – and thereby making confession with their mouth. Ganpurev just stared at me, and I did not bother to look at Ulzee. I knew what they were thinking. We have never prayed before. How do we do it?

I took a few minutes for a brief lesson on prayer. Considering their Buddhist background, I felt it important to emphasize that prayer is not a pre-determined set of words that must be prayed in an exact order to be effective as Buddhist prayers are, but rather that prayer is a verbal reflection of what is in our hearts. Then I told them that I would pray first; and after I had completely finished my prayer, they could pray and tell God what was on their heart.

You cannot imagine my joy as they prayed much like little children, confessing their sin, accepting Jesus’ death on the cross was in their place, and asking God to forgive them for breaking His law. I have been with people before when they prayed to ask God to save them but this was the first time that I had heard someone pray that prayer in Mongolian. How sweet it was to hear their prayers and knew that our merciful God was thrilled to adopt two more children into His family!

After we had all prayed, we had a brief discussion about daily Bible reading and prayer and set up a time to meet each week to study the Bible. My first priority is to disciple them. Then since it was 10:45 it was time to go to my second visit.

When I arrived at Bilgee’s house, they were just preparing to eat. So I ate with them my third dinner meal of the night. Bilgee and I talked until about 11:30 when I finally left for home.

Next week I will try to post their post-salvation testimony which is remarkable in itself ...

Missions quote

Amy Carmichael talking of prayer said, "If I had more time with God for souls I should have had more power with souls for God." But she was not willing to do anything to see people make professions of faith because she also said, "I could not buy a soul at the cost of sacrificing truth."

Never forget that your prayers enable our ministry!

Prayer update

If two Sundays ago was a good one with eighteen total Mongolians, this last Sunday was a bad one with only five Mongolians - all adults. Some of the adults were sick (like the children's Bible story teacher), some were at work, some just did not come. About an hour before the meeting was to start, the Mongolian lady who has been teaching part of the Sunday school lesson called to say that she could not come. Kristie, always ready for a challenge, prepared to do something with the kids in place of the Bible story. Strangely though, not one child came. That is the first time not one child has attended since we returned.

So that night, I headed over to Ganbold's ger. I had visited Saturday night to see what was happening and to ask him why he had not called me to teach another lesson. He was very friendly Saturday night, said that he had trouble disposing of the family idols because they came from his father, and asked me to teach another Bible lesson to his family on Sunday night. There were three adults present at Bible study at Ganbold's ger which was almost as many as I taught in the morning. Though Ganbold and his son Gantulag, in particular, seemed to be very close to salvation, I am very cautious about teaching them about the assurance of their salvation before I see "fruit meet (appropriate) for repentance." In Ganbold's case, I would like to see him throw away his idols. I have another appointment to go back next Sunday night again. Please continue to pray for them.