Sending a crate to Mongolia

People were so generous during our one year furlough in the States that we could not bring all the items that had been given to us back to Mongolia at the end of our furlough. We left boxes and boxes of stuff with friends and family because we knew that we would be returning to the States for our church's 25th anniversary and were hoping that we could get most of it back then.

But it quickly became apparent that there was no way that we would get everything back in our luggage. Friends of our tried to ship us some of it but ran into some difficulties. So we decided that while we were in the States we would arrange to ship a small crate back to Mongolia. It was mainly books and clothes that had been given to us along with some household items that we had collected while we lived for a year in Oregon. Inside the crate were almost 300 books nearly all of which had been given to us. I want to thank all of you who gave to us so generously.

I must admit that I was concerned about several issues in shipping this crate.

1. How much would it cost? We had saved some money toward the cost and had a friend who had said that they would help, but shipping companies notoriously hesitate to give a quote of the cost until after you have shipped it. By then, it is a little late to say, "Oops, that's too much."
   
2. What condition would the crate arrive in? Would the crate be handled with the same loving care that airlines handle our luggage with. (We had two bags irreparably damaged on our last flight to Mongolia.)
   
3. What hassles and fees would be involved in getting the crate through customs? Sometimes the cost of the customs fees can exceed the cost of the items shipped.

But I determined to give the crate and all its worries to God. In exchange He gave me a peace surpassing all understanding. I basically said to God, "The possessions in this crate were graciously provided by You. If you want them to get to Mongolia, I would be grateful. If the crate does not arrive or arrives damaged, I will understand that You did not want us to have these things." In return, I can honestly say that I did not worry about it.

So what happened? We arrived at our apartment just after midnight Sunday morning Mongolian time. I figured that no one would be working Sunday (but maybe they do) so I waited until Monday.

Sunday evening I went down to my car to discover that the battery was dead and a tire was flat. Monday morning, I swapped the flat tire for a spare and had a friend give me a jump. Then I drove the car to a "repair shop" and had the tire repaired and the battery charged.

After returning home, I headed to the DHL office which is about a ten minute walk away from my house. I stopped in four different DHL offices (outbound, inbound, air freight, and Danzas) before I finally found someone who recognized the slip that the driver who picked up the shipment in Oregon had given me. The man in that office called someone and confirmed that the shipment had arrived (this is an important detail to keep in mind). I knew from my American shipping broker that the shipment had arrived, but it was comforting to hear it from a Mongolian too.

I asked the DHL guy three questions:

1. Where exactly should I pick up the shipment?
2. Who should I talk to?
   
3. What paperwork would be required to pick up the shipment?

He responded that I should go to the air cargo terminal and that I should show someone (he was not very specific) the slip that I had received from the driver in Oregon. I asked again if I needed anything else in order to pick up the shipment. He said that, yes, I would need a letter from the company for whom I work asking the customs people to release the shipment to me.

So I next went to a Mongolian lawyer friend of mine who helped me draft a letter that I put on company letterhead and signed. The lawyer suggested that I might want to take copies of my passport and my family's passports. He also suggested taking an official document stating that I had registered my residence in Mongolia.

It took me a few hours to get all those things together. I now had the following items.

1. a customer receipt from DHL that the driver who picked up the shipment in Oregon had given me
2. copies of all our passports
3. a letter from my company requesting the shipment to be released to me
4. an official document showing that I had registered my place of residence with the government
5. a copy of all the items in the box (I believe that this is called a manifest)

Those of you who work with shipments probably realize that I am missing a very important and essential document, but I did not. So I merrily set off for the airport having everything that the DHL office told me to have and more. The airport is about a 40 minute drive one-way so I was hoping (but not expecting) to complete everything in one trip.

When I arrived at the airport, I was easily directed to the people who could help me obtain my shipment. Where is your airbill (or waybill)? he asked. I showed him my customer receipt. That was not it. I showed him my "manifest." Still no go. He suggested that my airbill might be somewhere on site and sent me upstairs. Upstairs, I talked to four different people. At one point, one of them said, "Yes, we already delivered that shipment." Another person also said, "That shipment is no longer here." Of course, I knew differently.

Anyway, I finally found someone who knew where the airbill was. It was back at the DHL office in town at the same DHL office that I had visited in the morning asking if there was anything else I needed. So I left the airport and headed back to town. Back at the DHL office there was another guy who had my airbill in hand and was waiting for me. So I asked Tollgaa for my airbill.

"Wait a minute," he said, "we'll deliver this shipment right to your door for $50." I was surprised. They were offering to deliver 585 pounds of goods right to my door.

"Of course, I'll take your service," I responded eagerly.

But wait, there's more. He then added that there would be some customs fees. I was expecting that. He said that the customs fees would be 0.5% of the shipment value and cost of shipping. Then there would be a VAT (value added tax) of 15%. Then there would be a fee of $2 per item listed on the "manifest." Well, there was 533 items listed on the manifest including 14 pieces of fabric scraps and 10 disposable razors. (Imagine paying $20 to get 10 disposable razors through customs!) The total was scheduled to come to $1762!!! I pointed out since this was a shipment of household items that there were many small items some of which were not even worth $2. He smiled and said that he would ask about that the next day. So I left the airbill with him and went home.

My wife and I did not feel completely comfortable leaving the whole deal with DHL-Mongolia. We were concerned that they would deliver the shipment to my door with a $1700 bill. The declared value of all the goods was only $3131. I tried calling Tollgaa back; he claimed that he couldn't hear me over the phone. So I took the ten minute walk to his office. He tried to assure me that the $2 per item fee would be reduced without telling me how much it would be. I left still unsure of what the final charge would be.

That evening while walking with my wife to a local store, I providentially ran into my lawyer friend again. He said that paying the VAT didn't seem right and he could not imagine why I should pay $2 per item. According to him, I should only have to pay $2 per shipment. It was too late to do anything with DHL-Mongolia that evening, but I lined up a small truck for the next day. I had been praying that God would protect the shipment but added a request for favor with the customs officials the next day.

Tuesday morning, I met my truck and headed over to the DHL office and Tollgaa. I told him that I wanted my airbill and would handle all the details myself including customs and picking up the shipment. He was slow in handing over the airbill claiming that he didn't understand completely what I was saying (we were speaking English). When I left with my airbill, I was convinced that Tollgaa thought I was crazy. He probably thought to himself Let him try to get that shipment through customs by himself; he'll be back.

I arrived at the airport and showed my airbill to the first person. He said, "We don't have that shipment anymore." I said, "Yes, you do. The DHL office told me that you have it." He looked around a little more and found my record. Then the customs inspector looked at my airbill. I was fully expecting to pay at least the 0.5% customs fee. She stamped my airbill without any fees. I did have to pay a $6 fee because I was two days late in picking up my shipment. And in the end, I payed a $1 customs fee for the shipment.

So in the end I picked up that shipment of $7 plus the $35 I payed the truck driver. Once I had the airbill, picking up the shipment was straightforward. So what did I learn. I learned to ask for the airbill and to pray about all things.
To the left is a picture of the shipment in the back of the truck. The crate was in great shape. As far as we can tell from unpacking it there was absolutely no damage.

God is so good. Not only did He graciously and generously give us almost all the goods in the crate, He also provided someone who paid for the shipment. And on top of all that, He protected the shipment all the way to Mongolia and gave me favor with the customs officials so that I processed my crate with customs for a nominal fee. Don't we serve a great God!

Prayer update

I want to explain to you how best to pray for us while keeping in mind that Philippians tells us to do all things without murmuring. Therefore, I do not intend for this update to be a whining session, but to inform you of some of the minor annoyances that are bothering us because we need you to pray for us.

We arrived in Mongolian with only a minor hitch that was soon rectified. It was only after we arrived in Mongolia that all the minor annoyances began to crop up. First, we realized that the faucet in the kitchen was leaking, and although I tried I could not seem to fix the leak. I cannot quite reach the part that needs to be tightened up. Then we went to use the car: the battery was dead and one tire was completely flat. Since I repaired the tire and recharged the battery, the car has run fine. Then we could not find some rather crucial items at the market like cheese, mayonnaise, etc. The hose to washing machine was clogged and had to be cleaned before Kristie could start laundry. Monday morning the rod that holds the drapes in the living room fell off the wall. On Tuesday morning, Elsie threw up on the couch. Sickness already?!? The heating in our building has already been turned on although it is 70° outside. Inside it is much warmer even though all the windows are open.

A building is being constructed to the north of us about 100 yards away. The work going on near us along with the open windows means that from early morning to late night we hear pounding, banging, yelling, sawing, crashing metal, trucks, etc. It keeps us from sleeping. Jet lag has caused me to wake up at 2 or 3 or 4 AM no matter what time I have gone to bed. Kristie has endured the same. The weariness does not help ones nerves and exacerbates the grumpiness.

The worse part is that it all looks so minor but seems so major. It is not like we can report cholera has struck or our apartment burned down. Those tragedies might elicit sympathy. Instead, we face the temptation to be discouraged, grumpy, and focused on our (minor) problems instead of being focused on important things. We could sit, have a pity party, and lose the Holy Spirit's power to impact lives for the glory of Jesus Christ ... and think that we are perfectly justified in being ineffective. After all, look at all the "obstacles" we face.

So please pray this week that we would not allow all the minor annoyances to distract us from our true purpose - loving God and loving our neighbors as Jesus loved people. Pray that we would drink in the grace that God offers us to cheerfully meet each annoyance and grow because of them. Pray for wisdom to fix the sink and for God's assistance to restore our sleep patterns.

Let me also mention the blessings. We want to publicly thank the Lord that all our luggage arrived despite the fact that our bags were initially mis-tagged. God brought our crate safely to Mongolia, gave me favor with customs, and once I figured out what I was doing I received the crate in about an hour of work after paying a $1 customs fee. On Sunday Ganpurev and Roland preached and there were nine adults and three children in attendance. We are comfortably back at home and basically moved back in. Everyone has been healthy except for Elsie's brief sickness on Tuesday morning. Thank you all for praying for us.

World’s Languages Dying Off Rapidly - New York Times

World’s Languages Dying Off Rapidly - New York Times

This was an interesting article. Monolingual speakers of English are usually not away that languages could die out. Should our Lord delay His return for another several hundred years, Mongolian will probably die out too.

Arrival in Mongolia

We arrived in Mongolia last night where we were met at the airport by Roland and Ganpurev. Although the line through immigration was long it went quickly and we found ourselves at home shortly before midnight. We actually slept well last night. Let me take this opportunity to thank those of you who prayed for our trip.

August prayer letter

Our time in Oregon is quickly drawing to a close. Our home church's 25th anniversary is the second Sunday in September. Following that is a three-day teen retreat at which I will be a counselor, and then we return to Mongolia in time for the next Sunday. Our whole family has so enjoyed our time with parents, grandparents, siblings, and cousins that leaving for Mongolia will be difficult. Still, we are so grateful for the opportunity to be together, if only temporarily, with our families.

While we have been away, our church in Mongolia has been doing well. In August Tsendee, to whom I have witnessed and for whom I have prayed for many months, made a profession of faith in Christ. Specifically, he told some men in the church that he believed there was only one true God, that all other gods were false, and that Jesus alone was the way, the truth, and the life. How excited I was to hear the news! Some of you may be wondering why I was not disappointed to be there when he made his profession of salvation. Yes, it would have been exciting to be there in person, but it was even more exciting that the work goes on in my absence. My goal is to eventually leave behind an independent Baptist church where the work continues without my help. The Mongolians are not quite ready to take that step but, even in my absence, Mongolians are preaching Jesus to their friends, neighbors, and coworkers. And they are seeing people become Christians! We praise the Lord that He is at work.

Also, there have been several visitors recently, even though August is usually the time of year when people do not visit church services. Two young ladies came recently who worked with one of our young men. During August many of the people in Ulan Bator take a trip to the countryside. They leave the city to enjoy the fresh air and airag, a fermented drink made from mare's milk. We should be returning to Mongolia just about the time that most of the Mongolians are.

When we get back, there are several people interested in being baptized and becoming members of the church. Tsendee is one of the candidates, along with Ganaa, Kristie's language tutor with whom Kristie has been working for some time. Tsendee's baptism will mean that we have four Mongolian men who are saved and baptized. Continue to pray for more Mongolian men to be saved, baptized, and excited about growing in Christ.

News about alcoholism in Mongolia

I've posting a link to a Christian group that works with alcoholics. I am posting this link not because I think that I should work with this group but because there is information in the article about alcoholism in Mongolia that might interest some of you.

Prayer update

We are still in Oregon but eager to be back in Mongolia. Sunday I preached here at Westgate Baptist Church. It encouraged me that several people found me later and told me how the sermon was a blessing to them. Next Sunday we will be at Berean Baptist Church in Dallas, Oregon.

Some of you may know that my dad and I are planning to try to open a carpentry shop in Mongolia in several years. My dad is planning to come to Mongolia and teach the Mongolians carpentry skills. The plan helps me because I can get a visa through the carpentry shop and use some parts of a building for the church to meet in. One of the obstacles to be overcome is a source of inexpensive wood. Tuesday morning my dad and I visited Lumber Products, a company that is a big supplier of lumber to many carpenter shops in the Portland area. They agreed to let us look through a stack of discarded products occasionally and take what was of interest to us. Of course, we'll still have to pay to ship it to Mongolia, however the wood itself would be free or very low cost.

Things are going well in Mongolia. We had two young ladies attend our church service for the first time last Sunday. One of the young ladies is familiar to me: she has visited my house before. Buren has been attending services on Sundays, Bob has not. Also, Ganpurev's preaching on Sundays is going well. Keep praying for them and for us.

Ministering at Westgate Baptist Church

Yesterday I preached at Westgate Baptist Church, our sending church. As a preacher it is always gratifying when someone makes a special point to find me and tell me how my sermon blessed their life. Two folks yesterday came to me to tell me how the Holy Spirit had used my preaching to bless their lives. It is thrilling to be an instrument that God can use.

Westgate Baptist Church's 25th Anniversary is in two weeks (September 9). The anniversary is the main reason that we returned to the States, and so we plan to stay in Oregon until the anniversary and then return to Mongolia.

Speaking of Mongolia, I have not received an update from there in some time. Consequently, I do not know much of what is occurring there. I will try to get an update and post it to my blog this week.

Update

We are still in Oregon for a few more weeks. We have meetings and speaking engagements every week from now until we leave.

The news that we have been hearing from Mongolia is sparse. It seems as if attendance has been flat which is better than hearing that attendance is plummeting.

I have made a couple of calls to Mongolia. Between my Mongolian and the telephone connection, it has seemed difficult to understand and make myself understood. I am eager to get back to Mongolia and continue my ministry there face to face.

Investing in the future

"Invest your life in something that will outlive you – PEOPLE!" – Ron Brooks

"The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it." – William James

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." – Jim Elliot

These three quotes all share a similar idea: there is a way to invest in the future that always yields good returns. Many Americans seem to be very eager to find the highest return for their money. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds - all these tempt Americans with talk of high returns. Then there are the get-rich-quick schemes that threaten to inundate people's e-mail boxes. Yes, too many Americans are obsessed with finding an investment that will allow them to get rich while doing very little.

But there is a better way to invest. It is a venture that promises good returns. It is people. The people whom we lead to our Savior will be eternally grateful for our witness. The people whom we disciple will ultimately disciple others who will ultimately disciple others until the returns in eternity are beyond our comprehension.

Besides, what could be more important than people. We know that our gold will perish, our buildings will eventually collapse, our clothing will wear out, and one day all those things will seem so unimportant. But people - this is one of the few things that will continue on into eternity. What better way to invest our lives!