Prayer update

Monday night I visited Ganzorig's house. Ganzorig is older than me and works as a carpenter. He fell down a flight of stairs at work and severely injured his leg. The doctor who examined it said that nothing was broken but the injury was severe enough that he has been off of work for several days and does not anticipate going back for several days more. In Mongolia where there is no workman's comp insurance such a break from work without pay most likely means the injury is serious. Although I have met him before at other's homes, I had never had a chance to witness to him. It was to witness to him that I visited. As he talked he asked (unusually for Mongolians), "Did you come to tell me something."

"Yes," I responded, "I came to tell you about Jesus." It was a great way to break the ice and start introducing him to my Savior. Given his reputation, I was concerned that he might be angry. (He once got into a knife fight with a friend of mine.) However, he listened without saying anything and took a Gospel tract that I offered him. I told him that I would be back to talk more with him about the tract, and he did not refuse. Please pray for the salvation of Mongolian men and that God would raise up Mongolian men to be leaders of the church here.

Sowing

It is said that David Livingstone only had the privilege of directly leading one African to our Savior Jesus Christ. But the seeds he planted continue to grow today. A friend recently passed on to me a reference to Marvin Olasky's article, "Fear God, work hard" in the November 10, 2007 issue of WORLD Magazine. In it Olasky points out that although Livingstone only saw one convert personally, the land of Zambia over which he traveled invites Christian missionaries to come to their country and has been a stable democracy for decades. Livingstone himself wrote in his journal, "Future missionaries will see conversions following every sermon. We prepared the way for them. May they not forget the pioneers who worked in the thick gloom with few cheering days except such as flow from faith in God’s promises. We work a glorious future which we are not destined to see."[1]

His quote reminds me of Jesus' words to His disciples after His meeting with the woman at the well, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured and you are entered into their labours."[2] Several years later His disciples would preach and see thousands added to the church. They certainly reaped a great harvest. But how many others had a part in sowing? We often take that verse as a encouragement to labor because we never know when we might reap. However, the verse is also an encouragement to labor because although we may never reap, others will reap where we have sown. Edward Judson made this observation about his father's life, "The sacrifices of my father's life were more fruitful than his labors. If you succeed without sacrifice, someone has sacrificed before you. If you sacrifice without success, someone will succeed after you."

I have friends in Cambodia, and the reports that I hear from there are simply incredible: people being saved every week, churches of hundreds, new towns being reached. Even more amazing, Cambodia has been "safe" for Western missionaries for less time than Mongolia. So what is the difference between Cambodia and Mongolia? Who can say exactly why God pours out his blessing on one place and not on another?

Interestingly enough, I have had the opportunity to observe two missionaries sent out by the same church at about the same time using the same methods. Although I do not know the missionary in Cambodia as well as I know the missionary in Mongolia, I can say that the missionary in Mongolia is probably the hardest working, most prayerful missionary in Mongolia. He has a church that runs in the twenties. His counterpart in Cambodia whom I assume is also hard-working and prayerful has a church of hundreds. Same amount of time, similar methods, same God-honoring character - why is one reaching tens while the other is reaching hundreds?

What most people in the United States have forgotten was that there was a Christian witness, seemingly fruitless Christian witness, in Cambodia in the 60's before Pol Pot turned Cambodia into a killing field. There were those who were preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified and distributing Bibles and Gospel literature. Another missionary whom I know in Cambodia shared with me that when he visited a home for the first time an elderly lady pulled out a dirty, used copy of a Bible portion in Cambodian and told him how her family had hid it for years during the terror of Pol Pot. Now she was overwhelmingly grateful for someone to come and teach her more about the Bible. She was wondrously saved!

But what about the missionary who left that Bible portion with her family. He goes unremarked and unremembered ... except to God: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."[3] As Olasky put it in his article, "Missionary work is more often a lonely twilight struggle against principalities and powers."[4] But God remembers those servants of His who have worked willingly and labored long and prayed passionately and yet only left behind the seeds that someone else would reap as fruit.

A good military metaphor for what I am describing comes from the D-Day invasion. The 29th Division, 116th Regiment, Company A was assigned to assault Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. The only problem was that the defenses on Omaha Beach were well-designed with interlocking fields of fire, pre-positioned artillery, and concrete bunkers. A further problem occurred when ocean currents carried two companies that were intended to land next to Company A a kilometer east leaving Company A an isolated company completely exposed on the beach to all the firepower the Germans could bring to bear. Stephen Ambrose records Sgt. Thomas Valance's experience of the assault:

"As we came down the ramp [from the landing craft], we were in water about knee-high and started to do what we were trained to do, that is, move forward and then crouch and fire. One problem was we didn't quite know what to fire at. I saw some tracers coming from a concrete emplacement which, to me, looked mammoth. I never anticipated any gun emplacements being that big. I shot at it but there was no way I was going to knock out a German concrete emplacement with a .30-caliber rifle. I abandoned my equipment, which was dragging me down in the water. It became evident rather quickly that we weren't going to accomplish very much. I remember floundering in the water with my hand up in the air, trying to get my balance, when I was first shot through the palm of my hand, then through the knuckle. Private Henry Witt was rolling over toward me. I remember him saying, 'Sergeant, they're leaving us here to die like rats. Just to die like rats.' [I] staggered up against the seawall and sort of collapsed there and, as a matter of fact, spent the whole day in that same position. Essentially my part in the invasion had ended by being wiped out as most of my company was. The bodies of my buddies were washing ashore and I was the one live body in amongst so many friends, all of whom were dead, in many cases very severely blown to pieces."[5]

Besides being hit in the hand twice Valance also was shot in the left thigh by a bullet that broke his hip bone. He also took two additional flesh words, the chin strap on his helmet was severed by a bullet, and his pack was hit twice. As he said, all he did was abandon his equipment, crawl up on the beach, and hide behind the seawall. Certainly, Sgt. Valance is not our idea of the valiant soldier who overcomes all odds to suceed in a dangerous mission.[6]

The historian summed up Company A's work this way:

"Company A had hardly fired a weapon. Almost certainly it had not killed any Germans. It had expected to move up the Vierville draw and be on top of the bluff by 0730, but at 0730 its handful of survivors were huddled up against the seawall, virtually without weapons. It had lost 96 percent of its effective strength."[7]

At that point in history, huddled against the seawall with the survivors one would be tempted to characterize the attack as a failure. But listen to the historian's assessment with the advantage of hindsight:

"But its sacrifice was not in vain. The men had brought in rifles, BARs [Browning Automatic Rifles], grenades, TNT charges, machine guns, mortars and mortar rounds, flamethrowers, rations, and other equipment. This was now strewn across the sand at Dog Green [the codename for Company A's landing]. The weapons and equipment would make a life-or-death difference to the following waves of infantry, coming in at higher tide and having to abandon everything to make their way to shore."[8]

What is significant about this history? It is a reminder that sometimes events that appear to be failures may really be God's way of planting seeds. It is all too easy to concentrate on the revivals and mass conversions that occur around the world. We like the good news, the excitement, the victory of hearing about hundreds or even thousands saved. I once asked a missionary in Mongolia if he thought his pastor would come to visit Mongolia one day. His response was something like this, "Yes, if we were baptizing a bunch of people. He would come. But as long as there are only have a handful of people, he is unlikely to come."

And yet it is the missionary who has invested his life in a country only to see a "handful" of people come to Christ who needs the most encouragement. After watching missionaries come and go in Mongolia, I am convinced that it is not difficult for the missionary who is seeing hundreds saved to persevere in a foreign land. One of the missionaries I know in Cambodia lost his wife in a tragic accident, took a brief furlough, and returned to Cambodia. It is the missionary who sows and sows and sows and sows and is not blessed to reap that needs to be encouraged, strengthened, perhaps even challenged not to become half-hearted or complacent.

This is not a plea for my sake. Yes, our work here is slow; but we are seeing people saved; we are baptizing people. This is a plea to note the ones who are only sowing. Everybody knows the names of the missionary who has planted multiple churches and trained scores of preachers. This is a call to hold up the hands of those who labor and sow but do not reap. One day, by God's grace, someone else may come along who will reap the fruit of the seeds that he has sown. Another missionary will arrive at the beach and find it strewn with the equipment that the one "who failed" left behind. He will be noticed, be hailed, be honored.

One last thought from from another missionary biographer.

One has sown, another watered, but God gave the increase. There is a tendency to judge the life’s work of missionaries by human attainments of others and the feats they have achieved. It is true we have had outstanding missionaries the world over, but to judge all by the achievements of some is using the human yardstick alone, and discounting the calling and appointing of God to missionary service. Truly, none of the early Church missionaries may have been as outstanding as Paul, but none were appointed to special tasks that Paul was appointed to – an apostle to the Gentiles. Peter and others accomplished outstanding missionary labours, but the Holy Spirit did not choose, in recording their life’s work, to throw the spotlight on their work with the same brightness as He did on Paul’s. Some of our missionaries have laboured in almost total obscurity for years with meager result to show for their labour, while others have laboured successfully in the limelight of known achievement and the applause of men. Yet, God has called and appointed both.[9]

Endnotes
[1] Marvin Olasky, "Fear God, work hard," WORLD Magazine, November 10, 2007.
[2] John 4:38
[3] Hebrews 6:10
[4] Marvin Olasky, "Fear God, work hard," WORLD Magazine, November 10, 2007.
[5] Stephen E. Ambrose, D-Day June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995, p. 328-329
[6] ibid p. 328-329
[7] ibid p. 331
[8] ibid p. 331
[9] from Memoirs of An Indian Whiteman

Sunday update

We almost doubled our attendance from last week's low. We also had our first visitor ever come from seeing out sign. It was quite a Sunday for us!

Halfway through our service a lady came in and seated herself. People were polite but subdued because it was an unusual time for a visitor to come in. As soon as the service was over, I introduced myself, and the Mongolians began to talk with her. I was excited about the way that our regular folks just began to chat with her. In the past I have often felt that the regulars were unsure about the way to treat newcomers. I understood from the conversation that she was walking past our church's meeting place on her way home from her regular church's service when she saw our sign and decided to check us out. I was glad that she came in.

Our number's were so down last week that our attendance could only go up. Still, it was gratifying to see so many come.

Ganpurev was scheduled to preach in my place. We have been working together the last few weeks to make sure that he was prepared. He did just fine and just needs to continue to prepare and deliver sermons. He does a good job of explaining the text; his weakness seems to be in making application. We will be working on that.

Ganaa did not come today. Kristie talked with her some this past week and believes her to be struggling with discouragement. She started a private kindergarten so that she could stay with her two-year-old son all day. But the private kindergarten has not been very successful and is a lot of work. Now she mainly works with young elementary students as a tutor which is not very profitable. Her husband Bob continues to be antagonistic towards Jesus Christ and works to discourage her. She needs our prayers.

Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off?

Why is this whole aisle of items blocked off in a local store? We've had times when a store would not sell us a particular item. Most memorably, Kristie and I were shopping once and picked out some shampoo; the item and price were clearly marked on the shelf. When we arrived at the counter, the item would not scan. A manager was called who said that the item was not in the computer yet and told us that we could not buy the shampoo. I even argued that we were willing to pay the price listed on the shelf. But the manager confiscated the contraband item and, probably, returned it to the shelf where it belonged.

But this is different: whole shelves blocked off but filled with items behind the sheet. The other side of this aisle also had an entire section blocked off. Store after store that I visited on Thursday showed a similar sight. Entire aisles with paper, sheets, or other coverings blocking one's view of the items behind it.

What could be the reason? What products are covered behind those shelves?

It turns out that the Mongolian government has prohibited the sale of alcohol: liquor, wine, beer, etc. A distillery in Baganuur obtained some pure alcohol from China. Unfortunately for the consumers, it was not pure grain alcohol but pure wood alcohol. It was mixed into a batch of vodka in Baganuur. Unsuspecting Mongolians drank the poisoned brew on New Year's Eve; and by New Year's morning, eleven people were dead and thirteen others were in the hospital including the president of the distillery. Since then, another person has died and now over sixty people have been poisoned by the methanol.

The Ministry of Health acted immediately to prohibit the sale of alcohol and to warn people about the possibility of other contaminated alcoholic products. The sale of all liquor, wine, and beer has been temporarily suspended which is the reason for shelves of items to be covered in every store.

Saddest to me is the fact that the government moves to warn people about alcohol after people die quickly. Thousands of Mongolians die every year from the effects of alcohol. Some drink, pass out on the way home, and die from exposure to the cold. Some destroy their livers after years of drinking and die of various liver diseases. Some die from poor judgment caused by the consumption of alcohol. All of these deaths the government ignores. But when eleven people die suddenly, the government steps in.

But this story also illustrates man's perverse fascination with sin. Sins with immediate and overwhelming effects, of course, are seen for their evil and generally condemned by society. Few Americans would try to countenance murder, for example; and everyone thought that Enron's dishonesty was deplorable. But most Americans refuse to admit that deception is always wrong. Sins whose effects are obvious and tragic grab our attention. But all of us make excuses for allowing the "little" sins whose effects may not be as immediate or deadly.

The recent debacle with alcohol in Mongolia was a good reminder to me to guard my own life from the "little" sins which threaten to destroy gradually and to be on guard against the rationalizing, "Oh, this little bit won't hurt."

A happy new year to you all!

Let me take the first day of the year 2008 to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who are praying for us. I know that God has great things in store for us all in 2008. As William Carey said, "Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God."

I know that your prayers are what keep us encouraged and excited about what God will accomplish in 2008 through our ministry to Mongolians. So keep praying and come back once a week or so to see what God is doing here in the land of Genghis Khan.

Sunday update

Attendance was down Sunday, way down, since about half of regular attenders did not come. I am not discouraged because I know there will be Sundays like this, and there were six Mongolian adults who were there.

Because tonight is New Year's Eve, we will be hosting a party at our house. Unlike most other New Year's Eve parties that will be held in Ulan Bator tonight, our party will have no alcohol. The Gospel will be presented tonight for those who come. I am hoping that Bob, Buren, Tungaa, and Mandaa will come so please pray for their salvation.

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'

a James Fraser quote on prayer

"I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by the prayers of earnest believers at home" - James Fraser

Weekend before Christmas update

It's beginning to seem more like Christmas around here. That is, if you see Christmas as a big commercial push. Yes, there are holiday decorations here in Mongolia. This year for the first time the government put a large Christmas tree in the main square downtown. I understand it cost the government tens of thousands of dollars to bring in the tree and trim it. Unfortunately, the stores, shops, government, and most Mongolians just see this time of year as a gift-giving time.

I had the opportunity to preach that Jesus' birth is the reason that we celebrate at this time of year and that He is the one who makes it possible to find forgiveness. Ankhaa and his wife visited on Sunday for the first time.

In the evening, we joined with another church across town for a time of singing, preaching, and fellowship. It was exciting to be with the Mongolians singing in praise to our Savior! I taught a short lesson on Old Testament prophecy fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and then after some more singing Jason Muller preached on our response to God's gift.

After the preaching we had a time of fellowship. I believe it was encouraging to the Mongolians and know that I was encouraged to meet other believers.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from Outer Mongolia!

It's Christmas Day here already more than 12 hours before the rest of you in North America arrive on December 25.

We will be enjoying time together today as a family and getting some rest after the busyness of being witnesses for Jesus Christ during the holidays so I will keep this short. Look later this week for an update from the weekend.

Remember God's blessings during this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our Savior.