Polls

There is a new feature of this blog that I would like to use: the ability to conduct polls of the readers. Because I hear from many of you that read the blog and know that this blog has readers I would like to ask you all some questions. Please feel free to participate in the polls or not. I think it would be interesting for all of us.

A plea for a new Mongolian Bible translation

We recently had a visit from some distinguished visitors. Dr. Keen and Mr. Fielder of FirstBibles International (or FBI as they like to call it with a sarcastic smile) recently came to Mongolia along with almost a score of American pastors. Along with them came two men with tremendous academic credentials: Mr. Paul Rowland, General Director of the Trinitarian Bible Society and Mr. Billy Patterson.

Mr. Patterson is a unusual man. Brought up as a missionary kid in Mexico by a father whose training was in Biblical Greek, Billy grew up speaking Spanish and English as well reading Biblical Greek. Later, he pastored a church in Mexico before turning his life towards linguistic study. Besides studying linguistic and translation principles, he also spent some time in Israel studying Biblical Hebrew. For some time, he has taught at a Bible college in India.

The purpose of their visit was to survey the Bible situation in Mongolia and give advice to us missionaries. They are agreed that a new Bible translation or perhaps a revision of a previous Bible translation is needed in Mongolia.

In the past week, I have spent hours and hours meeting with people, discussing the current situation, considering the options for a new translation or revision, and praying for God's will in all this. The way forward to me is still a little clouded. In particular there is a pressing need for Mongolians who have a high regard for the inspiration and preservation of Scripture, the academic qualifications to do a good job of translation, and the calling of God on their lives to do the work. There are foreigners who want to be involved in this project, but I remain convinced that we do need Mongols to work on this project also.

I sense, too, a period of stretching and personal growth. There are times in life when the path before us is well-defined. We are comfortable in our service for God because it has become well-known to us. Then there are other times when God places a work before us that seems beyond our capabilities. It is in those times that we look to Him and allow Him to mold us in ways that we did not foresee to accomplish His work. Perhaps I am facing one of those times. That is not to say that I am leaving Mongolia because I do not foresee that. Rather God may be planning to stretch me and give me a greater vision for Mongolia in the months ahead.

From left sitting around the table: Billy Patterson, Mickey Cofer, Trina Cofer, Roland Gay, Paul Rowland, and Jason Muller discuss Bible translation work. In the background sits Lkhama, a Mongolian friend of the Cofers, and Becky Muller.

Sunday update

Sunday was the third day of Tsagaan Sar; last year on the Sunday during Tsagaan Sar, we had three Mongolians in attendance. This year that number more than doubled to eight Mongolians along with the one Cuban that was saved - read about that in the blog entry below.

After the church service, my family went with Tsendee to visit Mandaa's house. We had a good visit; Mandaa talks a little more each time. He should have some more free time after Tsagaan Sar. I am hoping to have a chance to witness more to him in the coming weeks. Please pray for his salvation.

There was one thing of particular interest to us that was said during our visit. Kristie and Ulzee have been teaching Bayambaa the Bible in her home, training her to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and live according to His commands. One of the topics that they taught was raising children. Like all children, Mandaa & Bayambaa's son Ermune can be quite undisciplined. Bayambaa has been working to utilize the principles of God's Word to teach her son obedience and respect. Yesterday, Bayambaa said, "Ermune obeys me, but he doesn't obey his father." To Kristie and me, it seems that God is blessing obedience to His Word.

But would it not be even better if both Mandaa and Bayambaa worked together to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Please continue to pray for Mandaa's salvation.

Exciting news!

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

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

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

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

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

Tsagaan Sar Day 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tsagaan Sar Day 1

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

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

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

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

A visit with Bob

Two years ago about this time I wrote to my wife, "Bob and I had the best discussion about God and the Bible that I can ever remember." Well, we have come a long way since then; and frankly, we are not moving in the right direction.

Monday night I went to visit Bob and talk with him about the Savior. Bob has a frustrating habit of taking whatever is said and turning it in the other direction. Currently, he insists that he is trying to understand where "religion" came from. I briefly went over basic Biblical truths with him; however, he already has heard most of what has been said.

I recently studied II Peter and a phrase from the 3rd chapter reminds me of Bob: "for this they willingly are ignorant of ..." Bob certainly chooses to ignore the truth. But there are reasons that I continue to speak to him about Jesus Christ.

First, God's love for me was not overcome by my personal belligerence and obstinacy. Therefore, I should not let Bob's belligerence and obstinacy decrease my love for one the God has made.

Second, I have great compassion for Bob's wife Ganaa and the difficulties that she faces in her marriage. To some degree, my wife and I can encourage her and alleviate some of the burdens that she faces. But the ultimate answer to her marriage woes is for her husband to be saved and for both of them to work together making their marriage over according to God's plan.

Third, I believe that Bob has an eternal soul that will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. I cannot see him and not want to tell him about Jesus Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I was encouraged when an American man recently wrote me to tell me that he would be fasting and praying for the salvation of Mongolian men. Those of you who are praying, keep it up. We know that God is not willing for any to perish, but rather desires that all would come to repentance.

Prayer update

One never knows what to expect in Mongolia. It seems the Lord has put a Cuban in my way to whom he wants me to minister. My partner Roland and I have been using a Cuban expatriate named Gustavo to work on our vehicles.

This last Sunday Gustavo and his wife (a Mongolian) came to visit our church service. Gustavo only speaks a little English and almost no Mongolian (his wife helps him deal with people when he is finding parts to fix vehicles). I gave him a Spanish tract, and we talked in broken English after the service. He claims to be a Christian, but his actions do not seem to show it. I invited him and his wife to visit my house after the Mongolian lunar new year. It is amazing to me that God uses us in Outer Mongolia to reach a Cuban for His glory. We certainly would have trouble going to Cuba to minister to Cubans there.

Besides praying for Gustavo and his wife, you could also pray for us. Circumstances have been difficult for us with the cold weather and several discouraging obstacles. Of course, God gives us the grace to overcome; after all, we are more than conquerors despite tribulation or distress. We have been saddened to learn too that Roland Gay and his family who have been working together with us for more than a year will be leaving Mongolia permanently in April. God has a purpose in all this, we know; we just wish that we knew more about what His plan is. To God be the glory because in our weakness, His strength is made perfect!

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.

Christians begetting Christians

The goal of any missionary is to produce Christians who will reproduce themselves. So it is particularly exciting when we hear about Christians bringing others to the Savior.

In a recent conversation, Ganaa told Kristie that she believes her sister Selenge who lives in another town has become a Christian. Her sister became interested in Jesus Christ, and Ganaa would use their phone conversations to be a witness. She sent her a Bible and invited her to visit Ulan Bator so that she could attend our church.

She really believes that her sister's life shows the fruits of repentance. It is encouraging for us to see Mongolian Christians producing spiritual children.