Dean's November prayer letter

“Not every Christian is called to the mission field, but every Christian ought to wrestle with the possibility.” I heard this quote many years ago from Ron Brooks. I have often thought that it appropriately sums up the responsibility of every Christian to consider missionary service. For those of you with God’s call on your life to serve Him in a culture that is not your own, Mongolia may be the place of God’s adventure for you.

The opportunities for ministry are many and varied. If we had two more missionary families serving with us, we could put them to work immediately upon their completion of language study. One area of service that weighs greatly on my heart is teaching Mongolians the Bible and training them to serve God. I have plans to start a Bible institute as a part of the ministry that we have here in Ulan Bator, but who will serve with me? Who will teach the classes when I am gone? Frankly, I need someone with more Bible knowledge than myself and a passion to impart that knowledge to Mongolians.

There are also some great opportunities for service in areas outside of Ulan Bator. Already, Ganpurev and I have been laying the ground work to plant a church in Ovorkhangai’s Bayan-ondor area. Ganpurev, who is from that area and knows many of the inhabitants personally, is not aware of a single Christian in an area larger than most U.S. counties. The three men with Ganpurev in the picture are all people who live in the Bayan-ondor area to whom we have witnessed more than once.

However, Bayan-onder is a good day’s drive away from Ulan Bator and desperately needs someone to go and live among them. Mongolians who live there tell us that evangelistic groups have come through before, but there is no one living there working to plant a church. We would be willing to go, but who would take our place in Ulan Bator?

I envision an American missionary, perhaps even my family, moving out there with a Mongolian family from Ulan Bator’s Faith Baptist Church to witness and labor among these people. For that to happen, there needs to be someone in Ulan Bator to labor among the million inhabitants of this city and hold the ropes for those in the countryside.

A further benefit to having three families is that as one family is away for health reasons or furlough the other two families can cover for them. I have often heard from those who know about missions that the best ministries are those who have teams of missionaries who work closely together.

Some may be worried that in these time of financial distress that it would be difficult to raise the funds to go to a foreign country. Who is it of whom it is said, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fulness thereof”?

Others may be concerned that the language will be too hard to learn. God told another of His servants who was worried about a similar difficulty, “Who made man’s mouth? Have not I the LORD?”

Maybe you fear adjusting to a new culture. I have claimed the verse, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” If God can take His people through the waters and the rivers and the fire, surely He can lead his people in a new land.

"Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:38)

Don't talk so loud

Kristie and I were out shopping recently. Our normal supplier for gouda cheese has been out of cheese for some weeks. It's no crisis; but we do like cheese. Here in Mongolia Gouda cheese from the Netherlands is one of the least expensive cheeses we can reliably buy. (And I like Gouda more than cheddar).

We found some cheese at one of these indoor markets where there are some 30-40 vendors many of whom sell the same things. We noticed that several of the vendors were selling gouda cheese. I expected the price to be well above the price we normally pay since this indoor market is known for having hard-to-find items at hard-to-believe prices. (Would you believe over $12 for a single avocado? I like avocados but I've never had one in Mongolia.)

I asked one lady from whom we often buy mozzarella cheese how much the gouda was. She said a price within a few cents of the price that we pay normally. I was surprised and wondered if I'd heard her correctly. So I repeated the price. She quickly protested, "Be quiet!" Then she leaned over her counter and whispered, "Yes, that's the price but I don't want the other vendors to hear. They'll scold me for selling it so cheaply."

So we bought the reminder of her block and thank the Lord for His goodness. I believe that he gave us favor with the vendor to sell us her cheese at a price not far above what she paid for it.

Weekly update

This past week has been a busy one. The church voted to rent some new rooms; we have simply outgrown the rooms that we were in. This past Sunday evening at the English service we had 49 in attendance with a couple of American families from Russia joining us.

Kevin and John have been a big help in building walls in the new rooms. The walls are now done, and the two men are learning along with Ganpurev how to tape and mask the seams in the walls. The plan is to be in those new rooms by Sunday. Please pray for the men to complete the project in time. We simply do not have enough space in the old rooms for 50 people.

Also, last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night the church had special meetings. Roland Gay, whose family used to work with us in Mongolia, returned for a visit and preached for those three nights about the inspiration and preservation of God's word. There was a good response to his preaching. We hope that he will be able to return again and preach a similar series of sermons on God's word.

The cold weather arrives

The weather here in Mongolia has turned cold. I woke up this morning and checked the temperature. How does 26 below zero sound? Actually, that was the temperature in Celsius; the temperature in Fahrenheit was only 15 below zero. Although those two temperatures are the same, fifteen below just sounds more comfortable to me.

Special meetings

Having special meetings in Mongolia can be problematic because there are simply not very many special speakers who speak the language crisscrossing Mongolia. We have been blessed to have Roland Gay visiting for the past few weeks.

His family who previously lived in Mongolia, but health problems forced them to move back to the States. However, God has given Roland such a burden for Mongolia that he is determined to come back as often as he can to strengthen churches in Mongolia. Even while he is in the States, he continues to work on the Mongolian Bible translation work that is being sponsored by FirstBibles International and the Trinitarian Bible Society.

Because of Roland's unique language ability, his burden to preach, and his desire to strengthen churches, I asked him if he would preach to us during his time in Mongolia both on Sundays and during some special meetings during the week.

We have been pleased to have a good number of folks turn out. Roland has been preaching two messages each night: a message about the Bible, Its importance, preservation, and translation; and another shorter message to challenge the people.

Last night, we had a 95 year old first time visitor attend with some other visitors who have been coming somewhat regularly. Bob has come every night so far too which has been an encouragement to me.

New rooms

On Sunday the church voted to move to new rooms and to accept the extra financial responsibilities that will come with the new rooms. The current rooms that the church has been renting comprise three rooms that together equal about 600 sq. feet. One room which is very narrow is used for storage and as a nursery (not an ideal situation but one that has been forced upon us).

The largest room is used as the sanctuary. It can only seat 35, packing people in tight and not giving the preacher much more space than a place to stand. Since we have the children and adults meet together for the first hour of the service and attendance has been around 40, this room has been overflowing.

The third room is used for a classroom primarily for the children. Because there is no entryway or hallway everyone who wants to use the restroom, enter or exit the building, or simply get to the storage room has to pass through this room. This can be very disruptive.

The new rooms will give us a decent storage space (every church needs storage space), a sanctuary about twice the size of our current space where we plan to seat about 60 people, a children's classroom about the same size as the current one but with a better layout, and a fourth room that can be used as a nursery. There will also be an entryway, hallway, and much better bathroom in this new place. It is quite an additional expense for the church but one which we believe is necessary to allow its ministry to people to continue to expand.

Picture of the week

To those of you who are praying for us, I extend my sincerest thanks. We all need prayer; sometimes we seemingly need more prayer than at other times. This is one of those times when we need more prayer. I have included the most recent picture of our church. As you can see, we have grown some recently for which I praise God. We are preparing to move into bigger rooms - more about that in my weekly prayer update.

God is good all the time

"When you are hurting and afflicted, you are prepared to help those who are hurting and afflicted."

Talk about running across a quote at an opportune time. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning. Kristie has been sick for over a month. It's been various things and only part of that time has she been in bed, but overall she's had some sort of illness bothering her since the end of September. Any time that Kristie is sick, it adds pressure to my schedule.

Then, we've had many breakthroughs recently in our ministry here - Bob's salvation, increased attendance on Sundays and Wednesdays, steps of growth in the lives of those to whom we minister. However, at the same time, we've been facing extra pressures. Some of these stresses have come from unexpected sources and these make them even more difficult to endure. Many of these problems I am unable to talk about which makes enduring them even more stressful.

I know from my study of God's word and the experiences God has led me through that these trials exist for our benefit, that it is God's plan to strengthen our faith and teach us patience. I also know that ultimately it is the trials of life and not the easy times that conform us to the image of Jesus and make us mature Christians.

Still, when one is actually in the middle of a trial it's hard to remember these things. It is easier to become discouraged and dismayed. So it is that while I am in the struggles I often forget the lessons that God is trying to teach me and my family.

Christians and especially missionaries have always faced difficult circumstances. James Fraser once remarked, "Refuse, however, to be discouraged, but get down on your knees at once and 'get right with God.' I have had many such experiences before, but I have made the mistake of giving way to depression instead of calmly investigating the cause of things. This time, however, the thief is not going to escape."

I have taken some time to prayerfully consider my circumstances and my response to them. I believe that I can see clearly some of the causes and can discern some of the purposes of God within my difficult circumstances.

First, as the quote I led with above states, I believe that God is trying to give me a greater heart and understanding spirit of those who are hurting.

Second, I discern God at work to purge me. In Psalm 119:67 we find, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word." Affliction can often lead to cleansing. When times are good we are often complacent and willing to continue in the path that we are going. But hard times force us to re-examine our path and consider what God's leading truly is in our lives.

Third, we all know and recognize that when God's work is moving forward, our adversary and his minions will be there to oppose it. Even more significant, my own flesh, the old man, is not pleased when God's work is advancing. As with Elijah often our times of discouragement and sense of defeat is greatest immediately following our greatest victories.

So what am I doing to avoid discouragement and yield to the Holy Spirit. First, I am trying to listen to good music that encourages me (see II Kings 3:15). Just this morning while listening to music I was reminded of Jesus' admonition, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Which leads to the second way I am dealing with discouraging circumstances: prayer. I was reminded that Jesus shares our burdens and knows our discouragements.

Extra time in God's word reading not only what is on my reading schedule but extra passages where I can find encouragement and strength. "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." There is so much encouragement to be found in God's word.

Finally, I have reached out to some who know me well and are praying for me requesting extra prayer.

God is good all the time. He has been faithful to encourage me and support me. The issue has always been whether I will receive His aid or whether I will be content to wallow in self-pity and surrender to discouragement.

Thank you all for your prayers. Continue to pray for God to encourage us and to protect us from the attacks of Satan. We know that there is victory in Jesus Christ.

Pictures of Ulan Bator

I had a chance to visit an apartment recently on the 15th floor of a building downtown. Here are some pictures of the city of Ulan Bator from a new perspective.

Life in Mongolia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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