Deans' light-hearted weekly update

The whole town was shut down for five days last week. Monday through Friday, there were no banks open, few stores open,

Imagine Christmas Day: most stores are closed. You feel sorry for the few folks that have to work a half day at Safeway. There are a few restaurants perhaps that offer a Christmas Day meal, but who wants to eat Christmas Dinner at Village Inn?

Well, we just experienced Christmas for a week in Mongolia. It happened like this. Every summer Mongolia celebrates Naadam which means "festival." It is a three-day celebration of the three manly sports: wrestling, archery, and horseback riding. Naadam is always July 11-13. This year July 11-13 was Monday-Wednesday. As we approached the holiday we stocked up on food and prepared to enjoy a break.

The Mongolian President declared that government workers would work Saturday and Sunday July 9-10 and then take off Thursday and Friday July 14-15. Mongolians had never done that before, and I did not expect it to impact the rest of Mongolia. Surely, by Thursday stores would be open again, I thought.

As often happens things started to go wrong on Saturday night. Charissa began to develop a nasty toothache, and the bathroom door handle chose that night to become non-operative. Sunday we spent the day worshiping the Lord and serving His people. Monday everything was closed; the streets were deserted. Streets that usually were filled with cars were eerily quiet. Many Mongolians had chosen to travel to the countryside.

Tuesday, nothing. Wednesday, nothing. Charissa's tooth felt a little better, but the bathroom door still lacked a handle.

Thursday morning, I began to call dentists. No answer. Finally, a friend of mine contacted a dentist that he knew. Their dentist office was closed until Monday, July 18, that dentist said. I went out to find a door handle. Almost nothing was open. The few hardware shops that were open did not have door handles. Finally, I found a small vendor who seemed to be selling door handles along with other hardware.

"How much are the door handles?" I inquired.

To which the vendor responded, "The guy who sells the door handles isn't here today."

Figures.

Friday, the city still appeared to be a ghost town, and they closed the road that led to the church. The road had large barricades to prevent any cars from entering it.

Finally, on Saturday I found that the hardware stores were open again and was able to buy a door handle. Imagine your local Home Depot being closed from a Monday to a Friday.

Monday, I went with Charissa to see the dentist. He was kind but firm. "Are you in much pain?" he asked Charissa.

"No," she responded. The pain had subsided from the previous weekend when she did not even want to eat.

"Then come in on Thursday at 10 a.m." he told us, "I'm only doing surgeries today."

So if you ever come to Mongolia during Naadam, don't develop a toothache.

July prayer letter: Aya's testimony

We came to Mongolia because we love the Lord and desired to obey the Lord’s call to Mongolia. But what brings a smile to our face and joy to our heart is to see the work of the Lord in Mongolians’ lives. We understand Paul’s heart when he said: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?”

Ulzee’s mother was diagnosed with cancer some years ago. At that time, the doctors said there was no hope of her cancer going into remission. But the church prayed, and many of you prayed, and Ganpurev and Ulzee sought medical treatment for Aya. A year later, doctors were amazed that her cancer seemed to be in remission.

Several years later, or about three months ago, doctors said that Aya’s cancer had returned. This time, the doctors said that they would not treat it. Ganpurev and Ulzee found hospice care for Aya and have done their best to make her comfortable.

Most of Aya’s extended family members are not Christians. Several of them have taken Aya to see other doctors, none of whom have been able to help her. Some relatives have taken her to see Buddhist monks to seek treatment. The monks have prescribed various remedies, which include performing certain Buddhist rituals and saying Buddhist mantras. Aya has consistently refused to take part in any Buddhist activities because she worships Jesus, she tells her relatives.

Many older Mongolians tend to become more enamored of their traditional religion as they grow older and sense the nearness of their demise. Because of this, Aya’s steadfast insistence that she is a Christian and trusting Jesus Christ is a great encouragement, especially to Ganpurev and Ulzee.

Strangely enough, a major impetus for Aya’s belief in Jesus Christ was a comment that her mother made before her death. Aya’s mother, Borei, once commented to her, “If I were younger, I would believe in Ganpurev and Ulzee’s God.” According to Ganpurev, this gave them opportunities to speak about Christ to Ulzee’s mother.

At this time, it does not seem that there is much medical hope for Aya. However, we know that she has a bright eternity ahead of her. The church has been praying that Aya would give a clear testimony of her faith in Christ to her extended family. We have been thankful to God as we have watched Him answer our prayers and hope that her clear testimony of faith in God would influence many family members to turn from idols to the true God.

Picture of the week

This week have I got a picture for you. Driving around town last week, I found myself behind two Hummers. These huge, gas-guzzling vehicles are quite popular in Mongolia. Yes, there are many Mongolians living in poverty but there are some with money to burn.

Quote of the week

"Loneliness is a test, and self-examination in solitude lacks the excitement of the revival meeting, but it also avoids the desolation of its subsequent reaction. It does not even offer the subtle relief of confession to a human being. Performed in simplicity it brings the sinner directly before the Judge, and there is no outcome from that interview other than rectification and reformation, along with the renewed and deepened love which results from full and free forgiveness." — Mildred Cable & Francesca French in Ambassadors for Christ

Deans' weekly update

I was reminded this week of these verses from Philippians 1: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Those verses aptly describe all of you! I am so grateful that you pray for us and believe that your fellowship in the Gospel is an integral part of our ministry.

The next verse in that chapter is well-known. "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." There are two ways to look at the difficulties that we are facing. First, we can take the pessimistic view that our struggles are because God has forgotten us. Or we can take the Biblical view that our struggles are a constant reminder that God is at work in our lives working all things together for good to conform us to the image of His Son.

So, Monday was the first day of Naadam which is the big summer celebration in Mongolia. On that day, a thief broke into a church member's little shop and stole several items of value. We know without doubt that God was still sovereign the first day of Naadam. While we do not know the reason we know that God is working to conform those church members to the image of His Son.

Aya is Ulzee's mother. Her health is progressively deteriorating. We know that she has terminal cancer. There is no hope of successful treatment for her from the doctors. We can only hope in God. Currently, she is having trouble sleeping and is in quite a bit of pain. When Kristie and I visited Saturday, she was in good spirits as always. We see this as evidence of God at work in her life. When we talk to Ulzee about her mother's condition, you can see the tears come into her eyes. The pessimist says that maybe God is unconcerned. But Biblically speaking, God has promised to continue His good work in both Aya and Ulzee.

For example, someone recently gave Aya some medicine and told her that when she took the medicine she had to say a mantra to a particular god. However, Aya refused to say the mantra because she believes in Jesus and the other gods are false. When we consider that many Mongolians as they age tend to revert to their traditional religion, we are encouraged to see Aya remain steadfast in her faith. What a great God we serve!

We have people in the church with unexpected financial demands because the transmission on their car broke suddenly. We have people whose mother just died. Ulzee's mother Aya's condition is worsening. Their are members with ulcers. But rather than worry, we praise the Lord that He continues His good work (Eph. 2:10) conforming us to the image of His Son.

But we need wisdom, perseverance, strength. We are so happy to serve a God Who gives us all these and more without reproving us. Pray with us this summer that we will see the fruit of God's work in our lives and the lives of church members as we yield to the Holy Spirit and remain faithful to our loving God.

Rainbow

A rainbow always reminds me of God's promise to Noah. Extrapolating from that, a rainbow reminds me that God is still in control.

We saw a beautiful rainbow out of our windows today: another reminder that God still cares and guides the events of our lives.

Traffic, doorknobs, and Naadam

We've had a couple of interesting things happen recently. Anytime a holiday happens our residential district fills up with people who are trying to get supplies. Traffic last night was quite bad right outside our building for several hours. The roads are narrow enough. As soon astraffic begins to back up, undisciplined drivers are tempted to fill the lane of oncoming traffic which only compounds the problem. Combined with a lack of parking, our residential district can quickly become a traffic quagmire.

Not that I had much time to notice last night because I was locked in my own bathroom for about a half hour. The doorknob suddenly became non-operative (the second in two weeks). We had to disassemble the door knob so we could open the door. Disassembling a doorknob is probably not all that difficult under normal circumstances. But my wife and daughter were working on one side while I worked on the other, mostly without tools as I took most of my tools to the carpenter shop. I'm going to need to bring some of those tools back. In the end my

wife and daughter were able to get the door handle on their side off and pass a nail through to my side so that I could remove the handle on my side. Now our bathroom door has no door handle and most stores will be closed until Thursday because of Naadam, the big summer holiday for Mongolia.

More about Naadam later this week.

Quote of the week

"This Court has gone far toward accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints from these crowds and that all local attempts to maintain order are impairments of the liberty of the citizen. The choice is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact." — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Robert Jackson (1949)

Deans' weekly update

On Saturday, I met Ganaa while I was out shopping. She mentioned that she would not be able to come on Sunday because she had other work to do. I was greatly encouraged when she came Sunday. I do not know what happened to her other work but was grateful to see her put church attendance first.

Baysaa is traveling to the countryside this week. This is an important step of growth for him to witness to his own family. Pray that he will have opportunities to preach Christ to his relatives.

Thank you for praying for Kristie. She is feeling somewhat better this week. Continue to pray for her to have sweet sleep and adequate energy and strength for the ministry that God has called her to do.

Quote of the week

"The things that make God dear to us are not as much His great big blessings as the tiny things; because they show His amazing intimacy with us; He knows every detail of our individual lives." – Oswald Chambers