When God Teaches a Lesson

“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.” (Ps. 129:2)

This particular story comes from a tear-filled testimony given on Sunday to the church. I do not feel at liberty to reveal the member’s name, but hers is a classic Cinderella story—except true. And this story does not take place in Europe but in Mongolia. Every part of this story is true and without exaggeration. The stories of God’s work in a believer’s life stand without embellishment.

Her father died not long after she was born. Her mother remarried and had more children. But her step-siblings, a brother and several sisters, refused to fully accept her as a member of the family. They would constantly criticize and belittle her, reminding her that she was only a half-sister. Her stepfather failed to protect her because he said she was not his daughter. She grew up as if she were fatherless.

Rejection by her family made her naturally independent character fiercely self-sufficient. She determined to be her own person; she would not ask her family for any help and she would not expect any help from them.

It must have been some relief when she won a scholarship to study in Russia. Even in the beginning of the new millennium for Mongolians to study in Russia was the pinnacle of scholastic achievement. The rich spoiled children might study in the United States or Japan or Singapore; the poor but academically successful studied in Russia.

Sometime before she left for Russia, a friend had brought her to church. It was there that she became a Christian. I do not doubt the sincerity of her commitment to Jesus Christ or that she is truly born again; however, it seems that she did not grow much during the few years that she attended church meetings in Ulaanbaatar.

Her study in Russia lasted for seven years. During that time she attended an independent (not Orthodox) Russian church. They were a tremendous encouragement and help to her. She still remembers fondly how they treated her as family and reached out to her despite the fact that she was not Russian. American churches could learn from this example to reach out to immigrants to the United States in an effort to win them to Jesus Christ.

It was also while she was in Russia studying that she met her husband (also a Mongolian) and married. Sadly, they married without obtaining permission from either set of parents. Far from home and deeply in love, they must have thought that they would marry first and explain it all later. Tragically this is all too common in Mongolia. After their first child was born her husband returned to Mongolia to announce his marriage and the arrival of their first child.

Rather than accept them as married, the parents were angry. They had larger plans for their son to be satisfied with this unsanctioned marriage. His parents knew this woman and her family: penniless, low on the social ladder, without connections. They did not approve. The parents gave their son an ultimatum: repudiate his marriage to this woman and return to live with them or they would cut off all his support.

Used to living extravagantly and without boundaries, the son could not imagine life without his parents’ financial support. He chose to abandon his wife and daughter and return to live in Mongolia, leaving them behind in Russia. When she did return to Mongolia she became pregnant with their second child though he still was not living with her.

I once asked another Mongolian if such a situation were common in Mongolia. The Mongolian man agreed that it was common enough for a Mongolian young man and young woman to marry with parental permission. But it was uncommon for the parents to object to the marriage later. And if they did object, they rarely would demand that a young man leave his wife.

The parents of the young man were not without any compassion. Pitying her, the parents finally offered to pay her a small monthly sum to help raise their grandchildren, but only if she would agree to divorce her husband!

The story of God’s work in these two young lives is two long for this update. Suffice it to say that recently he has begun to pay her rent but still does not live with her. With two young children to provide for, she struggles to find work that allows her to be with her children and yet pays enough for them to eat and stay clothed. God has graciously provided many times through translation jobs that she can do at home. But recently, God allowed several pressures to assail her at once.

The first pressure is that she took a translation job to finish a book on a difficult schedule. She has been working too many hours in an effort to complete the job on time and has been tired and missing church services. She received an advance payment when she agreed to translate the book, but that money was received some months ago. In order to receive the remaining payment she must finish the book. She also has a side job that takes some hours each week but usually provides a monthly income. However, that salary had not been paid to her for two months. Then the most recent incident that finally frustrated her to anger was that her husband only paid half of the rent for the apartment where she and her children live despite a promise to pay the rent in full.

“Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.” (Isa. 62:10)

When he neglected to keep his word and pay her rent in full there was an argument, and she dredged up all her old accusations about his neglect, failure to provide, etc. Not long after the argument, she came across this verse in Isaiah. She told the church it was as if God was speaking directly to her: “You need to build a highway, you must gather out the stones of bitterness, anger, and malice that are in your life.”

And so God set her on a new road. She began to say “yes” to God and “no” to self. She went to her husband first to ask him to forgive her. She admitted that she had not truly forgiven him. Last month if you would have asked her, she would have told you that she had forgiven her husband. But the way she immediately brought up old accusations when an argument broke out revealed to her that she was harboring bitterness towards him in her heart. He not only forgave her but admitted that what she had to say was correct, a humbling admission from a Mongolian man.

Then she went back to her family. For years she had struggled to be independent, to never need her family’s help for anything. But in her effort to be unconnected from her family, she had also neglected to meet needs when she had opportunity to do so. Now that God set her on a new road she recognized that her desire to distance herself from her family and her lack of help to her family was thinly disguised bitterness and malice, more rocks that needed to be removed so that she could prepare the road.

“But whoso … seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (I John 3:17)

So it was that God gave her another assignment. In reaching out to her siblings to express her apology for years of keeping them at a distance, she became aware of a financial need in her sister’s life. Despite her tight finances, she felt compelled by God to reach out to her sister because of this verse in I John 3. So from the meager remainder that she had she gave her sister a gift.

Within a short time, her previous two months salary that had been delayed was in her hands. She told us that the lesson she learned was that you give God what He asks of you whether you have money or not. Another church member who heard her testimony remarked that from hearing this testimony of her sister in the Lord she had determined in the future to give the Lord what he was asking of her. Is it any wonder that Sunday’s offering given by the Mongolians was nearly four times the average amount given? When God teaches a lesson, people learn it.

This lady who gave her testimony on Sunday is still not completely reconciled to her husband nor are her finances entirely satisfactory. But she has yielded to the Spirit based on Scriptures that He has brought to her attention. She has joy and peace, direction and confidence. And her testimony to the church has encouraged them, strengthened their faith, and urged them to trust God even more.

As a pastor, I have shown them these verses, taught these principles, given them similar examples. Yet when God teaches the lesson it is far more powerful and memorable. Praise God for His work in our lives!

Cold weather has arrived

The cold weather has arrived as you can see from the weather app picture. The heat arrived yesterday just in time for the cold weather. The high two days ago was only 39 F—not very warm, even for here.

Quote of the week

"No pain, no palm. No cross, no crown. No thorn, no throne. No gall, no glory. Learn to glory in tribulations. This is the only world where you can give God that glory." — Robert M. M’Cheyne

Enkhamaglan's visit

I had some guests over on Tuesday evening: Enkhamaglan and Oudou. They showed up on time, and we talked sometimes in English (they wanted to practice) and sometimes in Mongolian (Enlhamaglan especially has trouble understanding English). Enkhamaglan heard the Gospel again; Oudou probably heard it for the first time.

Enkhamaglan is such a mixed up guy. He casts about accusations as if he knows things: conspiracy theories about the origin of the Bible, etc. But he has no peace. It's very sad.

Oudou claims to be without religion but participates in Buddhist rituals which is very common in Mongolia. I think some Mongolians claim they don't really believe in religion but want to "cover their bases" so to speak. So they borrow some rituals from Buddhism, maybe visit a shaman now and then, and perhaps wear a crucifix. To them, it’s not the doctrinal purity of their religion that matters, rather it is the effectiveness of the religion as measured in terms of fulfilling their desires. It is pragmatic religion taken to an illogical extreme.

So they both heard the Gospel. Although they did not respond on Tuesday night, perhaps the will respond to the seed that was planted at some other time.

Deans' weekly update

Last week I was in Oregon. I preached at Westgate Baptist Church and met with a variety of people. I found great encouragement in my trip. But I was scheduled to come back to Mongolia on Saturday night which is always a hard night to return because of responsibilities at church the next day.

My plane landed in Ulaanbaatar at 10 PM, Saturday, September 10. After passing through immigration, picking up my bags, and going through customs, I arrived home just before midnight and was scheduled to preach the next morning. I had prepared a sermon, but jet lag and weariness from my trip made speaking Mongolian a mentally taxing task.

This was compounded by an unexpected phone call from the church's song leader about thirty minutes before the service was scheduled to start. "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm going to be late. Please start without me." That may be fine and good when you do not have any responsibilities, but when the song leader calls in at the last minute the backup needs to be ready; and I was the backup. So it was a long morning as I tried to lead songs and sing with enthusiasm and preach with energy. Praise God! He always gives grace to meet every task that He places upon us.

Tuesday night about 6 PM (Tuesday about 3 AM for those of you living on the West Coast), I am scheduled to meet with two young men. Enkhamaglan has been to our services both Mongolian and English before: he comes perhaps twice a year. Usually he comes when he needs some help with an English translation.

He came this past Sunday night and brought a first time guest with him: Oudou. When they requested to meet with me, I inquired bluntly, "Do you need some translation help?"

"No," Enkhamaglan replied, "We have some questions about your ministry."

I am not certain at this point what will come out of the meeting. Please check my blog tomorrow to see how the meeting went and even if it occurred at all. If they do not show up for our meeting, it will not be the first time I have waited for someone who was not coming.

Deans' September Prayer Letter: Church Camp

Mongolians enjoy leaving the city to camp. Living outside the city seems

somehow therapeutic for them, as if it clears their mind and allows them to

relax. I know that many families find it relaxing to camp, but you must

understand that this activity in Mongolia is unlike what most Americans

think of when they think of camping.

Because of their desire to have a break from the city, our church's summer

camp has always been a well-attended event. With a mix of church members and

unsaved family or friends, camp has unique opportunities to preach the

Gospel. So my first goal for church camp was to preach the Gospel to

Mongolians. The second goal was to see the Mongolians do more to organize

and serve. Ganpurev and Ulzee have always assisted wonderfully in camp

planning, preparation, and serving. Bill has also been a great help. But

this year neither of them was able to attend. Their absence was an

opportunity for others to step up and serve.

In late May, I first brought the idea of planning for church camp. I thought

people would be eager to begin planning. I determined that this year, I

would let the Mongolians do a majority of the planning and preparation.

After all, this is their church, they enjoy camp, and they are much better

than I am at knowing the possibilities and potential in Mongolia. I

determined not to be sucked into planning camp; instead, I would watch from

a distance and assist them in communicating with each other.

I was a little surprised when I brought up the idea of camp in May, that the

Mongolians casually deferred a discussion of camp until later. Mongolians

are great procrastinators. They rarely plan more than a few days ahead. In

my role as pastor, I required them to set a date for camp, and we decided

that we would use a new campground for this year.

A few weeks later, I met with two key men for lunch and asked them to do the

planning. They agreed to my suggestion, and we divided up responsibilities.

There were about six weeks left before camp was scheduled. I would call or

speak to them in person once a week to determine how much they had

accomplished and urge them to keep planning.

The camp was called, and our reservation was made. This year's campground

offered cabins, beds and bedding, meals, and a few amenities like a

basketball hoop. In past years, we have had to transport food, tents,

bedding, clothes, and many other supplies to camp. This camp would allow us

to bring a few clothes and toiletries and leave everything else behind. I

thought that having much of the details already prepared by the camp would

make it easier for the two men to plan and prepare.

There were several decisions made about camp that I would have done

differently. The camp fees were collected from the people attending at the

camp rather than the week before. However, the camp required payment in full

before we left. The church supplied the money for the camp, and after camp

the fees were put back into the church's funds.

Our church camp always takes place on Friday through Sunday, with Sunday's

church service being held at the campground. It works well for our people's

schedules. In the past, most members have attended, which meant that there

would be almost no one in the city to attend the church meeting if we held

it there. We were preparing to leave on Friday afternoon and travel by train

to the campground.

The Thursday before the Friday that we were to leave, one of the two men

planning for camp called me and asked if I could meet them immediately at a

place near my home that was the campground's city headquarters. "There is

something that we need to discuss," was all that he would tell me. I thought

it odd the day before camp that there would be something to discuss; after

all, everything had been planned. The people had been told the departure

time and what to bring, etc. But I agreed to drop everything and meet them.

I remarked to my wife at the time: "They probably want to change campgrounds

or have reserved the wrong weekend or something."

When I arrived at our agreed-upon meeting location, it was immediately clear

that something was wrong. So I just asked, "What happened?"

"The camp already has people staying at it. They just told us. We thought we

would have the whole campground to ourselves. What if the other group is

going to party and drink alcohol?"

I thought it was a little late to change campgrounds and told them so. "It

might be strange for the campground to mention at the last moment that

another group will be at the camp with us, but what can we do?"

One of the two men seemed more irritated than worried. "We'll find another

campground. There are campgrounds all over."

"That's true, but we'll need to prepare food, tell everyone that our plans

have changed, and things like that," I reminded them. I should not have

mentioned it. Mongolians usually plan only a few days or weeks ahead. The

two men immediately met my objection with the decisive remark, "That's no

problem. We'll start planning right now."

". . . and call everyone to tell them our plans have changed?" I added.

"Yes."

I started to bring up objections: Who will buy all the food? How will we get

there? (The train tickets had already been purchased.) Who will cook?

For every objection they had an answer that went something like this: "You

have a way to do that, don't you?" I assured them that I did not have a way

to transport 30 people, buy all that food, etc. in a single day. But they

remained unfazed. "We will do it all," they said.

I went home to tell my wife what had happened and to plan on packing

bedding, tents, etc. Of course, my wife is a more practical thinker than I

am.

"What about plates, forks, cups? What will we eat on?" she asked me.

"I'll find out."

The two men were holed up nearby planning all the details (or so I thought).

So I went to their office to try once more to dissuade them from changing

all the plans for camp a day before we were to leave.

But when I arrived, they were even more earnest than during our previous

meeting. "Everything is coming together. We have another camp. We found a

cook to take with us. Tomorrow we'll go to buy all the food."

"What about dishes, utensils, bedding?" I asked thinking this would at least

slow them down.

There was a pause. Good, I thought to myself, the enormity of changing all

our camp plans less than 24 hours before we leave is starting to sink in.

One man's answer broke my thoughts, "We'll have everyone bring their own!"

he suggested cheerfully. And that answer seemed completely satisfactory to

both of them.

I was faced with a dilemma: I could tell them to stop their planning and

make an executive decision to continue with our plans to attend the camp for

which they had been planning. However, if I did that, would I really be

letting them plan? Or would they wonder, the next time I gave them a project

to plan, if I was really going to allow them to make the decisions.

I decided it was time to let them make the decision and bear the

responsibility. After all, the worst that could happen was three days of

difficulty. Kristie and I would do our best to prepare our family. But I

could see people arriving at camp without bedding and begging to borrow a

blanket, which would be totally inadequate for the weather. Even in summer,

temperatures at campgrounds in the mountains reach near freezing at night.

Or someone would neglect to bring plates and cups. They would ask to share

"after you're done with it, of course." We would need dish soap to wash all

the dishes. And who would pay the camp cook. All these ideas began to run

through my head.

Kristie had even more concerns. As all mothers do, she was thinking that

added to the necessary clothes and toiletries should also be added dishes,

blankets, a tent, and assorted sundries for a whole family.

We began to change our plans.

Several hours after the decision had been reached to change campgrounds, one

of the two men called me to say, "I don't think we can make all the

necessary preparations to change plans. Could you please call the other man

and tell him I think we should go to the first campground?" Hearing this, I

was truly confused. If he felt that way, what reason would he have to call

me? Could he not tell the other man himself?

Nevertheless, I called the other man to express the first man's concerns,

which were similar to my own. The second phone call only left me more

confused because when I called the second man, he expressed that he never

wanted to change plans. He was changing plans only because the first man

wanted to do so. With both men convinced that changing plans at such a late

hour was difficult, it did not take long for the decision to be changed

again. We would no longer be going to a campground where we would need to

take our own food and tents; instead we were back to the original plan and

the initial campground. The men called everyone again and told them that we

were back to plan A.

We had a wonderful camp. It turned out that the other group at the

campground was a church group whom some of us knew. They were not loud or

raucous. Our church ended up having a great time.

I learned something: The Mongolians didn't seem to be bothered about all the

last-minute confusion. They seemed to think that things like that happen.

And in the end, everything worked out. In this case, it's all a matter of

culture.

Quote of the week

"Any believing child of God may safely gauge the measure of his surrender to the will of God, in any matter, by the measure of his impatience he feels at obstacles in the way; for, in proportion as self-will sways him, whatever seems to oppose or hinder his plans will disturb or annoy; and, instead of quietly leaving all such hindrances and obstacles to the Lord, to deal with them as He pleases, in His own way and time, the willful disciple will, impatiently and in the energy of the flesh, set himself to remove them by his own scheming and struggling, and he will brook no delay." — A. T. Pierson

Sunday greetings from Mongolia

We had a decent Sunday. We had a small group in Sunday morning even though we had planned a fellowship after the service. Some of the men made a traditional Mongolian meat dish: хорхог. Some of the ladies brought salads and we shared it all.

Sunday night we had a large crowd out with at least seven visitors: some family, some friends. It was a good group. We will probably need to start setting out more chairs again.

My family is all well. Several wives were quite sick today.

Quote of the week

"To the ancient the question was, 'how do I conform my soul to reality?' the answer was, 'by virtue and discipline.' To the modern, the question is, 'how can I reconfigure reality to accommodate my passions?' and the answer is, 'by technique or technology.'" — Ravi Zacharias

Weekly update

The dog days of summer they call them. That time of the year when it is hot outside and not much gets done. Many Mongolians are gone from the city, resting in the countryside, drinking fermented mare’s milk, and eating yogurt. But I am happy to say that God is never on vacation. He is always at work, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly working His will to its ultimate completion.

I have not sent an update on Bob in some time because there has not been much to say. I met with Bob after my return from furlough. He made it clear to me that he no longer sees himself as a Christian or believes the Bible to be true. So for some time, I have not reached out to Bob.

I heard last week, however, that Bob had damaged his ankle in a soccer game. Thinking that his recent injury might be an opportunity to talk about the Lord, I went to his house to visit. We had a pleasant visit. He needed a ride to meet some people on business but unable to drive because of his injured ankle, he asked me if I would drive him around. I agreed to drive him around.

If you were hoping as I was that his ankle injury would cause Bob to think again about his relationship to his Creator, you will be disappointed to learn that it has not. Bob and his family did come to the church service on Sunday for which I am grateful. However, they came because Bob needed some money to enroll his son in school. He wanted to ask me for that money. We will see if he comes again this Sunday.

We will be having a fellowship after the service eating the standard Mongolian cooked meat: хорхог. In the summer, Mongolians like to cook хорхог in the countryside similar to the way Americans like to eat food grilled outside in the hot months. The church is working to invite people out for this Sunday. Please pray that we have a good crowd and that many people will join us.