Yesterday's post

Yesterday's post may have caused some consternation among those of you who follow my blog and ministry. You may be wondering who are these folks that have passed away recently.

The first person to pass on to eternity was Bob's sister who is only a few years older than I am. I found out last Wednesday when he came to borrow some tables and chairs to accomodate the folks that would be visiting. His sister felt poorly Tuesday night, went to the hospital, and was gone by Wednesday afternoon.

That same day, Dashka's uncle passed away. I am not sure how old he was; but knowing his mother's approximate age, I think it is fair to guess that Dashka's uncle was about my parent's age.

Yesterday, Ganchimeg's aunt passed away. She was in her 50's, went in for surgery on her neck, and did not survive the surgery. It was very tragic and unexpected.

Aya is still with us. I am amazed at the mercy & grace of God to preserve her for us all this time. Please pray for Ganpurev, Ulzee, and Aya as they continue to serve the Lord.

However, Ganpurev called me this morning to tell me that a friend of his who is about our age also passed away suddenly. I had met Amraa once or twice years ago. He is a fellow who grew up with Ganpurev but was a heavy drinker. After Ganpurev became a Christian he found himself spending less and less time with Amraa who encouraged him to drink. But it is very tragic to see so many people not much older than me lose their life so unexpectedly.

Pray that God would use these reminders of the uncertainty of life to draw Mongolians to Himself!

Deans' weekly update

Three deaths in a week—there have been three deaths this past week in the extended families of our church members. All of them were relatively young, one of them only a few years older than myself. What a reminder that life is short and judgment is real! I had not personally met any of these Mongolians who are now in eternity. But the church folks had. This makes it imperative that I equip the Mongolians preach the Gospel to family and friends and impress upon them the urgency of the task.

Because of this burden that I have, I was pleased to hear that Ganpurev took several opportunities to preach Christ to family and friends during a recent, brief trip to the countryside. He used a new Gospel booklet to give the Good News to an old school friend and a brother-in-law among others. Please pray that all the Mongolians would eagerly tell their family and friends that there is a Savior and that He is the God of the Mongols.

On the weather front, it looks like tomorrow may be the first day above freezing since November. Of course, if we miss our opportunity for “warm” weather tomorrow they are predicting a new cold snap for us that means a week or more of sub-freezing temperatures. We would like it to warm up because we are already halfway through March.

Pray for Kristie

Kristie was sick for a few days last week and then became sick again yesterday. It seems like a stomach virus to me. She seems to be recovering this evening. But she has been sick quite a bit recently. Pray for her.

Quote of the week

"Home, with all its prohibitions and opportunities to die daily, offered training far greater than any Bible school curriculum." —Amy Carmichael

Weather

It was -22 F (-30 C) this morning when I rose from bed. And it's March! I hope it warms up soon.

Pictures from Ganpurev's ordination

The men at Ganpurev's ordination council (from left): me, Dashka acting as translator, Ganpurev, Pastor Ben Jaquith, missionary Jason Ritchie.

The ordination council recommending Ganpurev to Faith Baptist Church.

Ganpurev receiving his ordination gift: a new cell phone to keep in touch with the church.

Finally, in this picture from seven years ago I am baptizing Ganpurev.

Deans' weekly update

It's been a while since I posted anything. I hope I haven't lost my audience.

Here's the update: several weeks ago, I mentioned to you that the church would be involved in a project to give gifts to the neighborhood children and present the Gospel to them through music and a Bible story. Afterward, there would be follow-up with the families of the children who came. At that time and just days before they were scheduled to give out the gifts, they delayed the project for two weeks.

That moved the project to this past weekend. Because I was not needed and because my parents-in-law were visiting, I was unable to attend. When I asked how the project went one of the first things that Ganpurev said was, “We were not very experienced so there were things that we would have done differently.” I pointed out that they only way to gain experience is to attempt things. Experience is never gained by not trying. In my opinion this was a good start to future ministry for many of the Mongolians.

This past weekend the church held Ganpurev’s ordination ceremony. In many ways it felt like the culmination of seventeen years of ministry for me. It was almost seventeen years ago that I was ordained. Although I have worked with many men during that time, Ganpurev is the first man that has been ordained mostly through the influence of my ministry.

Ganpurev’s ordination is a key milestone in planting a Mongolian church in Mongolia. Building a place for the Mongolian church to meet was essential. Evangelizing the lost is also crucial. Discipling believers makes for a strong church. Ordaining a Mongolian as pastor means it will be a Mongolian church. Please pray for Ganpurev as he grows into his new role as pastor.

I will be at Faith Baptist Church for a while assisting Ganpurev in his transition. Also, I will be teaching a Bible institute class on the life of Christ. We started just this week. Teaching a Bible class in Mongolian is always interesting as I usually create most of my material myself or translate it from English materials that I have.

So there are some prayer requests: reaching out to families whose children attended the gift-giving project, Ganpurev in his new role as pastor, and for me as I teach this Bible institute class.

Deans' weekly update

We are blessed to have Kristie’s parents with us this week. We have already had a great visit … well, once their plane landed. For about an hour, we did not know where their plane was, nor did Kristie’s parents know where they were. I mean they knew they were on the plane but although the plane was obviously delayed they did not know if they were to land in Ulan Bator or return to Seoul.

Our whole family including Kristie’s parents visited Buren’s house last night. It was a pleasant visit capped off with another opportunity to tell Buren and his wife about their need for Jesus Christ. I was fascinated to hear Buren tell us that he needed to “prepare” before he could become a Christian. Please pray for the salvation of Buren and Sonin this week. They said that they would come to the service on Sunday.

The Mongolians started their Lunar New Year celebrations last week. That meant this past Sunday was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Many of our friends and acquaintances were traveling out of town on that day to see relatives. At a few minutes after eleven on Sunday morning, only one family had arrived. (I do not worry anymore about the attendance when so few are there when we begin.) So we started the service with more Americans than Mongolians.

But more Mongolians came late than came on time; and despite the fact that some of our most faithful families were missing, we had 19 Mongolians in attendance. In past years we have had as few as a half dozen in attendance. So we are beginning to see Mongolians set priorities and serve the Lord even when it is inconvenient.

This Sunday we will be ordaining Ganpurev to the ministry. It is a critical time for Ganpurev, his family, and the Mongolian church as they take this step of faith. Please pray for them.

Waiting for the plane

Charissa and Emily, Elsie and I were sitting at the airport waiting for the Jaquiths to arrive. When we left home Korean Air was reporting that the plane would land about 4:00. With that information, we left our house at 4:00 for the 45 minute ride to the airport. When we arrived at the airport the screens there said that the expected time of arrival was 4:15. The only problem was that it was already 4:45 when we arrived and the plane still had not landed.

So we waited anxiously along with many Mongolians for word of the flight's arrival. About 5:30 the flight from Seoul was removed from the arrival list. I went to the information desk to ask what had happened. A crowd of Mongolians had already arrived and  begun to ask questions.

“When will the plane from Seoul land?"

“We don't know.”

“Will it land tonight?”

“Maybe”

“Should we drive back into town and return later?”

“Perhaps. I don't know.”

“Where is the plane?”

“We don't know.”

You can see from the information desk's vague answers that nothing was clear. So I called Kristie. What does the Internet say about KE 867?

After a quick search of the Korean Air website she reported back, “It says that the flight will land at 4:10 [remember it's already 5:30] but in the notes section it says that it has been delayed because of ‘aircraft operational condition.’” I wondered whether the plane was over Mongolia or en-route to return to Seoul. I suspected that if Korean Air had a malfunctioning plane they would order it back to Korea for maintenance.

But no one at the help desk would tell us exactly what was happening. I called Kristie again to tell her that we might come home, and I would return to the airport that evening after the plane had landed. She agreed that such a plan might be best. I talked to the children to tell them that we would be leaving the airport without their grandparents. Then I headed to the information desk one more time to see if there was any new information.

The ladies at the help desk had left, all except one lady who did not seem to be answering questions. Without any more information, I decided to head home. As I headed back to where the girls were seated, the airport voice announced that the plane had landed. An audible sigh was heard throughout the waiting area.

The strange thing was that I later asked Kristie’s father what had happened on the plane. He told us that it was not clear to them what had happened. The plane left a little late (as the internet information indicated). But they circled for about an hour before landing he told me. The pilot came on the intercom several times to mention that the plane was waiting for clearance to land from the airport. But the airport did not seem to know where they were either.

Charissa was the closest to a reasonable solution when she mentioned it was like the Bermuda Triangle.

A visit to Aya's

The family and I were able to visit Ganpurev's house earlier this week and saw Aya while we were there. She seemed in really good health. We were able to get a few pictures of her while we were there. This one included Aya with her great granddaughter Nandinbileg.