Where we have been

I have not written as many updates as I intended to because my mornings have been full which is unusual for my Mongolia trips. Usually, my mornings are free as people work, and I visit families in the afternoons and evenings. The exception, of course, is Sunday when I attend a church meeting in the morning. On this trip, however, my mornings have also been full.

I spent several mornings helping Caleb get settled. We visited his language school, met his teachers, etc. one morning. We spent another morning headed to immigration to obtain his residency permission—he already had his visa before he arrived. The immigration office is across town, and what took so long was traffic, not bureaucracy. Yesterday morning, we did some shopping together to find some items that he would need.

On Saturday morning, I attended the first chapel of Faith Baptist Bible College. I intended to attend one of the classes. However, the head of the Bible college caught me and wished to talk to me for a while. This morning, I met with a missionary and spent over 2 hours discussing Mongolian churches, the Old Testament translation, and some Mongolians that we both know. It’s all valuable work, but it has taken away my prime opportunity to write updates.

The preaching on Sunday went well. Several people told me that both the English message and Mongolian message were a blessing to them. The Holy Spirit is required in all preaching; however, He seemed especially present in the preaching on Sunday.

I will speak again in Wednesday night at the prayer meeting. The following morning, I will speak to the translators at their weekly meeting. So please pray for my continued opportunities to speak in Mongolian.

Caleb has impressed me on this trip. When we lived in Mongolia, Caleb did not speak much English or Mongolian. When he did speak to me, he almost always spoke English. Despite being away from the country for more than seven years, he speaks Mongolian incredibly well. On Saturday, I left him at Ganpurev’s house with his grandmother (my mom). I expected to be gone less than an hour. Because of traffic, it took me more than two hours to accomplish my simple errand. That entire time Caleb carried on a conversation with the Mongolians in the house.

Later, we visited another Mongolian family where he impressed them with his Mongolian language ability and his ability to write Old Script Mongolian which I never learned. So he is off to a good start. His classes start next Monday after we leave. During our time in Mongolia so far, he has been visiting Mongolians with my mom and me. He has grown up so much in the last few years. It is a joy to watch him become a young man. Please pray that God will protect Caleb from evil during his time in Mongolia.

Crazy traffic

Crazy, it’s simply crazy. I thought traffic was bad when I left Ulaanbaatar. It’s worse now. Last night, what should have been a 15 minute ride home turned into an hour long trek that included two taxis, a walk in the rain, and a splash of muddy water from the street. By the time that we arrived home we were all soaked. But we did arrive home safely.

But first, a little bit about what we did during the day. Caleb and I joined one of Charissa’s old friends, now grown up and studying to be a doctor, on a trip to the immigration office. The bureaucracy itself was quick, and Caleb received his residency permission to stay in Mongolia. It was the traffic that was achingly slow. I was glad that I did not have to drive. Caleb starts language classes on Monday, Sep. 16 and is studying not far from where we live. I have also encouraged him to take part in the Bible classes that are offered on Saturdays at Faith Baptist Bible College.

In the evening, we joined the 2019-2020 opening ceremony of Faith Baptist Bible College of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I was pleased that so many Mongolians came, especially so many young people. Bradly Kubik whom Elmira Baptist Church supports was there. I had the honor of giving the opening address and spoke from I Tim. 2:1-3 about being a good soldier of Jesus Christ and relying on the grace that we find in Christ Jesus.

I must mention that Caleb is off to a good start. He is speaking Mongolian with the young men that he meets and must have carried on a conversation in Mongolian for most of an hour last night. It took me over a year of study to come close to doing that. I could greet people and ask a few questions but long conversations were difficult for me. Some of you might think, of course, Caleb is speaking Mongolian well; he grew up there. And you would be correct that he grew up here. However, when he lived here he never carried on long conversations like that. It’s mentally tiring so I commend him for his efforts. If he continues to yield himself to God for service, he will be a good asset at Khan Uul Baptist Church.

Tomorrow, I will be speaking at Khan Uul Baptist Church in English and in Mongolian. I appreciate your prayers for me.

Haven't left the United States yet

I am excited about this trip to Mongolia. However, for the first time ever my excitement is more for someone else than for myself. Since 1997, I have made this trip many times. My trip in 1997 when Kristie and I visited the country and in 2001 when I took my family to Mongolia are my most memorable trips. This one will rank right up there.

This time I will be delivering my son Caleb to Mongolia and leaving him there for seven months. It is an ambitious undertaking for an 18 year old man. Caleb in close consultation with me made this decision some years ago and has been laser focused on returning to Mongolia since then. He has been saving money and teaching himself Mongolian in anticipation for his trip.

Last Tuesday, we went to the Mongolian Consulate in San Francisco to pick up his visa. Now I find myself writing to you from the San Francisco International airport. So our trip begins. I’ll be posting this email and future updates at mongolia-ministry.blogspot.com. I will also be posting pictures to my Instagram account at @mongoldean and my Twitter is also @MongolDean.

Caleb

Next summer after he graduates from high school, Caleb desires to travel to Mongolia to spend 6-9 months there furthering his study of Mongolian and experiencing missionary life as an adult. In addition to living in Mongolia for the first 11 years of his life, Caleb has also taken three short-term trips to Nicaragua and learned much Spanish.

Kristie and I are excited about what God is doing in each of our children's lives. We support Caleb in this endeavor because he believes that God has called him to do Bible translation work. He worked at a farm and has saved the past two summers to make it possible for this trip. He has more work to do this year to reach his goal.

His time in Mongolia will increase his effectiveness studying at Bible college. We know that God has great things ahead for him. Please pray with us that God will direct our son and provide for his needs. God is good … all the time.

Mongolian in California

I have been searching for Mongolians in the United States for some time now. I know that there are pockets of them. Until today, however, the only Mongolian I had met in America was in Utah. He had comverted to Mormonism in Mongolia and was doing his “mission” in Utah. But that was before I knew much Mongolian.

Yesterday at church some of the members told me about two Mongolians who run a Japanese food restaurant in Fairfield. So today, Caleb, Elsie, and I took a quick trip over to Fairfield. There we met Bat, a common Mongolian name. He did not want to talk about religion and could not comprehend why we would want to live in Mongolia. But we told him that we were Christians and left him with the Gospel of John.

Another prayer request for Mongolia

Please pray for the Mongolians to be a witness. The key to the evangelization of Mongolia is not missionaries but Mongolians.

Pray for Ganpurev to have work

I am grateful for those of you who are praying for our Mongolian brothers & sisters. Please pray for Ganpurev to have work. The last few months have been very slow.

Pray for the Mongolians to grow in faith and grace

Mongolias often seem like children when it comes to spiritual matters. Perhaps it is that most Mongolian believers are so young in the Lord. If a Mongolian has been a Christian – and living like one for 10 years – then he is among a handful of Christians who are. I recently met a woman at a church where I was speaking. Her first service in the church building where I was speaking was Easter 1946. She has been attending there ever since. In 1946 most Mongolians still could not read and write. So it is a major difference.

Please pray with me that God would cause the Mongolians to grow in their faith. So many times Mongolians fail to act on the Bible because they do not comprehend how biblical principle works. Take tithing as an example: humanly speaking, if a family is having trouble making both ends meet on their current salary, how is reducing their income by 10% going to make it possible for them to meet their financial obligations. In such circumstances, the Mongolians, lacking faith, just do not tithe.

In an American church if most families did not tithe, the church would find it hard to meet its financial obligations. But in Mongolia most churches obtain primary support from outside the country. It is very possible, even normal, for most Mongolian Christian families to be tippers not tithers giving when they think they can rather than giving by faith. So pray with me that in this area and many others, God would develop in the Mongolians the faith that they need.

Second, pray with me that the Mongolians would grow in grace. Grace is the desire and the ability to accomplish God’s will. Many Mongolians do not ever recognize that they must be seeking God’s will. Rather, they want to know the reason God is not more interested in their will. It is a maddening conundrum at times.

Another prayer request

As you pray for Mongolia, pray for wisdom for Jason, Chuck, and Bradley as they work to start a genuine Bible college with the government's permission. Starting a Bible institute in Mongolia is no problem. But obtaining permission to start a college or university, much less one that is overtly Christian, is another thing altogether. As Jason and I talked, I could tell that he was burdened to start not merely a Bible institute to train young people but a Bible college with the government's express permission so that he could grant degrees.

There are four things that he desperately needs. First, he will need unusual favor with the government as he pushes forward. The current president of Mongolia is intensely Buddhist. He is also a nationalist. Getting permission for a foreign run college much less a Christian one is going to be difficult. But I believe that God can do the impossible if we will pray.

Second, he will need a building where the college can meet. Perhaps in Africa, you can start out underneath a tree or in a grass hut. But in Mongolia where winter temperature are below zero (below -15 for those of you who deal in Centigrade), you need a warm building and a supply of heat.

Third, he will need a curriculum. It is possible to take English Bible textbooks and give them to students for whom English is a second (and not well understood) language. It is another thing to give them textbooks in their own language. Initially, someone will be doing much translation.

Fourth, he will need teachers, ideally again, teachers who can speak Mongolian.

So those are some prayer requests for the Bible college project.

Prayer requests

Over the next few weeks, I plan to post some specific ways that you can pray for Mongolia. Bradley Kubik and his family just arrived in Mongolia. Please pray that they would settle in nicely. Also pray for them as they begin to learn the language. Pray too for Chuck Webber and his family as they learn Mongolian.

I remember that learning Mongolian was one of the hardest mental challenges that I ever faced. Certainly, some people learn Mongolian more easily than I did (shout out to Bill Patterson); but for most of us, learning Mongolian is a daily struggle that lasts for the rest of one's life.