Bayambaa's baby's picture

We were honored to be the first guests at Bayambaa's home on Friday to see her and her new baby girl. You might be wondering why I post so much about this little life. One, I like babies; and two, we've been a small part of her pregnancy: I've taken her to the hospital for check-ups and false labor (and real labor) multiple times, we've watched her son while her husband is at work and she is at the hospital, and we've been over to her house to help with little things now and then. So it is a joy to us to welcome this little life and present you all with a picture.

P.S. I've not told you what they named her because they haven't named her yet.

Death comes unexpectedly to those around us

"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart." Solomon's warning is one that most Americans ignore today. We would much rather go to a fellowship with good food, wholesome singing, and happy talk than to go to a funeral. But life continues to remind us that death is never far away.

My American partner in this work, Roland Gay, just two weeks ago stopped at a wreck minutes after it happened. Several Mongolians were severely injured and several dead were still in the vehicle when he arrived. I am certain when they left that morning that did not expect to be in an accident, but death comes unexpectedly.

In June a unusually dry spring resulted in many wildfires. Mongolia has a corps of firefighters that do an admirable job of fighting these types of fires. Recently while some firefighters were traveling from one fire to another, the helicopter that was transporting them crashed. Although the government knew immediately that the helicopter had crashed it took three days to find the crash site. By then 14 of the firefighters had died. Later the pilot, a nationally recognized helicopter pilot, also died. Only a few men survived.

Then two days ago, I met my neighbor waiting for the elevator to take us to the ground floor. After the customary greetings, I asked him where he was going. A friend had died he told me, and he was going to help - another death, another reminder of its inevitability.

Yesterday, I met with my language helper. He told me of a Norwegian student that he had. I must have met her during my studies at language school. She was a 36 year old, single doctor who loved Mongolia and talked of becoming a citizen. Sunday night she had sent a meesage to my language helper saying that it had been a long time since they had been together. Wednesday morning she did not wake up - another death, another reminder of death's unexpected visits.

I plan to preach this Sunday from the passage that I mentioned. I anticipate having several unsaved Mongolians in attendance. Please pray for the salvation of Bob and Buren and other unsaved Mongolians who will come. They think that they have lots of time, that death is far away. Who knows? Only our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for our salvation from sin's penalty!

Bayambaa's baby!

Bayambaa had a little girl this afternoon and seems to be in good health. I'll try to get a picture to you in the next few weeks. She weighed 3.4 kilograms or about 7 1/2 lbs. for those of you (like me) who don't do conversions in your head. Continue to pray for her husband Mandaa's salvation.

Buren's visit

I had a chance to visit Buren last night. After last Sunday's message on the sinfulness of man's heart, I was curious to see if he understood it. He said he understood it but the conversation did not go any further. Continue to pray for the conviction of the Holy Spirit in his sin-filled heart.

Bayambaa's baby soon?

Today may be the day that Bayambaa (this Bayambaa) finally has her baby. She called about 8:20 this morning asking for a ride to the hospital. I'll update the blog as I have more news.

Sunday update

Summertime here is like summertime in the States in which lots of people travel. Some simply do not come to church because they are enjoying the warm weather. In fact, it has been unseasonably hot here recently in the high 80's and 90's. That's about 20 degrees about normal for this time of year. Can you say "global warming"?

So I was encouraged Sunday to have a good group of nine Mongolian adults out yesterday. Bob and Buren were both there and part of the sermon I preached was on the inability of man to please God. I plan to follow up privately this week with both of them. Buren has started to be busy with work again. Still, he made time on Sunday to come, leaving after the service for work. Bob has a rather far-fetched scheme to make a bunch of money and cannot seem to think about anything else. So I may have trouble meeting with them. Please pray for both of them to be saved.

Bayambaa still hasn't had her baby. She is due this week, I think.

Missions quote

People who don’t know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives … and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted. – Nate Saint

Father's Day in Mongolia

There is no Father's Day in Mongolia; but being Americans, we observed some of the traditions of the day. My children and wife made me cards, everyone wished me a "happy Father's Day," and Kristie made a special cake to celebrate the day. I enjoyed the love and attention very much.

Attendance was down some today. I suspect that summer has something to do with it. The roads are seeming more and more empty as people leave the city to go to the countryside. Mongolians in government jobs often get a whole month of vacation and use it to leave the city. There is a general exodus out of the city as workers and many of the college students head to the countryside for the summer.

Just an update, Bayambaa (be - yim - baa!) still has not had her baby. Her father Tsendee (tsen - day!) came to our church services today for the first time in weeks. He had been in the countryside looking for a sheep. He starts work early in the morning and then comes directly after work to the church service. This morning he fell asleep during my lesson. Last week, I got lost will illustrating a point I was making and this week I had someone fall asleep during my lesson. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this speaking Mongolian thing.

Brief guide to pronouncing Mongolian names

Some of you are trying your best to make heads or tails of these Mongolian names. I forget that I've been in Mongolia struggling with these names for six years now. So to help you with some names that you find often in this blog, I am posting this guide.

But first, let me make some observations. Because Mongolians vowels can be quite different from American English vowels some of the pronunciations won't be quite accurate. But just say them with confidence. Like someone once told me with pronouncing Bible names, "Just say them with confidence and no one will challenge you about it." Also, the r in Mongolian is a trilled r much like one would encounter in the Spanish language. So say all the r that you see as if you were trying to pronounce a Spanish name. Also, the a should be like a in father.

Here's a list. The '-' will separate syllables and a '!' will indicate which syllable should be stressed. If there is no '!' in the name, stress the first syllable.

Buren = boo - ren
Sonin = sun - ing
Ganpurev = gam - per - ev
Ulzee = ull - zee!
Ganaa = gan - aa!
Bilgee = bil - gay!
Enkhee = ink - hay!
Bayambaa = be - im - baa!
Mandaa = man - daa!
Dashgaa = dash - gaa!
Tungaa = tone - gaa!
Ganbold = gam - bold

I think that covers everyone. I'll try to put together another update for these folks and post it soon.

I wrote two other attempts at pronouncing Mongolian names back in June and May. I think that reading all three together would be more confusing than helpful but am posting the links in case it helps you. Over the next few weeks, I will try to pull all this together and present one definitive guide and update. Pray for me.

Khongoroo

Khongoroo (Hung - graw!) was one of my first English students years ago. She was one of my hardest working students too. After I left English teaching she took over some of my classes. Dorothy was a friend to her, and so she used to come over quite often. We talked several times about Jesus Christ, and I thought that she was a Christian. She was attending church then.

For several years we lost touch, then a couple of months ago she called me to ask if I could help her with an English class that she was teaching. I agreed, and we had a chance to meet again. I found out that she had recently moved in with a fellow and that they were not attending church as regularly because she moved quite a ways from their church. She expressed an interest in attending our church services.

Please pray for her and her boyfriend Tamiraa (Tam - raw!) and for me as I seek to minister to them.