Received our residency permission

Today, I received my residency permission that is valid until May. I mentioned this last week. Join me in thanking the Lord for His goodness.

109 years ago...

The year is 1902 , one hundred and nine years ago ... What a difference a century makes!!

The average life expectancy in the US was forty-seven years of age.

Only 14 Percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.

The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year!

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home.

Ninety percent of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

The five leading causes of death in the US were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.

Crossword puzzles and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US.

Quote of the week

“The Bible was not so neglected a Book when the great revivals of 1857-1859 swept over the United States and Great Britain. Neither was it so neglected in Moody’s time. During the late Manchu dynasty, scholars were expected to know the classics of their sages by heart. How do the scholars of the so-called Christian lands measure up to that standard as regards the “World’s Great Classic”? It is nothing short of pathetic how so many, who come professedly to represent the Lord Jesus Christ..., know so little of His Word. Thirty years ago the missionary ideal was to know the Bible so well that one would not have to carry around a concordance.” — Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit [emphasis added]

COLD!

As you can see from the top photo, it was predicted to be cold all week with temperatures staying below zero even during the day. Today it won't even reach the -4 that was predicted. As you can see below, the temperature at about noon today was -26 F. It may get a little warmer today but not much, I think. I have been out walking in the cold twice today; and believe me, it is cold.

Please pray for Dashka

You really must pray for Dashka. His older brother died tonight which is the third death of a family member in the last month. His younger brother died suddenly of a heart attack and his wife died several days later after several years of battling cancer. Now his older brother's death from cancer is the third death in January.

We know that God does all things well. We know that God has a plan in all this. We know that God can be glorified even in personal tragedy. Pray that through such extreme circumstances Dashka's faith will be strengthened.

Many of you have let me know that you are praying for Dashka. I have passed those notes of encouragement on to him. Continue to pray.

Deans' weekly update

Last week there was no weekly update because I was in Shanghai, China looking for wood and tools for a carpenter shop. You may be wondering what a missionary is doing with a carpenter shop. Simple, I need a way to stay in the country and as long as I am running a business I can stay here ... maybe. But leave that "maybe" for now. Secondly, Proverbs teaches us that "In all labor there is profit." (14:23). I want these Mongolians to learn to work with their hands and see the fruit of their labor. But it's not primarily going to be my ministry. My father has agreed to come to Mongolia to teach the Mongolians the skills that he has learned over his decades of working in a woodshop. He even agreed to pay for the tools that would be needed to start the endeavor. So the money that you have sent me won't be used to buy woodworking tools. My father has always pledged enough of his own money to cover the cost of wood, as well.

Thus I went to Shanghai to visit my friend Matthew and check on obtaining supplies and tools there that we cannot find in Mongolia. It looks very promising except that a company that said they would help ship our purchases to Mongolia later changed their mind and said that they could not do it. This means that I need to find a Chinese export and shipping company. Another friend suggested a company in Ulan Bator. I will check with them this week.

Also, I will be dealing with the Mongolian bureaucracy this week to extend my residency permission. The law is set up so that I should be able to extend this permission without difficulty. But recently, the Mongolian bureaucracy has been making it more and more difficult for foreigners to stay in Mongolia. Many foreigners have left or been required to change jobs to stay. Please pray for God's will to be done. If He wants me here, they will extend my residency permission. Also pray for the proper shipping company to ship the wood and tools that my father needs for his project.

Good article to read about Mongolia

Bill Patterson sent this article to me, and after reading it I pass it on to you.

This Day in Baptist History

This day (January 21) is considered an important date in Anabaptist history. It is the day that Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock were baptized upon their profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The had previously been baptized as infants but came to the belief that baptism was intended for those who professed faith in Christ. Hence the name Anabaptist or re-baptizers.

Quote of the week

"We are apt to have a disproportionate view of a Christian because we look only at exceptions. The exceptions stand out as exceptions. The extraordinary conversions and phenomenal experiences are magnificent specimen studies of what happens in the life of everyone, but not one in a million has an experience such as the Apostle Paul had. The majority of us are unnoticed and unnoticeable people. If we take the extraordinary experience as a model for the Christian life, we erect a wrong standard without knowing it, and in the passing of the years we produce that worse abortion, the spiritual prig -- an intolerant un-likeness to Jesus Christ. The man or woman who becomes a spiritual prig does so by imperceptible degrees, but the starting-point is a departure from the evangel of the New Testament and a building up on the evangel of Protestantism." - Oswald Chambers

Deans' January prayer letter

January has already been a busy month. Tonga passed away on the 4th without having made a clear profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Although her eternal destiny is sealed, her death motivates me to do all I can to get out the good news that Jesus saves. Kristie and I both told Tonga the good news of a Savior and only regret that she obstinately refused to consider the claims of Christ.

On January 2, Battulga (pronounced Bat´·toll·luck) and Burnee (pronounced Bur·nay´) made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This couple has two little girls aged four and two. Because we want to see entire families united in faith, this husband and wife’s salvation is a joy to us all. Already we have begun discipleship lessons with them. So even in sorrow God has given us joy.

Tomorrow we will move into our new facilities. It will be a blessing to have expanded facilities. With the extra opportunities come added responsibilities, which the Mongolians will need to assume. I believe that God has been preparing them for this. Now pray that, as the Macedonians of old, their great trial of affliction and deep poverty will be the opening that God uses to show His joy and provision when we allow His Spirit to work through us.

These events are all the accumulation of many months and years of work. We are so thankful to God that He has called us to serve in Mongolia, and we look forward to many more years of service. Please pray for our residency permission renewal which must be completed by the first week of February. Although I do not anticipate any difficulties, since all our paperwork is in order, I know others who have left Mongolia recently because of difficulties maintaining their residency permission. I never forget that I am a foreigner in Mongolia by permission of the government - permission that could be withdrawn. Your prayers are appreciated.