Some prayer requests

Ganpurev spent much of yesterday seeking medical attention for Aya, his mother-in-law. She is not doing well. I don't understand all the medical terms that he is using, but it seems to me that the cancer is starting to severely affect the regular functioning of her body. It is a testimony to God's grace that she has been with us as long as she has. Pray with us that God would give grace to the family and peace. Also, pray for Aya to be comfortable.

Tomorrow, Enkhtuul expects a decision to be handed down from the judge regarding her husband's request for a divorce. For us who have been praying for her, it seems like the moment of crisis. Legally speaking, there is no reason that the judge should not grant the divorce as I understand Mongolian law (which is to say, I don't). Let's pray that regardless of the judge's decision Enkhtuul will have peace. Also, pray for her husband Ganbayar to desire to return to his family.

This is a quote about Great Britain, but I think it has application to most of North America which shares a common heritage with England.

"We are a nation whose ideals were founded on the Bible. Also it is quite impossible to understand our literature without grasping this fact. That is the strong practical case for ensuring that children at school are given adequate instruction in the part which the Judaeo-Christian tradition has played in moulding our laws, manners and institutions." —Margaret Thatcher

April prayer letter

I really enjoy teaching. I have taught at a Christian high school, taught English as a second language, and have taught American Literature in a college. But I love to teach the Bible best of all. Since founding the Bible institute of Faith Baptist Church, I have taught a variety of Bible institute classes. More than simply giving Mongolian Christians knowledge about the Bible, the goal of the institute classes is to impart to them a love for the Bible and a desire to pass on the knowledge that they gain to others. The classroom environment with homework and assignments also gives Mongolians an opportunity to develop self-discipline. In the end, I purpose to develop godly men who know how to study the Bible for themselves and have a desire to teach that Bible knowledge to others.

Teaching a Bible institute class in Mongolia is a challenge. It starts with materials. A teacher does not simply go down to the Bible bookstore and pick out a book. Usually, there is not a textbook on the subject he wishes to teach, because Mongolian, as a language, has few speakers. There are dozens of languages in India with more speakers than Mongolian has around the world. So while there is a growing library of theological and Bible study books available in Mongolian, it still is a very small amount. A second issue is that often books here are given one (very small) print run. Which means that once a book is sold out, there is not another opportunity to buy it. Even in cases where I have found a book that would work for a class, by the time I arranged a class and returned to buy the needed books, they were gone. That means that for my Bible institute classes, I am translating material from English into Mongolian. Diagrams, charts, maps—all of these must be recreated and translated into Mongolian.

A chart of the Hebrew calendar I re-created in Mongolian for the class

This spring, I am teaching on the life of Christ. The focus on our Savior, His teachings, His miracles that prove His deity, His substitutionary death, and His marvelous resurrection has been a welcome one. I have four books from which I am pulling material and a variety of extra materials which I have prepared and been giving to my students. At the beginning of the class, I gave them a small notebook in which to keep the material that they have collected. Recently, two of my students told me that their notebooks were almost full. In addition, they are memorizing verses every week and outlining the book of Mark as we go along.

Students of the Bible institute class

It has been gratifying to hear that students notice the amount of material that they are learning about the Gospels and the life of our Savior. Several of the students have commented that they did not realize how much there was to learn. But I am excited to know that regardless of how much they may learn from this class, there is always more that they can learn.

Sudan

One of my friends in Mongolia and a man for whose salvation I have been praying has been deployed to South Sudan as part of a peace-keeping mission. I'm not sure what part of South Sudan he is in but have heard a lot about the fighting going on there. My friend's name is Erka. His wife is a member of Faith Baptist Church.

I made a point to go and visit him before he was deployed. He listened to me present the Gospel again. He even said that he believed in God. But he still is not willing to accept that he needs a Savior from sin.

Deans' weekly update: spring tiredness

They call it "khawriin yadargaa"; roughly translated it means, "The tiredness of spring." Not everyone in Mongolia is affected by it, but it seems that most are. I would describe it as a feeling of malaise that leads to carelessness in work and family. People feel like sleeping all the time, they are listless at their job, they frequently seem to be sick, and the excuse is "the tiredness of spring." I, too, have felt it. Though in my case, I think the tiredness stems from back pain that I have been experiencing at night that has interrupted my normal sleeping schedule.

The result spiritually can be dramatic: Christians quit reading their Bible, they quit coming to church because they slept in, they are careless in their relationships resulting in hurt feelings. It is at this time that a pastor must encourage the people God has given him to be reading their Bibles daily and to be fervent in prayer. Pray for the Mongolians to be eager followers of Christ and not just call themselves Christians.

In other news, we not only had Mongolians and Americans at the Sunday morning service this past weekend, we also had a lady from Singapore and another from the Ukraine. These two ladies were friends of Enkhtuul and had come to meet her church. It was an encouraging day to realize that though we come from many backgrounds, we all serve the same Savior.

Appearances can be deceiving

Appearances can be deceiving, especially in a society that does not follow God. In many cases, there is more concern for how things appear than what they really are. Today I came across two examples in one afternoon. 

We went to visit Ganaa today. She teaches the Mongolian language at a private  high school. Her school is somewhat unusual in that mostly of the students are foreigners. For almost all of them, Mongolian is a second language. But because the school is registered with the Mongolian Ministry of Education they are required to have the students study the Mongolian language including the Mongolian Old Script. 

Her students have not been doing well. They don't study; they don't apply themselves. All of their other classes are in English. For many of them, their primary exposure to Mongolian is in Ganaa's class. Many of them do not intend to continue their studies post high school in Mongolia. So according to Ganaa when they take the tests they do not score well. 

Well, it must be that poor test scores make the school look bad. The school's headmaster recently called Ganaa in to tell her that her students scores needed to improve. He did not tell her that the students need to be motivated or must do better on the tests. Instead he recommended that she give her students higher grades. She needs to score the tests so that the students receive grades that allow them to earn a certificate even though they haven't mastered the material. The headmaster's reasoning was that the students don't need to really learn Mongolian but they do need the certificate. Appearance is more important than reality. 

We left that visit with Ganaa to see a new store. I heard that it was a wholesale store, a branch of the Nomin stores that are common in our city. Hearing that it was a wholesale store, I imagined a larger than normal store with "wholesale" prices. Because Nomin stores are often competitive with other stores already, I imagined that the prices might be cheaper than the other Nomin stores. 

I was amazed at I walked into the store. The facade out front was impressive enough, but the store extended for some distance. It was laid out very similarly to a Costco store in the United States: high ceilings, a large area of clothes and books in the center, frozen goods towards the back, items still wrapped or boxed as if in a warehouse. 

Next I was surprised to note that the prices were the same as at the other Nomin stores.  For those of you who live in the Pacific Northwest it was as if Safeway decided to open a warehouse store and copy the interior of a Costco but keep the same prices. To the American mind, it doesn't even make sense. But to the Mongolian mind it's understandable. After all, it's the appearance that matters. 

Quote of the week

"When God looks at us, He does not see us so much as we presently are as for what we can become through His work in our lives. …He may love us as we are, but He also loves us too much to leave us that way." —Gary Inrig

Poverty in Mongolia, really?

There is no doubt that there is some serious poverty in Mongolia. But I am concerned that people think there is more poverty here than there really is. Today I came home from a meeting and looked out my window to see a Hummer limousine parked below. While I took a few pictures it was passed by a second Hummer as you can see in the first picture.

A few minutes later, I went down the stairs to take a picture from another angle. In the minute or two that I was down there the Hummer limousine was passed by a Mercedes SUV. And remember, financing a car purchase in Mongolia is not as easy as it is in the States. Many of these vehicles are bought with cash.

Weekly update

The weather is increasingly warm in Mongolia. After months and months of experiencing cold, one rejoices in temperatures above freezing. Somewhere I saw a report that it may be as warm as 73 F on Wednesday, but the same place predicted snow and temperatures below freezing on Thursday. Those of us from the Pacific Northwest are not used to such dramatic changes in weather.

We had four visitors Sunday night. I received a text on Saturday asking if I would pick someone up at a hotel downtown. It turned out to be a Filipino who came to work in Mongolia. He ended up being a friend of a friend of one of our regular attenders. Also, the Filipino man and I talked during our trip to the church meeting. He gave a clear testimony of salvation. In addition, a young Mongolian man who comes occasionally came and brought three relatives with him. After I helped him this past week he told me that he would come. He brought his brother and two cousins. I was preaching on the resurrection of Christ and was preaching the Gospel. Please pray for the salvation of Mongolian men.

But not only do Mongolians need to be saved, they need to grow in steadfastness. Please pray for this.   Many times we respond to God culturally rather than Biblically. For example, many Americans attend church because their parents attended church. They have no relationship with God that motivates them to gather with His people. They attend out of cultural habit. Similarly, many Mongolians only visit a Buddhist temple or go to see the shaman when they have a difficulty. They end up treating God the same way: they only attend church when there is some difficulty. Breaking the pattern of thinking that one need not attend church when things are going well is part of our work here. It's work that we are privileged to have but that we need the power of God to see progress.

How about you? Do you maintain a religious front because of cultural pressure? Do you long to skip a church service but worry that someone might call you to ask what is wrong? Do you attend out of a sense of duty? Examine your own heart and see if your relationship with God needs to be strengthened!

Small victories

Sometimes it's the small victories that encourage us.

This past week, Ganpurev and I met with another church member to pray. At this prayer meeting this church member mentioned that he had another engagement on Sunday that would keep him from church. Some fellow parents at his children's school had signed him up for some sort of sports contest and he wouldn't be able to come to church.

Ganpurev pointed out that by baptism and claiming to be a follower of Christ, this member had signed up to be at church. And I added, I would immediately sign him up to serve on Sunday morning. Actually, this fellow already has a place of service every Sunday but has often been careless and not fulfilled that role.

It's Sunday morning, and I just heard from this man that he will be at the church meeting and in his place of service. Praise the Lord! I know this means that he will disappoint others who were expecting him to be at the sports contest. I also know how difficult it is for him to disappoint people. But I would rather he disappointed people to please the Lord. I think the difficulty for him is that people are so close and sometimes the Lord seems so distant.

Pray for these Mongolians to take seriously their commitment to Jesus Christ.