"Only You" by Michael the Mongolian Songwriter

I believe it was about November 2005 when I first heard the Mongolian song "Only You"

We were up at the prison outside of Darhan about 10 miles.  After some Bible reading and testimonies that were mildly received, I was amazed by the way the prisoners joined in with the singing of this song to God with heart and feeling.  The chorus really reminded me of a Native American melody or something of a soaring battle cry in a minor key.  

Today a friend of mine from church stood up to talk for a little bit.  He was talking about this song and about how he had been through some terribly lonely and painful times.  I happen to know his story well, and that he never knew his father, and was raised by his mother and brothers until he was nine.  At that age his mother died, and he spent 8 years in orphanages in Ulaanbaatar.  

On top of that when he was a toddler he suffered an injury that disabled him.  Throughout his youth he went through many surgeries, which helped a little.  But he still walks today with a severe limp.  These are only the beginnings of some of the struggles he's endured.

"Only You" starts something like this:

"When I was sad and alone,

Only You were there...

Lost in the dark
You heard my prayer
By your own great Light and Love
You lo-ov-ed me"

then the chorus...

"Only You in my Life

Gave me faith and hope,

Only You by your own great love,

Loved me"

It is a sad song but is sung in churches because it touches to the depths of faith, hope and love.  Since that day in 2005 at the prison, its been my favorite Mongolian praise song.  

Now to hear my friend stand up in church today and tell about how he came up with these words soon after getting saved in the year 2000.  And later a friend of his coming up with the melody, they had each been used by God to create a beautiful piece of art for the church and kingdom.  God sent me the very author of these words to be my friend and fellow church-goer.  One church lady was in tears as she celebrated God sending us such a talented writer of a song sung all over Mongolia.

After he shared the story of the song, he played and sang it beautifully and we all sang along.  This was before the sermon and rest of the service.  But even after all that the people I talked to were still a little watery-eyed, his and mine included.  It wasn't hard to give my friend a hug and tell him great job.  

God bless Michael, whose Mongolian given name means Live-Forever.  I'm so glad he is in the family of God, where by the wounds of Jesus, he found a home in heaven, and a fullness of faith, hope and love forever.  May God get the glory from his story and song.

Weakness Turns to Strength

Today's sermon was about Hanna, the mother of Samuel, from the first chapter of 1 Samuel.  Hanna was a beloved married wife but her womb was barren.  So she begged God for a child constantly in the Temple.  She begged so fervently that the priest thought she was drunk while she poured out her heart to the Lord.  She promised she would dedicate her child to the service of the Lord if he would open her womb.

He did and she did.  "After he was weaned" Hanna took Samuel to the Temple to be raised and trained by Eli the priest.  Samuel was much more faithful than Eli's own sons, and was called and grew to become a great prophet in Israel.  He would later anoint the first Kings of Israel, Saul and David.  All this greatness sprang from a frailty in the flesh, which God overcame by hearing the prayer of a grievous woman named Hanna.

There were several good illustrations of strength coming out of weakness.  A pearl, jumping, and an arrow, are the three I recall.  A pearl is a response to a foreign invader into a living organism.  Then the oyster kind of cries, and makes a white surface around the sand way the preacher explained it.  Then this happens again until it becomes a pearl.

The second illustration was about jumping.  Anyone who has tried to jump high has discovered that the lower you get, the higher you can jump.  So our lowest points morally or spiritually were meant to illustrate the depth and height of God's love.  Keeping those lows secret robs God of glory.  But making them public gives us great power and glory to God.

The last similar illustration is the pulling pack of an arrow in a bow.  Ever feel like you're being held back?  Maybe its all for a purpose, so that when the time is right, you are released to really go far.  If you're only pulled back a little, you won't fly very far.

There was also one more about the Disney elephant Dumbo.  His ears were his shame growing up, but when he grew up and realized their purpose, they carried him to higher heights than all the lows of shame and teasing they had brought him.

The challenge at the end was that when God does his work of turning our weakness into strength, let's be among the 10% who come back to him and gratefully serve, and giving him glory.  Let's not be among the 90% who remember God when things are tough, get our prayers answered and then go back to our old life serving self and forgetting God.

Admitting our faults is to find true and lasting strength.

Goodbye Grandpa

Grandpa Bisheimer

I first met Renee’s Grandpa Peter Bisheimer at our wedding in Ohio in 2000.  A tall man, he loved his little gal, Grandma ‘Jenny’, who was with him then.  He accompanied and cared for her well, which I saw again when we were with them for the second time, in their condo in Fort Myers Florida a few years later.  

In 2005, as we were getting ready to go away for four years overseas service, Grandpa and Grandma came up to Ohio to say goodbye.  It was great to see what a loving patient man he was, already eighty years old, reading to 2 year old Lydia on his lap.  I remember saying when he was saying goodbye to 2 month old baby Johanna, ‘this is so sad’, because we didn’t know if either of them would be there when we got back.

That farewell in Ohio was the last time we got to see Grandma.  But in 2009, we went to see Grandpa again in Florida.  He hosted us all of us at his home and helped us on our way to Disney World.  He was so outgoing, and a friendly neighbor.  I remember everyone saying hi to ‘Pete’ around his condo.  

One morning he brought us all to the poolside ‘country club’ for a pancake feed.  I remember the girls really liking that, everyone liking Grandpa, and him being proud of his grand and great-grand children.  

He loved sunny Florida and liked to take us out to eat and to the area attractions.  He took us golfing, to the beach, and to the “Shell Factory”.

One time after he had moved back to Ohio to be closer to family, I told him I was going down to Florida to speak in a church, flying into Fort Myers.  He didn’t miss a beat, and quickly quipped:  “You can say hi to my bartenders”.  

It tickled me because though he may have had some of those in his early years, I never saw him take a drink, other than iced diet decaf pepsi on the rocks.  

Grandpa was a gentle man of faith to me.  He was the last grandpa I had, and maybe the one I knew best because he happened to live the longest.  I will miss his humor, handshake, friendship and presence as the family ‘patriarch’.

Two wars couldn’t end his full life of 90 years. I look forward to seeing Grandpa on the other side.  With him there, I know heaven will be a festive place to be.  

Welcome home Grandpa.  We love you.

Ice Sculptures and Lights for 2015

Ranch Ice Skating

Shell's barnyard proved the best skating rink in Darhan for us on Christmas Eve.

Project Center Christmas Party

Joy to the World

 The girls were asked to sing a song for Christmas in church at a Sunday morning service.

A Great End to a Good Year

Merry Christmas from Mongolia 2014 

Dear Friends:

It’s fun to reflect on all the food and presents and blessings of Christmas, especially after the frantic pace of preparation is finally past.  Christmas this year was a bountiful one for the Bergevin family.  The girls sang Joy to the World in church the Sunday before Christmas.  Johanna was especially joyful in singing.  

We started Christmas eve with a luncheon at work with our 12 Mongolian staff members of the project center.  Aggie, a young  mother and our cleaning lady agreed to cook the meal.  She decided on horse meat as the food of honor for the festive occasion.  She then borrowed a pressure cooker from the security guard Shinee, who did not know how to use it.  Neither did many of the rest of us.

As the preparations and smells were bustling about Cama Center, Renee’s head poked in my office door to say that horse grease was all over the kitchen and Shinee had burns on his face.  I set out for the store leaving the mess and smell in search of last minute items and burn ointment.  

Shinee fortunately escaped without blisters and was seated beside Renee when we finally sat down to a beautiful banquet to sing Silent Night and pray a blessing over the food.  The meat was tremendous.  The pressure and spicing must have been perfectly done because it was tender, flavorful, and moist, if a little cold from waiting for everyone to come to the table.  Praise the Lord there was no hint of that smell of a frothy horse rode down on a hot summer day.  Previous horse meat experiences have been so.

Dawaa, whose English name is David is the leader of Cama’s Financial Freedom Training and the Alliance Association of churches in Mongolia.  Dawaa told the story of Jesus’ birth, and explained the meaning of the word Christmas, and many of the symbols that surround the holiday, all pointing to Jesus, born to bring us eternal life. After the talk, he led us through Games with prizes. Though young, Dawaa is married to Bainaa, Cama’s Family Counseling Leader, and also the father of two young children.  He won most of the games, a new bible and did all the dishes as well.

Next we picked up the kids and new-to-Mongolia colleague Chelsea for some ice skating.  She was visiting from Ulaanbaatar where she teaches English after coming in August from Ohio to serve here for a year.  

The skating rink we planned to go to was packed with people.  Probably forty students circled on one end, while a hockey team in full gear filled the other.  Bad music blared out of blown speakers.  The people in the skate shack treated us like attraction in the zoo.  No wonder celebrities go so crazy.  Rather than be driven that way too, we drove away.  

The hockey rink by the sports complex looked promising when we pulled up.  But inside the fence there was grass poking up through snow.  

So off to our friend’s ranch we drove.  Their ice rink is a flooded part of their  barn yard, but the best in town for a peaceful Christmas eve skate.

Dusk brought bitter cold and the sinking feeling there was still a lot of Christmas shopping not done, and most stores closing about seven.  We stopped by the ‘Stuff Mart’ about six on the way home for a ham dinner.

While Renee put the finishing touches on Christmas dinner, Maggie, and Johanna needed to go to the pet store to shop for Lydia.  They got her some fish and asked me to hide it for them until Christmas morning. We got home to eat about 7:30 pm.  After dishes, Renee and I went out, both needing to shop a bit more, awkwardly we found out, for each other.

Most everything was closed, so we didn’t get each other much.  We got home about 10 pm.  We got the kids in bed and started to put gifts out at about 11.  We got into bed after 1 am.  

Mercifully, morning came just before 8 when Clara and Johanna came into our room announcing: “Merry Christmas!  There’s presents out there!”  We opened presents for about two hours or more.  The kids started right in on all the candy they had been given so there was no hurry for breakfast.    

Except for Josiah who opened a box of Apple Jack cereal, his favorite, and watched the rest of us open presents while he ate a big bowl of his present.  

We finished unwrapping around ten in the morning.  More coffee, then fried  eggs with last night’s leftover ham.  About the time we were wondering what kind of starch we would have with them, a knock came at the door. Mark and Toby Wood held out a fresh pan of cinnamon rolls from Cinda.

We had nothing planned the rest of the day until evening.  At 5 pm we arrive at church in time to greet the folks at the Christmas celebration.  But we couldn’t stay because the Darhan pastors had arranged for the whole body of Christ to sing Christmas carols in the center of town square at dusk.  

Unfortunately both events were supposed to start at five.  We figured they would start late so we showed up for caroling carrying our candles at about 5:35.  People who had showed up at five were already cold and tired of waiting.  We waiting about 15 more minutes before someone appeared behind a microphone to announce that the song leader was late.  A few minutes before 6 a group of singers and a man with his back to the crowd began to make some noise.  It was a mixed scale rendition of Silent Night.

We tried to sing loud enough to drown out the out of tune chorus ahead.  In the mean time, the cups they handed out to shield candle flame from the breeze were wax-coated and highly flammable.  Several had to be stamped out on the freezing concrete slab on which we stood.  After the first song, the singing improved and we all sang in one single chord. 

New believer Tobo came with his two kids.  Though they didn’t know the songs, but enjoyed holding the candles.  One of the kids singed a piece of the fake fur on his or her hood.  

The cold was unbearable.  Renee had to take Josiah to the car before it was over.  Lydia was also too cold to stick it out and followed suit.  

While we waited for the Wood family to meet us for dinner, we went to the theater square, where out front was a huge lighted Christmas tree about 40 feet tall.  More amazing than that were the 12 ice sculptures surrounding in a circle. Several pieces had colored lights inside them and all the ice was crystal clear.  The most amazing one was one of a Mongolian countryside  herdsman couple in traditional dress.  

Now it was 6:30 and time for our reservation at the Chinese restaurant.  When we talked about going there for Christmas, someone suggested we may need to sing “fa ra ra ra ra ra” and have roasted duck ala The Christmas Story.  But our waiter was Mongolian and we mostly ate sweet and sour chicken.  It was great as usual.  The fried spicy stir fried mutton, not so much.  But we took it in a doggie bag.  There was a kid who had been asking for food on the way in.  He was still there when we went to leave, and asked Renee so we gave it to him.

We got home in time to start Its a Wonderful Life with Chelsea.  It was fun seeing it with someone who hadn’t seen it much before, like seeing it anew.  Maggie and Lydia joined, but Johanna, Clara, and Josiah went to bed.

We were able to sleep in the next day a bit.  About 9:15 am the video calls with Ohio began.  The kids got to see the Papa and ‘Grandburger’ along with Uncle Aaron and Ashley.  Then Lydia had to go to her horse-head fiddle lesson.  Afterwards, the kids went out sledding.  

Jeremy joined Dawaa on a visit to our Cama employee’s home because his wife, who also used to work for us, has terminal liver cancer.  Dawaa anointed her and we prayed for healing and comfort.  I think she and her family were encouraged by the visit, and hopefully we will better know how to help them and support them in this trial after seeing them.

Around 4 pm, as the day’s light began to fade, we all pulled on our snow pants and warm clothes, grabbed the sleds and piled them and ourselves into he car.  We drove up the hill on the south side of town, parked facing north downhill toward Darhan and piled out and onto the sleds.

Johanna’s new red plastic one was the champ in new snow, but the yellow wooden one was a blazing bomber on the packed down dirt road surface.  Josiah’s new red sled ended up with a new hole in it when a sister rode it.

Dusk fell and the cold followed.  All piled back in the car and eased down the hill and into town.  The girls complained about cold toes.  The kids sat with Chelsea in the car as Renee and I went into a store to return the boots she got for Christmas, which were a half a size too small.  Then we dropped by the ice sculptures again and took some pictures.

Then it was home for Renee’s hot beef soup which some wanted to call chowder.  It was award-winningly good, especially after sledding.  Unfortunately she was unable to make rolls because the replacement bread maker part she got for Christmas was somehow the wrong size.   

The Wood family came up and we played cards.  They went home about ten.  We all had pie and sat down to watch the rest of Its a Wonderful Life.  

It was a wonderful Christmas, with plenty of food, fun, love and presents.  God be praised He is God with us in Jesus, Emanuel.  May we all sense his Love and presence in the gift of Life through the new year and eternity.

Merry Christmas from All of Us,

Jeremy, Renee 

Maggie, Lydia, Johanna, Clara, and Josiah

P.S.  We went to Ulaanbaatar on the 27th for New Years.  We enjoyed Pizza Hut in Mongolia!

Sobering Space

Even when we cooperate with law enforcement, police, and prisons, getting folks to admit their alcohol or other problem through their shyness/denial is the main battle.  No amount of time behind bars or shame can bring about the change if the person denies the problem exists.  But if anyone were to hit bottom, jail might be a good place to do it.

We are grateful for recent opportunities to partner with area prisons, jails, even the local drunk tank, where people wake up and dry out after being apprehended by police.  

Every Tuesday morning we get to share the possibility of sobriety and healing with a literally captive audience of Mongolians who have been jailed for drunkenness.  What they really want is out of jail, but some people's relatives won't get them out.  We want to see them freed from their addictions and freed eternally.  

Our hope is that the invitations we pass out will lead people to discover the steps and possibilities of overcoming alcohol and sin addiction through Celebrate Recovery.

Celebrating the Small Steps

So when your neighbor drops in to talk about neighborhood issues and offers you to share a basement storage unit, I guess he must trust you.  Our neighbor did this the other night.

He is a man around 60 years old named Eternity.  An older man coming to visit a younger one is quite a step, and he has work so it wasn't about the money.  He offered it as a neighborly gesture and let us store the kids' bikes and sleds in there before for free.

Eternity has read the Bible quite a bit.  I've seen the Bible he has read and it is quite worn. I being the missionary usually bring up the subject of Jesus and spiritual things.  But the other night when we were done talking about locks, doors, and storage and stuff, he brought up the spiritual subject...

"One day this winter when we're free let's plan some times to talk for about the Bible", and then he really surprised me saying, "Then one Sunday I'd like to visit your church"!

You could take this as if I'm a bad missionary because I didn't offer and get him to church before.  But relationships in Mongolia are funny.  If you're too forward, people shy away easily.  Plus then they are compelled by politeness and everyone ends up feeling like the visitor did everyone a favor by coming to church.

But praying for God to draw people is the sure way that the favor rests with God.  He alone can draw sinners to himself, and then the responsibility is on the sinner to come to Jesus.  We are the debtors and he is the Forgiver.  Grateful that God is answering prayer.

If you want to join us in praying for our neighbor, pray that the conversations and church visits happen, and that Eternity understands what is required to experience eternal life.  Pray for him and his whole family to come to find forgiveness and full life in Christ.

What is Grace?

The Heresy of Grace

Grace is unmerited favor.  It’s getting something you don’t deserve.  Acting as if you deserve it, is abuse of grace.  Grace is not a means to satiate the desires of the flesh, mocking God in willful sins that assume He is ‘bound’ to forgive.  He is not.  Grace does not negate or deny the truth.  It freely admits wrong behaviors, words, thoughts as a path to forgiveness and freedom from sin.

Today’s understanding of grace seems to have overshadowed truth.  Saying something ‘is not wrong' is untrue.  In our culture and even churches at times seems to me closer to politeness or the all-allusive ‘appropriateness’ or even prudence. 

Certainly it is not wrong to be polite, mind your own business and avoid being rude.  The Love chapter 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us, “love is not rude”.  Note it also doesn’t mention love being polite. But too much politeness can lead to avoidance of the truth; a kind of polite paralysis if you like.  

Similarly, “appropriateness” may have its place, but it makes a miserable life-goal or god in itself.  “That’s inappropriate” you hear even children say these days.  Certainly there have to be rules about behaviors, and some are unacceptable.  But to make being appropriate or politically correct the main goal is to be bound to culture, human opinion, or conventional society.  We can avoid doing anything hard or true or right because of a fear of being labeled “inappropriate”.  Such can be a kind of neo-law that actually holds back grace.

Prudence is important to remember, especially in eternal matters and may help us avoid rash or careless words or acts.  But to continually say or think “wouldn’t be prudent…at this juncture” is to put off acting altogether.  This is not grace. It is a coward’s excuse to disobey.

To use politeness, appropriate, or prudence as an excuse to do no true grace.  Rather, admitting our own wrongs, remembering all we’ve been forgiven of, we become free to act with grace toward others.  Accepting the truth of our own sin is essential to a correct understanding and life lived in grace.  If you or I are obviously judgmental, legalistically religious, who would dare to show us their vulnerabilities?  How much less would they show them to God?

Grace is unmerited favor.  We abuse it if we get too used to it, believe the lie that we deserve it, or lose sight of the truth altogether.  Speaking the Truth in Love, we demonstrate God’s own love for us.  “That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This is true grace, and delivers us from the Law and the lies of the evil one.

What about a fall from grace?  Is this like your luck running out?  Or being down on your luck?  If you think about grace as unmerited favor, but then you start to act as if God loves you because of how great you are, then it is very possible for that favor to turn to displeasure.

Think about a child/parent relationship.  The kid is making mud pies and presenting them with love to the parent.  The favor and pleasure of the parent is not for the performance of the great tasting pie, but for the intent and love in the service.  

Imagine the child grows up to be a baker of world renowned pies, becomes rich and famous in Paris and New York.  Pride causes him to begin pushing people around.  The favor of ‘God and man’ is removed and people begin to resent and despise him.  Soon he is exposed for some proud sin like tax evasion or abuse of employees and experiences a “fall from grace”.

Is this the same thing as your luck running out?  I don’t know, but 2 Peter 3:17,18 implores God’s people: “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” 

        Grace is favor granted by God to those who don’t deserve it.  Did God have to come to earth and suffer death for us in Jesus Christ?  How many parents do you know who go to prison for their children’s crimes, even submit to the death penalty for them?  Certainly there may be some who have wanted to.  What if our justice system allowed it?  How many little old ladies would have been hung from gallows in the old west.  That would have been gruesome enough, but then what if the criminal then came and trampled on her grave, or worse, all the while demanding he deserved more?  Most anyone would say the criminal was undeserving and the punishment unjust. Any reasonable person would long for the spoiled, abusive criminal to bear his own punishment.

The truth is “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6 and Proverbs 3:4)  Let us humbly remember we don’t deserve grace, lest we fall.

Big Families Gather

Hi Folks, In this season of Thanksgiving, it is good to see God's bounty.  We are not the only American missionary family in Darhan with five kids.  Our friends live and minister in Mongolia on a farm just outside of town.  Here are their kids and ours, all 10, around our table this fall.  God is good.  It's fun to get together and gather to celebrate.

No Silver Bullet, but Silver Lining

So signing in to write about our Celebrate Recovery meetings, I see the previous post about a magic potion.  There isn't one.  When people come to CR, many have several times looked other recovery options, including chemical treatment, changing locations, or even Christian conversion.

There was a man last night who came whose name means Courage.  He is homeless and missing teeth and blind in one eye.  But he was sober and said that some social medical people were planning to give him some time in a local hospital for some other health needs.  So he will have a chance to dry out.  At CR, he can talk about the choices and some of the pain that may have caused him to make his life choices.  Unraveling the maze of a lifetime of turns and twists will take time.  But who has more time than God, or a homeless man?  These are God-sized problems, that I believe only God can heal.

There is another regular attender of our CR whose name means Peace.  He is 42 and never married.  He has been a long time believer in Jesus which has kind of made him the black sheep of the family, perhaps also because he is unemployed.  But he is finding healing and place to talk out his problems.  Celebrate Recovery has a slogan that "you're only as sick as your secrets".  CR is a safe place to talk about hurts, hang-ups and habits, where people  can get hints into the places where they need healing, and find freedom from whatever has caused poor life choices.

Last night we had to refuse one man into the small group circle who had come after drinking.  That makes it a little hard for anyone else to get a word in edgewise, if someone is speaking from the 'spirits' of the liquid variety.  But there is hope, since he seems to be coming around a little more sober each time.  I believe he will come dry next week.  His name means Lucky.

CR seems like AA and other recovery groups to be where people come when they run out of all other options.  It is not a magic potion, but it is a place where God willing, love, grace, and truth can help people find the courage to face the phantoms of their past with faith and press into a brighter future of freedom from hurts, hang-ups, and habits.

Magic Potion

Today we went to the market to invite people to our first fall Celebrate Recovery meeting. We ended up at the place in the market where men spend the day shooting pool on dilapidated outdoor felt tables.  Most were curious what we were doing there.

Trying to explain the idea behind recovery, I used the following:

"If you could drink a potion that would make you never drink or smoke again, how much would that be worth?"  Talking people through how much money they drink per month, some estimated $100. That's a lot in a country where that's more than the monthly minimum wage.

Add to that freedom from tobacco and other vices, and they start to understand the value such a potion might have.  Then they learn it is free, but not really liquid, but invisible spirit.  (Not the kind of spirits they were just talking about)

I'm not sure the potion pitch will really bring people to the meeting.  At least maybe it would open their eyes to their need for the gospel a little bit.  Most of them asked right away anyway: "you mean Jesus?"  He is not a magic potion I know.

But think of how valuable He has proven to those who have been delivered from bondage.  How much money and pain has he saved you?

Openings for the Message

Our internet has been bad lately.  After signing back up for the same service, they claimed the speed had doubled from 1MB to 2MB/second.  This was great news.  But then we started experiencing about a tenth of that speed and frequent outages of service.

So we complained and they said our phone line was defective, the same word we use to describe human's sinful nature.  So we had some fun saying our phone line was sinful.

But the sent out a repairman the next day, and he found that the line inside our house was almost completely severed.  No wonder the phone wasn't working!

I was grateful and offered the guy some tea.  I asked him how long he had been working for the Mongolian post office.  He answered 26 years, the offered "I'm doing my work and then I'll die" as kind of a joke.  So I had my opening to talk about eternal things.

"What happens after you die?", I asked.  "I think I'll probably become an animal", he answered.  I have heard and read about Buddhism's belief in reincarnation for years, but never actually heard someone expect to come back as an animal.  He was mostly serious I think.  As he drank his tea, we found out we are the same age.  Which means he must have started working when he was 18.  He said he married early so his kids were grown.

I really liked the way he opened up to me.  Finally he asked what I do for work.  Mongolia is a simple place and men especially subscribe to the Solomonic view:  "The more the words the less the meaning".  (Ecclesiastes 6:11)  So I have learned to get my answer about my work down to one word like they usually do: 'Carpenter', 'driver', 'teacher'.

I might have done any of these jobs in my work in Mongolia, but none of them really captures the purpose of my coming.  Neither does saying 'I work at a project center that helps people and families'.  So I just say one word: 'Esus', which is pronounced YAYsus in Mongolian.  People understand immediately that my job and purpose is spiritual.  The name Jesus means "the Lord saves", and opens ears to do my job, deliver that message.

He responded that he has a relative who follows Jesus.  Then I asked him if he would like to go to "the eternal country" as most Mongolians like to say.  He acted like he couldn't conceive of that.  So I tried to say to him gently the truth Jesus said about himself: Yasus bol monxiin amiin zam'...  (John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life") "Jesus is the road to eternal life".

Many people who have been in Christianity for years still cannot say for sure that they are going to heaven.  But that's why Jesus came to earth, to die to forgive our sin, and rise again to secure our place in heaven.  Jesus' own words recorded in John 3:15 have jumped out at me again lately: "so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life."

I am glad for the opening I got to point someone to the truth yesterday in Mongolia.  For that is the main purpose I was sent here.  It is hard when you get distracted or darkness dampers people's desire to hear about light.  But sometimes God gives us a good opening to deliver the message of life.  Another Mongolian friend of mine said recently when we were reading and talking about eternal life, and I asked him 'does this sound good to you'?  He answered: "Of course! I'm going to fear death aren't I?"

Not any more will he need to fear, because the Lord gave him faith to trust Jesus for eternal life.  And now he can say he is saved from his sins to live forever in heaven.

Let's hope that the same thing happens someday for the guy that fixed my phone line.

Strawberry Rides Again - Reflections

Upon our return to Darhan, we were all glad to see that our aging horse Strawberry Roan was in excellent health. He is back to his homeland and wears it well. We got him here about 7 years ago.  He is probably 14 or 15 years old now, which is pretty old for a Mongolian horse.  Josiah fits perfectly in the same kid's saddle that his daddy and Grandma Suzy also rode as children.  

When we were driving to Darhan from Ulaanbaatar a day after we got off the plane, Josiah woke up from his nap and exclaimed "Whoa!" at seeing all the free-range herds of livestock all over the prairie and crossing the road in front of us.  A few minutes later he announced for all in the car to hear:  "I like this place!"  So do we.

Back in Darhan

Well here we are, back in our three bedroom apartment in Darhan.  As we settled back in we noticed our family keeps getting bigger in number and size, but our living space is not.

So that means we have to stay on top of our western materialist tendency to accumulate more stuff.  We must be vigilant to let go of stuff we don't use.  True freedom is not in owning a lot of stuff, but making sure your stuff doesn't own you, someone smarter than me has said.  We can waste a lot of time categorizing and storing stuff if we're not careful.

Less is more.  As Jesus said, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." Luke 12:15

We had a minor infestation of moths into our rugs in that we left out, especially the parts that we under the couch and in the hall runner.  We had to throw out some of them, but one is still good enough to use at work.  "But keep on storing up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy". Matthew 6:20

It's been good to get desk and office set up there at the Cama Project Center.  Setting up an office for Celebrate Recovery is a first step in seeing more and more CR groups built into local churches to help set folks free from destructive hurts, hangups, and habits.

One of the first days back in our apartment, our friends' children came knocking on our door with a basket of two fully prepared meals and a bunch of dairy products from their farm.   What a blessing!  Another couple nights later they had us our to dinner at their place.  The Shell family also has 5 kids, so we were 14 around one well stocked table.  

The summer is pretty warm here.  The forecast occasionally calls for rain, but there hasn't been much.  Only one brief thunder shower one morning last week for about 30 minutes.  Renee and I just took a Sunday after-lunch walk thinking we might need a sweatshirt.  We needed hat and sunglasses instead and didn't have them.  It's hot out there, probably 80!

Showing up during the Naadam summer fair festival season, a lot of places were closed for the 5 day National Holiday.  So it was a good time for unpacking and settling in.

Some times have fun have included the kids playing with their friends and school mates, who live just downstairs.  Also riding our horse Strawberry, and playing in dirt piles for the younger kids.  Later this summer we hope to go camping and maybe fishing.

Overall, it's nice to be back somewhere for longer than a year and to clear out of suitcases for a good long while God willing.  Pray for our churches and Christian brothers and sisters to overcome the current of culture dominated by power and poverty.  

May we be found faithful in making disciples and delivering the message to Mongolians.

Wrapping Up Great Summer

Hello from Ohio!

We are settled in after a nice summer of swimming, biking, camp, vacation on the lake, eating good American food and enjoying seeing friends and family. 

The kids are in school and I'm getting ready for my fall speaking tour of churches in Ohio, West Virginia, Western PA, and upstate New York, which begins September 15th.

Hope to get a more detailed update out soon.  But for now want to alert you to a new email address for me.  The hotmail will be going away, so please save jerbergevin@me.com ... 

God bless you with His best for today and beyond.

In Christ,

Jeremy

A Few Wins

Our local yokel chapter of the semi-pro mens basketball Sprite League entered the playoffs this weekend.  We had two regular season games against two pretty poor teams.  Then we had to play one of the teams again as the first game in the playoffs.  Then we had a break for a few hours before our final game for the weekend.  Lo and behold we played the same team we had just beaten again!

I think in this third game with us of the weekend, the other team was hoping to finally get a win.  And they were surprisingly ahead deep into the third quarter.  A special kind of fear seeps in when you're down to a team you know you can beat because you just did, not once but twice.  Suddenly the ball wont bounce right, won't stay in your hands, and frequenly gets passed to 'phantom' players who were not there.  This kind of fear was making our best players miss shots they normally make.

Fortunately we were able to crank up the defense and rebounding on the other end of the floor and they started to get intimidated a bit too.  In the end we beat them again.  It's not all that fun to play the same team three times in a weekend.  But it is nevertheless fun to win.

The biggest win came later after our evening English church service.  Mongolians and expats all enjoyed singing hymns in English acapella.  Then Renee and our kids' teacher gave brief testimonies about the power of God.  Then I read a short sermonette on the power of faith to overcome fear.  We lingered for almost an hour afterward drinking tea and eating some treats that Renee had brought.

When we got home, we got word that a Mongolian young lady who attended the service had decided to follow Jesus.  This was especially sweet because Natatlie, the girls' school teacher has been working with and praying for her for almost two years.  We were grateful that God had worked in "Ruby"'s heart to give her faith to believe in Jesus and receive God's love and eternal life.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who wins souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30 KJV)

A Good Weekend

I don’t know if it’s a good sign or not when it’s rare you feel like a missionary, even though you are one.  But thank God anyway, Friday was one of those days.

Recently I saw a man who looked so satisfied and content.  He was the opposing coach to our basketball team.  He probably could have been home resting or watching TV on a Saturday, but he was at his work, coaching and encouraging the school's girls’ basketball team.  He just looked like he was doing was he was supposed to be doing.  He was doing was he was meant to do.

Friday was like that for us.  Renee and her cosmetic “Inner Beauty” team all worked together to serve the church and neighborhood.  Even our girls, who had the day off school and came with us, and were busy helping.  Painting nails, cutting hair, giving face massages really drew a crowd and ‘softened the ground’ to receive the message.   The girls carried water and really loved helping out.

Our colleague Togsoo taught a lesson about inner healing based on Celebrate Recovery principals, which is Christ-centered.  Before we began he wondered if he should preach the good news or not.  By the time he was done, he had explained the gospel in very clear terms.  Then it was my turn to speak.

The crowd still being so attentive, it was a pleasure to testify to the power and presence of Jesus to change lives.  I described faith in Jesus who healed the blind, fed the multitudes, raised the dead and loved us to death, got out of the grave to lead us home to true life forever in heaven.

I told the people there are two kinds of directors.  Government types like Ghenghis Khan conquer, tax, kill, and demand submission.  Grace type leaders like Jesus serve, do good, suffer pain, loss and even death for other people.  Which kind of boss do you want?  Which kind of leader will you be?

Sunday Renee preached at Light of Selenge church, an hour north of Darhan.  It was cold in the church hall, and the singing little flock was few and far from flawless.  But we made it through the 1 ½ hour service without too much screaming from Josiah or fidgeting from the girls.  Renee preached about the importance of praising God in all circumstances using the Acts 16 story of the Apostles being jailed for speaking in the name of Jesus.  

After we served communion, still stuck in a cold church hall, we gathered around a couple benches, ate leftover bread, cookies, and candy with hot water.  There was no tea.  Did I mention there was no electricity either because the church couldn’t pay their bill?  You start to get the message about the faith it takes to praise God in tough circumstances.  So we were saying our goodbyes.  I was getting excited about getting in the car to let my feet thaw out.

But before we left, a lady invited us to her home.  Pearl has been a believer for just a year or more now, and she always has a good word to say about how God has saved her and is helping her and her family.  So it was not hard to accept the invitation.  Soon we were inside her nice, clean warm apartment.

Two hours later we were still sitting around a nice table spread with all kind of good things to eat, the girls watching a Barbie movie on a nice TV and Renee and I reclining as we listened to them talk about all the people in their family that have been brought to faith.  Pearl came to church this week with her three sisters!  All have believed in the last 2 years.  Even her husband has turned from hostile to gospel into a seeker and supporter of his family's new saving faith.  We prayed for her younger brother and sister to get saved and praised Him for what a mighty work he has begun.  If their whole family comes to faith, they will out number the rest of the members of the church!  

That's a kind of hardship I can handle.

Monday at prison

The morning started out with a standard change of plans.  One of our team of three heading to the prison to preach and teach English called to cancel.  I heard that and said, ‘then we don’t go, or we find someone else’.  But in a few minutes the brother who canceled had reconsidered and the three of us entered the prison according to plan.  Sean, whose Mongolian name means silver ankle-bone, started by telling the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15. 

The prisoners followed the story as if it was their own.  Then Togsoo told his own story of becoming a down and outer by making bad choices, ending up a drunk, wheelchair ridden, and hopeless.  Then it was my turn to teach the English lesson.  I taught them 5 words: Faith, Hope, Love, Dream, Freedom.

I used Mongolian to explain what faith is, that without hope, you are as good as dead.  That life without love is meaningless and hollow.  Even if you have these three without a dream, you will be aimless, and that true freedom is forever.  They memorized each word assigning it to a finger on their hand.  Then they ended up with the thumbs up and finishing with the word ‘freedom’ .

Then Sean, the guy who was going to cancel, led ten or more of them in a prayer to use their little finger of faith to believe in Jesus and receive forever freedom, the promise of eternal life that he came to give.  My hope is that these ten guys hope in Him, love in His name, trust Him to fulfill their dream, and give them freedom from prison and sin. Some are schedule to get out in the next months. 

But more than that I hope they discover the power of Jesus to give them hope, to love enemies and loved ones alike, to dare to dream and to receive freedom even over death.  I think some of them will look back on today as a turning point in their life.  That’s my hope and I hope theirs too.  May the Lord let it be.

On the way out of the prison, the guard, who are usually kind of careful and official about our spiritual message, let it be known she had a medical need.  So we went into her office and prayed for healing and she listened carefully as we explained what parts of the Bible to read, and to draw near to God for healing. 

As we left, Sean, the man who wasn't going to be able to join us that day assured some of the prisoners that we would be back soon.  It occured to me that he was the one who led them in the sinners prayer to admit their sin and need for a Savior, and receive the gift of eternal life.  If he hadn't been there, would those lost souls have made this important step into a changed eternity?  God only knows.  

The promise of God to us in the hard months of this winter has been Galatians 6:9… “You will reap a harvest if you do not give up”.  Thank God, He is faithful, even when we are 'of little faith'.

No Egg Hunt Easter

We woke up Easter morning to snow.  It warmed up enough though that we though maybe we could have an egg hunt at church as part of kids' church.  But we thought better of it.  It's hard to answer questions about what bunnies and boiled eggs have to do with Jesus getting out of the grave.  Candy and eggs were still given, we just didn't have to hunt for them. 

I guess we learned its possible to celebrate Easter without an egg hunt.  Inside church, we celebrated communion instead.  I hope we remember His broken body and spilled blood 'as often as we eat and drink' that Jesus proved his love for us by suffering pain and disgrace in our place.  Then he went on to prove his Truth and Power by getting out of the grave, defeating death and leading us into everlasting life. 

That's the message we came to Mongolia to deliver.  An egg hunt may have its place in America, but we might not want to confuse the message by mixing with the most important message ever: God loves you.

Mathew 13:44-46
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.


“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Spring Update

Dear Friends:

Happy Easter! We will be celebrating our Lord’s Resurrection at River of Love church on Sunday with communion and a children’s program. Join us as we pray “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in death and so somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead” Philippians 3:10-11

We arrive in Ohio on June 1st for a Home Assignment year of visiting family, travel, and ministry in churches. Please pray for the right place for us to live, and for the right schools for the kids. Praise the Lord we have options.

Maggie will be in 6th grade next year. She is an avid reader of good books, getting into algebra, and enjoying piano lessons and art. Lydia will be a 5th grader next year, likes reading, writing, but also enjoys math and science a lot. Johanna, who is growing tall, will be a 3rd grader next year, and is already writing cursive and learning her times tables. Clara will enter kindergarten officially next year, but has enjoyed Miss Natalie’s MK school two afternoons a week this year. She even gets to join her sisters for ballet lessons after school once a week. Josiah will turn 1 year old the week we get to Ohio. At nine months, he’s been crawling for more than a month already. He’s even dabbling in walking and talking a bit, but mostly loves eating and waking up at night often.

Teaching English at the prison is winding down. We will have our last lesson on April 15th. Transitioning out of leadership at the Project Center is underway. We now have a Celebrate Recovery teacher who holds meetings every Saturday for people struggling with ‘hurts, habits, and hang-ups’. Pray for this ministry to seek, save and serve the lost.

Renee and her cosmetic team our planning a trip to serve our old neighborhood in Bulgan, a 3 hour drive away in April. Pray that God’s elect put their faith in Christ.

Jeremy’s big excitement these past months is the basketball teams and coaches he is training. This past week, one of the coaches, who is not a believer, and was against us talking to the players about Jesus, asked me if I could mentor and shepherd her own son, and “talk to him about Jesus”. She is afraid he’s starting down a wrong track, and is now open for help. Praise the Lord with us and pray for Toya’s son to come to faith.

Our two teams had their first game on Saturday. The girls were a little overwhelmed and lost 24-2. But you should have seen the celebration when they finally scored that basket! The boys starting five were stars, all 7th graders, and trounced their 8th grader schoolmates. Our bench held their own and came away with a victory. This weekend we have another game, and plan to show the movie “Facing the Giants” afterward. Please pray for open doors to deliver the gospel to the players and their parents. The season culminates in a citywide tournament we’ve planned for April 13th. To God be the glory.

Also, we will be transitioning out of shepherding River of Love and Light of Selenge countryside churches. They will be getting their encouragement and support from the Association of Alliance Churches whose president is Dawaa, and works at the project center. I am excited for both the churches and the Association to mature through getting less foreign help and presence from us. Pray that they will grow in dependence on God.

That’s actually a good prayer for all of us.
Blessings in Christ,

Jeremy, Renee and family

Good Day for a Game Despite the Shame

Darhan's version of Men's Basketball March Madness has begun.  The Sprite League this year is regionalized, so I don't have have to travel three hours each way to the capital city to play in games.  And thank God I got picked up on a better team this year for games in Darhan. It's fun to play with people you know and like.  Friendship off the floor helps you trust on the floor which results in better play, performance, and enjoyment.  I love this game, the excercise benefits, and the things it teaches.  I hope the trust relationships that God is giving me with my fellow players will allow some of them to entrust their lives to Jesus like I have.

On Easter, we had a game, and we were getting ready to do a cheer before starting the game.  Sometimes I'll suggest "defense!" or "rebound!" as the cheer.  Mongolians love to try to speak English even if they don't know much.  Saturday many of the guys learned a new word on the fly as they yelled it the best they could.  Sunday, I decided to suggest that we chant "Jesus", but in Mongolian.  When I did, my player-coach friend, who knows I'm a believer, looked at be and said, "huh"?  But there was no time to discuss it, so we chanted "Yaysoos", with varying gusto.  Undoubtedly it was a first for many in that huddle to call on His name.

After playing a game on Saturday afternoon, missing one in the evening, playing again Sunday afternoon, I was told the next game would be around 7:30. I said I would be there because I figured Easter dinner would be over by then.  But the phone rang as we were about to sit down to dinner.  I explained about Easter festivities and asked if they could get by without me, but they said we needed me to get this win. 

After eating rather quickly and less than usual, I arrived just as the game was about to begin.  We went down by ten in the first quarter.  By half time we had tied it.  It was a close game all the way.

The most trying thing about game was the refereeing.  The league is well organized with good refs.  But for some reason on Sunday there was only one ref, and it began to become obvious even to me, that this lone ref had been drinking.  I could really tell he had when he started unashamedly explaining his calls to me in English.  It's amazing how good people think they speak English if they have had a few drinks.  It got a little more embarrassing when I saw a fan in the front row handing him him a coffee cup which certainly was not holding coffee.  I was amazed that the whole gym of more than 100 people knew he was drinking, but no one said anything.  Maybe they were too ashamed to quietly say..."hey, you've been drinking", or yell out "drunk!"  I asked him "what are you drinking" in Mongolian.  He acted like he didn't hear and gave me a look like he could make things difficult for me and my team if I pushed it.  So when he would miss calls or make non-sensical ones, you got the idea that if we wanted to finish this game, we had to just put up with injustice and play.

It was a shame to have a public show of drunkeness from a man who sober is pretty good at his job.  But games are supposed to reflect real life and teach us to play it better.  This experience gave me empathy for a society plauged with this problem.  Now I know why they tend to just tolerate, excuse and even at times deny the problem even when its right in front of them.  The ref was feeling shameless, but everyone else in the arena felt ashamed, too much so say anything.  He will bear his own shame when they mock him sober.

In the end the game was not decided by bad officiating.  It was decided by the players.  Our team maintained composure enough to still have some laughs while on the bench and enjoy the game.  We wongly fouled one of their guys from three point with 3 seconds to go, down by three.  Their player could have tied it by making all three free throws.  But he missed the first one and then another.  Then we were fouled and made both free throws to win by four.    It was a good game, despite the shame. 

Before leaving I told/taught my friend/player-coach a new English phrase: "Happy Easter".  He couldn't guess what it meant so I told him in Mongolian: "Happy Jesus' came back to life day".  His response? "Ok."

Big Turnout

Around 80 7th and 8th graders turned out for basketball training and tryouts over their winter break.  Here’s hoping this is the beginning of something even bigger.

Chest Pass Training

 

Basketball Season Begins

Thank God we were finally able to begin our basketball training and tryouts during the last two weeks.  This is our highschool team. We are hoping they develop into a unit that can make a showing at upcoming tournaments through the winter and spring.

High School Boys Basketball

Setting up this passing/box out/rebounding drill took some time, but the guys really got into it and worked at it with a lot of gusto once they figured it out. 

Girls Basketball "Dream" Team

At one point during tryouts we split the girls up into teams.  The one that chose the name "Dream Team" won most of the scrimmages.  So the name is seeming to stick around.  Our group here is a little low on numbers because of the upcoming Lunar New Year festivities.   We will resume practice again on Valentine's Day.  We hope to continue the winning streak in games after another few weeks of training. 

Boys Basketball Team

After a week of tryouts and a week of practice, the boys boiled down to this group of 7th and 8th graders.  Next week they have to go back to school, but we hope to keep practicing twice a week, then enter them in area tournaments and see if we can show the power of passing, rebounding, defense, and teamwork.

Our team of coaches is coming together and starting to solidify as well.  Darhai on the left is our plumber and fix-it man from the Cama project center.  Next is Tobo, probably the best basketball player in town, and very useful in showing the skills needed to excell to the highest levels of league play in Mongolia.  Last year he was voted MVP of the All-Mongolia Leauge All-star game.  Then there is Coach Toya.  She works at this Gym we're using, which is the nicest one in Darhan.  She is also quite a good player in her own right.  Having a woman coach is helpful for pulling together the details and working with our girls team, aslo 7th and 8th grade.

Pray that God will use love for basketball to build high-trust relationships with families who discover the grace, truth and love of Jesus. 

Brighter Days

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."  Luke 15

Yesterday I got to see someone say "I believe Jesus died and came to life again to save me" for the first time.  "Erik" is a man about 30 who I taught English to last year. It was a Cama center team effort in that probably 3 employees and as many volunteers have been befriending and pulling for him to come to faith. 

It was rewarding and energizing to sit in a circle in of men inside River of Love church studying Romans 10:9: "If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

And then this young man announced "I now believe and can say today for the first time that I am saved."

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory hrough our Lord Jesus Christ."
I Cor 15:57

Dark Days

There are days when you wonder if things can get any worse.  And then there are days where you find out they can.  If they didn't brighten up now and again, I wouldn't be writing this.  But when I do experience a beam of light, I better write it down to try to remember in the next storm.

A worker of ours was punched in the nose by a family member last week.  Hearing this wouldn't have shocked much or made much for me to do as an employer, except I didn't just hear that it happened at home or somewhere.  I came back from supervising a job to find blood outside and on the door of our project center.  That's when I heard what happened, and who had done it.  The husband had been drinking and came to work demanding something that the wife didn't want to give, probably rightly so.  There was a struggle and a bloody nose.

I wanted to call the pollice.  But two other workers advised against it.  I wanted us to go find him and warn him with superior numbers of men that only a coward hits a woman.  Cooler heads prevailed over the idea of reasoning with or using brute strenth on someone who had been drinking.

We prayed for and with our worker and for her husband, then put out the word that he isn't welcome here drunk or sober until he comes and apologizes.  To our surprise he showed up yesterday and did so to me, then to our male staff, and finally to his wife.  We told him to attend our Celebrate Recovery meeting for the next 4 weeks as a corrective measure/punishment.  (We reminded him here that this we could have called the police)  He promised us and his wife to attend meetings and seemed genuinely sorry enough to change.

It is never easy to figure out how firm to be in times like this.  If you're too hard, he could take out that harshness on his wife later.  If you're too soft, he won't really respect what you say enough to change. 

The thing that I remember at the end of the day is that mercy triumphs over judgement.  And it is the Lord's kindness that leads us to change.  We all deserve judgment for substandard living, irresponsibility, self-indulgence, violent words, actions, and downright rebellion against everything good.  I hope the grace of God is able to reform and bring a good change out of this event which was not good. 

It seemed like the grace of God has shined brighter at the end of the storm than at the beginning.  I hope that light shines for his Kingdom in Mongolia and wherever you are brighter and brighter until this kind of thing never happens anymore.  Maybe that will never happen this side of heaven.  But on dark days, it seems enough to hope that the sun will shine again, and ever dark deed will be exposed.  It will be good for those who have already denounced and exposed their evil deeds on that day. 

Judgement and punishment await those who won't or don't.

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13

Romans 2:4
Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?