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I think this is going to be kind of an open letter to the person out there that reads this blog.  Everyone else can sort of listen in if they ever check in.  First, thanks for reading.  Second, thanks for mentioning I haven't updated since the last time you read.  That lets me know you care enough to check back for new info.

I just changed the way my home page opens when I open my internet browser. One of the icons sitting there to be opened was a big B for Blogger.  So here I am blogging.

It's pretty encouraging to have Pastor Roy and Donna visiting here from Pennsylvania.  To be able to see what we do and hear and what God is doing through fresh eyes, is a breath of fresh air.  They visited the three projects here at the center today and were impressed.  We had lunch with the whole staff.  After we talked about further education, training and leadership, but mostly about relationship.  I thought this was going to be a long blog.

But my coworker at the CR Center just came in and reminded me about our step study we lead at 4pm.  That's one minute from now.

Other events in my day included a long talk with a Mongolian pastor we work with, seeing a former employee in our CR Center who I had to fire last fall.  Taking the rice-maker back to the Bible school, running Roy and Donna back to their hotel.

Maggie and Anika came into the center a few minutes ago and I hear their guitar lesson from here with our Mongolian CR Center worker named Bathuyaga.  It's good to blog now and then.  I hope this little web log shed a little light on all of us.  I'm late for a step study by 2 minutes.  But in Mongolia, I still have time to be early.  Good day.

'Your Other Head'

Josiah and I went to the barber a while ago.  When I emerged without a beard, he wanted to know what I did with my 'other head'.  So also recently my beard had grown back and we were home and asked me again: "where's your other head?"  That was my first clue maybe I needed a haircut.  Sure enough we went to the barber again this week, and he asked me again afterward: "Where's your other head, dad?"  Kids say the darnedest things.

I heard his Mongolian teacher at pre-school thinks his language pronunciation is perfect.  Not bad for a two-year old.  He must be getting some vocabulary into his "other" head.

"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.