Mongolia, 2012; Part V

Pastor Amara told us that the Mongolian Christians would probably be a bit “stand-offish” at first. He said that so many cults had come into Mongolia and had confused the new believers over the few years that the church had been growing. We understood and appreciated the fact that they would want to know where we were coming from. Sound doctrine is a Bible term from the Greek world of medicine. It literally means “healthy” teaching. It is also the term for being saved. In other words, sound doctrine is Christ-centered doctrine that stays close to the cross.

We walked from Ganah’s apartment building a few blocks to a main street and then to a two-story hotel/restaurant building; hotel on the bottom floor and restaurant on the second floor. Pastor Ganah had reserved the whole restaurant for us that evening. We met with the pastors and church leaders of the main church and the three house churches in Choibalsan. We all sat around a big table in the middle of the room. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of salad, lamb, potatoes, carrots, and bread. One by one, we introduced ourselves to everyone.

One of the first things I noticed is that as soon as they would share their name they would give their age, so we did too. They would tell when they received Christ, when they got married, how many children/grandchildren they had, and what they did in the church. The Mongolian culture is very family oriented. We followed their lead and shared just as they did. When it was my turn, I told them my name (Charles…I learned that “Bubba” sounds like something related to what a horse leaves behind), and that I am 59 years old, that I received Christ as a young child, married to Beth for 40 years, two sons, both doctors, six grandchildren, and that I was a pastor in the church in Kingsland, Texas, USA. One of the other pastors immediately spoke up and through the interpreter said that I sure got married at a young age. I responded that if he were to see Beth he would understand why I didn’t wait! The whole room thought it was funny.

By the time everyone had introduced themselves we were about finished with the main course. We shared that the reason we came to Choibalsan was to see if there was a church there and wondered if they would be open to going out to invite others in the city to meet with us for a service to discuss the claims of Jesus Christ from the Bible. We also wondered if they would be interested in a time of training and teaching for the pastors and church leadership. There was an awkward silence. They looked around at each other for a moment and then the pastor of the main church spoke up and said that they would discuss it and get back with us tomorrow (Saturday).

Then, the main pastor made a request that surprised me. Through the interpreter, he told me that they would all be meeting together in the morning for quiet time at 7 AM and wondered if I would bring the devotion for the quiet time. I quickly agreed knowing that I had the rest of the evening to get something ready. Then he made another request I wasn’t prepared for. He asked me to give them the Scripture I would be sharing from so that they could be meditating on it before morning. As the interpreter said that, my mind started racing through various Scriptures and studies that could be appropriate. Parables are always appropriate no matter what the culture, so I said that they could meditate on Matthew 13, a whole chapter of the parables of Jesus; thanking Him silently for giving me something at such short notice! They seemed to nod with approval.

As we went downstairs, Greg and I had already decided that we were going to see if they any rooms available and what the price would be. We found out that they had a room with three beds available across from the lobby with a bathroom down the hall for $35 a night. We took it. We then learned that no one else was staying at the hotel. If we took the room, we would be the only ones there. We got with Terry and David and told them. David said that he wanted to stay with Ganah and Terry and Greg and I said we would stay at the hotel. For $35 it was very nice and was within our budget for the trip. The three of us slept great. We woke up early to learn that the $35 included breakfast.

After breakfast we made our way over to Ganah’s apartment to go with David, Pastor Amara, and Ganah to the place we would have the quiet time. When we got there, we learned it was to be in Ganah’s little living room. Only the pastors were present. It was crowded. As they sang a few worship songs, I had the same feeling that I have had when I would go to a church to preach in view of a call to be pastor. I knew they wanted to know what kind of doctrine we had. I was praying like crazy. Next blog, I will tell you the unexpected thing that happened next.

Mongolia Mission Trip, 2012; Part IV

We flew about two hours on Mongolia Airlines out to the city of Choibalsan, a city of 45,000 on the eastern border of Mongolia. China and Russia share a border within about 100 miles of this major city. The airport is about ten or fifteen miles out of town. Mongolia is mostly flat with a few rolling hills in the east and mountainous in the west.

                                                               

The airport is out in the middle of nowhere, with literally nothing around it except green pastures. As we were coming in I thought we were going to land on the grass until a concrete runway appeared only seconds before we touched down. As we made our way up to the main building (there is only one building), I notices a herd of horses just off the runway and was grateful they did not decide to cross the runway as we were coming in!

                                                                                                                        

We got out on the tarmac. There were no other planes at the small, concrete block building called Choibalsan International Airport. There are about 40 people in the airport waiting to get on the plane to fly back to UB. Mongolia Airlines flies out to Choibalsan and back twice a week. Surrounding the airport are several man-made hills that were used by the Russians as underground hangers when Mongolia was a satellite of the old U.S.S.R. You can still see the doors and the way they used to be camouflaged. Today, it looks like some of them are used as barns.

We got our bags and went out to the front of the building. There is one lone dirt road that leads from the airport toward the city of Choibalsan in the distance. There are seven of us in all; our team of four from the states, Pastor Amara who is one of the leading pastors in central and eastern Mongolia, and two young ladies who are our interpreters (students of David’s when they were at the university in S. Korea.

One of the young ladies is from Choibalsan but has not been home in several years. Her name is Bogie. When she left home to go to Korea she was not a Christian. Her family still lives there. They are the ones who told her that they thought there was a Christian church there. She called her father to come get us. He told her that he found a Christian missionary and that he would be coming out to get us. In just a few minutes, Ganah, a missionary from UB, drove up in a rented van to get us. He and Pastor Amara went to seminary together in UB and have a surprise reunion. We drove for about thirty minutes on the main road into Choibalsan weaving around mud holes and ruts.

Choibalsan is an old mining town, heavily influenced by the Russians. Its buildings are square and rectangular concrete structures with little architectural decor. Ganah lives in one of the many “apartment houses.” These apartment buildings are what you would picture in the rough part of Brooklyn or Detroit. Just outside his building is a man completely passed out with an empty bottle in his hand. We went up five flights of stairs to his small apartment. His apartment is a one bedroom, one bath, kitchen/living room set up. Ganah and his wife have three small children. We learned that he came to Choibalsan as a first generation home missionary to Mongolia.

When the U.S.S.R. fell apart in the late 80’s, South Korean missionaries started coming into Mongolia. They have been the ones to lead the revival and spread of Christianity across Mongolia. Ganah represents the first generation of Mongolian children “raised in a Christian home” to now take the lead in the church in Mongolia. His vision is to see a strong missionary church in Choibalsan for eastern Mongolia that can easily reach into Russia and China with the gospel. He told us that there is one strong church of about 60 members in Choibalsan with three house churches connected to it. In all about 100 believers. He also told us there are several cults in Choibalsan including the Moonies and the Bahia, an offshoot of Buddism.

Ganah made arrangements for us to meet the leaders of the main church and the house churches for dinner that night (Friday). He also said that the five men could stay in his apartment. The two ladies would stay with Bogie’s parents in a much nicer apartment several blocks away.

Ganah’s apartment is very small. As we left to go to dinner at a restaurant nearby, I looked around and could tell that one of us could sleep on the couch and that there was just enough room on the floor for the rest of us. Terry is a couple of years older than me, so we all knew who would get the couch! As we got up to leave, Greg’s backside was wet. He told me that one of the little ones must have been sleeping on the couch. We didn’t tell Terry. In the next blog I will tell you about the surprise at dinner. Stay tuned.

Mongolia Mission Trip, 2012; Part III

We arrived in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, about 3 PM on Thursday, August 9^th. David Beckett, our team leader, had made arrangements with one of the students he had led to Christ in Korea to meet us at the train station and take us to the guesthouse. We arrived at the UB Guesthouse a few hours later. It is in the heart of the downtown district of UB (short for Ulaanbaatar). We drug our bags up three floors to an old and crowded four-bedroom, two bath apartment. Each bedroom has bunk beds. Ours is one of the smallest rooms with two bunks that fill the room except for a very small table. It is crowded with four men, four bags, and four carry-ons.

We are exhausted after three days of travel in three airports (San Antonio, Newark, and Beijing) and two train stations. The bag that I am dragging around has now been on five mission trips and I have decided it was one mission trip too many. This will be its last one. One of the little wheels fell off in Newark.

The UB guesthouse is like the train and Beijing guesthouse, full of young people from all over the world. One of the young ladies that traveled with us on the train is staying at the UB guesthouse. The Lord had given us a couple of opportunities to share with her about her relationship with Christ on the train, and how, again, at the UB guesthouse. We also were given an opportunity to share with a young couple from Holland. Over the past three days, on two airplanes, one train, and two guesthouses we have been able to share Christ with young people from at least five different nations of the world. This has been a mission trip of its own. The young people that we have been around in these guesthouses and the train easily engage in spiritual conversations.

Thursday night was a bit noisy because the guesthouse was full. Friday morning we had a worship service under a little shelter in the middle of a small park in front of our guesthouse. We were reading from Matthew 6 about how God takes care of the sparrows and the lilies, when suddenly some small sparrows flew in under the shelter with us and were chirping and eating crumbs left by someone’s sandwich from the day before. God had given us a demonstration of the Scripture we had just read. While we quietly sang a few worship songs, Terry noticed a small boy, about ten years old, in the distance. He knew from his actions (going through some trash cans) and by the way he was dressed and from the time of day (very early) that he was living on the streets. We took up a quick collection and David took it over to him.

A few hours later we were on a shuttle on our way to the airport for our flight to Choibalsan, a mining town in far eastern Mongolia with a population of about 45,000. Our shuttle would have been stopped over here for “overcrowding” but there it was okay. We were literally sitting on top of each other, but again, the Lord gave us the opportunity to share our faith with people. I was next to a young Mongolian man who had a great interest in our presence in Mongolia. He described himself as a casual Buddhist. He said that he had heard about Jesus Christ but was unfamiliar with the story of the Bible. Greg had brought several small “God Story” devices. These small, solar powered devices have a 90 minute message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in three languages, Mongolian, Russian, Chinese, and Tatar. We gave this man one of these devices.

After a two-hour flight we were in the eastern corner of Mongolia. I have been in places that I considered to be “remote.” Choibalsan is by far the most remote place I have ever been. If we had taken a van it would have been an 20 hour trip because most of the way there is over dirt roads in poor condition. One of the pastors had heard a rumor that there was a church there but was not sure. Our plans were to find the church if it was there and encourage them. If not, we were planning to share Christ with people for a few days and see if one could be planted. More about it in the next blog. Stay tuned.

Mongolia Mission Trip; Part II

We left from the Beijing train station about 9:00 AM. The country-side through China was beautiful. It was rugged mountains with beautiful valleys. By about 11:00 PM we had stopped at the Chinese/Mongolia border. We had been told that the border crossing could take up to five hours due to the fact that the wheels on each car had to be realigned to fit the Mongolian train tracks, plus the Chinese immigration officers were very particular.

About thirty minutes after we had come to a stop, the officers came to our booth and asked for our passports. They were very stern. They took each passport, carefully examining the photo with the person and asking questions about name, birth date, and spelling of name. Without another word, they kept our passports and went to the next car. I noticed that they had a stack of passports from the other passengers.

Outside our window was the Chinese immigration buildings with guards. After the officers took our passports, we began to notice people getting off the train and walking around. Greg and I got off to stretch our legs and look around. We noticed people walking into the building and coming out with soft drinks, chips, and souvenirs. We recognized a blond-headed lady who we had spoken to during the day from our car. She was from France. She came up to us eating an ice-cream bar. We asked where she got it and she told us inside. Greg and I both decided that an ice-cream bar would sure taste good. Only hours before we had skirted the Gobi desert and ice-cream seemed to be a wonderful idea.

We went in the building, found the store, which was full of train passengers, got our ice-cream bars and started back out. When I got to the glass doors they were chained shut! Like with a huge chain and lock. I said, “Greg, we are chained in and can’t get back on the train!” Greg was looking out the window and said, “What train? It’s gone!” Sure enough, the train was gone and we were locked inside a Chinese immigration building at 12:30 at night…with melting ice-cream bars.

We took comfort that we had not gotten left behind because there were so many other passengers locked in with us. Greg and I found a couple of chairs and for the next two hours shared mission trip stories and Bible insights together. We wondered how Terry and David were doing and wished we had stayed on the train with them. I told Greg, “Please hold me accountable never to follow a French girl with an ice-cream bar ever again.” He agreed as long as I would do the same for him.

About 3 AM we saw the train return and people started gathering at the locked doors. They soon unlocked the doors and we all got back on the train. Terry and David said that when the train started moving they worried about us for a moment but then prayed and committed us to the Lord and then rejoiced that they has stayed on. They said the train went about a mile or so down the track and then went through a long series of stops and starts changing out the wheels.

We all got back on the train. The Chinese officers came around with our passports, went through the drill again of asking us how we spelled our names, birthdates, looking us over to check our faces with the passport picture, and by about 3:30 AM we were on our way. We quickly got in to our bunks and were lulled to sleep by the rhythm of train on the tracks. It was a short night and by 3 PM we were rolling into the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar. Next blog I will explain what happened next.