Mission Mongolia Part 1 Highlights
Backfilled dirt at the future site for Nayalh church of Christ and the preacher’s family.
Conducted marriage counseling for a newly baptized and married couple.
Hosted a question-and-answer session for Christians at a coffee shop.
Preached for the Ulaanbaatar congregation the past two Sundays.
Started nightly Fishers of Men training for the congregation to train on evangelism.
Scott taught extensive apologetics seminar lessons at family camp.
Scott and Alexis both gave daily devotionals at family camp to men and women, respectively.
Evangelism to outsiders occurs daily, from which we are already seeing the words of our Lord starting to bear some fruit!
Special thanks to our generous hosts, translators, and of course, the Lord for making this work possible!
From Atlanta to Mongolia
Since this is our first time travelling internationally as a whole family, we weren’t sure what to expect. However, everyone has done an amazing job of travelling well and adapting to the local culture. Before we left, I challenged Alexis and the kids to pack everything needed for one month’s travel in only carry-on luggage. They looked at me like I was crazy. This is difficult, but it makes travel more efficient and easier. To my delight, they were able to overcome their first challenge in international travel. No checked baggage! When we arrived, even the Mongolians were impressed.
Our first flight was 15 hours from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea. I challenged the family to stay awake the whole flight (basically staying awake for 24 hours). That way when we arrived in Korea we would all be ready to sleep on Mongolian time. Scottie never went to sleep once. The rest of us took a few short naps, but we did good overall.
Before our flight in Atlanta, we did a lot of work testing for COVID and filling out paperwork so that we could leave the airport in Korea to stay in a hotel. We had a 14-hour layover. Unfortunately, the doctors at airport entry informed us of additional testing requirements. We would not be able to leave the airport after all. This meant that we would be spending the night in the airport! No big problem. We found a place to put up our feet and sleep. The time flew by.
By the time of our flight to Mongolia, our bodies were now somewhat adjusted to the time. It was only a four-hour flight to the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Our hosts and another couple from church picked us up from the airport and helped us get settled into our apartments.
New Preacher’s Residence in Nayalh
Our hosts are the preacher, Eric, and his wife, Zaya. We met them while at Bear Valley. They are native Mongolians, and they are critical to the church here in Mongolia.
After we arrived, Eric said that he would leave us to rest for the next day while he went to his hometown to work on his new home. We said, “No way! We are coming to help.” So, the next day we got right to work. Construction machinery is not as common in Mongolia as the US. So, we worked the old-fashioned way. Our task was to back fill all the dirt onto the foundations. Alexis did the most work. She was a beast! Eric and I apparently spent a lot of time talking and catching up. This was a cool experience because we got to see what “small town life” is like in Mongolia. That day, we had a coffee break in Eric’s yurt, we ate at a traditional Mongolian restaurant, and we walked through a Buddhist temple. Walking through the Buddhist temple was an unsettling experience, but it was also a teaching opportunity for the children. We could explain to them how the worship of idols is superstitious, ignorant, and an abomination to the Lord.
The reason Eric and Zaya are building a new home in Nayalh is because that is their hometown, and their landlord wants to sell their current apartment and place of worship.
Currently, the congregation of the Lord’s church assembles in Eric and Zaya’s apartment in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The apartment is a nice location with retail spaces on the first floor, and apartments above that. That is the only reason they have gotten by living and worshipping in the same space. However, the landlord has discovered he can sell their apartment for much more valuable retail space. They have until August to leave. Apartment prices have risen to the point that Eric and Zaya can no longer afford to live in the capital. Also, most of the current members originally come from Nayalh, Eric and Zaya’s hometown, where Eric used to be an “elder” in the Presbyterian church. So, only a few in the congregation are inconvenienced by moving the congregation to Nayalh. Eric’s plan is to live in Nayalh, but to travel to Ulaanbaatar daily to work (about an hour drive with traffic). He also plans to conduct worship services in Nayalh on Sunday mornings and then travel to Ulaanbaatar for late morning worship services. However, the brothers in Ulaanbaatar still face the challenge of finding another place to worship.
My assessment is that the congregation in Ulaanbaatar will need a full-time worker. Currently there are no men capable of stepping up, except for Eric, but there are a few men who are growing and could be there someday. My goal when I return to US is to find and recruit a full-time missionary to come to Ulaanbaatar, to learn the language, and work with the church there until a Mongolian preacher is able to step up and take on the role full-time. That way, Mongolia will then have two self-sustaining congregations in two major cities, and the church can continue to grow.
Marriage Counseling and Bible Lessons for Church Members
Before we arrived, Eric and Zaya encouraged the church members to take advantage of us for Bible studies and counseling while we are in Mongolia. Many of the members were excited to take us up on the offer. On our first day in Mongolia, we conducted marriage counseling for Tulga and Anungoo. They were only baptized and married four months ago. Like Alexis and I, they were living together before marriage until they were taught the truth and repented. We are really impressed by this young couple. Counseling has been easy because, so far, they are head over heals for each other. So, we just tried to help them think through some problem resolution techniques for when they leave the “honeymoon phase.” We are also greatly encouraged by their thirst for Bible truth! We are convinced they will be capable leaders in the church someday soon.
There are several other couples in the church whose marriage is not going quite so well. We have been spending the past week getting to know them and encouraging them. We have two more marriage counseling sessions set up for this week with two other couples.
In addition, we have also made ourselves available to conduct Bible studies. For example, we invited a group to a coffee shop one afternoon where the kids could run around and play outside. The adults were invited to ask any question they had about life or the Bible. We did not promise to have all the answers, but maybe we could teach something new. I was really impressed by the depth of questions we received. Even the newer members asked very interesting questions which showed they were beyond an elementary understanding of Scriptures.
Apologetics and Family Camp
The highlight of the trip so far has been the family camp in the countryside of Mongolia. Last week was a national holiday, called Naadam. Basically, the whole country takes time away from work and travels to the countryside. We travelled by an old Soviet sleeper train four hours to a campsite in the countryside. We were joined by about 25 others. Most were church members, but a few non-Christians came, who were friends or family of the church members.
For three days and two nights we had wonderful fellowship and spent much time studying. Alexis and I both taught morning devotionals to the men and women separately. For one of Alexis’ devotionals, she passed out a cool decal we made before leaving the US for the women to place on their phones, computers, or water bottles, which could remind them the importance of using God’s word to be an influence on those around them.
Alexis also had the opportunity to start conversations with a young, non-Christian, named Marlaa. Marlaa is from a rough background of abuse and neglect. She has been counseled by a sister in the church, Solongo, who works for Agape Asia. However, Marlaa was not familiar with the Gospel or the Bible. After hearing a few of our lessons, she started asking Alexis questions about Jesus and the Bible. Alexis has been able to give her some ideas from God’s Word which should be working as we speak. Our goal is to conduct a six-session study with her from Ephesians before leave. However, we have had trouble making contact since we left camp. Please pray that we’re able to reconnect with this lost soul!
The keynote of the camp was three seminar lessons on apologetics. The goal of these three extended class-type lessons was to give the church real evidence and support for why we believe what we believe. These were not just lessons from the Bible, although the Bible is so persuasive in of itself, and I did make frequent Bible references. However, the lessons used evidence and logic that even a skeptic would have difficulty arguing against. The three lessons were, “Reasons I Believe God is Creator”, “Reasons I Believe Jesus is the Way”, and “Reasons I Believe the Bible is God’s Word”. These lessons were powerful and influential for everyone. There were some dry, boring parts of course (because Science and Logic are not always exciting!). At the same time, I incorporated many interesting and fun visuals. For example, we drew randomly from two decks of cards to illustrate the probability that a Big Bang could create the right levels of Gravity and Magnetism to sustain life on Earth (just one of these forces being perfect is equivalent to 10 decks of cards being in perfect order after an explosion event). Also, we used candy to show the number of ancient manuscripts in support of the New Testament compared to other ancient documents (like Marco Polo). Throughout the lessons, I wanted to reinforce the importance of knowing these arguments and then sharing them with our lost family and friends.
Of course, we also spent time doing fun activities like eating traditional Mongolian sheep “bbq”, playing volleyball, and sharing stories around the campfire.
Fishers of Men Evangelism Workshops
We have to be spontaneous and adaptable in the mission field. For example, we noticed that while the members receive good instruction on Sundays, they have never learned a systematic way of studying the Bible. In addition, the church does not really know a systematic way of evangelizing. As Eric and I were discussing this, I shared with him how Alexis and I completed the Fishers of Men course as new Christians and how that taught us Bible basics and how to evangelize. He loved the idea. So, we have decided to have almost nightly Fishers of Men workshops where we teach this evangelism course to the members. We should be able to complete the whole course before we leave Mongolia. Since it was probably too much to commit to translating the courses from English to Mongolian in the short time we’re here, Eric and his sister-in-law, Arnunzaya, agreed to translate later if the members seemed drawn to utilize it. It seems so far that they are. In our first two workshops, voluntary attendance has been over 10! That’s nearly half the church! And everyone participates and seems very interested. Everyone is required to turn to every Scripture every time, and each person takes turns reading Scripture aloud in Mongolian. We pause for discussion whenever there seems to be misunderstanding or more curiosity.
For those of you not familiar with Fishers of Men, we are basically teaching the members a 13-study course they can use to sit down with non-Christians to study the Bible. It is designed to bring someone from not knowing anything about God, Jesus, or the Bible to becoming a faithful believer. If the members learn this and use it, it can be so helpful and impactful for church growth here in Mongolia. Please pray for this effort!
A Few Observations about Mongolia and the Church
Enough about the great work going on in Mongolia. Let me tell you a little about our impressions of the country and the church.
The first impression was how beautiful it is here. It can probably best be compared to Montana. Lots of open land and open sky. 360 views of rolling mountains (though not as high as Montana). There is livestock and yurts everywhere, but people are still pretty spaced out.
The city is different. It is an interesting mix of modern and traditional. Culture is strong here. Many people are proud of their nomadic traditions, and of course Chinggis Khan is their most revered national hero. At the same time, Mongolian capitalism is growing fast. Many younger Mongolians have forgotten about communism and nomadic traditions and have started dreaming of the wealth and prosperity of the Western world that they see in the movies.
The food here is good… if you like meat and lots of it! We are eating sheep every day. Sheep is my favorite meat, so I’m not complaining. I even ate sheep head – cheek, tongue, and eyes! Alexis didn’t make it past the tongue, and Scottie made it as far as the cheek. For some reason, everyone thought Samantha ate the most, but she didn’t even try it. So at least she was polite and did a great job of faking it! Another unique Mongolian favorite is milk tea. This milk tea has salt and oil, so it is difficult at first, but it’s not too bad once you get used to it. Bottom line, the Mongolians are used to big, hearty, and fatty meals because that is what was required to survive Mongolian winters as a nomad.
The people here are really nice once you get to know them. People you meet on the street or in the market are standoffish. The Mongolian people are used to being nomadic, so they are independent and reserved. They have a thick shell you need to pierce through. But they are also used to being familial and hospitable. So, “once you’re in, you’re in.” The implications for evangelism are that you have to be ready to enjoy real Mongolian hospitality for several days before people open up to you. But once they do, you are family, and they will listen to you.
The church here is small, but there is so much potential. They represent such a small percentage of the total non-Christian population. Most of the country is Buddhist/Atheist. They can grow tremendously if they discover their God-given commission for evangelism. Not that they aren’t doing it already. The culture makes evangelism tough. They are just young and have so much room for growth, but the future is promising for the church in Mongolia. So far, this has been one of the most fulfilling mission trips I have been on. Please pray for the church in Mongolia!
Love,
-The Ihle Crew
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