Wednesday Evening - 7/5/17
I decided to update the blog for the last post this evening because I have to get up and fly out early tomorrow morning.
Today's activities were consumed with the Old Testament translation project meetings and the Dedication Service and presentation this evening. We had lunch with the local missionary and Bible printing team members, and had the opportunity to meet the local Mongolian translation team. It was a blessing to meet the three national women that will co-labor with the Bible translation team here in Ulaanbataar. After the lunch and some testimonies, I was asked to sit in on the official launching of the Old Testament translation project. There is an enormous amount of details and financial specifics that needed to be ironed out. Establishing the Project Manager, coordinating financial protocols, accountability parameters and short and long term goals. The meeting lasted for several hours and I was impressed with the attention to detail as well as the Christian spirit and cooperative attitude that was demonstrated by all those that are working on this project. Over and over again, the emphasis on bringing glory to the Lord was reiterated. I was honored to be a part of such a ground-breaking meeting.
Tonight, we saw around 100 people gathered together for the Dedication Service and the presentation of the newly finished Mongolian New Testament project. Several missionaries were present, along with a large number of Mongolian pastors and believers. There was also a delegation present from Inner Mongolia which is in China. Their desire is to help get the Scripture into their country. Please pray for this tremendous open door. I can't wait to share with my church the great open door that God has provided here and what we as a local church can do to get on board with this project.
I will be leaving tomorrow morning to return home and should be landing in DC sometime Thursday evening. I trust the blog has been a blessing. Here are some of the pictures of the meetings today and the Dedication Service.
Wednesday Morning - 7/5/17
Yesterday was amazing for several reasons. First, because of what I learned about Mongolia. Secondly, it was amazing because of what I was able to learn about the Mongolian Bible translation project. Let me start with what I learned about Mongolia.
Yesterday morning we visited one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Mongolia. In the early 1900's, the Russians came in and killed most of the Buddhist monks (which consisted of nearly 30% of Mongolian adult men), and they destroyed nearly every Buddhist temple in order to demoralize and control the population. They left this one standing in the capital city for historical purposes, and it is visited daily by thousands of local worshipers and foreign tourists.
In the temple are brass or copper drums engraved with Tibetian prayers and Buddhist symbols. People come in and bow to the statue of Buddha and pray to it and they walk through the temple turning these drums or wheels. This is their "prayers". Some visit this temple 7 days a week. I was allowed to photograph some of the inside (for a small fee) and what I saw inside was heartbreaking. Parents teaching their children to pray, people putting money in the boxes and turning the prayer drums or prayer wheels. They were praying at the candles and bowing to these graven images. Outside, people were kneeling prostrate to the graves and buried ashes of people. To see the unashamed devotion of these people to a DEAD man was unbelievable. No matter how many mission trips I go on, and no matter how many times I see this type of spiritual darkness, it never ceases to make a huge impression on me. Oh to see the Christians in America demonstrate this type of uninhibited devotion to our living Lord!
We also visited a museum with fossils, bones and even complete skeletons of locally uncovered dinosaurs. It was neat to see evidence of the great Flood where animals were encased in mud and nests of dinosaur eggs were buried and fossilized. Apparently, there have been a lot of dinosaur eggs and bones found in this region. Many have been sold on the black market and smuggled out of the country, and some have been located and returned to Mongolia.
We were also able to visit the Capitol Building, which is the Mongolian equivalent of our Capitol in Washington. It is here that the government business is conducted. I was able to purchase some beautiful hand-painted artwork which I plan to hang in my office.
After a delicious lunch at a local cafe, we hailed a taxi and came back to the hotel. In this city, anybody with a car is a taxi! All you have to do is ask them, and they will take you anywhere you want to go for a small fee. The traffic here is insane. The roads are packed and people don't use blinkers or follow traffic signals. It is a free-for-all!. Survival of the fittest and it is not for the faint of heart. I must admit though, the roads here are better than they are in Baltimore!
Last night, we had a dinner with many of the missionaries and Bible translators. It was a blessing to be educated on the Bible translation process and to discuss the upcoming Old Testament translation project. After the meal, the men adjourned to the coffee shop downstairs for an in-depth discussion on the strategy, finances and nuts-and-bolts challenges of the upcoming project. The New Testament took 8 years to complete, but Dr. Keen and the men working on this Old Testament project feel that this job can be done in about half the time. My heart was stirred to hear of those in inner Mongolia that are begging for copies, and of the huge demand for the Mongolian Scriptures. I was honored to have been asked to come and sit in on this very strategic meeting with these extremely talented and dedicated servants of Jesus Christ. I can't wait to get back to my church and share the vision of this project. I volunteered to assist Dr. Keen and the team in any way that I possibly can, and I look forward to doing all I can do to help get this project off the ground and completed. If any of you would like to know more about this massive undertaking, please feel free to contact me, and I will be more than glad to tell you how you can get involved. This translation project is going to change this area of the world, without a doubt!
Here are a few snapshots of our day.
Monday Evening - 7/3/17
Sunday Evening - 7/2/17
This morning I awoke at 3 AM. My time is still way off. We enjoyed a very good breakfast here at the hotel this morning. The variety of food they put out for breakfast is very unusual. They have the breakfast meats and muffins, toast, omelets and cereal, along with a lot of raw vegetables, salad, pickles, and fruit. The coffee here is great, and the people are very service-minded. They want to impress with their ability to please, so it makes for a nice meal. After breakfast, Bro. Jeff came and picked us up and we all managed to pile in his van. It was about 20 minutes to the first service. We went to Khan-Uul Baptist Church, pastored by an American missionary, Bro. Jason Ritchie. They have been here for 8 years, and they have an English service at 9 AM, and a Mongolian service at 11 AM. We attended the English service and enjoyed meeting his people. There are quite a few business men and women in this city from all over the world that cannot speak Mongolian, so this service is for them. We enjoyed the singing, prayer time, the message and the fellowship afterwards.
Our second service was across town at a Mongolian church that has been here for about 15 years. The pastor that started the church was the first Bible preaching pastor in the country. He was very thankful to have all of us in the service and his people were very kind. After they sang a few songs and prayed several times, Bro. Jeff preached and the national pastor translated.
We hope to get a good night's rest because tomorrow, we leave early to the airport to fly a small plane up to the northern border to the town of Hatgal. This is the primary printing facilities for the Scriptures. This is where Micky Cofer and his family have served for 15 years. I'll post pictures and and update from that trip when I get back tomorrow evening.
Saturday Evening - 7/1/15
Was very grateful to get a good night's rest last night after getting in bed around 2:30 AM. We slept through breakfast, so we were joined here by Bro. Micky (15 year veteran missionary) and Bro. Jeff (the printer) at the hotel (Holiday Inn) in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar for lunch. After lunch we all piled up in Bro. Jeff's van and ran some errands and did some shopping at the Black Market. (Yep - that is what it's called.) Apparently you can get just about anything there, including dinosaur eggs. It is famous for pickpockets, so I was a nervous wreck. Our brief shopping trip was safe and we were not robbed, thank the Lord. The exchange rate here is insane. One dollar is 2,350.95 Mongolian Tugriks. So, the price of stuff here is deceptive. A cup of coffee at the coffee shop is 5,900 Tugriks. That's $2.50 So shopping is pretty weird.
The weather here is very hot and humid during the day and cool at night. Traffic is a nightmare. There are simply too many cars for the amount of highways. Depending on your tag number, you cannot drive your car one day out of the week. You have to use a taxi. There are 3 million people in Mongolia, and 1 million of them are here in the capital city.
We were able to visit and tour the print shop where the Mongolian Gospel of Mark is printed. It was a blessing to see stacks of Scripture that is being printed, collated, folded, stapled and trimmed. On Monday we will take a small plane up to the northern part of Mongolia where the New Testaments will be printed.
We enjoyed our first home-cooked meal tonight at the home of the missionaries and it was good to fellowship with them. Tomorrow will be busy, and its late so I'll post a few pictures and write more tomorrow.
Friday Afternoon - 6/30/17
Friday Morning
Talk about a long flight. Wow. It took us 14 hours to arrive in Beijing China. It was uneventful, which is a good thing. Nobody likes eventful flights, or at least I don't. We left DC at 12:30 on Wednesday, and arrived in China at 2:30 on Friday. It was pretty neat flying west at noon because it was pretty much noon the whole flight. The sun was high in the sky for the entire trip. I slept maybe an hour on the plane.
I decided to update the blog for the last post this evening because I have to get up and fly out early tomorrow morning.
Today's activities were consumed with the Old Testament translation project meetings and the Dedication Service and presentation this evening. We had lunch with the local missionary and Bible printing team members, and had the opportunity to meet the local Mongolian translation team. It was a blessing to meet the three national women that will co-labor with the Bible translation team here in Ulaanbataar. After the lunch and some testimonies, I was asked to sit in on the official launching of the Old Testament translation project. There is an enormous amount of details and financial specifics that needed to be ironed out. Establishing the Project Manager, coordinating financial protocols, accountability parameters and short and long term goals. The meeting lasted for several hours and I was impressed with the attention to detail as well as the Christian spirit and cooperative attitude that was demonstrated by all those that are working on this project. Over and over again, the emphasis on bringing glory to the Lord was reiterated. I was honored to be a part of such a ground-breaking meeting.
Tonight, we saw around 100 people gathered together for the Dedication Service and the presentation of the newly finished Mongolian New Testament project. Several missionaries were present, along with a large number of Mongolian pastors and believers. There was also a delegation present from Inner Mongolia which is in China. Their desire is to help get the Scripture into their country. Please pray for this tremendous open door. I can't wait to share with my church the great open door that God has provided here and what we as a local church can do to get on board with this project.
I will be leaving tomorrow morning to return home and should be landing in DC sometime Thursday evening. I trust the blog has been a blessing. Here are some of the pictures of the meetings today and the Dedication Service.
Wednesday Morning - 7/5/17
Yesterday was amazing for several reasons. First, because of what I learned about Mongolia. Secondly, it was amazing because of what I was able to learn about the Mongolian Bible translation project. Let me start with what I learned about Mongolia.
Yesterday morning we visited one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Mongolia. In the early 1900's, the Russians came in and killed most of the Buddhist monks (which consisted of nearly 30% of Mongolian adult men), and they destroyed nearly every Buddhist temple in order to demoralize and control the population. They left this one standing in the capital city for historical purposes, and it is visited daily by thousands of local worshipers and foreign tourists.
In the temple are brass or copper drums engraved with Tibetian prayers and Buddhist symbols. People come in and bow to the statue of Buddha and pray to it and they walk through the temple turning these drums or wheels. This is their "prayers". Some visit this temple 7 days a week. I was allowed to photograph some of the inside (for a small fee) and what I saw inside was heartbreaking. Parents teaching their children to pray, people putting money in the boxes and turning the prayer drums or prayer wheels. They were praying at the candles and bowing to these graven images. Outside, people were kneeling prostrate to the graves and buried ashes of people. To see the unashamed devotion of these people to a DEAD man was unbelievable. No matter how many mission trips I go on, and no matter how many times I see this type of spiritual darkness, it never ceases to make a huge impression on me. Oh to see the Christians in America demonstrate this type of uninhibited devotion to our living Lord!
We also visited a museum with fossils, bones and even complete skeletons of locally uncovered dinosaurs. It was neat to see evidence of the great Flood where animals were encased in mud and nests of dinosaur eggs were buried and fossilized. Apparently, there have been a lot of dinosaur eggs and bones found in this region. Many have been sold on the black market and smuggled out of the country, and some have been located and returned to Mongolia.
We were also able to visit the Capitol Building, which is the Mongolian equivalent of our Capitol in Washington. It is here that the government business is conducted. I was able to purchase some beautiful hand-painted artwork which I plan to hang in my office.
After a delicious lunch at a local cafe, we hailed a taxi and came back to the hotel. In this city, anybody with a car is a taxi! All you have to do is ask them, and they will take you anywhere you want to go for a small fee. The traffic here is insane. The roads are packed and people don't use blinkers or follow traffic signals. It is a free-for-all!. Survival of the fittest and it is not for the faint of heart. I must admit though, the roads here are better than they are in Baltimore!
Last night, we had a dinner with many of the missionaries and Bible translators. It was a blessing to be educated on the Bible translation process and to discuss the upcoming Old Testament translation project. After the meal, the men adjourned to the coffee shop downstairs for an in-depth discussion on the strategy, finances and nuts-and-bolts challenges of the upcoming project. The New Testament took 8 years to complete, but Dr. Keen and the men working on this Old Testament project feel that this job can be done in about half the time. My heart was stirred to hear of those in inner Mongolia that are begging for copies, and of the huge demand for the Mongolian Scriptures. I was honored to have been asked to come and sit in on this very strategic meeting with these extremely talented and dedicated servants of Jesus Christ. I can't wait to get back to my church and share the vision of this project. I volunteered to assist Dr. Keen and the team in any way that I possibly can, and I look forward to doing all I can do to help get this project off the ground and completed. If any of you would like to know more about this massive undertaking, please feel free to contact me, and I will be more than glad to tell you how you can get involved. This translation project is going to change this area of the world, without a doubt!
Here are a few snapshots of our day.
Monday Evening - 7/3/17
I woke up early this morning and enjoyed being able to
address my congregation via FaceTime. It's always a big joy to me to be able to
communicate with my church family whenever I am away on a mission trip.
We left the hotel at 7 AM and drove to the airport where we
boarded a small single engine plane. The Cofer's place is 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away, and we had to go up and see it and come back in one day. Before they paved the road, it used to take 24 hours to drive it one way. We decided to fly up and back. The plane held 9 passengers plus the two pilots,
and so the plane was full. They asked each of us how much we weighed (in front of each other!) When I considered
it for a minute, I decided to tell them the truth. It didn't seem to
bother them, but I felt that if we crashed, somehow I might be
partially to blame.
We enjoyed the 2 hour flight. Because of the recent rains, we had to land at an airport an hour and a half away from Hatgal. Apparently the plane lands on the tundra at the airport near their house, and it was too soft. After landing at Muran, we rode in vans up to Hatgall. Bro. Mickey Cofer and his family have been in
Mongolia since 2003, and we have know them since they were on deputation. Our
paths have crossed many times and we have grown to respect them and their work
here. I've never been able to come but was so excited to be able to see
first-hand what God is doing here.
I was completely blown away by the extent of their ministry
and the work they have accomplished as pioneer missionaries. They lived in a hut with no electricity for the first 5 years, and have endured unbelievable difficulties and hardships. They have started
a church which is doing well and they have built their own building. Bro. Mickey have turned an old abandoned Russian factory into an amazing
printing and training facility. They are only 90 miles from the Russian border.
Their location has an unbelievable strategic location. They bought the property
many years ago and over time and with the help of many churches and pastors,
they have turned those old buildings into beautiful dorms, housing for
missionary teams, youth camp, training facilities and a gymnasium. They are
located on the largest body of water in the country,Lake Khovsgol. The view is breathtaking,
and the ministry possibilities are unlimited. It is here that they will print
the new Mongolian translation of the New Testament. The printing equipment is almost
brand new. Dr. Keen raised nearly half a million dollars from churches and
pastors all over the country. To witness the vision coming to pass here in Hatgal was very emotional and life-changing. Here are a few snapshots of our day. Hatgal is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
The Cofer's home.
The old Russian factory that is being converted into print shop and youth camp.
Athletic center
Training facilities
This morning I awoke at 3 AM. My time is still way off. We enjoyed a very good breakfast here at the hotel this morning. The variety of food they put out for breakfast is very unusual. They have the breakfast meats and muffins, toast, omelets and cereal, along with a lot of raw vegetables, salad, pickles, and fruit. The coffee here is great, and the people are very service-minded. They want to impress with their ability to please, so it makes for a nice meal. After breakfast, Bro. Jeff came and picked us up and we all managed to pile in his van. It was about 20 minutes to the first service. We went to Khan-Uul Baptist Church, pastored by an American missionary, Bro. Jason Ritchie. They have been here for 8 years, and they have an English service at 9 AM, and a Mongolian service at 11 AM. We attended the English service and enjoyed meeting his people. There are quite a few business men and women in this city from all over the world that cannot speak Mongolian, so this service is for them. We enjoyed the singing, prayer time, the message and the fellowship afterwards.
Our second service was across town at a Mongolian church that has been here for about 15 years. The pastor that started the church was the first Bible preaching pastor in the country. He was very thankful to have all of us in the service and his people were very kind. After they sang a few songs and prayed several times, Bro. Jeff preached and the national pastor translated.
We hope to get a good night's rest because tomorrow, we leave early to the airport to fly a small plane up to the northern border to the town of Hatgal. This is the primary printing facilities for the Scriptures. This is where Micky Cofer and his family have served for 15 years. I'll post pictures and and update from that trip when I get back tomorrow evening.
Saturday Evening - 7/1/15
Was very grateful to get a good night's rest last night after getting in bed around 2:30 AM. We slept through breakfast, so we were joined here by Bro. Micky (15 year veteran missionary) and Bro. Jeff (the printer) at the hotel (Holiday Inn) in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar for lunch. After lunch we all piled up in Bro. Jeff's van and ran some errands and did some shopping at the Black Market. (Yep - that is what it's called.) Apparently you can get just about anything there, including dinosaur eggs. It is famous for pickpockets, so I was a nervous wreck. Our brief shopping trip was safe and we were not robbed, thank the Lord. The exchange rate here is insane. One dollar is 2,350.95 Mongolian Tugriks. So, the price of stuff here is deceptive. A cup of coffee at the coffee shop is 5,900 Tugriks. That's $2.50 So shopping is pretty weird.
The weather here is very hot and humid during the day and cool at night. Traffic is a nightmare. There are simply too many cars for the amount of highways. Depending on your tag number, you cannot drive your car one day out of the week. You have to use a taxi. There are 3 million people in Mongolia, and 1 million of them are here in the capital city.
We were able to visit and tour the print shop where the Mongolian Gospel of Mark is printed. It was a blessing to see stacks of Scripture that is being printed, collated, folded, stapled and trimmed. On Monday we will take a small plane up to the northern part of Mongolia where the New Testaments will be printed.
We enjoyed our first home-cooked meal tonight at the home of the missionaries and it was good to fellowship with them. Tomorrow will be busy, and its late so I'll post a few pictures and write more tomorrow.
The view from my hotel room. Downtown Ulaanbaatar
The wallpaper in the dining room of the Holiday Inn. We were so shocked! Of course, most of the people that eat here probably can't read it because it's in English.
I'm very grateful for the vision and life-long work of Dr. Charles Keen and the impact he has had on the world in the area of Scripture printing, publishing and translation.
Friday Afternoon - 6/30/17
We just got back from visiting the Great Wall of China. It was amazing! We hired a man to drive us to the wall (about an hour and a half away) and we were able to see one of the most famous sections of the wall. The Ming Great Wall, measuring 5,500.3 miles, is composed of 723 beacon towers, 7,062 lookout towers, 3,357 wall platforms and 1,026 other ruins. The wall in Beijing measures over 342 miles. Archaeologists have discovered that the Great Wall of China ran a total of over 13,000 miles!! We rode in a cable car up to the top of the mountain and were able to get some great pictures. The weather here is HOT, so we were exhausted and sweating from the trek up the hill. Here are a few great pics of our trip. I am here with Dr. Charles Keen and his wife, Pastor Shane Skelton and his wife from Lakeland, Florida, and Brother Don Hodges. Shane and I have known each other for 30 years. We have had a great time so far, and will be leaving soon to go back to the airport for our 9:30 flight to Mongolia. Enjoy the pics!
Friday Morning
Talk about a long flight. Wow. It took us 14 hours to arrive in Beijing China. It was uneventful, which is a good thing. Nobody likes eventful flights, or at least I don't. We left DC at 12:30 on Wednesday, and arrived in China at 2:30 on Friday. It was pretty neat flying west at noon because it was pretty much noon the whole flight. The sun was high in the sky for the entire trip. I slept maybe an hour on the plane.
The airport in Beijing was very nice and we had no problems getting through customs. We are staying at a hotel near the airport and it was very comfortable. We checked into the hotel and had a great meal before going to bed around 8 PM. I slept like a baby until 2:30 AM. The time difference here is +12 hours, so whatever time it is in Baltimore, just flip the AM and PM.
We will not fly out to Mongolia until 9:30 tonight, so we have the whole day to look around here in China. We will be leaving in a few minutes to see the Great Wall of China. It's about an hour from the hotel where we are staying. The food here is great, and the people are very polite. We will arrive in Mongolia around midnight tonight, and so my updates will depend on wi-fi access. I should be able to get some good pictures today. So far, I've not been anywhere but the airport and the hotel. We will have very limited cell service in Mongolia, so if you try to call or text me, I may not be able to get it. Please keep praying for us to have safety and I will keep you posted.
