Inner Thoughts from Outer Mongolia

December 2010

Again, greetings to you from Outer Mongolia! May this Advent season create in your hearts a special joy as you await the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. As our world continues not to be filled with peace, may each one of us continue to be focused on being agents of peace starting with our own hearts and lives. May the Year 2011 be filled with joy, hope, love, and peace as you seek to know God’s will for you, and share the Good News with those whom you meet. Update on “GBGM of Mongolia” Mission:

 This year we have added three congregations to the UMC mission and all of them are outside of Ulaanbaatar, anywhere from 1-6 hours away from here. This has been exciting especially for the pastors, but I have, also, noticed lots of joy in the congregations which sponsor these new branch-churches. Please pray for these developing congregations. Only one of them has a Bible school trained pastor.

 There are children’s programs this fall at both Tsaiz and Chingeltei Centers. The one at Chingeltei is for 3 hours each weekday. The children, kindergarten aged, happily come in to learn and play under the supervision of a young teacher and helper. They have a hearty snack prepared by our Mission Center cook. One class we hope to begin soon for young people from both Chingeltei and Tsaiz Centers is lessons on the morin khuur, the horsehead fiddle, which is our well-known traditional 2- stringed instrument. This class has been made possible by the donations of two retired GBGM staff.

 Grace Hospice:
We have definitely felt God’s presence in Grace Hospice as we had to face some problems and make some changes which were extremely painful. The dismissal of two doctors because of conflicts led to the hiring of two brand new doctors. What a risk, but certainly worth it! Our team is now working well together!!! Thank you for your prayers and please keep praying that things will continue in this way. When I returned from 10 days in China, the team was happy to show me how well they could do without me. AND, they even jokingly told me I could leave again as the patient census had increased so much in ten days and NO ONE had died in that 10 day period. Praise God!

 Blessings in 2010:
Blessings of this year have been the donations which have been given to keep us operational. We are still struggling, but we survived last winter and will plan to do the same this next year thanks to your generous donations. (Our heating in the new Center is what costs us so dearly!) Along with this financial support, we have also received letters of encouragement and prayers which have been so important in supporting us as well. Thanks to each one of you. Another two blessings have been Holli Vining and Erin Eidenshink, our young mission interns, sent here by GBGM to serve for 1 1/2 years. What a difference two bright, energetic, full of faith women can make in a mission’s programs. Their hugs, when touching often is in the form of hitting in Mongolia, their flexibility and eagerness to teach English and give encouragement to young people, as well as adults and the elderly, have made a huge difference. But, there is a down-side to their coming! That is that they will be leaving the first week of March!!!!!! We give thanks for their service as they felt called to “mission.” AND, we hurt as we prepare to say goodbye! They are preparing themselves for leaving, but that will be painful for them, too. Still another two blessings, are the new baby for our Tsaiz UMC pastor and his wife- Dongmin Seo and Hyeyun Hong. She was born today, 12/14. They already have two daughters. And, also, Oyuntuul, a Grace Hospice nurse, is expecting a baby in the spring. We give thanks for these new lives in our mission family.

Finally, I want to mention the blessing of Batkhuu being alive for another year. Batkhuu, our former accountant is at home and is doing quite well. I visited him last week and was glad to know that his reliance on God and witnessing about God’s love has not ceased. He requests strong prayers that God will make a way for him to have some very expensive medication. There are many problems associated with it, besides the fact that it costs $1,000/day, which he does not have. Free treatment may be available, but only for a short time. Batkhuu really wants to live and is so hopeful that there may be a way for this treatment to become a reality. Please add him to your prayer list.

Personal News:
 In October I was in Michigan to celebrate the life of my brother Alan with my other brother and sister, nieces and nephews and their children. Losing a family member is so painful, but Alan’s life was remembered by many as they shared about the kindness they saw him show toward others. Alan’s life was so difficult, but this sharing was very comforting for me to hear about, because I didn’t know that Alan showed this to many people. The realization that Alan died hit when I returned to Mongolia and was asked to fill out an application which requested my brothers and sisters names. There was another big hole in our family - father, mother, and now my oldest brother has died. I am sure you can relate to this loss. Now, with Christmastime I keep wanting to hear the song, “O Holy Night,” which Alan played so well on the trumpet and later on the baritone. It makes me feel closer to him to hear this song. In November, my friend Grace and I went to China for ten days, visiting Shenyang where I was asked to give help to some doctors who wished to start a hospice program; Changchun, where Grace was asked to share with some young doctors and one congregation about work in the community in Mongolia, and then to Harbin and Beijing for a vacation. While in Shenyang we visited a nursing home, an HIV support center and met volunteers with both of those programs.

 We attended two churches in Changchun and they were both very welcoming, although originally we heard that we as foreigners would not be welcome for fear of some negative repercussions. That did not seem to be true. My impression was that religious oppression is not so great nowadays. Apparently there is some fear that we would cause some anti-Chinese government sentiment. We visited four bookshops, owned by our host friend, which sell Christian books, coffee, and gifts and which have space for various meetings in which religion can openly be mentioned. We did our presentations to some doctors in the backroom of one coffee shop. Another time there was a lively English lesson being attended by many young adults

 Beijing had green grass, trees and roses in bloom, which was quite a contrast to Harbin, which was VERY cold. The cold didn’t stop people from dancing in the street in the evening in the downtown Harbin. We saw that as we were eagerly headed toward a Russian tea shop for something HOT to drink. No dancing outside for us!

 Advent:
Christmas cookies, a staff Christmas party (45 people this year), presents, mass mailing, and decorating are some of the joys of the season. One joy especially is being able to share the meaning of Christmas and some customs with others. Today, I took a nativity set to work and placed it on the conference table and our two new doctors asked what it was. They had no idea about this decoration, but the “old” staff knew well after a few years of exposure to such things.

Do you want to learn more about the GBGM (UMC) Mission in Mongolia? In 2011 if you want to know more about the UMC mission in Mongolia, please look at this internet address: eternalmongolia.blogspot.com OR check out “GBGM” on the internet and look under “Mongolia” and you will see more. Also, the article in “New World Outlook,” the GBGM magazine, September, 2010. Our two mission interns are featured there. We have needs for: Prayers as mentioned above: Batkhuu’s health Financial support for the whole Mongolia Mission Initiative Grace Hospice team’s cohesiveness Help to build a playground at each of our two mission centers in UB. We need people to financially support this project, and also people who want to do the actual construction. If you are interested, please contact me by email.

Donations may be made through the GBGM Advance, by the use of these project numbers:
Grace Hospice: #14928A Mongolia Mission Initiative: #00209A

Until next letter, may hope fill your heart during 2011.

Helen