Mission Trip, Day 5

As aforementioned, waking up early is not very helpful. Also I had some odd dreams. Anyway, for devotion time I shared from Isaiah 55. Leading a devotion in Mongolian is probably on the outer limits of my language skills, but it seemed to go well.

Today I went out with the men to visit some houses of believers. The women were doing something, I think offering massages and facials for women. Anyway, the first home we visisted the wife was a believer. The husband came in and we sat around drinking milk tea while Erka shared the gospel with great clarity, enthusiasm and urgency, while the man sat patiently and listened. Another woman who was some kind of relative also came a listened.

Visiting times

Next we visited a ger, but only the children were home, so we left some gifts and continue on. The third family was the ger of the brother who comes along to morning devotions, Baatar. Two other men were there, and the wife of one of them, and various children. Again Erka did most of the talking and sharing the gospel.

When we came back for lunch I decided it was safe to share that it was my birthday. Safe in the sense that no crazy Mongolian celebrations were likely to ensue.

We had planned a worship time at church for 2pm. Of course this really meant 3pm. The women in our team had been doing these massages since about 10am. About 15 people in all came to the worship time. We sang some songs, and then Badril preached the gospel with great passion. He is very passionate in general. Later in the trip we made fun of the intonations he uses when praying.

Worship times

After the worship time we sat around and had some snacks and question time, and Davka shared his testimony. I probably ended up hearing Davka and Erka's testimonies 4 or 5 times, which really helped me get a grip on the details.

Davka teaching another hermeneutics lesson

In the late afternoon I spend time with Enkhtuvshin and Badril as they prepared fresh хууршуур for dinner. Badril used to work as a European-food cook. Also I sat down and taught Enkhtsetseg some English.

Badril cooking up some хууршуур

Then it was dinner! Birthday dinner! They had made a kind of cake, and had a candle, and sang Happy Birthday in English, and there was even a gift. Also fresh хууршуур is the best хууршуур.  It was so nice, one of the best birthdays.

Birthday times!

It took a little bit to decipher the card

And then review time and then bed, the end.

 Today let's meet Badril, or Oyunbadral as his full name is. His second child was born a few days before leaving on mission! He was a cook for 7 or 8 years, and now is thinking about taking over as the pastor in his local church. He loves to sing and play the guitar, and prays very loudly. Also he wears this hat that makes him look like the captain of the ship. I think it goes well with his facial hair.