Breaking News from Ulaanbaatar
Baatarsuren Bayanmandakh (Baataraa), our alumnus from Mongolia, sent us an urgent prayer request on 11 Nov:
“Today we have the first local Covid-19 cases (4 persons) in Ulaanbaatar. The government announced total lockdown for five days. People are scared and confused. One of my team members is in the countryside (Dornod province) and cannot come back home during the quarantine period..”
Pray for Baataraa and his team, who regularly go out to the deserts to share the gospel, follow up new believers, and make disciples, among desert nomads. These herders, who live in gers or portable round tents, make up 25 to 40 percent of its 3.3 million people. The uncertainty of Covid-19, plus the harsh winter conditions – the temperature dips to minus 40 degrees Celsius at its worst – makes it harder to reach the the nomadic people. From the 2020 census, there are 1.3 percent of Christians in Mongolia currently (48, 859 people).
“I’m 31 years old; can I be a baby again?”
For me (YK, 2nd from right), speaking to 100 teachers in two schools. Most of them were non-believers but they listened to my talks attentively. I'm grateful.
Battsenger said, when I (YK) shared the gospel with her.
The manager of the GoldStar Hotel, where we stayed during our 10-day trip in Ulaanbaatar (UB), was my “man of peace” (Luke 10:6).
Every day, she would check if we had enough hot water (temperature between -3°C and 20°C). One evening she prepared for us Indian curry (she’s married to a Pakistani). Another day, she surprised me by doing all my laundry, and at no cost.
Though she didn’t receive Christ through my sharing, I know Battsenger’s salvation is near. “You have something special,” she told me.
When I replied that the “something special” is Jesus in me, she nodded. “Yes, I know,” she said. “My maid, who’s the purest person I’d ever met, has the same thing.”
“She’s also a Christian.”
On our last evening, I introduced Battsenger to Boggii, a local worker who would follow her up. Here’s the amazing thing: when the two women met, they realized they were neighbors 30 years ago in Hovd, a village 1,500km from UB.
Read full letter
- “I’m 31 years old; can I be a baby again?” (PDF, 700kB)
- Jeremy Chew: Open door for the Word (PDF, 532kB) The Mongolians not only opened their door to welcome the Word of God. They also opened their hearts to us. They received us with warm friendship, food and gifts that were beyond their means. We might have taught them the New Testament, but they showed us how to live it.
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