The Feast of Vernal Equinox

Four of us went stayed in a small ger (small, round Mongolian tent) in the countryside outside of Ulaanbaatar this weekend - it happened to be the day tides turn and we start getting a little more sunshine up here in the North.



We intended to do a little fishing, but that didn't happen. The River was frozen solid, so we just hiked up and down the river and climbed a couple of nearby bluffs, instead.





We ate well, discussed life, theology and ministry, stargazed, laughed a lot - and celebrated God's goodness together. So, in spite of frozen rivers and continued sub-freezing temperatures it was a great weekend ... and we now know where to go catch some fish when the Spring thaws actually salvage the river from winter's grip.

Spring Storms

My apologies to anyone who tried to access our website, only to get a warning from Google that we are malware distributors. No worries. That's not what we do here, and the site is now fixed. It seems that we were hacked and that someone did put some malicious code into our otherwise friendly website.

In any case, we are now safe and we want you to come back and visit us often!

Website hacking is not what this post is about, however.

Renee' and I would like to ask all of you who are praying for us to ramp up your prayers during these next few months. I don't know why. Some claim it's the drastic atmospheric pressure changes that bring in incredible winds and dust storms. I think it has more to do with the spiritual climate that we live in, rather than the meteorological one. Whatever the case may be, we have faced some of our most intense spiritual conflict during the Spring for the past two years. This Spring seems to be shaping up to be not much different.

Pray that we will abide in Jesus.

Pray that our marriage will also abide in Jesus.

Pray that we will be in a place to be spiritually sensitive enough to recognize the enemy and his ploys.

Pray that our minds and our children's minds will be kept pure and Christ-centered.

Pray that we will stay on task with ministry at the Student Center.

Pray that our devotional lives will be guarded and that we will all be vigilant in that battle.

Pray that our "love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that (we) may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11).

We are so grateful to all who are praying for us. We ask that in the midst of the Spring storms (both meteorological and spiritual!) you will send out a storm of prayer, that the Kingdom will go forward ... and we know the gates of hell will not stand.

Tsagaan Sar 2009

I am going to try and make up for the fact that our website was down because of hackers (i.e., 30 something males who have no life, no job, and still live with their mother) by adding new content. So here are some past "Friday Photo's" that should have been posted a week or so ago.

These are pictures taken of a couple of families that were visited during this year's Tsagaan Sar. If you are a new reader to this blog, Tsagaan Sar means "White Moon" and is a huge "new year" type of celebration that takes place in Mongolia every year. It typically happens around the traditional "Chinese New Year". However, it will not always take place at the same time. The idea is to visit homes of friends and family and to welcome the new year by sharing traditional Mongolian food and drink together.

This year Renee' was sick, and Bernie had meetings in Darhan - so on the way to Darhan Bernie, along with Dennis and Marilyn Maves, stopped by the homes of two of our UB Students: Haliuna (our house helper) and Onon (the manager at our Student Center). We enjoyed meeting their families and sharing in the Tsagaan Sar celebration.


Onon and with Mom and sibling's family


We celebrated with Haliuna's family, as well. This was the first time her father had met a foriegner.

Financial Bailout Possibly Coming Mongolia's Way

224 Million is a lot less than the trillions they're talking about in other places. But it's still quite a boost to the Mongolian economy. Time will tell if this helps. Pray for Mongolia.

IMF, Mongolia agree in principle on $224 mln loan | Reuters.

Grand Opening

We are officially open! After what has seemed like a really long wait, we are grateful to God for a successful grand opening. We just wanted to share a few photos for you from today. There will be more to come, plus a bit of video. This event has been fairly well publicized around town. The local news station was here, as well as our own C&MA video team. We heard from a representative from the Ulaanbaatar police department, a representative from the teaching community (one of our old language school teachers who has started her own business), as well as our own CAMA Mongolia director, Dennis Maves.

We're excited and grateful to God for His help, direction and wisdom. Pray for us as the real work of making disciples moves ahead. We're so grateful for all of the support, prayers and gifts that we have received from our partners!