An Uphill Battle

I was encouraged recently as I read of David Brainerd's ministry among the Indians. The state of the Indians during the first part of his ministry is mirrored by the people of Mongolia today. The Indians were too busy to stop and listen to David Brainerd's preaching. It didn't seem to them to have any practicality or importance in their daily lives. Jesus on more than one occasion warned us about this attitude in people using the typical excuses of His time. And that is the general state of Mongolians now. They are not interested in what God has to offer. "What's the profit of the Bible and going to church?", they ask. I've heard that question so much that for a while I was taking a few minutes during Sunday services to "load our people's guns" with Bible answers to that question.

But as many Indians suddenly became very concerned about their souls when the Holy Spirit came in His convicting power, I firmly believe that He can do that here also. So we pray for the Holy Spirit to descend on us in power, and try to remove hindrances in the lives of the people we do have, as well as our own lives. Please pray with us to this end.

Faithful Few

We are not completely without fruit, however. In the past few months, the half-hearted have disappeared, and those in whose hearts God has done a real work have proven that work by their faithfulness. I almost hate to give details, because it seems as soon as I crow about somebody they end up leaving, but we have two young men and two young ladies that we really thank God for. The two young ladies we are training to teach Junior church. We always tend to look at numbers, but I have been reminded lately to see the people instead of the numbers. When Jesus looked at the multitudes, He saw lost individuals and their condition grieved Him.

Activities

We tried a new thing this spring, holding special services every night for a week. We passed out a total of 3,000 invitations with Gospel tracts on the street and at a big outdoor market, put up 300 fliers, mostly on the entrances to apartment buildings, and invited friends. In all 20 new people came. We have not seen any real results yet, but still have some follow-up to do.

Our teen activities on Saturdays have been going well the past month or so. We have a goal of seeing an average attendance of 27 by December of this year. April's average was 14, which is an improvement from the average of 9 last year.

We will start our VBS in June, and follow-up with a new Sunday School and Junior church program. We have opportunity to rent another room in the building we are in that could be used for children's services. This seems to be a providential opportunity. With the rooms we have now it is not possible to do a proper Junior church, as noise from singing, etc. would be a hindrance to our adult preaching service.

Prayer

As I stated above, we ask prayer for the power of the Holy Spirit to break in pieces the hard hearts around us. We ask prayer for strength to keep ourselves in the Love of God. And we ask prayer for the people we do have, that they would be steadfast. Thank you for your part in our ministry.

In Christ,