Mission Blog
Mongolia Update #3
Written by Pastor Jon
Friday, 12 June 2009 11:15
For those of you who have been wanting to pray for our team to Mongolia by name, here are the names of those individuals:
First Wave
Pastor Dick Bashta
Pastor Susie Bashta
Harvest Bashta
Hannah Staub
Cailin Imbrone
Paul Imbrone
Kelly Drake
Sonia McPhillips
Pat McPhillips
Diana Alicea
The Tsunami Team
Pastor Jon, Charlene, Selah, & Samara Plotner
Ed & Chris Kraus
Rex & Dawn Magagnotti
Dr. Brent, Beth, Brittany, Bethany Jacobus
Dr. Arlyn Jacobus
Alicynn, Ashlee, & Taylor Amann (Dr. Brent's sister & family)
Debbie & Page Aguilera
Kathryn Blackwell
Cathy Grabowski
Pat Longhi
Lauren Slater
Ruby Novestske
Sarah Cannon
Marissa Abbot
Andrew Meng
Tim Deluca
John Staub
Zachary Graham
Cheryl Agent
Samantha Ruse
Ben Horjus
Vince Ligon
Frances Atwood
Mongolia Update #2
Written by Sonia McPhillips
Friday, 12 June 2009 11:08
Greetings to everyone! We miss you all and trust all is well on the home front. Mongolia is full of God's treasure, our extended family. The people here smile, and it seems that their faces could light up the world! We are discovering that our hearts are already connected with each other through the Lord. We are pressing in for revival in Darkhan, Mongolia!
Yesterday morning we began our conversational Mongolia lessons. We started with basic phrases like "What is your name?" "My name is ------." "Hello; goodbye." " How are you?" and other simple, but important words. Pastor Mark tried to teach the young girls a special, secret phrase - "Marry me!" But, Pastor Dick shut that one down really fast!
We have learned enough that we can get from the hotel to the church alone on public transportation as well as introduce ourselves to people in the church. Mongolian is a hard language, filled with odd tones, but God is giving us grace. Hannah and Kelly are really excelling in it already. We have a wonderful, 20-year-old teacher named Degei. We are also helping her improve her English.
Today we just got back from the countryside where we rode camels and horses. We also hiked to the river to collect riverstones for the fire to cook a sheep for lunch. The braver souls watched as the sheep was killed, while some of us headed into the ger (a round, portable, Mongolian countryside home) to escape. The reactions to the menu were varied, but I will just say that Paul went back for seconds! It was particularly exciting to hear Pastor Mark share the gospel with the Mongolian family that lived in the ger.
Please keep us lifted up in prayer. We are making final preparations for the "Tsunami" team's arrival tomorrow. We will continue our Mongolian lessons in the morning while Pastors Mark, Dick, and Susie will begin the long trek back to Ulaanbaatar to meet the team coming in.
Welcoming revival to Mongolia and expecting to see souls saved,
Yesterday morning we began our conversational Mongolia lessons. We started with basic phrases like "What is your name?" "My name is ------." "Hello; goodbye." " How are you?" and other simple, but important words. Pastor Mark tried to teach the young girls a special, secret phrase - "Marry me!" But, Pastor Dick shut that one down really fast!
We have learned enough that we can get from the hotel to the church alone on public transportation as well as introduce ourselves to people in the church. Mongolian is a hard language, filled with odd tones, but God is giving us grace. Hannah and Kelly are really excelling in it already. We have a wonderful, 20-year-old teacher named Degei. We are also helping her improve her English.
Today we just got back from the countryside where we rode camels and horses. We also hiked to the river to collect riverstones for the fire to cook a sheep for lunch. The braver souls watched as the sheep was killed, while some of us headed into the ger (a round, portable, Mongolian countryside home) to escape. The reactions to the menu were varied, but I will just say that Paul went back for seconds! It was particularly exciting to hear Pastor Mark share the gospel with the Mongolian family that lived in the ger.
Please keep us lifted up in prayer. We are making final preparations for the "Tsunami" team's arrival tomorrow. We will continue our Mongolian lessons in the morning while Pastors Mark, Dick, and Susie will begin the long trek back to Ulaanbaatar to meet the team coming in.
Welcoming revival to Mongolia and expecting to see souls saved,
Sonia McPhillips (for the team)
Mongolia Update 1
Written by Harvest Bashta
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 20:11
Sain Bay Nou! (Hello in Mongolian)
Greetings from the great land of Mongolia! Let me start out by saying there is nothing like being thrust out into the purposes of God. His heart is throbbing for this nation. It began to get louder and louder even as we took off in the airplane. It kept brewing as the hours stretched on, and we started realizing...this is it! No more preparation! We landed in South Korea tired but smiling. The next day we went to Prayer Mountain and got to spend an hour in our own private grotto (it sounds fancy, but it's just a small room with one floor mat and a bench to pray kneeling).What an incredible way to start off the trip — seeking God's purpose and asking that our hearts would be conformed to His. Many tears later we all emerged with new revelation and full hearts for "our" Mongolia.
South Korea was still very modern, and it was nice for us Westerners to get adjusted while we were having jetlag. We arrived in Mongolia late Monday night, and finally it felt like we were on the mission field. Can anyone say "shower?" Can anyone say "cold shower?" How about "refreshing!"Yeah, it was quite refreshing!
Tuesday morning we applied for and received our 90-day visas with no problem. Praise God! We left Ulaanbaatar right around noon and were speechless as we started driving through the greenest hills we had ever seen. Rolling hills one after another. You would have thought we were in Ireland! And the sky! Oh the sky! It was the bluest blue. Here it hit us again — we are in Mongolia. We live in Indiana, and we are now in Mongolia. All I wanted to do was run up a hill and sing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music." (Maybe on the way back :)!
Pastor Mark and Ginny are the greatest. A true father and mother in the Spirit. We took a tour of the city today and are starting to get familiar with the surroundings, the money, etc. We had a special church service tonight and before my dad preached, he introduced each of us. We all got to briefly share what was on our heart for the church. It was awesome to hear my classmates. I was so proud of us!
Well, that is all I can write tonight. If you don't hear from my mom or one of us every couple of days while the team is here, it's because the electricity is down or our schedule is too crazy. Thank you all for praying for us - we really can feel the prayers!
We are all looking forward to Team #2 arriving. They are calling us the "first wave" and Team 2 the "Tsunami Team!"
Love you!
Harvest (for the team)
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