This is one of the stories about my team‘s time in Mongolia. I know it’s a few months late… I wrote it in my notes and never posted it, but I’m posting it now!
After our first week in Mongolia, we moved from the host we had been staying with that week and were now going to stay with another pastor and his family near the airport in UlaanBaatar (UB for short), whose name is Bogey.
This would be the second unplanned host we would be staying with in Mongolia, as the host the first week was also unplanned. We were supposed to have gone to the countryside and stay there for the entire time we would be in the country doing ministry, but something you learn very quickly on the world race, and when dealing with the Holy Spirit, is that things rarely go the way you expect and you must become very flexible and let go of wanting to know what’s going on all the time. So we’re off to Bogey’s church with no idea what is going to be asked of us or what we’ll be doing.
The story I want to tell you is of the first night we arrived at Bogey’s church. It was a night of being humbled, conviction, and learning what it means to selflessly serve another person. This night broke me and the guys on my team to our core. Afterward, we all processed it in our own way, but I broke down and cried for a long time, realizing just how privileged of a life I have in the US and how important it is to be willing to be there for other people at any time.
It was around 9 in the evening when we arrived at the church we would be staying at for roughly the next week and we were very tired when we arrived and ready to relax and go to sleep. Bogey, the pastor, was saying something about the guys fixing a roof after we had finished eating dinner, and having been told that this man was constantly on the go and didn’t rest a lot, we thought he was joking or possibly talking about some work he wanted us to do in the morning. We had trouble understanding what he was saying as he did not speak very good English and we don’t speak any Mongolian, other than a few very simple words.
Needless to say, we were not taking him very seriously and were still thinking about going to sleep after dinner. Because what work could we possibly accomplish at 10 at night in the dark? After dinner, we found out very quickly that he was completely serious about us fixing this roof that night. While I can’t speak for the rest of the guys on my team, I know I was more than a little annoyed at having to do work in the middle of the night and having no real idea what exactly was going on. I thought this man must be crazy if he expects us to not even sleep, but just work without any kind of rest. Didn’t he know what time it was? Didn’t it cross his mind that we must be tired from being up early and all of the other things we had already done that day?
These were the thoughts that were going through my head while we were being told things we needed to grab before we left. We were having to use flashlights to see anything as it was pitch black outside and we were still unsure as to what exactly was going on and what we were doing. We grabbed what seemed like completely random items since we were supposed to be fixing a roof. He led us into a storage area that had a bunch of random building materials, a toilet, a wood burning stove, and a bunch of other things that were unidentifiable in the dark. He told us to grab the wood burning stove and a length of pipe and take it to his car. We put the things in his car and then he was on the move again, this time running around rummaging through a bunch of different piles of what looked like garbage and random things. All the while, the guys and myself were standing around asking if we could help, but having no idea what was going on, we were just standing there watching and waiting for him to point at something and tell us what to do.
By this point, we were becoming pretty frustrated at still having no real idea what we were doing or what was going on and now we could see on the horizon that a pretty mean looking thunderstorm was quickly approaching as every few seconds we could see bolts of lightning strike the ground. I’m from Southern Illinois in the Midwestern United States, which is in tornado alley. We get some pretty intense thunderstorms in the spring and summer or really anytime of the year, so I’m pretty familiar with what a severe thunderstorm looks and feels like and this looked exactly like a storm we would get back home. Needless to say, I was alarmed that this man was not paying attention to the weather and was probably expecting us to work outside through this storm that was quickly approaching over the mountains.
He was rummaging through the junk piles, and a little concrete block house which had a water pump in it, and eventually pulled out a power saw. He pointed to a large pile of scrap wood and said, “You grab,” and pointed to a spot beside the saw. So we started grabbing these thin long pieces of wood, with rusted nails sticking out of them in random places, and made a pile by the saw. He then started using the saw to cut the pieces of wood into short 1 to 2 foot sections. After he had demonstrated how to cut the wood, he motioned for one of the guys to start cutting the wood with the saw. Eric, a guy on my team, hopped on the saw and started cutting the wood. Meanwhile, Bogey brings out a hatchet and starts cutting the wood into smaller sections about 3 or 4 inches wide. Hudson, another guy on my team, and myself start putting the chopped pieces of wood into two large plastic bags, filling them to almost overflowing.
All the while, the storm is getting closer and closer and the lightning is growing more frequent and intense. The temperature was starting to drop rapidly and we could just start to feel the first sprinkles of what we could tell would be a downpour.
Bogey was starting to look a little worried and told us to pray that the storm would hold off, as he started to pray himself. After we finished cutting the wood and putting it in the bags, we put the wood in his car along with the stove and pipe. He then grabbed a large piece of thick clear plastic and put it into his car.
And then we were off.
By this time, the storm had reached us and the rain was coming down in torrents. You could barely see out of the car windshield because the rain was coming down so hard and the sudden change in temperature had made all the windows in the car fog up.
Roads in Mongolia are notoriously bad. Aside from the few main roads in the country that are paved, most of their roads are compacted dirt with a lot of ruts and holes. Needless to say, it’s a rough ride and when it rains it becomes a mud pit.
This is what was happening as we were leaving Bogey’s church. The rain had turned the roads to mud and there were puddles of standing water everywhere. We started going down one road and had to turn around because the rain had made it impassable, so we went down another road. Bogey was telling us to pray that God would make a way for us to get through and go where we needed to go. So we all were praying that God would make a way. We were unable to find a way that hadn’t become a mud pit, so bogey told us to pray that we wouldn’t get stuck and then he drove right through a mud puddle that could’ve easily been over a foot deep and the tires started spinning out and the car began to fishtail. All the while, we’re praying that God will keep us from getting stuck and we’ll be able to make it through.
After a few more mud puddles and fishtails, we finally arrive at our destination. It’s still pouring down rain, lightning is flashing every few seconds, and it is very cold. We pull up and we see this yurt that is in disrepair. We’re still not really sure why we’re here. But Bogey tells us this is it and we get out. We go inside the yurt and we see that there are holes in the roof and water is just pouring in. The floor is dirt and the water is turning it to mud. It is sparsely furnished with a small table on one side and a bed on the opposite side of the door. There is no light inside and we have to shine a flashlight to see anything. At first, we think there is no one inside, but when the light is shined on the bed a man comes up from underneath some blankets. He had wrapped himself in a sheet of thick plastic because the water was leaking right on top of his bed and that was the only way he could stay relatively warm and dry. The man got up and I saw that his bed was a sheet of plywood with cinderblocks holding it up off the floor. He only had the sheet of plastic and a few blankets to cover himself with. He also had on probably all the warm clothes he owned. The man was very old and was obviously in bad health. One of his eyes looked like it was swollen shut from some sort of infection or disease and the other was not far behind. There was a red puffy infected area around his eyes that looked very irritated and painful. His posture was hunched and his body showed the result of years of hard work and hard living. When he breathed there was a rattle in his chest and it sounded like he had some sort of breathing issue. This man was poor. I had more in one drawer back home then this man had in his entire home and the weight and reality of why we were here hit us all. I instantly felt extremely convicted for my negative attitude leading up to coming here and my heart was broken. We all now had a new level of energy and determination and we got to work at once.
We went back out in the rain and grabbed the sheet of plastic from the car. We then untied the ropes around the yurt and threw the plastic over the top so that it would cover the spots where the rain was leaking through and then tied it down again. All the while, praying that the rain would lighten up. We then grabbed the stove, pipe, and bags of wood from the car and brought them inside the yurt. We put the stove in the center and set the pipe up poking it through the spot in the roof where it’s designed to come out of so the smoke has a place to go outside. We then put wood in the stove and realized we didn’t have a lighter. Thankfully, the man had matches and we were able to get a fire going so that he would have a source of heat and be able to keep warm through the night. He also did not have to sleep with a plastic sheet over him because the rain would not be leaking in anymore and his floor would no longer be mud. The man was very appreciative and tried talking to us but did not speak any English and we did not speak any Mongolian, but we knew that he was thanking us and God for what had just happened. The pastor then told us that we were going to pray for him and so we all gathered around him, laid our hands on him, and prayed to the same God who made us all. The old man and the pastor prayed in Mongolian and us in English.
It was a beautiful moment and it gave me just a glimpse of how big our God is. There are so many people in this world, billions in fact, but we’re all made by the same God in Heaven. Each person is a small glimpse of who God is, of his character and personality. Every different culture and language and custom was thought of and planned out beforehand by Him and they all testify to this very diverse God who cannot be walled in and put into a box. It’s so humbling to me to know that I was created by this God and he knows me completely. That nothing I do surprises him or catches him off guard. No matter how far I run, I’m always running in the same direction he’s in. I am His son and he loves me and is proud of me just because I am his child, not because of what I can or can’t do. Whoever is reading this, those things are also the same for you. God loves you because you are you and because he made you in love. Just as a parent loves their child and is proud of them because it’s their child, so God loves you in the same way.
After we prayed for the man, we left, each of us broken inside and processing what had just happened. When we got back to the church, I went inside, dropped to my knees, and cried my eyes out. I was asking God to forgive me for having been so negative in my heart because I was annoyed at having been inconvenienced and not knowing what was going on. When I saw that man, I instantly knew this is what God’s kingdom is all about. It’s about being willing to go out in a thunderstorm and help someone at personal cost to you. Because we did this, that man had a dry, warm bed to sleep in that night and we were able to tangibly show that man the love of Jesus in a real and meaningful way. Ever since, I have been praying that God would help me to see the joy in being interrupted and inconvenienced for his sake and to not think so much of my time that I’m unwilling to help someone.
Also, the determination of Bogey to not let circumstances deter him from helping someone in need. He could’ve easily given up because he was tired and probably had done a lot that day, when it was obvious that there was a going to be a major thunderstorm and the odds of staying warm and dry were not good, when the roads became impassable he could’ve just given up and turned around, but instead he put his own vehicle at risk of getting stuck all to help a man in need. That’s what a man of God does and that is what I strive to be. Dependable and true to my word, no matter the obstacles.
A few days later, while we were laying concrete at Bogey’s church, the old man had walked over to the church and was watching us work. I didn’t even recognize him at first because I had only seen him the one time and it was pretty dark. He looked a lot better this time, though his eyes still looked pretty bad. We learned that he had many children, but they had all abandoned him and didn’t help him at all. I’m just thankful I was able to help him and show him that there are people out there who love with no agenda and with nothing expected in return.
