Ulaanbaatar x Kabul

Absolutely scrumptious Afghan-style meal and tea made for us by △.

    

    

 

   Hello everyone. I wanted to share something a little different today before starting on my regularly scheduled update (which is actually behind schedule due to our contraction of and ongoing recovery from Covid-19). 

    Last month we had the privilege of dining with a Mongolian missionary -- already quite a rare category, but this person's calling was all the more intriguing in light of recent world history. This missionary -- I'll call him/her △ -- had been ministering to the Hazara people in Kabul for ten years before coming back to Mongolia to raise support. △ was aiming to return to Kabul when the Pandemic started and Mongolia locked down its borders. Still they planned to go back again when possible, but the current crisis began before there was a chance, endangering many of his/her friends. △ cooked a delicious Afghan-style meal for us and one other couple from our church, accompanied by saffron-green tea, which was exquisite as billed. As delicious as the meal was, the real treat was hearing △ tell us about the church in Afghanistan and their way of reaching out to the Hazara people.

    First of all, I was fascinated to meet a missionary from a developing nation -- I assumed that makes it hard to raise support, but on the other hand probably helps △ keep a lower profile in other low-income nations in ways that would not be possible for people from first world nations (or who "look like" they would be) and possibly helps with some cultural expectations as well. Secondly, we were amazed to hear how well God has equipped △ to minister to this specific people group, the Hazara. The "Hazara" are believed to be named for the Persian word for "thousand," and to descend from the Mongol squadron of 1000 troops the Khans left to manage the area after they conquered it. For this reason, the Hazara not only bear physical resemblance to Mongolians, but apparently their language and culture both have many commonalities with Mongolia as well. △ said that he/she doesn't stick out in the region unless he/she starts talking and reveals the foreign accent.  I asked whether △ has to keep their faith a secret, but they told me "there's no avoiding it once they know you're foreign. 'What do you believe?' will be the very first question they ask you. In many places that would be 'what do you do?' or 'Where are you from?' -- in China they always ask 'How much do you make?,' but in Afghanistan the very first question is 'What do you believe?'" △ said that they struggled with how to answer that question at first, because if you say "Christian" they just roll their eyes and say "Oh, the Hollywood religion. You say you believe in God but smoke and drink and sleep around and do all of the sinful things." They equate the word with hypocritical hedonism.  So eventually △ started describing him/herself instead as "a disciple of Jesus." That always gets their attention, as they'll say "Oh, is there a religion like that? Jesus is a good prophet." And they often will be curious to know more about it.

    △ told us that he/she appeals to Mongolian origins as the basis for sharing their testimony, saying "I was born in a land caught between Buddhism and Communism, so I was never able to know the True God."  That always stirs their sympathy, because the Muslims consider themselves as knowing the True God. △ then goes on to share about meeting Christ and being changed by Him. He/She said that any time the Muslims start to get upset at △ about God becoming a man or Jesus being the same person as God, he/she just uses the Muslim mantra "God is Great; I am nothing." △ takes on a hurt expression and says "What can I say about it? I'm not saying this, my God says it. God is great; I am nothing! How can I say anything different if God tells me He has a son and became man?" △ said that line of  humble "don't shoot the meek messenger" usually calms them down and they'll say "Alright alright, fine, it isn't you saying this." 

    While △'s own faith is quickly placed front and center, he/she said that the local people who do come to faith must only do so under extreme secrecy, because you can't know if your neighbor will turn you in to the Muslims and they'll burn your house down or make you disappear. △ told us that everything is done on a 1:1 basis -- just mentor to mentee and onward. △ told us that they did organize a mass meeting of the members of this mentoring network, and described how beautiful it was to see neighbors recognizing eachother and saying "You too?! Hallelujah!" and realizing they'll be able to silently encourage and pray for oneanother. △ went on about this need for secrecy: "Here in Mongolia, we ask people to believe in Jesus because He will help repair their families and solve their alcohol problems. In Afghanistan, we're saying to people 'Please believe in Jesus. You'll likely be killed for it, but please follow Him just the same and it'll be worth it.'"  -- and that's before this new takeover by the Taliban. △ said from what the converts are saying, they don't have questions of "how to survive." They expect that they'll be martyred eventually, unless the Lord chooses to spare them for His work. So they are joyful.

    As for △, they say they intend to work more with the Hazara people. Now that Afghanistan is off limits, △ intends to visit the border countries available for visits from Mongolians to reach out to the many Hazara who are fleeing Afghanistan, and also to work on trying to get out those who can be helped.
    If you're like me, right now you're probably thinking "Let's get △ hooked up with American funding and make a big difference!" But throughout our conversation I learned that △ has a passion for being a Mongolian-supported missionary. They were saying that the Mongolian church needs to learn consistency; to step up and keep supporting instead of giving a one-time gift and then forgetting about it. △ was saying that the Mongolian church doesn't get enough teaching about generosity, faithful prayer and giving, and trusting God with money; and that "even though what they can give is just [a few cents] per person -- almost nothing -- just like the widow's mite, God can use it if they just faithfully give, and it's an important lesson and blessing for the Mongolian Christians to take part in God's global Church" etc. So I determined that △ would not be interested in foreign aid. But I wanted to share with my friends around the world about the awesome work God is and will continue to be doing in Afghanistan and the surrounding nations.  I know that many of us Americans have been praying for them lately out of a national guilt for the predicament in which our government has placed the Afghan Christians, but our time with △ showed me that: 

    1) It has always been dangerous for our brothers and sisters in Muslim-controlled regions.

    2) The Lord will protect His people or otherwise use them for His glory in whatever they have to 
         face next.

Either way, I invite all of you to be praying for the Hazara, the believers in and fleeing Afghanistan, and for a thousand other Church enclaves like this that we haven't heard about yet.

For my next entry I have much to update about our own lives.