Spring Evangelism and Summer Preparations

One of our evangelists took this on a recent outreach to Arkhangai Province

This update may seem a bit scatter-shot compared to other posts, as I'm trying to kind of catch up on what we've been doing this year.

 My students are tremendously excited about the US trip, and nervous at the not-unrealistic prospect that any one of them may be denied a visa to get in. They seem to have spent some time looking up different things in the wiregrass area, and next we focused on getting their application requisites in order. This includes scheduling their visa interviews, getting their parents to sign parental releases for them to travel with me (which has to be notarized and then made certified English translations through a civic translator), a letter of invitation from America, some sort of document affirming they have no criminal record, and Yaejin made a full calendar itinerary for them to show, which seems to have been quite persuasive so far. The interview itself only lasts 5-10 minutes before the consular agent makes their decision to grant or deny the visa! So far we are 2 for 2. The other three Mongolian kids will all go together on 6/10 (couldn't get earlier dates for them). We're encouraged by the results so far, and are praying they will all be granted entry. Since they are young, their families are here, and they'll be traveling with a citizen (with a decided interest in not damaging his credibility with US immigration due to having a wife who needs permission to enter for each visit!), and none of them have travelled anywhere before, I don't anticipate any reason they should elicit red flags.

The first girl to go for her interview (Emily) had a longer experience. She said the woman asked her about her faith: what kind of Christian she was, what sort of church she goes to, was looking up Harvest Dothan online; and in the end didn't give her an answer when she was sent home, saying that they'll look into it and decide! They called me 6 days later to say she was approved and we could pick up her visa. 
The second girl, Jamie, had a much simpler experience. The agent asked her questions we had told her to expect, and finished with "Do you know what this schedule says you'll be doing?" She was answering the various activities they'll be involved in when he cut her off with "Ok, you can get your passport in two days." And that was it! So either he was a les scrutinizing agent than our first one, or else they looked into the Harvest Youth Internship and know now that it is legitimate. 

The U.S. trip team 

I'd like to thank everyone who has taken an interest in this trip -- financially, spiritually, or in offering beds and/or some transportation help. I really think this can be a life-changing summer for these teens, and it is a huge deal for non-wealthy Mongolians to get to visit America. Praying for logistics, safety, and spiritual growth.

Other than that project, we have been keeping ourselves busy in other ways. Yaejin is always coming up with ideas to give experiences to the people around her, so she occasionally ends up giving herself a big project to help educate and/or entertain the school kids or the church members. For my part, I'm doing work for the English curriculum, co-running our church school and teaching about 2.5hrs per day, and doing my best to make sure Yuna gets plenty of attention and connection with me. She's a good girl, and continues to be in fun stages for various reasons, not least of which is her verbal development. She has mostly determined that everything should be spoken to me in English and often translates whatever she's just been telling Yaejin's family into English for me (or vice-versa).  For Yaejin she seems ok with both, but occasionally decides she needs to translate into Korean for her as well.

The youth group has been going nicely, and I feel that most of the students are in a place of willing growth. For the past month we've been just answering anonymous questions from them, which has led to some good discussion, which I prefer to them just listening to me talk.

Preaching to the youngsters

Preaching to the elderly

The evangelistic outreach continues to thrive, with numerous conversions each trip. On a recent trip they took, we also got a most welcome follow-up report from a local pastor who worked with our team. He had been in a small village, running a house church with almost no members. The Sunday after our team left, they had over a dozen people gathered together in their yurt-church for worship! (pictures below) That was great to see, because I often wonder about the follow-up with these people our team is reaching. 

Twenty years ago this man got a copy of our team's "picture scroll" which we use for telling the gospel, and he said he still uses it!

Thank you as usual for your interest in what we are doing. I hope to start that U.S. group on an online American High School course when we return, and be moving toward their graduation. I'm not sure what my main focus will look like after that -- whether I'll put more focus on my other job, or take on some younger class responsibilities, or (fingers crossed) focus on doing more writing. Thankfully we both feel quite clear that God is using us for these teenagers for this season, and they have shared that their faith has been directly impacted through our investment. Which is in turn a result of the investment of all you who have supported us and remain connected to us in spirit.