Mongolia TenDays Cross Cultural Experience

With the leadership of its infamous conqueror Chinggis Khan, Mongolia became an Ancient World Power in the 13th to 14th centuries having an empire that stretched from Central Asia to North in Siberia, to West, East and South Asia, even to Central Europe. In modern times, this Land of Steppe and Sky has an easy access to Russia, China and even to North Korea, where most other nations find hard to penetrate.

Now, could you imagine the potential of this nation to spread the Gospel under the leadership of Jesus? Our Ten Days Mission team of 13 went to UlaanBaatar last July 3-14 carrying that vision of God redeeming Mongolia's history by using its influence to advance His kingdom to the ends of the world.

The challenge is, for about 10 years, our local church there in Mongolia has grown to just 55-65 members attending every Sunday. So, being limited in time but overflowing with God's resources, we focused on 3 things:

1. Empowering the small pool of local leaders to grow and to go and evangelize their countrymen;

2. Establishing or ministering to the members of the local church;

3. Engaging with key people in the city.

I. EMPOWERING ACTIVITIES

a.    We conducted a Leadership Training for the local leaders to enable them to catch the harvest of people that God is going to bring to Every Nation Mongolia.

b.  We prayed to commission the leaders and members of the church to step out of their comfort zone and start to Go and Make Disciples of the city.

 c.      We declared God’s Word for Pastor Oyuna and her 3 daughters Jemi, Anna and Esther to encourage them as they continue to lead Every Nation Mongolia.


II. ESTABLISHING AND MINISTERING ACTIVITIES

a.      We ministered to the members of the church through praise and worship, preaching and sharing of testimonies during the two Sundays that we were there.

- Pastor Carlo and Atty. Inky preached about Making Disciples and how important it is to be planted in the Word of God.  

- Jerome and Momar joined the music team in leading praise and worship

- Chris and Jonai shared their testimonies on how Jesus changed their lives

- Beda shared the word about embracing the Father’s love

-  Joy did Tithes and Offerings during the last Sunday worship

b.      The ladies ministered to the kids not just in Kids Church but by caring for them while their parents participated in the trainings. Esther, Pastor Oyuna’s 10-year old kid really has a big heart for teaching those younger than her.

c,  Angelo shared in the Couple’s Night on how to honor God in their marriage and parenthood, and the whole team prayed for the couples a prayer of blessing.

 d. We served the marrying couple in the following ways:
-Pastor Carlo officiated the wedding and proclaiming the Word of God to the non-Christian guests
-Joy, Mina and Rachel served as the photographers and videographers
-Jonai produced an Audio Video Presentation for the couple
-Momar and Jerome played special number for the couple and the guests
-the rest of the team helped in decorating and preparing the venue

III. ENGAGING ACTIVITIES

a. We engaged with and prayed for Urgaa, a traditional singer in Mongolia, and his pregnant wife, Naranerhes. We prayed that he and his wife may come to the knowledge of Christ and eventually be used to advance the kingdom of God in the entertainment industry.

b. We connected Pastor Oyuna with Mongolian Red Cross Sec. Gen. Bolormaa Nordov (former Member of Parliament) and Admin Director Purevjav Jambalragcha. We prayed that this relationship between the Mongolian Red Cross and the local church will prosper for the advancement of God’s kingdom. (From Left: Admin Director Purevjav Jambalragcha, Atty. Inky Reyes, Sec. Gen. Bolormaa Nordov, Pastor Oyuna Joshua, Pastor Carlo Ratilla)

c. We conducted English Class for 3 days to engage with friends of some local church members.

d. We engaged and evangelized some students in the biking area where young people usually go to hang out.

Missions: The Ultimate Walk on Water

Being in a short-term mission trip to a different nation is packed with privileges that only comes when you obey God  and step into the unknown and uncertain. These privileges include, aside from travelling, being stretched in character and in faith in ways you could have never imagined, experiencing  cross-cultural encounter, connecting to locals from other nations that would be your buddy from somewhere around the world even after the missions, learning about significant things in life, and most especially being a part of what God is doing in advancing His Kingdom.

It's a great opportunity that a lot of believers are missing once they make missions a passive discipline of their Christian life. But who's to blame? Missions have always had a picture of hardship, lack of financial capabilities, and being vulnerable in an unknown territory. For me, these things entirely portrayed missions in hope to get people know Jesus, until God called me to go on my first ever mission trip to  Medan, Indonesia. Since then, I realized there's more to a mission trip than just losing your life. In fact, it's about finding life and its meaning and purpose.

Going on a mission trip is something similar, but not entirely, to going on a different place to explore. When you travel for vacation, the thrill, experience and learning that the tour gives you  makes the money, time and energy spent worth it. Travailing a mountain to its top, diving a cliff and walking in heights are experiences you have to work hard for but when you do, there's fulfilment inside your heart that no save money, spared time or unused energy can equally provide. When you go to missions, all the privileges I stated initially make it worth all the resources you would have to spend, in addition to the fulfilment that obedience to God's Great Commission to "Go and make disciples of all nations" brings.

I realized Christians may be more aware of these privileges if they have a clear picture of what happens in the mission field so I'm writing in the next posts the experiences that my current short-term mission trip in Mongolia are accomplishing in me.