July 13, 2007

Our phone has been out for a while; hence no update til now.  We have had a week off from our summer children's program.  Last week we had several kids repond expressing that they knew they had repented and trusted Christ for salvation in the past, and one child  respond desiring to be saved.  We usually have an invitation on Friday, as we must explain salvation step by step throughout the week.

 

This week is a big holiday week here in Mongolia.  We have started a tradition of going to the country on the Thursday of this holiday week and having our service there in the evening.  It was a perfect day yesterday weatherwise, and all went well.  Several responded to an invitation to a message tied to the holiday, which originated in Chingis Khaan's time as a competition between soldiers.  I preached about how nowadays soldiers of Jesus Christ must boldly and ernestly contend with the world by being sober, righteous and godly.  We have a couple young people that seem to be coming along and making good decisions.

 

Next week is another 10-12 year olds' program, so we are gearing  up for that.  Thank you for striving together with us in prayer.

 

In Christ,

Jason

 

 

June 26, 2007

Dear Friends,

 

Sorry for the long silence.  I appreciate the emails asking what happened to the updates.

 

We are in our second week of VBS this week.  We have 10 -12 year olds coming this week.  We had them pre-register this year hoping that it would help the kids to be more consistent.  The first week (last week) we had the same 27 kids for three of the days, with 25 on the last day, so we were happy with that.  Four kids responded to an invitation to salvation at the end of the week, for which we praise the Lord. 

 

Our workers this year are doing really well.  Last year there was one worker and I (Becky was busy with other work - having a baby!) that took real responsibility.  Some of you know Eebee, who is at Fairhaven Baptist College now preparing for full-time service. She was a tremendous help, a regular fellow worker, and we kind of wondered what we would do without her this year.  But praise God, He has filled the need and this year there are three that are taking leadership roles (leading singing, doing the memory verses, teaching the Bible story) and they are doing well.  There are two others that have or are helping, and there has been a great spirit among the workers.  This is a real blessing, to see people that have a burden to work for God giving themselves to His service, and becoming equipped for that service.

 

Thank you for your prayers.

 

Jason

 

April 2007

An Uphill Battle

 

I was encouraged recently as I read of David Brainerd’s ministry among the Indians.  The state of the Indians during the first part of his ministry is mirrored by the people of Mongolia today.  The Indians were too busy to stop and listen to David Brainerd’s preaching.  It didn’t seem to them to have any practicality or importance in their daily lives.  Jesus on more than one occasion warned us about this attitude in people using the typical excuses of His time.  And that is the general state of Mongolians now.  They are not interested in what God has to offer.  “What’s the profit of the Bible and going to church?”, they ask.  I’ve heard that question so much that for a while I was taking a few minutes during Sunday services to “load our people’s guns” with Bible answers to that question.

 

But as many Indians suddenly became very concerned about their souls when the Holy Spirit came in His convicting power, I firmly believe that He can do that here also.  So we pray for the Holy Spirit to descend on us in power, and try to remove hindrances in the lives of the people we do have, as well as our own lives.  Please pray with us to this end.

 

Faithful Few

 

We are not completely without fruit, however.  In the past few months, the half-hearted have disappeared, and those in whose hearts God has done a real work have proven that work by their faithfulness.  I almost hate to give details, because it seems as soon as I crow about somebody they end up leaving, but we have two young men and two young ladies that we really thank God for.  The two young ladies we are training to teach Junior church.  We always tend to look at numbers, but I have been reminded lately to see the people instead of the numbers.  When Jesus looked at the multitudes, He saw lost individuals and their condition grieved Him.

 

Activities

 

We tried a new thing this spring, holding special services every night for a week.  We passed out a total of 3,000 invitations with Gospel tracts on the street and at a big outdoor market, put up 300 fliers, mostly on the entrances to apartment buildings, and invited friends.  In all 20 new people came.  We have not seen any real results yet, but still have some follow-up to do.

 

Our teen activities on Saturdays have been going well the past month or so.  We have a goal of seeing an average attendance of 27 by December of this year.  April’s average was 14, which is an improvement from the average of 9 last year.

 

We will start our VBS in June, and follow-up with a new Sunday School and Junior church program.  We have opportunity to rent another room in the building we are in that could be used for children’s services.  This seems to be a providential opportunity.  With the rooms we have now it is not possible to do a proper Junior church, as noise from singing, etc. would be a hindrance to our adult preaching service.

 

Prayer

 

As I stated above, we ask prayer for the power of the Holy Spirit to break in pieces the hard hearts around us.  We ask prayer for strength to keep ourselves in the Love of God.  And we ask prayer for the people we do have, that they would be steadfast.  Thank you for your part in our ministry.

 

In Christ,

Jason Muller

February 2007

We thank God for another winter almost past.  The Asian new year is going on now, which is supposed to mark the beginning of spring.  For us it is a nice break in the regular schedule, but for those that have become Christians here it is a test of their obedience to Christ, as there are many customs that are contrary to God’s Word.  The main one is the drinking of vodka, a central part of the customs of the new year.  So we pray for them, and try to encourage faithfulness to our Savior.  The first day of the new year fell on a Sunday this year.  There is a strong custom of going to see older relatives on that day, so we were happy to see some people in church Sunday morning and even Sunday evening.

 

Since the regular New Year in January, we have seen some encouraging things happen.  Two people that had come once or twice before have begun to come regularly.  One is a homeless man and a woman that comes with him.  Of course they have some huge hurdles to cross, the first of which will be to make some serious, big decisions, but we believe that God can change even lives as broken as theirs.  Another young man decided that he was going to come to church even if it cost him his job.  He comes to all services now, Saturday soulwinning, and helps with our regular teen activity.  That is a big blessing to me.  And he still has his job, albeit with a cut in pay.  Another young man started coming again after leaving for a while.  That is always encouraging to me, as it has happened before that somebody we thought was saved stopped coming.  When they come back it is evidence to me of the Spirit’s conviction.

 

We have set some goals as a church this year.  It seemed good to me to set some definite goals for church growth, and to ask God for people to take some responsibilities here in the church.  So we are praying and have various steps to implement in order to give God something to bless and thus bring the results we want to see.  I believe the first goal we will see met is giving two people the responsibility of teaching the children’s Sunday School.  We have two young ladies that have shown themselves faithful.  I will approach them very soon concerning teaching.  When I do, I will set some requirements for their personal lives and church involvement, and if they agree, train them.  Then they will start teaching this summer.

 

I believe we need to have more of an influence on the people in the general vicinity of our church.  Alcoholism and general depravity are rampant, and spiritual interest is usually completely absent.  On top of that, the biggest Buddhist temple and monastary in Mongolia is about a half mile from our rented church building.  I plan to give specific areas to people in the church who will be partners in soulwinning, and make them responsible for tract distribution in that area.  We have potentially six or so pairs in the church.

 

We will appreciate your prayers for us as we try to build a church for God here in Mongolia.  Also, please pray for us as we strive to have the discipline and holiness in our own lives that will make us vessels that God can bless.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

 

In Christ,

Jason Muller

Christmas--New Year Update

We had a better-than-expected Christmas service, with about 60 in attendance with many first-time visitors.  I am trying to encourage our people to follow up on their visitors (all came as a result of being personally invited by one of our church people) and try to get them into a salvation lesson.  We had a good time Sunday evening with our church people, having  a service and food and Christmas goodies afterward.

 

On Friday the 29th, we had an all-night teen activity.  The next two days were hard, but the activity was fun, and had good results, with 17 in attendance.  One 18 year old girl, who has been coming faithfully since last summer, indicated to me that she had dedicated her life to the Lord during the preaching that night-Praise the Lord!  I certainly believe that she is sincere and expect to soon begin to prepare her and another teen girl to take children's Sunday School.

 

Yesterday was a good day, as we went over 2007's goals, and some people committed themselves to work together with me to see the goals realized.  We look forward to 2007, expecting to see more results than we have ever seen here before.  Please pray with us as we start into this year.

 

Happy New Year to all,

Jason & Becky Muller

December 18, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

The past few weeks have been hard on the one hand, but really a blessing on the other.  We have seen a decrease in our average attendance.  This is hard as we, or at least I, can't help but be affected by numbers.  But on the other hand, the people that we have thought to be faithful are proving themselves so.  Just to have a few people that really believe in God and come to church to worship Him, be with His people and learn His Word is a huge blessing. 

 

We look forward to 2007 and starting in afresh from the New Year together with those people having set new goals and having a new plan to accomplish those goals. 

 

This weekend we have our special Christmas services - one in the morning to which we are inviting unsaved family and friends, and one in the evening for our church people.  Then for New Years we are having a special teen activity on the 29th.  So, as usual, we are finishing out the year using the opportunity holidays afford to point men to Christ.

 

We had the privilege of baptizing one young lady last week, and leading one teen boy to Christ last Sunday.  Praise God for how He mercifully uses us!

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

November 19, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

I had an encouraging day today, praise God.  We didn't have any better numbers than we have been having, but there was a good spirit and all our faithful people were there.  God seemed to give me liberty to preach, both to say what needed to be said, and with the use of the Mongolian language.

 

A 42 year old man came today for the first time.  He came as a result of somebody knocking on his door last summer and leaving a tract.  He himself did not receive the tract, but found it in his apartment.  As I was driving people home after church Eccl. 11:1 came to mind- "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days".  We had used that verse in our 2005 fall soulwinning campaign.  We have scattered 40-50,000 tracts in the area all around our church.  I don't know when or even if God will bless us with big numbers, but one thing is certain: He CAN. And we have been scattering the "seed."  The man said he would come back Thursday and wanted to do a salvation lesson, which he also indicated on his visitor card.  We may never see him again (he didn't put his address or phone number on the card), but it was a reminder to me of God's ability to bring fruit from our efforts.  It was also an encoragement to just keep after it.

 

The chances of seeing him again are a little higher than usual as we are having a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night!  There of course is no such holiday here, but we try to use it to bring people out.  We are expecting about 25 people.

 

We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!  Thank you for praying for us.

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

October 22, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

We had a decent day, with a good number of adults and kids coming out for our morning serviced.  We probably had 20 some people in all.  There is a young man that went to the Mormon church for five years that has been coming the past few Sundays.  Today he and I spent some time comparing differences between Mormon teachings and the Bible.  He is very open to see those differences, as I think he heard from some people that the Mormon church is the wrong one.

 

A man I have mentioned before, that didn't come for a long time came last Sunday and today.  He still has the same problem of his wife that will not allow him to come to church or read his Bible, or pray at home.  So he has a difficult decision to make.  We are praying for him that he will trust God and do the right thing.

 

Thank you for your prayers.

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

September 25, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

We are thankful for what God is doing among us this fall.  As I said before, we aren't having the numbers that we had last fall, but we are seeing more results.  Which is what I told our people here that I wanted to see.  This Sunday we had six first time visitors and two that have come before but are unsaved.  I am hopeful for follow-up on two of them, one of those being a boxing teacher that has expressed an interest in church since I have known him.

 

It is a blessing to see those that came two weeks ago and  make proffesions of faith coming to church.  A couple that I mentioned before is a particular blessing.  They even went soulwinning with us Saturday, and seem genuine and so willing to obey God as they understand what He has said to do.

 

This weekend we will try to get some people that have come to church before to come again, and also try so get out some first-time visitors.  We will appreciate your prayers with us.

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

September 17, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

God gave us another good service this Sunday.  It was a very different service from last week.  Whereas last week we had 30 people, with probably more than half kids, yesterday we had about 20 people with just a couple kids.  So that means we had over 10 first time adult visitors.  It was encouraging because the people that our church people invited came!

 

We had four people sit in the seeker's meeting after the service.  The couple I mentioned last week, which I will write more about below, brought another couple, of which the man sat in the seeker's meeting.  I can't say whether he got saved or not; time will tell.  But it is exciting to see these young couples come to church and show some interest.

 

Now about the first young couple:  We didn't think the wife had really understood, but yesterday she sat in the seekers' meeting.  (Actually her husband called her in; he seems, unlike most men here, to actually lead his home)  After that meeting I met with these two because he asked if we could talk about how to succeed in the Christian life, a subject I told him we would talk about.  I usually go through the last few verses of Acts 2 and look at what the first church's members did to bring out the importance of obedience, a holy life, and generally what a Christian's life consists of.  We ended up talking about the fact that she was supposed to go back to work the next day.  (she had taken a month's leave to take care of him at the hospital)  She was working in a cafe, 8 am to 11 pm, 7 days a week.  I explained to them how that kind of schedule doesn't allow a person to live the Christian life.  (or raise children - they have a 1 year-4 month old child)  I showed them several verses out of Matt. 6, then challenged them to go home and read together those verses and some others again, and pray and ask God what they should do.  He drives a taxi, but most of his income right now goes to paying back the loan on the car.  I expected to talk to them in a day or two about it, but the phone rang soon after I got home, or not even 2 hours later and it was the wife telling me that they had decided to trust God and not continue with her old work.  So now we are praying and looking for direction and provision from the Lord.  Please pray for this family.  I would tell you their names, but you couldn't say them anyway!  It is exciting when these kind of people come along!

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

September 10, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

God gave us a good day for the first day of our fall soul-winning campaign.  In the summer most of our efforts were directed toward children, but now we are praying to see adults brought to Christ and brought into the church.  We had about 30 people for our evening service yesterday.  We went door-to-door in several apartment buildings close to the center of the city Saturday, invited friends and relatives, and many of the parents of kids that came to our VBS this summer.  Not many parents came, but we did have several first-time visitors.

 

INstead of a come-forward invitation, we had what used to be called a seekers' meeting after the service.  Three people sat in that meeting.  One I believe was saved, and the other two we will be praying for.  The one is a friend of one of our church members.  He had witnessed to her and given her one of our Gospel tracts.  Another is the mother of a really good kid that came to VBS.  She listened very intently during the preaching and I was glad to see her come into the meeting.  She was hearing the Gospel for the first time, however, and now has some decisions to make.  I have met the father also, and he seemed very open to coming to church, but like most men here, it will probably be hard for him to get himself to actually come.

 

I was very happy with the initiative of two of our teen girls yesterday.  There was a girl sitting between them in the service, and I assumed she was their friend.  But as it turns out, she was standing outside when we pulled up to the church in the van looking at our sign.  These two girls noticed her and invited her into the service!

 

One of our members is in the hospital as the result of a mild stroke.  She called me last week and said there was a person in the next room that wanted me to come "pray" for him.  I went, and he turned out to be a prepared soul hungry to hear the Gospel!  He had been reading the Bible, and I gave him a tract (the 44-page pocket-sized Gospel tract we use here) and arranged to do a lesson the next day.  I believe he understood the Gospel and is saved!  His wife also was there, but I don't think her heart is quite as open.  They are a young couple, maybe in their upper 20's.

 

So we thank God for the opportunities He gives us to show people the way of salvation, and pray for Holy Spirit conviction to bring them to the Savior.  We appreciate your prayers with us to this end.

 

In Christ, 

Jason & Becky Muller

August 2, 2006

Another week of Day Camp is under way.  We had 56 kids on Monday, but it has levelled off to about 40 by today, Wednesday.  We have had different themes each week, and this week and next is English week.  I think some of the kids get bored, but they seem to be coming back.  We have seen good responses to the teaching on salvation.  Some of the older kids, one of them a really sharp girl that came last year have responded.  So we pray that they would make a real decision to turn to God.

 

I think I have said before, we have seen good results, I think, among the kids as far as coming to church and reading the John/Proverbs book we give them, but our adults are lacking much.  We look forward to September and pray that we can also see good results then among adults.  Please pray for us concerning those services, as we need to be praying, and preparing for those services as soon as Day camp is over.

 

I started a Salvation lesson series with a group of 6 teen girls that have all come to our teen service on Friday night at one time or another, but showed no response as far as wanting to learn about salvation.  All but one of these teens came last Friday night, and I preached out of I Kings 18 about doing something about finding out about God.  That night we arranged to do a lesson the following (last) Sunday.  We did the next one last night, and have arranged to do the last lesson this Friday after the teen activity.  Three of them seen to be really thinking.  We would appreciate your prayers for them.

 

In Christ,

Jason

Jason & Becky Muller

July 19, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

This update is last week's.  Our phone was out for several days and we just got it back yesterday.  This week is the first of our second three weeks of Day Camp.  We have about 20 kids coming.  We would appreciate your prayers for their salvation.  Below is last week's update:

 

The funeral I mentioned last week went ok.  We weren't able to do it completely like we would have liked, but the major customs of Buddhism were not practiced and I got to speak of the hope of the resurrection both in a service and at the grave site.  Two people mentioned to me afterwards that they would like to come to our church, so we will be praying for and following up on those people.  We also need to continue praying for the mother, that she would believe God's Word.

 

55 people went to the country for a day in connection with the Mongolian national holiday that happened last week.  It was mainly for our church people, but several people brought people that don't regularly attend our church.  All of them, however, have been to our church.  Even though the preaching was directed mainly to saved people, God could have used it to make unsaved people understand the truth.  It is nice here in Mongolia in that you can just go out somewhere in the country to a nice place and set up a tent and spend the day or night there.  No worrying about trespassing or various other restrictive laws.  We played games, waded in the creek, climbed a mountain, and killed and cooked a goat Mongolian style.  We are happy to see many kids that have made decisions at our day camp come to church and also to this little outing.

 

This week we will be preparing for the next three weeks of camp, and doing some work on our house.   So it will be busy as usual!  Thank you for your prayers.

 

In Christ,

Jason, Becky and family  

 

July 11, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

We are seeing good fruit from our summer camp.  We had a total of 22 kids from both age groups in church last Sunday.  It was good to see them there.  I give the ones who make decisions a little John/Proverbs book, and when they finish that I give them a Bible.  Several of the kids have gotten their Bibles so far.

 

I have my first funeral to do this Friday.  It is an interesting situation, as the mother says she has lost faith in God because He didn't save her daughter's life, but she wants to do a Christian funeral according to her daughter's faith.  There are several Christians among her relatives (they come to our church).  They are weak Christians, but open to doing a Christian funeral.  Her daughter was a 13 year old that was saved almost a year ago.  She started coming to church after having and recovering from surgery to remove a tumor in her brain.  As it turns out, the doctors here in Mongolia never removed the tumor, but only put in tubes to remove fluid to her abdominal cavity.  She was a good testimony, showing her faith by her words, actions and attitude, and coming to church as faithfully as her mother and her physical condition would allow.  I would appreciate your prayers concerning this funeral.

 

Becky and Ashley are doing great.  We appreciate your prayers and emails.

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller

July 2, 2006

Dear Friends,

 

We had a day of mixed blessings today, with a good turnout of kids from day camp, but many missing of our regular people.  It's summer and people get the wanderlust.  The man I have mentioned before that seemed to be getting the victory over his sin was there today after missing two weeks.  It was good to see him, but it is frustrating that people can't "purpose in their heart" that they are going to follow God and then do it.  He said that he  would be in church tonight, but I almost knew that he wouldn't.  So, though I like to give good reports of God's blessing, sometimes I can't.  I preached on idols tonight, and one church member's mother came.  She has heard the Gospel, but can't separate from her idols, so we were glad that she came.  She didn't make a decision, but we will keep praying.

 

I feel like we had a good week in camp last week.  We saw good consistency in most of the kids, and some that were trouble at the beginning made considerable improvement during the week.  The worst kid even came today.  I met with 6 kids today after church that responded to invitations during the week, gave them all a book with John and Proverbs and tried to encourage them to be faithful in coming to church.  We will follow up with visiting, and hopefully be able to help them to get established following God in the last week of camp in 4 weeks.  We have a break now, then three more weeks starting at the end of July.

 

We thank you for your prayers.  Becky and the baby are doing well.  It was good to have her back in church both morning and evening today.  We praise God for His goodness to us.

 

In Christ,

Jason & Becky Muller