A Disciple's Heart

During July Pieter with Bernie Anderson, one of our team members, facilitated workshops and seminars at the local C&MA churches' annual church leadership camp. The theme for the camp was "A Disciple's Heart". Pieter's section focused on Servant Leadership - A Disciple's Heart, A Servant's Heart. He presented the seminars with the help of an interpreter, Bodyo (see the photo where she is participating in one of the group discussions), who is also helping with translation work at ABTC.

It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the Mongolian church leaders and fellowship with them. Also, a great time for language practice and learning. The camp was situation in a beautiful area in the countryside between the mountains. We woke up every morning to a beautiful view. However, it was very hot during the camp. We did not believe that Mongolia could be so hot. Fortunately, it cools down during the night. Actually quite much. During that hot spell the temperature in Darhan was 40 Celsius on one day but the same night cooled down to 18 C!!!

As we were talking about discipleship and servanthood, we studied John 13 and one afternoon walked down to the river to have a feetwashing ceremony. See the second photo. We washed each other feet, and committed ourselves to serve God and each other. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and bonding.

On the last afternoon we had a special treat - five-organ soup (see the 3rd photo). A soup made from the organs of the goats which they slaugthered that day for the evening's special treat - an authentic Mongolian meal: goat meat and vegetables cooked with hot stones in a large milk (metal) container. The hot stones actually cooks or "barabeques" the meat. The fourth photo show some of the camp participants enjyoing the 5-organ soup!



The camp is reached the easiest by train. So after the camp it was back to Darhan with the train which was like a sauna since it had no air conditioning. During this trip Pieter shared a bench with a Kazakh. The youth which were with Pieter tried to explain the gospel to him but he became very aggressive. However, we continue to converse with him, sharing our lives with him and hearing about his work and life. It was a very interesting experience. I just wish I could understand and speak the language. Please pray with us that the language learning will go quickly and well, and that we will soon be able to become more effective in our ministry.

Apologies and Thank You!

First of all our sincere apologies to all our family, friends, supporters and prayer partners. We are sorry that we have been so quiet for so long on our blogspot. Although we can think of many reasons they are not really valid. This summer was busier and more confused than we anticipated. First Pieter went on a journey to the West of Mongolia with our Field Director and Jeremy Bergevin. The renovations at ABTC (Alliance Bible Training Center) involved much more than expected. Then Pieter was asked to teach at the annual church leaders camp. In between we had to prepare for and assist the new families that joined our team. Pieter planned and began also with the research project for the Theological Education and Leadership Development Program. More about each of these events and projects in the blogs following this one.

Secondly, we would like to thank our partners who have given towards the fund for the training program's vehicle. We have already received about US$1,600. We still have $28,400 to go. Thank you again for joining us in this. This is a real need and is becoming more urgent as we begin to develop the training program. Please pray with us.

Please come back and see the next blogs which will appear over the next few days sharing about the above mentioned events.

Desperately Needed

No joking! If we are not able to raise enough funds we may have to make use of the same kind of transport as our neighbor’s friend who visits our apartment building on his horse (see the photo on the right ). Not too bad an option, but very slow and extremely cold in winter! And no place to keep it in the apartment! Another option may be a horse cart (see the photo above). Same problem though!

In this post we would like to share with you an urgent and real need. We need to raise funds to acquire a vehicle. In September we will finish with our full-time language study and begin with our ministry. The training program will require much traveling as we will visit churches in other towns and districts to conduct training there. Many of these can only be reached by motor vehicle traveling over dirt roads. The roads here are very bad, and especially during the winter the situation is even worse when you have to deal with snow and ice. Much of the training will be conducted also during the winter months. Mongolia has only about 1,250 km of tarred or paved roads. The rest are dirt roads or just tracks. During winter even the main, tarred road between Ulaan Baatar and Darhan is at places and times only accessible to 4 x 4 vehicles due to ice and snow on the road.

So, to do our ministry effectively we really need a vehicle that is reliable and able to handle the road and traveling conditions in Mongolia. Unfortunately vehicles are very expensive here because they are all imported. We need around US$ 30,000 to acquire such a vehicle. Please pray with us for this need, and share it with your friends and churches. If you want to help us you can send contributions to one of the following addresses:

North American friends can send it to International Ministries, C&MA, P.O. Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500, USA. Please designate your contributions for our vehicle fund as for Mongolian Field Vehicle. USA friends will receive a tax deductible receipt. South African friends can send their contributions to Ned. Geref. Church Zeerust Noord, P.O. Box 21 , Zeerust, 2865, South Africa. Any other friends can send it to either of the two addresses or if you would prefer to pay it directly into our bank account let us know, and we can send you the necessary details.

Thank you for your support. With your contributions you will be partnering with us in this very exciting ministry.

For the rest we are doing fine. Spring is now really here. We still have to deal with a few dust storms now and then but overall our days are very nice and mostly warm. Last week we even had rain here in Darhan although Ulaan Baatar had snow! The hills are slowly turning green and a few wild flowers are beginning to bloom. We are continuing with language study. This is really like eating an elephant, bite by bite everyday; step by step, and sometimes not seeing, feeling or hearing any progress. But we are keeping at it.

Take a Break

Looking out of my window at a very windy, dusty, snowy day. The last few days have been very nice - cool (very cold by South African standards), sunny and not too much wind. But today we have wind, rain and snow and before the rain and snow could wet the ground, dust.
We have a one-week spring holiday and are very happy to have this short break from language classes every day. We have finished the first book in our two-volume book series for Mongolian. We just started the second book, a much thicker book than the first one. Language study is going well but slow. We try to keep at it every day, learning new words and new grammar, and practicing to use these, hoping that one day we will get it under the knee as we say in South Africa. That is, knowing it well and being able to use it.
During our spring break we plan to do some work at ABTC (the Alliance Bible Training Center) to get the school ready for later this year when we will begin with our ministry there. There is much work to do. Some repairs, paint work, planning and buying some new furniture, rearranging and so on to make the school a nice looking place with a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We hope that some of the short-term missions groups coming here during this summer will help us with this project. Next week will be mostly planning the work and doing what we can do in the mean time.
In the photo: Haniki with some church members and workers in front of ABTC. The church we attend, Nikdovnihon, meets at ABTC on Sundays.

Introducing the Theron Family

This is our family. From left to right: Haniki, Sonja, Anri, and Pieter.

Anri and Sonja are studying in South Africa at the University of Pretoria. Anri is in her final year studying Information Design, and Sonja has just started her first year in Journalism. Haniki and I, Pieter, are living in Darhan, Mongolia, and currently studying Mongolian full-time before we will begin with our ministry here. Before Mongolia we lived and worked in the Philippines for 9 years, and before that we were in Zambia for eight and a half years.

After language study Pieter will develop a leadership development and theological training program for the local church. Haniki will be involved with some community development projects and youth ministry.