Hope is Beautiful.

Ponder this question:  Would you go to a church on Sunday morning if it meant spending two hours in a small cramped room with no electricity, no heat, and it was -30 F below zero temperature? 

I won't even add the other conditions such as no child care, no sunday school teachers, no praise & worship team,  and the bathroom is located outside.

Our family spent thanksgiving in the northern Mongolian city of Darkhan with some of our team mates who live and work there.  It was nice to get away from the big city of Ulaanbaatar, and enjoy the peaceful quietness of a smaller town, and visit with friends.

Road Headed To Russian Siberian Border

Sunday of that weekend, we were invited by our friends, the Bergevins, to drive up to the Russian border to attend church with a small group of believers who lived there.  It was an hour long car ride on roads that were freshly covered with snow.   The scenery on the trip was breathtakingly beautiful.  We passed by herds of two humped camels showing off their thick winter coats.  The four young Bergevin girls admired the pine trees along the way and each picked out the one they thought would make the nicest Christmas tree.

We arrived in the small border town of Sukbaatar just before noon.  The city is so small you can see the entire town when driving in from the distance.  We pulled up in front of a small white building that was adorned with a cross.  It was good to get out of the car and stretch our legs, but we soon realized how cold it was.  The still cold air took your breath away and we were all thankful for the warm layers of clothes we had brought. 

Sukbaatar Church

Teaching

Several ladies were standing outside waiting to greet us.  We soon learned the electricity was out and there was no heat in the building.  Inside the church there was a large room with wooden benches and a pulpit, but we passed through it and all gathered into a small room in the back so we could use our bodies to help heat up a much smaller space.  Eleven of us squeezed together in the freezing cold to spend time with God, worshiping, sharing testimonies, hearing God's Word taught, and fellowship.  One lady who had been a Christian for 10 years preached and shared from the bible, while the other five ladies who attended church that day all got out their notebooks and pens to write down as much they could.  They were so eager to learn from the bible.  They joyfully sang songs of praise to God, and we even sang Amazing Grace in both English and Mongolian at the same time.   

Singing

Writing in notebooks

We were happy to get to spend time with other Christian believers that day, in a place that was far from home, even if it was in a language we could barely understand.  We knew what passage we were studying, and we read our bibles while they studied theirs.  We prayed for one another and spent time with our Lord.  Even though we didn't have electricity, the light shining in thru the window provided enough to read and write.  

It was encouraging that despite the cold conditions, they still faithfully gathered in a small group to hear God's word and pray together every sunday.  It is difficult to put into words, but the ability to freely read and learn about God is still a relatively new concept for Mongolia.  They will all tell you it has given them hope again.  And hope is a good thing in a place that is tough to live each day.  Hope is beautiful.