I Think God Likes It That Way
The woman waving good bye in the photo is me.
January 19, 2017.
This was the exact ending of eight years on the mission field in Mongolia. A few moments after that wave, I was over the international departure line headed home to the USA.
I never thought I’d return.
A view of my front yard in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia
When the Lord called our family back from Mongolia we were in the deep waters of ministry, experiencing God’s provision through our Senders, the growth of the church we had planted, the expansion of our humanitarian work and a thriving team. It made little sense to pack up and leave, almost as little sense as it had to come in the first place.
Upon our arrival to the mission field in 2009, It did not take my husband, Troy and I very long to understand that we had showed up unprepared. Compared to the career missionaries we were introduced to, we had little to no understanding of missions strategy nor were we in any way qualified by those standards.
It was terrifying.
Hence, the proceeding years of seeking and following the leading of the One who sent us, as if it were our lifeline to the safest ground. We never let go, and neither did He. You could say, we were on the field training or you could simplify it as Paul did and say we were fools.
“ Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
Troy and our daughter Sarah enjoying Mongolia life circa 2009
The church we planted in our community circa 2017
Then we left, just as our foolishness began to wear off and we felt a bit wise.
I suppose this is how God designed it, because it was never really about us at all. We simply were the ones who said yes and agreed to go at that time. He truly could have used anyone.
The how we were called, and how we were called home is not the story for today, although it is one I do love to tell. Today’s story is about the going back.
In the cold Gobi circa 2009
It all began with the missions strategy I failed to arrive on the mission field with.
It’s bothered me, since, because I always longed to be more academic than I am.
Since my return from Mongolia I’ve worn a few hats still in the missions realm. Today, I’m the executive director of the mission sending agency that sent my family to Mongolia, Cup of Cold Water Ministries. In short, I share responsibility for fifty four missionaries located in seventeen nations. It is a title I didn’t expect in my life story and thankful the Lord has allowed it for me.
In my search for proper education in missions, I enrolled in a course called Perspectives. It was somewhat grueling reading and studying through the absolutely mind blowing collection of works written by some of the mission world “greats”.
What I learned in Perspectives helped to explain some of the accidental work we accomplished in Mongolia. It was God’s work after all, and His goal for His name to be glorified among all nations is unstoppable. His invitation to include His people in the achievement of that goal (missions) is something we should not miss. It’s the invitation of a lifetime. Yet often comes at a time where it makes littles sense which is why so many of us dismiss it or flat out reject it.
For course completion I had to submit an approved integrative project on reaching the unreached people groups.
Driving to the Gobi circa 2011
As I prepared for my project I began to imagine what it would be like to go to Mongolia, with all the learning in my heart and head. I wondered what would I do differently. Would the education be beneficial or would it spoil the desperation to be with Jesus in His work?
During this same time, our CCWM Missions Development Director, Jennie Thompson, had approached me with the idea to take her NXT GEN students on a short term mission. We discussed the various possibilities with the many connections we have globally, but Mongolia continued to come up each time we talked.
It surprised me, finding myself, for the first time, desiring to return to the place I thought I would never see again. Jennie and I prayed about it, and then brought the idea to the NXT GEN team. The original proposal was to take them to see where I had been, what God had done, what it looked like now, and to participate in the various ministries CCWM Missionaries Heather Johnson and Tuvsho were involved in.
For me, the plan was exciting, and predictable, in my wheel house and … wise.
A bring your own water baptism in in our back yard- We had NO running water in our neighborhood.
As I got to work on my integrative project I began to think more and more about my time in Mongolia, since Perspectives focuses on the unreached in our world, I remembered a trip to the Gobi, where people in a small village ran out to meet us asking, “Are you Jesus People?” They proceeded to tell us how they had heard of Jesus from a small group of traveling visitors who showed them the Jesus film, but that had been years ago and no one had returned to tell them more.
I sat in my kitchen with an old map of Mongolia that once hung on our living room wall spread out in front of me on the kitchen table. looking at the map I asked the Lord, “If you were to send me to Mongolia again, where would you send me?”
A small village in the south Gobi, which I won’t name here, caught my eye on the map.
I touched the spot on the map noting I had never been there before. I could feel the familiar drive and burden that God can place in a person’s heart when He is moving them to pay attention. Lord, I thought, what are you doing?
I knew nothing about this village so I googled it. There wasn’t much available. It was small, in the desert, very little information. Yet I could sense my heart almost hurt to meet the people there. Without effort, I saw it, Jennie and I along with Tuvsho and her team, and NXT Gen arriving to this village to see if we might be able to help strengthen a weakened church. Where on earth could that have come from besides the Lord? Some may answer, well likely from your PERSPECTIVES training. I wondered that too. One of my first tests to see if this was from the Lord and not simply a mental breakdown brought about by too much Perspectives homework, was to tell the Lord, if there wasn’t already a well established strong church in the village it would be a sign to me, to keep moving forward with this idea.
I quickly messaged Tuvsho, our missionary in Mongolia, who is also the first person my husband, Troy and I led to become a follower of Jesus. Tuvsho is now the director and founder of H.O.Me. a ministry to students who have aged out of the orphanage. I figured she was the best place to start:
Tuvsho would later tell me, she knew almost immediately that something was up with me. She and I had been through a lot of ministry together. God was working on her as well, and it would serve as yet another needed confirmation to me. As you will read in her text below, she had been sensing a similar desire to do just such a thing, but had not got around to sharing it with me yet.
And this was how it began.
Through the wonders of social media, the Lord, led Tuvsho to a woman from the village but not just any woman…the woman who had been praying for several years for an outreach to come to her home town. We will call her M.
Tuvsho shared with me how M was the born in the village, but now lives around 80 miles East. She was a solid strong Christ follower with a heart for her hometown. The town once had a church, but it was small and weak and fell apart. M had been praying for years for outsider to come and give courage, rebuild the church and help light a fire in the 2-3 nominal Christians (if they were even still following Christ.) M told us the town was suffering from draught, and it was inhabited by many Shamans.
“If all you do is go there and pray, that is enough…it will make a difference.” M told Tuvsho. Then added, “The ground is good soil, it’s ready.”
Tuvsho and I, 8000 miles apart, shared a collective state of awe. God was at work, and He had invited us into it together again.
My next step was to tell Jennie and NXT GEN and see what they would say. This would be very different from the original mission we had begun to plan. I was about to take them from a somewhat simple, important and fulfilling mission to learn about Mongolia and it’s people and to serve the established ministries our CCWM Missionaries were involved with to … a rather ambiguous plan that was looking more like a big question mark.
Essentially I was inviting them into the foolish things Paul wrote about.
They said yes.
There has been a flurry of planning, praying, questioning, reeling, wondering, doubting, and many other feelings since those early texts, but one thing I know for sure is that we are meant to be in this village this summer. On our last meeting with NXT Gen, one of them mentioned how awesome it would be to show up and discover God had also brought other teams there. We dreamed a bit of how cool that would be, and then also discussed that it may be just us….and that’s okay. The story is pretty amazing already because it reminds us that God is at work in us and loves us deeply and is writing a bigger story than us.
This week the Mongolia team are arriving to prepare the way for us, meeting with local officials and in search of the 2-3 possible Christians living in the town. Those three matter to God, and they will be learning this week that we are on our way to meet them. How crazy is that?
I know that whatever takes place is going to be part of God’s plan, and this causes me to rejoice before we even get there, because I know God is at work in all of us. Not because of who we are or what we can do. In fact, in many respects this “plan” lacks the wisdom of the world and even some of the mission world.
Wouldn’t it be best for the Mongolians to go at it without a bunch of Americans who can’t speak the language? To this I answer, YES. I agree, in my view it would be best, just as it would have been best for a Mongolian family to do the work in the ger district that my husband and I were sent to Mongolia to do. It would have been much more cost effective, time efficient, orderly and sensible. Instead, God sent the Tvrdiks, the foolish things, to confound the wise.
It’s humbling to be a fool.
I think God likes it that way.
Will you commit to pray over our team?
We need and covet your prayers as we prepare to go. You can Click below to fill a time slot each day from now through our mission. Follow us here as we update, and most importantly don’t forget to accept the invitation He sends you—-He is worthy.
UPDATE: Yesterday, when I launched this post we were blessed with generous donations of $6600 double what we were asking for! This will enable us to fund the Mongolian side of our team as well as cover airfare for the home team. Thank you friends and thank you Lord! We still have ONE NXT Gen Student raising funds! Help Tyler get there!
UPDATE:
