Sedores in Mongolia
Update: 2009 August 15
9+ months in Mongolia
Luke 10: 38-41 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Before we moved to Mongolia, a new friend, Bill, told about meeting with a veteran missionary. Bill asked, “How do you know if you are a successful missionary?” Bill was thinking about the number of people saved, the hungry fed and the Bibles translated. The veteran said, “A successful missionary is the person who comes home from the mission field more in love with Jesus than when you left.”
Priorities. After 4 weeks back in Mongolia, we are continuously challenged by priorities. Do we study the language so we can communicate better, or do we teach (with translators) a workshop to new Christian couples? Do we rest on the weekend so we can recharge or do we host a missionary family who needs a place to stay? Often either choice can bring us closer to Jesus, but what is Jesus telling us to do today?
It has been a busy month. We immediately returned to full time Mongolian language study, meeting 3 hours/day with our teacher and several evenings/week with our tutors.
After the first week, Jim started working full time as New Ventures and Strategy Director for JCS. Flash floods stuck several parts of Mongolia and Jim was busy coordinating relief work with other mission agencies. Jim goes to language school for 1 hour/day and almost every day he has the “exciting” experience of hailing a car and speaking to a Mongolian stranger, telling him how to get to school, what Jim is doing here and how to avoid traffic jams. I never expected that the daily “taxi” ride would be a language lesson.
Liz has been asked to lead a women’s Bible study, teach conversational English to the Mongolian Celebrate Recovery staff, teach jewelry making to the ex-prostitutes, go out on the streets with the prostitutes ministry staff on Friday nights, host new missionaries and missionary families from the countryside, look after co-missionaries’ apartment while they are gone, help lead worship at the JCS retreat and host home groups.
Oh yes, and our landlord’s father is coming to visit in September, so Liz found us a place to live for 10 days while his father lives in our apartment.
In all of this, we can become more in love with Jesus. In fact, it’s the only way we can make it through. This week I was reminded of Ephesians 2:8-10:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God has prepared the work. God has prepared us. God works thru us. It is not our work.
Prayer Requests:
- That we would continually draw closer
to Jesus. This can be a “dangerous” request. Jim’s prostate
cancer was an intense time when we drew closer to Jesus and His
people. We were not in control. And you prayed and helped us. We
remember God’s faithfulness and your support.
- Transitions. As we begin to speak and understand
Mongolian more fluently, we are asked to teach, lead
and work. Knowing when to work (like Martha) and when to learn and
listen (like Mary) is a challenge.
It's encouraging to get reply emails from you. Thank for your
prayers and support. Blessed by Him & you,
Jim & Liz Sedore
jim-liz.sedore@covchurch.org or LizardGym@gmail.com
JCS International
Attn Sedores
P O BOX 189
ULAANBAATAR 210351
MONGOLIA