The Church Picnic

This past Saturday, the Mongolians of Faith Baptist Church, the Deans, the Pattersons, John, and I went on a church picnic. There were 39 in all who went and we rode up in three SUVs and a taxi. Four of us went in the taxi. That leaves 35 people in 3 cars... yeah. The Patterson's Nissan Pathfinder had 17 people in it. It was an incredible day! We went about 10 kilometers past the city limits to a beautiful spot alongside a river. When we got there, just about everyone starting eating their packed lunches, but John and I set out to set up a small tent for people to change after being baptized. Well, we were two Americans setting up a Polish tent in Mongolia without any instructions. That could have gone better. We almost had it standing up when two of the church members came and informed us that it was inside out. Who puts a tent away inside out?!?! I refuse to accept responsibility for the futile attempt. IT WASN'T MY FAULT! Okay, maybe a little. But we finally got that figured out and ate our lunch. After that, Pastor Dean preached a message right by the river. I obviously didn't get a whole lot from it since it was in Mongolian, but he told me that it was about baptism. I took his word for it. Following that came the baptisms. It was encouraging to see the progress being made with the church. After the baptisms we played soccer in a pot hole filled field. We had a lot of fun and just about everyone walked away unscathed. The ride home was pretty quiet since everyone was wiped out. That Sunday, attendance was up again which was another great encouragement. Pray that the people keep coming and that God will speak to their hearts.