Mongolian trip benefits mission center, family

Like prayer, mission trips can help families stay together.

Brian and Donna Miller did just that recently, traveling to Mongolia with their four children ages 12 and under.

The Millers and their children, Raquel, 12, Kyle, 9, Rebecca, 7, and Lane, 5, who attend Martins Creek Mennonite Church in Millersburg, Ohio, served at the Mongolian Mission Center in Erdenet for two months beginning in June. The center trains Mongolian missionaries who serve primarily throughout the Middle East and Asia. The mission trip was a first for the entire family and likely will not be their last, the couple says.

Brian had visited Mongolia in 2011, with a work team from Ohio as part of Mongolian Mission Partnership, and had plans to return in 2012. Assisted by Mennonite Mission Network, the partnership is comprised of individuals, businesses and churches in central Ohio that support a Mennonite presence in Mongolia through Joint Christian Services International (JCS), a consortium of mission agencies.

Inspired by Brian’s experience, the family considered doing a long-term assignment, so Donna suggested they join Brian’s 2012 trip as a first step. Work team members, who joined the Millers at the end of July, included Marc Hostetler, pastor of Moorhead Mennonite Church in Holmes, County, Ohio,  and college students Aaron Waltman and Brett Oswald, both of Martins Creek Mennonite Church. The team traveled to Bayanhongor City and then six hours to Zag County to work on projects.

After the more than 6,000-miles and 30-hour trip from Ohio, the Millers rode an additional six hours by van to Erdenet.

“It took a lot of coloring books and crayons and snacks,” Donna said.

There was also the family’s weeklong bout with the stomach flu (Brian was spared), but they eventually settled into a routine of working and fellowshipping.

Alongside local construction workers, Brian participated in projects at the Mongolian Mission Center and nearby Rainbow Kindergarten, a local outreach that serves the area’s poorest children. Brian and staff at the center built a 12-foot by 12-foot pavilion shelter where the missionary students could study.

According to a teacher at the center, the students begged to have their classes in the pavilion because it was warmer outside than inside. The students and staff are impressed with the pavilion’s quality and see it as a blessing, providing shade from the intense sun.

Brian also built a seesaw for the children of staff members at the center.  At the kindergarten school, which a partnership team helped build in 2005, the team replaced plastic pipes with steel piping. Donna visited the construction sites and took care of the family, including two daughters of a JCS family who manage the Eternal Springs American Bakery and Coffee Shop (a JCS “Business As Mission” project). This provided the workers with an opportunity for some private time together. 

At the Eternal Springs American Bakery and Coffee Shop, Brian, Donna and their daughter, Raquel, held weekly English conversation gatherings, which provided opportunities for sharing as local people practiced their English. The Millers also took hour-long Mongolian language classes from a tutor. They visited with neighbors and attended church.

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“The Mongolians, their hospitality is just great,” Brian said. “Their common greeting in the morning is, ‘Did you have a good rest?’ They genuinely want to really know how you’re doing.”

Known for its clear blue sunny skies and vast mountain ranges, Mongolia is also a country of extremes. The winters are biting cold, the summers scorching hot, and the economy has 36 percent of the population living in poverty. Consistent access to good nutrition is also among the challenges, Donna said, adding that vitamins were included with the various supplies the work team brought for the center and local churches. Nonetheless the Mongolian church is inspiring.

Bolortuya Damdinjav, executive director of the Mongolia Mission Center, said that in 1992 there were four Christians in Mongolia. Now there are 500 churches across the country. The center has been conducting training courses that focus on discipleship and missions.  The churches in the countryside need Bible teachers to instruct them in how to study the Bible, so the center is planning to send teaching teams.  Many of the Mongolian church members are first generation Christians. The Jesus’ Assembly, the church the Millers attended while in Erdenet, is mission focused, having sent six mission workers to countries including Afghanistan and China, Damdinjav said.

“It was a blessing to have Miller’s family in our town,” Damdinjav said.  “We need mission builders who can come alongside our ministry and help us with their skills and experience.”

The Millers said that the Mongolian’s excitement for Christ is obvious and contagious.

“You could just feel the Holy Spirit there and it’s so intense,” Donna said of attending church.

“It just really deepens your faith,” Brian said. “It feels good to see their excitement for the Lord. You feed off of that. You want that too.”

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For immediate release.

Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.