Day Three (Prison Update): Thursday, April 19, 2007

Good morning from Mongolia. It is Saturday and things are well for the team. Everybody is enjoying themselves and God is moving powerfully in both
the women's conference and the prisons.

There is so much to tell and not enough time to even touch the surface. I will start with Thursday morning. Pastor Hetee and four of his new prison volunteers including myself started our journey carrying 100 rolls of toilet paper and 144 bars of soap to a maximum security prison approximately two hours back toward UB. We boarded the Mongolia Express (not sure the real name) which was a unique experience by itself. People of all ages and some of the older folks dressed up in the traditional Mongolia attire. Most of the people were young (70% of the population is 35 years or younger) and going to many small villages that we stopped at along the way.

During our travel, Hetee spoke of the days of communism and shared about many experiences that I will never forget. He spoke of the transition period when
communism fell and how the Mongolians today are still reaping the impact of those years. He spoke of new hope and ideas to build business to help support the people and the local church.

When we arrived at our destination, Hetee pointed out the prison. It was next to a lumber mill and surrounded by an approximate 16 foot high wooden fence. Since we were an hour early, we proceeded to the local church. Along the way we passed by cows and horses along the side of the dirt roads passing through the many neighborhoods consisting of small shacks and fenced yards.

After about a mile or so we came upon the church property. It had a small 400 square foot house where the local pastor and his wife live and another wood framed structure to the side that was the church. It was built by an Australian organization that did not make provisions for heat. Therefore, it is only used during the warmer months.

A young girl had cooked us up some rice with beef slices and two dill pickles in a bowl with some flat bread. It tasted good. We then walked about 1 1/2 miles to the prison. One of the men that was with us went and asked for the warden. He showed up a few minutes latter and lead us up to his office. This was the first time that I had stepped foot in the wardens office in all my years of prison ministry at many institutions. Pastor Hetee and he talked about details and he reviewed our paperwork. I just sat not understanding a word and going with the flow.

The warden called for one of his officers to watch over us and escort us into the prison grounds. First he led us in another room where we could see the prison yard. There were four buildings and I believe three for housing and the other was a meeting hall. There were several wood watch towers stationed around the yard. However, I did not see a guard in any of them.The men started to assemble on the bleachers in the open yard next to the meeting hall where our service was being held. There were a few hundred that elected to show up at our service.

We then were moved to the meeting hall to get setup. The men then were moved into the hall. Everyone was quiet and well behaved. Two of our ministry team members were musicians and played the guitar and sang. We provided praise and worship music along with songs all the men knew to get their participation. One of the other team members shared his testimony how God delivered him from many situations where he should have ended up in prison. Pastor Hetee spoke of the trial he and his family went though when his own father was in prison for eight years for murdering another man. I delivered the gospel message and how much God loved each one of them and we were sent to share the good news. Over a hundred plus men stayed and heard the message. I prayed for healing for a man's heart problems, a man with brain tumor and others with other afflictions. After the service, men who wanted prayer came back (approx. 22) and several came up and gave their lives to Jesus. Many came up with broken hearts asking for prayer for their families to forgive them.

God changed many lives that day and sowed seed into many other lives. I believe many others will turn their lives to the Lord at a future date.

We then left after three hours of ministering to these men. We went back to the church where the youth were praising God. I was allowed to speak on forgiveness and God's love. Many of the youth came up with tears and asked God to heal their hearts and they forgave their mothers, fathers and teachers for rejecting them and abandoning them. I prayed and blessed each of the twenty youth and headed back to our train. The total trip took 13 hours.

At a future date, I will cover the awesome next day at the next facility.

God Bless!

Ted