“We are preparing to teach the character quality of patience at the training for the city social workers, and, as always, God is giving us opportunities to demonstrate the quality in our own lives. Patience is accepting a difficult situation without giving God a deadline to remove it. How often do I try to get out of difficult situations, rather than looking for how God wants to use them for good in my life? Just this week I can think of situations with showers when the water turned cold, (or even worse showers when all the water was scalding hot), computer delays, or nights with not enough sleep, and I know that God has arranged each of these to check my attitude and show me the things that are really important.

“The more I learn about Mongolian life, the more I realize how small our concept of inconveniences or difficulties really is. For example, we know a family who lives in a ger and must carry all of their water up from the well house which is half a mile down the hill. To them, our apartment life is very easy. When they lived in the countryside, no one had electricity. Five families shared one candle. They measured the candle and marked how much each family was allowed to burn. Each night the families took turns until they had used their allotted portion of candlelight. When their family sold milk, they got up at 4 a.m. and walked four miles to the airport where they sold their milk. They did this every day for four years, except for the two times they decided to splurge and take a taxi. We are able to take taxis almost everywhere we go, but most Mongolians think nothing of waiting for an hour and a half to save ten cents by taking one of the crowded micro-buses (like a mini-van filled with about 24 people).

“One of the highlights of each week is doing a Bible study with a crippled woman who has a disease that is causing her muscles to slowly deteriorate. She is the only believer in her family, and she can’t move about or do many things. Yet, she has such a joy and peace about her; I am blessed each time I visit. In our study time together we have been looking at how God uses suffering in our lives to draw us to Himself and help us become more Christlike. It is special to see her example of not focusing on herself, but on how she can show love and kindness to her unsaved family.

“It is so exciting to see how God’s principles bring blessing and freedom wherever they are applied. For me, learning in deeper ways how God’s Word applies to life situations has been better than any cross-cultural training course.”

—Carissa Gay, an ATI student from Oregon

“This month, the staff team has been memorizing and meditating on John 15 together, and it has been very helpful. There is a real sense of simply bearing the fruit; a realization that we have no part in it, but just watching in amazement as God works His work.

“We started two weeks ago by asking God to bring one person to Himself during the week. We kept praying all week, wondering and watching expectantly to see what He would do. Then, last week at church, three people placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. Praise His Name! We decided that that wasn’t enough, so we prayed for one person to come to Christ this week also. The following Saturday after our Character/English/Baking lesson, two others trusted in Christ as their Savior. God is so good!

“These people were really ready for the Gospel message. We want to glorify God first and then thank those who have prayed and been a part of these salvations through prayer.”

—An ATI student from Colorado