Deep down I had complete peace about the car & going to Suzuki to watch them work on it. The reason is that God spoke to me that I was to go watch my car be worked on & while I was standing with the staff to pray for them, "not" to say anything spiritual, but quietly pray for them. Three hours into watching them take the front pieces of the engine apart God spoke to me again & challenged me with this:
I said "yes of course God" it would be worth it. The Suzuki staff continued to work on the car & I continued to pray for them. When I got home Teresa asked what was wrong. I told here that we still didn't know. I was so excited to have spent the day with the staff & the whole time praying for them. Teresa was concerned for me. I was way too excited. It made me think of the Apostles when they were filled with the holy spirit & the others around them thought they were drunk . I was so filled with the holy spirit that I continued to pray for the staff the rest of the day."We (people) put value on material things, but I (God) puts value on eternal things (human lives.) Matt, if your car is a total write off at the end of this, but one staff has a seed planted for me would it be worth it?"
The second day I did the same (prayed, listened & watched), but noticed that the staff were totally confused when they saw the look on my face. When they told me that the crank shaft was out of line, essentially broken & I was not totally stressed/angry, yelling, but smiling they all were confused. The engineer said there was a possibility that there is an engine in Japan. I told him to check in Japan. Their confusion of me was seeing the peace of Jesus. He is strong enough to show himself through us without using words & know that this is more important than whether we have a car or not. God is big enough to provide, even a car if an engine is not found. Although I hope an engine is found so I can spend more time at Suzuki with the staff.
"And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance,"
I spent the rest of the week (Wed-Fri) running around getting new Canadian passport information for Teresa & the kids. After 3 days of running around the city getting the forms, pictures (taken 3 times because they were not acceptable all 3 times) & documents. When there is no standard for documents & photo ID's it hard to explain to people that "it's not good enough for Canadian government." The Canadian Consul here in Ulaanbaatar is a great Mongolian women & I know her. The 3rd time she said the pictures would not pass felt bad for me & said that I looked frustrated. With a genuine smile said "yeah I am, I kind of had a stressful week." Monday I again have to run around the city in hopes of everything passing so they can get new passports.
Teresa had an amazing time at the womens conference in another country. She told some stories that many of you would freak out, but when you live in a rough country (Mongolia) do what you need to do. Some of the girls from Mongolia she bonded with to the point they were laughing most if not all the time when they weren't in their sessions. An amazing gift in & of it's self. She was also able to connect with many women from all over Asia.
I heard in Mongolia there are 5 specific Demons that many people, lamas & leaders pray to each day. You can feel it/them almost on a daily basis. The demons know us & can feel us wherever we go without speaking a word. Pray for Mongolia!
Please continue to pray for Teresa, whenever she returns to Mongolia her asthma returns, she now has allergies where she is sneezing every morning with itchy eyes all day. She also has a small sore on her face that has come due to the fact she has not been able to sleep more than 3-4 hours each night while in Mongolia (weak immune system.) We are concerned for her health, but know that God is in control & know that we all are attacked differently everyday & need to pray against the attacks.
The kids are doing really well with homeschooling which is awesome. Both Kiel & Esme are so good to each other. While Kiel was at ASU his teacher told us that he was lacking in empathy. Yesterday morning I woke up to Kiel sitting at the kitchen table with Esme helping her understand her homework so that she could complete it. Kiel felt really bad that he would be the only one to get a prize for completing all his homework for the week & Esme wouldn't. So while we (Teresa & I) were still asleep Kiel sat with Esme & helped her understand & finish her homework so they both could get a prize together. "God is so good because he taught Kiel empathy yesterday morning. Many times God tells me that I need to just trust him with Kiel & Esme & he will do amazing things. When I see what he is doing with them here, I cry & can only praise him.
Teresa is also doing an amazing job with teaching the kids. She doing to best she can with what she has (no training), but in obedience to God, deep down not liking it at all serves/teaches the kids & they are blessed. It reminds me of "loaves of bread & fish" with Jesus.
"Then Samuel said, Do you think all God wants are sacrifices...He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing..."