John Koehler

Dear Friends,

I know I know, I just sent out an update and within a few days, here is another one! But I wanted to share with you that God really blessed our Ladies Christmas party and thank you for praying! We had the smallest space we ever have had for a party ( I wanted to try something new and to be completely honest, did not have a great deal of faith for renting a big place). We rented a small Christian Café and decided to try it on a Monday instead of a Sunday and at 2pm instead of 3pm. I really questioned my wisdom on the café as it was definitely on the small side, but then I thought, well normally we only get 15-20 Ladies, so that should do.

Well I knew something was different, when I got to the café with my last shipment of stuff for Karaoke at 1:50 pm and there were already 23 Ladies! We ended up with 35 Ladies coming and had a tremendous time of fun, sharing ( it was definitely cozy!) and presenting some life/direction changing opportunities for them in the new year. Many pulled staff aside to ask questions and talk. We’ll see in the new year how that translates out in life, but I think we are going to see some new Ladies make strides to come away from their destructive lifestyles in the new year. Keep praying with us and thank Emmanuel!

Reflecting on that; I hope this Christmas is an incredible reminder for you that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. The other night I was recalling last Christmas eve and the days following after I had been hit by a truck and spent Christmas eve in an emergency room, Christmas day in great pain, then 3 more days in the SOS clinic having my punctured lung drained and three broken ribs medicated (probably not the most fun I have had at Christmas for sure! :-)). And obviously I am grateful to still be here, having the opportunity daily to cause the devil grief and sometimes unfortunately, co-workers too! But the more I pondered those crazy few days I am so thankful that Jesus is our Emmanuel.

Often in times of crisis, I have screamed out “Why is this happening to me?!” but through last Christmas, I have come to see Joseph and Mary’s first night very differently. Their Christmas was not fun nor entertaining, but very stressful (think of a pregnant wife about to give birth and no one will rent you a room and you end up on the streets and she gives birth in a cattle troth, ah no nurse attending…that spells STRESS to me!). It would be easy for me to wonder where is God in this and why has he seemingly abandoned me when all I am doing is trying to carry out His plan. But God was literally there (though in a sense, in a bit of a disguise; in a crisis, I don’t often think of God being present with me in a crying baby! That to me is more stress!). But He was present and their difficulties gave opportunity for the Shepherds who would never have been let into an Inn, to see and marvel that God was with them, for them.

From the time I hit the ground last year, I had an incredible sense that God was with me (ah, also an incredible sense of pain too!:-)). I was in incredible pain and yet had incredible peace. The next day, I had an expectation that God was somehow going to use this situation for His glory. Most of you know some of the things that came from that day, but for me a year on, I have come to understand in a whole new way just how completely fragile my physical life is. I have also come to realize how quickly life can change for us in a moment and from out of no where. This has not caused me to fear, but through this, I have come to a much greater sense of the reality that Jesus is with us; in all things, through all things and using all things for His purposes. I am thankful for Christmas as a yearly reminder to me that this is not just a nice verse, or a nice story, no, this is reality; Jesus is Emmanuel, in the midst of uncertainty, in the midst of pain, in the midst of tragedy. And I need the reminder as I easily forget.

So my prayer is that this year, as you reflect on Jesus during this season, you may experience in a new way, maybe in the midst of possibly very difficult situations and circumstances, that He truly is Emmanuel, God with us. This is the incredible good news of Christmas! Have a truly blessed Christmas and thank you for all of your support!

Continuing in His radical grace,

John

Dear Friends,

Not sure how cold it is where you live, but wow has this winter been cold in Mongolia so far! The past two weeks the average temperature in the morning has been in the –30 C to –35 C range (-25 to –30 F)! Global warming seems to have forgotten Mongolia! We went to a prison yesterday about 130 klm outside of UB and I was cold the entire day! Ice like took on new meaning for my feet!

Just wanted to update you on the many things I had asked prayer for a few weeks back and some new things.

1.) Our staff relationships: Our female staff went on a retreat and the Lord worked in their lives. There is now a much greater sense of them being a real team, fighting a battle out there rather than amongst themselves. There are still lots of areas that need to grow and change, but I feel we turned a major corner. There is also a much clearer sense of where we see ourselves going as a project and a church.

2. ) Community Center: After meeting with our leaders and praying we really sense the way to tie the projects and the church together in a common vision is to find a building that would house both the church and our job creation work places. That way we can offer training classes to everyone together as a way of both reaching out to our Ladies and the Men but also to the broader community and to continue to help unemployed church members. We will offer our classes to everyone and mix everyone together. That has worked well in our church. Many in our church do not know that some of the ladies there or men are from backgrounds incredibly different from theirs. Everyone is just accepted as a believer. Please pray as another mission organization has found a building they are trying to buy and since we are really on the same page in terms of ministry heart, vision and goals they have offered to allow us to share the building. If they get this building we are seriously talking about working together. Our Mongolian church would use the big space in the morning and their church would meet in the afternoon. It is a 3 story building and would be perfect for what we are attempting to do.

3.) Nomin: She is in the Trauma Hospital and her body is progressing but this time it does not look like her wounds will be able to be closed. She may just have to deal with them as open wounds that are dressed daily. Please pray for her as we are really challenging her about her life and her future.

4.) Businesses: We have started a coal business. This was a stretch for us financially (buying a truck) but the Lord has helped us to start it. The business employs about 10 people and has been a lot of work but also a new source of income for some people who had no other source of income previously (our sellers at five locations for instance; the coal gets dropped of at their home in small bags, they sell it for what ever price they can get for it, then give us a pre agreed amount per bag.) Of course we have had truck break downs and all the kind of fun that comes with a new business start up. Please pray that God continues to bless this new business.

Please pray as we an opportunity to expand our wallet making/shoe business in the next month with someone in the US. That would be a great opportunity for those involved with us. We also have one former Lady who comes everyday to make jewelry. Please pray that we can develop a distinctly Mongolian set of jewelry for her to market.

5.) Oyuna and Erka: They moved out into their ger and are doing very well. And she will be getting married to a great guy this March who is a part of our church! It has been a long journey for her but it is a blessing to see where God has taken her from and where He is taking her to. Continue to pray that she grows in her relationship to Christ and that she can find a job that works with her needs to be a single Mom for the next four months.

6.) Ladies Christmas party: The party is this coming Monday. We decided to try a new location, a small Christian coffee café. Please pray for God’s blessing and touching of many hearts on Monday! We have a YWAM team joining us from Russia that will help us and will be working alongside of us for the next six weeks.

7.) Alcohol recovery shelter: This has been going well though not without it’s challenges! We are attempting to do something different. We have a shelter with about 12 men but it is not your typical live in program. We have some guideline and a schedule but we do not police the guys, nor do we have any staff living with them. They have to in a way police themselves. We come every day and share with them. We have a once a week Celebrate Recovery meeting with them and offer leather training, but otherwise they cook for themselves, pay the rent and are responsible to get food for themselves. Please pray for the guys to continue to open their hearts to God and His life changing power (the picture is of us on a mountain top a few weeks back outside of UB).

8.) Apartment: Some of you know I had found an apartment I really liked and wanted to buy. I was short on the money needed and God used some of you to help with that need. And now I have all the money I need but did not have it in time and so lost the apartment. But I am thankful as now I have the money ready to buy as soon as I find another apartment. I will start looking again in the first of the year. Please pray that I can find one soon after the beginning of the year.

Thanks again for partnering with us. You guys by your giving and praying make what we are attempting here possible.

Continuing in His radical grace,

John

Dear Friends,

Please review our new ministry brochure. I hope it gives you clear picture of what we are trying to do.

Nomin is continuing to improve. Please now pray for her heart to really make a good decision to follow Jesus and learn to make wise godly decisions.

Please pray this week for:

1.) Me as I head out to Bayanhongor this Sunday to teach for four days. My voice is still not back totally so this could be a real adventure in teaching!

2.) For our staff. Because of the present Swine Flu scare here, we are not allowed to be out after 9:00 pm. So we are not doing night outreach this week. In my heart I felt this was a time the Lord wanted us to pull back and do some internal house keeping so to speak. So my staff are praying through Matthew 5:23-24 and then hopefully acting on whatever God shows them. I have felt for a while that there is something clogging our effectiveness and I think it has to do with some past unreconciled ministry relationships. Please pray for a sensitivity to the HS and the willingness and humility to follow through.

Thanks!!

Continuing in His Radical Grace,

John

Dear Friends,

Thank you for praying! Here is the latest on what I asked prayer for:

1.) Nomin is with us as no hospital would take her. I think the main reason is that they are overwhelmed with Swine Flu here and do not consider her present condition as pressing. A Korean doctor has given us some medicine to treat her diarrhea and hopefully that will help her.

2.) The government officials came today to inspect us for our re-registration or renewal of registration. They seemed pleased with everything and will let us know within two weeks of their decision. If they decide favorably they will extend our registration for two years at a time. I think they will extend our registration.

3.) I have a nasty sore throat. I do not think it is anything unusual, just was going non-stop the past few weeks and my body is making me slow down.

Thanks for praying! And please don’t stop, trust me, we can use all the prayer you can cover us with!

John

Dear Friends,

Please pray for tomorrow:

1.) Nomin has been in a hospital for about ten days now and they have done nothing to treat her diarrhea and have decided to release her tomorrow. We have been to several hospitals and no one is willing to take her. So please pray that God opens a door tomorrow. To make matters a little more exciting, tomorrow is the day the government officials have decided to come to inspect us for our renewal of registration, so;

2.) Please pray that they find everything to their liking and that they do their thing quickly so that we can then turn our efforts to Nomin.

3.) I am feeling tired and a bit sick, so please lift me up for health and strength.

Thanks!!

John

Dear Friends,

Well the Nomin adventure continues. Monday was a crazy day. We went to Nailah and the doctor came with Nomin as was prescribed by first hospital and when we got to first hospital, they refused to take her and said she had to go to the trauma hospital. So off to the trauma hospital we went, but they had no room, but promised to take her on Wednesday, so to our shelter we went. Nomin was fine until Tuesday night when she had diarrhea very badly and on Wednesday she was very sick. So we called the trauma hospital and they now said no beds until next Monday. So finally with the help of Khash, we found another hospital to take her. She is sick, but stable. Thanks for praying and continue to pray that the doctors find out what is wrong and then help her get well.

On another note, last week we had a kind of an introduction to our project party where we had earrings and wallets and things on display and for sale. I had had no time that week to even consider expectations but at the end of the second hour evening we had sold over $450 of merchandise! I was blown away as where those from our project. It was an incredible encouragement. The best part was that people really liked everything and were impressed with the quality. Thanks for praying!!

Continuing in His Radical Grace,

John

Dear Friends,

Last night a doctor from the hospital where Nomin was staying called us and asked us to come as they were very concerned for Nomin as she was having great difficulty breathing and they had put her on oxygen and she had a very high temperature. She also had diarrhea and was going in and out of consciousness. So at a 11:15 I headed out to the hospital 70-odd kilometers away.

Nomin was not doing well. She was laboring to breathe and seemed totally out of it. Besides that her temperature was high and she was dehydrated. It did not help that they were not giving her an IV, which I requested and then had to go through a crazy time to get!

Anyways went back today, and she is much better. The IV really helped! The doctor told me their hospital is not really equipped to deal well with people that have her wounds. They really do not know what to do to help treat her. He then wrote out a paper to transfer her to the first hospital here and we were going to do that on Monday. I should have known when things appeared to go sooo smoothly that that could not possibly be that easy. We went to first hospital today and they said no, that is not how it is done, Nahiah hospital has to bring her themselves and bring the paper work themselves in person etc. Ah yeah have to love it!

So hopefully she is stable for the weekend and then on Monday we begin the fun all over again with the two hospitals!

John

Friends,

Please pray! I just got a call from the doctor in Nailah, and Nomin has gone in and out of consciousness and is on oxygen as I am sending this to you. A friend is coming to pick me up and we are heading to Nailah (70 KLM away) to the hospital.

John

Dear Friends,

Whew, time has been flying for the past few months, maybe because I have been flying, ah literally for the past few months!

First I just want to say how great it was to be reunited with many of you while in the States. It was great to see you again and to catch up, even if in some cases, very briefly. For those new friends I met, wow, God had some real divine appointments and new friendships for me. It was really a blessing to meet you and to start to get to know you! I am a blessed man because of all of you!

Okay onto Mongolia. Came back and hit the road running (what else is new! :-)). We had a French YWAM team come through and they were great and we really enjoyed partnering with them in ministry. You guys have to return!

We followed that up with a church summer camp where two of the six guys we now have in our men’s shelter were baptized along with three women from our women’s project (Though on a sad note one of the women has since gone back to her old way of life). The other two women and the men are pushing on with their new lives in Jesus. Please pray for us and them as finding work for them has really been difficult. One of the women will start learning to make earrings tomorrow but please pray for us for real wisdom and direction as to job creation. Last night I asked the one boss Lady when she was going to quit this kind of work and lead the women into a godly lifestyle and she said jokingly, but in another way not jokingly; “So, if I leave this work, are you going to hire me as a worker?” There in lies the dilemma in one sense and there in lies our great need for wisdom and direction as to job creation. We are asking these women to leave their livelihood, their source of income and as of yet we have no definite replacement. Please pray with us for some kind of definite job creation/development.

Updates on those you have been praying for: Oyuna is doing very well, living with us and starting a full time job next week. Nomin, after her Father died unexpectedly while I was in the states, started wanting to reconnect with her family and has since moved back with her Mom. Please continue to pray for her.

After the camp retreat we were joined by Jake (an American) and Sue (his Korean Fiancé). I met Jake over a year ago in the security line in an airport! We became friends and have kept up over the internet. He and his Fiancé wanted to come see what was happening here in Mongolia and so they came on their first outreach together. It was a great time of ministry together and I hope was also impact full to their lives. They were involved in many ministry things here with us. We also attempted to go fishing, a long story and an even longer drive! But even if we caught very few fish (ah one!) we had a great time in the countryside of Mongolia.

Please pray for us for next week, August 27-28, as our project staff will go on a two day retreat to pray and seek God together for the ministry. We are asking God to really refresh us and give us new direction/wisdom in carrying out the vision He has given us.

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement.

Continuing in His radical grace,

John

Dear Friends,

Well it has been an eventful two months since the last update I sent you. We had two young ladies that we had sent to YWAM, return. One has gone home to live with her Mom in the far Western regions of Mongolia. The other was staying with us but left last week. It was a difficult transition back here and has reinforced to our staff the need to get land outside of the city and build a proper shelter for these ladies. Being in the city is very difficult. All of their old friends are here and they have not built good Christian friends yet. This in-between time is a very difficult transition and it is compounded by being able to walk out the door of our place and be right in the midst of the old life. Please pray that in the next few months we can find land and by the end of this summer build or buy a house where the ladies can truly be safe during this crucial time of leaving their old life and building a new life with new relationships.

We celebrated Mongolian’s Women’s Day by doing a party for the Ladies. We had twelve Ladies come and had a great time of fun and sharing. Two women, one foreigner who is now a missionary, shared their testimonies of how God brought them out of this kind of lifestyle and how He has transformed their lives. I thing this group of women were the most open group we have had. We have just started a Life Lessons study that will be every Monday from 3:30 to 5:30 for four months. The lessons will cover four topics; relationships, health, finances and jobs. Please pray that God would bring ladies to us who want to learn how to live a new life. Please also pray for us for wisdom on how to reach these ladies.

Nomin has left the hospital and is living with us again. I thank God for the good things He has done in Nomin while she was in the hospital. Her body is in much better shape, with most of her sores healed, but more importantly her heart has changed. She has made a decision to follow Christ and is growing. She now has a very sincere faith of her own. She is very open and teachable. Her character is changing and she is a blessing to people.

The men’s ministry is going very well. We have nine men who are coming every week to learn wallet and shoe making skills from Pastor Maidar. He also uses this “work” time to teach the men life lessons from his own life as well as lessons from the Bible. Pastor Maidar and I also meet weekly with the leaders of a live-in men’s shelter to encourage them and help them work through their difficulties.

On a personal note I have had a young Kazak man living with me for the past few months. He said he had made a profession of faith in Christ a few years back, but it was evident he had no idea what that really meant. But now he is growing tremendously in a living faith. I really did not try to “disciple” him as I was not even sure he was a Christian, but just tried to live my life in front of him. He started asking if he could come out with us on Friday nights and now is a part of all we will do. It has really been a joy to watch this young man change.

I also went a way to Cambodia with a few friends for a much needed vacation. The only problem (probably a blessing from God’s perspective) was that my ribs were still very uncomfortable so I could not do any of the fun activities I wanted to do. I was actually forced to rest! If you know me that is not my idea of a vacation…I like to do all sorts of adventures but could not. When I finally did it was a mini disaster. I have attached that as a separate story you can read when you want a laugh at my expense. If you want to see some more pics, I titled an album “Impressions of Cambodia” that you can look at on my facebook site.

Thanks again for all of your faithful support.

Continuing in His Radical Grace,

John