Tom Lin

After over 5 weeks of meeting friends and family, sharing at churches all over the U.S., we are back in Mongolia. We want to thank you for making our first trip back to the U.S. in 18 months so enjoyable. We overloaded on seafood, American burgers and fries, Italian pasta, and just about every other food imaginable that isn’t found here in Mongolia! We felt so encouraged, and praise God for your partnership with us.

Thank you for praying for our Urbana Conference. Our seminars were packed, and we have some good leads on potential people who may come and work with us in Mongolia (although we still need more workers!). Thank you also for praying for our Korean-Mongolian Students Camp (Jan. 9-18). Twelve Mongolian students, incl. several nonbelievers, learned about Korean culture and the Gospel through presentations prepared by 10 Korean students.

Well, we’ve hit the ground running. About 24 hours after arriving back here, we luickly joined our FCS “CHAPTER CAMP” — all day Friday and Saturday. During Chapter Camp, we gathered with our student leaders and staff, and then helped them plan this semester’s goals, activities, and assigned responsibilities to each person. Of course, this was challenging for us because we hadn’t spoken Mongolian in over 5 weeks!

To see PICS from our recent visit, go to: http://www.tomandnancylin.com/photos/2004_01/. Also, if you’re interested in hearing Tom’s most recent sermon in the States, click on: http://www.wccc.net/index.php?module=sermondb&func=view&section=past .

Finally, we’re looking forward to the new semester. We’ll continue to spend most of our time with FCS2, the group we pioneered last September. FCS2’s GOALS include (1) Sharing the Gospel with 50 new students and integrating 15 into our small groups, (2) Making Disciples of the 12 core students who became believers last semester, (3) Reaching students in the “Dormitory Village”, which is a group of about 8 buildings side-by-side that house university students who come from the countryside.

Both of us will continue to focus on building up the leadership of FCS2 and training the staff. Please pray for all of the above goals. The semester officially begins today, Feb. 2! Also, please pray specifically for the upcoming events below:

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1. MEETINGS WITH EAST ASIA DIRECTOR, Feb. 3-6. Our IFES East Asia Regional Secretary, Gideon Yung, will be visiting Mongolia. Please pray for our 3 days of meetings, where we’ll share reports about our work and discuss long-term plans and strategy for FCS’s further development.

2. FCS2 “BBS SCHOOL”, Feb. 6-7. Last semester’s new believers will now join “Basic Bible Study” (BBS) groups this semester. During this weekend, we will prepare these students for the new semester, teaching about spiritual disciplines. Please pray for all of our 12 core students to participate. Pray that students will be focused once again on the Lord after spending this past month on vacation.

3. OUTREACH TO NEW STUDENTS, Feb. 9-13. We will be distributing invitations to targeted campuses throughout the city to attend a special FCS Large Group Meeting on Feb. 10. Our core students will also be inviting their friends. Please pray that students receive these invitations openly, and that we would reap a harvest of new students that the Lord has prepared. Pray for students to come to our follow-up Movie Night on Feb. 13 and Snow Sledding activity on Feb. 14.

4. TRANSITION BACK TO LIFE HERE. The downside of having such a wonderful time seeing friends and family in the States is that it makes the transition back to life in Mongolia so difficult. Most people in our line of work say that our next month of transition back will be much harder than when we first came to Mongolia. Pray for continued improvement of our Mongolian language skills, spiritual protection, and continued good physical health.

Thanks so much for your partnership,
TOM AND NANCY
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