Mongolia: slightly larger than the state of Alaska, this vast country in central Asia has Siberia bordering on the north and China neighboring to the south. Forty-five percent of the country’s population resides in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where a seminar was recently held. Fifty-three people participated with forty-four first-timers and nine seminar alumni. The seminar was held April 6-11, 2015. It is exciting that people in this central Asian country are desiring to hear the truths from God’s Word.

One lady who had attended last year’s seminar returned this time, bringing her husband and members from her church. At the previous seminar she had decided to make some changes in her life. Now she was back, excited about God’s working in her life, especially as she has been memorizing portions from Psalms and Romans, and teaching her children to memorize Scripture also. The fruit from that family’s life is motivating others to memorize and meditate on God’s Word. At the close of the seminar, many attendees expressed their desire to memorize the Word of God and participate in small follow-up groups for further application.

Another encouraging update is the positive response by both parents and students to character education. Beginning this year, IBLP staff in Mongolia has been teaching character in a secondary school. Each week one character quality is taught to a class of forty-two children. Accompanying crafts help reinforce the lesson, and the students enjoy doing them. Parents are glad that their children are studying good character at school. Parental feedback has included comments about their children exhibiting forgiveness and obedience in the home. The staff even has the opportunity to teach character to the children’s parents once a month.

Character education is also occurring in another local venue. At a substance abuse recovery center, ten more women (both staff and residents) have begun to attend the ongoing character training. Many of the women are seeing the importance of passing God’s truth to the next generation. Eager to share, several spoke highly of the training. One said, “[We] need to teach our next generation. ‘Attentiveness’ and ‘Forgiveness’ really touched me, and I want to implement those character qualities in my life. The training is very impactful.” Another remarked, “I learned things I’ve never been taught before, and I am going to teach these lessons to my children. ‘Responsibility’ was an important quality I enjoyed learning about.” One participant shared about the impact that forgiveness had in her life: “[I am] forgiving other people and asking for forgiveness. It is going well. I would like to keep learning more good character qualities.”

What an encouragement to hear of the changed lives in Mongolia because of God’s Word and Spirit! This report testifies to how one changed life affects so many others. Whether memorizing God’s Word, learning about His character, or implementing Scriptural truths in their everyday lives, people are bearing fruit for God’s Kingdom in Mongolia.