“From the Tropics to the Tundra”
An Update from the
Blair family in Kazakhstan
February
2003
NEW Mailing address: Mission
Blair’s Pioneers
Almaty 43 10123 William Carey Drive
Home Phone (7-3272) 550128
Aloha from Arctic Almaty!
New Year, New Opportunity – A “Three-fer”
We now works with East West ministries, located right next
door to Tien Shan
School
We call this move a “three-fer” because there are two other
training opportunities connected with East West here. One is their Regional
Training Centers (6 so far) in key cities in the “stans” – Uzbekistan Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan Bishkek , Kyrgyzstan Central Asia . See their web site at – www.eastwestministries.org
Open and Closed Doors
Jesus said “These are
the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he
opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Revelation 3.7
Central
Asians: Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Tajiks, Kyrgyz, + 495 other People Groups
The
“stans” – ‘homelands of Turkic peoples’
70
Million People
0.02
% Evangelical Christians
The
Largest Unreached People Group in the World
We are thankful the “stan” with the greatest freedom of
religion now is Kazakhstan Turkmenistan Turkmenistan Turkmenistan Iraq
(NOTE – I wanted to put the following in a “box” but
couldn’t figure it out! Help!)
1991 2003
Kazakh Christians 8 8,000+
Kazakh Churches 0 in 70 cities
Kazakh Scripture 0 % NT 100%
OT 30%
An Upgrade to Business Class and The Marble Treatment
“Ah, Mr. Blair, you know how things work in this country.
How much do you want to pay for a Business Class seat?” These words of an
airline employee came as quite a surprise, even in this country. My
surprise was because I had merely asked whether there was any corner of our
Economy Class confines where I could find some more legroom! But now if I gave
this guy $70 (per person) more than what we had already paid for our tickets,
we could sit in the Business Class. Apparently his connections were just
for seat assignments. (Maybe we could have paid the flight steward for a
culinary upgrades too.) Here’s another strange slice of life in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan
Having already paid enough for economy, I told the man I had
no money left for leg-room. But as we boarded the plane we found that our
boarding passes were all for Business class seats! Not really sure how that
happened – but we did not complain! The leg room was great. We even enjoyed the
same cuisine as those in “our class.”
As we approached Almaty we prepared for landing and waited,
and waited. We eventually learned Almaty was fogged in and we were heading
north to the nation’s capital – Astana – which was –20 degrees! We dozed for
the next hour anticipating adventures ahead. We landed on a cold and clear
night in the middle of the frozen steppe. After sitting in the parked plane for
two hours, we deplaned - cheered by the flight crew’s promise of accommodations.
We got through baggage clearance and customs inspection which is never fun or
easy anywhere, especially in Kazakhstan 4 a.m. Finally, we
“jumped through their last hoop” and made it into the main terminal. There we
learned that the airlines had arranged the marble treatment for us. We got no
hotel room. We got no beds, blankets, or pillows. But we could freely enjoy
some quality time on the beautiful marble floors in the terminal. In fact, we
had the entire hall to choose from. So we stretched our bones across their stones;
thankful to be alive, telling the boys that these are experiences that family
history - and prayer letters - are made of. The next day we got our marbleized
carcasses flown safely home to Almaty.
This has been the best year we have had at Tien Shan School
High School boys and girls Volleyball teams won their league
championships. It was quite a shock to their well-endowed competitive schools
that this little school which can not pay its teachers could produce two
champions. We especially savored the wins as Josiah and Aaron were players and
Dayna was Assistant Coach for the girls.
The ongoing challenges of staffing and
supplying the school’s needs are similar to those faced
by most Christian schools, magnified here at “the ends of
the earth.” So it is a constant adventure. Dayna has a full load of teaching in
the Jr. & Sr.
High School New Zealand South Africa
Update from our eldest
son, Nathan / first year student at University
of Hawaii Hilo
It has been six months since
I left my folks. I am learning about being independent. But I still collect
some allowance! Doing things on my own has been a step to maturity. All in all,
it has been an awesome experience. The day I left my parents, I was thrown into
a world beyond their comfort. Yet the Lord faithfully brought me to a place
abundant with family and friends. The story would have been different if I got
stuck in the Midwest …
The first few weeks were hard for me. It took
awhile to connect with people. I was used to traveling around the city as I
pleased. In Almaty I was conditioned to be always on the go, with some sort of
task in mind. Public transportation in Hilo Hilo land of Aloha
The first few weeks of
school were pretty slow. I am undecided as to what I want to do with my life
and so I just chose some general classes. My pastor asked me to help out with
the junior high at my church as a part-time youth worker. It has been a real
blessing to be involved with the youth. The kids are awesome and have been
patient with me; I have a lot to learn about the ministry. I have grown up in
the church, but it is a lot different when you become involved yourself. All I
can say is that: God has been good. He doesn’t hesitate to forgive me for my
faults. He goes out of His way to bless us. I have a worldwide family (all of
you) that has been so generous to our family and to me. I can never repay you
but I may be able to pass on the love that you have shown.
During winter break I was
able to go to the West Coast. I had a wonderful Christmas with my aunt, uncle,
and cousin in Southern California . They were
so kind to me. From there I traveled to Oregon Kazakhstan Florida Seattle
I have recently begun my
second semester of University. I am excited to see how these next few months
will play out. Is it going to be a time of trial or a time spent carefree?
However the circumstances I am confident the next semester will be the best
ever. Have a great beginning of this two thousand and third year.
Publishing Notes
This mailing contains a booklet on the Christian life
co-written by Mark and Peyton Harris. Peyton, a good friend who pastor’s an
Assembly of God church here in Almaty, liked these ten letters on discipleship
which Mark had written. He said their AG denomination had sent funds for
evangelistic materials, but their budget for discipleship materials was fully
spent. So Mark asked him to write the evangelistic introduction, which widens
the usefulness of the booklet, and to pay for this “evangelistic”/discipleship
tool. He kindly agreed. The ten discipleship letters were first written and
used during our ministry in Uganda Central Asia . The sketches are
by a well known artist here who has recently become a believer. You are free to
use or reproduce the material in any way you find useful.
Mark has written a book on “Preaching” and it is being
translated into Russian and Kazakh. The Russian version is in the final editing
stage and will soon be ready for printing. The Kazakh is coming along more
slowly. There is an interest in these books from the church leaders here. We
would like to be able to provide copies at minimal cost. It will be possible to
make a hardbound copy of the preaching book for about $ 4.
Travel Plans
We plan to be on home assignment from this July through
January 2004, Lord willing. During July and August we want to be in California Hawaii
We are very grateful for your generous support and faithful
prayer,
Mark, Dayna, Nathan, Josiah, and Aaron Blair
