Even our Stuff - February 2008

Aloha from Arctic Almaty!

Back in 1990 Bishop Maseri Kauma asked Mark to preach in a Bible Conference at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala from what seemed at the time a rather strange text:

There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him." So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23

As we carried our suitcases up the dark stairwell and into our apartment here in Almaty early one morning a couple weeks ago we thought of God’s goodness. The God who long ago carried the Hebrews from Persia had brought us back to Central Asia. The suitcases we had fussed over --- get as much in there as you’re allowed! --- had winged their way with us across the Pacific, across China, and into Almaty airport. It is hard to say whether those God-fearing migrants carried any Starbuck’s Coffee, Hawaiian calendars, or Old Spice Deodorant (manly smell and easy on the armpits….aaargh!). But surely they looked to Him – the giver of every good gift – as they planned, packed, and pressed on across the miles. God is good…even in the details of our life journey.

Few American Evangelicals today even have a ‘Theology of Stuff’ – perhaps because most of us are convicted that we have too much of it. But surely we must know that He is our Giver and Keeper. (Maybe He is the one prompting us to get rid of some of what we don’t need and bless those in greater need. But hey, now I’m preaching….yikes!) So we give praise to Him who has kept us – and our maximum baggage allowance – in His gracious care!

Our Time ‘Next Door’

One thing that made our journey back to Kazakhstan more interesting was not having a visa to get into Kazakhstan. For reasons explained only as ‘that’s just the way it is here’ we got on board the plane with a promise but an empty space in our passports. We anticipated friends in the faith from the big country next door to be waiting for us at their Capital City Airport. After a warm reunion we were taken to an apartment in a new area of their sprawling Olympic city. Four years ago it was a big field, today 325,000 apartment dwellers are planted there. On Sunday we were privileged to meet with a group of brothers and sisters - gathered behind the locked doors of one apartment - worshipping Him who once transcended locked doors and said, ‘Shalom!’ It was a joy to bring a message from His Word to them.

First thing Monday morning we made our way to the Kazakhstan Embassy in that massive city and found friendly helpful people. By the end of that day we had one year multiple-entry visas to Kazakhstan stamped into our passports. About midnight that day we were in line for our four and half hour flight onward to Almaty. How true - "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him…and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:23

New Tasks in the New Year

As we slip along the icy sidewalks of Almaty we look back with fondness on the sunny days of blessing and warm fellowship we enjoyed in California, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Oregon. Our local friends are saying this is the coldest winter they can ever remember in this city! Surely this is not the kind of history we want to make! We are certainly grateful for your prayer and support which keeps us serving Him here. We feel well and are excited to resume the work He has put before us.

Dayna hosted the Tien Shan 2007 Grads for a dinner in our apartment.

Dayna is teaching four days a week at Tien Shan School. She has greatly enjoyed many glad reunions with students and colleagues there. The Lord’s hand of blessing has been on the school. Now about 200 students pack into their crowded corridors; this year the teachers move from class to class to ease the kid crunch! By December 2008 they must vacate their now sold premises. So the push is on at their new construction site. Pray for favor with authorities (always lots of hoops to jump through) and blessing upon their building crew. They anticipate a big need for teachers for 08/09. Check out their web site listed below.

We have found the International Christian Fellowship in great shape. The colleague who served as an Interim Pastor in our absence has consented to join Mark as co-pastor. This is a great blessing. Both he and Mark are involved in teaching and mentoring national leaders. So together we will be able to serve the needs of the ICF and encourage the work of extending His Church across Central Asia.

Mark is preparing for teaching ‘Life of Christ’ and ‘Old Testament Survey’ at the Kazakhstan Evangelical Christian Seminary this term. He will also teach a class on ‘Ephesians’ at a newly formed Presbyterian school. As always, we ask you to join us in prayer for God to raise up leaders to plant and grow His Church in this part of the world.

Mountains and Pebbles

Someone once said it is not the mountain we have to climb that is difficult – it is the rock in our shoe along the trail! Even the work of ministry brings small but serious pebbles. While having a dinner with a couple of leaders in the big country to our east last month, we met a perplexing question. Boaz (not his real name), our host, is a second year seminary student, husband, father, businessman, and elder in his church. He eagerly anticipates the opportunity of being ordained to the ministry. But he knows the issue has become a firestorm. Most of the thousands of house-churches there are of the ‘Brethren’ tradition which opposes a rigid Clergy/Laity distinction. Indeed many forbid ordination, calling everyone ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister.’ A number of these precious ones suffered through their ‘Cultural Revolution.’ One ‘Brother,’ now almost 90, endured 22 years of harsh imprisonment. He emerged with a conviction that their churches needed more devoted and recognizable leaders so he travels the country ordaining those who manifest God’s call. This Elder Brother was in his second year of seminary back when he was wrenched from the classroom to the cell. Thus, he was never ‘properly ordained’ in the eyes of those who hold that stuff as important. Now Boaz is learning about a whole new tradition of ordination. The seminary he studies in was founded and still guided by workers from an East Asian nation with tremendous church growth. And the ordination from the seminary – and its churches - is still rigidly controlled by those from this neighbor nation. For Daniel to have any ‘street cred’ in their eyes he better bow down to those holy foreign hands! And yet, the church he now serves, and wants to remain in, has a whole different spin on the topic. Should anyone even be ordained!? Is this Elder Brother the God-appointed ‘ordainer’? What happens when he goes on to receive his heavenly-ordination? So as you pray for our brothers and sisters to build His Church in their lands here, ask God to grace them to scale the mountains and to endure the pebbles.

May God bless you in your Kingdom-trek. Press on!
Yours in Him who moves Mountains --- and pebbles,
Mark and Dayna Blair

Nathan marries Heather December 8, 2007

Nathan and Heather Blair surrounded by (clockwise) Dayna, Mark, Aaron, Josiah, Masha, and Maylee.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67.1,2

Twenty five years and eleven months ago a California guy with cool 'Afro' hair and a lovely Hawaiian girl heard their pastor read this Psalm during their wedding in Hilo, Hawaii. In the years following they dwelt in the smile of God's face as they shared His salvation among the nations. Three sons were born during their eight years in Africa - grew during their seven years in Hawaii - and matured during their nine years in Central Asia. Last weekend the guy – now with a diminishing amount of white hair – spoke these same words of blessing for their first born son and his bride.

May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Psalm 67.3

We rejoice in the smile of our gracious King! What a joy to see Nathan and Heather proclaim their love for Jesus and one another. Family and friends gathered from far and wide – even Masha and Maylee from Kazakhstan – to support the happy couple. While we shiver in Oregon, we envy them in the sun and surf on their Hawaiian honeymoon.

May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Psalm 67.4.

In God's good providence we've seen Him praised among many nations in 2007. Central Asia, Southeast Asia, North America, and the islands of the Pacific. Jesus rules and reigns and His Kingdom advances. We have so enjoyed your rich fellowship and warm hospitality. Several years passed since we'd been with many friends and churches. What a joy to know that through those years you have faithfully upheld us before Him who rules and guides with justice. Mahalo nui loa! (Thank you very much!) As we enter 2008 we affirm the promise of this Psalm. No matter what – He rules! The challenges we face within our world, our churches, our families, and even in our bodies are part of His Sovereign plan – working for our good, achieving His glory.

God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67.7

How could the Psalmist write with such confidence? Because in the fullness of time the blessing of God came in the babe of Bethlehem. The gracious face of God was revealed in Jesus our Emmanuel. Through Him we have received one blessing after another. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. So we wish you His blessing this 'Advent' (Latin for 'come'). Our wish comes in the strong confidence of Him who came, has come, and will come again!

After we share Christmas and the New Year with family, we leave for another term of Kingdom service in Kazakhstan on 10 January 2008. We ask for your prayers and continued support. The door of opportunity remains open for us in Central Asia. We have been given an unique privilege to help equip and encourage young Christian leaders to plant and grow His Church in lands where few know Him. It is always hard to leave the comfort of family and friends here. What a kick it's been to ride the waves in the Pacific, graze In & Out (over graze I'm afraid!), and cheer the University of Hawaii through their first undefeated football season! But what a greater kick to see ALL the nations rejoice and sing for joy in Him. Someday we'll gather with them all around His glorious throne...wow! That will be BIG Screen and HIGH DEFINITION big time.

Yours in our Advent King,
Mark and Dayna Blair
Our Mobile
541 - 743 – 6837

Our Blog

http://blairstan.blogspot.com/

Our Mission
Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Drive - Orlando, FL 32832 - USA
http://www.pioneers.org/

Our Ministries
International Christian Fellowship http://www.icf.nursat.kz/
Tien Shan School http://www.tienshanschool.org

Our Mailing Address
Blair - 190 Ululani Street - Hilo, Hawaii 96720

Nathan Marries Heather!

Hawaii News Autumn 2007

Aloha from Hilo, Hawaii!
We are very thankful for your continued support and prayers. God is Good!
After four years away, we are very glad to be home in Hawaii for a couple months. It is a joy to reunite with family, friends, and churches here. Not to mention all the good food and the amazing beauty of this place. We are thankful for good health and ability to take advantage of hiking in the Volcanoes National Park and swimming in the clear blue sea. If it sounds like we have missed this place…you’re right! (Our Mobile 541 - 743 – 6837 until January)
Life has not been all play here in Paradise. We are privileged to be sharing in our supporting churches on Sundays and meet with friends interested in our mission work during the week. We have been invited to share in classes and chapels in some of the Christian schools in the area. Also, Mark is teaching a ten week Bible study on the Book of Revelation on Wednesday nights.
And now we have a blog! Thanks to a new friend in Southern California. http://blairstan.blogspot.com/
News from Kazakhstan is good. Tien Shan School is off to a good beginning of their academic year. Praise the Lord for providing all their staff. Please keep the building project they have recently undertaken in your prayers. A great friend is serving as Interim Pastor of the International Christian Fellowship in Almaty. Please keep him and his wife in your prayers as they lead that ministry in our absence. When we left in June four other elders also left as their terms of service in Almaty ended. But we hear good reports of how the Lord has been raising up others to serve and lead. We miss our church family there and look forward to being with them again in January. (Health tests are good!)
All three of our sons are in Eugene, Oregon. Josiah has joined Aaron at Lane Community College in order to work toward his degree. Masha and Maylee are back in Almaty. Nathan and Heather are both working and planning their wedding. They’re also both quite involved in ministry through their church there. Please open the attachment on this letter regarding Nathan’s ministry project for Mongolia.
September 23 - Puna Congregational Christian Church, Keaau, HISeptember 30 - Kalahikiola Congregational Church, Kohala, Hawaii
October 7 – Trinity Community Assembly of God, Hilo, Hawaii
October 14 - Central Kona Union Church, Kealakekua, Hawaii
October 21 - Mokuaikaua Congregational Church, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
October 28 - Hawaii Kai UCC, Hawaii Kai, Oahu
November 4 – Living Waters Assembly of God, Hilo
November 11 - Waipuna Chapel, Kula, Maui
November 18 - Wailuku Union Church, Wailuku, Maui
November 25 - North Shore Christian Church, Kauai
December 2 - Fly Honolulu to Portland, ORDecember 8 - Nathan Blair weds Heather Madison in Eugene, ORJanuary 10, 2008 - Fly from Portland, OR to Beijing - en route to Kazakhstan
Yours in Him who Reigns,Mark and Dayna BlairOur Mobile541 - 743 - 6837Our MissionPioneers - 10123 William Carey Drive - Orlando, FL 32832 - USAhttp://www.pioneers.org/Our MinistriesInternational Christian Fellowship http://www.icf.nursat.kz/Tien Shan School tienshan@pactec.kzOur Mailing AddressBlair - 190 Ululani Street - Hilo, Hawaii 96720

Dayna in Esquire

Welcome to our new blog!

Back in Action - July 2007

Greetings from Southern California,

We are so thankful for your prayers and encouragement. Due to our nomadic lifestyle these days we have not been able to get out an email update until now.

We praise the Lord for again extending His healing hand through skilled surgeons! Mark walked out of the hospital the day after back surgery on July 10 (for herniated disc). Best of all the intense pain which he had in his leg for several months prior is 95 % gone. He still needs to avoid ‘B.L.T.’ - bending, lifting, and twisting - which means that Dayna is getting ‘buff’ arms from carrying our luggage! Pray for her back now!

It has been a blessing to catch up with family, friends, and supporting churches here. It has been a strong encouragement to meet those who have so faithfully kept us before the Lord. As you can see from our schedule below, we will be traveling quite a bit in the month ahead. We appreciate your continued prayers for recuperation, safety, and most of all that we would be a blessing to those who have so blessed us.

This week we shared in Mark’s hometown of La Canada, California. The local paper ran the article below -

Kazakhstan missionary Mark Blair to speak at La Canada Presbyterian Church
A life-changing experience at a Crescenta-Canada Family YMCA camp set Mark Blair on a journey halfway around the world, from Catalina Island to the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan.
Blair, a 1973 graduate of Crescenta Valley High School, is a Christian missionary in Kazakhstan with wife Dayna. He will talk of his work Sunday morning (July 29) while preaching the sermon at all three of La Canada Presbyterian Church’s worship services -- 7:55, 9:25 and 10:55. The church supports the ministry work of the two.
Blair says his spiritual journey began when he was in high school and attended a summer camp on Catalina Island. “It was through the YMCA camp when I heard the Gospel at Camp Fox that I became a Christian,” he said.
After attending Glendale College, he got a degree from Covenant College in Tennessee and began a life of missionary service, working in Uganda, serving as a church pastor in Hawaii, and then, in 1998, moving on to Kazakhstan.
It was an obscure posting -- until Hollywood trained one of its spotlights on the country last year. “When we meet people, often the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, yes, I know about Kazakhstan from the Borat movie,’ “ Blair said. “It’s an entry point for conversation, I guess. It kind of put the place on the map.”
Blair and Dayna had been crisscrossing that map for years before then. He trains and equips national church leaders, and is pastor at the International Christian Fellowship in Almaty. She teaches at Tien Shan School.
It can be challenging work. “Kazakhstan is a very secular place,” Blair said. “It’s Islamic, but not devoutly Muslim -- more secular Muslim. It has a history of 70 years of Soviet atheism. Most people really don’t think much about God and don’t have any religious practices, so initially they don’t seem very interested in spiritual things, but at the same time they’re searching for something deeper in their lives.
“Right now there’s something of an economic boom with the oil and a lot of money coming in. So there’s a lot of materialism. It’s not long before people realize that that doesn’t give them a lot of deep satisfaction, so it opens up a spiritual search.”
La Canada Presbyterian Church is at 626 Foothill Blvd. For information, visit www.lacanadapc.org.

July 29 La Canada Presbyterian Church
August 5 Meadowlark Community Church, San Marcos, CA
August 7 - Begin drive from Southern California back up to Eugene, Oregon
August 17 - Fly from Portland, OR to Philadelphia, PA
August 19 - Grace Bible Fellowship Church, Harrisburg, PA
August 26 - Maple Glen Bible Fellowship Church (near Philadelphia, PA)
August 27 - Fly Philadelphia back to Oregon
August 31 - Fly Portland, OR to Hilo, Hawaii
September 2 - Hilo Missionary Church, Hilo, HI
September 9 - Waimea Assemby of God, Kamuela, HI
September 16 and 23 - Puna Congregational Christian Church, Keaau, HI
Open for other meetings in Hawaii
December 2 - Fly Honolulu to Portland, OR
December 8 - Nathan Blair weds Heather Madison in Eugene, OR
January 10, 2008 - Fly Portland, OR to Beijing - en route to Kazakhstan

Yours in His Living Hope,
Mark and Dayna Blair
Our Mobile
541 - 743 - 6837

Our Mission
Pioneers - 10123 William Carey Drive - Orlando, FL 32832 - USA
http://www.pioneers.org/

Our Ministries
International Christian Fellowship http://www.icf.nursat.kz/
Tien Shan School tienshan@pactec.kz

Our Mailing Address
Blair - 190 Ululani Street - Hilo, Hawaii 96720

Local Boy in the News

Don't Waste Your Cancer - great thoughts!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2006/1776_Dont_Waste_Your_Cancer/

Don't Waste Your Cancer

Download:

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By John Piper February 15, 2006

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[Editor's Note: Our friend, David Powlison, of the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation, who also was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, has added some helpful expansions to John Piper’s ten points. Indented paragraphs beginning with "DP:" are written by David Powlison.]
I write this on the eve of prostate surgery. I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.

DP: I (David Powlison) add these reflections on John Piper’s words the morning after receiving news that I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer (March 3, 2006). The ten main points and first paragraphs are his; the second paragraphs are mine.

1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.

It will not do to say that God only uses our cancer but does not design it. What God permits, he permits for a reason. And that reason is his design. If God foresees molecular developments becoming cancer, he can stop it or not. If he does not, he has a purpose. Since he is infinitely wise, it is right to call this purpose a design. Satan is real and causes many pleasures and pains. But he is not ultimate. So when he strikes Job with boils (Job 2:7), Job attributes it ultimately to God (2:10) and the inspired writer agrees: “They . . . comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). If you don’t believe your cancer is designed for you by God, you will waste it.

DP: Recognizing his designing hand does not make you stoic or dishonest or artificially buoyant. Instead, the reality of God’s design elicits and channels your honest outcry to your one true Savior. God’s design invites honest speech, rather than silencing us into resignation. Consider the honesty of the Psalms, of King Hezekiah (Isaiah 38), of Habakkuk 3. These people are bluntly, believingly honest because they know that God is God and set their hopes in him. Psalm 28 teaches you passionate, direct prayer to God. He must hear you. He will hear you. He will continue to work in you and your situation. This outcry comes from your sense of need for help (28:1-2). Then name your particular troubles to God (28:3-5). You are free to personalize with your own particulars. Often in life’s ‘various trials’ (James 1:2), what you face does not exactly map on to the particulars that David or Jesus faced – but the dynamic of faith is the same. Having cast your cares on him who cares for you, then voice your joy (28:6-7): the God-given peace that is beyond understanding. Finally, because faith always works out into love, your personal need and joy will branch out into loving concern for others (28:8-9). Illness can sharpen your awareness of how thoroughly God has already and always been at work in every detail of your life.

2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel” (Numbers 23:23). “The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

DP: The blessing comes in what God does for us, with us, through us. He brings his great and merciful redemption onto the stage of the curse. Your cancer, in itself, is one of those 10,000 ‘shadows of death’ (Psalm 23:4) that come upon each of us: all the threats, losses, pains, incompletion, disappointment, evils. But in his beloved children, our Father works a most kind good through our most grievous losses: sometimes healing and restoring the body (temporarily, until the resurrection of the dead to eternal life), always sustaining and teaching us that we might know and love him more simply. In the testing ground of evils, your faith becomes deep and real, and your love becomes purposeful and wise: James 1:2-5, 1 Peter 1:3-9, Romans 5:1-5, Romans 8:18-39.

3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.

The design of God in your cancer is not to train you in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects of treatment), but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7). God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9, “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” The aim of God in your cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.

DP: God himself is your comfort. He gives himself. The hymn “Be Still My Soul” (by Katerina von Schlegel) reckons the odds the right way: we are 100% certain to suffer, and Christ is 100% certain to meet us, to come for us, comfort us, and restore love’s purest joys. The hymn “How Firm a Foundation” reckons the odds the same way: you are 100% certain to pass through grave distresses, and your Savior is 100% certain to “be with you, your troubles to bless, and sanctify to you your deepest distress.” With God, you aren’t playing percentages, but living within certainties.

4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.

We will all die, if Jesus postpones his return. Not to think about what it will be like to leave this life and meet God is folly. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning [a funeral] than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” How can you lay it to heart if you won’t think about it? Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Numbering your days means thinking about how few there are and that they will end. How will you get a heart of wisdom if you refuse to think about this? What a waste, if we do not think about death.

DP: Paul describes the Holy Spirit is the unseen, inner ‘downpayment’ on the certainty of life. By faith, the Lord gives a sweet taste of the face-to-face reality of eternal life in the presence of our God and Christ. We might also say that cancer is one ‘downpayment’ on inevitable death, giving one bad taste of the reality of of our mortality. Cancer is a signpost pointing to something far bigger: the last enemy that you must face. But Christ has defeated this last enemy: 1 Corinthians 15. Death is swallowed up in victory. Cancer is merely one of the enemy’s scouting parties, out on patrol. It has no final power if you are a child of the resurrection, so you can look it in the eye.

5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.

Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 3:8; 1:21).

DP: Cherishing Christ expresses the two core activities of faith: dire need and utter joy. Many psalms cry out in a ‘minor key’: we cherish our Savior by needing him to save us from real troubles, real sins, real sufferings, real anguish. Many psalms sing out in a ‘major key’: we cherish our Savior by delighting in him, loving him, thanking him for all his benefits to us, rejoicing that his salvation is the weightiest thing in the world and that he gets last say. And many psalms start out in one key and end up in the other. Cherishing Christ is not monochromatic; you live the whole spectrum of human experience with him. To ‘beat’ cancer is to live knowing how your Father has compassion on his beloved child, because he knows your frame, that you are but dust. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. To live is to know him, whom to know is to love.

6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.

It is not wrong to know about cancer. Ignorance is not a virtue. But the lure to know more and more and the lack of zeal to know God more and more is symptomatic of unbelief. Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). It is meant to waken us to the truth of Daniel 11:32, “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” It is meant to make unshakable, indestructible oak trees out of us: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2). What a waste of cancer if we read day and night about cancer and not about God.

DP: What is so for your reading is also true for your conversations with others. Other people will often express their care and concern by inquiring about your health. That’s good, but the conversation easily gets stuck there. So tell them openly about your sickness, seeking their prayers and counsel, but then change the direction of the conversation by telling them what your God is doing to faithfully sustain you with 10,000 mercies. Robert Murray McCheyne wisely said, “For every one look at your sins, take ten looks at Christ.” He was countering our tendency to reverse that 10:1 ratio by brooding over our failings and forgetting the Lord of mercy. What McCheyne says about our sins we can also apply to our sufferings. For every one sentence you say to others about your cancer, say ten sentences about your God, and your hope, and what he is teaching you, and the small blessings of each day. For every hour you spend researching or discussing your cancer, spend 10 hours researching and discussing and serving your Lord. Relate all that you are learning about cancer back to him and his purposes, and you won’t become obsessed.

7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.

When Epaphroditus brought the gifts to Paul sent by the Philippian church he became ill and almost died. Paul tells the Philippians, “He has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill” (Philippians 2:26-27). What an amazing response! It does not say they were distressed that he was ill, but that he was distressed because they heard he was ill. That is the kind of heart God is aiming to create with cancer: a deeply affectionate, caring heart for people. Don’t waste your cancer by retreating into yourself.

DP: Our culture is terrified of facing death. It is obsessed with medicine. It idolizes youth, health and energy. It tries to hide any signs of weakness or imperfection. You will bring huge blessing to others by living openly, believingly and lovingly within your weaknesses. Paradoxically, moving out into relationships when you are hurting and weak will actually strengthen others. ‘One anothering’ is a two-way street of generous giving and grateful receiving. Your need gives others an opportunity to love. And since love is always God’s highest purpose in you, too, you will learn his finest and most joyous lessons as you find small ways to express concern for others even when you are most weak. A great, life-threatening weakness can prove amazingly freeing. Nothing is left for you to do except to be loved by God and others, and to love God and others.

8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.

Paul used this phrase in relation to those whose loved ones had died: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). There is a grief at death. Even for the believer who dies, there is temporary loss—loss of body, and loss of loved ones here, and loss of earthly ministry. But the grief is different—it is permeated with hope. “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Don’t waste your cancer grieving as those who don’t have this hope.

DP: Show the world this different way of grieving. Paul said that he would have had “grief upon grief” if his friend Epaphroditus had died. He had been grieving, feeling the painful weight of his friend’s illness. He would have doubly grieved if his friend had died. But this loving, honest, God-oriented grief coexisted with “rejoice always” and “the peace of God that passes understanding” and “showing a genuine concern for your welfare.” How on earth can heartache coexist with love, joy, peace, and an indestructible sense of life purpose? In the inner logic of faith, this makes perfect sense. In fact, because you have hope, you may feel the sufferings of this life more keenly: grief upon grief. In contrast, the grieving that has no hope often chooses denial or escape or busyness because it can’t face reality without becoming distraught. In Christ, you know what’s at stake, and so you keenly feel the wrong of this fallen world. You don’t take pain and death for granted. You love what is good, and hate what is evil. After all, you follow in the image of “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.” But this Jesus chose his cross willingly “for the joy set before him.” He lived and died in hopes that all come true. His pain was not muted by denial or medication, nor was it tainted with despair, fear, or thrashing about for any straw of hope that might change his circumstances. Jesus’ final promises overflow with the gladness of solid hope amid sorrows: “My joy will be in you, and your joy will be made full. Your grief will be turned to joy. No one will take your joy away from you. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy will be made full. These things I speak in the world, so that they may have my joy made full in themselves” (selection from John 15-17).

9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.

Are your besetting sins as attractive as they were before you had cancer? If so you are wasting your cancer. Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin. Pride, greed, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, impatience, laziness, procrastination—all these are the adversaries that cancer is meant to attack. Don’t just think of battling against cancer. Also think of battling with cancer. All these things are worse enemies than cancer. Don’t waste the power of cancer to crush these foes. Let the presence of eternity make the sins of time look as futile as they really are. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25).

DP: Suffering really is meant to wean you from sin and strengthen your faith. If you are God-less, then suffering magnifies sin. Will you become more bitter, despairing, addictive, fearful, frenzied, avoidant, sentimental, godless in how you go about life? Will you pretend it’s business as usual? Will you come to terms with death, on your terms? But if you are God’s, then suffering in Christ’s hands will change you, always slowly, sometimes quickly. You come to terms with life and death on his terms. He will gentle you, purify you, cleanse you of vanities. He will make you need him and love him. He rearranges your priorities, so first things come first more often. He will walk with you. Of course you’ll fail at times, perhaps seized by irritability or brooding, escapism or fears. But he will always pick you up when you stumble. Your inner enemy – a moral cancer 10,000 times more deadly than your physical cancer – will be dying as you continue seeking and finding your Savior: “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is very great. Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose” (Psalm 25).

10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

Christians are never anywhere by divine accident. There are reasons for why we wind up where we do. Consider what Jesus said about painful, unplanned circumstances: “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:12 -13). So it is with cancer. This will be an opportunity to bear witness. Christ is infinitely worthy. Here is a golden opportunity to show that he is worth more than life. Don’t waste it.

DP: Jesus is your life. He is the man before whom every knee will bow. He has defeated death once for all. He will finish what he has begun. Let your light so shine as you live in him, by him, through him, for him. One of the church’s ancient hymns puts it this way: “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger” (from “I bind unto myself the name”). In your cancer, you will need your brothers and sisters to witness to the truth and glory of Christ, to walk with you, to live out their faith beside you, to love you. And you can do same with them and with all others, becoming the heart that loves with the love of Christ, the mouth filled with hope to both friends and strangers.

Remember you are not left alone. You will have the help you need. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
Pastor John

China Visit – May 2006

Warm greetings from green and beautiful Almaty, Kazakhstan. We got back from a great trip to China and jumped right into duties here. Dayna had new insights for her class on ‘Central Asian History’ after seeing Xian, the ancient Chinese city where the ‘Silk Road’ started west. We bicycled 14 km atop the massive Xian city wall, more fun than Marco Polo ever had…
We visited the central Three-Self (government endorsed) Church Seminary in Nanjing. There 180 students are in their Master’s program. There are another 17 Three-Self theological schools across the land. But these cannot keep pace with their church’s tremendous growth. The Nanjing Seminary moves next year to a new campus where enrollment will exceed 500. Dayna, shared in a week night meeting in a Shanghai church…
Can you imagine a city with 4000 buildings over 40 stories tall, many bearing an impressive architecture and illumined by colored lights at night? More than 20 million people live in this clean and modern city of Shanghai. Busy shoppers in Shanghai.. Dayna’s grandfather who left from there 100 years ago for Hawaii, would be astounded. We were too. Inside the beautiful and modern Shanghai Museum we saw sculptures, bowls, and carvings that pre-date Abraham! China – very old and very new! We covered a lot of territory; from Urumqi in the Northwest to Shanghai in the Southeast, and Nanjing, Beijing, and Xian along the way. People were friendly and helpful. Food was tasty and cheap. Transport was timely and efficient – planes, trains, subways, light rail, taxis, & pedicabs.
We had encouraging visits with old friends who work there. We shared in a couple of International Churches and got lots of good ideas for our ICF in Almaty. We met believers from ‘house’ churches in two major cities and had several evenings of Bible teaching with them. It was a special joy to see their devotion to the Lord, eagerness for His Word, and zeal for mission – across China and ‘back to Jerusalem.’ We anticipated more sadness and suffering – especially after reading ‘Safely Home’ and ‘Heavenly Man’. But we were happy to learn that now – at least in large cities – there is more peace and increasing freedom. Mark made some new friends watching ‘King Kong’ on the big TV in Nanjing’s Wal-Mart Super Center…
We were very happily surprised by the wide availability of Mandarin Bibles throughout the country. We toured a government-sanctioned printing press where more than 40 million Bibles have been printed and distributed throughout China. The number multiplies as their two presses run 24 hours a day. Believers we met in several cities affirmed it is not difficult to obtain a Bible in China today. We can only anticipate with joy the great ways God will use His Word across the land. An average of 3,500 people are coming to faith in Jesus across China daily. Printing and sending ‘Good Book’ around the nation…
Back in Almaty, the ‘cloud’ lifted and our meeting with the Lord in the International Christian Fellowship has moved into the ‘Star’s Disco Club’! Their management has welcomed us to use this interesting venue. Sunday mornings we find the place clean and ready for us to worship the Bright Morning Star. I do not know where the first Christians in Philippi met for worship, but we seek to follow Paul’s exhortation to integrity and illumination; '…so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.' (Philippians 2.14-16) In mid May, Mark was the Bible teacher for a Pastor’s and Leader’s Conference of the Kazakhstan Assembly of God, also sharing about the Lord’s work among their colleagues ‘next door’…
Right now we are busy with end of the year activities at the schools where we are teaching here in Almaty. Yesterday was our daughter in law Masha’s 21st birthday. She had several good opportunities to exhibit her clothes designs in Moscow and here in Almaty in the last month. She hopes to finish her University course on Fashion Design in 2007. Josiah is very busy with many students who want to learn English here. Maylee has been ‘terrific’ at two years, four months. Our sons, Nathan and Aaron, come here for the summer in late June. We look forward to having them. We are thankful for the good year they have had in Eugene, Oregon. Aaron has almost finished one year at Lane Community College. Nathan enters his Senior year at University of Oregon in September. God is so good!

We pray that this will be a summer of growth and fruitfulness in Him. Mark’s book of sermon outlines on the Life of Abraham (Genesis 12-25) in Russian should come out in June. Pray that these may be useful tools for teachers and preachers.

We are very thankful for your prayers and support. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours for the Nations,
Mark and Dayna Blair

'Id' and Valentines Day 2006

We send warm greetings from a cool and calm Almaty. Amidst the global hubbub over religious cartoons, we have had no hostilities. Given the very secular outlook of most local Muslims, we are not surprised, but we are thankful. The subject of religion is an interesting one here.

One snowy day in January Kazakhstan recognized the Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha -‘The Sacrifice of Abraham.’ Of course in this predominantly Muslim country they believe Abe’s almost-victim was his son Ishmael – as the Koran says. But this is a country where Islam is a thin veneer over deeper attitudes of superstition, atheism, and materialism which animate most hearts. So a holiday is viewed as an opportunity to open the ever present bottle of Vodka (it sells for less than Coca-Cola). Even if ‘good Muslims’ are not supposed to drink alcohol, many toasted Abraham and his son.

We looked out our window that morning onto the snow filled open courtyard between our collection of five-story apartment buildings. Here kids play soccer, even in the snow. Lovers kiss. And the garbage which should be in the dumpsters spreads across the territory – thank God for white blankets of snow! Well on this day a group of Kazakh men gathered to remember Abraham’s deed by killing a sheep. Driving their car onto the field they hoisted the unsuspecting fleece covered victim out of the trunk. Prayers were said, with their palms uplifted and their heads bowed. And a cross was etched upon the forehead of the sheep by the finger of the eldest man. (Ask a Kazakh why a cross is drawn on the head of an about to be sacrificed sheep and very few will know why. They’ve ‘always done it.’ Kazakh Christians will remind them that Christians crossed the Central Asian steppe centuries before the Muslims and this just might be a reminder of the Jesus who died on the cross as the Lamb of God.) Prayers being said and cross being etched, the knife was bared and soon the now headless sheep had fallen to its side. This spurred the gathered men to great activity. Skin is removed, entrails opened, meat is divided. Another couple of men put the sheep’s dripping head on a rock and burned it black with a gas-powered blow torch. (Oh, if Abraham could see how technology has accelerated!) It was not long before all that remained was a wet sheep skin hanging from the clothes line and a puddle of blood. No doubt there were more toasts to Abraham over a hearty meal of mutton that night.

Today – on the Love Day, as they say here – we got a warm letter from a new member of our International Christian Fellowship who is coming to know a new and wonderful love. We share it, unedited, asking you to remember this young woman, and the many millions who do not yet know why they etch a cross on sheep they sacrifice.

Dear Mark and Dayna!Today, February, 14th, 2006, is a holiday - the Day of Holy Valentine - the Love Day - in my country. I congratulate you with this Day! I wish you both and your family a strong health, happiness, success, love and prosperity to ICF Family! Let all the Christians and all people in all over the world be happy and have a strong health. Let it be a Peace and No War! Thank you for your organization and existence of ICF Church in Almaty, in Kazakhstan. It is a very wonderfull and nice place. I am glad that I've found and stay in ICF Family! It is interesting and useful for me to learn about the Christian religion, to learn the Bible. The Bible is a very valuable Book. Before this I didn't touch it and didn't open it. It is written a lot of Values in the Bible. The Bible learns to live. I want to share my thoughts and my life experience with you. I know it will be interesting for you as a Leader of the Church. You are a nice Leader. God gave you this quality. In spite of that fact that my family - Muslims, I accepted the belief in Jesus Christ in October 2005. God led me to you, to ICF Church through events and people. I should say that since October I start pray in the name of Jesus Christ from my true heart and visit the Church. And some amazing and incredible stories occurred with me when I started to believe in Him. I SHOCKED! It makes me to believe in Him, He exists REALLY! I should say that God listen to me through Jesus Christ, He replies at my requests. I made a discovery for me. In October I accepted Jesus Christ in spite of that fact that my family is Muslims. Nobody knows that I go to the Church, believe me it is not easier for me to be between two religions. Two religions came across: Muslim and Christian. My parents go to Mosk and pray for our family during a whole life. But I didn't get a reply from the Heavens before I started to believe in Jesus Christ and pray in the name of Jesus Christ. I don't know - why - only God knows. THE SOVIET SCHOOL STUDIED US TO BE ATHEISM! THE SOVIET TEACHERS STUDIED US THAT GOD DOESN'T EXIST. BUT NOWADAYS THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS WRONG. WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT GOD! THANK YOU FOR ICF AND YOUR SERMONS. GIVE THE GOD TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HEALTH AND HAPPINESS AND LONGEVITY!

And we wish the same to you!! We are very thankful for your prayers and support as we have the privilege of serving the True and Living God here in Central Asia. We have a Sovereign Savior, if He could handle the cross, bring on the cartoons!!

For His honor,
Mark and Dayna Blair

Tien Shan School News

Teaching Those who Teach More!

“In the Tropics heading for the Tundra”

An Update from the Blair’s in Kazakhstan

October   2005

E-mail:   blairstan@hotmail.com

Kazakhstan Mailing address:                                      

Blair’s                                                                       

Almaty 43                                                                 

P.O. Box 101                                                            

480043 Kazakhstan                                                    

Home Phone (7-3272) 550128

 Pioneers

10123 William Carey Drive

Orlando, Florida 32832-6020 USA

www.pioneers.org

Our Church: International Christian Fellowship, Almaty  www.icf.nursat.kz

Tien Shan School  tienshan@pactec.kz

Dear Faithful Friend,

Your interest and support of our work in Kazakhstan has extended for seven years – thanks for being so faithful! When we left the Tropics of Hilo, Hawaii in 1998 for the Tundra of Kazakhstan we did not know all that He had for us to do here. We have enjoyed these years of Kingdom service and praise Him for very many blessings.

It has been some time since we sent a surface letter. We regularly send email letters – now with pictures! If you wish to receive these, please write blairstan@hotmail.com  We realize not everyone has email and we apologize for the long silence by surface mail.

In 2 Timothy 2.2 the Apostle Paul sets forth a pattern for Gospel advancement. He desires God’s life-giving Word to be passed on – from Paul, to Timothy, to reliable men, and to those whom they will reach. The photo below shows how the Lord has allowed us to see this Kingdom extension here in Central Asia. Bahyt (bottom row center) was a student in our early days here. Then Mark invited him to teach Evangelism at Kazakhstan Evangelical Christian Seminary. Bahyt has proved a faithful teacher and example to many. The six young leaders in the polo shirts on the edges of the group were some of his students. These six, with Bahyt as their overseer/encourager, then taught the twenty-nine people who proudly display their certificates in Evangelism training.

Only God knows the Kingdom fruit He will bring through these thirty-six enthusiastic evangelists. The course pictured above took place in the far north of Kazakhstan, near the Russian border, hundreds of miles from Almaty. And of course, it was taught in Russian language. These leaders, whom we have a small part in teaching, can best announce the Eternal Word of God in the changing cultures and languages of Central Asia. Your support of us here has been an essential part of this great work.

Your support has also been part of a similar advancement through Tien Shan School. This school for children of missionaries continues to grow in size and significance. They started with fifteen children in 1995. This Fall more than 180 kids from 12 nations are enrolled from K through 12 grade. God is using, and will use, these ‘Third Culture Kids’ in significant ways for His Glory. They have gained an understanding of the world few children receive. Below you can see the students and staff of Tien Shan School.

Dayna has begun her eighth year of teaching Tien Shan School. This year she is teaching in the Jr. High Department and coaching the Volleyball team.

Mark and Dayna are both teaching church leaders in local Bible schools. This Fall Dayna is teaching Christian Education and Mark teaches New Testament Survey and a Systematic Theology class.

This Fall two more books which Mark has written will be published. His book on ‘Preaching’ is now in Kazakh language. (It was published in Russian last year.) This is the first book on Homiletics in the Kazakh language! Thank God for a great translator and pray that He will use it to encourage Kazakh preachers. A book of sermon outlines on the ‘Life of Abraham’ (Genesis 12-25) has been translated into Russian. (Last year sermon outlines on Ephesians was printed in Russian language.) We are thankful for the opportunity to share through publications and pray that they will be used by God here.  

We also thank God for the ministry of International Christian Fellowship here in Almaty which Mark serves as pastor. We have a great team of leaders and members to share in the ministry. This Fall Mark began a preaching series through the Gospel of John. We want to explore new avenues of outreach among Almaty’s growing ex-patriat community. Pray for God to make this a great year of Kingdom advance here.

The boys we brought here seven years ago have grown up, two have gone back to the USA. Our oldest and youngest sons are in a house in Eugene, Oregon. We are thankful they are together. The Lord has blessed them with jobs and they’re growing in wisdom and maturity.

Nathan turned 21 in July. He has completed three years of University, 2 in Hawaii and 1 in Oregon. He is not studying this year in order to gain Oregon residency. He has a good full time job as a waiter in a restaurant. He continues on the staff of a newly forming magazine which you can find on the web – www.minutemorning.com He has also joined the ministry team for College students in his church in Eugene.

Josiah was working in the Oregon for the summer but he is now back in Almaty with his wife, Masha, and their daughter,  Maylee.. Masha still has another year in University here. Thanks for keeping this young family in your prayers.

Our ‘baby’ – Aaron - is now 18 and looking down on his ‘little brothers.’ He has begun his studies at Lane Community College in Eugene. Thanks for praying for our sons in all these matters - Masha and Maylee too!

We so appreciate your faithful prayers and generous support.

Yours in Him whose Promises are True!

Mark and Dayna Blair

Sons in Oregon, USA

260 High Street - Eugene, Oregon 97401 - USA

Nathan Blair - Mobile: (541) 206 7635 - nathanklblair@gmail.com

Aaron Blair - thesnowisyellow@hotmail.com

Also in Almaty - Josiah, Masha, and Maylee Blair - josiah_masha_blair@yahoo.com

Population of Kazakhs – in Kazakhstan – almost 10 Million - in China - over 1 million Believers in Jesus – in Almaty (largest city in Kazakhstan) – 10 out of every 1000 - in the rest of Kazakhstan - 1 out of every 1000 - in China - 1 out of every 10,000

Teacher of the Year

Aaron's Tien Shan Graduation

The Passion of the Christ in Almaty May 2005

God has given a historic opportunity to our city; to view a vivid portrayal of what His Son did to save us from sin. “The Passion of the Christ” – in Russian - is now playing in two theaters, Alatau . At this point the film is scheduled to be shown for just two weeks. If there is a good response, it may play longer at these theaters and also be shown in other theaters around the city.

There are different opinions about this very graphic film. But as this film has been shown around the world, entire communities have focused their attention on the most ultimate questions, ‘who is Jesus?’ and ‘what did Jesus do?’ There should at least be a Christian consensus to pray that many people who have not yet found the life changing answers to these questions may do so. God only knows whether we will again see this kind of high profile Christian impact on society in our lifetime.

May I suggest that you “jump on this wave” of opportunity?

· See the film, decide its worth for yourself.
· If you feel it is valuable, take others to see it – family members, friends, colleagues from work – especially those who do not know Him.
· Seize this opportunity to talk about Jesus, people you know in the neighborhood, at work, in school, are going to see this film. Tell them more about this Jesus.
· Provide resources for people to learn more - books, Bibles, the “Jesus” film – a number of these are on the ICF Book table. If you need more materials, let me know.
· Consider going to the theaters and handing out Scripture portions and the ‘Jesus’ film to those who having seen the film want to know more. (Last night one valiant ICF member was all alone at the Arman theater – I trust he will soon be getting the word out about how we can help.)
· Pray, pray, pray!!!

I believe in the God of Jonah, who at the simple word of repentance brought the entire city of Nineveh to salvation. I believe God loves Almaty and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Almost one hundred years ago, Harry Ironside, then a preacher with the Salvation Army, was challenged by an Atheist to a debate. He agreed on one condition:

"First, you must promise to bring with you a man who was for years what we commonly call a 'down and outer'...a man who for years was under the power of evil habits from which he could not deliver himself, but on some occasion entered your meetings and heard this glorification of agnosticism and your denunciations of the Bible and Christianity, and whose heart and mind as he listened to such addresses was so deeply stirred that he went away from the meeting saying, 'From today, I too am an atheist!' and as a result of imbibing that particular philosophy found that a new power had come into his life. The sins he once loved he now hates, and righteousness and goodness are now the ideals of his life. He is now an entirely new man, a credit to himself and an asset to society - all because he is an agnostic.

Secondly, I would like you to bring with you a woman...once a poor, wrecked, characterless outcast, the slave of evil passions, and the victim of man's corrupt living but who also entered a hall where you were loudly proclaiming your agnosticism and as you spoke, hope was born in her heart and she said, 'this is just what I need to deliver me from the slavery of sin!' She followed the teaching and became an intelligent agnostic or infidel. As a result her whole life revolted against the degradation of the life she was living. She fled from the den of iniquity where she was held captive for so long; and today, rehabilitated, she has won her way back to an honored position in society and is living a clean, virtuous, happy life, all because she is an agnostic"

“If you find those two people and I will find 100 people who have been so changed by Christ.” The two people were never found, and the debate was never held.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Romans 1.16

Praying with you for our city,
Pastor Mark Blair

Tajikstan Report – Easter 2005

We send warm Easter greetings on this snowy day in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Our warm Springtime was abruptly covered by a cold white blanket! But it did not chill our hearts – or reduce the attendance – at our International Christian Fellowship. We had a wonderful morning exalting our Risen Lord. We pray that you also were giving Him praise – what a joyous hope we have in Him! Following our service we had an Easter feast at the hotel where we hold our services.

This year we’ve been blessed with many ministry opportunities. In January Dayna and I spent ten days in Dushanbe, the capital city of Tajikistan. Mark taught a one week course on the ‘Trinity’ to young ministry leaders from five different churches there. Understanding the ‘Triples’ – as one of them innocently said in his limited English – is not easy, in any language. But the Lord graciously opened His Word to us. We also met with local pastors, preached in two prisons (Jesus brings joy and hope to the darkest places), and a home for the Elderly. On our Sunday there we shared in the Baptist church and the International Church. Dayna must have reached a new spiritual plateau that Sunday as she heard five sermons, two of them by her husband. It was actually a ‘slow’ day for the Dushanbe Baptists with only four sermons, they sometimes have eight. But as we sat in their very cold sanctuary from 9 to 1, four was quite enough, thanks! Mark and Tajik students:

‘Tajik’ is a Persian language, so there are strong linguistic and cultural ties to their Persian neighbor nations of Afghanistan and Iran. It was great to witness the passion of Tajik believers to share their Savior with ‘cousins’ in those lands. Several of our students are ‘in training’ to go in Gospel-service there. A group of Iranian Christians sang their Farsi language praise to Him who set them free during the Sunday afternoon service at the International Church.

In February Mark taught a week-long modular course on ‘Preaching’ at the newly formed ‘Reformed Theological Academy of Kazakhstan.’ At this point their name is longer than their enrollment. But the ten pastors who gather four times a year to study are bright and zealous. After seven years of teaching Central Asian church leaders, it is encouraging to see their depth of insight and understanding grow significantly. This particular ‘class’ was more like a ‘laboratory’ with each pastor preaching once during the week and their colleagues offering very helpful constructive critique.

In March Mark taught a seminar on ‘Spiritual Gifts’ at the Central Asian Business Conference. Over 100 men and women gathered from throughout the region to – in their words – learn to serve on their jobs like missionaries. Wow! What a great vision and hope. These believers want their faith to bust out of their church walls and transform their society. It was quite stimulating to interact with them. The main speaker is a Christian businessman from the Philippines! We’re quite privileged to see Him reaching into every land from this corner of His harvest field, as Isaiah foresaw the ‘nations stream to the mountain of the Lord.’

Among the many in our Easter service was a young Kazakh lawyer who has been attending ICF regularly for a couple of years. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree here, he was one of 100 Kazahstanis sent for a Master’s degree in USA that year. He earned a Master’s in Law from a prestigious American University and successfully passed the Bar Exam there. (He is one of seven Kazakhstanis with American legal credentials.) He went to America as an avowed Atheist. His host family were sincere Christians, and invited him to their church, he went out of curiosity. On the campus where he studied law, he met people who claimed to ‘have it all together’ - he did not meet any who told him about God. But in this church he met newly released prisoners, people struggling economically, and others in need. He heard them cry out to God and he watched them change. He had never seen people change in this way before. Then his sister, on a similar academic program in London, became a believer in Jesus. This was a real shock to their family. He soon saw her change in similarly positive ways. Now he is teaching in the largest law University in Almaty – fulfilling his government required service for his study abroad. Last year he obtained a 300 seat hall for a weekly presentation of the ‘Alpha Course.’ (Unfortunately, the attendance was quite small as advertisement was not allowed.) But he has come a long way from Atheism to the Alpha Course! And he continues to seek God and His Truth. I just learned from him that now the Kazakhstan government sends 3000 students for Master’s degrees to the States every year. Maybe there is someone down the road from you, waiting for an invitation to your church. All of us have a part in His great Harvest.

This week the 4th quarter at Tien Shan school begins. Dayna teaches a full load of courses, Mark teaches Bible to High Schoolers, and Aaron will graduate in June. Nathan also begins his 4th quarter at University of Oregon. Last quarter he earned a 4.0. He is enjoying his life there very much. Aaron plans to begin Community College in Oregon this Fall, living with Nathan in Eugene. Josiah, Masha and Maylee are also doing well here.

We are very thankful for your support and prayers which enable us to serve here.

In His great love,
Mark, Dayna, and Aaron Blair

India Report January 2005

Namaste from Kazakhstan!

We are back from a life-changing trip to India. What an amazing country. There are so many people, all quite friendly, many poor. We saw sights – and smells - of desperate poverty and misery. And we saw exquisite beauty. Words and pictures cannot convey the incredible magnificence of the Taj Mahal. We learned much about their rich and varied history. Awesome forts and palaces of successive conquering rulers continue to speak of their ancient powers. We were impressed by their resolve to build a nation – shown in their refusal to accept outside aide for tsunami relief.

We were in the northern city of Delhi, far inland, when the tsunami struck on December 26. We watched the television pictures in shock like the rest of the world. There are twice as many people just in Delhi – not India’s largest city – than in the entire county of Kazakhstan. We spent about a week touring the northwestern area, the state of Rajasthan. Then we went to Agra, city of the Taj Mahal. From Agra we had a 30 hour train ride to the western coast of Goa – unaffected by the tsunami. There in Goa we enjoyed almost a week along the Arabian Sea – lounging on wide sandy beaches, enjoying fresh fruits and fish, and riding the waves, with very few people. Our time in India was restful, inexpensive, and interesting. It’s quite different to be back in our ‘small town’ of Almaty with just a million and a half people. We seemed to pass that many people just walking around some blocks in India.

I’m sure I’ll sound like a preacher, but I came away very grateful. I do not know why God allowed me to be a fat, rich American. We traveled very light – by our standards – with just a couple changes of our ‘oldest clothes’ but we looked well dressed. It was not unusual to see entire families living in the median strips of congested city highways, in tattered tents with a bunch of half naked children. I have seen the ‘ghettos’ of America, and it is a scandal that they exist, but they’re palatial by comparison. I ‘cruised’ through school – making more memories than grades – while students in India intensely compete with millions of others for the very few places available in Universities. When an ‘outsourced’ job is offered at one of the new communications centers, hundreds of thousands apply for the modest salaried positions. I suppose it won’t be long before I have an extra scoop of chocolate on my Jamoca Almond Fudge, but I hope what we saw continues to challenge my decisions.

We are packing again for a trip. The teaching I was supposed to do in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in early December has been rescheduled to next week. We were unable to get the Tajik visa at that time. Dayna and I will be leaving on Sunday, Aaron will be here with a friend. We will teach an intensive week-long course on “The Trinity” to about 30 ministry leaders.

God is good! Thanks for praying us all through this year. We are very grateful.

May this New Year be one of joy and blessing to you through Jesus Christ – Lord of the Nations, Hope of the World.

Love and prayers, Mark, Dayna, and Aaron Blair

Almagul Church Retreat

Socks, Neckties, and Rock and Roll – Almaty, October 2004

Aloha from Almaty! Last week I had dinner with the “Minority Report” a Rock and Roll band here in Kazakhstan. Despite their craft, tattoos and body piercing were conspicuously absent. Actually “Minority Report” is five quite normal looking young people, two women and three men. Three are married with small children. A couple graduated from a prestigious Music Conservatory here. All of them have day jobs. Two are Kazakh, one is Karakalpak, one is Uighur, and one Russian – united by their musical talents, love for God, and concern for others. I was not invited for musical advice, or wardrobe consultation, (double obviously!) but as a Bible teacher - a ‘neutral pastor (none of them attend ICF) whom they all respect.’ As these ‘rock stars’ struggle to make ends meet, the outside observer would be quite surprised to find them concerned about God’s tithe. But they are acutely conscious of the Heavenly Observer. So we spent four hours talking about ‘tithes and offerings.’ (Most America Christians find it hard to sit still for ten minutes on that topic!) Since they’re members of four different churches, which one should receive? Or should they ‘by pass’ the church and give to poor people whom they know? Or, since the funds were given to do ministry, should 100% be spent on instruments and other ministry needs? Some shared heartfelt convictions with tears. Their families are blessed through tithing, and they wanted that blessing for their group.

Twenty years ago we were privileged to witness the ‘East African Revival’ while serving in Uganda. Believers in Jesus strove to ‘walk in the light of God’ through all their life. Their dynamic preaching and singing was matched by daily surrender to God. I remember attending fellowship meetings where their transparency was sometimes painful. Men daringly asked their brethren why they succumbed to ‘worldly standards’ - like wearing socks and neckties. At which point I curled my covered ankles under my chair. They sometimes bordered on the extreme, but such sincere questions measured their fervency. ‘Going to church’ was the highlight of a week lived for God. They desired, as they often said, to ‘live in a house with no walls and no roof’. This dwelling, which sounds more appropriate for tropical Africa than Kazakhstan, revealed a longing that nothing hinders their fellowship with man and God. All their life was from Him and they wanted to live it for Him.

Last week in a cozy Soviet-style apartment of a Minority Report member, I witnessed that same intensity. It was voiced by Central Asians speaking Russian instead of African English. But with one voice they expressed a sincere desire to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we wonder, “What is the impact of our ministry?” There are many obstacles to Christian work in Central Asia. The government claims to be open, but the numerous officials we have to deal with (our visa expires again November 11!!) are not particularly welcoming (lots of understatement there…). And the oft’ spoken mantra here is ‘to be Kazakh is to be Muslim.’ But despite adversity, God has His Minority Report.

At the end of our discussion they agreed to consider the ‘Solomon’s baby’ approach to their tithe – cut it up! Ten percent of their ministry proceeds will be designated for tithing, and each of the five members will be entrusted with using two percent the way they believe God directs. Although they had strong convictions, they agreed to live in mutual respect and trust under His leadership. I urged them not to let diversity in a debatable matter hinder their unity in the unquestionable task of making Christ known. Praise the Lord for this group of sincere servants! Pray that He will keep them in His peace and unity. Pray that with one heart and voice – and guitar rip - they will glorify the Lord Jesus and see many drawn to Him.

Spiritual Gifts Seminar

Yesterday after preaching on Jesus’ letter to the Church at Laodicea (Revelation 3) at International Christian Fellowship, Dayna and I taxied up into the nearby mountains for an overnight retreat. There we joined more than 300 members from a local Presbytery. (One Presbyterian church planted about 8 years ago now has 5 daughter congregations, in three languages!) Mark was asked to present two sessions on the topic of “Spiritual Gifts.” We had a great time with them. What a joy to meet vibrant believers who want to leap from the pews into the harvest field. They wanted to know ‘how can I find MY spiritual gift and put it to use?’ Pray that He will show them and continue to multiply these faithful congregations.

Fall Festival

Dayna has a full load of classes to teach at Tien Shan School this year. Aaron is having a good senior year thus far. He was the captain of the Soccer team and is now preparing for volleyball season (Dayna will be a coach). To mark the end of the first quarter TSS just held their first Fall Festival. The Lord provided a warm shirt-sleeve Saturday for the several hundred people who came. They enjoyed numerous game booths and competitions, lots of good food, piñatas, cake walks, and even back massages (the ‘Tension Buster Booth’). More than 50 kids – or more accurately Spider Men, Shrek’s, Firemen, Hobbit’s, and even a blue M & M paraded in competition. Talent gushed from the stage as 11 “Air Bands” lip-synched famous ballads – from Louis Armstrong to ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to Rappers. They more than fulfilled their intention of raising money for school expenses and providing a great day of fun for families.

More Opportunities

We are extremely busy. Dayna continues to help guide our Sunday school at International Christian Fellowship. Mark is enjoying preaching every Sunday at ICF through the book of Revelation. Mark also teaches Old Testament Survey and Preaching weekly at KECS seminary. My textbook on ‘Preaching’ translated into Russian arrived from the printers two weeks ago. It was the day before I taught a modular course on Preaching in a newly formed graduate program at the Baptist Bible Institute. In mid November Mark has been asked to preach at the building dedication service for a newly formed local church. At the end of November, Dayna and Mark hope to go to Dushanbe, Tajikistan where Mark will teach a week long modular course on ‘The Trinity’ and preach in the International Church there. Pray for visas and the needed travel fare. We thank the Lord for these open doors of service and pray that we may be of encouragement to His newly forming Church here in Central Asia.

One concern in the midst of this busy time is that our financial support is down. Our funds for this month were finished half way through the month. We are very grateful for your faithful support and especially your prayers.

Well, the brilliant fall colors here have mostly fallen to the ground and the barren branches point to winter’s coming. We’re not quite ready, but it’s coming anyway! We are thankful to serve a faithful God and that He has made you a demonstration of that faithfulness in our lives.

Love and prayers,
Mark, Dayna, and Aaron Blair