Browsing the blog archives for the year 2007

The Unfolding Plan

Adam's Updates

Monday, November 19, 2007
Oak Brook
, Illinois

Dear Family and Friends,

As our family packed our suitcases in Mongolia, and gave away extra clothing and personal items to our friends and coworkers, I could not help wondering what the Lord had in mind for our unplanned earlier departure from Mongolia in July. Unforeseen complications with our airline tickets, and the difficulty in obtaining flights out of Beijing during the summer months did not really leave us with any other option but to fly back to the States two months sooner than we had intended.

Nine months serving as a family in the country of Mongolia had gone all too quickly, enriching our lives with experiences that we will treasure for years to come. Life is a bit more rugged, lacking many of the comforts of America, but the joy of seeing people so hungry for truth, and Christians so willing to grow in faith made our little sacrifices seem so small in comparison.

Sometimes God gives us initial glimpses of the work that He is doing through the circumstances in our lives, but it is often in retrospect that we most clearly see His loving hand of guidance and care. Psalm 107, one of my favorite Psalms, describes joys and sorrows, blessings and chastenings, experienced by the nation of Israel and closes with the verse, “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.”

In this update, I would like to share some of the things that I believe God has been doing in our family over the past several months, and my prayer is that you also would see the lovingkindness of the Lord as He continues to lead us.

When people meet our family, one of the first things they often notice is the large number of children. The responsibility of providing for a family with ten children, all still living at home usually carries with it the assumption that it requires a lot of money to raise a large family. I am so grateful for my parents’ firm confidence that children are a blessing from the Lord, and that as God blessed our family with the priceless gift of a child, He would also provide for the additional needs of that child.

Over the years, I have seen God’s provision demonstrated again and again as we trusted God to meet the financial needs of our family. My Dad faithfully worked in his electrical engineering profession, and it seemed that as our family increased in size, the Lord blessed my Dad at work with greater capacity to provide for his growing family. Even the lean times blossomed into special testimonies of God’s provision in unexpected ways.

Our confidence in God’s provision was stretched to a new level in 2005 when our entire family went to serve in Mongolia. From the world’s perspective it seemed foolhardy for my Dad to leave a good job to spend a year in a third-world country with a large family, with no certainty of a job when he returned. This was not a decision my parents took lightly, but they were confident in God’s direction for us to go to Mongolia, and just as confident that God would provide for us upon our return.

As we had somewhat expected, my Dad’s former employer in Duluth was very hesitant about offering my Dad a position in their company when our family returned this summer after spending the better part of two years in Mongolia. Electrical engineering is the type of field where employers are looking for long-term staff. Projects can take years to complete, and engineering firms prefer longer time commitments from their employees.

This hesitant response, even before we left Mongolia, only seemed to confirm another direction that my parents felt the Lord leading our family. We have been greatly blessed over the years by the IBLP ministry, and for some time we have thought about being involved as a family at IBLP Headquarters in Oak Brook, near Chicago, Illinois.

Six years ago, our family had lived in this part of the country, and my Dad had worked for many years at Environmental Systems Design, a large consulting engineering firm in Chicago. Further exploring this possibility, my Dad wrote to one of his former coworkers, asking if they needed any electrical engineers. The senior vice president’s reply only further confirmed this direction.

“You are an answer to my prayers!” he told my Dad, and went on to explain that one of their lead engineers was on his way to India, and they really needed someone to take on some large projects. Not only were they thrilled to have him back, but they wanted to reinstate him as if he had never left the company six years ago!

Our eyes again witnessed a living testimony of Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” As we purpose to seek God first, He faithfully continues to provide for all of our other needs.

Not only has the Lord provided my Dad with a good job in Chicago, but the IBLP leadership has graciously allowed our family to live in a home on campus, as the older children serve in various areas of the ministry. This modest size home fits our family surprisingly well, and is only 10 minutes away from the train station where my Dad rides a train into the city each day.

God has greatly blessed our family to allow us to be here, but the story does not end there. More and more I am seeing the Lord’s hand in our earlier return from Mongolia. Attending the annual ATI home schooling conference, a family reunion, and teaching at a children’s seminar in Minnesota are just a few of the opportunities that this early return allowed us to enjoy.

Finding many opportunities to serve at Headquarters, the older children in our family were soon involved in various aspects of the ministry. Rachelle works in the finance department, making good use of many skills that she learned while working with the Character Training Institute in Oklahoma City. David serves with several other young men in Mr. Gothard’s office, applying his talents to the wide range of responsibilities and daily excitement that this entails.

For several years, I have had the desire, if the Lord was to open the opportunity, to work in IBLP’s computer department. I knew that there was a lot I could learn from the experienced staff and the large scope of operations handled by this department, but I must say that I never imagined the plan that the Lord had arranged for my involvement!

Matt Holt, the IT Director, had been working in the IBLP computer department for eleven years, and as a newly married man, he and his wife sensed the Lord’s leading to Mississippi where he accepted an IT position at another company. Several days after my arrival, and following some further discussion together, he and others in leadership began to feel that perhaps I was the replacement that they had been praying for.

Although I did not have Matt’s eleven years of experience, I did see a number of parallels in our skills, and felt that if the Lord called me to this position, He would give the grace to carry it out. Moses didn’t lead the nation of Israel because he had all the qualifications, but because God called him and enabled him to do it. Qualifications are important, but sometimes God calls us to step outside our “comfort zone” so that He can demonstrate that it is His blessing, not our skills, that bring success.

After consulting with my parents, and taking time to pray and seek the Lord regarding this decision, I felt that the Lord had indeed opened the door for this season of learning and ministry, and I accepted the responsibility. Although in the bigger picture, I believe God has called me to overseas Christian work, I believe that the Lord has a plan for this present time of stretching and learning at IBLP Headquarters.

Working with Matt in the weeks that followed, I again saw the great significance of our “early” return to the States. Had we stayed in Mongolia as we had originally intended, I would have missed this important transition time before Matt left in September. Striving to make the best use of our five weeks together, Matt and I spent many hours discussing various aspects of the work and ministry.

Of the projects we worked on together, by far the most significant was a research project that Matt had been working on for a number of months. Currently, IBLP’s main core software systems, (including inventory, order entry, seminar registrations, contact management, etc…) are running on custom software initially developed by in-house staff ten years ago. Our inability to effectively maintain this custom software, and the increasing fragility of these core systems motivated Matt to research and recommend a long-term solution.

Without going into a lot of detail, rewriting our software was impractical and far too costly. Replacing the systems with commercial software seemed to be the best approach, allowing IBLP to focus on ministry rather than writing software. In further research, Matt identified an enterprise software solution called Donor Direct that would actually handle about 90% of our core processes in one integrated system, and would actually be less expensive than replacing each of the systems individually.

Working together, Matt and I spent many hours preparing a proposal for the IBLP leadership, outlining the need for the software, and why we felt that this enterprise system would be the very best fit for IBLP’s present and future needs. After much prayer and preparation, we presented this to the leadership. Although a technology purchase can be very difficult to communicate to those unfamiliar with the field, it seemed that God allowed the main points to come through clearly in our meeting.

Our desire was to present our research and recommendation, but to allow the Lord to direct the leadership in the decision. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will.” I have many times seen the truth of this principle, but never have I seen God’s hand move so powerfully in the “heart of the king” as I did in that meeting.

The direction to move forward with this project was a great encouragement to all involved. Although the implementation of this software will be a very large project, requiring about six months to complete, I feel that it will provide a solid base software system to facilitate the ministry outreach of IBLP for years to come.

This November marks the two-year anniversary of my brother Isaac’s Homegoing. “The memory of the just is blessed,” Proverbs tells us, and it has been a special encouragement to meet various ones traveling through Headquarters that have prayed for our family over these two years. The Lord continues to give us opportunities to share testimonies of His faithfulness through this experience, including a brief testimony that David shared at a convention with several thousand Romanian Christians at the McCormick Place in Chicago.

Three weeks ago our family had the opportunity to visit a Mongolian church in downtown Chicago. Finding our way into the basement of a large Korean church where a congregation of Mongolians meets on Sunday afternoon, we had the chance to practice our limited Mongolian vocabulary as we introduced our family to the pastor and several others. It was really fun to hear the Mongolian language again, and even though I only understood about 10% of the message, there is a spirit of love and fellowship with other Christians that transcends language.

Most of the Mongolians spoke at least some English, and we enjoyed good fellowship after the service. Although it would not be practical for us to attend every week, they begged us to come back, and we will probably go again sometime around Thanksgiving when my brother Derrick returns from some construction jobs in Oklahoma. They may even have us share a message or testimony from our time in Mongolia, so we will see how the details work out.

Many people have asked us if we are planning to go back to Mongolia. Our heart is to go back, as my Dad often explains, but we want to go back in the Lord’s timing. My Dad’s job in Chicago allows us to save towards this end, while we enjoy a season of ministry and growth in the States. We don’t know for sure how long this season will be, whether it be a year or however the Lord would direct.

Just like every other family that is seeking to follow the Lord, we face daily pressures and challenges, joys and sorrows, but it is God’s grace, through your prayers, that keeps us focused on the “joy set before us.” (See Hebrews 12:2) God did not call us to an easy road, but we have the promise of eternal rewards laid up in heaven, and the anticipation of that Great Day when faith becomes sight!

I know that some of you pray for our family very specifically, and I am confident that the hundreds of lives we have seen impacted this summer are a direct result of your unseen labors in prayer. (Matthew 6:6) May the Lord bless each one of you with the fullness of His love, and strengthen you in your inner man, to run with patience the race set before you, as you look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith!


Praise Points:

  • We praise the Lord for His provision through my Dad’s job in Chicago. The commute to work each day is significantly less than when we previously lived in the Chicago area.
  • The younger Wallers had given up their bicycles when our family originally went to Mongolia, and now they are very happy to have bicycles again! (My Mom was able to find some good quality used bikes at a local resale shop.)
  • Through the help of a friend, we were able to locate a free piano for our home in Oak Brook! The instrument is actually the same model as our piano in Grantsburg, and sounds beautiful after tuning. We enjoy singing and playing instruments together, so having a piano in our home is a great blessing for our family.

Prayer Requests:

  • In the area of health, we would appreciate prayer for my Dad’s knee as it recovers from a bone bruise and a torn ligament. He is wearing a brace for a month to aid in the healing process.
  • Pray that the Lord would use our family to be an encouragement to the IBLP staff that are serving at Headquarters. We are in a time of transition right now, and have a very small staff trying to fulfill a lot of responsibilities. Often a smile or word of encouragement can go a long way when people are under extra pressure.


Pictures:

There were some tearful goodbyes as we left Mongolia without a

specific date to return. My Dad shared a few words on our last Sunday,

and then we sang a song for our Mongolian church family.

We are currently living in this house in Oak Brook Illinois, while the

older children serve at IBLP Headquarters.

Our home is only 10 minutes away from the train

station, which makes Dad’s commute to downtown

Chicago very convenient.

Flowers are also a special reminder of God’s care

for His children. “…if God so clothe the grass of the

field,…shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of

little faith?” (See Matthew 6:28-31)

Matt Holt and I were able to put our heads together on a very wide

range of projects and responsibilities before Matt left in September.

I really enjoyed our time together, and gleaned many insights from

his work with IBLP over the past 11 years.

The smaller Wallers have greatly enjoyed our neighbor’s dog. “Snowy”

is a yellow lab, the same kind of dog that our family used to own.

More Pictures:

Click here to see many more new pictures that I could not include in this e-mail.


Interesting Fact:

People often ask what stood out to us when we returned to the States after nine months in Mongolia. Of course the lush, green grass and trees stand out in great contrast to the much drier conditions in Ulaanbaatar. I was amazed at the softness of my bed! It was like sleeping on piles of cotton. But probably the biggest thing was the food. Even though we did our own cooking in Mongolia, I never realized the difference it makes to eat fortified grains and fresh garden vegetables! Everything is so flavorful and rich.


Note Our New Address:

Waller Family

6 Pine Hill Lane

Oak Brook, IL  60523

(63…


We have so much to be thankful for as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday this week! Thank you so much for having a part in our lives! May the Lord bless each one of you as we rejoice in His goodness.

In Christ,

– Adam

Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

Family Web site ~ http://visionserve.org/wallerfamily

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” – Galatians 6:9

If for any reason you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If this e-mail is being forwarded to you, just let me know and I can put you on the regular list.  – Adam

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Needs in Mongolia

Adam's Updates

Thursday, June 28, 2007
Ulaanbaatar
, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

If someone were to ask me, what is the greatest need in Mongolia at this time? What is the most beneficial thing that missionaries can be involved in? I would say that the greatest need right now is the discipleship and strengthening of Mongolian believers.

When I was younger, I often thought of missionaries as being the ones that would go out and preach the Gospel and see many people come to Christ. Returning missionaries would often visit churches to share about the experiences they had while proclaiming the good news of Salvation through Jesus Christ, and everyone would get excited about the number of people that had made decisions for Christ.

Evangelism is certainly an essential part of overseas missions, but we were not called only to go out and make converts, but rather to make disciples. Converts may be won in an hour, but making disciples is a much slower and deeper process. Trusting Christ for Salvation is wonderful, but it is just the first step towards experiencing the abundant life that God offers to His children. Sadly, few Christians seem to move much further beyond that first step.

Let me hasten to say that the “abundant life” that Jesus promised (see John 10:10) does not necessarily mean a life of health, wealth, and prosperity. In fact, it usually doesn’t. But it does mean that God has given us “exceeding great and precious promises, that by these, we might be partakers of the divine nature” (see 2 Peter 1:4), in essence, that we would have the opportunity to live life the way God designed us to live. To have life flowing through the inner man, with a love, joy peace, and all the fruits of the Spirit, not from our outward circumstances, but from God’s Spirit within us.

So many people are confused about what the Christian life is really about. Several weeks ago, a seasoned missionary related the following account with me. A Mongolian Christian man in the countryside was walking down a dusty road, when an unsaved friend rode up to him on a horse. Looking down at the friend standing on the road, he said, “Look, now I have a motorcycle, lots of sheep and cattle, and I am riding a horse. You’re still walking. What good has your Christianity done you?”

This unsaved man, like so many others, had the idea that “religion” is something you add to your life simply for the benefit that it will bring you in the here and now. That’s why we have many people in Ulaanbaatar that came to a Christian church for a little while, and drifted away a few months later. They simply didn’t find what they were looking for.

In reality, they really didn’t know what they were looking for. They thought it would be found in money, possessions, or some other thing, but when going to church didn’t improve their circumstances, they walked away. What is it that they needed? More evangelism? Salvation? Yes. But I believe they also need to see some living examples of individuals and families, going through the same difficult outward circumstances, but with a joy, a peace, and a light that can only come from the Lord.

This is where discipleship comes in. Not just trying to improve our outward appearance and putting on some type of false front, but learning to yield every area of our life to the Lord, so that He can do the transformation from the inside out. Not just pasting on a smile in the midst of difficult circumstances, but seeing real reasons to rejoice as we see God’s hand working through them, and learning new depths to the love of God and the unfailing promises of His Word. (Romans 5:3-5, Ephesians 3:16-20)

These are the Christians that through the everyday hardships and trials of life, God demonstrates to the world that true life is not found in money, possessions and the things of this world. True life is found in the daily reality of our relationship with God. Just as through Christ we experienced salvation from sin, through Christ we can experience abundant life as we walk in fellowship with Him.

One tool that God has greatly used in my life in the area of discipleship is the Basic Seminar. This 32-hour seminar outlines seven basic principles of life that allow us to grow in our relationship with the Lord and resolve root problems in our lives. It was a special delight for us to host this seminar for about a hundred attendees in the month of April.

Assisting during the seminar week was a group of Korean pastors and leaders that came to visit the work in Mongolia to see how they can implement a similar ministry in South Korea. Further developments in Korea have continued to expand rapidly, with Tim and Angie spending more and more time with related communications, and flying to Korea shortly after the seminar week.

Visiting the city of Shanghai in China for a Character Family Seminar a year ago, my family and I had the opportunity to visit an International Church in that city. We had to show our passports to enter, (only foreign passport holders are allowed to attend) and found a long row where we could sit as a family. When the time came to introduce the visitors, there were many smiles as our family all stood. Nine children is an unusually large family in America, but in China where the “normal” family includes one child, we are quite unique.  🙂

Unknown to us at the time, there was another family at church that day, who seeing my family determined to meet us. That evening at a restaurant where our family had been invited for dinner, a stranger suddenly approached David. “Are you David Waller? Can I have your cell phone number?” Knowing that we needed to be a bit more careful in China, David asked some questions to clarify this unusual request.

Following this rather interesting first meeting, we learned more about their family. Of French origin, they had traveled abroad in a number of countries, and were currently working in Shanghai. They had come to the Lord only two years previously, and their lives had undergone significant changes and were wanting to grow in the Lord.

In the course of some e-mail correspondence some time later, my Dad encouraged them to attend a Basic Seminar, if they ever had the opportunity. There were seminars in Taiwan or Hong Kong, or if they really wanted to, they could come to the April seminar in Ulaanbaatar. To our surprise, they booked flights for their whole family of five to come to Mongolia!

Although school schedules did not allow them to attend the April seminar, they were able to come a couple weeks later, and we hosted a special seminar just for their family. They were greatly blessed by the seminar, but perhaps even equally encouraged to spend time with our family! It was really special to see pictures and hear testimonies of how the Lord has worked in their lives.

In May, Erin was delighted to have her mother and twin sister Emily make a visit to Mongolia, just in time for Erin and Emily’s birthday. It was a special time for the Randalls, finally getting to see in real life the work and ministry that Erin has been involved in over the last two years. As the visit drew to a close, the Lord blessed us with a special surprise.

For the past month and a half, our translator Puje’s cousin Zola has been helping us with various projects, volunteering her time so that she could practice English. A diligent worker, Zola spent a lot of time working with Melody, a young lady from Minnesota that joined our staff for three months. Zola was not a Christian, but very friendly and participated in our morning Bible study and noon prayer times.

One day, while Zola was preparing her application for an opportunity to study in the States (a rare opportunity for Mongolians) she realized that she could not find her High School Certificate. After thoroughly searching her home, she came to the disappointing conclusion that it must have been left in Malaysia while on a trip there a few months previously.

After hearing Zola’s predicament, Melody shared a story from her own life of how she had lost some money, and after praying about the situation, the Lord had allowed her to find it again. “Would you like me to pray for you to find the certificate?” Melody asked. “Yes, of course!” came the reply. They bowed their heads and prayed, and the next morning Zola bounced into the office, all smiles, to announce the news that she had found the missing certificate!

Even more than just finding a lost certificate, Zola had witnessed proof of a living God that hears and answers prayer! A few days later, and actually on the very afternoon that Mrs. Randall and Emily were leaving, Mrs. Randall had the opportunity to share the Gospel message with Zola, and we all rejoiced in the news that she had put her faith in Jesus Christ. How special that the Lord would give us such a joyful conclusion to the Randall’s visit!

The approaching warmer days of summer also brought the inevitable reality that our season of ministry together as a family in Mongolia was rapidly drawing to a close. When my Dad called the travel agent to start looking at options for our return date in late summer or fall, we were rather surprised at the news. The travel agent explained that something had happened with the one-year open-ended round-trip tickets that we had purchased last year.

Finding it more economical to book our tickets from the Mongolian airline, we had done so, but now learned that the agreement between MIAT (the Mongolian airline) and United Airlines had terminated at the end of the year, and our return tickets were no longer any good! After more calls and discussion with the travel agent, the airlines decided to honor the tickets that we had paid for, but we would need to rebook the tickets.

Furthermore, we learned that the one year was from the date of issue, not the day we flew. That meant that we would have to fly before September 21. After many family discussions on the subject, we decided to aim for August 20, which would give a little more family time before the younger ones started their schoolwork, and my Dad started his engineering work.

Needless to say, our return to the States would have a great impact on the present work in Mongolia, so we all continued to pray for the Lord’s clear direction in the timing of our return. Little did we anticipate how clear that direction would be! Returning to the airline agent to book tickets for August 20, my parents learned that all of the flights had been booked in August and September! With the approaching summer tourist season, the latest available seats were on July 11!

Proceeding to book the tickets on July 11, more complications came up, and over the next several days it seemed like we may not even be able to fly on that date. Six seats were reserved on the direct flight to Chicago, but we could not get the other four, unless that group took a different route through Washington D.C. on the same day. Preferring to stay together as a family, we took the risk and canceled the six reservations, and tried to get all ten of us on the route through D.C. to Chicago.

Thankfully this time the reservation was successful, and all ten tickets are currently booked for July 11, flying from Ulaanbaatar to Beijing, to Dulles, and on to Chicago. This puts us in about six hours later than the direct flight to Chicago, but it will be good to be together as a family. These unexpected changes left us with just three weeks to wrap things up in Mongolia before we head back to the States.

In many ways it is hard to leave. It is exciting to see things grow and expand, but sometimes the Lord also takes us through seasons where we see things slow down. With Tim and Angie currently in Korea, our family’s departure means that things in Mongolia will likely slow down to a very minimal operation in the coming months. Ideas, hopes and plans that we had will need to be laid down as we trust in the Lord’s bigger plan through all of this.

These events have personally challenged me to realize that this whole work and ministry is in the Lord’s hands. He is the Lord of the Harvest. He can bring the rain, and He can bring the drought. John 15 compares the Christian to the branches of a grape vine. While we often think of the pain associated with pruning, but our loving Father knows when this pruning will bring greater fruit.

We are not sure exactly what lies ahead for the Mongolia ministry or for our family in the months to come, but we KNOW that the Lord is faithful! God will sometimes call us to leave one place of ministry so that He can use us in another area. Our responsibility is to simply trust Him with all our heart, and acknowledge Him in all our ways as He directs our path.

Many might be wondering what our plans are after we return to the States. We do have some tentative plans and ideas, including my Dad possibly working for an engineering firm in Chicago, but things should be more clear in the weeks and months to come. I will try to keep you posted as we move into this next season in our lives. Thank you for your continued prayers for us!


Praise Points:

  • We praise the Lord for the many people that came to the Basic Seminar in April. This was the largest seminar held in Mongolia to date, but more important than numbers are the specific and individual lives that the Lord impacted through the truth of His Word. One older missionary shared, “I have been a Christian for years and have never heard these principles explained in such a helpful way. Is there a Basic Seminar in England? I am going there soon and would like others to hear these wonderful insights from God’s Word.”
  • The Salvation of Zola, Puje’s cousin was a special answer to prayer, and a real encouragement to all of us. Pray that she will continue to grow strong in her faith.
  • I am grateful for the progress we have made in the last few months to revise our teaching notes, completing the first series of nine character qualities. These teaching notes are one of our primary tools that we use in teaching principles of character to various groups in Mongolia.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please join us as we pray to the Lord of the Harvest, that He would send forth His laborers into the harvest fields of Mongolia. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
  • Pray for the Lord to continue to give clear direction to my parents and our family as we return to the States. Pray that the details would come together for my Dad’s employment as we work to replenish funds during our time at home.


Pictures:

Some of the attendees from the English Basic Seminar. We also hosted

the Basic Seminar in Russian, Chinese and German. The Mongolian

translation is still under development.

Tumerhoig, pictured with David, came in from the countryside to help

with the Children’s Seminar. A radiant young man, Tumorhoig works

with the Warners, a missionary family in the countryside. As the only

known Christian in the town where he lives, Tumorhoig faces much

ridicule for embracing this so-called “foreign religion.”

The Champanhet family, (pictured with several of the Wallers) made

the trip to Ulaanbaatar to see the Basic Seminar. It was an

encouraging visit for both families.

Four smaller Wallers squeeze inside a little shelter they built with

sticks while on a family outing just outside the city.

Flagging down a taxi in Mongolia. Some of the bus drivers know our

family, and enjoy seeing this large family of foreigners.

It has been special to be here as a family. It is hard to leave, but we

are grateful for the time that we could be here in Mongolia.

Click here to see many more new pictures that I could not include in this e-mail.


Interesting Fact:

Learning the names of people is a foundational skill for building relationships, but living in Mongolia this takes a rather interesting twist, at least to my Western thinking. In the States, all the names are pretty standard. First, middle and last. In Mongolia, people just go by their first name, or in official cases, they will use their father’s initial before their name. So, my name would just be Adam, or B. Adam. (Since Brian is my father’s name.) Adam is not a common name here, but if it was, most people would probably also give me some type of clarifying nickname. -likely “Tall Adam”  🙂

Most Mongolian names are actually made up of two words put together. Ulaanbaatar comes from ulaan (red) and baatar (hero), hence, “red hero”. You might have guess that this came from the Communist era. Many names are so common that If you learn the meanings of about a dozen or two names, you have a pretty good chance at knowing the meaning of someone’s name. I remember at a printing company once whispering to Chingis, “Let’s ask if we can talk to the graphic designer who’s name means “silver pillar.”

Although most people can write their name in English letters, the spelling typically follows the Mongolian grammar rules, so it would sound different if you pronounced it phonetically. In Mongolian, each letter basically only makes one sound, so a double vowel is just longer of the same sound. “Ideree” would sound like “Eedray” and “Bolormaa” would be “Bolorma”. In my updates I sometimes change the spelling of the Mongolian names to be a little more phonetic for our English readers.  🙂


Thank you for your prayers as we try to wrap things up here in the next couple weeks. There is much to do, and many people to see before we leave, so pray that the Lord will give us wisdom in how we invest our time in these remaining days.

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com
Family Website ~
http://visionserve.org/wallerfamily

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” – Galatians 6:9

If for any reason you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If this e-mail is being forwarded to you, just let me know and I can put you on the regular list.  – Adam

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Expanding ministry

Adam's Updates

Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Ulaanbaatar
, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

Three months have passed since my last update, but pressing projects and responsibilities have quickly filled the weeks between. I believe that the Lord is doing some special things here in Mongolia, although many times we probably only see tiny glimpses of His bigger work in this nation.

Although the Mongolian church we attend has very good Biblical teaching each week, they still like to have us share some teaching or preaching from time to time for the young people or others that stay after the main service. In December and January I shared some messages on the character quality of virtue.

Typically in our public character trainings we don’t make direct references to the Bible or Christian terminology, but in some of our trainings with Christian groups we have the freedom to teach right from the Bible. This not only gives greater depth and insight into the character qualities, but God has given us as Christians “exceeding great and precious promises” that empower us to live lives that reflect the character of Christ, and to shine as bright lights in the world. (2 Peter 1:3-4, Matthew 5:16)

The character quality of virtue provided a good opportunity to share a two-part message on how to respond to temptations that we face in our lives, based on specific promises and the practical application of God’s Word in these areas. I had tears in my eyes the next week as I listened to a young man joyfully share before the church a testimony of how he is now experiencing victory over a sin in his life as he applied these principles.

Our much-loved pastor Enkhee was growing weaker from his battle with cancer, but continued to be a powerful witness for the Lord. He came to church for the New Year celebration, but was too weak to leave his home much after that. Many friends and relatives came to visit him, trying to encourage him, but usually it was the visitors that went away greatly encouraged by Enkhee’s faith and trust in God. A number of his former university students and acquaintances turned to Christ as they witnessed the joy and confidence of a man resting in the sovereign purposes of a faithful God.

On February 1st, we received a call from Ideree and learned that his father Enkhee had gone to meet the Lord He loved. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family. Some of the relatives commented that he looked very peaceful and his face was shining. They had never seen the passing of a Christian before, and it was in stark contrast to the great fear of death usually experienced by those who do not know Christ.

Nearly a thousand people gathered the following Monday for the funeral. Pastor Enkhee was well known in Christian circles throughout the city, and many churches were represented at the service. We sang two of Enkhee’s favorite hymns, Amazing Grace, and a Mongolian version of Because He Lives. I wish you could have been there to hear the swelling of hundreds of Mongolian voices as we reached the chorus of that song!

Enkhee’s family was a living demonstration of the power of God’s grace. Even as the Lord’s grace had carried our family after Isaac’s passing a year and a half ago, we saw the Lord holding their family and keeping them strong and radiant, even through the sadness of saying goodbye to their beloved husband and father. Life is fragile and so quickly past, but has the brief opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven that will never fade away.

Although they very much would have liked to be present for Enkhee’s funeral, Mom and Dad were still away in Thailand where they were taking three weeks to visit two missionary families there. The Morse family is third generation missionaries to that area. We met their family in Oklahoma City a few years ago, and our family enjoyed reading two books about their work in Burma and now in Thailand. Gleaning insights from the Morses’ many years as a family on the mission field, my parents learned about their translation work, and discussed various other aspects of the ministry.

One of my Dad’s highlights on the Thailand trip was meeting an evangelist that was the sixth generation of the second convert of Adoniram Judson. You may recall that in 1813 Adoniram Judson was the first American missionary to Burma, and labored for nearly six years at great sacrifice before seeing a single person come to the Lord. His faithful service laid the foundation for much fruit that the Lord would bring in years following.

Neil and Diana Gilbert are another missionary couple that my parents have known for many years. I remember when I was about twelve years old, and we packed a care package to send to them while they were serving in Africa. Currently serving at a children’s home in Thailand, the Gilberts were delighted to host my parents for part of their time in Thailand. An ordination service and a baptism were two highlights that they enjoyed together.

Returning to Mongolia just before the Mongolian Tsagaansar (“sa-GONE-sar”) holiday, Mom and Dad were glad to see all of us again. This trip to Thailand was actually the longest time that my parents had ever been away from their children. Tim and Angie were away in Korea during this time as well, so the Waller children remained as the only foreign staff to continue operations in Mongolia. The extra grace that the Lord gave and each one trying to help carry the responsibilities allowed this time to go very smoothly.

Tsagaantsar is probably the biggest annual holiday for Mongolians, and perhaps somewhat comparable with our Christmas, or the Chinese New Year. Families get together and visit relatives and friends, enjoying traditional food and giving gifts. Tsagaantsar literally means “white month” and is a way of trying to starting the New Year as clean, white, and good. A lot of symbolism and superstition is often mixed in, leaving a confusing mixture for the Christian to sort out Buddhist and Shamanistic rituals from historical traditions.

For new Christians this can be particularly difficult, as they are often pressured to drink or violate other convictions. This year, with the first day of Tsagaansar on Sunday, many families could not understand why a Christian family member would leave their family responsibilities and go to church instead of giving the appropriate honor to their grandparents and parents. For many Christians, this gave a special opportunity to share of their faith in a living God, so different from the empty rituals that can never take away sin.

Our family was graciously invited to visit a couple families from our church on the second and third days of Tsagaansar. Dressing in traditional Mongolian attire, we rode in taxis to the home of Dorjbat’s family. Dorjbat’s mother had come to Christ after Isaac’s funeral, so this has made their family special to us.

Two things will be found in almost every Mongolian home on Tsagaantsar. The steamed back of a sheep on a large platter, complete with tail, and another large plate with a special tower of flat bread bricks, fried in oil, topped with sugar cubes, raisins and a food made from dried yoghurt. (See the pictures section below for more details.)

Greeting the host family is done a special way during this holiday. After taking off your coat, you start with the oldest person present, extending your arms to each other, hands open and palms up. The younger places his arms under the arms of the older, and leaning forward, you exchange the special greeting “Ammar ban oh” (Do you have peace?). Our church people also say some kind of blessing, but I couldn’t quite catch all of it.

Following the greeting, the guests are seated, again in order of age, giving the most honored seat to the oldest, and they are served milk tea and buuz (“boatz”). A traditional Mongolian food, buuz are something like a steamed meatball wrapped in a noodle. Many families make several thousand buuz (by hand) in preparation for this holiday. The ones served by Dorjbat’s family had good flavor and were made with horse meat.

On the following day we enjoyed another special time of fellowship with Enkhbold and Narantoya and their family. Tim had the opportunity of leading Enkhbold to Christ several years ago in our apartment, and they have been faithful members at church, and dear friends to us. Enkhbold shared his vision of how he wants to see his whole family involved in ministry, just like what he sees our family doing in Mongolia. He is currently a driver for VetNet, a Christian organization here that is taking school teachers, veterinary services, character training, and the Gospel message to countryside provinces and towns all over Mongolia.

Returning to our work responsibilities, I continued in earnest to finish a programming project that I am doing for our Oklahoma City headquarters. I enjoy the work, but so many pressing needs and opportunities here are just waiting for me to finish this project so that I can give David and Tim more assistance with the many trainings and training requests that we have going.

But God designed our bodies with limits. In late February, my little choices in spending too many hours at the computer with poor posture and not enough exercise suddenly took their toll. I had never really had difficulty with my back before, but I spent the better part of that week in bed. David’s skills that he learned while working with a chiropractor in the States again came to the rescue, and I was slowly able to get back to work again. Some better chairs and other changes have improved things quite a bit since that time.

We continue to receive many requests for character trainings. Last time I talked with David, we had over ten different groups that have asked for character training, pending final arrangements and scheduling. Most of these are from the city, but additional repeated requests from outlying cities and countryside towns are also awaiting our response.

Among these requests was one from Third Hospital, a large hospital in Ulaanbaatar. Khulaan, the Director of Nursing at this hospital had been led to the Lord six months ago by Dr. Choi, the same man that so helped our family with Isaac’s illness. A good friend of Khulaan had attended a training that we did at another hospital two years ago, and felt that this teaching would be a great benefit for the staff under her care. They wanted to start with a smaller group of the 200 doctors, nurses and staff that Khulaan was directly responsible for.

Returning from the first training, David described their response. After an elaborate introduction by the training coordinator, David began teaching on the quality of Attentiveness. When he first came to the front, this group of professionals looked with slight amusement as this 20-year-old began with some opening comments. The amusement grew as they began to realize that he was not preparing to introduce the speaker, but he was the main speaker.

In contrast to the typical Russian-style lectures that these staff were used to hearing, David went on to illustrate the teaching points with object lessons and personal examples, utilizing many of the teaching methods we have found to be so effective. Amusement turned to surprise, then to keen interest as they began to realize how important attentiveness is on the job and at home.

Thrilled with what took place at the training, Khulaan called Naranchimeg, the Director of Nursing at First Hospital and Medical University. Attending one of the trainings at Third Hospital, Naranchimeg has also begun arrangements for character trainings for her staff at First Hospital. Although she is not yet a Christian, she has talked with Christians while visiting the United States, and told us that she feels character and the principles from the Bible are very important for nurses and hospital workers.

Last week Naranchimeg registered for the upcoming Basic Seminar, wanting to know more about these principles of life from the Bible. Her position at First Hospital essentially gives her the ultimate responsibility for training nurses in Ulaanbaatar, and in effect, for all of Mongolia. God is truly opening some doors in the medical community here!

Anticipating the arrival of Kate Reimer from Australia, Erin Randall from Texas, and Melody Dornink from Minnesota, we began working on the necessary paperwork for visas and residence permits. This can be a rather complicated process in Mongolia, and requires a great deal of paperwork. As in many former Communist countries, it is especially important to pray for favor in the eyes of the government office staff as applications are submitted.

In past experiences we have had some difficulties with one particular office that grants residence permits. Even though our foreign staff are all volunteers, we still have to obtain work permits for the “work” that we are doing here, including a clear explanation of why CTI needs foreign staff for these positions. Work permits are not easily granted, due to frequent misuse.

This time things were different. Not only did they grant us the work permit without any difficulty, but they started asking more about what we are doing here. As Puujee explained what we teach in our character trainings, the worker exclaimed, “That’s what we need in our office here! How can we get character training for our staff?”

Preparations are also heavily underway for the Basic Seminar that we have scheduled for April 16-21. Already we have about a hundred registered (including children), and this promises to be the largest Basic Seminar yet held in Mongolia. The seminar will be held in English and Russian, and this year we are also adding the Chinese and German languages.

A few weeks ago we gave a preview of the Basic Seminar to some leaders from the Chinese church in Ulaanbaatar. -A small church that we hardly knew existed. After watching the first session, one lady exclaimed, “We have never had any teaching like this before!” Currently about a dozen Chinese people are signed up to attend the Basic Seminar.

New opportunities are rapidly unfolding in Korea, and a translation team has just finished a first draft of the Basic Seminar transcript. Tim and Angie may be called upon to assist further in the work in Korea in the months ahead, but we are excited to see the doors that God is opening there. About half of the Christian churches in Mongolia were started by Korean missionaries, although most have since transitioned to Mongolian leadership.

Please pray with us that the Lord will continue to raise up laborers for the doors of opportunity here in Asia, and that many lives will be impacted through the upcoming Basic Seminar. Of course a “seminar” is not the answer, but God’s Word is the answer, and this seminar gives some of the most practical and clear Biblical teaching that I have seen anywhere.


Praise Points:

  • We praise the Lord for the wonderful testimony of Pastor Enkhee and his family as Enkhee finished his race in this life. The family remains strong in the Lord’s grace, with Ideree taking over the leadership of the church, and Sodnom traveling to America to be with her daughter and son-in-law for the birth of their grandchild.
  • In preparation for the upcoming Basic Seminar, we were able to finish some minor revisions and print a Mongolian/English Basic Seminar workbook. This is a great help to Mongolians who are attending the English Basic, and are not familiar with some of the larger terms used in the seminar. Rather than the photocopy job we had last year, this year we were able to have a hundred workbooks professionally printed and bound by a local printing company.
  • Sodnom and Enkhee’s son Ideree has been working with us for the past several years, but has become more and more involved with the Holy Way church, taking over the church leadership responsibilities with his father’s illness. He is currently in a countryside province where he has been invited to spend a month teaching the principles of the Basic Seminar to a church of new believers there.
  • John Christian, one of the World Vision leaders was disappointed to not find any English Good Friday service in Ulaanbaatar. He called up some missionary friends and organized a service, inviting a number of missionaries. It was a really wonderful time! Some of the missionaries had worked in Mongolia for years, but had never actually met each other before.

Prayer Requests:

  • One of our biggest prayer requests right now is for the Basic Seminar, held on April 16-21. Pray that the Lord would do a special work in the hearts of the people that come. A few people are also traveling up from China for the seminar.
  • We have about eight Koreans coming later this week. They will be here for the week of the Basic Seminar, and a couple weeks after, learning about our work in Mongolia. Most of them are pastors, and are wanting to see how they can develop a similar ministry in Korea.
  • Pray that everyone would be healthy for next week’s Basic Seminar. We have had a bad cold/fever that has gone through a number of our staff recently.


Pictures:

Christmas cards! Near the end of January we received another

package of mail, and we enjoyed reading the Christmas letters from

many friends in the States.

In contrast to the fear and uncertainties of a Buddhist burial, we

rejoice in the certainty that we will see our Pastor Enkhee again!

Here you can see a closer view of some of the food served at

Tsagaansar. The thermos has “milk tea”, a salty tea mixed with milk.

On the left you can see the sheep back, complete with tail. On the

right is the special tower of bread. Older people make a taller

tower, but it must always be an odd number of layers.

A character training at Third Hospital. Last Saturday we also held a

training at First Hospital with over 200 in attendance.

Matthew enjoyed the experience of staying in a ger

for his ninth birthday.

Climbing mountains is an opportunity that we don’t get to enjoy near

our home in Wisconsin. The Waller guys did some hiking for

Matthew’s birthday, and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the top.

You can see many more new pictures in the Prayer Updates section of our family website.


Interesting Fact:

Of the various aspects of daily life that stand out in Mongolia as being distinctly different than the States, one would have to be the running water. Just turning on the faucet invites a surprise. There might be hot water, cold water, brown water, no water, a slow trickle, or an explosive blast of air that sends water shooting all over the bathroom. (I experienced all of these in the past few days.)

Rather than having individual water heaters for each building, the hot water is supplied by the city. It is heated at a central plant, and piped through the city, going through various substations for reheating. In our building, the water also requires booster pumps to get it to reach our fifth floor apartments. For some reason these pumps are turned off at night, so sometimes there is no water pressure till 7:30 or 8:00 AM when the pumps are turned on.

Our landlord has been very gracious, and made the arrangements for the pumps to be turned on early in the morning, although we are probably the only ones in the building (or maybe in the district!) that take showers at 5:30 or 6:00 AM. Actually they turned the pressure so high in the last few days that it actually burst a pipe in Tim and Angie’s apartment yesterday, giving them an entirely different adventure at 4:00 AM!

I had to smile the other day as Tim finished praying, and commented that maybe we are the only Training Center where we actually pray for water in the morning.  🙂

(Note, some of these irregularities are related to our building, and others to the water supply in our district. Some people probably do have very reliable water service in Ulaanbaatar.)


Thank you for your prayers for us in this important time! There is an air of expectancy with the Basic Seminar scheduled next week, and we look forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the weeks to come!

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

Family Website ~ http://cadlinx.com/wallerfamily

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” – Galatians 6:9

If for any reason you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If this e-mail is being forwarded to you, just let me know and I can put you on the regular list.  – Adam

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Christmas in Mongolia

Adam's Updates

Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Ulaanbaatar
, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

In my last update I mentioned that Derrick would be joining David and Rachelle for a three week ministry trip to the Philippines in November of 2006. I want to express a special thank you to those who were praying for my siblings and the rest of the team! We have heard many testimonies of lives that were touched through this outreach. You can read first-hand reports and see pictures of their work at http://cadlinx.com /philippines

Our interest and prayers for the team suddenly took a new turn as we received word that David had gotten sick with an amoeba (a parasite sometimes found in tap water). He had a fever that climbed dangerously high, but with the help of some missionaries he was able to get to a hospital for the necessary treatments. He was weak and dehydrated for several days, but gradually recovered. Four others on the team were later diagnosed with amoeba, but recovered more quickly with prompt medical treatment.

Derrick was taken to the hospital a few days later with symptoms that looked like Dengue fever (a potentially dangerous mosquito borne illness), but it turned out to be a severe sinus infection with some other complications. The Guills, a missionary family that assisted in hosting the team, were of invaluable assistance in medical decisions and keeping our families informed.

Separated by thousands of miles, there was little that we could do, but pray to the One that holds our times in His hands. It was a joy to hear how God answered those prayers, and not only brought a full recovery to each one, but used the times of sickness to draw the team together into even more effective ministry.

Returning to the family in Mongolia on December 10, David and Rachelle were excited to share many encouraging reports from their time in the Philippines. Although the schools and universities are starting to become permeated with humanistic philosophy, they are still very open to Biblical truth. In most cases the team had the freedom to share about character right from the Bible, and to clearly present the Gospel message.

Purchasing his tickets several weeks after the others on the Philippines team, Derrick decided to take the more economical and scenic route back to Mongolia. Flying from the Philippines to Hong Kong, he took the train to Beijing and on to Ulaanbaatar. His arrival brought the whole Waller family together again for the first time in two months.

Among the supplies he had brought from the States, Derrick had included several packages of delicious Wisconsin cheese, from the Burnett Dairy Co-op, a few miles from our farm in Wisconsin. Burnett Diary won a world championship award for their string cheese, and we all enjoyed the special treat.

Leaving for America the next week, Tim and Angie Levendusky and Erin Randall bid Mongolia goodbye after nearly a year of service together. The Waller family would remain in Mongolia as the only foreign staff at CTI until Tim and Angie’s scheduled return at the end of February. Many things are opening up in Korea right now, and Tim and Angie are planning to take the month of February there after spending the holidays with family and friends in the States.

Celebrating Christmas overseas for the first time, our family enjoyed a mixture of family traditions and new adventures. With the relatively few numbers of Christians, Christmas is not very widely celebrated in Mongolia, but the ever increasing Western influence brings with it a confusing mixture of festive materialism.

Taking hold of a timely opportunity, a missionary friend of ours arranged for our family to give a presentation at the American Information Center. Every Friday they have a speaker give a one-hour presentation about the life and culture of Americans, and our family would get to share about how Americans celebrate Christmas.

Although we needed to be a little sensitive in our presentation because of the Information Center’s association with the American Embassy, we felt that it would be a neat opportunity to share some of our family traditions, and some of the history of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. Esther Entner and my Mother worked to prepare ideas for a little skit that we could do of the Christmas story, and printed a number of well-known Christmas carols to give to the attendees.

The forty or so Mongolians that came loved seeing my younger brothers and sisters sing Christmas carols, and enjoyed watching us act out Mary and Joseph and the account of Jesus’ birth from the book of Luke. When we opened it up for questions at the end, it was really neat to see the questions that were raised. One lady said, “I often see a star, like the one on the Christmas tree. What is the significance of this, or what does it mean?” -I think she might have been a Christian, and saw an opportunity to let us share more of the reason why the history of Christmas is so special.

Talking with some of the people afterwards, I looked over and saw David with a half dozen or so young people around him, asking more questions. They started with a few general ones, and then went on, “Who is Jesus? I read some things in my history book, but I never heard about this!” “This is the first time that we have heard what Christmas is really about.”

I was greatly encouraged by the response to the presentation, especially considering the little time that we could afford for preparation. Many of the speakers at the Information Center are professionals with far greater credentials, but somehow God seemed to use our family to touch the hearts of the people. One man told us, “I have attended ten of these weekly meetings, and this is the best one yet!” Many thanked us and told us how interesting it was for them to hear the real story behind Christmas.

Christmas shopping, as you can well imagine, is quite a bit different in Mongolia. Wal-Mart does not exist, and the best shopping is at the Narantulzak, a large open market. It is a little like going to a ten-acre open-air garage sale in below zero weather. About ninety percent of what you find there rode the train from China, so there is quite a variety in quality and price, but mostly on the lower end.

A few strings of Christmas lights in the windows added a festive air to our apartment, and the cardboard fireplace and mantle that Samuel had created for our Christmas skit gave the living room a homier atmosphere. Piles of small gifts wrapped in homemade wrapping paper were spread across the floor, but the air was filled with joy and laughter as smaller Wallers unwrapped strangely shaped boxes designed to mystify even the most astute speculations.

Although we tried to cut back on our regular trainings, the month of December seemed to fly past with other projects that came up. I spent several weeks working on a Mongolian brochure for the Basic Seminar coming up next April. After overseeing the translation, and finishing the design and layout, I brought it to the printer, only to discover that they couldn’t print the type of PDF that I had created. Such is life in Mongolia.  🙂

I spent the next three days recreating the brochure in another program (InDesign), and finding alternative ways to produce the document. I went back to the printer with Plan A, B, C, and D. Thankfully, one of the formats worked for them, and they sent the job on to the printers. It was a blessing and relief to see the job come back in reasonable quality. -It was perhaps just as big of a relief to them, remembering some quality issues we had encountered on the last job.

In serving overseas, it is a great benefit to know and be ready to learn a wide variety of skills. Whether you are showing an electrician how to splice wires together for an electrical repair, explaining computer log files to your Internet service provider to troubleshoot a problem, or helping your printer work with different file formats, there are constant opportunities to learn more about what you are doing.

In the midst of the joys and challenges of daily work and life in Mongolia, we have also seen some reminders of the things that really matter in life. One morning we looked out our window and saw clouds of smoke billowing from behind some buildings a few blocks from our apartment. A little later we heard the siren as a fire truck approached. Fighting fires in freezing weather is difficult, but even more so in Mongolia where the water has to be carried by truck, usually some distance from the fire.

The newspaper headlines the next day read, “Swiss Aid Worker Dies in Fire”. Isabelle Sieber, a 31-year-old missionary died in that fire. Much of the Children’s Home that she worked at was destroyed in the fire, but the children had been rescued by another worker. I don’t think I have ever met Isabelle, but it still brought sadness to loose a fellow missionary.

I attended the funeral with Tim and Angie a few days later. Held in the same church where Isaac’s funeral had been held just a year before, the service was conducted in Mongolian and German. I couldn’t understand much of what was said, but Isabelle’s testimony of love for six years of service in Mongolia had clearly made a powerful impact in the lives of the children and others that she had worked with.

After the service, a lady came up to me and asked, “Are you Adam?” “Yes,” I replied, surprised that she would know my name. “I was here a year ago for your brother’s service. We have your picture on our refrigerator, and we have been praying for you a lot. How is your family doing?” I praise God for the ones that have stood with us in prayer! It is God’s grace, through your prayers, that has carried our family!

Sometimes it is through the trials and difficulties that God’s love and grace are most clearly seen. David was recently talking with a man that works at UBTC, the Bible school facility where we are holding biweekly trainings on the Commands of Christ. That very day, there had been a fire at the Bible School, and the damage was significant. Instead of being disillusioned by the fire, the man was sharing with David some neat things that he felt God was doing through this unexpected trial.

Standing outside on the icy pavement by the front gate to greet our attendees, I remember watching the workers wire together pieces of the metal fence that had been broken apart to let the fire truck into the courtyard. Why does God allow these things to happen? Is it not so that His light and love can more clearly shine through us? If you have a prosperous life, the world may envy your possessions, but when you can see and experience God’s love through suffering, they see the power of His grace.

We continue to see opportunities unfolding all around us. Several requests have come in from World Vision leaders and other groups requesting character trainings, but we are trying to hold off on as many as we can to give us time to catch up on other more pressing issues. David is revising some of our teaching notes on the character quality of Virtue, but soon we will start into teaching the second series of nine character qualities at the Vitsamo juice company and the Batbaigal bakery.

Pray that the Lord will multiply the fruit of our labors in the next few weeks as we try to move forward on a number of projects. I am working to finish a programming job for the Character First! headquarters, and Rachelle is helping coordinate an effort to let people know about the upcoming Basic Seminar in April. Unexpected complications and the unpredictability of our schedule can make it difficult to move forward on these projects, but it is encouraging to see things progressing little by little.



Praise Points:

  • Thank you so much for your prayers for Derrick, Rachelle and David as they served with the team in the Philippines! We rejoice in the safety that God gave the team, and for the returned health of each one. You can read about the trip and see more pictures at: http://cadlinx.com /philippines
  • Moving Family Night to a nearby Bible School facility has allowed the class to grow larger than the twenty-five we are allowed to have in our apartment classroom. The first two meetings at UBTC have gone very well, and the one scheduled for this Friday may be the largest one yet.
  • Tim and Angie had very good meetings in Korea, and plans are underway to assist in the coordination of a Korean translation of the Basic Seminar. Tim and Angie plan to spend several weeks in February working with the Korean families, and we look forward to the unfolding opportunities for the people of Korea. (Just as a point of interest, about half of the Christian churches in Mongolia were started by Korean missionaries.)

Prayer Requests:

  • My parents were able to arrange a three-week visit to Thailand, leaving on January 22. They are looking forward to visiting and seeing the work of two missionary families that have been close friends to our family. Pray that the Lord will give extra grace and wisdom to the Waller children as we carry on operations here, including several larger trainings.
  • The senior pastor of the Holy Way church that we attend in Mongolia is in the final stages of cancer. Pray that God will pour out his grace to Pastor Enkhee and his wife Sodnom as they go through this difficult time. Pastor Enkhee has been a powerful witness for the Lord through this trial, and although his body is growing weaker, his spirit is strong and rejoicing in the Lord.
  • Pray that the Lord will give wisdom in handling the many requests for training that we are receiving. It is hard to turn people away, but we desire the Lord’s wisdom as we make decisions on how to invest our time and energy with our limited staff.


Pictures:

The 2006 Philippines Ministry Team. Anticipating the tropical heat,

David and Rachelle left their winter coats in Mongolia.

Keeping with the traditional $2 limit, our family all bought Christmas

presents for each other. With a family of our size, this makes quite

an assortment.

Matthew was a good guesser, but there were a few

that he didn’t figure out.

Looking west from a nearby hilltop, you can see the building where

my family and I live. Throughout the city there are many blocks of

old Russian-built apartment buildings like ours.

With Nara translating, Dad shares on Christ’s command to “Let your

light so shine.” We heard some very encouraging testimonies at the

conclusion of the class.

Warm greetings from Ulaanbaatar, the coldest

capital of the world! Actually, we have had a very

mild winter so far, with temperatures only dropping

to the teens below zero. (Fahrenheit)

You can see many more new pictures on the Prayer Updates section of our family website.


Interesting Fact:

Sometimes we hear the question, “What is the food like in Mongolia?” Traditionally, the Mongolians eat a lot of meat, especially the families out in the countryside. The food is very simple, usually prepared from flour, water and meat without much seasoning. Fruits and vegetables are more readily available in the city, although most of it comes on the train from China.

Our family does our own cooking, so our meals are a little more of an American style. Spaghetti seems to take the vote as the favorite meal, but we also enjoy some of the Mongolian dishes such as tsuaven, a little like beef stew mixed with a huge pile of noodles. Of the things that we can’t get in Mongolia, one that I sometimes miss is fresh milk. We can buy little boxes of processed milk, but it just isn’t quite the same.  🙂

On the other hand, there are some tasty fruits that come up on the train from China. Sometimes they freeze on the way up, but we enjoy apples, oranges, bananas, and sometimes even pineapples or kiwi fruit. Right now the mandarin oranges are in season, and very delicious!


Thank you so much for your part in this work! May the Lord bless each one of you with His love and grace today!

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

Family Website ~ http://cadlinx.com/wallerfamily

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” – Galatians 6:9

If for any reason you would prefer not to receive these e-mails, just reply with “unsubscribe” in the subject line. If this e-mail is being forwarded to you, just let me know and I can put you on the regular list.  – Adam

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