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Prayer Updates

“We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praise of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.” – Psalm 78:4

Feel free to let me know if you would like to receive these prayer update newsletters by e-mail. Thank you for your interest in our lives!

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Prayer Update Archive

Prayer Update 11/19/07 The Unfolding Plan

More Pictures…

The Lord’s provision for our family as we returned from Mongolia in July, and began serving at IBLP Headquarters in Oak Brook, IL.

Prayer Update 6/28/07 Needs in Mongolia

More Pictures…

Thoughts on the needs in Mongolia and reports from the 2007 Ulaanbaatar Basic Seminar.

Prayer Update 4/10/2007 Expanding ministry

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Pastor Enkhee’s funeral, Mom and Dad’s return from Thailand, the Tsagaansar holiday, and trainings with hospital staff.

Prayer Update 1/10/07 Christmas in Mongolia

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Derrick, Rachelle and David return from the Philippines, and our first Christmas on the mission field.

Prayer Update 11/21/06 Return to Mongolia

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The Waller family returns to Mongolia after a summer at the farm in Wisconsin.

Prayer Update 10/09/06 Change of seasons

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Retreats in the Northwoods of Michigan, and God’s provision for clothing needs.

Prayer Update 9/05/06 Winchester Seminar

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A report after the Winchester, VA Children’s Program, and pictures from the summer at the Waller farm.

Prayer Update 8/08/06 Children’s Seminars

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Reports from the Shorewood, MN Children’s Program, and additional pictures of the cleanup after the collapse of our aging barn roof.

Prayer Update 7/20/06 Day by Day

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Summer days at the farm, including our latest creative project.

Prayer Update 6/20/06 Back to the home fields

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Our return to the US, and three weeks of traveling.

Prayer Update 4/29/06 Taking up the torch

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Nearly two months since the previous update, this update describes the preparations for the Basic Seminar, and a visit to the Batbaigal bakery.

Prayer Update 3/3/06 Reports from China

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An update after our family took a two week trip to China to assist with two Character Family Seminars.

Prayer Update 2/7/06 Touch and Go

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The first two weeks after our return to Mongolia, the Sagansar holiday, and the opportunities before us.

Prayer Update 1/14/06 Preparations to Return

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A visit to visit friends on the east coast, and a final note before the family travels back to Mongolia.

Updates on Isaac Waller Prayer Request

A brief e-mail to forward to those that have been praying for Isaac and our family through these past months.

Prayer Update 12/15/05 Places to go, people to see

Describes our return to America, the memorial services for Isaac, and a ten day trip to Oklahoma.

Prayer Update 11/11/05 To God be the Glory!

In this first full update after Isaac’s passing, I shared about some of the ways that we have seen the Lord working through these unexpected circumstances.

Prayer Update 11/7/05 Together again

Sent after my parents returned to Mongolia with Isaac’s body, this update describes my parents’ time in Korea, and some of the decisions we were facing.

Prayer Update 11/4/05 Isaac went home

A brief e-mail simply stating the facts, this was the first news that many of our friends heard of Isaac’s Homegoing.

Prayer Update 11/3/05 Isaac very sick, evacuated to Korea

Written just hours after Mom, Dad and Isaac left for Korea, we did not know what the next hours and days held

Prayer Update 10/08/05 Phone Systems in Mongolia

Prayer Update 9/30/05 A Test of Focus

Prayer Update 8/25/05 An appeal for prayer

Prayer Update 7/5/05 Family Reunion

Prayer Update 5/28/05 Piles of sand

Prayer Update 5/18/05 Free inside

Prayer Update 4/21/05 One more week

Prayer Update 4/11/05 Answers to Prayer!

Prayer Update 4/1/05 New horizons

Prayer Update 3/11/05 Sharpening and stretching

Prayer Update 2/24/05 Home snowy home

Prayer Update 2/1/05 Happy reunion

Prayer Update 1/25/05 A quick note

Prayer Update 1/21/05 Plumbing in Mongolia

Prayer Update 1/7/05 The Forward Advance

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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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Return to Mongolia

Adam's Updates

Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Ulaanbaatar
, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

October 19th brought the close to a wonderful summer together at the farm, our final weeks being filled with wrapping up many details for our trip, last visits with family and friends, and assembling the needed supplies for our family to spend a year in Mongolia. As I mentioned in my last update, the Lord has greatly blessed us with provision of clothing and other needs through many gracious friends. Even dentist and eye doctor visits were obtained at significant discounts.

Packing all of our things into our van and camper, we drove to the IBLP headquarters in Chicago for a couple days of preparation and repacking as we weighed our bags for the flight. The international baggage limits have been reduced from 70lbs to 50lbs since last year, so we worked together to get all the ship-through bags topped off at precisely 49-50 pounds.

Boarding the plane in Chicago, we waited a half hour or so while the mechanics checked some things on the aircraft. Finally we heard the captain’s announcement that we were ready to go as soon as someone could push us out from the gate. About ten minutes later, we were still waiting when the captain made another announcement that they had just discovered something leaking from the number one engine. -Maybe that is why we couldn’t find anyone to push out from the gate… This fuel leak, as they later determined, was caused by a broken hydraulic part. Thankfully the mechanics were able to find the needed part and get it replaced while we waited on the plane.

This unforeseen delay in Chicago actually turned out to be a great blessing for our family. In traveling to Mongolia, probably the most trying part of the journey for the younger ones is the seven hour layover in Beijing. Because of the delays in Chicago, we finally reached our departure gate in the Beijing airport just 15 minutes before the boarding announcement for our flight to Mongolia!

Landing at midnight in Ulaanbaatar, we were greeted by Tim and Angie and a handful of others to welcome us back and help with our baggage. A thousand pounds of checked baggage, plus all of our carry-on items made for a tight but happy ride back through the familiar streets of Ulaanbaatar. Returning to our former apartments, we found them thoughtfully prepared by a staff only too glad to have us back.

My first few days were spent getting our Internet connection back up and running, and taking care of a computer virus that had infected a couple of our computers. Last year we were able to set up a wireless Internet connection for our office, but a new building just erected next to us came between us and the base station, reducing the signal strength to almost nothing.

Since much of our correspondence with the States is done electronically, this left us puzzling about what to do. Dial-up was possible, but slower and more expensive, our old Russian phone lines are not high enough quality to carry a DSL connection, and other alternatives were far more costly.

Testing our wireless receiver in various locations in our apartments, I made a surprising discovery. From one of the fifth floor windows, if I held the receiver at a precise diagonal angle and tipped down, I could pick up a fairly strong signal. Putting together a cardboard shelf to hold the unit at the correct angle, I waited a day to see if the signal would stay strong. Satisfied with the result, I drilled a couple holes and ran cabling to integrate this back into our computer network.

Seeing the Lord’s blessing in these daily projects and challenges is a real encouragement to us. Another time some loose wiring in the electrical riser caused the power in our main staff apartment to flicker and sometimes go out. One day the wires just burned through and the power went out completely. The maintenance workers for the building are usually very busy and it is sometimes difficult to arrange for repairs on short notice.

My Dad went down to talk with the building manager, who said that she would try to have the electrician come tomorrow to unlock the panel and fix the problem. As my Dad turned to leave, who, of all people, would just “happen” to walk in just then? It was the electrician, and he was quite amenable to the request and helped us get the power restored to our apartment.

Returning to the Holy Way Church on Sunday morning, we were warmly welcomed back by many friends. The church continues to grow, and although the services are entirely in Mongolian, they usually have someone translate for their foreign friends. It is so encouraging to see a strong Christian church, entirely led by Mongolian believers.

Pastor Enkhee is in the final stages of liver cancer, so his son Ideree and others are carrying the primary responsibility for the leadership and preaching. Although thin and often in pain, Enkhee continues to be a strong witness for the Lord, exhorting the people to follow the Lord.

In addition to the ongoing trainings and activities that we are involved in, we continue to receive requests for character trainings from schools, churches and other groups. One that we recently took on was the Aero Mongolia company, the second largest airline in Mongolia. They have four jets and service many domestic routes as well as four International destinations.

As far as we know, they only have two Christians in the entire company, and one, the company secretary, initiated the arrangements for us to be able to come and give weekly character trainings for about 75 workers. The first day we came we were given airport security passes to go out to the training building near the runway.

Looking back, I see the Lord’s hand in this too. None of us knew that a few weeks later some political uprisings and instability would lead to rumors of people possibly banding together and attempting to shut down the airport. Needless to say, airport security is pretty high right now, and they are not issuing any more new airport security passes.

Our first training was an interesting experience. When we arrived we found that the workers were already there and had been waiting for us for some time. (This is not usually a good way to start a training.  🙂  To make matters worse, they had some video playing on the screen that I didn’t even want to look at. Now how do you follow that with a character lesson?

The Lord gave a lot of grace, and the people were at least mildly interested. We had hoped that our fictitious skit of “A day in the life of CTI” would give them a picture of what an office can be like without character, but the people still didn’t seem as open as I was hoping, and at the end someone asked how many weeks this training was going to continue.

The next week we really focused on praying for this group. We can give a “good” character presentation, but only God can open hearts to receive the message. When we went back, I was amazed at the difference! The people were focused and attentive for the entire training. Chingis (one of our staff) led the discussion time at the end, and they even shared some illustrations of how they have seen the importance of attentiveness in their company. By the end of the training there was a definite excitement in the air. When I asked if they enjoyed the training, they broke out in spontaneous applause.

Later, David told me about his talk with one of the flight attendants before the training. He asked where she had learned her English, and discovered that she had been taught by Mormon English teachers for all four years of university. She seemed relieved when David clarified that we are not Mormons, but are here teaching character. This seemed to bring down a barrier, and she was the one that volunteered to share at the end of the discussion time.

This past month marked the one-year anniversary of Isaac’s sudden illness and unexpected death while serving here with us in Mongolia. We had some special times as a family reflecting on memories from last year, and on passages from Scripture that have become especially meaningful to us over the past year. We miss him as a brother, but we rejoice in the things that we see the Lord doing through the testimony of his life.

It is really exciting to see the opportunities that are open before us. In addition to the character trainings, we have also had the opportunity to work with a number of Christian groups where we have the freedom to teach right from the Bible. On two Fridays each month we host “Family Night” at our apartments. Erin leads a program for the children while Tim teaches on the Commands of Christ. Our classroom is technically limited to 25 students, but our last Family Night had about forty people in the main session and another sixteen in the children’s program. We are currently investigating options for a larger facility.

Rachelle and David just left yesterday (November 20th) for a trip to the Philippines where they will join a handful of other young people from the States. For three weeks David will lead the team of eleven as they teach in a number of schools and universities, doing character trainings, and training teachers how to implement character education in their schools.

Just to give you an idea of the schedule, they will be teaching in about 20 different schools, leading training seminars for five groups of teachers (one of the larger groups is estimated at over 200 teachers) as well as sharing at several churches. At many of these schools the team has been given freedom to openly share from the Bible, giving real opportunity to share the message of Salvation and the power that God gives us to develop in character.

My brother Derrick is wrapping up some final projects at the farm before leaving to join David and Rachelle for the trip to the Philippines. Returning after the Philippines trip to join the rest of the family in Mongolia in mid-December, we will again have the entire Waller family together for our first Christmas in Mongolia. Tim, Angie and Erin are schedule to return to the States for the holidays, so our family will maintain operations until Tim and Angie return early next year.

We are so grateful for this season of serving together as a family in Mongolia. It is often stretching as we adjust to the challenges of living in a different culture, but the adventure is all the more rewarding when we see people’s lives being changed. I wish you could have seen the joy on people’s faces at church on Sunday as we looked at a few of the “great and precious promises” that God has given to His children! (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Please continue to pray for us! There are so many unexpected things that come up, and we need the Lord’s wisdom in daily decisions as we respond to the opportunities before us.



Praise Points:

  • We praise the Lord for His work in our family, and the many doors of opportunity that have opened up in this past year after Isaac’s Homegoing last November.
  • After many hours of logistical planning and preparation, this is the first of my Prayer Updates to have a printed copy mailed to those who do not have access to e-mail, or who prefer a printed copy. (Let me know if you are aware of others who would like to be on this list.)
  • I am grateful for the work we see the Lord doing through the Aero Mongolia trainings. We are already beginning to develop friendships with the staff there, and I am encouraged to see the continued interest in character training.
  • Thank you for praying for health for our trip. A week after arriving in Mongolia we had a cold/flu bug go through the family, but we were so glad it was not in the midst of our airline flights to Mongolia!

Prayer Requests:

  • We would be grateful for your prayers for Derrick, Rachelle, David and the eight others that are teaching in the Philippines for the next three weeks. For those that would like further details and updates, you can take a look at their team website at: http://cadlinx.com/ philippines (remove space before “philippines” when typing the link into your browser.)
  • We would also appreciate prayer for a number of health needs around us. Our dear Pastor Enkhee may go to his eternal reward in the next few weeks, so please keep his wife Sodnom and their family in prayer. They have been very supportive of our ministry in Mongolia, and Sodnom and their son Ideree work with us part time.
  • Our Commands of Christ discipleship training classes, and Christian Character Training classes have both exceeded our classroom limitations, so pray that the Lord would give wisdom and direction in finding a larger location to meet. Most schools and public buildings are not allowed to have Christian Trainings, so finding a practical solution is not a simple task.  -UPDATE:  Just today we received word that UBTC, a local Bible school is allowing us to rent space in their facility! Praise the Lord!


Pictures:

We enjoyed a very special time of fellowship with our extended family

at my uncle’s home just before flying to Mongolia. It would be over

a month before the eleven Wallers would be all together again.

Derrick was able to do some of his own combining at our farm this

fall. He stayed back for a few weeks to finish up some farming

projects before flying to the Philippines to join Rachelle and David.

A couple days before our flight, we were treated to a fine dinner by

the Mullen family. We are so grateful for the families and friends that

stand behind us in prayer while we are overseas.

Our classroom, packed with people wanting to hear about character

with a Biblical background. (Note the open Bibles.) In our private

trainings we have full freedom to share right from the Bible. (Which

is really where the principles of character find their foundation.)

I am excited about what we see happening at the new Aero Mongolia

character trainings. It is an opportunity to build relationships in a

company with perhaps only two known Christians.

Another mountaintop experience. I think it was the coldest picnic

lunch we have ever had, but everyone was in good spirits, and enjoyed it.

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


Interesting Fact:

Electrical power in Mongolia is served at 240 volts, twice the voltage used in the United States. Some of the electronic equipment we bring from the States (sewing machines, battery chargers, and some computer equipment) is not equipped to run on this voltage, and requires step-down transformers to work.

Somewhat similar to our farmhouse in the States, there are few power receptacles in the apartments, (most rooms only have one or two single outlets) so we usually use power strips to plug things in. The wiring is often mortared into the concrete wall, and the receptacles are pressure fit, and often come out of the wall. If you trip a circuit breaker, you have to wait for the building maintenance worker to unlock the panel to reset it.

Most American electric stoves use more power than the wiring here can support, so learning to use the Russian electric stoves/ovens can be quite a learning curve. Even at full power, most of the ovens have trouble reaching 350F, so baking can take a lot of trial and error. This week should be exciting as our staff prepares Thanksgiving dinner for over sixty guests!


Thank you so much for praying with us! God is clearly doing a work here, and although we don’t always see the bigger picture, it is a joy to see little glimpses of lives that are being changed for eternity!

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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Children’s Seminars

Adam's Updates

Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Grantsburg, Wisconsin

Dear Family and Friends,

As I think back to some experiences that have had a very significant impact on my life as a young man growing up, I would have to say that teaching at Children’s Institutes would rank high on that list.

I remember first hearing about the “Children’s Institute” at our annual home-schooling conference in Knoxville sometime around 1995. The idea of teaching and taking care of children for a week-long seminar did not have much appeal to me at the time, but my parents must have seen something more and signed up Isaac and I to help with a seminar that was to be held in our area a few months later.

Whatever my expectations were, God had something special in store for me at this seminar. As am seeing more and more, it is not so much the particular program or opportunity, but the people who are leading it that God often uses to make a difference in the lives of those involved.

I saw something different In “Mr. Ryan” and “Miss Gina”. They were young people too, just a few years older than I was, but they had a love for the Lord and a passion for investing in the lives of others. This wasn’t just a week of watching children, but a chance to impact lives for eternity as we poured all of our strength and energy into conveying Biblical truths to the children on our teams.

Suddenly “ministry” was not just some distant thing that only parents and some of those older students could be involved in, but something that I could also have a part in. There were exciting stories in the Large Group assembly, and songs that we would long remember, but we also saw deeper things, the reality of spiritual warfare, and seeing God answer specific prayer.

After that week I could hardly wait for the next seminar, and in the following years we taught in as many Children’s Institutes as schedule and travel permitted. From every seminar we brought back special memories, and I could share story after story of how we saw God’s hand at work in these brief but intense weeks of ministry.

Returning to our farm this summer, I remember thinking that it would be neat to be involved in a Children’s Institute again, if there was one held in our area. I checked the IBLP website, and discovered that there actually was one scheduled in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I thought it was interesting timing that the very next day, we received a call from a friend who was coordinating the children’s seminar, asking if David or I would be available to tell the stories for the “Large Group” assemblies.

David was already scheduled to help lead a group of backyard Bible clubs that week, so I was given the opportunity to help with the Children’s Program. As always, it was a week of intensive energy output, but a tremendous blessing for us as Rachelle, Sarah and I joined about seven other young people to work with the twenty children that registered for the seminar.

Probably the greatest lesson that I believe the Lord was teaching me through the week was to let Him work through me, instead of me trying to work for Him. The words of John 15 kept coming to mind, “without me ye can do nothing.” Instead of coming well prepared with all the stories that I would be sharing, I realized that it was me that God wanted to prepare. Lasting fruit would come, not through my abilities, but as God was able to use me as a tool to accomplish His work.

I know that I have a long way to go in fully internalizing this truth, but it was neat to see how the Lord often used the stories that I felt the least prepared for to have the greatest impact on the students. God delights in using our weaknesses to show His strength, so that the excellency of the power would be of Him and not of us. (See I Corinthians 2:1-5, II Corinthians 4:7)

One interesting example took place on Tuesday night as I was telling a story about the Ten Commandments. To illustrate the impossibility of keep all the commandments on our own, I had a volunteer carefully hold ten raw eggs as I explained each of the Ten Commandments. Jeff was dressed for the occasion, but the suspense continued to rise as he precariously tried to balance each new egg.

Finally reaching the appropriate moment in the story, I asked Jeff if he had ever told a lie. After his admission, I stepped back, and gently whacked one of the eggs balancing on his collar. Somehow, the egg didn’t break. I reached over and squeezed the egg very hard. Still nothing happened. Recalling the physics of an eggshell, I applied extra pressure with my thumb, trying to crack the unyielding shell.

Splat!!! Something hit my face with an uncalculated accuracy that took me completely by surprise. I couldn’t even see out of my left eye as I reached for the paper bag where, just before the story, I had put some extra napkins. Taking off my glasses and trying to wipe the egg off my face and hair, I used the moment to explain how when we sin, it doesn’t just affect us, it also affects other people. One of the teachers later shared that for him, this unplanned analogy was the most significant message of the whole night!

These days were not without opposition, however, and I found it interesting how many unexpected challenges we faced through the week. The family that was heading up the children’s program had been anticipating a move, but ended up needing to move out of their house on the very week of the seminar. Another family that had two daughters teaching had a grandmother who’s failing health suddenly took a turn for the worse, and she passed away on Friday morning.

Another day found us faced with an interesting situation as a curious passerby inquired about what we were doing and proceeded to engage some of the teachers in a rather loud debate about the existence of God. Thankfully, she was willing to go with me to another room where after some patient listening and gentle answers she left quite cordially.

Rather than bringing discouragement, these things actually made me even more excited about the work we were involved in. God gave us grace for every challenge, and responding to this grace brings joy as we see the Lord working out His purpose through each situation.

On Thursday we were teaching about God’s love, and our response in times of suffering. I felt that this might be a neat opportunity to share about God’s love and faithfulness to our family over the past months with Isaac’s Homegoing last November. The “story” went a little longer than I had planned, and I remember praying afterwards that the Lord would still use it somehow.

In terms of human ability, it wasn’t one of my best stories that week, and I remember one little boy asking during the story, “Are you almost done?” It was a deeper message, and a little harder to make interesting and exciting for the younger children. But it was this story that the Lord seemed to use to make an impact in the lives of some of the students.

Finding me on one of the seminar breaks on Saturday, a father asked more about my family. I learned that they had heard of our family, and had been praying for us, but it was through this story at the Children’s Program that his daughters made the connection that “Mr. Adam” was a part of that family. “I just want you to know,” he told me, “that your testimony had a real impact on my children.”

Pastor Tillman asked me a little later if I could share a testimony with the people at the church on Sunday. Many of them had heard of our family, and had been praying for us, and he thought it would be encouraging for them to hear a report of what God has been doing in our lives. How this all got coordinated with the rest of my family was a story in itself, but the next morning all eleven of us were lined up in a row for the morning service at Emmaus Baptist Church.

Last minute plans the night before had worked out for us to stay in the Cities at my Aunt’s house for the evening, but by the time we arrived at church the next morning, I still didn’t have an outline of what I was planning to share. Now, just to clarify, preparation is good and important, and something that we should do when we are able to. But in this case, I believe that God wanted to stretch my faith. I remember praying, “Lord, you worked through the stories at the CI even when I was unprepared, please give me the words to share here.”

When I got up to share, I still didn’t have an outline, but the Lord enabled me to give what seemed to be a clear testimony of what God has been doing in our lives over these past months. I certainly can’t take any credit for it, but it seems like God touched hearts through that message of His faithfulness and lovingkindness to our family.

Back on the home front, we have also seen a significant answer to prayer. After a couple months of serious drought, we received some good rain last week. Derrick’s cornfields have improved dramatically, even in the past week, with the much-needed moisture.

The dry spell was not only dry, it was often very hot. In an older farmhouse without air conditioning, nights can be very long as you try to sleep with temperatures in the 80s or 90s. I remember sitting at my desk one day last week, and noticing that it was 95 degrees inside.

But our faithful God who never forgets His children had a very special surprise in store for us. That evening, some dear friends drove into our driveway and backed up their pickup truck to our porch. In the back of the truck were two window air conditioning units! They helped us install the units in two of the bedrooms, and for the first time in many weeks my parents were able to go to sleep in a cool room.

That evening also marked a significant day for our farm. Our ailing barn had been damaged in high winds several years ago, and the trusses were sagging badly. Built in 1932, the old dairy barn still had a lot of aesthetic appeal, but the cost of repair and straightening the structure far outweighed its current usefulness.

Watching the coming storm from our bedroom window that night, there was a terrific thunderclap, and Derrick exclaimed, “that just hit our barn!” The old glass insulated lightning rods performed their duty, but the waterlogged roof dropped about eight feet. By morning the north wall had given way, and the roof collapsed into the barnyard.

Looking back, I was amazed at how this worked out. It fell in such a way that we were able to recover the antique copulas from the roof, which we hope to sell. If the barn had fallen to the south, it could have possibly damaged the wooden south wall and shed which was to house 50 young pigs, scheduled to arrive the next morning. But falling to the north, the primary weight was taken by a concrete block wall, and the floor joists remained unhurt.

We are grateful that it happened while we were home, and that no one was hurt in the process. Even the animals escaped injury. On Saturday we had a “family work day” and started disassembling and cleaning up the fallen ruins. I enjoyed the chance to get outside and work on a family project together. The Lord blessed us with nice weather, safety, and good progress on the project.

This week I am also preparing to fly to Winchester, Virginia for another Children’s Program where I have been asked to help with the story telling. I am really looking forward to the seminar next week, and praying that the Lord will use it in a special way in the lives of each of the teachers and children.



Praise Points:

  • Thank you so much for praying for us as Rachelle, Sarah and I taught at the Children’s Program in Shorewood, MN! It was really special to see the Lord’s hand at work, and the things that He was teaching us through the week. The Lord again raised up just the right teachers, and put the children on just the right teams.
  • I also want to say a big thank you on behalf of David and the others that served with the Heritage Ministry Team, leading two weeks of Bible Clubs in Minneapolis. Last Sunday evening we saw a video report and heard testimonies of some of the great things that God did through this outreach. Let me know if you want to read David’s e-mail report, and I will forward you a copy.
  • Thanks for praying for rain! It was a blessing to receive several inches of rain last week. Derrick’s crops would not have lasted much longer without it.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray for the Winchester, VA Children’s Program and Basic Seminar next week. I am flying out on Friday the 11th, and returning on Monday the 21st of August. It has been six or seven years since the last Children’s Institute was held in this area, so we will likely have children that are hearing some of these things for the first time. If you are led to pray specifically for us through the week, here are the main topics we will be covering:

Monday – Accepting God’s perfect design for us.

Tuesday – My response to authority.

Wednesday – Responsibility, clear conscience. *Important night

Thursday – God’s love for us, purpose in suffering. *I may share about Isaac

Saturday – Generosity, gratefulness, joyfulness.


Pictures:

A total of twenty children came to the Children’s Program, and were

divided into three teams for the small group teaching time.

A smile from one of our students.

I think I would have been scared too, from the looks of this guy! But

our “David” (Left) didn’t seem afraid to face “Goliath” in our skit.

Our prayers were answered as we watched the clouds

moving in to bring the much-needed rain.

That night our aging barn roof collapsed under the wind

and rain.

Our whole family gathered on Saturday for a family

work day to start cleaning up the debris.

You can see many more new pictures on the Prayer Update section our family website, including many from the CI and our barn cleanup project.


Useful Link:

A few weeks ago a friend asked if I knew of a good program for viewing slide shows of pictures. After a few minutes of searching on the Internet I ran across a free program called the FastStone Image Viewer. I continue to be amazed at the features this program has, and I would recommend it to anyone who deals with digital photos. It works great for resizing and viewing pictures, and has some good slide show options, in addition to a full set of image enhancing tools. (No, they don’t pay me to write this, I was just very impressed with the program.)


Thank you for praying for us! I know that you will also share in the reward of what God is doing in and through our lives, and our Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matthew 6:6)

I also want to mention here, please don’t feel guilty if you are getting these updates and might not be praying for us regularly. While we are grateful for the prayers of many, we also want to share with others what is happening in our lives and we just appreciate the fact that you are interested in hearing from our family.

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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Back to the home fields

Adam's Updates

Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Grantsburg, Wisconsin

Dear Family and Friends,

When our family left for Mongolia in June of 2005, just one year ago, we were filled with excitement and an eager anticipation of what the Lord might do in and through our lives by this season of service together as a family. How little did we imagine the depth of the lessons that God had for us, or the riches of His grace that we would experience.

Arriving at the family farm in Wisconsin last Monday after several weeks of travel, meetings, and family reunions, we have been grateful for the chance to unpack and settle into more of a daily routine. Plans for the summer are quickly taking shape before us, but let me start with a brief look at our last few weeks in Mongolia.

The approaching departure date of our family on May 22nd added an additional pressure to finish some projects that our family was involved in. Among these was the printing of a set of A4 sized character posters for the first series of nine character qualities. Creating the template for these posters had been one of Isaac’s final desktop publishing projects in Mongolia, so it was special for me to see the job carried to completion.

This project is also a good example of some of the challenges that we often face overseas. In the States, you would typically finish your master copy, bring it to the printer, then pick up the final product, completed to your satisfaction. In Outer Mongolia, things are not quite that simple.  🙂

After finishing the first four posters, I made several trips to the printing company with our translators, trying to make sure I had covered every possible detail about what we were needing for this job. Understanding that we were proposing a several hundred-dollar job, with the prospect of future work, the company president was quite happy to concede to our unusually high quality requirements.

Receiving the call a few days later that the job was ready, Ideree and I went over to take a look. Another missionary had told me that every job his organization prints locally seems to have some type of quality problem, but I was pleasantly surprised as I reviewed the first set of posters. Other than some smaller blemishes and ink splatters, they seemed reasonable for the equipment that they were printed on.

The second set of 4 posters printed later was another story. More and larger ink splatters, and a heavy yellow cast to the animal pictures left me pondering how to better communicate what we were needing. It was only after writing and translating a detailed seven-page contract describing our quality requirements that the manager seemed to grasp what we were looking for.

Although they felt that the contract was too strict for them to sign, it seemed to have the desired result, and they assured us that we would be satisfied with the job. They reprinted the worst of the posters, and this time the color was really good. It wasn’t till we started making sets of posters back at our office that we discovered that they had been trimmed 3/8 inch smaller than the previous job.  🙂

I share this story not because I thought you had a great interest in the details of how to print posters in Mongolia, but to give you a little idea of the hours that are often spent on things that we take for granted in the States. I spent far more time working with the printer company on this project than I did on creating the actual posters themselves.

Often the greater testimony is not the work you do, but the character you demonstrate while doing it. I was so grateful for the Lord’s timing in some encouraging comments that were shared with my parents before we left. It was not the work that we did for CTI that impressed these friends, but our family simply being in Mongolia and living out our lives before them.

Visible evidences of the Lord’s work through you are encouraging moments, but I don’t believe the Lord lets us see too many of these, lest we be lifted up in pride. As our family made preparations for leaving Mongolia, we shared some special moments with friends and families that have become dear to us over the past year.

Walking down to the open market on the Saturday before we left, I had a neat talk with Chinggis, one of our Mongolian staff. He was coming to help me buy a traditional Mongolian “del” jacket. Walking down the dusty roadside together, stepping around the open manholes, I shared how grateful I was that he was working with us.

I have long admired the maturity and Godly example that Chinggis has demonstrated as our finance manager for CTI, but I had felt inadequate to express this in simple English, so I regret to say that most of our conversations had been on more of a business level.

Just to give you an idea of the heart of this young man, the day after I purchased my del jacket, he gave David his very own (and probably only) del jacket that he had just purchased a few months ago. The next morning he paid $5 (a full day’s wage for many) to take a taxi to the airport for a final goodbye before we left.

Perhaps one of the most touching goodbyes for our family was at the Sunday service at Holy Way Church, the day before our departure. After the main service our family shared some brief words and sang a hymn together. Many were in tears as the pastors prayed over us, committing us to the Lord and asking for His guidance for us in the days to come. I also had the joy of teaching one more character lesson on the quality of forgiveness.

God’s hand of guidance and care was clearly upon us as we made preparations to leave. We learned that because of a technical detail with the way we had booked our tickets, and some changes in the airline regulations, although we had carried about 140lbs of checked baggage per person on our initial flight to Mongolia, we were only allowed 40lbs per person on the flight back to Beijing. Any excess would be met with a stiff fee of about $1 per pound.

Making a number of calls to our travel agent, my Dad tried to see if we could work something out, but as the days and hours ticked away, it became apparent that we would have to just do the best we could, pray, and trust that the Lord would work things out on the day of the flight. We were at the mercy of the airline agents.

Friends offered the use of their vans for the early morning drive, and soon we were weighing our bags at the counter. We had packed our carry-on bags as heavily as we could, but the final count left us 410 pounds overweight in our checked baggage. Asking to speak to the supervisor, Dad explained our situation.

After some further discussion, the supervisor made a final decision on the baggage. Hearing the news, I calmly walked over to the window, where our staff were anxiously watching from outside to see how we would fare. With a joy that I dared not express, I slowly unfolded a paper where I had written the message, “No overweight charges. P.T.L!”

Returning to the States, probably the biggest shock for me was to see all the lush greenery around us. A Mongolian winter gives you a new appreciation for the few blades of green grass poking through the gravel by the sidewalk. The months of gray and brown in Mongolia gave one the feeling of entering the tropical rain forests and jungles of America.  🙂  The grass looked so lush and green, and Indianapolis looked like a city built in a forest.

Our family was again graciously hosted at the IBLP headquarters in Chicago, and this gave us the opportunity for a couple days of rest before beginning three weeks of travels that would finally end at our farm in Wisconsin. Derrick had preceded us to the farm by a few weeks, to plant the fields and get started with farming, but he flew down to Chicago to join the family as we drove down to Nashville TN, for an annual home schooling conference.

Stopping in Indianapolis at the South Campus Training Center for a few days, we enjoyed catching up with friends and families that have been praying for us over these months. A Memorial Day picnic and outdoor games gave us the opportunity to enjoy the warm 90 degree weather. We learned that morning that our team in Mongolia got an inch of snow on the same day.  🙂  (Yes, that is unusual, even in Mongolia.)

The annual ATI Regional Training Conference in Nashville has been a special time for our family each year, and this year was no exception. Our family helped work at the International table, sharing with interested attendees about the international ministry branches of IBLP, and on one of the nights the International Director, Mr. Mattix gave a report of what God is doing in each of the nations that IBLP is currently serving in.

At the close of the session, our family was given the opportunity to share a little of what the Lord has been doing in Mongolia. Dad shared some truths that have guided our family, and some verses that have been especially meaningful to us through the time of Isaac’s Homegoing. The four oldest of us children were also given the opportunity to share for a few minutes, and then we finished by singing the Mongolian translation of “This Little Light of Mine”.

Many people came up to us through the week, some of whom we had never met, and told us that they have been praying for our family. Others shared of special memories that they had of Isaac. It was encouraging to be able to share of the Lord’s faithfulness and grace to our family, and to be challenged and blessed by the speakers and messages at the conference.

Following the conference we joined our extended family on my Mother’s side for a family reunion in Georgia. The Lord gave us beautiful weather, (actually cooler than it had been in Indianapolis) as we gathered at a campground next to a lake with the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. The colored shirts for each family gave a graphic illustration of the generations represented.

Driving back up to Chicago, we packed all of our baggage into the van and popup camper trailer for the drive to Minnesota. One of the many things we miss about Isaac was his skills in packing and organizing our things for a trip. Somehow David and I managed to get everything inside the limited cargo areas, and we traveled on to the Olson family reunion.

Although not quite as closely related as some, (my Dad’s mother was a cousin to Clarice Olson) we have enjoyed the rich spiritual heritage of this branch of my Dad’s family. The falling rain and cold weather confined us to the large machine shed at the farm where the family reunion was held that Saturday. It was quite a sight to see the colorful spreads of food, and rows of chairs winding around the huge tractors and farm implements.

Finding another more empty machine shed, David and I managed to stretch a rope across the middle, and soon we had a lively game of volleyball going with the younger generation as the others visited. Of course the happy players got dust in their teeth, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

On Sunday morning we arranged a large circle of folding chairs in an empty garage, and held our own church service together. It made me think of an underground church service, such as might be held in China, but what was lacking in atmosphere was made up in fellowship as we sang and shared together. Our family again had the opportunity to share testimonies of what the Lord has been doing in our lives.

Returning to our farm I was again reminded of the truth that moth and rust doth corrupt. Finding a forgotten bag of candy in my room, I made a fascinating discovery. Moths like the white chocolate, while the mice prefer the dark chocolate! Needless to say, we have been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing. It has been a year since we have spent much time at home, and spending some time on the mission field has a way of changing your perspective about the things are really important in life.

Plans for the summer seem to be taking shape before us. Dad is continuing his Engineering work, while taking time for various work projects around the house and farm. I was offered some computer programming work that I can do from home, so I plan to spend some time on that over the next few months.

The main farmer in the family, Derrick is keeping busy in the fields while Rachelle spearheads some cleaning and home improvement projects on the home front. David is assisting with a Bible Club training program and some curriculum development projects. Sarah and the younger ones are very excited to be back at the farm, and enjoying a farmyard with acres of areas to play, and endless possibilities for creative projects.

Many have asked us if we are planning to go back to Mongolia. As my Dad put it, “We are planning to go back in the fall, but we are holding this with open hands. We want the Lord to direct.” We would love to go back, but as we plan our way, we want God to direct our steps.


Praise Points:

  • We are so grateful for the Lord’s blessing in our travel as we returned from Mongolia. Safe travels, no extra charge for baggage, some fragile items surviving the journey were just a few of the praises for our trip.
  • In our travels down to Nashville, David’s laptop, (our only portable computer) picked up a virus that left the computer almost unusable for a week before I had time to work on it. Using my Uncle’s computer, I found some software to assist in the recovery, and we were back up and running with no data loss.
  • Last weekend our family was invited to share at a Christian campers club in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Lord gave us a very special time with this group, and several of us shared testimonies of God’s grace in our time of need. They also enjoyed the singing and music that we shared with them.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please continue to pray for our team in Mongolia. Right now they only have four American staff, including the director and his wife. Things are slowing down for the summer, but we are praying for the Lord to raise up laborers for the late summer and fall. We feel the need for both American and Mongolian staff, but particularly for more Mongolian translators.
  • The Lord continues to give our family opportunities to share testimonies of what the Lord has been doing in our family, and in our lives personally. Pray that God would use these times to deepen our message, and bring forth lasting fruit.


Pictures:

The green grass and trees seemed so vivid when

contrasted with the Mongolian landscape below,

where our staff had joined some Christian students and

professors from MIU for a holiday outside the city.

The Blom generations. (My Mother’s family) In the pink

and gray are my grandparents. (The yellow shirts designate

Wallers, as you probably already noticed.)

Finally home. I climbed the silo to get this picture of our

house as we worked to unpack our things and dry out

tent and camper.

Lydia, our animal lover, was delighted to find some wild

baby rabbits in our front yard.

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


Interesting Fact:

The original part of our home in Wisconsin was actually a log home built in the 1870s. The wooden pins used to connect the logs are still visible in the attic. The more recent addition was constructed in 1916. The hot water heating, plumbing, and bathroom were all added later, which makes the plumbing configurations somewhat interesting.


Thank you for your prayers for our family! God’s grace has truly carried us, and continues to carry us through each day.

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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Taking up the torch

Adam's Updates

Saturday, April 29, 2006
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

Filled with a series of projects with tight deadlines, the past seven weeks have been left little time for writing updates. Now the task lies before me of trying to summarize so many significant events into one update newsletter.

First of all, I would like to say a special word of thanks to those who have continued to pray for us through these weeks, even with little or no news from the front lines. It is often the weeks of silence that indicate additional pressures and responsibilities, and a greater need for God’s grace.

Looking back over these past two months, let me start back at the second week of March. It was at this time that our director Tim felt that it would be good to move forward on printing some of our character training materials to sell in Mongolia.

I have enjoyed helping with some desktop publishing projects from time to time, but in the past I have usually turned to Isaac’s greater level of experience and expertise in this area. After coming to Mongolia with my family last June, one of Isaac’s projects was to procure the needed software and set up a computer for desktop publishing work.

We never realized at the time that this would be one of Isaac’s last projects in Mongolia, and among his final works was a set of stickers, bookmarks, and large posters for the first nine character qualities that we teach. The foundation that he laid in this area has prepared the way for us to continue on with desktop publishing projects after his departure.

It was with a feeling of taking up the torch passed by Isaac that I began working on some of the desktop publishing projects and learning the InDesign software program. Using one of the templates that Isaac had left for us, I was able to finish A4 sized posters for the first nine character qualities.

Excited by the progress, we began contemplating another much larger project. Our translation staff have been working for the past several months to do a final revision of the Basic Seminar Workbook in the Mongolian language. Doing all the text and layout in Microsoft Word, the workbook was modeled after the English workbook, but a side-by-side comparison left some things to be desired on the layout of the Mongolian pages.

Would it be possible to use a template from IBLP headquarters and make a professional looking Mongolian workbook? Maybe even in time for the Basic seminar scheduled next month? These questions had to be put off for a week as Rachelle, Derrick, Cindy and I left for four days of character training in Erdenet, an overnight train ride from Ulaanbaatar.

The time in Erdenet was filled with many joys and challenges. The poster project and other responsibilities the week before left me with very little time to plan for our trip, but the Lord was very merciful and worked out many details that could have caused great complications in our time there.

Every day we had trainings morning, afternoon, and sometimes evening as we did character trainings for a group of leaders from six different churches, two groups of World Vision staff, a group of local pastors and church leaders, high school students from two schools, a large group of school teachers, and a few government leaders.

Everywhere people were very receptive and excited about the character training. The World Vision and church leaders in Erdenet had been asking us to come since last fall, and they wanted to make the very most of our time there. Concluding the last training, we hurriedly filled out the final paperwork details and jumped into the van, barely making it to the train station in time for the evening train.

The strain of the week, coupled with maybe some poorly kept food that I ate on the way back to Ulaanbaatar left me sick for a couple days upon my return to the training center. Our Character English class team valiantly took over my Saturday English class, and by Monday I was able to start on a new desktop publishing project.

With all the work that our translators had been putting in on the Basic Seminar Workbook, Tim felt that it would be good to move ahead with an all-out push to get the workbook layout in InDesign completed as quickly as possible in the two weeks that we had before the seminar. Not having much experience with the program, I felt that it was probably doable, although it would not be an easy task.

Tim and the others were able to take over my other responsibilities so that I could focus as much as possible on the workbook project. While I enjoyed both the work I was doing, and the project I was involved in, the speed and accuracy I tried to maintain required a concentration and attention to detail that often left me mentally exhausted at the end of the day.

After some adjustments to each page of the layout after importing the QuarkXPress file to InDesign, I would take a section of the English text, convert it to the correct font, and then, line-by-line, copy each sentence or paragraph of Mongolian text and paste it into the workbook file. After copying the text, I usually had to adjust the layout again to account for the Mongolian translation often being longer than the English text.

Macros and keyboard shortcuts greatly improved the efficiency of the project, but the 80+ pages of text and diagrams gave me a wonderful opportunity to gain experience in using the InDesign program. It is so exciting to see how the Lord uses experiences in our lives that not only help us now, but they prepare us to be even more effective later.

David of Bible times was performing a very needed function in caring for his father’s sheep, but God was also using this very experience to prepare him for a time down the road when he would lead the nation of Israel. A few years ago, I was serving a company working as a network administrator, little imagining how God would be using these skills today in Mongolia.

In the pressures of finishing the workbook before the seminar, God brought a very special encouragement the day before the seminar began. Visiting our church on Sunday, a young lady came over to Tim and Angie’s apartment after the service for some further discussion.

Taking a few pages from the newly completed Basic Seminar Workbook, Tim and Angie explained a chart on the development of reprobation, how we experience the consequences of sin and the deception of Satan when we move away from God’s moral standards for our lives. Seeing her life pictured in this diagram, she broke down in tears, and came to Christ for Salvation.

More of her story unfolded in the following days by way of letters she gave to our staff. She had known many that called themselves Christians, only to later learn of hypocrisy in their lives. Finally she was convinced that all Christians must be fake. Her life had then taken a path of misery and despair.

As Tim and Angie related this story to me, I felt tears come to my eyes, not only for the joy of her salvation, but for the Lord’s lovingkindness in giving us a little glimpse of the fruit that He would bring forth through the Seminar workbook project. Many times we never see the fruit that God brings through the investments of our lives, but the Lord in His great love knows just when to bring us that needed encouragement.

The Lord in His great love not only knows when to encourage us, but He knows when to bring us chastening. One Saturday morning I was reading the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a huge tree, and how when he was lifted up in pride, God humbled him. “That’s a good reminder,” I thought, “about the importance of not letting pride creep into our lives.”

That evening, the first words in my journal were: “Well, my tree sure got felled today!” That day we had taught the final lesson of our five-week Character-English class series on patience. In the pressure and busyness of the previous days, I neglected to consult with Tim on some decisions with the class and as a result, incurred some misunderstandings between us.

Thinking back to our class just a few hours before, I remembered explaining to the attendees how sometimes we might be facing a difficult situation at work, and often our first tendency is to try to escape from the pressure. Instead of looking for a way out, I told them, we should use it as an opportunity to grow in character by choosing to have a right response. Now I was getting a chance to practice what I preach.

I am grateful that the Lord has allowed a restoration of this situation, and through this experience has taught me a number of other important lessons. No one likes to be misunderstood, but even in the best of relationships, we are going to have times when we misunderstand each other. That is why it is so important to have our focus on pleasing the Lord. He never misunderstands. He knows the deepest motives of our heart.

I believe that this is what gave David strength when he and his men returned wearily to Ziklag, only to find their city on fire, and their families led away captive. David’s loyal men turned on him and were about to stone him. -But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. David went on to lead his men to victory because his focus was on being approved unto God.

Some very encouraging news in the past few weeks came in the way of a phone call from Ideree. You may remember that in December of 2004, I began working on a project to make the Mongolian Bible text available as a module for The SWORD Project, a free Bible software program. (see http://crosswire.org/sword)

Over those next few weeks, the Lord worked out some divine appointments, and I learned of another missionary that actually began working on the same project at the very same time. I helped in a few little ways over the next few weeks as Ewen finished the module, and our Mongolian staff began testing it.

For the next year or so, neither of us had time to work on the project. I needed to meet with the Mongolian United Bible Society to talk about copyright and distribution, but just could not seem to get the time to move forward. Then, a few weeks ago, Ideree called to tell me that not only was the project back underway, but the Bible Society wanted to get a master CD completed that could be taken to Korea for mass duplication.

As soon as I finished the other desktop publishing project that I was working on, I set forth on this new project in an earnest effort to finish an installation program and master CD by last Saturday. Working all afternoon and into the evening on Saturday, I finally talked to pastor Dash at 11PM and we decided that it would probably be better to wait a little longer to allow adequate time to test the new CD.

Finishing up some other pressing projects this week, I was able to finish the master CD on Thursday, and after a little more testing, it should be ready to send to Korea. The Bible Society is not quite ready to allow the distribution of Mongolian Bible module for free, but at least this will be the first step in making it available for the people of Mongolia.

I mentioned a little earlier that sometimes the Lord gives us the opportunity to see a little bit of the fruit that He is bringing forth through our lives. Last Monday our family witnessed a special example of this. You might remember Baigalmaa, a Mongolian lady that owns a bakery business with her husband Bat. Receiving Christ after a character training a couple years ago, Baigalmaa has had the privilege of also seeing her husband come to Christ.

Known all over the city, the Batbaigal bakery is famous for their decorated cakes. They started about ten years ago, and now employ 60 staff, and produce about 150 cakes every day, in addition to other bakery products. Bat and Baigalmaa have a very special heart for their workers, and are constantly looking for ways to invest in their lives.

From our first meeting almost two years ago, I have really enjoyed working with Baigalmaa and the bakery workers. Most of their staff have come from the countryside and many of the principles of character are new concepts for them. Responding to the personal illustrations that make character application practical, many of the workers still remember my stories about forgiveness and other character qualities.

Every other week we have a character training for their workers. On Thursday morning they even delay the regular deliveries so that as many of their workers as possible can attend the character trainings at their bakery. It was with special delight that my family and I accepted their invitation and set up a time when my family could come and visit the bakery and meet their staff.

Bat and Baigalmaa greeted us outside as we arrived, and led us up the stairs to their building. Inside we heard applause and cheering as we stepped in to find all of their workers lining both sides of the hallway to greet us as we came in. If their workers were not so shy, I should have brought a video camera to capture the special moment.

We had a special time of sharing with their workers, and my family was able to sing some hymns and play some music for their staff. After the meeting, we had an extended tour of the bakery, finishing with a beautifully prepared meal in their newly completed staff room. You will have to see the pictures on our website to get a better picture of the generosity and kindness expressed to our family in that visit.

Our time in Mongolia has gone so quickly! It is hard to believe that we only have about three weeks left until we fly back to the States on May 22nd. We want to be open to however the Lord might direct our family, but we applied for an extension of our work permits in anticipation of our family possibly returning to Mongolia in the fall.


Praise Points:

  • Even with many farming responsibilities waiting for him at home, my brother Derrick took the time to be with our family in Mongolia for several months before heading back in early April to start planting the fields back in Wisconsin.
  • I praise the Lord for bringing about the completion of the Mongolian Bible software project, equipping pastors and other Mongolian Christians here with more tools to study the Word of God.
  • Thank you for praying with us in the finishing of an article honoring Isaac’s testimony for the Lord. You can read the completed article at: http://ati.iblp.org/ati/family/articles/eternalinvestment/
  • This week we had the special privilege of welcoming Tim’s mother, and Roger and Ann, two friends from New Jersey for a three week visit to our team in Mongolia. This is the first time that Tim’s mother has been to Mongolia. Roger and Ann were here for a visit three years ago, and are very excited to see all that has transpired since their last visit.

Prayer Requests:

  • Several weeks ago we learned the unexpected news that our Mongolian pastor Enkhee was diagnosed with liver cancer. The cancer is at a more advanced stage, and was also found in his stomach. After much prayer and consideration, Enkhee and his wife Sodnom are traveling to Hawaii for rest and possible treatment options. They remain strong in faith and are a wonderful testimony to the believers here, but pray for wisdom and grace in the difficult decisions ahead.
  • Last summer we were able to buy several used computer monitors at a very reasonable price. The vendor was quite willing to exchange them if there were any problems, but in the unexpected events of Isaac’s death and my family’s return to the States, we were not able to get everything resolved last summer. Pray that we would be able to get the three monitors exchanged in the next few weeks before our family leaves.
  • On May 8th, our family has been invited to share at a special meeting of three schools where some of our team has been teaching character over the past several months. We are not sure exactly what to expect, but pray that we would be good testimony for the Lord in this opportunity.


Pictures:

Having our whole family in Mongolia adds a whole new dimension to

our visits with Mongolian friends.

One of the highlights of Derrick’s time in Mongolia was to go out to the

countryside for a week with Dorjoo, one of our Mongolian staff. Derrick

and Dorjoo helped a missionary family with several projects, including

building this tool chest.

Derrick visited Dorjoo’s family one afternoon. Dorjoo’s mother (far left)

came to Christ after attending Isaac’s funeral.

At my Mom’s suggestion, Matthew and I took one day to do a wood

project together. From going to the market to buy the wood, to screwing

in the final screws, Matthew loved every minute of it. We built a small

cabinet with a hinged mirror on the front.

Last Friday our whole family visited the MIU classes where some of our

staff teach three classes twice each week. Dad shared about how we try

to build character as a family, and then all the children sang the

“Gratefulness song”.

You can see many more new pictures on our family website.

The pictures page for this update includes a number of pictures from our time at the Batbaigal bakery.


Interesting Fact:

The heating for most of the buildings in Ulaanbaatar is supplied by a central hot water system for the city. On Monday, May first, we anticipate that the hot water heating will be turned off for the summer. It is quite common to have occasional snows after May. (In fact, we had snow flurries this morning.)


Thank you for praying for our family and the team! May the Lord bless each one of you 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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Reports from China

Adam's Updates

Friday, March 3rd, 2006
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

So much has happened in the past week, it feels like we came back from China a month ago! Thank you for praying for our family as we traveled down to China to help with the first two Character Family Seminars to be held in Mainland China.

For the past several years, the Character First! team in China has been working with a handful of businesses and corporations to implement principles of good character in the workplace. Rather than starting off in as many companies as they could, Peter and the team wisely choose to work with a smaller number of businesses, but with a greater degree of involvement in each one.

Touring a couple of these companies, I was impressed with first-hand reports of the difference that the character focus has made in the workplace. One company had gone from many work-related accidents requiring compensation to twenty-four months without a single accident. Another told us that after implementing Character First!, they saw such a change in their company that the leadership in their United States office also decided to adopt the program.

Traveling from Ulaanbaatar to Shanghai, I remember walking out to our vehicle thinking, “It is amazing to be in China -without feeling any jet lag!” Traveling from America to meet us in Shanghai, Mr. Fahrenbruck didn’t get this advantage, but he still did a great job of leading the main sessions for the Family Seminars.

Meeting in Peter’s home on one of the first days, we had the opportunity to spend some time with the Character First! China staff. There is not much that I want to say here, but they really have a special team! After some fellowship time and introductions, we talked over the logistics and details of the Character Family Seminar. After doing so many things in Mongolia with little or no preparation, I had a real appreciation for the planning that Peter and the others had put into the seminars.

My brother David led the Children’s Seminar, assisted by the rest of my siblings, while I shared some sessions for the teenagers. A number of local families also joined Peter and the Character First! team, so overall, we had about 20 staff to help as nearly a hundred families came to attend the Shanghai seminar.

Understanding that our life will often communicate a far greater message than anything we say, I decided to use a lot of personal illustrations as I taught the teenager sessions on the topics of praising family members for character, and making appeals. The Lord answered prayer in giving the students a real interest as I shared about Isaac’s life and example, my own experiences of standing alone at my first job, and other personal examples.

Visiting the parent’s session, I watched as after learning how to praise for character, husbands and wives praised one another for demonstrations of specific character qualities. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I watched a wife, perhaps for the first time, praising her husband for the character that she had observed in his life. Although I could not understand the Chinese, the joy on her face as she looked up to her husband with tears running down her cheeks was a picture that I will not soon forget.

Towards the end of the seminar, my Dad was invited to speak for a few minutes on how we have worked to build character as a family. Although our family of eleven was in some ways a contrast to the one child policy in China, the simple truths that my Dad shared seemed to resonate in the hearts of the parents.

After my Dad finished sharing, he asked if I could come up and share a few words. With a joy and boldness that only the Lord can give, I shared about the importance of the choices we had made as a family. We still have many things to learn, but as I look back on the life of my twin brother Isaac, I know that the choices to build character as a family are choices that we will never regret.

After the session a couple guys came up and started talking with Dad and I. They said that they really appreciated what we had shared, and after some more conversation we learned that they were also Christians. Although we had been very careful not to use religious terms, they had sensed a deeper message in our lives, and wanted to know more about what we were doing in China and Mongolia.

We saw God’s hand working in so many details of our trip. One example was in the teenager session that we did in Beijing. Of the 15 or so students that came that morning, a few of them did not know English, so they were grateful for Jenny’s translation. In the afternoon session, however, all of the students understood my English. Without needing time for translation, I was able to share in much more detail the material that I was covering.

What none of us realized was that a couple hours later, Jenny would be needed to translate for the final sessions of the seminar. Looking back, we could not have planned it better. I was able to cover much more material with the teenagers, and Jenny was able to have a little rest so that she could be ready for the additional translation work.

In between the planning and seminars, Peter had arranged for our family to do some sight-seeing in Shanghai and Beijing. This was our first opportunity to spend a little time in China, and I found things to be such a contrast to Mongolia. A city with a population of three million, -the entire population of Mongolia, wouldn’t even show up on most maps of China!

Visiting a Carrefour store, it felt like we were walking through a four story Wal-Mart! I could hardly believe the vast array of things for sale. The food section alone was bigger than most grocery stores. You could buy live frogs, turtles and eels, and just about anything else you could ever want.

I remember watching a lady walking through one of the isles, placing various household items in her cart. I wonder how many people go through life, buying all the material possessions that they could ever want, but lacking in the basics of family relationships. Material possessions often portray a mirage of happiness, but behind this illusion lies the wreckage of millions of lives, destroyed by the love of money.

There is a true joy that can only come from right relationships. First, a right relationship to God through Jesus Christ, and then having strong relationships with our family, and those around us. All of our things are just going to burn up one day, but the ways that our life has touched others can bring fruit that is eternal.

Right now I believe that Mongolia is in a very important stage. A time when individuals and families are making the choice to pursue the things of this world, or to embrace the ideals of character. Enjoying new freedoms, people are faced with new choices. Do I spend my money on drink, or to buy food for my family. Do I study for my exams, or watch movies with my friends?

I believe that God is doing some special things in Mongolia, and I believe that the Character Training Institute has been a little part of this plan in turning people to righteousness. All around us we see an increasing interest in character training. When we got back from China, Tim told us that while we were away, more requests continued to come in almost daily for us to do character trainings for schools, businesses and organizations.

We have arranged our schedules to try to help with as many things as we can, but we still cannot keep up with the requests. On Tuesday a journalist came, asking if we could do a one hour interview with Channel 5, one of the most popular channels here. She was a former coworker with Khishgee, who works for WindFM, where we do a weekly call-in character program.

I normally do not jump to volunteer for these kinds of things  🙂 , but when God clearly brings an opportunity to make His ways known, may I not shrink back from proclaiming His truth to the nations. In myself I have nothing to offer, but in His Word, God has given us timeless principles and truths that bring joy and peace to those that follow His ways. It is God that has made us able ministers, and it is His grace that empowers us.

At church we are also seeing great things taking place. Last Sunday our pastor introduced the district leaders, mostly young men under thirty, but with a dedication to God that puts to shame most of our American youth groups. We also heard testimonies from several that publicly asked forgiveness for offending others, and another lady shared an incredible testimony of God’s provision for a financial need as she took steps to apply God’s ways to her life.

We continue to hear exciting reports from the weekly cell group meetings, as the Mongolians learn and apply Biblical principles in finance and other areas of life. Our friend Ganbaa was going to share a testimony about clearing his conscience and asking forgiveness for stealing, but there were so many other testimonies that he didn’t get the chance.

Back on the home front, Ganbaa, the crippled boy that we took in after finding him shivering in our stairwell with frozen ears when it was predicted that night to reach a temperature of -50F. Now rooming with one of our Mongolian staff, Ganbaa is taking great strides in Spiritual growth and character development.

Amidst the amazing advances that we are seeing around us, we also see very real challenges that remind us of our daily need for God’s grace. You might remember the Morely family, a missionary family that runs an orphanage on the outskirts of the city. (Derrick brought a western saddle from America for them when we returned to Mongolia in January.) They were recently facing some difficulties with the local authorities in getting their new building inspected, but never anticipated the fiery trial that they would face a few days later.

On Sunday morning Tim and Angie received a call from the Morelys and we learned that on Saturday night their house had caught fire. The guard was awakened by neighbors at midnight, and called for help from the fire department. Arriving in record time, the firemen worked with the badly leaking hoses in -22F weather to battle the fire that was blazing through the roof.

Mr. Morely and others worked to drag furniture and personal items from the fire, using all the available fire extinguishers in an attempt to slow the fire’s advance as the truck drove back to the city to refill the water tank. Five hours later the fire was finally out, but the entire roof and part of the house was destroyed. The weary firemen were covered with ice from the leaking hoses, and had to drag start the fire truck before they left.

On Sunday afternoon we bought some food and drove out to visit the Morelys. As we looked over the charred remains of the fire, something caught my eye. There on the top of a pile of rubble and burned books, I could still see the large words on the title of a songbook “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. What a neat picture of the hope and confidence that we have as Christians! Even when we are staring at the charred ashes of our circumstances, we have the confidence in the promises and faithfulness of God in working all things together for good.

As the Mongolian guard told us a little later, the important thing is that no one was hurt. A house can be rebuilt. I was very encouraged to see the faith of the Morelys as they trust God through this situation. It was not that long ago that Mr. Morely was standing by my side in the death of my twin brother. What a wonderful picture of the love of God’s people as we hold up each other’s arms, and encourage each other to an ever deepening trust in our Faithful God.


Praise Points:

  • Thank you so much for your prayers for our family while we were in China! We had a very full, but very special time with the Character First! China team. A good friend of ours traveled several hours to meet us in Shanghai, and we had many other special visits with like-minded people in China.
  • My parents were able to take a few days away last weekend for Mom’s birthday. It was a blessing for them to have some time to catch up on rest, and to have a little break from the responsibilities here.
  • Last Saturday we started our Character English Classes with the largest ever number of paid registrations. Nearly ninety students came to the first class as we taught on the character quality of patience. We are grateful for the generosity of the Mongolian International University staff in allowing us to use their facility. (Using their school classrooms and auditorium allows us to expand beyond the 20 person limit in our classroom.)
  • A specific answer to prayer from my last update is that we were able to locate a programmable phone for our new phone system. We found a good used one, which was far less expensive than a new unit.

Prayer Requests:

  • This week we began a weekly training schedule with the Batbaigal bakery staff. Baigalmaa came to know Christ a couple years ago after a character training, and her husband Bat has also recently believed. I am really excited about the potential of working with their company in the weeks to come. Pray that the Lord would use the character trainings to make a real difference in the lives of their workers.
  • Yesterday Erin, Cindy and I went to the Channel 5 TV studio to tape a one hour program that is scheduled to be aired this Sunday. I was able to share about Isaac’s life and example of character. Pray that the Lord would give wisdom to the engineers as they put together the program, and that it would touch the hearts of many people.
  • On Monday of next week we have the early registration deadline for the English and Russian Basic Seminar planned for early April. Pray that many English and Russian speaking Christians would be able to come and hear practical truths from the Word of God.
  • We are very grateful for the phone system that the Lord provided through some friends in Minnesota. A few days ago we were able to the phone lines connected into our phone system. The good news is that it is now in operation, but the bad news is that in the initial setup, some unforeseen power loading issues with the battery backup may have caused some internal damage to the unit. Pray that the Lord would give wisdom in getting this repaired next week.
  • Please pray for continued grace and strength for the Morely family after the fire. They have been a testimony of God’s grace through this time, but I know that there are many decisions that have to be made and projects that will require extra time and resources.


Pictures:

Our staff gathered in front of the school where we held the very

first Character Family Seminar in China.

In between the preparation and seminars, we were able to do some

sight-seeing in Shanghai and Beijing. This picture was taken at the

“Summer Palace” in Beijing.

On our final day, we spent the afternoon at the Great Wall.

You can see several more pictures on our website at the link below.

The Morely’s house on the day after the fire.

This is the sight that touched my heart as we surveyed the charred

remains outside the back bedroom.

P.S.

If you would like to write a little note of encouragement to the Morely family,

please send it to me, and I would be happy to forward it on to them.

You can see many more new pictures on our family website.

The pictures page for this update includes over a hundred photos, mostly from our visit to China.


Interesting Fact:

Here in Mongolia, cheese is fairly expensive, but one interesting detail is that all of the cheese is white in color. Even Cheddar and other cheese that would normally be yellow in America looks white, just like Mozzarella.


Thank you for your continued prayers for our family. It has been exciting to see all that the Lord is doing in these days and weeks, and I often feel like the updates just barely scratch the surface of our daily adventures. -You will just have to for a visit and see for yourself.  🙂

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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Touch and Go

Adam's Updates

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

I usually like to spend more time in writing my updates, (often four to six hours), but with our family leaving tomorrow to spend two weeks in China, this one might have to be finished a little quicker. (I will explain more about our China trip later in this e-mail.)

After finally finishing our packing the night before, our family left from Chicago on the 19th of January to return to Mongolia, the land we had left so unexpectedly two months prior. Our time in America was a very full two months, but a fruitful time as we shared with family and friends of the faithfulness of the Lord. His grace continues to carry our family through this time of adjustment to our family without Isaac.

We were all looking forward to our return to Mongolia, although we knew that we would experience more emotions as we returned to the place where we had last been with Isaac. Taking advantage of the number of people in our family that were traveling, we arranged to carry as many supplies and materials as we could fit in our bags, while still meeting the 50 pound weight limit.

Privileged to stay in the same home at IBLP Headquarters that our family had stayed at on our return from Mongolia, we enjoyed some final visits with friends and a short but good night’s rest before heading to the airport early in the morning.

Even at the airport we saw the Lord’s hand prospering our way as we began the 30 hour journey to Mongolia. You can imagine the wagon train as our family brought over 40 pieces of luggage through the glass doors into the Chicago airport. After watching us take several trips up to the counter with large bags, a kind man from the United check-in area helped move our baggage, and went on to arrange all of our tickets so we could sit together on the plane, and have our luggage checked all the way through to Mongolia.

As we prepared to board the aircraft, I thought back to another divine appointment that had taken place the day before. While our family was at Headquarters, I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours talking with Phil Garvin. With a heart to share Christ with those he meets in daily activities, Mr. Garvin is sharing the Gospel and leading people to the Lord almost every day.

When teaching others how to share their faith, one of his favorite questions in reference to evangelism is: “Do you feel that you are a seed sower?” “God doesn’t call us to be seed sowers, He calls us to be fishermen. Fishermen go out expecting to catch fish.” Together we prayed that the Lord might even give me the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with someone on the plane the next day.

Knowing that all of our seats were booked together, I had to smile as I saw God’s divine hand at work. My seat was on the end by the window, and next to me was an empty chair. As the boarding continued, I was joined by a Chinese man about my age who seemed very friendly. As the flight got underway, our conversation deepened beyond basic introductions.

Six years ago, my friend had left China to take a job in America. Now with a wife and family back in the States, he was going back to China for the first time to spend the Chinese New Year with family and his mother who is dying of cancer.

Asking about his church background, I was surprised to learn that he had visited church a few times in America, and actually had a friend that took time for Bible Study and discussion together. Although he was a Buddhist by tradition with his family, he seemed open to the message of the Gospel. He listened as I shared of God’s love in sending Jesus to be the substitute for the punishment we deserve for our sins.

As our conversation moved on to other topics, I began sharing with him about my twin brother Isaac. He laughed as I shared some of the interesting things we have done together as twins, and then listened as I shared about Isaac’s service in Oklahoma City, and then with our family in Mongolia. His interest deepened as I shared about Isaac’s unexpected illness, and the race for life in those final hours.

Deeply touched as I shared of Isaac’s death, he reached across and took my hand. “I am so sorry!” With his own mother in the final stages of cancer, the reality of death could not have been far from his mind. He looked down again at the tract that I had given him as I shared the confidence that we have as Christians. We will see our brother again because he had taken the free gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ. “Yes, I will really think about it.” He told me.

I was so encouraged to see how through the testimony of Isaac’s life, he had gone from a polite understanding to a serious interest in the plan of Salvation. He asked if there were any Christian churches in Beijing that he could visit while he was there. Pray for my friend, that God would open his heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that he might receive the eternal gift of Salvation.

Arriving in Ulaanbaatar after over 30 hours of traveling, the weary travelers were encouraged to see a number of our staff and friends that came to welcome our midnight arrival and carry our baggage to the waiting vehicles. One bag was lost in transit to Beijing as the tag tore off in handling. This bag was located in Beijing and sent up on another flight a few days later.

In preparation for our return, our Mongolian staff had graciously worked to clean our apartments, and Dorjbat and his crew worked long hours to finish the remodeling work and move furniture back into the rooms. Only those who have lived in our CTI apartments can fully appreciate the transformation from mismatched wallpaper and years of coal smoke into nicely painted walls and trim.

Grateful for a few days rest before work started on Monday, our family began to make the adjustments back into our home in Mongolia. We were all pretty tired after the long flight, and had some simple meals of oatmeal and rice before we could get out to do our regular grocery shopping.

Tim, Angie and Erin returned a week later, bringing our team back up to full strength after several months apart. The opportunities before us are sometimes overwhelming, but the God that has given us a Great Commission has also promised us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The times that I get overwhelmed are the times that I try to carry the burden myself.

Almost every day we are getting requests for character trainings, and our schedule is rapidly filling up. Tim has given me responsibility for the character training side of our operations here, overseeing the translation work and scheduling character trainings. I nearly missed lunch the last couple days as I met with inquirers that wanted to schedule more trainings.

Like Moses as he took on the responsibilities of leading God’s people, the Lord has given me grace to match the task before me. God never promised that it would be easy, but He did promise that we would always have the grace to do His will. I am so grateful for the joy and peace that this grace provides, and for the team that God has raised up to assist in the work.

Often working on my own, I have not had very much experience in delegating tasks to others, but these new responsibilities have given me a chance to grow in this area. It is so neat how the Lord often works through our authorities to allow us to grow in skills that we would not have thought of ourselves.  🙂 It has been a joy to work with David and Rachelle as they oversee the training and translation operations, respectively.

Moving on to our present life in Mongolia, I should mention that last week our family had the opportunity to participate in Sagansar, the biggest traditional holiday for the people of Mongolia. Probably something like our Christmas, it consists of several days of feasting, visiting relatives, and giving small gifts. Each Mongolian also turns one year older on Sagansar.

Although many families, and especially young Christians are faced with the pressure to drink and other unhealthy practices, our family and staff was blessed to receive invitations to some very gracious families. Responding kindly as we blundered through the traditional customs, our hosts took great delight in answering the phone and telling other friends that they had twelve Americans visiting their ger.  🙂

You will probably enjoy the pictures section of this update, where some digital photos will save a few thousand words in describing the food and traditional dress associated with this holiday. One tradition was to have some of the people take turns singing a song. Of course they all wanted to hear the Americans sing, so we sang a few songs together. David, Derrick and I were glad that we had brought our harmonicas and played a couple songs, much to the enjoyment of our host family.

Tomorrow afternoon our family is scheduled to fly to Beijing, China, then on to Shanghai where we will join with a team of others in China to conduct two Character Family Seminars. The Character First! training material is currently being used in several large companies in China, but this will be the first time to introduce a seminar to help families learn how they can focus on character as a family.

David has been coordinating most of the details for this trip, and will be leading the Children’s program. I am scheduled to lead some sessions for the teen-agers, while Mr. Fahrenbruck from Oklahoma City will lead the adult sessions. The Shanghai seminar registration exceeded expectations and swelled to some 275 families, while the Beijing seminar remained significantly smaller.

Please pray for our family as we prepare for these seminars. We will have an all-day seminar in Shanghai on Saturday, and a second seminar the following week in Beijing. The China team has worked mostly with businesses, so this will be a neat opportunity for us to train their team on how to run a children’s program and family seminar.

“Touch and Go”, the title of this update, refers to the aviation maneuver of landing and airplane on a runway, then taking off again. It has reference to our brief few weeks in Ulaanbaatar before leaving for China, but pondering the words brings out a deeper meaning. In a sense, it represents the opportunities that we have in our lives, to take the brief opportunity to touch the life of another, before we move on to the next thing.

In reality, we can do a lot of “going”, so to speak, but it has to be the Lord to “touch” the hearts and lives of people that we come in contact with. Please continue to pray with us that the Lord would use our often brief contacts with those around us to touch lives for eternity.


Praise Points:

  • We are so grateful for the diligence of our Mongolian staff as they ran the entire operation in our absence. In addition to the added responsibilities of remodeling several apartments, they handled requests for character trainings, the weekly call-in program with the radio station, and even did some character trainings on their own!
  • Praise the Lord for some very good call-in radio programs in the last couple weeks as Cindy and I discuss the character quality of sincerity on WindFM. In addition to callers by phone, people have begun sending questions by text messages for us to talk about. We have had some very good opportunities to discuss Biblical principles in dealing with relationships. (Although we don’t mention God or the Bible.) I found it quite encouraging last week as a caller sent a text message in English with something like the following: “Thanks for the character program! I can really sense the Holy Spirit! God bless you!” (No, we didn’t read that one on the air.)
  • Among the more interesting things in our baggage, Derrick successfully managed to bring an entire Western Roping Saddle for some missionary friends. Their dad was having trouble riding the small wooden Mongolian saddles at their orphanage project outside the city.

Prayer Requests:

  • The Lord has given me the opportunity write an article in honor of Isaac’s life of service to the Lord. Planned for the website of our homeschooling organization, pray that the Lord will give wisdom in making the final edits and use this article to touch the lives of many others.
  • Pray for the Waller family and Erin Randall as we travel to China for the seminars. Pray that the Lord will give us a quick adjustment into a new culture, and that we would be an encouragement to the International student families that attend our seminars.
  • We are currently working to get our phone system into operation again. I carried a donated phone system to Mongolia to replace our smaller system that died just before the Basic Seminar last summer. Pray that the Lord would allow us to easily locate a used programmable phone that we can use to set up the system. (We understand that they are available, but have not been able to get one quite yet.)


Pictures:

Sunrise on the 19th, the beginning of our journey back to Mongolia.

This round tent-like structure is called a ger. (“Gare”) It is the traditional

Mongolian nomadic home, and still quite common, even in the city.

Nordema, a student for one of our character classes, invited our family to visit her ger.

The round tower on the center of the table is built from bricks of fried bread.

It is stacked taller or shorter, depending on the age of the oldest member

of the family. On top are little sugar cubes, dried yoghurt and other little dainties.

Altan-hoyig, a young man from our church has been working as a missionary

in the countryside for the past several months. He came to get some

materials and advice as he prepares to teach our character materials in

his countryside town, hundreds of miles from Ulaanbaatar.

You can see some more pictures on our family website.


Interesting Facts:

Have you ever wondered what the weather was like in Mongolia? Last week the weather of Ulaanbaatar was predicted to dip to -50 F, with a “realfeel” temperature of -100. While some areas probably did get that cold, the temperature outside our apartment only dropped to -31 or so. Thankfully the hot water heating system kept everyone warm through the cold snap.


Thank you for praying for our family as we serve overseas! I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit knows just how to encourage us at the right time through your prayers.

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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