From:
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 8:26 AM
To:
Subject: Prayer Update 1/21/05 Plumbing in Mongolia
Friday, January 21st, 2005
Dear Family
and Friends,
After
spending a very full month visiting with family and friends in the States, Tim
and Angie were scheduled to arrive back in
Thinking of
the repairs and improvements that we had worked on in their apartment before
their first arrival as a couple, I was reminded of the bathroom faucet. In
The one in
their apartment had old, unmatched handle replacements, and the badly leaking
spout hardly reached the sink. It still had some functionality, but was not
what we wanted to leave for our newly married director and his wife.
We
purchased a replacement faucet last summer, but with the many other projects, I
ran out of time before I could install it. Now that Tim and Angie were away, I
thought that this might be a perfect opportunity to replace it for them.
A little
more research revealed that I could get a much higher quality faucet for just a
few dollars more, so I exchanged the new Russian one for the better Czech
model. Changing into some work clothes, I went over one evening to take out the
old faucet.
Little did
I imagine what I was getting in to! The water pipes, I discovered, came in at a
strange angle instead of perpendicular to the wall. The old faucet had been
installed by means of a custom wedge shaped rubber gasket, but the design of
the new one did not allow for such a simple solution. The Russian faucets, I
also discovered, use a different thread size for their three-quarter inch
fittings.
I carefully
set out to remove one of the brass fittings, only to have the aged part
crumble under the wrench. Unfortunately, the threaded part broken off inside
the cast iron elbow did not come out so easily. It took about an hour of sawing
notches with the end of a hacksaw blade to remove the remaining pieces of the
old fitting.
The second
fitting only lasted slightly longer before it too tore off from the pipe elbow.
(You might be interested in seeing the picture below.) Sensing that this was an
opportunity to live out some of the character that we teach, I patiently worked
to extract the threaded end from the pipe.
My efforts
to move the sink also met with some unexpected challenges. I was drilling a
hole through the cement for a new anchor when I hit something metal. It did not
seem like rebar, and I could not imagine why they would put an electrical
conduit or water pipe at this location inside the wall. I was not extremely
anxious to drill through it without knowing what kind of surprise was waiting
on the other side. :-)
I remember
praying and talking with my parents about the project. Was God trying to
redirect my energies, or was this just an opportunity to work through some
challenges? I sensed that the latter was the case, but I was wondering how to
proceed on the project.
The next day
it seemed like the Lord brought everything together. The last pieces of the old
fitting came out, and I was able to have a new fitting custom welded to
adapt to the angle. The metal behind the sink turned out to be just a metal
plate embedded inside the wall for the original sink brackets.
It is a
different experience working on these types of repairs in a foreign country! It
is often difficult to get good tools, and extra creativity is required to work
with a limited supply of materials. I do enjoy the challenge though, and
enjoy being able to serve others in this way.
Living on a
farm and always trying to find the most creative and resourceful way to
repair things was great practice for mission work! It also lets a person see
how important it is to have the Lord's blessing in the work that you are doing.
So many times the Lord can give a little creative idea that saves a great deal
of time and money.
We have
also seen the Lord's blessing in other areas of the work. You might remember Gambaa, a homeless Mongolian boy that trusted Christ for
Salvation a few weeks ago. It was with surprise and delight one Sunday morning
that I found him coming to join us for the walk to church. Just the night
before, Jedidiah had specifically prayed that Gambaa
would be able to come to church with us.
Also
joining us was Byambaa, a young lady from our
Saturday Character-English class. She is a Christian and was looking for a good
church to attend. Byambaa really seemed to enjoy the
service at
A couple
weeks ago we stayed after the main service to talk with some of the Mongolian
young people. It was a really neat time of sharing together with different
ones. One young man only knew a few English words, and I only knew a few
Mongolian ones, but as we pointed out the Bible passages that have been a
blessing to us recently, I could sense a kindred spirit that needed no words to
communicate.
Last
Wednesday was a day with many challenges. In some ways it was one of the most
difficult times that I had experienced with Tim and Angie away, but God's grace
was there to perfectly match my need. Little wonder that the very day that Tim
and Angie returned would see the greatest opposition from the enemy of our
souls. God's grace triumphed and we joyfully welcomed our leaders back to
The Lord
continues to work in amazing ways. In my last update I mentioned that there
were no seats available on the flight that I was planning to take on the 19th.
Talking further with my parents and Tim, I explored some further options, and
found a number of benefits that could come if I stayed a week later.
Then with
the arrival of Tim and Angie, I learned that our International director George Mattix was coming for the first time to see the work in
God's ways
are so amazing! It reminds me of the verse in Proverbs that explains how man
plans his way, but God directs his steps. I had planned what seemed perfectly
logical, but God directed to an even better plan, based on factors that I did
not know at the time. The most interesting thing in this is that investigating
things further, it still remains a mystery why we were told that the initial
flight was full.
I also
wanted to share a little update on the Mongolian Bible Software. After the meeting
with Ewen, the Lord allowed us to work out the final
details to begin testing the first Mongolian Bible software. Just last week I
had the joy of installing it on our translator's computer. Saraa
was very excited about being able to do word searches, and said that she
will be using the program a lot. We will probably take a couple months to
test it out before doing a wide-scale release, but it is very exciting to see
this project coming together.
The
adventures of the last few days took a new turn last week as Tim's laptop
suddenly began to crash. The infamous "Blue Screen" seemed to
indicate either overheating or a hard drive failure. I was very grateful to be
able to copy the most needed information from the failing hard drive before it completely
crashed a couple days later.
My heading
back to the States will allow Tim and Angie to use the computer that I was
using, and I should be able to take their laptop back to the States to be
serviced under warranty. I am so glad that this happened before I left! It
would have been much harder to work through remotely, and this way I can take
the computer back to the States with me.
These last
few days before I leave promise to be very full, but it is so exciting to see
all that God is doing here! Just this afternoon we finished
teaching a two-day, 8 hour training on the character quality of sincerity.
There were a number of very special answers to prayer as God gave us the
ability to teach, even with very little preparation time.
I am
looking forward to seeing family and friends back in the States, and most of my
remaining hours here will probably be used in wrapping up the final details for
my return next week.
Praise
Points:
- Praise
the Lord for the safe return of Tim and Angie. It has been a real blessing to
have them leading our team here, and all of us appreciate the personal
investment that they have made in our lives.
- I am very
grateful to see the Lord answer prayer in allowing the
Bible Software project to be brought to reality in the past few weeks. I am
looking forward to the day, possibly in a couple months, when it can be freely
distributed throughout
- The
Lord's hand in orchestrating my return date has proved such a blessing! This
"extra" week allowed me to be involved in teaching one more
"Teacher Training" class before I leave.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that
the Lord would continue to extend His blessing on Mr. Mattix'
visit. Tim, Angie and Mr. Mattix had good meetings
with two government leaders yesterday, and Mr. Mattix
will be preaching at
- With my
departure date on Wednesday the 26th, pray that the Lord would allow me to wrap
up the most important details and projects before I go, but still be able to
take time with the staff here.
Pictures:
Sometimes
old fittings don't just unscrew. Such was the case with the brass fittings in
Tim and Angie's apartments.
Although
the smoke gets pretty thick in the winter, it sometimes affords some neat
sunrises and sunsets.
Our taxi
driver pulled up behind this truck so that I could get a good picture of a
Mongolian meat truck. This one is carrying frozen sheep.
Here I am
showing our translator Saraa how to use the new
Mongolian Bible Software.
Staying an
extra week allowed me to take part in one more teacher training class before I
left. Most of these teachers are from one private school in the area.
Our friend Dorjbat is back to help us with removing the water
damaged wallpaper in one of our apartments.
Taken just
hours ago, this picture shows an interesting combination of old and new. The
traditional Mongolian gers are round structures built
with wood poles and covered in heavy felt and canvas.
Thank you
so much for your prayers! We really appreciate it.
In Christ,
- Adam
"And
let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if
we faint not." - Galatians 6:9