Browsing the archives for the Family News category

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

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

Print This Post Print This Post
 

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

Preparations to Return

Adam's Updates

Saturday, January 14th, 2006
Grantsburg, Wisconsin

Dear Family and Friends,

You know you are a missionary when you hear comments like “When we get back to Mongolia things should be more normal again.” This was spoken by my Dad a few days ago at the dinner table. These weeks at home have been a busy but fruitful time.

One thing that continues to amaze me is how God gives special wisdom to our authorities as they are faced with decisions that affect those under them. In December, my parents were discussing the idea of making a trip to Maryland to see a number of close friends that we had gotten to know during the couple years we lived in the area.

Although this sounded like a wonderful opportunity, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure if it might be too much for our schedule to do another cross-country trip just after Christmas before heading back to Mongolia on January 19th. Since both Mom and Dad felt that it would be good to make the trip, I decided to just wait and see what the Lord might do through it.

A further confirmation came on Christmas Day as we learned that Nell Pryde, a 90-year-old dear friend of ours had taken a bad fall and was in the hospital with serious head injuries. This is one of the friends that we had wanted to visit out east, and we all prayed that the Lord would give us the opportunity to see her again.

Who but the Lord could have foreseen how badly Nell needed that visit. After surviving the brain surgery to the surprise of the doctors, she still knew our family and remembered our names. She is a strong Christian and ready to meet her Savior, but as she told us, God must still have some work for her to do.

It was a joy to meet with many friends and families, most of whom we had not seen since we moved to Wisconsin four years ago. One of the highlights for me was to see the Wold family. We had known them in Maryland, and some unexpected events in their lives left an impression that I never forgot.

While September of 2001 marks for many a major event in history, the lives of the Wold family were forever changed the year before. Our family was planning to get together with them on September 8th, but plans changed and we had to postpone the dinner. Then, that very evening as Mr. Wold was jogging near their home, a car came around a curve and struck Mr. Wold. Airlifted to the hospital, he passed away in surgery a few hours later, leaving a family of nine children and one on the way.

My family joined hundreds of others at the funeral a few days later to witness a powerful testimony of a family that had taken hold of God’s grace through this seeming tragedy. I still clearly remember seeing their family sitting in the front row of the church, with a confidence and joy that shone through the tears. Testimonies by Mrs. Wold and their oldest son Daniel proclaimed God’s faithfulness through this unexpected loss.

How little did I realize that just five years later, it would be my family sitting on the front row of a large church in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and I would have a similar opportunity to boldly testify of God’s grace. Memories of the Wold family often came to mind as we walked through this experience as a family, and like the Wolds, we were surrounded by God’s grace and the love and prayers of others.

Our visit to the east coast was marked by many special visits and opportunities to share of God’s faithfulness. Looking back, I am so glad that we went. It was a lot of miles to travel, but the rich fellowship with friends left us with special memories as we returned to the farm for the final packing and preparations for our return to Mongolia.

The Lord continues to give us opportunities to share with others of the grace that God has given us through this time. Last Sunday we were invited to share at a small church in the area. Our family shared some special music, and I was given the opportunity to preach the message.

Perhaps what made this opportunity especially significant is that one of the families that attends this church lost a five-year-old daughter in a farming accident last Spring. The Quimby family was a real testimony to the community as they shared the confidence they had that their daughter was with Jesus. (See: http://www.burnettcountysentinel.com/main.asp?FromHome=1&TypeID=1&ArticleID=8766&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=20)

Going through an experience like Isaac’s death gives a new depth in relating with others. I never realized before how many people have gone through difficult losses in their lives. I believe that this is a part of the fruit that God brings through these challenges. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

This is one thing that I am looking forward to in going back to Mongolia. God has given us a door of opportunity, and now God has given us a deeper message to share. As Mom was sharing with me while traveling home in the van last night, this is our message. We are not wonderful or special people. We have had many failures and many mistakes as we try to walk in His grace, but God in His great love and mercy has chosen to shine through our weakness to show His power.

Missionaries are not some special type of people that have achieved a measure of status that sets them apart. We still go through very real challenges and struggles, just like any other family. That is why we so appreciate your prayers for us. We have been strong through this time because God’s grace has carried us. The Eternal God is our refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

With our sights turning to Mongolia, we look forward with eager anticipation to the work that God has before us. Our Mongolian staff tell us that calls continue to come in from different groups asking for character training. A few days ago a well known company asked if we could do training for their staff. Another meeting brought the proposal to get materials for the next nine character qualities translated and printed as soon as possible.

In February we are scheduled to travel to two cities in China, teaching Character Family Seminars to the students and families of some International schools. David has been preparing the curriculum for the Children’s Seminar, and I am planning to do the training for the teenagers while Mr. Fahrenbruck leads the sessions for the parents.

Many things are just waiting for our return to Mongolia, so I have a feeling that we will “hit the ground running”, so to speak, when we land in Ulaanbaatar next week. Please continue to pray for us as we work out the final arrangements for packing and travel.


Praise Points:

  • We are grateful for how the Lord continues to provide for our family, often in interesting ways. A good friend asked if we needed any firewood, and brought three cords of dried sawmill slabs. Another friend from church said, “yes, but you need some chunk wood too.” He arrived a few days later and unloaded a semi load of hardwood logs onto our woodpile!
  • Some of our relatives thought it would be prudent for me to have some blood tests done here in the States before going back to Mongolia, so I paid a visit to the doctor last week. I know that my times are in the Lord’s hand, but it was nice to see that everything came back as normal.
  • Praise the Lord for a good visit to Maryland, and the safe travel along the way.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for our family as we do the final packing and preparations for our return to Mongolia. We are planning to drive down to the Chicago area on Tuesday, and fly to Mongolia on Thursday, the 19th of January.
  • Please pray that we would have good health for the trip, and a good adjustment to Mongolia. Sarah is recovering from strep throat, and the is some illness going around our area.
  • Pray for the team in Mongolia as they work to finish some remodeling projects in the main apartments. We appreciate the hard work of our Mongolian staff as they replace the aging wallpaper and paint the floors in the midst of all the other projects.


Pictures:

Taken while our family still lived in Maryland, this picture shows

one of the Wold boys playing trumpet between Derrick and Isaac.

You can read more about their story on their son Daniel’s website.

“Well, you need some chunk wood too.“, a dear friend from

church told us, arriving a few days later with “some chunk wood.”

(A semi load of hardwood logs.)

Although we miss Isaac, it was great to be together as a

family for Christmas.

“Been traveling long?”… Matthew was finding creative ways

to enjoy the trip out to the east coast.

Out in the field, Derrick was excited to see the corn harvest

coming in from our fields.

Sunrise over our home a few days ago. We enter this new

season in our family with a deeper confidence in the

all-sufficient grace of our loving Savior.


In most of my updates, I have struggled with the decision of how many pictures to put in my update. I usually select several, but have to narrow it down to just a few to keep the e-mail size small enough for our friends with dial-up connections. Now, with our family website, I have posted some additional pictures for those that are interested.

You can visit http://www.cadlinx.com/wallerfamily/index_files/Pictures/06-01-14.htm to see the other 32 pictures.


Thank you for your prayers for our family as we head back to Mongolia. It was such a joy to see so many that have been praying for us over these past months.

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

Updates on Isaac Waller Prayer Request

Adam's Updates

Thursday, November 22nd, 2005
Grantsburg, WI

Dear Family and Friends,

As most of you have heard by this time, on November 4th, 2005, the Lord called my twin brother Isaac Waller home after a sudden illness while serving with his family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers from people all over the world.

I know that there are many praying for us who do not usually get my updates, and some who have only heard scattered details from these recent events. With this in mind, I have been working for the past several days to make a simple website with my past prayer update newsletters so that people can read more of the story.

If you sent or forwarded some of the initial e-mails and prayer requests for Isaac, please take a moment and forward this e-mail on as well. We want as many of our friends as possible to hear the testimony of Isaac’s life, and to see God’s love and faithfulness in carrying our family through this time.

You can click the following link to see our family website:

http://cadlinx.com/wallerfamily/

This Christmas season will be very different for our family, but we rejoice in confidence that Isaac is enjoying his best Christmas ever in heaven, in the presence Jesus Christ, his Savior. It was a great privilege to have Isaac as a part of our family, and we rejoice in the twenty-five years that God gave us to enjoy with him.

May God bless you, and give you a special Christmas season this year!

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

Places to go, people to see

Adam's Updates

Thursday, December 15th, 2005
Grantsburg, Wisconsin

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been several weeks since I have last written, but this past month after our return to America has been a very full one. Memorial services, spending time with family and friends, traveling from Chicago to Wisconsin, to Oklahoma and back to our farm have kept things busy for us.

One month ago yesterday, we left Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to take some time with family and friends back in the States. Arriving in Chicago the evening of November 14th after over 24 hours of traveling, we were greeted at the airport by a group of staff from IBLP headquarters. Eager hands helped load our luggage into a trailer as the weary travelers climbed into the waiting vans.

After a special meeting and words of encouragement from Dr. Gothard (Director of IBLP), we were ushered into one of the IBLP staff houses. Tears again filled our eyes as we saw a turkey dinner prepared for us by loving friends, and stacks of groceries provided for our few days in Chicago.

I remember staring at the white floor and walls, and feeling the soft carpet under my feet. I hadn’t seen a microwave in months, and when you turned on the hot water, hot water actually came out. Experiencing jet lag for his first time in his seven years of age, I heard Matthew bounce out of bed at 3 AM the next morning and run up the stairs. For the next several hours we heard him doing summersaults across the carpet above us.

Even with such short notice, many friends joined us the following evening for a time of sharing and fellowship together. Staff from IBLP graciously allowed us to use their staff dining room, even preparing refreshments and working with us to design a simple program honoring Isaac’s service to the Lord.

Greatly blessed by the continued outpouring of love and generosity, our family drove a few days later to our farm in Grantsburg, Wisconsin to prepare for the memorial services scheduled to take place the week following.

Having closed down the house for winter, we were not sure what to expect, but God again went before us in the way of a kind neighbor. Tom Quimby started up the heating system in our house so that we could come out of the cold, snowy night into a warm house. Loving neighbors and friends brought meals and firewood as we worked to settle back in to our farmhouse and get the septic system back into operation.

Holding the memorial services in the church where Isaac and I had come to Christ at the age of five, we were again greatly blessed by the love of family and friends that came to be with us, and to witness the testimony of a life lived for the Lord. The singing, sharing, testimonies and message continued for over two hours. I don’t think any person that attended could miss how special Isaac was to so many, or the grace that God has given us to trust Him through this time. There is a reason behind the hope that lies within us!

Since our return home, Derrick has been encouraging me to write an article for our local newspaper, sharing the testimony of Isaac’s life. With the memorial services behind us, I turned my focus to this new project. Isaac’s homegoing has brought many opportunities to give witness for Christ, and when God brings these opportunities, I don’t want to hide my light under a bushel, but place it on a candlestick where it might bring glory to God.

The project would have been easier, had I known a little more of God’s incredible providence in raising up a man for such a time as this. Byron Higgin, the editor of our local newspaper is a strong Christian and has often taken bold stands in acknowledging the Lord through his work.

Yesterday afternoon I saw my first copy of the newspaper, and found that the article was not just tucked away somewhere, but a color picture on the front page leading to my article, complete with pictures, on the second page! Byron had written another article about our family, and included a third story, condensed from one of my updates, filling the entire page. Only God could have worked out something like that.

Traveling to Oklahoma City early in December, we spent a few days at the Training Center where Isaac had worked for the year and a half prior to our time in Mongolia. Again welcomed by many friends, we took an evening to watch the slide show of pictures from Isaac’s life and talk with many that have known us over the past several years.

One of the families had offered the use of their cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and our family was able to spend several days there by ourselves. This was a much needed time to be together as a family. Almost a year ago, this had been the last location where we were all together before going to Mongolia.

There were more tears as we sat down to dinner as a family without Isaac, and later as we watched video clips of Isaac talking, leading music and playing his harmonicas and trombone in Oklahoma City.

But there were happy times as well. The Fahrenbrucks had left a fishing rod at the cabin, so the younger ones were excited to get some tackle and a can of corn to take to the park. While the older ones played volleyball, I watched Lydia, Rebecca and Matthew at the lake as they worked together putting corn on the hook and taking turns with the rod.

I decided not to spend the $25 to buy a license for a few hours of fishing, so the three youngest were on their own. Words can hardly describe the moments of suspense, everyone leaning forward and holding their breath as the bobber began dipping into the water. Matthew’s arms were almost shaking with excitement as he earnestly looked over at me. “Should I pull yet?”

“No, not yet,” I said, my eyes fixed on the bobber. “Wait till the bobber goes all the way under… Wait… Get ready… And… Wait… Go!” Matthew’s muscles flexed as all the minutes of restrained suspense were unleashed in a single reflex that sent the bobber, hook and line all flying clear out of the water onto the shore. Needless to say, there was no fish, or corn, remaining on the hook.

After we all had a good laugh, Rebecca put some more corn on the hook and Matthew coiled for another cast. With a little practice, all three of them managed to catch some small panfish. I was really glad that none of the fish swallowed the hook. Step-by-step tonsillectomy lessons are not usually on the list of most popular topics for beginning fishermen.

Spending the weekend with friends in Guthrie, Oklahoma, we saw others that remembered Isaac teaching at a children’s seminar the year before. One man from the church there told us in tears that he has been praying for us every day since he heard of Isaac’s death.

The sun rose on Monday morning to find our van already several hours underway on the trip back up to the farm. Thirteen hours is a long drive, but we were all relieved to arrive home that evening. A warm crackling fire in the wood stove was a welcome sight as we worked to carry in the luggage from our trip.

This week Rachelle and I have been working on a database of contacts and friends. This is a project that we have been thinking and planning toward for the past several years, but the many details in connection with Isaac’s passing have made it more of a necessity.

I am hoping and planning to set up a simple Web site with my past updates, so that people who may have just gotten a few forwarded e-mails can read the rest of the story. I plan to send out an e-mail with a link and a few more details as soon as I am able.

I also wanted to express my gratefulness to each of you that have written to us in the past month. With so many other things going on, I have not yet been able to respond to most of these e-mails, but please know that each one has been a special encouragement to us through this time.


Praise Points:

  • We are so grateful for the overwhelming love and care of family and friends through this time. God continues to pour out His grace upon our family, and we know that this is a result of so many that are praying for us.
  • Praise the Lord for health and safety through all of the trips, meetings, and events of the past month. It has been a very meaningful time of seeing many friends and loved ones of years gone by.
  • We have been able to book tickets for our return to Mongolia on January 20th. We are all looking forward to returning to the work in Mongolia. God is opening up many new opportunities for ministry in the months ahead.

Prayer Requests:

  • Please pray that the Lord would continue to pour out His grace as we celebrate Christmas this year without Isaac. We are so grateful for the twenty-five years that God allowed us to enjoy his presence in our family, but we still miss him.
  • Pray for the team in Mongolia as Tim, Angie, and Carissa head back to the States for Christmas. Our Mongolian staff will be doing some light remodeling in the main apartment, and carrying on the office responsibilities for us.


Pictures:

During our stay at the IBLP Headquarters, we were graciously allowed to stay in one of the staff houses. It was an ideal setting to adjust to the 14 hour time difference from Mongolia.

Matthew was pretty excited to see some of the food that had been left for our family. – And the pile on the counter was just for our ride back home!

My Grandfather drove an hour and a half from his home to hang this sign to our garage door, welcoming us back from Mongolia.

In our travels we have had the opportunity to share at several churches that have been praying for our family during this time. Here my Dad shares a testimony at Western Hills Church in Oklahoma City before our family sings “Great is Thy Faithfulness”.

The fishing rod flexes as Matthew’s left-handed cast sends the line into the water.

Rebecca giggles and squeals in her first experience taking a fish off the hook.

The Waller family, smaller in size, but deeper in message.


Words cannot express how grateful we are for your prayers through these days! God continues to show Himself faithful as He leads us each day.

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

To God be the Glory!

Adam's Updates

Friday, November 11th, 2005
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

Just one week ago on Thursday night, I was awakened at 1:30 AM from a light sleep to a two-way radio ring, and a moment later I heard David’s voice, “Adam, can you come over here?” Slipping on a pair of sandals and grabbing my coat, I quietly crossed the hall to the other apartment.

Derrick was talking on the phone, and David met me with tears in his eyes. His broken voice almost whispered “Isaac didn’t make the flight.” I looked down by the phone, and saw the words “Brain hemorrhage” written by David’s trembling hand just a few moments earlier.

Slowly the realization came over me that my dear twin brother Isaac was with the Lord. Waking Rachelle and Sarah, the five of us each had the opportunity to talk with Mom and Dad, and then we gathered in a circle to pray.

Tears flowed freely as each of us poured out our hearts to the Lord, thanking Him for the twenty-five years that He had given Isaac to our family. My dear friends, I want you to know that there at the throne of God we found grace to help in our time of need.

Deciding to wake the four younger children at 6:00 AM to share the news, we quietly went back to our rooms to try to rest until morning.

Everything had happened so quickly, and so unexpectedly. Just a few days before, we were excited to see some improvement in Isaac’s leg. He had been in bed for just over a month with what appeared to be an infection in his left leg. After three antibiotics, the blood tests showed no infection, but still the pain lingered on.

Then it seemed that things were improving. The swelling and redness was going down, but other symptoms began to appear. Increasing pain in the kidneys, headaches and strange bleeding indicated that something was seriously wrong. Responding to our call at 5:00 AM, Dr. Choi came out to see Isaac, and further blood tests were done in the morning.

By early afternoon on Thursday, I had returned from an errand to hear that preliminary results were coming back from Isaac’s tests. His white blood cell count had gone from a normal range of up to 10,000 to an unheard of 375,000! We were advised to get Isaac on a flight to Beijing or Korea as quickly as possible.

Here we began to see Lord’s hand working as we raced to get Isaac on the evening flight to Korea. Through and incredible series of events, Isaac was on the plane in 50 minutes, on the way to Seoul. Things happened so fast that I was not even sure who had gone with Isaac until after they had left.

Mom and Dad were both able to be with Isaac, and in his last hour, he was able to look out the window and watch the setting sun. The next morning I wept as Samuel chose the hymn “Beyond the Sunset” in our family time together.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 teaches that one day all Christians will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, but I thought it was very special that Isaac would get an early opportunity to meet the Lord in the air.

Throughout this whole experience, we have seen God’s great lovingkindness in more and more ways. After further examination of Isaac’s case in Korea, the doctors have confirmed that Isaac had a very rare form of leukemia. A cancer doctor only sees this type about once in ten years.

Because the symptoms are so strange, it is extremely difficult to diagnose early and even in the world’s best hospitals, there is very little that could have been done to slow the rapid advance of this variation.

This actually brought us much comfort as we realized that Isaac’s body had been fighting this disease for probably the past year. If we had known of it then, there would have been little that we could do for him, and it is very likely that we would not be in Mongolia today.

Instead, God raised up this chosen vessel to bear the testimony of the Lord Jesus in the land of Mongolia, and for four months, our family enjoyed the fulfillment of my parents’ dream to one day serve together on the mission field.

If Isaac had become sick and died in the States, we would have been grieving together, and perhaps his life would have been a challenge to some. But here in Mongolia, we are seeing how God is using Isaac’s death in perhaps an even more powerful way. At the funeral on Wednesday, Pastor Dugermaa wept as he read a poem he had written of Isaac’s life.

Isaac had given his love and energy to the people of Mongolia. He had given his strength and youth, and given until he had given his very life and body into the soil of this land. Across Isaac’s tombstone was graven in English and Mongolian the verse “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Isaac had laid down his life, and served his last days to bring the message of hope to the people of Mongolia. What greater love could Isaac have shown for the One that had sent His Son, Jesus Christ, that the people of every kindred and tongue and nation might one day stand before His throne in paradise, redeemed unto God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Some 250 people attended Isaac’s funeral at First Church of Ulaanbaatar. Representatives from several churches, missionaries, friends, neighbors and students from our character classes comprised a wide variety of people from all walks of life.

Especially touched were those who do not know Christ. One mother and daughter that have attended our Character-English classes came to share their condolences. The daughter just burst into tears and sobbed. Without Christ, Isaac’s death would have been just an untimely tragedy. Pujaa translated for me as I shared the hope and confidence that I will see my brother again.

Another unsaved student came to the viewing, funeral, burial and reception time. Although she is a strong Buddhist, she seemed to be very deeply impacted by what she saw. She had a long talk with the assistant pastor of one of the local churches.

The missionary community also seemed greatly touched by Isaac’s testimony. Families that we have never really met rallied together to provide meals and support for us. The home-school organization furnished the reception, and their leader laid aside a busy schedule to assist us in organizing the services.

Of the funeral itself, it was like none that I have ever attended. There was an air of hope and confidence that shone through the unexpected sorrow like sunbeams through the clouds. No one could miss how special Isaac was to each one of us, and no could miss the fact that he was prepared to meet the Lord.

Dad and the older children each shared how their lives have been impacted by Isaac’s selfless example of giving to others. I shared on the verse from Psalm 112 that “Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness…” We have a hope and confidence that has been with us through this time, and we are seeing the light of God’s purpose shining brighter and brighter each day.

Isaac’s life has been a consistent testimony of a young man that served God all the days of his life. I have no regrets about our family coming to Mongolia. If I had to do it over, there is nothing that I would change. Although we have seen much fruit through Isaac’s life, I believe that God will bring even more fruit through the testimony of his death.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24

Right now our family is making plans to travel back to America on Monday, November 14th. We plan to spend a couple days in Chicago, then travel up to our farm in Wisconsin to prepare for a memorial service for friends and family.

God is working in some amazing ways as we work out our travel details. Yesterday the airline office told us that our round trip tickets had been canceled and we would have to buy new ones, but the the Lord has worked these things out, and we are actually able to travel together on the preferred Monday flight that will allow us to make a non-stop flight from Beijing to Chicago.

Tomorrow will likely be very full with our Character English classes in the morning, and packing and preparation in the afternoon. We leave early on Monday morning, so pray that we could have a productive day on Saturday, and a restful Sunday before the trip begins.


Memorial Services:

Location:

Summit Church

845 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota

(See http://www.summitag.org/ for directions)

Visitation:

5:00 – 8:00 PM

Memorial Service:

10:00 AM


Praise Points:

  • We are so grateful for the prayers of people all around the world that are praying for our family in this important time. God has been pouring out His grace upon each of us. We feel like we have just been carried through these days.
  • Praise the Lord for the many Christians and loving friends around us that have helped us work out so many logistical details over the past week.

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray that the Lord would give us smooth and restful travel back to the States, and that our family would be a testimony of the grace God has given us through this experience.
  • Pray that God would give great wisdom and discernment as we work through many details in the days to come.


Pictures:

One of the last pictures I have of Isaac, taken just 8 days before his death, as little as we imagined it at the time. Above him you can see his last creative project, a reading stand that enabled him to read several large biographies while laying in bed. Even while often in pain, his smile was a real encouragement to each of us.

I am so grateful for the confidence that we have as Christians. Although it is hard to say goodbye, I know that I will see my dear brother again.

Even with temperatures at 0 degrees (F), about 75-100 people came out for the burial.

A group of men strain to lift the gravestone. We ordered it the day before, and the workers had worked all night to inscribe Isaac’s name and the verses, finishing in time for the funeral on Wednesday.

There was no professional pulley system used to lower the casket, but with Jim’s coaching, we were able to get the job done smoothly.

Working to refill the hand dug grave. The physical work adds an element of reality to a burial in Mongolia.

To the right of a cross, Isaac’s name was inscribed in English and Mongolian, followed by his birth and homegoing dates: 1980.4.11 – 2005.11.4

On the inset black marble, we had the words of John 15:13 inscribed in English and Mongolian. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Isaac’s grave stands in lasting tribute to his service to the Lord in Mongolia. The hope that we have was such a contrast to the group of men in the distance performing a Buddhist burial. Isaac was buried next to the grave of Pastor Enkhbayar, a well known Mongolian pastor that died a few weeks ago.


Thank you so much for praying for our family in this important time!

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 

Together again

Adam's Updates

Monday, November 7th, 2005
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Dear Family and Friends,

Our days have simply been filled from morning till night with so many details. While we are at times physically and emotionally exhausted, God is giving us great strength and peace through this time. So many friends have gathered around us to help in any way that they can.

We have received e-mails from friends all over the world, many whom we have never met, that are praying for us, and this continues to bring us great encouragement. We know that God has a very special purpose for Isaac’s life and for our family in this time.

Today we drove out to the airport to welcome my parents back from Korea. It was a tearful reunion, but we have such a joy and hope in the midst of this loss. We will greatly miss my twin brother Isaac, but we are already seeing God do some very special things in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

Jesus said that all men would know we are His disciples by the love that we have for one another (John 13:35), and I am seeing this lived out in a reality that I have never before experienced. The kindness of Christian friends in Korea has brought such encouragement to my parents.

The doctor that helped receive Isaac from the plane was with my parents in the hospital until five the next morning. Every day he was with them and helped them make international calls from his cell phone. Other friends provided meals and spent time encouraging and praying with my parents through these hours.

Even through all these unexpected events, we see an even greater love, the great wisdom and loving care that God has shown to our family through this time. The fact that we were able to be serving together as a family for the last few months of Isaac’s life is something we will never regret. There are many other special things that we are now seeing, and I look forward to sharing them in greater detail over the days and weeks to come.

There are many arrangements and details yet to be worked out for the viewing tomorrow evening, and the funeral on Wednesday. Pray that the Lord will give us great wisdom in making so many important decisions. Our desire is that God would be glorified, and that our family would be a testimony of His grace and power in the midst of suffering.

We will miss Isaac very much, and continue to shed many tears, but we have a joy and a confidence that we will see him again! God has chosen in His perfect timing to take Isaac home, and already we have seen a number of people that have come to Christ through his testimony.

Today we were given permission by the Mongolian Government to purchase a burial site in a private cemetery. Isaac will be buried next to the grave of a leading pastor in Ulaanbaatar that went to be with the Lord a few weeks ago. His widow was greatly honored to hear that Isaac would be buried by her husband.

May God bless each of you, and continue to pray for our family in this important time. Below I have pasted the text from the funeral invitation that we have begun giving out.


Mr. and Mrs. Brian Waller and family would

like to invite you to attend the funeral for:


Isaac Wallace Waller
1980 – 2005

who died on November 4th, at age 25

in volunteer service to the country of Mongolia

with the Character Training Institute of Mongolia.


The viewing and funeral will be held at

First Church, [Light of Love Christian Cultural

Center] located opposite the Ulaanbaatar

University, behind the Naran Tuulzakh.


The viewing will take place from 5:00 PM to

8:00 PM on Tuesday evening, November 8th.


The funeral and services will begin at

First Church at 10:00 AM on Wednesday

morning, November 9th.


Pictures

A number of young men from the church came to help us dig Isaac’s grave. It took over 8 hours to dig by hand through the rocky ground.

After bringing Isaac’s embalmed body from the airport, we had a special time of prayer and singing before leaving the casket at a private facility for the evening.


Please continue to pray for us in these days, and especially for the funeral services on Wednesday.

In Christ,

– Adam


Adam Waller ~ MyAllForChrist@CadLinx.com

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

_uacct = “UA-2519367-1”;
urchinTracker();

Print This Post Print This Post
 
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »