From:
Sent: Friday, April 01, 2005 8:56 PM
To: '
Subject: Prayer Update 4/1/05 New horizons
Friday, April
1st, 2005
Dear Family
and Friends,
For many
years my parents have had the vision of serving as a family in some type of
mission work. As a newly married couple, they began making plans to serve in
Over the
past 25 years they have labored diligently to train us in the ways of the Lord.
Making the decision to homeschool when Isaac and I
were six years old was possibly a bigger step than it would be today. As
pioneers in the homeschool movement they faced a
great deal of misunderstanding from family and friends.
When I tell
some people about my parent's decision to homeschool
us, and they learn that there are 10 children in our family, they often say
"Your Mother must be an incredible woman!" Well, I would have to say
that she is, but it is through God's incredible grace and faithfulness! God is
the one that gives us the motivation and power to continue on, and to go
back and make things right when we fail.
We are
still very much a work in progress. God is continuing to teach us new lessons
in faith and trusting Him. Although we often fail, God has never failed to
honor the promises of His Word. We have seen times of great provision and
steady work, and we have also seen a few years ago when no steady work for nine
months caused our finances to dwindle to almost nothing, -then God showed His
power in providing my Dad with a very good job that has supported us since.
As the
children have been growing older, (Isaac and I are nearly 25, and our youngest,
Matthew, turned 7 yesterday) we are seeing the fulfillment of Psalm 127:3-5 "Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and
the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;
so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of
them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the
gate."
Like arrows
launching out, the older ones have begun reaching out in various ministry
opportunities in the past several years. I have had the opportunity to work in
Oklahoma City, Australia and Mongolia, serving in a variety of capacities, but
primarily in computer work and character education.
Reaching
new levels of maturity, the younger ones have been taking on more
responsibilities at the farm and various short-term ministry opportunities,
giving us more mobility as a family, and allowing us to reach out with
increasing effectiveness.
In this new
season for our family, God has been working over the past several months in
opening the way for us to serve together in
Right now,
the plan is that I would return to
We are all
tremendously excited about this opportunity, and encouraged to see the Lord's
provision and confirmation along the way. I have been teaching the family a few
Mongolian words, and we have had many discussions about what things are like in
We know
that we have a lot to learn, but we look forward to seeing how the Lord uses
this time in our family as we reach out to the "uttermost parts of the
earth."
As you can
probably well imagine, great opportunities for doing much good often come with
great opposition from the enemy. I received some very
unexpected news this morning from our
Stopping by
the Mongolia Labor Department office, Jedidiah and Dumaa
wanted to confirm that I just needed to pick up a Blue Card (work
permit) when I arrive in late April. Much to their surprise, they were
told that a new law had been put in place regarding foreign workers.
In the past
we have been able to operate as an official NGO, (Non-Government Organization)
which only required us to have something like 40% of our staff be
Mongolian nationals. A new law states that NGOs must now have 95% Mongolian
staff. This would mean 20 Mongolian employees for every American
staff person!
We had
heard some rumors from other organizations about this new law coming, but this
was the first time that we had actually confirmed it. Since we only have five
Mongolian employees right now, we were told that the Labor Department would not
give us any more Blue Card work permits.
Appealing
on the basis that my family had already purchased tickets, Dumaa
asked if we might still be allowed to come. Holding very strictly to the
guidelines, they told us, "No, you will just have to cancel the
reservations."
This
reminds me a little of an incident that took place last December when
Derrick, Rachelle and David were going with a team to the Philippines for a
three-week missions trip. A few days before they were scheduled to leave, they
discovered that the broker had not purchased the airline tickets, could not
account for over $15,000 that had been given to him for this purpose.
With such
an impossible looking situation, God worked incredibly in answer to prayer, and
the travel agent was able to find tickets for everyone on the team. They left a
few days later with a fresh example of God's power, and went on to have an
unforgettable three weeks of ministry in
I believe
that God sometimes brings us to impossible looking situations so that He can
demonstrate His power to the world. "For
the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
toward him." - 2 Chronicles 16:9a.
Proverbs
21:1 says: "The king's heart is in the
hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth
it whithersoever he will." Please join us in prayer that God
would move in the hearts of the government officials as we appeal to obtain
work permits to continue the work in
Praise
Points:
- My
18-year-old brother David was able to spend a few weeks with us at the farm
over Spring Break. I am grateful for his energy-giving spirit,
and wholehearted investment in our family before heading back to his work at
the Character Training Institute in
- Praise
the Lord for providing the resources for our family to purchase tickets
for the trip to
Prayer
Requests:
- Please
pray for the work permit situation in
- Pray that
the Lord would give wisdom in how I use these next few weeks. The uncertainty
with the Mongolia Work permit situation could possibly delay my return to
"Oh
how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee;
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of
men!" - Psalm 31:19
Pictures:
This year
we had the opportunity to attend an Easter sunrise service near our home. Over
50 people came for the outdoor service at 6 AM.
This is a
view of our farm from the silo.
Spring is
here! - And so is the mud. Derrick's tractor ended up working much better than
the board for returning the van to the driveway.
Have you
ever balanced an egg? Near the spring equinox, a steady hand can accomplish
this interesting feat.
This poor
robin got caught in an unexpected snow this morning.
Thank
you for standing with us in prayer! I am looking forward to seeing
what the Lord does in these next few weeks!
In Christ,
- Adam
"And
let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint
not." - Galatians 6:9
P.S.
Some of you
might be interested in receiving updates on the work going on in
I don't
always have the time to touch on all the issues in my updates, so you might find
these additional e-mails helpful in praying more specifically for the work.
Thanks again for your Interest in