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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=700 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B> <a href="javascript:window.print()">Click To Print</a>  </B></FONT><B> | </B><A HREF="journal.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Journal"><B>Go Back</B></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>LIBERDA FAMILY JOURNAL - January 15, 2010</B></div> <bR> <div> It has been an unusually cold winter here in Mongolia, cold even for Mongolia from what we hear. After nearly a month of high temperatures around 20 below zero (Fahrenheit) and lows in the 30s and 40s below, today as it warmed up to around 0 it felt a little like a spring day. We are thankful for our warm apartment, which although not without many plumbing problems in the last few months, has a hot-water heating system that requires no daily maintenance on our part. Not so for the many who live in gers and shanties and must heat with wood and coal in small stoves. It has been a hard winter for the many Mongolians who live coal-bag to coal-bag on their small incomes. </div> <bR> <div> In December we had opportunity to help one of the Mongolian churches with a coal distribution project in which bags of coal were given to some of the neediest families in a poor district of Darhan (see photos below). Another interesting experience included helping another group of church leaders to take gifts of clothing and an exchange of "performances" to a group of homeless kids in Darhan who train in the arts of circus performance. In exchange for their hard work they receive several hours of shelter each day, some food, and opportunity for a future job and career (see photos below). The kids demonstrated their circus performance skills, and the church leaders performed some dance and skit routines with Bible messages, shared a Bible message and testimony, prayed with each of the kids and gave gifts of food and clothing.</div> <bR> <div> Our new year has been marked by the passing of our final evaluation for language study, and now the prospect of moving into new ministry roles. We will still need to hammer out all the details with Field leadership, but so far we know we will be working to establish biblical counseling ministries and services in the Mongolian churches and communities, and we will be helping to train and mentor church leaders through our Christian Leadership Training Center (CLTC).  We take comfort in knowing that so many of you who pray for us and support us in so many ways are right here with us in all our efforts to produce fruit for God's kingdom here in Mongolia. Here are some specific ways you can pray:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pray for wisdom and direction as we move on from language study and enter into new ministry roles. Pray also that through our relationships and involvement with Mongolians our language skills would continue to improve significantly in the months to come. </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Continue to pray for our Field Director Pieter Theron as he recovers from the injuries he sustained due to an elephant attack in Thailand the first week of November. He has made remarkable improvement and is now back in Mongolia; however, continue to pray for full recovery and strength to serve and carry out his many responsibilities on the Mongolian field. </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c800000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pray for our MK School in Darhan. Karen Hessel, the new MK school teacher, just started teaching this past week. Pray that she would adjust well to her move to Mongolia, learn the curriculum and all she needs to know quickly. Pray that with all the challenges she faces in a multi-grade classroom of MKs that her work would be a joy for her. Continue to pray for the Kindergarten class as well, which meets separately and is being taught by one of our teammates, Krista Fields. </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>