Wow, I am astonished how fast time flies. I guess when you keep busy, it speeds everything up. The last time I wrote it was mid September and our family was getting busy ready for our upcoming trip to the States, now it is mid November and we are busy getting ready for Christmas and the New Year. Our family has been back in Thailand now for two weeks, and I am afraid that if I don’t write you right now, it will be 2009 before I get another chance to write. The past few months were busy and full of many blessing, I know that the next few months will be busier and I trust that they will be blessed.
November is a month that we take time to remember all our blessings as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Since being in Thailand, I have come to see that we don’t and shouldn’t wait until November to count our blessings. We should daily be thankful for ALL that the LORD blesses us with. Thailand doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday but as a family we still try to set aside some time to reflect back over the past year and thank God for all His blessings. This year we have so much more to be thankful for, we may have to take a whole week to celebrate God’s goodness.
I know we all are thankful for Moetana Hope, our third daughter and such a blessing to our family. I have been richly blessed with four lovely ladies to daily share my life with. They do keep me on my toes, and challenge me to be a better husband and father everyday. Moetana will be six months old this month, and we are so blessed to have her in our family. As a family we are also thankful for the opportunity to live, work, and minister together as a family. It is hard sometimes, living at your job but it is also very rewarding to be able to be a family serving others together. We are so thankful for all of our health. The past year we caught a few small colds but nothing serious and for that we are so thankful. We are thankful for the changes we are beginning to see take place in the lives of the orphans and Bible students we work with. God is at work in their lives, and it is great to watch them willing submit to His direction and watch them grow in their relationship with Him and with each other. We are also thankful for the way God is working in our lives, I have great joy hearing Bratana ask to pray before we eat all of our meals, and if she doesn’t fill like the first prayer was enough, she won’t eat until we pray again. It is a blessing hearing Garuna and Mam sing praise songs before bed time, and also seeing how God is working in my life and Mam’s helping us to become better partners and parents through His Spirit. God is so great, and He blesses us with so much, it is hard not to be thankful. I believe sometimes we all get too busy to stop and really look at what God has been, is doing, and will do as we live our lives through Him. We are so blessed, and I can’t write all the things we are thankful for without including YOU. YOU being all the people who help make it possible for us to live, serve, and thrive here in Thailand. Your prayers, financial support, goodie boxes, emails of encouragements. All of these things that seem so simple truly impact us in a huge way. We couldn’t be here without you, and that is the truth. You are what helps make this ministry work, buy helping us you are blessing every life that we work with everyday. We are so thankful for all of you, and we are extremely thankful for the time we got to visit with most of you during our recent trip to the States. It was great to be back in Idaho again, to see the fall colors and the purity of fresh falling snow. It was the first time we had taken a big trip as a whole family, and even though it was challenging sometime, it still was well worth it. Our one regret is that we did not get to spend more time with you. Two hours for dinner isn’t enough time, and if I could have I would have loved to spends hours sitting and talking with you. For those who took the time to meet with us, thank you so much. You blessed us with you homes, your food, and especially your willingness to let us share how God is working in and through us here in Thailand. Our daughters loved spending time with your children, and it is such a blessing that so many of my friends have kids too. I could write for hours sharing with you all the blessings that we received during our trip but instead I would like to take this time and personally thank each and everyone who took the time to meet with us.
1. Kasey and Suzy and family: Thank you so much for rescheduling your time with us and giving us an opportunity to share at your church. Your family is precious and such a blessing to spend time with. The girls love their bracelets and I loved the apple pie and cigars. Sorry we couldn’t stay longer and have a second piece of pie, it was good. Thank you.
2. Darrin and Sunny: Wow Darrin it was great to meet your new bride and she is a great girl. Treat her right or I will come back and pound on you. Thanks for getting together and for letting me invade your evening just to use your internet and printer. Thank you and if you are every looking for a good place to vacation, please know you are always welcome at our house.
3. Justin and Trish and family: Thank you, thank you so much for opening up your house and your home to us for a week. Sorry we were messy; we are trying to master this living out of a suit case routine. Sorry also that we couldn’t spend more time with you, but know we love you and our girls are so thankful your children took the time to help them build a snow man. Thank you.
4. Mark and Christy and family: Your family is always there for us and such a blessing to our daughters and to Mam, thank you for letting us crash at your house and also for all the wonderful food we enjoyed while staying with you. Thank you so much for all the clothes you passed onto our girls, they look so girly in all their new clothes, thank you.
5. Dave and Alyson and family: You guys are awesome, and thank you so much for the truck and car seat that you let us borrow the whole time while we were in the States. Thank you also for helping get to and from the airport, and for taking the time to have us over for lunch. It was so nice to talk to you and let our families play together. We pray that one day we can return the favor. You guys are great and we love you, thank you.
6. Chris and Chrissie and family: Thank you for taking the time to schedule a special meal with us. It meant a lot to spend that extra time with you and also with the Jenkins family. We are sorry we couldn’t spend more time together, but we are thankful for the time we did spend for it was truly blessed. Thank you.
7. Gary and Judy: Thank you for the car seats that you let our family use while in the States, we are sorry that it didn’t work out to get together with you for a meal. We would have really loved to visit with you, but due to sickness and fatigue, we had to take a few days rest at the end, and we just ran out of time. Thank you for the car seats and for your willingness to share.
8. Thank you Emma for taking the time to have breakfast with us on a very early and cold morning. It was nice to meet with you and the girls loved spending time with you. Thank you for your prayers, they are so precious to us.
9. Thank you Mr. Dean, for the time you took to hang out with us, and also for the wonderful meal you made from Pizza Hut. Joy loved that pasta meal so much and it was fun hanging out with you and seeing you again. Thank you
10. Thank you Pettit Family for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be with us. Thanks Kevin for the time at breakfast, it was great to have some good man time and talk about life. It was also great to see your family and hear how God is working in and through your family while you serve Him over in Asia. Wow how your kids have grown.
11. Thank you Pastor Mike and everyone at University Bible Church. Thank you Pastor for taking the time to meet with me and talk about future plans and also keep me accountable in my personal walk with the Lord and my time with my family. Thank you for all your words of wisdom and the wonderful 2 foot burrito we shared with the guys. Also for everyone at UBC who have been supportive of us and our work her. It was great to see and visit with many of you, I wish I could have stayed the whole month fellowshipping with you all. Your prayers and support are so wonderful and we are so grateful for your willingness to be used by God. Thank you.
12. Thank you Dave and the mission committee at UBC: Thank you Dave for being so faithful in helping manage our finances and support. It is such a joy to see your heart to serve, and please know you are a big part of our ministry here, without you, we don’t know if we could continue as productively as we are. Also for the mission committee, thank you for taking the time to meet with me and hear how things are going. Thank you for your faith in our family and enabling us to serve here in Thailand. We do pray that one day soon you will be able to come visit us. Our home is always open.
13. Thank you Linda Rankin for setting up the time to share at your church and to meet with us. Sorry it was so short we wish we had more time. Your heart and love for our family and ministry is such a blessing. Thank you.
14. Thank you to the Myers Bible study group and their willingness to listen to what we had to share about what God is doing here. Thank you for being patient as our daughters adjusted to your little white doggy. The food was great and we were blessed that you opened your house to us. Thank you.
15. Thank you to all of you from Twin Falls Reformed Church who took the time to have dinner with us. I am sorry that Mam and the girls could not make the dinner, it just means that you will have to come back and visit us soon here in Thailand before they all grow up. The food was amazing, specially the Idaho potatoes. Funny it is the simple things that you find you miss when they aren’t around. Potatoes are what I miss. Thank you.
16. Thank you Ken for taking the time to come visit us briefly before we left Twin Falls. We do wish we could have seen your whole family, but we understand. It was great to see you again and great to hear that God is still working through you.
17. Thank you Ken and Grace Young for the wonderful home made chocolate chip cookies and the little cherry tomatoes. The girls loved them so much, it was also great to hear how God has blessed your family and to just rejoice together as we watch God at work. Thank you for the afternoon you spent with us, and we pray that your house will sell soon. Though we will be sad not to be able to visit you anymore in Pocatello, we will just have to take a little longer road trip.
18. Thank you big sis Catherine, Carl, and Hannah for inviting us to your wedding and do so much to help make our stay with you fun. The girls loved the pumpkin patch and Mam loved all the color of the leaves that were changing. I loved being able to see you all again and meet your new husband. He is a good guy and I am happy for you. Hannah, wow you have grown up so much, please do come and visit us soon, you are always welcome.
19. To the Alexander family. Hey there guys what can we say. We always loved visiting you in Bangkok, and even though now you have moved back to the States, it was still so great to spend time with you. We miss you guys, and trust we can see you again before too long. The girls all say hi, and Matt, thanks for the golf game, even though you beat me, it was still great to get out and swing the clubs. Thanks guys we love you.
20. To Mitch and Becca: Thank you for having us over for dinner, Joy and Gracie loved it, I too really enjoyed it. Thanks also for inviting so many people to come and hear about our ministry and how they could be a part of it. We wish we had more time to spend with you guys, your daughter is absolutely lovely. Congratulations and thank you again.
21. To the Shoemakers and Ayabei Family: Thank you for having us over for dinner and taking time to hang out. Again we are sorry that the girls couldn’t make it. They would of loved playing with your daughter, next time for sure. The food was great, but the fellowship was out of this world. God is so good, and it great to see how God is blessing your two families. Thank you for your prayers and support. Kelly and Jaqaie your boy is so handsome, congratulations.
22. Brandi, thank you for taking to time to meet us for dinner. It is always great to see you and hear how God is working through you. Keep up the great job and thank you for your prayers.
23. James and Rachel and family thank you for dinner, I had no idea you had a little girl, wow she is so cute and your family is so sweet. Thank you for dinner the food was great. It was great to spend more time talking with you and hearing how God is working. We will continue to pray for you.
24. To the Michaude family: Wow we almost missed you, thank you for taking the extra time to get together. We would have been heart broken if we didn’t get to see you guys during our visit. Your family is growing and is such an inspiration to us and so many others. It was great to see you, and even if it didn’t work out to stay with you, we still enjoyed our time greatly. God bless
25. The Pollock family; we are so sad that we missed you, we understand the busyness and we are so grateful for your willingness to still try and meet up with us. This time it didn’t work out, but next time for sure we will get together and Lord willing we can get together with Ben and his family too. You are such a blessing to us, thank your for your support and prayers.
Thank you Maxine, for taking the time for lunch, it was great to visit with you and hear how God is working in your life, thank you for your prayers and support.
27. Thank you to all of our other supporters who so faithfully give and have blessed us so much over the years. We wanted to visit with all of you, but lack of time and finances just made it impossible. Know that we love you all very much and are so thankful for all you have given.
28. Joel thank you for taking time off of work to have lunch with us. It was great to see you again, and we hope to see you next time we are through the Boise area.
29. Pastor Matt and everyone at Riverside Community Church for allowing us the opportunity to come and share with you what God is doing here in Thailand. It was a blessing to come and fellowship with you and she how God has blessed your church. We will keep you in our prayers and thank you again for the opportunity to come and worship with you.
30. Finally, thank you Dad and Mom. Truly the main people we wanted to spend time with while home was with you guys. Sorry you both got so sick and also we were so busy all of the time. I look forward to spending more time with you in the near future and letting our girls get to know their grandparents better. Gracie and Joy still ask about you and really miss the raspberries, any left? Mam loved driving the car and I loved just hanging out with you. We love you and thank you for sharing your time for us to visit friends and supporters. We miss you and are looking forward to visiting you soon. God bless.
Our time in the States was rushed and it seemed like most of our time we spent driving, but it was still a great time to visit with many friends and family. We also we blessed with some time to just get away and be a family. Most of that time was spent in the car but still we had a great family vacation. The weather was lovely, Mam got to see the autumn leaves changing, Gracie prayed for snow and God blessed her with two days of beautiful snow. Joy fell in love with Macaroni and Cheese and was able to eat it a almost every restaurant we went to. Hope just loved being held buy everyone and spending time napping on Grandpa and Grandma’s shoulder. I enjoyed visiting with so many dear friends, and of course filling up on Mountain Dew and all the beef I could get. God blessed us with safe travel, wonderful accommodations, and almost perfect health. We only had four weeks in the States, and I feel like we were able to complete three months worth of work. We are thankful that we are back to work now, and look forward to the next trip stateside possible in summer 2010. It is in the Lord’s hands.
I will bring this post to a close, thank you for taking the time to read it, and remember that we don’t have to give thanks only on Thanksgiving day, it should be something we do everyday. God is so good, and we are so richly blessed. I pray that you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season. Your prayers and support are so welcomed. We had a goal of raising $1000 more a month for our support, we aren’t sure if we met that goal or not, we will have to wait until I we look at this month’s giving. If you are or would like to support us, could you PLEASE email me and let me know how much you will be sending, so I can make a correct budget for the upcoming year. Thank you again for your willingness to give and for the time you spent with us.
May God continue to bless and protect you, and remember to always allow God to work in and through you daily for His glory!
Your fellow servants in Him: Dan, Mam, Garuna, Bratana, and Moetana Rutledge
