“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” Colossians 1:28-29
Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ:
Our family would like to give you a quick update of what God
has been doing in and through our lives over the past three months of our time
here in Chiang Rai Thailand. It is hard to believe that our family has already
been back in Thailand for three months and since our arrival, life has been busy
but also very blessed.
Ministry
Update:
We would
like to start by thanking you for all of your prayers and also financial
support which helped make it possible for us to begin working with the families
of Thailand through Hearts Redeemed Ministries (HRM). Even though we have only
been back for a short time, God has given us opportunities to serve and partner
with some local churches and other missionaries. It is such a blessing to be
able to use the truths of Scripture to help counsel individuals and families,
offering them true hope which found only in the promises and power of Christ. I
am so thankful for the classes which I am currently taking through the Master’s
College, and am amazed at how practical the material I am learning is to
helping minister to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our ministry goal for
Hearts Redeemed Ministries is to connect the families of Thailand with the
redeeming truths to Scripture. We aim to do this by investing in individuals to
impact families, investing in families to impact churches, and investing in
churches to impact Thailand. Currently we are spending time offering biblical
teaching and discipleship with college age singles and couples who are planning
on getting married in the next few years. Mam and I are meeting with three
couples right now and have been blessed to be able to instruct them on the importance
of marriage from the Scriptures and to also help them to realize the importance
of the God given roles as husband and wife. We are also meeting with young
singles and sharing with them on guidelines God offers for them as they search for
a future spouse. Through HRM we are also seeking to partner with local churches
to help offer biblical counseling for their congregations. Streams of Blessing Church
is one church where we have been able to serve the church body through
preaching, leading Sunday school, and even providing transportation for those
who do not have a vehicle of their own. This is a small church of about 60
people, and of that 60, around 50 are college students which attend the two
universities located nearby. It has been a blessing to be able to help a young
church by serving in simple, yet important ways. Mam has been teaching some of
the girls who are interested in working with children how to lead Sunday
school. I have been preaching once a month to help give the pastor some time to
visit another church which he helped plant. And since most college students do
not have transportation and it is the start of the rainy season, we are able to
help pick them up for church in our truck. It has been such a blessing for our
family to be able to help Streams of Blessing Church as well as some other
local churches and fellow missionaries in the area. We ask you to please pray
for our family as we minister to the college students and young families
through teaching God’s Word and training them to live God’s Word through
discipleship?
Here are
three very specific prayer requests:
1. Pray for me as I share the truths of Scripture through biblical counseling,
disciple training, teaching, preaching, and modeling with the young college
students and young families. The material I am learning in my classes is very
practical but it is in English which makes it challenging to transfer what I am
learning to the Thai language. I am grateful that 100 percent of the material I
am learning in my classes comes from the Scriptures, so that means I can open
God’s Word with them and together we can learn from what God has written in the
Bible.
2. Pray for Mam as she begins to minister to the young ladies and college
girls at our church. She is currently teaching some of the how to lead Sunday
school, and she is going to be starting a Bible study up next month with some
of the college girls from Mae Fah Luang University. Many of the girls want to
learn how to cook, so Mam is going to start teaching them at our house. Please pray for the money to buy a new
stove for Mam and some cooking supplies so that she can start teaching the
girls how to cook.
3. Pray for the finance to pay for a cover for the back of my truck so
that we can transport more kids back and forth from church on
Sunday. Currently I can fit 5 people in the cab of my truck and more can sit in
the back, but if it rains, they get wet. So we are looking at putting a cover
on the back which will enable us to transport up to 15 more students to church
every day. The cover costs around $500. Please
pray that we will be able to raise that extra money and get the cover on the
truck before the worst of the rainy season which starts in July. (Example of the type of cover we are praying
to put on our truck)
Family
Update:
Thank you
for your prayers for our family, we are all doing well and the girls are
starting to feel more comfortable at their school. They started school on May
16th and it has been a long couple of month for us as we have
struggled to adapt to life in a new school.
Hope is in kindergarten and is doing really well. She does not speak that
much Thai, but that does not stop her from talking to all of her friends and
her teacher at school.
Joy is in 1st grade and is also doing well also. She is
learning to read and write Thai, and I am having work hard with her to keep up
on her English reading as well. She does not talk much at school but she enjoys
playing with her friends and she has a really nice teacher. She did have a girl
in her class, who was hitting her, but we were able to talk to her teacher and
life is back to normal now.
Gracie is in 3rd grade and is really having a hard time.
Understandably 3rd grade is going to require a lot more work, and we
are proud of Gracie because she is trying and we are seeing an improvement in
her reading and writing Thai. The problem that Gracie is struggling with is
talking with other people and we ask you to please pray for a break though for
her. She just will not speak, and we know that there is some cultural
adjustment that needs to take time to develop, but she still can say “hi” to
her teacher and her friends. She knows how to say it in Thai and in English,
but she just will not speak. It has been a long two month for her at school,
but last week we began to see some major improvements. She is now talking a
little more with her teacher and this week her goal is to talk with her
friends. Mam went to school with her last week a couple of times and that
helped her as she was able to begin to understand more of her classwork
assignments. We are thankful that her teacher is patient and the kids in her
class want to help Gracie, we will continue to pray that Gracie will open her
heart and begin to speak like we know she can. Her Thai is already better than
mine, but no one ever gets to hear it. So please pray for her and also for her
teacher and us that we will be patient and wise as we deal with Gracie.
Kyle is doing really well, and has enjoyed staying at home with Mommy
every day without his sisters. He is a huge help around the house and loves to
go with Daddy to help pick up the girls at school. He misses America but is
also enjoying living in Thailand. Every night he prays for his soccer ball, his
fried Zoe, and for a Blue car with seat belts for him.
Mam is doing well, and has started going back to school. Actually in an
attempt to help the girls adjust easier to the Thai school system, Mam has been
going to school with them at least three times a week. She stays most of the
day with them in class and is learning a lot of fun games and songs she says.
She is a huge help with ministry and has already started to reach out to some
of the single college girls at our church. She will be starting a Bible study
for the girls next month and is really excited to start teaching them how to
cook. She has two very special prayer requests; one is for safety and sanity as
she takes care of the kids while I am in the States for four weeks later this
month. Second for a kitchen that she can cook in because right now all she has
is a small camp stove with two burners and little shelves to store plates and
bowls on. We are praying that when I return from America we will have enough
money to buy an oven, some pots and pans, a mixer, some storage racks for the food,
spices, and cooking supplies she needs. She wants to start teaching some of the
young girls how to cook, but right now she does not really have a kitchen to
cook in. So while I am in the States I will be selling small things to try and
support Mam’s Kitchen. If you would like to give extra to help provide for her
kitchen then please contact me.
Dan, I am doing well but really tired. I have had lots of class work to
do over the past three months and if you add that to my ministry to my family,
the church we are attending, and the college students it makes for a very busy
week. God has been so gracious and I am thankful for the opportunities I have
to study and also to serve in full time ministry. Every day there arises a new
way to serve and our family is grateful to be able to help out where we can. Just
this week, we were able to help start a small prayer group at Mae Fah Luang
University because there were students from that school attending our church
but there was not organized weekly meeting they could attend. So we started a
small prayer group and when I return from America we will start a Bible study
for new believers, since many of the students in the prayer group are new
Christians. Please pray for me as I
travel back to the States on the 7th of July and will be away from
my family for four weeks. Two weeks I will be in California at my classes, but
the other two weeks I will be traveling through Idaho hoping to visit as many
friends and supporters as possible. If you would like to catch up with me while
I am in the States then please email me at dan.rutledge@gmail.com . Please pray
for Mam and kids while I am away, it is going to be challenging for them but
there are many people in the area who are going to be helping them out. Still
as a husband and a father so far away, I am going to miss them and try not to
worry too much while I am gone.
Support
Update:
Thank you
again for all the prayers and financial support which you have blessed our
family with. Before we moved back to Thailand we had planned a monthly budget
for our family of $2500. By God’s grace and your faithfulness we have seen that
amount provided the past 3 months for our family. We want to thank everyone who
has given and to also ask you to continue to give faithfully for God’s glory.
Our family is 100 percent dependent on God for our living expenses and He has
worked wonderfully through the years to provide for those needs through the
financial giving of people like you. July is coming up, and the balance in our
support account at our church is looking lower than normal. I ask you to please
continue to give that which you have committed to giving to help support our
family. If you would like to join our
support team, then please contact me and let me know. All support checks can be
sent to UBC Worldwide Ministries and mailed to University Bible Church 4700
Philbin Road. Chubbuck, Id. 83202. (All gifts are tax deductible and 100
percent of your support goes directly to provide for the living expenses of our
family). We are grateful for those who give so faithfully every month and
would like to invite others who would like to partner with the Rutledge Family
as we serve with Hearts Redeemed Ministries to please join our support
team. There are some special financial
needs which I would like to share with you and ask you to please join us in
asking for God’s help in providing for these needs.
1. A stove and cooking supplies for Mam so that she can begin to start
ministering to the college women through teaching them how to cook. Estimated cost for stove: $600-$900
2. A cover for the back of my truck so that I can help provide
transportation to college students to church and outreach events. Estimated cost of truck cover: $500
3. A safe travel for me to America and also safety for Mam and kids while
I am away. It will be hard to be so far away, but I can find comfort that they
are in God’s hands and He will provide and protect them better than I could. I
will still miss them, and they might miss me too.
Thank you
for taking the time to read our latest update. God has been so grateful to our
family and even though we miss everyone in America, we are so thankful to be
back here in Thailand. Please continue to pray for our financial needs, our
work with the families of Thailand through Hearts Redeemed Ministries, our
families continued adjustment back to Thailand (it is hot here, real hot), and
that God will continue to faithful be working in and through our family for the
Glory of His name.
Thank you
again and know that you are always close to our hearts and present in our
prayers.
God bless
and protect you all.
Dan, Mam,
Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle
The Rutledge
Family
