Campgrounds, Classrooms, and Cultural Fairs.

“But as for me, the nearness of God is my goal; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”  Psalm 73:28

Greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we trust that you are doing well and our family is blessed that you have taken the time to read our latest update. Since the last update, our family has been busy enjoying the countless gifts of God and especially the wonderful gift of the fellowship with believers. We are grateful for all that our family has been able to enjoy during our times in the US.  We have been so blessed with the gifts of your faithful prayers and financial support which makes it possible for us to live and serve in fulltime ministry as a family. Moving from Thailand back to the States proved to be a huge step of faith for our family, and we are humbly amazed to see how God has continued to provide for all of our needs through the faithful giving of fellow believers. Over the past few months our family has been enjoying as many wonderful summer activities as possible since this will be the last summer spent in the States prior to our moving back to Thailand in 2013.  Our family has enjoyed this time in the States and especially the chance to fellowship with so many wonderful people within the body of Christ. I have been amazed at how so many people have opened their heart and their homes to our family. I am also humbled at the amazing opportunity I have been given to further my education and I am excited to use the truths I have been learning and to the opportunity of teaching them to those we minister to when we return to Thailand. We serve an awesome God, and here are some exciting highlights of what God has been doing in and through our family over the past few months. 

 

Campgrounds and Critters:

As I mentioned earlier, this is our last summer in America for a while as our family is planning on moving back to Thailand in April 2013. Our plan was to live in the States for about two years and spend time with family, visit supporters, reconnect with our church, and work on my Master’s degree in biblical counseling with the desire to return to Thailand refreshed and better equipped to enhance our ministry among the Thai people. They say that when you are having fun, time flies by and I guess that is what happened because we are quickly approaching the 2 year mark and there is still so much our family would like to do before we fly back to Thailand. Many of the things which our family wanted to experience while here in the States we were able to accomplish during the past two months. I really wanted to take Mam and the kids camping up by the places I used to go camping as a kid with my family. Mam and the kids also really wanted to go fishing and visit Yellowstone national park. In July and August we were able to go camping in the Sawtooths, catch lots of fish, and enjoy the beauty of Yellowstone with my parents and my sister’s family. We are so blessed to be able to live in a State with such natural beauty and to also know personally the God who created that beauty. There still are many more things we would like to do before we head back to Thailand, but I am thankful for the things we have already experienced and the opportunity to spend time as a family enjoying the creation of our King.

Classrooms and California:

If taking exciting road trips with my family was not enough to keep me busy, work for my classes and the international student’s ministry with our church has kept me occupied. In July I traveled to California and spent two full weeks doing the in class portion of my classes which consisted of studying from 8:30 till 5:30 five to six days a week. The material was very informative and the professors were very encouraging. It was a great two weeks of studying God’s Word, meeting and fellowshipping with other students from all over the world, and being challenged in my personal walk with Christ. It was hard being away from my family during those two weeks, and the traffic in California reminded me how blessed we have it here in Idaho, but I am looking forward to going back again next July for my next 6 classes.

Enjoying the 4th of July with two international students from Nepal.

Cross-cultural Contacts:
Our family has also been blessed to be ministering to international students here at ISU, and have really enjoyed spending time getting to know students from all over the world. We are hoping to try and schedule one more camping trip before the fall and want to bring along some of the students from Nepal with us. I will be traveling to Salt Lake on Saturday to pick some students up at the airport, and we have been working hard helping getting the new students set up with things they need to start their schooling next week. Last week we held an international student free giveaway, where we were able to give items which were donated from people in our church for free to international students who needed things for their apartments and dorm rooms. We gave away two beds, three couches, a lot of plates, cups, pots and pans, and many other useful items for international students. It has been a blessing working with international students during our time here in Pocatello, and we are excited for the ministry of International Crossroads to continue when we return to Thailand in the spring of next year. Please continue to pray that we will have meaningful contacts with international students over the next few weeks and also that I will be diligent to complete all the homework assignments for my current classes which finish in October. Also pray for time to spend as a family enjoying the wonderful recreational activates Idaho has to offer.

Challenges and Change:

God has been really good to our family, and we are thankful for all of you who pray and support our family as we serve Him fulltime. We are in the process of making preparations for the fall and also for our return to Thailand in April 2013. One thing that is a must is the need for new supporters to join with us as we minister in Thailand. Our family’s goal is to raise $3,000 in monthly support. Last month we received $1,800 in financial donations, which means that we are still $1,200 from our goal. We ask to prayerfully consider joining our support team and help our family continue in full-time ministry. September is going to be a challenging month financially because we have back to school expenses for our two oldest daughters ($60), we have to reapply for Mam’s visa extension ($290), we have some repairs on the suburban we use to transport our family and international students ($120), plane tickets and conference fees for a counseling conference Mam and I would like to attend in October ($700), plus the day to day expenses our families faces.  Please email me at dan.rutledge@universitybible.org if you would like to join our support team by giving a monthly gift of $25, $50, or $100 or a one-time gift to help cover some of the above mentioned needs.

Your prayers are also greatly needed, as we begin making plans for our return to Thailand in 8 months. We are looking at different ministry needs and opportunities and are looking forward to sharing with you next time where we will be ministering when we head back in April 2013.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update and please know that our family is eternally grateful for everyone who offers prayers and financial support which enables us to serve full-time for the Kingdom.

Have a great day and God bless.

Your fellow servants in Christ:

Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle Rutledge 

Springing in the new.

This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Spring is here; well at least I think it is. One day the sun is shining and I am tempted to go outdoors and play in the warm weather, but then the next day it is snowing and the last place I want to go is out into the frigid cold. After being away from Idaho for so many years, I have forgotten how unpredictable Idaho weather can be. Today the weather is nice and even though I would rather be playing in a park somewhere with my children, I know it is important for me to use this break in my busy schedule to share with you how God has been working in our family’s lives over the past few months. The last time I sent out an update was right before Christmas and since that time we have been blessed to see God’s hand at work both in and through our family. I am looking forward to sharing with you the highlights from the past months and I am thankful for your willingness to partner with our family as we minister here in Pocatello, Idaho.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and many other firsts was what we as a family were able to experience over the last part of 2011 and the first months of 2012. In Thailand, holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are really not celebrated like they are here in America. It has been nice to spend the holiday season here with my family and give Mam and our kids a chance to experience an American Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone enjoyed the yummy holiday foods, the excitement of Christmas shopping, the beautiful Christmas decorations, the smell of a real Christmas tree, but the thing they loved the most was spending time with Grandpa and Grandma as well as with Uncle Matt and Auntie Dawna , and of course their cousins. We did have a wonderful holiday season and we are so thankful for the chance to share this experience with our children. We were also blessed with an opportunity to share some of these American holiday traditions with some international students we have been able to develop friendships with during our time here. Our children were not the only ones who were able to experience their first American Thanksgiving and Christmas, for most of the international students this was their first encounter with a truly American holiday season. Our family enjoyed being able to welcome some of these students into our home and celebrate the festive season with them, they were also able to attend some of the special church events that our church hosted. Sam, a freshman from Nepal, along with 15 other international students joined us for a Thanksgiving feast at our church and last week while talking with him, he told me that he had to write a midterm paper on all the new experiences he has had during his first semester in America. He told me that by far that Thanksgiving meal at our church was his favorite and he was so thankful that our family would take the time to invite him to go with us. We have had many opportunities to reach out to international students and have seen friendships develop between them and our family. Currently we are in the process of planning some fun activities our family and some of the international students can do during Spring break. There are 5 Nepal young men, who weekly spend time with our family and have been such a joy to get to know. Please continue to pray that as we reach out and minister to international students, that God will open their hearts to the saving message of the gospel. Pray also that our family will be bold in witnessing to them not only through our words but also through our actions. We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. Colossians 1:28

The past few months have also brought some changes to my life in the area of education. In November I officially began my pursuit of a Master’s degree in Biblical Counseling. My first class was an independent study class on Marriage and Family Counseling. In the four months I had to complete the class, I had to watch over 30 hours of taped teaching, write 15 papers on various subjects related to marriage and family counseling, memorize 20 passages of scripture, read six books, and then take a comprehensive finale over all of this material. It was challenging, especially since I had been out of school for so many years, but I am thankful for this opportunity and ALL the material I learned in this class will be vital when I return to Thailand and minister to families. Last week I finished all the assignments for the class and am now looking at what classes I am going to take this summer. Actually, my next classes will last from March until October with the majority of the work being done here in Pocatello, as independent studies. But in July I do travel to their campus in California and take one, two, or three weeks of classes on site depending on the number of credits I am going to take. I am excited to register for my next classes, but ask you to please pray for guidance as to how many credits to take. Time, finances, and ability are three areas that must be considered in regards to how many credits I can take. The most being 14 credits, which would, mean 24 hours a week of homework and also three weeks spent in California this summer. The financial cost is around $6,000. It would be nice to be able to take 14 credits because it would mean that I could possible complete my degree in two years, but I do have to consider that if I am having to spend that many hours doing homework, well I have time to continue to minister to international students. Also the challenge of coming up with $6000 in the next week to pay for the classes must be addressed. The other option is to attempt 9 credit hours this summer, meaning only 16 hours of homework a week and two weeks in California during the summer. I would still need to find $4000 to pay for the schooling but that is a little more manageable then $6000. If I chose this route, then I would be able to finish my schooling in three years instead of two. So please pray for me as this week I am considering both of these options and deciding on my next classes which I will be registering for next week. Please also pray for the finances needed to help pay for these classes. These classes will serve Mam and I when we return to Thailand and begin ministering to families there. The benefits of the material learned from these classes far outweigh the cost of tuition and I see this as an eternal investment, but I still need to have the funds to help cover the financial need. Please pray that the finances needed, will be provided.

Since my last update, we have seen the changing of seasons and the start of the New Year. It seems like only last week, I was putting away all the bikes and yard equipment preparing for winter; now the kids are asking me if I can get their bikes out since the weather is warm again. Seasons change quickly, especially in Idaho and time does pass quickly as well. Last week while I was changing the month on my calendar, I realized that last year at this time our family was still in Thailand trying to prepare for our move to Pocatello. I remember the weight of worry hanging over my head as I thought about what seemed like the endless list of needs we were facing back in America. We needed housing, a vehicle to drive, school for Gracie, clothes, furniture, and of course finances to cover our day to day expenses plus my schooling. This list of needs seemed to grow daily along with the concern as to how I was going to provide for my family in America. We arrived in America on April 21^st still not sure how we were going to get by, but now looking back we can rejoice in the fact that there has not been one single need that God did not provide for. In fact we have been richly blessed beyond our needs and have been able to experience even more things than we had originally planned due to God’s limitless blessings. There have been tight months, where the support money we were depending on didn’t come in; but there has never been a day where we have not had a roof over our head, clothes on our back, a car to drive, and food to eat. We have also seen months where people have given far above what we were expecting and we were able to share that blessing with others in ways like having international students and others from our church over for some of my wife’s yummy Thai food. We have been blessed to not only have enough food to feed our family, but to also be able to help feed others. This is only possible through the financial gifts from people like you. We do not get a salary from our church; our only source of income comes from supporters who give to cover our daily needs. Before we moved to America, I figured that in order to be able to cover our day to day needs, we would need to have to raise close to $2,500 in monthly support. We still have yet to reach that goal and it is through special onetime gifts that have helped us have enough money to cover our needs during some of the months. In fact at the end of December we were blessed with two large donations which have helped us get by over the past two months, since our monthly support at the start of the year has decreased. Those two large donations have been helpful but they will not last us throughout the whole year, and so I am again seeking to try and raise our monthly support level to $2500. During the months of January and February we received in a total of $2780. That is the two months combined, so roughly $1390 a month. There is a need to try to raise more support and I wanted to take this time to share our needs with you and ask you to please pray about joining our support team. If you have been giving, we want to thank you and let you know that your gifts have been such a blessing for our family. If you have not been giving but would like to, then you can make you checks out to: UBC Worldwide Ministries and send them to 4700 Philibin Road Chubbuck, ID. 83202. All gifts are tax deductible and are used to provide for our family as we ministry through University Bible Church. If you have questions you can contact me at dan.rutledge@gmail.com or dan.rutledge@universitybible.org and I can give you more detail on our ministry here and how you can be a part of it. Please also pray that our family will continue to wait on God to provide all of our needs and find contentment in all He provides. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. I Timothy 6:8

It is time to bring this update to a close, and I am looking forward to sharing with you more on how God is working in and through our family during this time in Pocatello. I do have some special prayer requests and ask you to take some time to join us as we lift these requests to the Lord.

1. Boldness and opportunities to share the gospel with the international students we have been meeting with.

2. Finances and safe travel for Mam and our son Kyle as they travel back to Thailand on March 27^th for four weeks. Mam has to renew her visa and she is taking Kyle with her. That means I will stay back with the three girls, so wisdom and patients for me as I look after my daughters while Mommy is away. The plane tickets cost over $2000 and is a large expense for our tight budget. Pray for the finances to pay for the tickets and also traveling costs during Mams trip. Pray also for safety for her, my dad and Kyle as they travel and for me as I watch the girls while they are away.

3. Finances and wisdom for my classes I will be taking for the next 8 months. My church gave me $2000 to help cover my first class, but there is still a need to help cover these new classes I will be registering for. Please contact me if you would like to give specifically towards my schooling or if you have questions about the program I am taking. It is very well done, and is designed to help people who work full time be able to get a sound biblically based education at the same time.

4. Continued guidance as we make preparations for ministering once we return to Thailand. We are currently praying and discussing ways we can use the material I am learning in my classes to be culturally acceptable yet biblically accurate in impacting the lives of the people of Thailand. I will share more about this future ministry in my next update.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and partner with us in continuing to minister to those God brings our way. Our family is eternally thankful for you financial gifts, help, and prayers over the years and we are looking forward to continuing serving together with you until our Lord returns. Thank you and God bless.

Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle Rutledge

And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6:19

New and Improved

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Psalm 33:18-22

Greetings once again from the Rutledge Family, we trust that you are enjoying the changing seasons as much as we are. Mam and the kids are really enjoying watching and playing in the leaves. Slowly our bodies are adjusting to the cooler weather, and everyone is eagerly waiting for the first snow fall. In Thailand one of the things I missed was the changing of the seasons. Here in the States we have spring, summer, fall, and winter to look forward to each year. Thailand we had two choices; hot or wet, so as a family we are enjoying the different seasons. For now it is exciting, but ask us again when we are in the middle of winter how excited we are, for now though we are enjoying the experience of seasonal change and are thankful we are here in America to be a part of it.

Continuing with the theme of change, I feel it is time to change the look of our updates on our Blog. I have heard from many of you that you do enjoy reading our posts, and they are very informative and I am grateful for that. I also know that there are some who don’t have the time to read all of the Blog but want to stay informed about our family and ministry, and so would be interested in a shortened version of the Rutledge Review. In an attempt to help keep the Blog informative in content but shorter in length I have revamped the style of our Blog updates. Also I will include a shorter version in PDF form which can be downloaded from each post which you can print off and share with your friends if you chose to. Our aim is to continue to keep you updated on how God is working in and through four key areas of our lives: Family, Ministry, Schooling, and Finances. We will also post current prayer requests and praise reports so that you can join with us as we offer our requests to God and praise him for the way he answers them according to his perfect will. They say that pictures are worth a 1000 words, and so we would like to continue to post pictures or our family and ministry for you to see. The final change we are looking to make to our Blog is in regards to the name. For close to 13 years I have used the title ‘The Rutledge Review’ for our newsletters and blog posts. I feel it is time for a new name and would like to invite you to join us in coming up with that new name for our newsletters and blog. From now until December 1^st please send me new name ideas along with your name and contact info. The winning name idea will be awarded two bags of the finest coffee from the hills of Northern Thailand. So put on your creative thinking caps and help the Rutledge family come up with a new name for our blog posts. We are looking forward to reading your ‘new name’ ideas and are thankful that you have taken the time to read this latest update, I trust it to be both informative and encouraging as we share with you what God has been doing in and through the Rutledge family during the past months. I ask you to please take the time to read all the way to the end of this blog post because there is some important information we would like to share with you and offer you an opportunity to be used by God to help meet some important needs that have arisen. Enjoy the updated Rutledge Review and thank you again for your willingness to partner with the Rutledge family as we serve with International Crossroads and University Bible Church.

FAMILY FIRST:

One of the main reasons we decided to take these two years off from full time ministry in Thailand was to focus on ministry towards our family. When we were serving in Thailand, I never realized how much ministry time kept me away from my family even though my family lived at the foundation we were ministering with. Due to lack of poor decisions on my part and high time demands by the 92 children at the orphanage I rarely had time to even tuck my children into bed each night. After lots of prayer and family discussions, Mam and I decided it was time to leave the orphanage and begin to spend time raising our family. We still desired to remain in full-time ministry but we needed time to reevaluate our priorities and develop a plan so that our family as a whole could serve in ministry not just me alone. Thankfully, we have had the past year and a half to pursue these desires, and have been blessed to see how God can use our family to minister to others without having to sacrifice our time together. We still do have to give up some of our time and open our homes to others, but it is well worth it and I have enjoyed getting to know my children and my wife better. I really enjoy praying at night with my daughters before they go to sleep, and seeing their hearts for others as they pray for their friends and relatives. I also love watching Mam as she helps out in the nursery at the church and also cooking food for international students who have visited our home. I am grateful to be able to serve in full time ministry, and blessed to be able to serve with my family. Thank you everyone who has helped our family during our time in Thailand and also during our move back here to the States. We are eternally thankful and want you to know that you are in our prayers. We are all doing well and ask you to please continue to pray for us as we seek to continually serve God as a family.

Mam says hi and is grateful for all the cooking supplies people have given us here in America. She loves to cook and has fallen in love with cheeseburgers and chili. She is home all day with three little ones, so if you are in the neighborhood, please feel free to swing by and say hi. If you come around lunch time, you might catch her cooking some yummy Thai food and you are welcome to enjoy it with her.

Gracie is doing better at school, and her English is really taking off. The first school she was in asked her to leave because she was not talking in class and with her teacher. With heavy hearts we moved her to a public school closer to our home, and are greatly pleased with her teacher and the way they are working with her. She still is not talking a lot, and sometimes doesn’t read aloud in class, but her teacher is very patient with her and we are seeing an improvement. She loves to read and reads at least one book a day. The public library is our new favorite hangout. She also enjoys coloring pictures and riding her bike. Sadly the bike riding is going to have to end soon with winter coming, but Gracie is eager to see snow and asks me every day when is it going to come. Please continue to pray for Gracie to be obedient at school and not so shy when she talks with other people. Her language skills are amazing, and the only problem is that she is shy and won’t talk.

Joy is Joy. She has always been our adventurous one and also the one I am sure is going to have stiches first. She was the first to ride the bike by herself, and even tried to ride with no hands. Next time she tries to do it, I suggested not trying it while she is turning. In Thailand she was already going to school full day, but here in America she is not old enough for Kindergarten yet so she has to stay home. She loves to play outside and has become good friends with the neighbor kids. We are praying she will be a good influence on them. Continue to pray that Joy will learn to obey Mommy, and make wise choices between right and wrong decisions.

Hope is our little helper. She loves to help Mommy sweep, mop, and even change Kyle’s diaper. Her favorite word is ‘beautiful’ and is always asking Daddy if the clothes she is wearing is beautiful. She loves clothes and changes her outfits at least four times a day. She played Soccer during the fall and really enjoyed it, her team went undefeated and she is looking forward to playing again in the spring. She always is asking Mommy to hold Kyle, but Kyle is getting bigger and bigger and almost weights as much as Hope does. So I don’t know how much longer she will be able to hold her baby brother. Please pray that Hope will grow in her understanding of sharing, she loves to help Mommy, but she doesn’t like to share anything with others. We have been teaching her that not everything is hers, but for a three year old sharing with other people can be hard.

Kyle is doing well, and has just mastered the art of walking. He still doesn’t talk much, I guess with three older sisters that is understandable. He does have two words he uses all the time, Dad and Ball. I thought I was special since he could say “Dad” but then I realized he calls Mam “Dad” too. But he does know the word “Ball” and anytime he sees one he calls out “Ball Ball” He loves to play Soccer with Daddy and has a great throwing arm. He is well loved by his sisters, and everyone else he meets. He is all boy, and we are always having to keep an eye on him because he loves to climb things. The other day he found a way to get up on the kitchen table and then proceeded to toss everything up on top onto the floor. Good thing Hope likes to sweep the kitchen floor. Please pray that Kyle will remain health as the weather changes and will be able to make it through the next month as we begin to wean him from Mommy’s milk.

As for me, I am doing well, still trying to balance my time between family, ministry, schooling and rest. I am thankful for this chance to minister here at my church and have really enjoyed meeting with international students. This week I started my first class with the Masters College and it has proven to be very informative but also challenging. It has been so long since I was in school, and now I have to deal with homework and paper assignments. I am encouraged though and am excited to begin applying what I have been learning with my family and teaching it to others. I have also really enjoyed spending time with my family, and introducing them to the things I experienced as a child. There have been some hard times, dealing with Gracie schooling has been one of the hardest, but God has seen us through and we are grateful for the strength he gives us to face each new day. Please pray that I will continue to allow God to guide me as a husband, father, student, and also in my ministry to the international students. We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength, and I need that strength daily. Please also pray that I will be able to make wise Biblical decisions for our family which is best for everyone and not just me. It is so easy to be selfish sometimes, and that is exactly what I want to avoid. So please pray I will be a Godly example of self-sacrifice for my family and those I minister to.

MINISTRY:

When our family was planning on returning to the States, one of the things we wanted to do during our time here was to be able to serve in ministry full time. Thankful my church was willing to allow me to apprentice with them. As an apprentice I would be able to serve the church in different ways, but also minister to others through the church. One of the areas I could minister was through reaching out to international students who were attending ISU. As a family and with the help of the church body International Crossroads was created to help reach out and minister to international students and their families during their time here at ISU. The great part about this ministry is that through it, the church can continue to minister to international students even after our family has returned to Thailand. We are still in the early stages of this ministry, but are excited to see how God is going to work through it to reach to students from all over the world. Please continue to pray for International Crossroads and our work among international students. We are trying to plan some holiday events to help the students who can’t travel home for the holidays have a way to celebrate the holiday season with some families in our church. Pray also that the students will continue to remain open to meeting with us and that they will begin to desire to know more about our God and His Son Jesus Christ.

SCHOOLING:

This is the newest addition to our Blog and I am eager to update you on what exactly I am doing in my schooling. After completing college in 1996, I was sure that I was done with schooling. The idea of going back and working on my master’s degree never interested me, but during the past 10 years of living and ministering in Thailand I saw that a degree would serve to help further our ministry outreach in two ways. First is would provide me with more knowledge on the Biblical teachings on families and how best to use the Bible to strengthen and equip families to be qualified witnesses to the world around them. Second a degree in Biblical Counseling would help to bring credibility to our teaching and would even open the doors to possibly being able to work with local universities and schools as we seek to teach teens and young adults Biblical truths about marriage and families. Our focus will not only be pre marriage counseling with college students, but providing sound Biblical counseling to anyone who is searching for help. Our main goal is to try to train up local pastors and church leaders in the truths found in the Bible to help equip them to be capable shepherds able to guide and protect their flocks. Family first is our focus, as that is God’s focus as well. Which came first; the church, the government, or the family in God’s order of creation? Take a quick look at Genesis 2:18-24 and you will find the answer. God’s focus from the beginning was with the family, and that must be the focus today. Satan is doing all he can to destroy the family, and thus far has been doing a very good job. Satan knows that if he can disrupt and destroy the family, then the church and society will be destroyed as well. I believe deep down we all know this, but the problem is that we do not know how to prevent the destruction of the family. God created the family, and he also created the means to not only keep the family from being destroyed, but help it thrive even in the most challenging circumstances. I don’t know all the answers to how to help families completely and that is why Mam and I decided it is a good time to go back to school. Following the completion of my schooling, we aim to return to Thailand and begin to use what I have learned to help the families and the church in Thailand. We know we must be very careful to keep the teaching culturally acceptable yet Biblically accurate. This is a great challenge and honestly most cultures are not Biblical in their practices, and people often times don’t want to change. The truth though is that if we are to get our families back on track, then we need to listen to him who created the family and what he says and do it. It is so simple yet so difficult if you consider our sin nature and our desire to do what we want to do and not what we were told to do. I don’t know how receptive the Thai people will be to the teachings the Bible has on the family, I see how unreceptive Americans are to it and we claim to be a Christian nation. How much that grieves my heart, and I do so long to see families take the Word of God as the only truth and use God’s ways to direct their families. I can admit this, I am in the first week of my studies, and already I have seen God begin to change things in my life and as I change, I am seeing that spread to my family. Please continue to pray for me and my family as we attempt to complete this lofty goal of getting a Master’s degree in Biblical Counseling and using what we learned to minister to families in Thailand. I am thinking it should take me about 3 years and $12,000 to complete this degree Lord willing and we are trusting that God will continue to provide the time and the finances needed to help me finish. God has provided money to pay for my first class, but we are still in need of finances to cover the rest. Would you please prayerfully consider giving to help cover our schooling expenses? I desire is to finish my degree debt free so that we can return to Thailand as soon as possible and begin using what we have learned. In order to do this, we need your help. I look forward to sharing with you more about my studies in future newsletters. I am thankful for this chance to learn and excited to pass on what I learn to others.

FINANCES:

I realize that this Blog is getting a little long, and I hope that in future posts I will be able to keep it shorter. It is always hard because there is so much I would like to share with you and I have struggled to justify leaving some stuff out. I do thank you for taking the time to read this, maybe it would help if you split it up over a couple of days, just a thought. We are near the end and the finale section of this Blog deals with a topic we often times don’t like to discuss but is crucial to our daily lives. We often have a love/hate relationship with finances. We all love having money and spending money, but we hate talking about money and worrying about money. The truth of the matter is that finances do play an important part in our lives, if you don’t believe me, than try to drive away with a tank full of gas without paying for it. I bet the gas station and the police office will agree that finances are important. Like all families, we too need finances to eat, live and survive. Most families depend on their jobs or companies to provide for their finances, we on the other hand are 100% dependent on others to provide. Even though I do work full time in ministry, my pay check comes from our faithful supports who often times sacrificially give so that our family can remain focused and fully involved in ministry. We are so thankful for the honor of being able to serve in full time ministry and at the end of each month God has always provided for all of our needs through the gifts of others. It is truly amazing to see. I believe sometimes the reason why people don’t give, is not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t know about the need. Americans are by far the most generous nation in the world, this is evident by the fact that anytime there is a natural disaster, it is America that often times gives first and gives most. So today and also in future post, I want to share with you updates on our financial status and give you an opportunity to give to help provide for our day to day needs. I pray that every month will not be as gloomy as this month’s report, and we are trusting that God will work through many others like you to help provide for our current needs. Here is the financial update for November. Every month supporters send their financial gifts to my church and it is put into an account for our family to use. On the 1^st and 15^th of each month I ask the church accountant to deposit money from the UBC Worldwide Ministries account into our personal bank account. The amount that we receive depends on the amount of money available. For instance, if on the 1^st I check and see that there is $1500 in our account, I will ask that $1000 be deposited in my bank account to pay for rent, utilities, food, etc. Then on the 15^th if the balance of the ministry account is less than $1000, we will ask for $900. So for that month we will have a salary of $1900. That is enough money to provide for our family in Thailand, but in the States it is really tight. So we had a goal of raising our support to $2500 a month to help cover the basic needs of life in the States. We have been here seven months now and only during the month of September did we see that goal reached and $2615 was donated which is great. But in May we only say $870 donated so that meant May was a tight month. I did an average for the past seven months and we are currently averaging donations in the area of $1741.43 monthly. That is about $800 shorter of our goal, and thus we have had to cut back on a lot of things there is no room for unexpected expenses like car repair. I am sharing this with you to let you know that first God has continued to provide for all of our needs over the past seven months. I don’t know how, but he has done it. Secondly to let you see what state our finances are currently at and how you can help us for the upcoming months. We are in need of new supporters to join our team. We currently have about 10 supporters who faithfully give every month, we are thankful for them and we are searching for more people who would be willing to join with them to help cover our needs. You would think that with technology, getting in contact with people would be easier, but I have actually found it more difficult. I email people, facebook, and even try to call them on their cell phones, but it is hard to contact people if they don’t reply back to you. Remember when we could open up a phone book and find their phone number and mailing address. Have you tried to do that lately, it is not very productive. So what am I saying is this; I need your help. I want to talk to people, I want to share our passion about the ministry here and also in Thailand we are working with, but I need your help to make that possible. Please email me, call me, or even facebook me. If you are interested in helping or giving, then please contact me. Also if you have friends or a church that might be willing to at least meet with me and talk about what we are doing, then please let me know. We need you and are asking you to please help us. As of November 3^rd our support account balance is $71.69 and we do know that there will be some more money coming in before the 15^th but how much we aren’t really sure, so we need to raise more money. It is hard living month to month not knowing how much money is availed to use. Don’t get me wrong, the hardship is worth every bit of growth we gain as we live day by day by the faith we have in God our provider. The need is there, God is able to meet that need, and will you be a willing vessel God can use to meet our family needs. Please prayerfully consider giving and also pray that God will rise up more people who want to join our support team to help give for our family’s needs. Thank you and God bless.

It is time to bring this blog to a close. Remember to continue to pray for us as we minister here at University Bible Church among the international students. Pray also for my schooling and the finances to pay for it. Our family and finances also need your prayers, and if you have anything we can pray for, please let us know. Feel free to contact us by phone (208)242-6300, by email dan.rutledge@universitybible.org or dan.rutledge@gmail.com, by facebook search for Dan Rutledge, or you can mail us at 216 N 14^th Ave Pocatello, ID. 83201.

We look forward to hearing back from you and pray that God will continue to work mightily both in and through your family as you seek his ways. God bless and have a great day.

Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle Rutledge.