Thailand Times Three

“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 16^th 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 1^st 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 3^rd grade and is really having a hard time. Understandably 3^rd 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 7^th 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

   

The Wonderious New Adventure

Psalm 92:1-2

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD

And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

To declare Your loving-kindness in the morning

And your faithfulness by night,”

It is good to give thanks to God, and to praise Him for all of His wondrous deeds. In this update, I am going to share with you how God has been blessing our family over the past few weeks and invite you to join with us as we declare His greatness and faithfulness daily.

The best place to start is with the last few weeks our family spent in America. During the two years we called Pocatello home, our family was blessed in many ways and are eternally grateful for everyone who helped us during our time in the States. Our kids still talk about their friends that they made during Sunday school class, Awanas, and also in our life groups. Today in the car they were singing a wonderful song talking about once having a heart of darkness, but being able to praise God because Jesus had washed away their sin and made them white as snow. I had never heard the song before and they told me that they learned in in Awanas. My heart was greatly touched and I am so grateful for the two years we got to spend in America. The last two months of our time in the States was crazy and I know that there are some of our friends who we did not get a chance to say a proper good bye to, for that I am sorry but please know we do miss everyone and are looking forward to returning for a visit in about 3 years’ time. We would like to offer a special thank-you to the Lovelace family for letting us use your home for the time we were in Pocatello; also Grant and Cathy for letting us use the van to transport our family. We are also grateful for everyone at University Bible Church who ministered to our family and helped us during the last few days before our move. You will be greatly missed and continually in our prayers. There are so many people to thank, and we are so blessed to have so many wonderful people helping our family. Your prayers, financial support, and friendships are so vital to our family and we are truly grateful for all that God has done to bless our family through your lives. Thank you and please know that we truly do thank God for all of you.

Praise God for His faithfulness does not end, and we have already seen His hand at work during our travels back to Thailand. The flights were long, but God was merciful and the kids did an amazing job traveling, even though I caused us to miss our connecting flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai because I kept going in the wrong direction in the airport, my family was so gracious with me and everyone kept a good attitude during the extra 5 hours they had to wait in the Bangkok airport. We were tired by the time we arrived in Chiang Rai but were also so excited to see some very good friends who met us at the airport. Our bags missed the flight but we were grateful to finally be here and to be able to lay down for a much needed sleep. God’s faithfulness was again seen the next day when we were able to visit some other deer friends and to also get our luggage back. I know Mam was thankful for this because I was still wearing the same clothes I had on when I left America three days earlier. She and the kids had changes of clothes but I did not and was spelling kind of funky by the time we got our luggage. Since our arrival, God has been blessing our family with opportunities to reconnect with friends and family and to also begin ministering with the local Thai church we were worshipping with before we moved to the States two years ago. The pastor and his wife are excited to have us back and we are already looking at how we can partner together to help connect the hearts of the Thai families with the redeeming truths of scripture. There are 4 young couples who are dating and are talking about marriage who are currently attending the church, and this is exactly the people we want to begin ministering to with the truths of God’s Word. We are excited to begin working to help the families in Thailand through Hearts Redeemed Ministries by applying the truths I am learning in my classes to help disciple and counsel fellow believers with the scriptures. I am looking forward to sharing with you more about the work of Hearts Redeemed Ministries in future posts and ask you to please continue to pray for our family as we minister in the lives of other families.

God is so good, and His faithfulness is never ending. When we first arrived in America we were facing many of the same needs which we are currently. We were in need of a house suitable for our family to rent at an affordable price which God provided. We were in need of a car to drive which was large enough to transport our family, again God provided. We were seeking wisdom on which school to put our children in, and God was gracious and provided a wonderful classroom experience at Greenacres for both of our daughters. We were also looking for stuff to furnish our house, and yet again God provided abundantly. God is good, and we know that He will provide for all of our needs. We ask you to please be praying for us as over the next few weeks we have a lot of decisions to make and needs that need to be meet, and we are totally dependent on Gods wisdom and provision. Here are the top five prayer requests for our family:

1. Pray for a house to rent which is located close to the church we will be ministering with (Ban Du area of Chiang Rai), will be large enough for our family and to host bible studies (4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large kitchen for Mam, and a large living room area to host bible studies), and will be affordable (10,000 baht or less).

2. Pray for wisdom on which school to send our children. (A Thai School is cheaper, but Gracie needs to relearn Thai before she can go. Joy and Hope will be alright in their age group but Gracie would be behind) (An English school would be easier for the girls but would also be expensive. Some as high as 20,000 a semester for tuition which is $725 per kid per semester and we do not have that kind of money to spend)

3. Pray for furniture and appliances to furnish the house we will be renting. Most houses in Thailand come unfurnished and so we must buy everything: refrigerator, stove, couches, beds, dressers, etc. We are praying for some good second hand things which we can purchase cheap and use a long time.

4. Pray for a car to transport our family. We still have my truck and we are so grateful for it, but it is getting older and currently just barely fits our family. We are praying for a small four door SUV or van that we could use to safely transport our family and visitors around in. This will cost money and so we are starting to set aside some to try and save up for a vehicle soon. (If you would like to donate special towards us being able to purchase a vehicle big enough for our family, please email me and let me know).

5. Ministry with Hearts Redeemed Ministry. We have already made some good contacts and we are ask for your prayers that we will be able to settled in quickly as a family and begin ministry to the young singles and soon to be marrieds in the church we are attending.

6. I know I said 5 prayer requests, but this one is important as well. We are grateful for everyone who is supporting us financially and we currently have $1800 in monthly support committed. Our goal is to have $2500 in monthly support and so we ask you to please pray that God will lead us to people who will be willing to help support us so that we can raise the remaining $700 needed to reach our goal.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this post and I pray that you will continue to sing with me God’s praises and share with others His faithfulness towards His children. God is so good and we are blessed to be able to serve in fulltime ministry as a family here in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Thank you for your prayers, your support, and your friendships. We are eternally grateful for what others have done to bless our family.

Have a great day and may God continue to work in and through you for His glory.

God bless and love always from your fellow servants of God.

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

Heading Out SOON!!!!!

Greetings from the frigged city of Pocatello.
The weather has been super cold and living the past decade in a tropical climate has destroyed my ability to handle it. I am looking forward to being back in the warm climate of Thailand soon, but I do know I am going to miss the beauty of snow but not the freezing temperatures of the winter. We are in the final months of our time here in the States and are doing all we can to finish what we need to do before we leave on April 3rd for our return trip to Thailand.
Before our family leaves, there are so many people we would love to visit with and so I would like to try to schedule a time to meet with as many people as possible before our departure date. We are so excited for the ministry opportunities which are awaiting us in Thailand and looking forward to connecting the families in Thailand to the redeeming truths of Scripture through Hearts Redeemed Ministries (HRM). This is a new ministry which Mam and I have started and are eager to share with you how we are going to use HRM to minister to the Thai people.
Our time in the States is running short and so we are looking for people who would be willing to host a small gathering at their home in which others could be invited to attend if they were interested in hearing more about HRM. Mam is willing to offer her cooking skills if people would like to learn how to make Thai food or just enjoy eating Thai food. If you would be willing to host a small Thai party at your home or church then please contact me ASAP. My phone number is 208-242-6300.

If you are not able to host a Thai party but we like to schedule a time to meet with our family or to find our about a Thai party being hosted in your area, then please give me a call or email back soon.

Here is a current list of upcoming events and also locations where our family will be over the next two months.
On Feb 1st -10th we are looking at being in the Boise Area. For sure we have a Thai party scheduled for the 9th of February at Faith Community Bible Church. The other days during our time in Boise are still open and would love to visit with as many people as possible during our week in the Boise area.
During the weekend of the Feb. 15th - 17th, we will be in the Wood River Valley. We will be spending time at the Larkin Community Church on the 16th and at Calvary Bible Church on the 17th. If you are in the Wood River Valley and would like to get together, then please contact us soon.
The weekend of the 22nd-24th we will be traveling to Montana.
We will be in the Twin Falls area on the 25th - 31st of March and are praying for opportunities to meet with many of our friends in the Magic Valley.
The rest of the time we will be in the Pocatello area and are always eager to fellowship with others here in Southeast Idaho.
We fly out of Boise on the 3rd of April and are praying that we will be able to visit with many of our friends, family and supporters before then.
We are excited to return to Thailand but are saddened to leave Idaho. If we miss getting together before we leave, please know that you are always welcome to visit us in Thailand. We'll keep a light on for you.
We are looking forward to hearing back from many of you and praying for a chance to get together soon.
God bless
Your fellow servants in Christ
Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle Rutledge

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Luke 2:10-11

Our kids were grateful to spend Thanksgiving with their cousins.

The holiday season is upon us, and our family is so thankful that we get to spend the holidays in America once again this year. Our kids are looking forward to Christmas and are praying that the snow comes soon because they so long to experience a truly white Christmas.  I too would love to see some snow, I was looking forward to introducing my kids to the joy of sledding, and so we are praying for lots of snow before winter is over. The holiday season is truly one of my favorite times of the year and I get so excited to sing Christmas carols, drink hot chocolate, decorate the Christmas tree, and buy presents for everyone I can. Christmas is a special time of the year but many of us will get caught up in the holiday cheer and forget what Christmas truly is about. This year our family is reading about the true meaning of Christmas and spending time discussing together the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ and what His birth, life, and death mean to all those who seek Him. It has been fun sitting around the cd player and singing Christmas carols together, the theology in those carols is amazing and I encourage you to set aside some time to really reflect on some of those amazing truths presented in those old carols. One thing that our family has been talking about lately is the blessings we have received from God and also the opportunity we have to pass those blessings onto others. I am grateful that our family has the opportunity to once again spend the holidays here in America and am also so grateful for all that God has blessed us with during our times in the States. In this SHORT letter I would like to share three things with you. First, how grateful we are for all that we as a family has received over the past two years. Second, we would like to share a little bit about some of our upcoming plans for the year 2013. Third, we would like to present to you some special requests for needs our family is currently facing. I ask you to please take a few minutes and read our short list of three, and then if you feel comfortable, email me with a short list of what you are thankful for, what your  plans are for the next year, and any prayer requests or needs we can join with you in seeking God to provide.

How thankful we are for all our family has been blessed with over the past two years. We moved here with a lot of questions and a lot of needs, but God was faithful and through the gifts of so many people we were able to live and minister full time for the Lord during our time here in the States. We have been blessed with a wonderful house to rent, a car to drive, furniture and other necessary items to help make our house a home. We have been blessed with the opportunity to make many new friends and also reconnect with some old friends. I am thankful for the health of our family and the chances we have been experience some of the natural wonders of Idaho. Our family is extremely thankful for the opportunities we have had to minister to international students, the children in our church, and also young families who have been a part of our weekly Bible studies. I am extremely thankful for the chance to work on my Master’s degree and also become better equipped for ministering to families and the local church when we return to Thailand. There is so much to be thankful for and I would love to share them all with you, but I wanted to keep this letter short so I will just add one more thing. Our family is so thankful for all the people who have prayed for us, opened their hearts and homes to us, and given sacrificially to provide the finances needed to help our family live and minister here in America.

After looking back on the past two years and all the blessings God has given our family, now I would like to share with what are some of the future plans our family is working on. For those who do not know yet, our family is planning on returning to Thailand on April 3^rd, 2013 Lord willing. When we return to Thailand we will be looking at starting a new ministry which will focus on helping local churches and the families of Thailand with the truths of God’s Word through the use of biblical counseling. I do not want to share too much with you right now, because we are working on a ministry name and information packet which we will introduce at the start of January. We are excited to return to Thailand and begin ministering again with the people of Thailand. I still have two years left in my schooling, which I will continue from Thailand and I am looking forward to applying what I am learning in my studies as our family seeks to help counsel other families with the lasting truths of God’s Word. From now until April our family will continue to minister with our church and to the international students at ISU. We will also be traveling to visit as many friends, family and supporters as possible before April and finally packing up our house and preparing for the move back to Thailand.

The next four months are going to be busy for our family and we are in need of some extra help from others. We would like to visit with as many as possible before we leave and so we need people who would like to visit with our family to contact us so that we can schedule a time to meet. Also we are in need of some help emptying our house of things we will not be taking back to Thailand, so if you are in need of couches, tables, beds, dressers, pot and pans, etc. let us know so we can schedule a time for you to come and take our things. We also are in need of some financial help. When we return to Thailand we will be looking for a house to rent and since the houses in Thailand come unfurnished, we are in need of raising some extra money to buy basic appliances and furniture. Our family is also in need of help financially to help cover our living expenses during the time remaining here in America. The past three months our support level has been low, and by God’s grace we have been able to pay for all our expenses. We are asking you to please prayerfully consider giving a special one-time gift during this holiday season to help cover some of our families living expenses and maybe some of our upcoming moving costs. Our family has been blessed to be able to serve fulltime in the ministry during our time here in the States through the giving of so many people. We are eternally thankful for all that we have received and are trusting that God will continue to meet our monthly needs and are inviting you to join Him in providing for our family. Please consider giving special during this holiday season and contact me if you are sending something special so that I can share the good news with our family.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this blog post and I am looking forward to hearing back from you soon. May you and your family have a wonderful holiday season and a very Merry Christmas?

Your fellow servants in Christ:

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