High Five (Part 2)

"Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods." 

Psalm 96:2-4

  

Kyle is enjoying life in Thailand, especially since he gets to stay home with Mommy while his sisters have to go to school. He loves riding his bike, helping Mam around the house, and watching Thomas the Train videos while he plays with his train tracks and trains. He is not as fond of the Thai food as his sisters are, but he loves the Thai fruits. Every chance he has to eat fruit, he devours it. His favorite is pineapple and he also loves bananas and NGA which is rambutan fruit. He misses Grammy and Papa and his cousin Elias, but he is also making good friends here in Thailand. Actually everywhere we go he is the center of attention. All the Thai girls want to hug him and kiss him and buy him snacks. He acts shy around them and I hope that continues throughout his teenage years as well. He understands Thai but is content in speaking English and that is good. We wanted him to be grounded in English before he starts school next year and so the fact that he only wants to speak English right now is ok for us. He will pick up Thai from his sisters and the other kids at school next year. Every time he sees anything shaped like a cross he says, “Jesus got hurt on that”. Wow what an amazing observation and a great way to share the gospel with this precious 3yr old. He also refuses to eat before praying for the food by himself and will not go to bed until I pray with him as he prays for his friends Zoe and Phoebe. He really wants to ride an airplane again and to also ride a train, but his favorite thing to do is to ride the motorcycle with Daddy to the market to buy ice cream.

Mam is doing well and is really enjoying the wonderful Thai food. She too misses Pocatello, especially this time of year. She loved to watch the leaves change colors and really enjoyed going to family camp. She is happy to be back closer to her family but misses her friends she made while in the States. She really misses attending University Bible Church and helping out with Cubbies. She has been working overtime to help make the house we are renting into a home. I feel bad because there are many things which would make her job easier but we just do not have the finances right not to buy them, so we are making do with what we have. She is really thankful for the oven we were able to buy with the special gifts some of you sent. We were able to find a second hand oven which some missionaries were selling for a good price and she is enjoying using it. We made cookies in it for Kyle’s birthday last month and she is looking at doing some more cooking once life slows down. The house we rented came partially furnished and we have been slowly trying to get the things we need. We did get a bed for Mam and I, and also some storage cabinets for the kitchen to help hold the dishes and cooking supplies, but we are still looking for a kitchen table and some more pots and pans to help her with her cooking. We are grateful for what we have and are trusting that God will provide the finances to buys these items when it is needed.

If keeping up on house hold chores and watching Kyle were not enough to keep her busy, she has also been going to the girls school and spending the whole day with them helping them understand their school work. The teachers are really thankful she is willing to come and help and often times the other students ask her for help with their assignments as well. She is also developing a relationship with some college students who she is going to start a Bible study with next month. If being an amazing mom and an awesome wife were not enough she is also teaching Sunday school at the Thai church we are ministering with. During the month of July I had to return to the States for four weeks to attend classes for my studies. She was able to keep everything going during that time without missing a beat. I truly did marry way above myself and am grateful for such a wonderful partner to enjoy life with. She sends a special greeting to all of her friends at UBC and to her sisters in laws Dawna and Catherine. She also misses Pocatello and would love to take a drive through the mountains to see the autumn leaves while drinking a strawberry shake from Sonic, so if anyone can arrange that for her, she would be appreciative.

 

What have I been doing you ask? I covered the rest of the family first because they are the ones people ask me about most of the time. I too have been busy and until the past week it seemed like I was treading water and working as hard as possible to keep my head above the drowning point. Since returning back to Thailand I have been continuing my studies for a Masters in Biblical Counseling degree. I have also been trying to reconnect with a local Thai pastor and have become involved in helping his church grow. Another area where my time and energy has been focused is in getting Hearts Redeemed Ministries (the ministry Mam and I started) up and running. The aim of HRM is to connect the hearts of the Thai people to the redeeming truths of Scripture. We aim to use the information I am learning in my classes to begin to offer biblical counseling and discipleship to the local Thai churches and the families which attend them. In order to accomplish this, we have been focusing on evangelism and discipleship with college students attending the two universities located in Chiang Rai.  

Some of the college students who attended the "First Step" Camp our church held at the start of the school year. These are some of the young men and women our family is reaching out to.

The Streams of Blessing Church which we have been attending over the past five months is made up of mostly college students from these two universities. On top of preaching one Sunday a month at the church and translating for other speakers, Mam and I have been busy getting to know the college students and beginning to invite them into our home as a way to mentor and instruct them in the ways of God through a family setting. We have also started pre-marital counseling with two couples within the church and are looking at doing a dating and relationship conference early next year. My class work load has been really heavy over the past five months and that included a mandatory 2 weeks in-class study during the month of July in California which I traveled back for. The class work is hard but oh so practical. Almost all the stuff I am learning I have been applying to my own life and my own family as well as with the students we have been ministering with at our church. I am so thankful for the sufficiency of Scripture and that the truths of God’s Word are all we need in order to live a life that is pleasing to God and a blessing to others. In order to help those I counsel live a godly life I do not have to first translate a book for them to read, rather I must first know the Scriptures and then take the counselee to God’s Word and let His truth instruct them and sanctify them by producing lasting change in their heart and life. I am 2/3 of the way through the program and have one more year of classes along with my Thesis to write in order to complete the degree. God has been so good and I am grateful for this chance to study and to become better equipped to accurately handle the Word of God as I desire to minister to fellow sinners who have been saved by God’s amazing grace so that we can live lives that glorify Him and honor one another.

I too miss Pocatello and all my friends and family in the States. It was nice to visit with some of you during my short visit in July and please know that we are so grateful for everyone who helped make our family’s two year stay in the States a wonderful blessing. We also are thankful for your prayers and financial support. Your special gifts for the truck cover and the oven for Mam came at the perfect time and we were able to purchase both upon my return from the States. I would like to send a special thank you to everyone who helped me during my four week visit to the States in July. From Boise to California I am grateful for those who picked me up at the airport, transported me around the cities, provided places to sleep at night, and most importantly blessed me with friendly fellowship and Christlike love.

Here is the new black back on our truck which your financial gifts paid for. We are now able to carry up to 15 people in the back without them worrying about falling out or getting wet during rainy season. It has been a huge blessing as we are able to pick up college students and transport them to church on Sundays. Thank you for your gifts!

The truck we are using every day and on Sunday we are able to use it to transport some of the college students to and from church during the rainy season. We are finally getting settled into the house we are renting and have two extra rooms ready for guests to come and visit. If you would be interested, then please let me know, there is so much we could put you to work doing, but if you just want to come and visit then know you are welcome as well.

It is hard to believe that our family has been back in Thailand for five months now. Time does fly when you are having fun and are busy and that is true for us. We are thankful for the chance of not only being a child of God, but to also being vessels used by Him to help show His love to others. I want to close this update with a few prayer requests from some specific needs and also offer you a chance to partner with our family and Hearts Redeemed Ministries as we aim to connect the hearts of the Thai people with the lasting and redeeming truths of God’s Word.

Your prayers and financial support along with God’s mighty hand are what makes it possible for our family to live and minister here in Thailand. We ask you to please continue to partner with our family by committing to give a financial gift to help meet our need of $2500 in monthly support. We have been blessed to have received close to $1700 monthly over the past five months, but we are still short of our goal of $2500 a month. Would you prayerfully consider committing to give to help raise the remaining $800 of support our family is in need of to cover our daily living expenses. God has always and will continue to be faithful and provide for all our needs, and it is in Him we place our hope, but we also know that this is a great way for the body of Christ to minister to others by giving of their finances. If you would like to join our support team then please email me at dan.rutledge@gmail.com so I can contact you personally and give you some more information about the work we are doing through Hearts Redeemed Ministries. You can also send your checks made payable to UBC Worldwide Ministries and send them to UBC Worldwide Ministries 4700 N Philbin Road, Chubbuck, Idaho, 83202. (All gifts are tax deductible and 100 percent of the amount given goes directly to our family as we serve here in Thailand).

Thank you for taking the time to read this update and I want to make you aware of some specific needs our family has and also some prayer requests which we ask you to pray for.

1. Please pray for the two young couples Mam and I are meeting with for pre-marital counseling? This is an exciting opportunity because it is not common for the Thai people to seek pre-marital counseling, they would most likely go to a palm reader before seeking counsel from their pastor and that is why we are grateful these two couples are seeking biblical counsel from Mam and me.  It also challenging because this is the first time I have ever done this and I also have to do it in Thai. Again I am thankful for the sufficiency of the Scriptures and the truths of God’s Word which are valid in all languages and cultures. The two couples names are Click and Wahn and then there is Pahn and Suu.

2. Please continue to pray for Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle as they adjust to life here in Thailand. Pray especially for Gracie and Joy and that they will become more comfortable at their school and will be able to make good friends which will aide them as they adjust to life in a Thailand. Pray for all of our children that they will be able to not only hear the gospel taught in our home but they will also see the gospel message lived out in the lives of their parents. We are praying that God will work in their hearts leading them to a realization of the seriousness of their sins and their personal need for a savior the same way all of us are in need of a savior. I do desire to see my children succeed in their new life in Thailand, but more than that I long to watch them grow through the saving and sanctifying work of Christ in their lives.

3. Please pray for Mam as she tries to balance family, home, and ministry in a way that is glorifying to God. Pray that as she ministers to the young college ladies that God will be able to work through her to instruct them how a woman of God should live according to the Scriptures. Also pray that we will be blessed with some extra finances so that we can by purchase a kitchen table, a toaster, some more storage cabinets for the kitchen, some larger pots and pans for cooking, so that she can be blessed with a kitchen where she can minister to our family and those we invite into our house through her gift of cooking. She is looking at starting to teach some of the younger women how to cook and so some of these things for the kitchen would be a huge blessing for her.

4. Please pray for me as I continue my studies and begin using the truths I am learning in a way to minister to others. The local Thai church we are attending is full of young believers and I ask for wisdom on how best to minister to them and to the church as a whole. Also I am asking for wisdom on how to handle some counseling cases which I am currently dealing with and I need God’s guidance more than ever. Please pray that I will not look past the mission field of the hearts of my own family and that I will be diligent to live out at home that which I am teaching in public.

5. Please pray for Thailand. I ask you to pray the prayer recorded by Paul in the book of Philippians chapter 1. Starting in verse 9 we read, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Thailand is in need of the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ. There are plenty of churchs and missionaries here but very little fruit of righteousness is being produced. The Thai church and believers need to grow in three things: love for one another and non-believers, real knowledge of God’s Word, and discernment in order to reject the false teachings found in many churches and search out the true gospel message recorded for them in the Scriptures. Please join with me as we continue to pray for God’s mercy on this country and that He will work in the hearts and minds of the Thai people for His glory.

6. Specific needs our family currently has.

a. Our camera died last week and when I took it to the shop to see about fixing it, they said it would cost around $300. We really enjoyed our camera and were looking at starting to do a monthly video update introducing our supporters to the sights and people of Thailand. We do not have an extra $300 lying around and so we are asking for anyone who would like to give a special gift to help cover the cost of repairing our old camera or buying a new one.

b. Dinner time is a special time and one thing I really enjoyed about our family while growing up. We always had dinner together as a family around the kitchen table and the table was also used every time we had guests over to visit. It was the place for meals, for games, for family discussions, for birthday parties, and even homework projects. Since moving back to Thailand we have not been able to afford a dinner table large enough for our family to sit around. I am shocked at how expensive tables are here in Thailand and have been looking for second hand ones that we could afford but have not found one yet. We are asking people to consider giving a special financial gift to help purchase a dinner table for our family. Currently we are sitting on the floor which is not bad, but it just seems like something is missing when you do not have a dinner table.

Thank you again for taking the time to read this update and I pray that it was not only informative but also encouraging for you as you read how God has been working in and through the Rutledge family during our first 5 months back in Thailand. We look forward to sharing with you more in the future and please know that we are eternally thankful for everyone who supports our family through prayers and financial giving. If you are ever heading to Thailand, please let us know, we will have a room ready for you and some of Mam’s amazing cooking prepared to help welcome you to Amazing Thailand. Until next time we pray that, “our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17) Amen and Amen. God bless and Good night.

High Five (part 1)

"God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine 
upon us--  That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You." 
Psalm 67:1-3
Hello again from the beautiful countryside of Chiang Rai. Our family is grateful for all of your prayers and support which makes it possible for us to live and work here in Thailand. Since our move back here last April, both personal and ministry life for the Rutledge family has been busy but also extremely blessed. God is so amazing and we are so thankful that we can partner with Him as well as with you our supporters to help connect the hearts of the Thai people to the redeeming truths of God’s Word. We would like to take some time to update you on how God has been working in and through our family over the past few weeks and also share with you some ways you can be praying for our family and our work with Hearts Redeemed Ministry here in Thailand. 

God has been so good to our family during the past five months we have been here in Thailand. The first three months were packed full of excitement and also many challenges. Trying to relocate a family of six to a foreign country is not an easy thing to do and we are grateful for everyone whose prayers and financial support helped our family be able to return back to Thailand. Mam and I knew it was going to be difficult to get our family back into the Thai way of life, but God has been gracious and we are seeing amazing growth in our children’s ability to not only speak the Thai language but to also adjust comfortably to the Thai culture and food. One of the most challenging parts of the move back was getting the girls registered for school and helping them to be able to communicate well enough in Thai to attend a Thai school. It has been a long five months, and we are thankful that we are seeing some major breakthroughs. 

Gracie was having a hard time talking with anyone in her class, but after a few months she began speaking with her teacher and over the past few weeks has started to make friends with her classmates. She still misses her good friend Amaya in Pocatello, but we are thankful that she is talking with her classmates. Her ability to learn languages amazes me, and she is already better at the Thai language than I am. She is reading and writing in Thai, she is learning Chinese and Japanese at school, and she is also able to speak Northern Thai. Her teacher is amazed because she is progressing faster than all the other kids in the 3^rd grade class. She misses her old school in Pocatello, and really misses Awanas and she wants to tell all of her friends “hello”. She would like to return to Pocatello one day, but she is really enjoying Thailand and especially the Thai food. Gracie would like to send a special thank you to Abigail for writing her a letter; she really enjoyed getting mail from America.

Joy, like Gracie, was having a hard time at school. She was not talking with her teachers and was really struggling doing her homework at night. Thankfully she has an amazing mom, who was willing to go to 1^st grade with her twice a week and help her become comfortable with the Thai schooling system. She is doing so much better now, and really loves buying snacks after school. She enjoys her teacher and her class, but has been having problems with three girls who have been picking on her and stealing her pencils. Mam has talked to the kids and to the teacher and things are better now, but please pray for Joy. She loves going to school, but does not like it when the girls pick on her. We are proud of her and she is learning to handle the situation in the right way by telling the teacher and not fighting back. She really misses America and especially Awanas and her friend Gaby. She wishes she could ride her bike to school like she did in Pocatello, but our house is too far away from her school here in Thailand. She is driving me to the poor house due to her frequent tooth loss lately. In the past three weeks, she has lost 3 teeth and she has another one ready to come out this week. I warned her that she would not be able to eat food if she keeps losing teeth, to which she smiled and replied, “Daddy, it will not be a problem, because in Thailand we eat rice and you do not need teeth to eat rice.” I guess she is right there. She would like to send a special greeting to her friends at Sunday school and to her favorite teacher Mrs. Miles. 

Hope is a different challenge for us; she unlike her sisters does not have a problem with being too quiet at school and afraid to talk with others. She is so excited to be going to school and everyday her teacher and her friends are amazed at how much energy she has and how much she talks. Her Thai is not as clear as her sisters, but that is not stopping her. She talks with everyone all the time and loves going to school every day. Her favorite day is on Friday though and that is because she gets to wear her special Friday uniform and also has swimming at school. She enjoys Thailand but at least once a week she tells us that she misses Pocatello and wants to move back to her old house. She really misses her two friends from Awana Daniel and Lizzy and is always asking when we can see them again. This past month was really hard for her because she really enjoyed going to our churches family camp and also attending the fair with Grammy and Papa. She misses Pocatello, but is growing to enjoy Thailand as well. She would like to send a special hello to Lizzy and Daniel and also ask you to please pray that she will not miss Pocatello too much?

To be continued in Part 2 coming later this week.

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