Family Camp

Pictures from Family Camp. Above left: Karla, our team member from Nashville, did a great job with the children's program. The kids were jumping for joy all weekend!

Above right: Pastor Ramod and his family (the children at the youth hostel) sand a song for us at the talent show.

Below left: Me and baby Ruth-- I love that we share the same name!

Below right: Everyone lines up for an exciting balloon race.

Family Camp was awesome! I was so happy to be a part of it… everyone in our church family here in Nepal has been talking about Family Camp all year. I know it is something that they really look forward to. Last year, I came to Nepal just after family camp had finished.
At camp this year, God was obviously moving as people received good teaching and encouragement… and I received as well. The theme of our camp this year was “Praying like Jesus prayed.” We had a great team from Nashville, TN leading the teaching, games, children’s program… I was very much blessed just to be an assistant, and enjoy the benefits of their love and hard work.

Above pictures from dance camp: We wrote promises God gives us on our arms (with washable marker :-)

Prior to Family Camp, our church youth participated in a hip-hop dance camp, led by Bethany, one of the members of our New Song Nashville team. Because I am one of the youth leaders, I took dance class, too! We learned a song and did a performance on the last day of Family Camp. The spiritual meaning of the song (Don’t let our enemy, Satan, take what God has given us) was very powerful to a lot of the youth. Plus, we had a lot of fun, and learned some cool dance moves.

Above pictures: My birthday party.

I celebrated my birthday. I had all the girls from the youth group, and younger sisters from church over to my house for dinner (we cooked Japanese food!) and a slumber party. We had fun doing facials and nail-polish, but I have to say the highlight was singing praiseand worship songs together. I love to hear these beautiful Nepali songs!
During Family Camp, Dan had a bike accident, and is in Thailand recovering from surgery now. Sheryl went with him there, so that means it is me and the girls at home again. We miss Dan and Sheryl a lot; please join us in prayer for Dan’s complete and speedy recovery. They will be gone for one and half more weeks, and until then, keep us in your prayers as we get along here without them!
Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers for me and for our family here.
Love always,
From Ruthie

Above pictures are from a village on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley. On visiting this place, our team spent time in prayer. God wants to transform and redeem the communities and villages of Nepal through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit's power.

Thanks for partnering with this ministry and for your prayers for us.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" ~Isaiah 52:7

An Adventure Story...

MOVING IN: Who knew it could be so exciting?
So, as you know, we moved house. My job was to clean out the new kitchen. It sounded like one of those mundane and boring household jobs… but that was before I knew about the massive hordes lurking unseen in the deep, dark recesses of the kitchen.
Somebody told me once, “Every day is a battle.” How true. And sometimes, the battle comes when you least expect it. So we should always be ready. That is the moral of this story.
Anyway, I walked into the kitchen. I started cleaning from the ceiling down… I wiped away the cobwebs in the corners, the wall fan, moved down to the windowsills, the counter tops, and then…. the CUPBOARDS. Oh, my!

Another moral from this story: DO NOT reach your hand into a strange cupboard that you have never reached your hand into before! At least, don’t do it without looking into the cupboard first! As I reached in, thinking to wipe it down, I was basically overwhelmed by a host of cockroaches!
You know how it is in war movies, when the fighting is happening all around, gore and violence are everywhere, and suddenly, the film switches to slow motion? That is what this moment in time was like for me. It was definitely a moment of great carnage and destruction of many cockroach lives.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we are instructed to have our feet “fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (6:15) Shoes are a very important piece of our armor, especially if we are about to face battle with cockroaches. After a few brief moments (which seemed like a lifetime), the kitchen was quiet again. But I knew it was only because the multitudes of survivors had scurried back into their lairs.
What I had just gone through was only the first round. I made a few brave attempts to prod them out of their holes with a stick, but the results were not so good. Insect spray did the job. As fumes and billows of smoke filled the kitchen, legions of cockroaches spewed out of thier hiding places, skittering from all corners of the cupboards. It was another slow-motion minute or two, as I stomped with vengeance. And then, quiet. You can call it extermination. PETA might say it was genocide. I like to say that it was a heroic cleansing.

The spiritual truth that I was reminded of though this experience doesn’t really pertain to cockroaches. They are just small and feeble creatures, and even good in their own way. No, we are in a daily battle, not with cockroaches, but against, “the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
“Therefore, put on the FULL armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” (Eph. 6:11-13)

Three things:
1) Be alert and ready against attack.
2) Wear the armor God has given us (and don’t forget your shoes!).
3) Don’t keep corners of your life hidden from the powerful cleansing of the Holy Spirit, or you might get yourself an infestation! Keep your heart open and clean before God. Don’t shut up or forget about your cupboards!

Of course, the job is not finished. Even this morning, I met another small cockroach hiding out in there. But, the very few that are left are nothing in comparison to the vast army there was before.

And my shoes are ready.

October is here!

Pictures below are from Pastor Ramod's wife Yashoda's baby shower we had this month. Cassidy did such a great job hosting and putting it together! Everyone had a wonderful time!

Cassidy, Yashoda, Sheryl, and me

We played "be the fastest one to down a bottle of milk"

...and a rousing game of "pin the baby on the mother."

What cute baby stockings!

October 10, 2010
The other day, the facts hit me. It is October already... October 10th, actually! And, I have been living here in Nepal for over a year! I came here last year on October 1st. Wow. In some ways, it is obvious-- people have changed, kids have grown, weddings happened--a year of life just went by. And then on the other hand, it seems like the year went so fast… how could it have possibly been one year already?!?

A few things that happened this month:
Moving! Last week, Dan and Sheryl and their family (and me :-) moved to a new house. Throuhout the whole situation, we saw God’s provision… when the landlord at the other house told us we had to move, we were searching the market, and no good options for housing were showing up. But because of prayer, and God’s faithfulness, this new house came just in time! The new house is in a good location, close to the church, and it is well-suited to meet all of our needs. I was also impressed to see how everyone in our church community came together to help with the move. Everything happened in God’s way, in God’s time, and now, one week later, we are moved, and we are ready for another exciting chapter!

I have been teaching school, as usual, but we have been having some fun special events, too, such as the Living Stone Academy choir concert, childrens’ Day, Fathers’ Day football match, and lots of sports events for students throughout the month. All the events have given me opportunties to spend more time getting to know the other teachers and build good relationships with them. I teach a class for teachers once a week, which has proved to be a blessed time. Recently we have been learning English worship songs, which the teachers can use in their classes, Sunday schools, etc. I have been really impressed with the comittment, servants’ hearts, and love that many of the teachers at LSA have for their students, and for this country of Nepal. It is a blessing for me to know them, and be ableto serve and be an encouragement to them.

Left: Susmita, Ruthie, and Sumi

In tutoring, I always love it when I get to pick up new students, and see them get excited about learning! Two new ones to pray for: Susmita has recently started homeschooling with Yashoda, and has joined my afternoon class with Ajay and Sathia. They are all eager students. Pray for their progress in education, growing faith in Jesus, and that they would each eagerly take hold of the freedom Christ has promised! They are dear kids, with tons of potential. Pray that I will take my work with them seriously, and teach them well.

Sabita has been begging me for the past month to teach her to read. I was reluctant to start, because she was so new to school; she couldn’t even form letters properly. So, she has been practicing and memorizing her alphabet. Last week, I started the first (kindergarten level) Hooked on Phonics book with her. The look on her face was priceless! She was so excited to start reading!

Coming up…
October is holiday month in Nepal. Festivities start with Dashain (this year, Oct. 15-17), and continuing through Tihar (early November). Dashain is a Hindu festival here in Nepal, when families get together and do a lot of religious rituals and sacrifices to pagan gods. Be in prayer for the Christians in Nepal, who feel a lot of pressure to join with their families during this time. Our church here puts together a family camp program every year, for the families and church members. It is a good excuse for them not to go home for the few intensely religious days of the Dashain holiday.

As we are getting ready for camp (starting up here in a few days), we are all really excited, as it is going to be tons of fun, and tons of good spiritual imput into everyone’s lives, too. Carla (from USA) and I are going to be running the children’s program… so we are planning lots of games, crafts, and fun Bible lessons. I am anticipating that God is going to do some awesome work in people’s lives at camp this year! We have a great team of friends from our sister New Song church in Tenessee, who have already proved to be a great encouragement to all of us here. We’re looking forward to an exciting month! Thanks for your prayers for us.

“The Spirit of the Sovreign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…
“…For as the soil makes the sprout come up, and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovreign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”

~Isaiah 61:1-3,11

A month in pictures…

Above: Yashoda and I are standing in the new plot of land purchased by the community center. We are all praying in faith for the good work that God is going to do in this place!

Left: Sumi and I are wearing sari to celebrate Tij (also known as women’s day).
Below: The little girls (Rupa, Sara, Sabita) also wanted to wear sari. They wrapped themselvs up in scarves.

(Rupa, Sara, Sabita, and me)

Below: Youth group laser tag event! This laser tag facility is run by a Christian ministry here in Kathmandu. It has been such a blessing to our community.