Wednesday, a couple of our team had the honor of being able to serve in the village of Ruby, AK. A few years ago, CCC along with our church partners at the Crossings of Birchwood and Abundant Life Church established a relationship with the village of Ruby. Unfortunately, due to the floods last summer, we were not able to get to see them. But due to God's grace, Tarek from the Crossings at Birchwood Church was able to fly Chris and Steve up to Ruby. According to Steve, it was truly an "eye-opening experience."Steve went on to comment that the way the people live there is so primitive and there seemed to be such a air of "hopelessness" that is very apparent throughout the entire village. Chris said he had a very similar feeling -- the people he encountered while being there seemed "so sad". This is how I felt the first time I sent to Ruby. And getting this report back from their trip, while initially discouraging, actually, reinforced the great need for continued pray and support for this village.
But there was also some good news in their report -- CCC family you may remember Don Honea from Ruby. He is person who took care of the Ruby Bible Church. You may also recall that one of Don's main prayer request was that God would bring pastor to the village. Well our God is a God who answers prayers. The team also reported that a "part-time" pastor has been delivered to Ruby. He is from Minnesota and has been there for a few months now. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!
Now there is still a lot of work and prayer that is still needed in the village of Ruby. Don genuinely missed not being able to see all of the team. He asked that we continue to pray for him, the new pastor and the Ruby Bible Church. He told Steve and Chris that he still needs help and encouragement. I am asking that all of the people following this blog lift up the entire village of Ruby in prayer. Please pray for a full time pastor. Please pray for God's Holy Spirit to evade the village of Ruby and remove the air of hopelessness that engulfs it. Please pray for a spiritual awakening throughout Ruby that they will come to know and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Please pray that we will continue our relationship with the village and be able to send missionaries to the village. Please pray that the pastor and Don will BOLDLY go to their neighbor and proclaim salvation that is found in Jesus.
Just prayed for the village of Ruby. It's so exciting and encouraging to know that God has more than enough power to change that dark place and make those villagers a part of his kingdom. Through his power we will worship with them for all of eternity.
ReplyDeleteSo encouraged to read of all that he's doing there at camp through you guys Mark. Keep up the good work, I'm praying for a strong finish to this trip, you guys are awesome!
Daniel Kidd
Thank you Daniel for your prayer and encouragement both for the Village of Ruby and for our team!
ReplyDeleteAs a side comment -- there seems to be an abundance of mosquitos this time. And I was reminded of the devotional you did on the 2009 trip from the book of Job. After putting that into proper perspective -- the mosquitos were so bad after all (thanks to loads of Deet and a head net -- Its all good.