All Tribes Cafe

 Our team will be working here, at All Tribes Cafe for the month of January 2013!
If you are inspired to support us please contact me and consider an online donation at http://www.ywamoxford.org/pay-online/donation.php
 for Ruby Hodges/India Team

Thank you for your prayer support as well!
I am so excited for this! Aren't you?!:)

P + B

 Peace and Blessings!

Hello my dear friends and family!

I’m beginning to feel the business and exhaustion trying to kick in and take over, and I absolutely refuse to succumb to burn out! In saying that, I need to write this update to reflect on what marvelous things the Lord is doing here. And how He’s sustaining me, and I’m still learning a bit about self care so I know I need to schedule in more me time. Although today I got a 20 minuet nap and that did wonders for my mood and concentration!:)

Anyway! To the point: PEACE. Last Monday during base worship we had the opportunity to speak out things we wanted from God that week. Things to claim in our hearts and proclaim over our lives. I had been so agitated that morning, and being around 50 + people for worship made me more anxious so I stepped out of a while. I had given my Bible away so I went searching for a temporary one to use and during more stint wandering the small base Library, I told God all I wanted was Peace. I needed it. So many things were bombarding me and I knew there was no way I could minimalism my spaze out moments and tears without God absolutely taking over and soaking my heart in supernatural peace.

Oofta, it came. He bestowed an immense amount of stillness and comfort and it was as if a warm blanket was wrapped around my shoulders. God carried me through so much last week! Even though we had a couple of schedule changes and last minuet meetings I never once melted down or felt scattered. I lead a mid school evaluation meeting for our staff team, I lead our small group discussion and our outreach team meeting all in one day, back to back. I had amazing one on ones with my small group girls and God blessed me with exactly the right words to say to them! I was amazed!

Then came the weekend. This past weekend activity was what really made me reflect on how much God really gave me peace that permeated my being because of the stressful chain of events.  A group of 9 of us went to Hawdon Valley to hike up the the Hawdon Hut and experience the beautiful waterfalls, mountain ascents and enjoy the hike up the spectacular valley.

Friday afternoon it was raining, it was extremely windy and we had a dozen river crossing to make. The river was Frigid! Soooo frigid! The rain was pelting our faces the whole way and the wind made it feel as if we were actually climbing up a mountain even though we were tramping on level rock paths for 3 hours. Our group though was amazing! So upbeat, so fun, such champs who made no complaints! So it was a joy to be in their company, and nice to be off base and forget for a while that I was a leader and they were students, and we were just comrads trudging up a mountain gladly. It was great! We built a cozy fire in the hut. We had it all to ourselves and played heaps of card games and laughed a lot. My cheeks hurt that night when I fell asleep.

It rained all night though and we did not think we would be able to cross the river since it appeared to have risen 6 inches. We decided instead to hike to the top of a particular mountain and got to enjoy a spectacular view of Hawdon Valley as the clouds parted and the fog lifted around  noon. We began rationing out our food to last another day because we didn’t think we could return home, until a group of 7 older adults came trudging up saying the rivers weren’t too terrible! So at 4pm we set out on the 3 ½ hour hike back to the van. The whole time I was just praying to Jesus. Every intense river crossing He was with me. I felt His prescense as we linked arms in groups of 3 or more and slowly forged our way across 12 different side streams/ rivers. The very last river was the one we were all worried about.

The fact that it was a struggle of the 6 foot 200 lb guys to cross was concerning, but in  that moment you gotta do what you gotta do and we were literally a 5 min walk from the van after we crossed the river! There were 6 of us who crossed together the time, 5 girls and 1 guy. I was in the lead, and one of the shortest onesJ The water was up to my waist!! It was freezing and the current was so crazy strong, I didn’t stop praying! A beautiful little Danish girl was on my left and everything was going slowly, surely, and carefully until… at the deepest point, I slipped, and my foot got caught – and for a split second my stomach dropped, my voice vanished and panic swept over my face! I am so surprised tears didn’t pop out right then because a million thoughts raced through my mind about what to do with a pack on, bobbing through rapids in ice water and what would happen to me!!!!  Everyone could hear it in my terrified yelp!

Then Christina, a tiny little Danish girl yelled at me “ I”VE GOT YOU! I’VE GOT YOU!  I’M NOT LETTING GO! RUBY! I’VE GOT YOU!” Looking back now, it’s SO hilarious, but exactly what I needed in that moment – a shout in my of the reality that I wasn’t in it alone and that I had help, and 3 steps in front of me was land. I made it! WOO! And instead of bursting into tears it was more of a revealed  overwhelmed chuckle that escaped my mouth. Every girl hugged me, and Christina is literally my hero now!

The story didn’t end there… the danger did, but my typical calamity filled lifestyle were just starting. After we all changed into warm, dry clothes, I had to drive home and I accidentally went off roading through these giant puddles and deep mud, thinking it was the road we drove in on. Needless to say for those 10 minuets of that 1^st detour the guys were hollering and I spun out the van unintentionally haha. Thank you Dad for teaching me how to drive like a mountain woman, the dudes were impressed!

Then it started snowing for the first hour of our drive home. Then in the dark I missed my turn home and took an hour and a hald detour into a major city in the pouring rain! Thankfully, like I said before, this group was so easy going, they just turned up the jams and enjoyed the ride. We had some really good conversations too – God blessed that time, I think. Well, we were 45mins away from base and we made a pit stop at McDonald’s…I walked in socks because my boots were lost in the back…and I forgot to turn the van lights off. 15 minuets later when we got back in the van no one believed me when the van would NOT start. I just deflated at that point. It was 10pm. We had done intense hiking all day long. My feet were wet and cold, my underwear was in the same state, 5 people had mooched some money off me for McDonald, and everyone was patiently waiting for me to drive them safely home.  AH! Thankfully the fellow beside us had jumper cables and after 15mins of trying the dang van finally turned on! AHG!

Needless to say when we got back we were all greeted with big hugs and hot soup. Nicki was so caring, and let me tell the whole story, haha! I really did go to bed completely peaceful! Looking back, hearing the locals talk about the dangers of the Hawdon Valley River crossings and the fact that none of us were seriously injured… I had to sit there and say to God “Pops, you were truly keeping us safe! I knew your protective angles were right beside of us, and your favor was graciously covering us. Thank you!!” That’s when it struck me. I never once melted down, broke down, cried, got mad, or stressed beyond belief. That was definetly God carrying me with His Peace. Hallelujiah! More Jesus More!

That’s all for now. Like I said before…I need to be more diligent on self care – aka sleeping enough. Pray for me and my time managing! Also for my India team! That bonding and a family feel would reign with God’s heart for our outreach to steer our path. I’m communicating with a few contacts in India forming a plan and schedule for 3 months! So stoked!

I so appreciate your support, your prayers, and your words of encouragement! Also, I miss you all tons. SO MUCH. Thank you for being my covering as I’m leading these lovely students on this amazing God adventure!

Peace

Ruby Mc Truby

This one's for Auntie

The baby seals swim up this little river to play in a waterfall to stay safe during the spring! This little buddy was totally showing off for us - i loved him. He was presh! And Aunt Libilibi, I thought of you the whole time:)

Number Two

This is the 2nd post I'm dedicating to funny times in my life with Jesus.

Picture this: Its a Friday afternoon, sunny, windy, and there are 49 students needing to be transported into Christchurch for our fun scavenger hunt activity. NBD right? Until the van I'm driving the next three months - Gandalf - wont turn on. I prayed over him, tried again, prayed, patted the dashboard, spoke words of life - nadda. Nothing happened. So three vans drove over to help me - and our jumper cables couldn't connect, they were really old so nothing happened even when the other van reved up their engine etc. After about 30 mins we finally had to just reaarange everyone to a couple cars instead of a van.

Whew. Only an hour behind schedule...and no maps. But we found the mall, we caught up with the rest of the group and everything was fine and dandy.

Until...Kevin from Switzerland asked me, three hours after we had arrived and had been exploring the town, he asked me for the van keys. Of course, I couldn't find them. I refused to panic...for a split second all the terrible consequences of loosing a set of van keys flashed before my mind. The maintenance man, Juddy, would eat me for breakfast was the main one concerning me...

But i brushed that aside and asked around the stores I had been in for a set of keys. No luck. 2nd step was to retrace the path I had walked around the area, but it was raining and I only tramped 5 mins down the street and gave up. Thankfully I had this nawing feeling to go check the van, and if the keys weren't around them somewhere I could then have legitimate reason to flip out and run away:)

I walked through the rain up to the vans and there they were! Chillin in the door, just haning wide out in the open for anyone to snatch and drive away! I just busted up laughing - and started breathing again. Oh my goodness I had about 5 major heart attacks that whole time and finally I was safe - so many things could've gone wrong. Thankfully! The Lord knows me well, He has lovely angels watching out for me and I'm pretty sure there was an invisibility forcefeild around my van protecting it from car theives. PTL!

I got back and the whole group just busted up laughing and Nicki gave me a giant hug and said "The Lord has so much grace and humor for you right now!" ahahaha. Then she and I went and got lollies(candy) and a coke. And then the coke I bought had my name on the tag so it was even better. It said "Share a Coke with Ruby" woohoo

HA God definietly laughs with me heaps. So thankful He's got my back!

Humor Me

Hey there.

So the past couple weeks I've been thinking a lot about God, and Humor, and how He created it. I decided that I should record humorous situations, or at least recall some from my past in light of how God might have seen the humor in what was happening. Not in a condescending evil laugh kind of way, but a chuckling along side of me, especially now that I dont take myself too seriously and I find past circumstances quite hilarious!(and I think He giggles with me)

One that came to mind immediately, for some reason, was the story of Glenn.
Maybe it was my 13 yr old naivety, absent mindedness, or overall constant inner nervousness/insecurity that was clouding my brain that Wednesday evening at the boat dock... regardless, I thought Glenn was a girl's name...
My mom brought Eliza and I to the boat dock for a free sail time one evening in Beaufort, NC. She had driven us down to this coastal town to participate in two weeks of sailing camp. Oh my, it was quite the two weeks. A lot of arguing and crying and being irritated happened because our Mom was stubborn, we did not want to be with a bunch of kids we didnt know, and we were emotional and awkward teenagers. So this particular night she was determined we were going to practice sailing whether we wanted to or not! haha
That brings me to where Glenn enters the picture.

Our instructor was at the dock that night and she asked me if I wanted to volunteer to go on a two person sailboat, even though I only knew how to navigate a one man boat. She said "Glenn" would be coming and needed a partner. And that's when I nodded "yea,sure" thinking "Glenn is such a cool girl's name, I've never heard that one before!"

Then, inside of me I died...and I'm pretty sure I turned bright red because there was Glenn, walking down the gang plank...tall, beautiful brown eyes, tousled sandy brown hair, a smile stuck in the side of his mouth. AH!!! no no no no no! She's a HE! crap. and then i shut down and couldn't speak full sentences or find a way to stop myself from blushing. Terrible, terrible feeling. And so I had to pop into his boat, hold his rope for the sail and did some steering. Didn't peep. Couldn't talk, really. HA. And then this other boat with some other cuties sailed up to us and threw sea weed on us! I was so grossed out, but! I was thrown a chunk of sea weed from Glenn and told to swing the boat around and chase the other boat a throw the sea weed on them. Which i failed, my aim was very very inhibited by my self consciousness.

I can only imagine God chuckling, and trying to tell me, hun, calm down, you're not gonna marry the kid or have to hug him, or anything crazy like that! Just talk and be chill. hahhaha

When I got in the car that night my sister and mom were rather relentless in there teasing me about sailing with him and how we were so cute together. haha i was SO mad at them and sooo embaressed!

Idk if that's even really funny, but to me it is humorous because of course i would think a dudes name is a girly name and then get awkward to the max when it turned out to be a very cute 15 year old! Ah! haha
Anyway, I think I'm going to make it a theme, a humorous theme for my blog for a while. I feel like telling y'all all the funny things I get me and God into. :)

7 days

I arrived 7 days ago. So far i'm full of thoughts. That sounds fairly normal right? Yea, but these are deep God thoughts, and to be quite honest, doubts are laced in there too. IDK. These are some of the highlights for me this week:

We can only give away what we ourselves have.
i seriously need to learn to receive from the Lord again.
Vulnerability is key.
And vulnerability is sucky.
Also, community is what my heart aches for... Consistency.
It is not about ability, but about character.
I like to bake as a way to de-stress, and give to others.
Serving people is in my nature. Ex. fixing food and cleaning dishes.
I'm reeling at the moment from the magnitude of the impending commitment.
I do not want to date unless it's for keeps.
I want to be read aloud to.
I need non sexual physical touch daily.
Exercise is one way to maintain emotional stability for me.
I like standing on couches, and then ninja jumping off of them.
I can eat a lot of dark chocolate.
I fall asleep every time I watch "Inception"... which can be a little trippy.
Driving on the left side of the road is freaky.
New Zealand beach water is frigid, yet invigorating.
Its time to just soak in Poppa's presence.
I need more. MORE GOD.
I'm resigned.
I miss the smell of my pillow and the company of my twin.
I want to kiss my nephews faces.
I'd like to star gaze.
I am surrounded by beautiful people.
I don't even know what's going on, but God is intricate, tender and in a good mood.
Europeans like the name Ruby.
Testimonies are raw, and mine is complicated to say the least.
Black coffee is a lovely thing.
Like I said, I need more, MORE GOD.