January in Photos

Art day at All tribes Cafe

I love Shanti, our Indian Momma (far left)

Like the henna?

Me and Marky

Explore, Pray, Repeat

One day, I wanna be a Super Hero

Goat wrangling hehe

These Goats make me laugh. Good for the soul.

Slideshow BDTS_CDTS 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To India With Love

Here we go to India, with Love, and Joy and Hope!

We go to plunder hell and populate heaven 

and to say "Let there be Light!!"

Here we go to India to preach and lay hands on to heal

and see miracles and share that we're all in love with a

man, named JESUS!

Let's kick it

Vania, Canada

Kathryn, New Jersey

Ruby, North Carolina

Erik, Idaho

Kevin, Switzerland

Markelle, Canada

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:)