The Day is Here!!!

Dear Family and friends,

The DAY is here!!!

Finely, after three years of waiting, the time & opportunity has come to return to the place that God has placed most on my heart:  ZAMBIA!!!    

Over the past three years God has taken me on a journey full of joy, tears, and sometimes pain,  but I never lost sight of the call God place on my life.  The call to go love His people anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

I will be going with Scrubs Medical mission in August 2-17^th going into schools doing medical education. We will teach hinge and basic first aid so that Zambia will be able to help each other after we leave.

When I was nine years old I went to Mexico with my family.  On that trip I was sitting at a work site while people from our church were building a house.  I was on a pile of dirt with some little children; we found some nails and string and crafted a cross to give to the new homeowner.  Looking back on my life this was the time I was wrecked for Missions no matter where God was going to send me.

As my year was unfolding… I made the following blog post (in fact it was earlier this month):

  “When I was sixteen I felt the call on my life to go and love in Africa…  I went back to Africa at seventeen.   This was a forever-changing trip from the second I stepped off the plane.  I was overwhelmed because I knew I was “home.”  One of the hardest things I ever had to do was leave my heart in a foreign land that became home. I had to leave the people I lost my heart to.  But God has bigger and better plans for me thou I am still unclear of what these are and soon enough I will know.  This April I had the possible opportunity to go to Africa.  My heart was saying “yes,” I will go; there was nothing I would not have given up to go… However, this was not God’s plan for now.  I am staying in America.  This has been one of the hardest things I have ever been through, but I know God is teaching me to be ready to go where he calls and to wait for his timing.  It is hard to be patient when my heart is not here in the states.  God knows what I need, I am grateful that I serve a God who gives me what I need over what I want… I may not ever get to go back to Africa, but I am ready to go wherever God wants me to go whenever this may be.  I want more then anything in the world to be in the hands of the king and love Him.  He has me exactly where He wants me. My job is just to be faithful to His call and rest in His arms; waiting for His voice to say it is time GO!”

Little did I know that I would be going back so soon after finally giving my hearts passion to the Lord. But now after all the waiting I am going be back to Zambia!!!! God said it is time to go back to the place that changed my heart forever. The trip cost $3500 I could not tell you all how humbled I am for God giving me the chance to go back to Zambia. But I cannot to this on my own I need your help to raise the money and in prayer. You can make all checks out to Bethel Bible Church and mail them to 2067 Rana Park Flint, TX, 75762

Prayers:

1.     That the trip will bless many people and that their medical needs will be met. We are going to be working with Scrubs Medical Mission. 

2.     That our team will bound and be able to work together well

3.     God will get hearts ready to hear his word

4.     That we will be ready to talk about the gospel and show the gospel to everyone we see from the people on the plan to the Zambians.

You can read my blog to see updates and read of what God is doing Followingjesusalloverworld.blogspot.com

In his name, 

Katie Rittenhouse

No One is too Far-Gone

No One is too far-gone

I am in the states, as you know. I am going to school for Social work, attending Tyler Junior College.  Here I meet many different people.  This campus is very lost many people need Jesus.  My heart breaks when I walk thru the halls and talk with people because I see their need for the Savior. When I started TJC I started helping with a ministry called the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM). The BSM has an event that is on Thursday nights called pancakes from 8-12pm we work in the kitchen making pancakes to not only feed the students,  but also the hearts of the people who come through the doors. I met someone at the BSM that I don’t think I will ever forget; a few weeks ago I guy came walking in asking if he could help us cook, so someone handed him a spoon and said, “have at it man. “  I was severing the bacon that night and we started talking.  Now you know when the spirit just puts someone heavy on your heart to pray for even of you never see him or her again.  He was this person for me.  My friend and I started praying for him.  We knew he was struggling we did not know the details. That was fine God was telling us to pray so we did.  The Lord told me not to preach the gospel to him because he already knew it.; I was told just show the gospel to him.  One day my friend and I were praying for him knowing the semester was almost over and there was little time left to serve this guy.  We wanted to see his life wrecked for Jesus to the point he could do nothing else then praise the Father with everything.  So we were praying for him before church. Praying that he would have an angel come to him and break the chains devil had on him because the enemy has no place in his life. We were asking for an angel to come to him and change him forever.  That night my friend picked him up for church (he almost did go).  They went to church and the prayer that was said over him hours before came true.  He had an encounter with God that night at church.  Later that night he called me sounding joyful.  He told me that he went out side of church to pray; at that moment he was praying, “Lord take my life! Take all of me! I give up”.  Then when he went back in a man came up and prayed over him. On the phone he said, “Katie, I think he was an angel.”  This blew me away because that was the prayer we were asking God to make Himself known through an angel and once again he came through.  There is now a guy that is wrecked for Jesus… praise God!!!!   

No one is ever to far from the kingdom.  Are job as believers is to love and be full of grace also to give love until it hurts.  God says come as you are, but he loves you too much to stay that way. Simply knowing and loving Jesus will change lives!!!                 

Faithfulness

Faithfulness

When I was nine years old I went to Mexico with my family.  On that trip I was sitting at a work site while people from our church were building a house.  I was on a pile of dirt with some little children; we found some nails and string and crafted a cross to give to the new homeowner.  Looking back on my life this was the time I was wrecked for Missions no matter where God was going to send me.  Time went on and the chance to go to Zambia, Africa came. The Lord showed me His power in raising the money.  When I was sixteen I felt the call on my life to go and love in Africa.  I went back to Africa at seventeen this was a forever-changing trip from the second I stepped off the plane I was overwhelmed because I knew I was home. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was leave my heart in a foreign land that became my home. I had to leave the people I lost my heart to.  But God has bigger and better plans for me I am still unclear of what these are and soon enough I will know.

            This April I had the possible opportunity to go to Africa.  My heart was saying “yes,” I will go; there was nothing I would not have given up to go.  This turned out to be my humanness talking because I want to go back and be where my heart rests. However, this was not God’s plan for now.  I am staying in America.  This has been one of the hardest things I have ever been through, but I know God is teaching me to be ready to go where he calls and to wait for his timing.  It is hard to be patient when my heart is not here in the states.  God knows what I need, I am grateful that I serve a God who gives me what I need over what I want.  After all, as people, we can think something is really good but if we run before God says to go, it is not in his perfect will.  So for now I’ll wait and seek the Lord for when he wants me to go.  I may not ever get to go back to Africa, but I am ready to go wherever God wants me to go whenever this may be.  I want more then anything in the world to be in the hands of the king and love Him.  He has me exactly where He wants me. My job is just to be faithful to His call and rest in His arms; waiting for His voice to say it is time GO! 

The First Camp in Honduras

The Lord is so faith to watch over these teens as they impacted Honduras.

God's Promises

This trip to Honduras has been a roller costar ride of the Lord telling me His promises and me watching them play out. As you all know the Lord has built in me an unshaken passion to go to the world and share the love and hope of Jesus. This trip to Honduras has been a sweet blessing because God has made promises to me and I have watched Him fulfill those promises.

I felt the call to fill out an application for the 2012 trip to Honduras with Pine Cove… so I followed that call. One day when I was working at camp (as a health transport) I stopped at the office to load more minutes on my camp phone. I know the Lord put me there because when I was in the office Elizabeth (the trip leader) was writing “accept” letters for the trip. I was about to leave the office when Elizabeth turned to me and asked me why I did not apply for the trip? I looked at her baffled because I put the application in her mailbox days before the deadline. I told her that I had already put it in her mailbox. She looked around the room but could not find it so she had me fill out a second application. Then, she gave me an accept letter right there on the spot.

Then there was Fund Raising. Wow God is good!!! I needed to have $1600 in by the December and I found that deadline sneaking up on me. The day came to have the money in and I did not have the need funds. So I called Elizabeth and told her I could not attend the trip due to money. She told me to keep praying and that she would call me back. So we got off the phone and I was fairly confident that I would NOT get the money in time. But little did I know what God was about to do. She calls me back and tells me that she got a three-day extension to get the money. So I start praying but had no idea how I was going to get the money. It came down to the last three hours till the deadline and I still needed $1100 to go so I started calling everyone I knew asking them to pray and give if they could. In those three hours the Lord reminded me of the call on my life to go to the world and love His people and of the promise that He would make a way for me to get there. In three hours, the money came in, and I made the deadline!!! We serve a huge God!

The trip was amazing! We got there and had all our bags praise Him! The first camp we served was made up of 13-15 year olds. I was a counselor. My co-counselor Riana was so amazing! We had four sweet girls in our group. The girls told us about their home lives and how they came from extreme situations. It was a God thing how they even got to camp. Riana and I just loved on them like crazy and the last night of camp they did a heart walk where the campers were asked to look at their heart and where it was. Did they have a heart full of sin, a heart that was full of pain, a heart that was good in church but when they were with friends was full of sin, or did they have a heart desiring to follow Jesus. After the walk, all of my girls were in tears the Lord was moving in their hearts and the girls who had the hardest home lives joined the family of Jesus that night.

The second camp we had 16-18 year-olds. And, the enemy did not want them to hear the truth. Then one of the Honduran staffers Hector received a word the first night of camp saying that the Lord was going to open the heavens for us the next night. So as a team of Hondurans and Americans we prayed holding fast to the promise that the Lord made with us about opening the heavens for us. So the night came and the whole camp was at the bonfire and the truth of Jesus was shared. When you looked up in the night sky there was not one cloud above us but all around us the sky was full of clouds. The Lord opened the heavens on this camp because ALL of the campers joined the family of Jesus that night.

The whole trip, from the beginning to end, was full of His promises and God showing us ten-fold how He was filling them. He made Himself known. I believe that the Lord is starting a revival all over Honduras for His kingdom and power to be known.

Thank you all so much for your prayers without you most of the teens who were at camp would not be there because most of your money went to sending these kids to camp. Thank you and Bless you!!!

God is making Himself known!!!!!

God is more the Good!!!

God is more then Good!!! I just got home from Honduras and the Lord worked in many big ways! I have been blessed to see God promise to make himself known by opening the heavens and raining down his power. God showed up in such a sweet way; there will be a longer post soon keep your eyes open.

Dear Family and Friends,

I can’t fully put into words the wonderful works of Jesus Christ that have happened in my life this past year. I am so blessed to have strong God fearing people around me. It is because of how God has used all of you that I have been able to serve and see God move in amazing and powerful ways.

A quick overview of 2011 so far: I have gone on a missions trip to Honduras, spent the Summer working at Pine Cove camps, and been able to love families all over Texas. I have seen and done things that have encouraged me tremendously.

In January I spent 12 days in Honduras, helping trine leaders in a Christian Camp. I saw the Holy Spirit work so powerfully. I saw God work in big and mighty ways.

God has been placing me in camp ministry for some time now. At camps in Tyler, Zambia, and Honduras. God is continually putting me at international camps. I believe this may continue to come up again in my future.

I spent the summer serving/working at Pine Cove Camps. I have been over blessed to work there! I was serving. I was sharing. But the fact is I met so many families and staff that taught me so much. The staff and families who came to camp tought me so many different things such as, giving up everything for others and running after Christ every moment. Things I have grown up knowing but seeing them in such a real way was a blessing. Each of the staff and families that came to camp and worked at Pine cove but in the end they wound up blessing me.

Another note: Africa keeps coming up in my life!! It has such a strong pull on my heart. While I have not been traveling there, every summer I have worked at Pine Cove camps Africans have come as campers. Last summer there was one African family that came to camp I became close to, this summer there were three African families and four African missionary families. So I know God is using Africa in my life and not just in Africa.

Whether it’s Camp Hope in Zambia, Pine Cove Camp in East Texas or Camp in Central America… He is orchestrating and conducting my life all over the world.

And, now I have the opportunity, this coming January, to return to Honduras to continue the work God is doing there. This will be a continuing effort through Pine Cove and Christian Camping International to develop Camp Honduras. This is year two of three of training the Honduran people on how to run the camp and partner with them at discovering culturally appropriate ways to bring the gospel to kids through camping. I am asking for your partnership and support to help me, help them preach this goal to their community. The cost for this trip is $2400. You can make your checks out to Pine Cove.

I ask for you prayers and support, as the team is fundraising and preparing:

Prayers:

1. That the team will be listening to God in all we do concerning the trip.

2. That we would start being unified.

3. That the Lord would shine through all we do.

4. That His name would be made known!

Thank you all so much for all your help over the years! I am blessed that you have come along side me in following the call of the Lord to go and love the people the world!!

Blessings,

Katie Rittenhouse