Posts Tagged ‘Prayer Request’
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Friday, April 5th, 2013
Above you’ll see the latest picture snapped at our future love shack/ baby Rye playground/ cat castle. It’s coming along! Our April newsletter (available here) mentions a couple projects that will help our house in the village feel more like a home. We’re asking for your help in putting these couple of finishing touches on the house that will help us live there in comfort:
- Burglar bars/ screens on the windows.
- A backup water system
- An air conditioner (that tin roof will be HOT).
Please check out the newsletter (page 3) for all hot, sticky details. Thanks!
Tags: castle, financial, home, house, need, Prayer Request, project, update, village
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
This screen capture from a video I took at our monthly checkup yesterday shows Richard Kenneth Bruce, IV’s face. Sharon and our baby boy are doing well. He continues to grow, measuring a full week ahead of schedule. Definitely one of the perks of having our checkups here in Thailand is that we get to see and measure the baby’s progress every single month!
Yesterday we were also able to hear and see his heartbeat, see his his face and watch him shake a little shake, do a little dance and get down. He’s still too small for Sharon to feel but we’re anticipating that will happen soon. We appreciate your ongoing prayers for safety and health for Sharon and little Richard. 
Tags: baby, bruce, face, health, heartbeat, IV, Prayer Request, Richard, ultrasound
Posted in Family, Prayer Request | Comments Off
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013
Sharon and I are proud to announce an August addition to our family! Baby Bruce is currently 5.4 centimeters (2.1 inches) long and weighs half an ounce. Sharon is 12 weeks along and doing well (minus a bit of morning sickness). The baby is due August 20th and we anticipate returning to the United States on maternity leave for the birth. We appreciate your prayers that mother and baby will continue to be healthy!
Tags: addition, announcement, baby, bruce, health, Prayer Request
Posted in Fun | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Friday, November 25th, 2011
A good friend sent us this prayer request list. Here’s how he’s lifting us up these days:
- That God would find favor on Ric and Sharon granting them good health and full healing for Sharon’s leg from her motorcycle accident.
- For them to create a good study routine for the next few weeks before Christmas.
- That God will show them ways to use their car effectively for ministry.
- That God would lead Ric as he makes disciple-makers of the two guys at his church. Also, that the Holy Spirit would convict their girlfriends of their need for Christ’s redemption.
- That God would direct Sharon to those girls that He would desire for her to develop intentional disciple-making relationships.
- That God would help Ric and Sharon “see” the needs the students have and how to best reach out to them.
- For continued strength and patience in their language learning.
Tags: accident, car, christmas, disciple, friend, Language, learning, list, Ministry, motorcycle, Prayer Request, redemption
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, August 27th, 2011
Sharon and I are breathing a sigh of relief this week as our second set of intensive language evaluations drew to a close yesterday. Virtually all we’ve done for the past two weeks since Sharon’s family left was prepare for the evaluation by doubling our language sessions, spending hours reviewing and answering in-depth culture questions that our consultant reviewed before our language check.
It’s good news. We’re both on track to achieve our goal of reaching a “highly capable” language level by the end of our second year of study (a year from now). We feel grateful to our consultant for conducting a thorough check and spending days processing the raw data we’ve provided her into a set of recommendations to help streamline our study time. I can’t imagine doing this alone.
You can help by praying for us as we study this difficult language and learn more about this complex culture. (more…)
Tags: capable, culture, evaluation, Family, language check, language helper, level, Prayer Request, Thai, Thailand, update
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, May 16th, 2011
Every day my knee feels stronger and the joint gets tighter as my quad muscles learn how to do their job again. Unfortunately we’re not out of the woods yet on this one though. I’ve got a mix of good and bad news for you and I could still use your prayers for a full recovery so I can use my knees to build closer relationships with guys who play soccer every day near our house.
Since my ACL/meniscus repair surgery in October last year we’ve kept a membership at a local gym and Sharon and I work out (more…)
Tags: ACL, doctor, exercise, gym, hectic, hospital, knee, loose knee, Meniscus, motion, prayer, Prayer Request, progress, repair, schedule, update
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
On the road again. This time it’s to a four day leader’s conference down in Bangkok. The gathering’s primary purpose is to work toward unity in the Thai church, to discuss strategies and progress toward goals and to pray for Thailand. We have the privilege to participate this year.
For us the opportunity couldn’t be cooler: over the course of the next four days we get to rub shoulders with the leaders of the Thai church, meet other missionaries and sense their heart for this nation. We’re going with friends from a local seminary that we plan to spend more time at this next school year so we’re praying this will be a time of getting to know them and experiencing this event with them. Other prayer requests for this time include: (more…)
Tags: Bangkok, evangelical, leader, leadership, opportunity, Prayer Request, seminary, Thailand, unity
Posted in News Article | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, February 28th, 2011
Our February newsletter is embedded in a post on our website and is available like always at http://issuu.com/ricbruce. This update marks progress toward our goals in our first years in Thailand, fills you in on what we do each day, provides you with our prayer requests and gives you a glimpse of our new home. Thank-you for reading.
Tags: Family, Fun, Language, learning, love, Ministry, Newsletter, Pictures, Prayer Request, Thailand
Posted in Newsletter | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Something occurred to me today as I was tracking a UPS shipment scheduled to arrive tomorrow: there are no tracking numbers for Thailand’s visa approval process. In fact, there’s no way to track the process at all. In today’s internet-saturated world it’s hard to imagine real, physical paperwork (turns out it’s called that for a reason).
Maybe it’s a good thing there’s no tracking number… I would probably check it every five seconds. Keep praying!
We wish it were this easy!
Tags: Bangkok, paperwork, Prayer Request, shipment, Thailand, track, visa
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Friday, July 30th, 2010
Our July newsletter is packed with information, praises, prayer requests and our heartfelt thanks for all God has done. We thank each of your for your partnership, love and support.
Tags: july, Lansing, Ministry, Newsletter, paperwork, Prayer Request, ric bruce, Sharon Bruce, Thailand, update, VBS
Posted in Ministry | Comments Off
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
Tonight we finished the setup for NTM’s display at the festival. It looks awesome but if people aren’t praying it won’t be effective. Please pray! We want to really grab people’s attention and make them think about what it would be like to be IN another world. A world without hope and without Christ. Please pray God will use that experience to raise up workers to go into the ripe harvest fields (John 4:35). We’ll update tomorrow.
Tags: big ticket festival, Prayer Request, setup
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Friday, May 21st, 2010
We don’t often post prayer requests (we used to and nobody ever looked at them). Thought we’d renew an ancient tradition. Please pray for:
- Our many preparations as we move to Thailand in August
- Complete resolution of the recent divisions in Thailand
- Our work permits and visas to be approved swiftly
- For God’s continued provision and protection
- Clarity and focus during our first two years learning Thai
- For quality time with our families in the coming months
- For additional dedicated prayer and financial partners
- That God would prepare our hearts for ministry in Thailand
Thank-you for your prayers!
Tags: prayer, Prayer Request
Posted in Prayer Request | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, March 20th, 2010
This class will change your life. Seriously. If you haven’t taken Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and it’s offered within a fifty mile radius of your home, take it. The class requires only two hours a week for 13 weeks and Sharon and I just walked out of our first class.
Today Dave explained his first baby step to financial peace: setting aside $1,000 for emergencies. The more I thought about our situation as missionaries the more I realized how important it is for us to have an emergency fund. For all its modernity Thailand can be unstable at times as evidenced by the recent protests there. We will need an emergency fund just in case something happens. In fact, an emergency fund of $5,000 will be a pre-requisite to our financial peace as missionaries.
We’re starting small: we’d like to set aside the first thousand dollars of our emergency fund within the next two weeks. You can help us reach this goal by learning how to give here: http://blogs.ntm.org/ric-bruce/give/.
Tags: finances, Ministry, Prayer Request, Thailand
Posted in News Article | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, January 30th, 2010
We’re excited to announce that we’ve been officially invited to work with New Tribes Mission in Thailand! We’re honored and humbled to join what God is doing in Southeast Asia through generations of dedicated and faithful national workers and expat missionaries. Last week we had the privilege to meet some of them as friends… now they have become our future coworkers. After consulting with our home churches we will announce our decision to accept or decline the offer in the coming days. Thank-you for your prayers as we make this important decision.
Tags: announcement, official, Prayer Request, Thailand
Posted in News Article | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Friday, January 29th, 2010
Greetings from Thailand
We returned from Thailand full. We spent each day wisely, making the most of the moments we had in the country by meeting with missionaries, pastors, tribal leaders, and church leaders. I have to say that of all the trips I’ve ever taken overseas this one was by far the smoothest and most profitable in more ways than one.
Both Sharon and I feel excited about the future. The trip confirmed one thing for sure: the possibilities Thailand offers for ministry are endless.
We’re excited to find out where this road will take us and we’re honored to walk it with partners like you from around the world. Your continued prayers and financial gifts enable us to continue our commitment to reaching the lost of Southeast Asia.
Tags: Prayer Request, Thailand, Thank-you
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
In our next post you won’t see us looking like this:
Hopefully the next picture we post will be taken halfway across the world and we’ll be wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts enjoying 90 degree weather. Our blitz tour of Southeast Asia begins now and will end next Friday and of course we’ll be carefully documenting our trip and posting whatever morsels we possibly can on this site as often as possible. We’re looking forward to a whole lot more warm sun on our faces in the days to come.
So no more of this:
And a whole lot more flying: 40+ hours of it in fact (round trip). Next week there’ll be a whole lot more meeting new people, visiting remote villages, exploring ancient temples, and learning new things. Please pray for our safety and for clarity as we communicate and learn. We’ll post more ASAP!
Tags: Language, Michigan, Pictures, Prayer Request, Thailland
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
We’ve been in Baltimore, Maryland for three days now and are having a great missions conference with a church here. Each night this week we are standing at a table in the back of the auditorium answering questions about our ministry and passing out materials we have made. The people we’ve met have wonderful questions and make us feel right at home here.
This is just the first stop on a very long route that will take us from Michigan to Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Arizona before we head back to Michigan for the winter. Please pray for safety in travel and for our meetings. We desire to be clear, helpful, and informative during this time and we always seek to be a blessing to those we visit. We will be posting pictures in the next few days of our time here.
Tags: conference, connection, Maryland, news, Prayer Request, Thailand, travel
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Posted by Ric and Sharon on Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Thailand: the land of smiles
If you haven’t heard by now then let me be the first to tell you: Sharon and I are now headed toward Thailand. We recently discovered that NTM will no longer be expanding the field of Cambodia under the current arrangement, leaving us with a tough decision: to pursue Cambodia with another mission or choose another field. After talking with our home churches, seeking wise council, and meeting with missionaries from Thailand we decided to begin pursuing ministry in Southeast Asia via Thailand.
Thailand is a natural choice for many reasons including its close proximity to Cambodia. Thai culture is similar in many ways to Cambodian culture and the minority people groups within the country are numerous.
It’s been great to see how the body of Christ has come around us to help us make this decision and support us during this time. Continue to pray for us as we sort through the implications of this change and seek to keep all of you up to date with the latest!
Tags: link, Ministry, news, Prayer Request, Thailand
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off
Posted by Ric and Sharon on Monday, June 1st, 2009
Our most pressing prayer requests this month:
- Wisdom and balance in taking "odd jobs" to offset the costs of linguistics as well as pay the bills. Striking a balance between "trusting God" and taking the opportunities He has given to work can be tough.
- For our internship with Trinity, that it would be a beneficial and strategic move.
- For balance in relationships with family, friends and supporters. There simply aren’t enough hours in a day
- For safety in travel as we head down to NTM’s Missionary Enrichment Conference in Missouri later this month. I (Ric) will be taking pictures for the conference and putting together a slideshow for the misssionaries to take home.
- Our largest financial need: Sharon heading to Oklahoma in the fall to study Cherokee. It will cost about 2,000 dollars.
Tags: June, Prayer Request
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Ric and Sharon Bruce On a journey with you to Thailand 
