Dimapur Girls Home

We had an awesome time at our girls home in Dimapur.  It is located in the far Northeast part of India.  There are 12 girls there right now, and they are flourishing.  We had so much fun with them, and they had a blast with us.  They put on a singing concert for us.  Here is a picture of them singing.  The lady that runs the home is doing a fantastic job with the girls.  They love the Lord and are being taught well.  They are learning English and math, and doing well at it.

It is a great story of how God redeems things.  I can’t wait to see how the Lord is going to use these girls.  Most of them are from the Mao tribe.

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Chintamani – Update from India

Here is a quick update. For those of you keeping track of my “name that airport” challenge.  Here were our flights yesterday.  BLR to CCU to DIB to DMU.  See how many of you know those airport codes.

We have been in India for a few days.  Slow internet, so not many updates, but I have wifi now.  It has been a great time.  We visited our orphanage in Chintamani and got to work with the kids there.  It was awesome to see the work.  Jacob and his wife Sonasuman are the house parents for the orphanage and they are doing a wonderful job.  The kids were reciting tons of Scripture and singing songs and dances for us. It was a huge blessing.

About to head to church in Dimapur. I will update you on it tomorrow.  We travel 19 hours back to Bangkok this afternoon.

Here are some pictures for you.

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Welcome to Thailand

We made it to Thailand after 28.5 hours of travel. Got to our hotel around 3 in the morning and grabbed a few hours of sleep. Then we got to meet with a missionary and the national pastor that we work with in Bangkok, along with a missionary from the Philippines. It was great to see his church and find out more of his work.

The pastor teaches at a Christian school with 6,000 kids and his wife teaches nursing students. The school is one of the best schools in Bangkok and it gives him the opportunity to disciple and pour into these kids for 12 years before sending them out into the world. You want to change a nation? Teach the next generation of businessmen and women, and political leaders. What a great ministry opportunity.

Now, off to India, then back to Thailand next week.

Where’s Ryan?

I’m heading to Asia for a 6 country trip that spans 5 1/2 weeks.  I look forward to keeping everyone updated on what we are doing and where we are going. Keep and eye on this blog to get updates.  We will be visiting India, Nepal, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam on this trip. On part of the trip we will build a water tank for a village in Burma and visit our new school there.

I’m excited about what the Lord is going to do on this trip and keep everyone updated on our travels.  The 19 flights it will take will be exhausting for sure, so keep us in our prayers.  Also, pray for Kim and the girls as they are not able to join me on this trip and will miss me as much as I miss them.

A New Year Awaits

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s. We were tremendously blessed in 2014 from your prayers and support. We are looking forward to 2015. In keeping with the new year theme, we have a new website for our family. This will allow people to keep up with us all of the time. My updates will be there, along with pictures, videos, etc.

www.Jones4Missions.com

To finish out 2014, one of the coolest things happened on Christmas Day. My nephew came to me that morning and gave me a $100 bill. He said that he had asked Santa Claus for money to give to missions. That morning he had $100 in his stocking and he was very excited to bring it to me and give it to us. What a humble blessing for us. I’m in the process of raising money to take a 5 week trip to visit our projects in India, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is really neat to know that his money was the first given to go towards the trip.

Please be praying in advance for the trip, we will be building a water tank and delivering water to some homes in a village in Myanmar where we just built a school that is set to open this spring, taking a team to Nepal to look at helping expand the work there, and meeting with missionaries in 6 countries.

#GivingTuesday – Here are the Details

WHAT IS #GIVINGTUESDAY?

We have a day for giving thanks. We have two for getting deals. Now, we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 2, 2014, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.

You know people and businesses that are looking for something to give towards.  With over 18,000 non-profits that are registered at GivingTuesday.org it is hard for people to pick.  Let your friends know about MANNA.

It’s a simple idea. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more. Then tell everyone you can about how you are giving. Join us and be a part of a global celebration of a new tradition of generosity.

Click here to find out more about what you can do, where the money will go, and how you donation will be matched.

www.mannaworldwide.com/givingtuesday

#GivingTuesday

Black Friday has great deals.  Cyber Monday has cool technology.  Now Giving Tuesday has an eternal impact.

GivingTuesday.org has developed Giving Tuesday as a day that all Americans can give to their favorite charities on the same day.  Why not make that charity MANNA Worldwide.  We are a registered charity at GivingTuesday.org.  Want to help?  Tell your friends, co-workers, family at Thanksgiving, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Let them know about Giving Tuesday and tell them why you choose to give to MANNA.

What are the advantages to giving to MANNA?  Over 90% of the money donated for projects actually makes it to the project.  I’m a real human being that you can talk to, not an actor on the television. You can visit our projects in person with us.

Here is a short video I put together of our family and what Giving Tuesday represents for us. I hope you enjoy it.
http://youtu.be/CEmKVmu2FjA

Watch here for more information on how you can get involved on Tuesday, December 2.

Return From Nicaragua

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I just got back from Nicaragua and got to see the work there for the first time.  I appreciate everyone’s prayers and support during our trip.  I have included some pictures in this email from the trip.  As with any trip, there is more to share than the space or time possible.  So, I want to give a testimony about how the Lord used obstacles in Nicaragua to further the ministry.

One of our projects is in a town with no electricity or other services.  People are spread out along the countryside.  Most of the kids have to walk 2 km, in some cases up to 4 km, to the feeding center.  What we see as an obstacle, the Lord uses greatly.  The parents did not want their kids walking that far by themselves.  So, the parents started going with the kids.  Now, this project that started with 5 kids and 1 adult has grown to have 60 kids and 25 adults on the day we were there.  The missionary we work with down there has now planted 5 churches and trained up 5 national pastors to lead them.

It was a great reminder to me how we can look at obstacles and inefficiencies, but the Lord sees opportunities.  We can look from our Americanized perspectives, but the Lord sees the heart of the people and how to reach them. I’m sure glad He is in control and not me.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Nicaragua Bound

Quick update on where in the world is Ryan.  Next week I have the privilege of taking a group down to Nicaragua to visit our projects and help partner them with one of them.  I’m really looking forward to the trip.  This is a great example of what we do.

We have a project with a missionary there that we fund every month, but we do not have a partner here in the States to help us financially support it.  This church has a heart to adopt a project and partner with us to personally engage a work long term.  We are taking them down to look at the project, meet the missionary on the ground, and see the vision going forward.  They want to then adopt this project and partner with MANNA to help operate it.  After we get back we are planning a church wide trip for them so that their people can personally engage the work.

Going forward, we will be able to help them organize trips each year to visit and be a part of the lives of the kids they are partnered with, serve the communities, and help spread the Gospel.  It is a beautiful thing to watch when all parts of the body come together for the same purpose.