January 2014 Newsletter

5/24/2018 January 2014 Newsletter

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A note from the Derbyshire family, missionaries to Thailand

JANUARY 2014 NEWSLETTER #

A note from the Derbyshire family, missionaries to Thailand

OR THE

Highway

Thai

THE

WAY

SERIOUS BUSINESSWe were on our way to a mobile clinic in northern Thailand. We didnt realize that the local religiousleader had cancelled our time there. We were slated to do an English program in the school as well. Thereligious leader cancelled both the clinic and the English program because he didnt want people to hear what

the Christians had to say. The local Thai church planter that had asked us to come help him didnt want to tell

us that the town had cancelled the clinic because he said, I believed that God would make it work. Apparently,

the Lord shared his opinion because after canceling the clinic, the religious leader suddenly died. The town felt it

was a sign and put us back on the schedule for both the clinic and the English program. We shared Christ with

the 160 adults who came to see us at the clinic, and the English team shared the Gospel with the 100 children

at the school. Since the whole village had only 300+ people in it, we were able to share Christ with most of the

people who lived there. Rob Pengra, my wonderful neighbor and friend took a group of the volunteers from

Forest Park Baptist Church in Joplin, MO (my, I love those people) to visit the local temple. The brand newreligious leader (the former leader was still in his coffin nearby) saw Rob and the Forest Parkians and motioned

them over. He said, I dont want to start an argument or anything, but could you tell me what Christians

believe? And right there in the temple, Rob and the American team were able to share with him the Gospel

story. Hosea 10:7 says, As for Samaria, her king is cut off like a twig on the water. It is God who places people

in positions of authority (Romans 13:1), but if the authority seeks to thwart Gods purposes rather than propel

Gods purposes, God can take them away as easily as a river can take away a twig. Afterwards, Cheryl and I felt

an even deeper sense of commitment to this work. God is opening these opportunities to bear Him witness in

places that do not know Him. May we be faithful to the task He has so powerfully placed before us.

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D e r b y s h i r e s N e w s l e t t e r P O B o x 1 B a n g k l a , C h a c h o e n g s a o T h a i l a n d 2 4 1 1 0


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When I go to work in the morning, I enter an office and begin to put on various

hats, accountant, marketer, buyer, seller, display artist, product developer,

overseer, evangelist, and on and on. Sometimes, I feel a bit overwhelmed by theresponsibilities. If I mess up, 200 women will lose their jobs.Yikes! Mypriorities are easy, Gods message first, and the rest comes after. I have been

trying to find another way to communicate the Gospel to my Buddhist piece

workers who had heard the Gospel for many years but not responded. As Iprayed about how to do that the Lord seemed to say, Make my Word real and

alive to them. So, I began to study Bible storying and God is showing me how tomake His word Alive to them. Now I have to teach it to my staff and implement

these ideas in the year ahead.Sometimes its the little things that like to mess up my priorities and

perspective. I am fortunate to have a Godly husband that often helps keep meon the right track. Doug and I often sit together at lunch and talk over ourchallenges. He is always such an encouragement to me. I was troubled one day

as I had come home from looking at the amount of old half made stock I had found in a store room. I found1000 plain gold balls, hundreds of partly made princesses, and thousands of 5 different half made bears that

no longer have a market. So, Doug said, Lets ask the Lord to help you find out what to do with them. At first Ithought, REALLY?, God doesnt really care about these little things. But then I remember just a few yearsago, we had prayed for 5 cars in 5 years for the mobile clinic and church planting ministries and I watched God

answer those prayers to the letter. So, we prayed, and a few days later, I got the idea to turn the gold balls intoa world ornament. Within 1 months time, I had it designed and sold my first 250 to WMUs worldcraftwebsite. A few weeks later another 100 sold to a church for their deacons Christmas gifts. I soon after got anidea to remake the princesses so our London client could sell them to another shop as a different item. Bam,sold and most of the princesses are gone now. I look forward to seeing how the Lord will provide for the bears.

On another day I was feeling a bit burdened by needing more piece workers but all our efforts to find some

were futile. Our work is difficult and for some, takes many weeks to get good enough at it to make it worth theirwhile. ( all our ornaments are sewn by hand with tiny stitches and then detailed with hand beading and fine

gluing) But I was also wondering how we could do the evangelism for a new group. Our staff can barely handlewhat theyve got. One lunch Doug came home and said, I had an interesting call today, it seems our new groupin Hui Gaa has a group of women that have heard about TCT and they want to try to work for you. My first

thought was, they wont work out. How did they even hear bout us? So I sent one ornament with Doug, to showthem what we do and see if they were still interested. They were still interested, so I sent 2 of my staff out totheir weekly meeting and 8 women showed up. Within 3 weeks time, we have 15 women working for us andDougs team is partnering with us for evangelism.

Around the same time, another group was started in Plang Yao, another new church planting site of the

clinic team. in what I would call a twin scenario, women just came out of the woodwork to ask how they couldwork for TCT.

In just 3 weeks time, we have a group of 10 ladies there working on our products.

Two of the

ladies are a part of our church plant out there and their plan is to share Christ with the workers there as they

interact with them daily. Wow!Just a few days ago I met with my fulltime staff and we were praising God for his wonderful blessings. I

challenged them to think about these 25 women, who will be at our Christmas celebration on Dec. 20th. Asthey plan and think about this program, they should keep these 25 souls in mind. This will be their first timehearing the Christmas story, this will be their first time to understand what we are celebrating. Pray with us aswe see what God will do.

MANY HATS, ONE HOPE

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CARING LEADS TO SHARINGWe were on mobile clinic in a little town in Northeast Thailand. There was no church there, just the vision of a

brand new missionary that had just recently arrived and didnt even speak Thai yet. It was our plan to help him

start this new work by holding a mobile clinic in the town and sharing the Gospel with everyone who came. We

arrived in the morning and set things up. At 9 oclock 12 people from the neighborhood cameand that was all.

It troubled my soul to see so much effort spent in bringing the Gospel to this place, and then only being able toshare the message with 12 people. Thirty minutes went by and then someone seemed to throw a switch.

Dozens suddenly arrived, followed by dozens more, and within moments it seemed we were inundated. One man

had a 3 inch massive fish bone caught in his esophagus. Mobile clinic instruments arenot really designed for

needs like this, but by Gods grace I was able to pull the thing from the deep dark recesses of his innards. I had to

do it in front of the whole crowd and there was a rousing ovation when I brought the thing out from his insides. By

days end we had seen 240 patients, saw 5 people pray to make Jesus their Lord, and had 20 others ask for a

home visit to study the matter further. Something obviously happened that morning and when we asked a

patient why people all of a sudden came later he said, The government does mobile clinics for us, but all they give

is Tylenol. They never listen to us or do anything to help us and were sick of it. But this morning the people who

came to you said that your doctors actually cared for people. When we heard that, we all came. We wanted to

see what that was like.

We had a chance to share Christ with 240 people and saw people respond. But the opportunity to share

came after we showed them care. The Bible does not insist on caring for physical needs before dealing with

spiritual needs, but sometimes it sure helps.

A SENSE OF URGENCYMy days are full of lots and lots of work. Sometimes necessary work, sometimes work I dreamed up on my

own, sometimes work given to me by someone else, sometimes work I would call, Kingdom work. As I see it,Kingdom work shadows all other work, for it will bring the results that will last for eternity.

My work at Thai Country Trim has sent me on a hunt for effective Bible storying methods. My search broughtme to a method called, Simply the Story and in my reading I found that one of the developers of this methodwas in fact in Thailand and doing a seminar that was last month. A week before the seminar, I was visiting one myour TCT centers in Chiang Klang and sharing with the missionaries there about what I had found. My friends, Jeriand Cheri, found it interesting as well and decided to go along with me to the seminar the next week. I had theprivilege of rooming with Jeri, a single community worker who has been in Thailand about 15 years. Over the past17 years Jeri has been treated and monitered regularly for cancer. As we talked and shared together, she hada sense of urgency I found lacking in my own life. She shared with me how grateful she was to the Lord for theday I came to visit a week before, since she had been praying for a way to use Bible storying with the many groups

they are ministering to in her area. She said Bible storying seemed to be the natural way to relate to her groupsas most of them are illiterate and intimidated by written materials. She had no experience to help her staffimprove their storying skills and was asking the Lord for help. Jeri told me that she lives everyday, while here ,with the urgency to do everything to make sure her Thai partners are prepared to carry on when she is no longer

here. As the three of us studied together, we truly enjoyed the time digging into Gods word and practicing howto tell about it and guide others to find its treasure.

I was unable to stay for the entire week of sessions but Jeri and Cheri stayed to its completion. They went backto their ministry area, began sharing with their staff and started practicing together in their daily meetings.Already, after just a few weeks, their nationals are using what they have learned and seeing the Lord use it. OnJanuary 17-19th their community development center will host a seminar on this Bible storying method that

some of my staff will be attending. She moved with urgency to equip her people as best she could as quickly asshe could. I love partnering with her because she inspires me to have the same heart.

As I continue to ponder Jeris words, I wonder often, if we all had that same sense of urgency, how would it

effect our our Kingdom work?

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From The Journal...Yesterday I awoke and went to pray long before dawn. I do that most

every day, but yesterday was especially joy filled because I was preaching onMark 1:35 (And in the morning, rising up a great while before dawn, Jesus

went out to a solitary place, and there He prayed.) Jesus Sabbath day inMark 1 was filled with power and victory. He preached with power, cast outdemons, healed Simons mother-in-law, spent a wonderful day of fellowship inPeters home, and then won victory after victory over diseases and demonsall evening long. His day was powerful and fruitful because it began inprayer long before dawn.

If I am to see great days of power, I must start them with great dawns ofprayer.

His presence is so near in the morning! After prayer I spend an hour studying Gods Word and everydaywish it could be 2 or 3 hours. Today I went to work, and soon felt the weight of the need. I met for prayerwith Tara and Maw Nuk for the new church in Plaang Yaow and then began to see patients. By 9:30 there

were already some 60 people signed in and more coming. Some would wait for me for hours. At about 10 Isaw a 38 y/o man who came for a routine annual checkup. After his exam and a discussion of his health Iasked about his soul. He tried to be a good person. I asked him what he thought God required of him. Hesaid, He wants me to be happy. No, I said, He wants you to be holy, and you are not. Soon we wereembattled with eternal matters. God had prepared him well though he had scarcely heard anything of theGospel in his life. His longing to be a good man, the guilt of his sins (which would seem minimal to many),and the new realization that God reigns supreme, brought him to finally pray to make Christ Lord of his life.His first burden was to lead his wife to faith. I meet with him tomorrow to begin discipleship. Today wasbusy, but full of joy.. much like yesterday.

.Yesterday morning we went to our little body of believers in Plaang Yaow. Cheryl and I taught thechildren and then we worshipped together and I preached from Mark 1. Pii Tum gave a wonderfultestimony and said, I want to tell people how to be saved. Someday I hope to have a church in my house like

we have here today in Nuis house.

At the end of the service, I asked our little group if they were prepared to answer questions fromdoubters who would question the legitimacy of a church in a house without a paid pastor and with only 20members or so. Their answers blessed me! Bible churches were often house churches. The Bible is ourleader and Jesus is our Head. And, We are few today, but we are only beginning! We pray God will give usmany believing brothers and sisters! They answered confidently, boldly, and with vision uneducated ruralpeople but they have been with Jesus.

We had 3 visitors, one of them, a 25 y/o woman named Bua. As we rejoiced in this new church, shesaid, If you had not met for worship today, I would not have heard about God. Just 20 or 30 minutes later,after I talked with her about the Gospel more fully, she prayed to make Christ her Lord. Our Plaang Yaowbelievers sat and ate together we rejoiced in the wonderful time of worship and fellowship. It must havebeen nearly 1:00 when a large official van with Russian writing on it pulled up to the house. A Thai womanrolled down her window and asked, Is Doctor Derb here? They had been looking for us for hours. Theyhad started a health clinic, but as believers they wanted to use their facility to reach people with the Gospel.Their work is in Pattaya (about 2 and a half ours south of us), but while travelling in Korat (about 3 hoursnorth east of us) they met someone who said they needed to find me to help them start this ministry. Soafter much effort they found me at our house church in Plaang Yaow. Sarah, the Thai believer made abeautiful request, Please help us. Please help us use medicine to share the Gospel. Will you please cometo our clinic and show us how?

Heal the sick and preach the Gospel. This is what I do, and it is my joy to teach others to do the same.

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I love doing the Lords work when feeling

surrounded by the support of Southern Baptists

in America. I feel so privileged to be on the front

lines of work overseas. Recently, in my

community, as the rainy season was coming to an

end, we have been experiencing incredible flood

situations. This has given me the privilege of

using Baptist Global Relief Funds in an interesting

way.

I, Cheryl D, work with a cottage craft ministry

called, Thai Country Trim. (some of our products

can be seen at www.worldcrafts.org) We

minister to rural Thai women in Eastern CentralThailand, and northern Thailand as well. We

teach these women to hand sew ornaments that

are sold in England and the USA. This allows them to work at home and add to the family income. We also

have weekly meetings with them to share the Gospel. The ladies in our Eastern Thailand provinces have

been hit very hard with flooding that (according to the government weather agencies) will last for another

month. Many of their homes are in 3 feet of water. Rural Thai people do not typically leave their homes

when they are flooded in. They have learned to acclimate and live over the water. As I took my American

mindset to their homes and tried to get them to come to a shelter I so diligently set up, they were not so

willing to go. At first I wondered how I would be able to help them so I prayed and asked my prayer warriors

to pray as well. The Lord said, Find out what they need to weather the storm. So, I listened and watched

and found ways to help them stay where they were. We bought small plastic boats, and took in foods that

were easy to make over their clay pot coal burning stoves. Many of them are used to sleeping on the floor

so we bought simple bamboo beds so they could sleep over the water. We brought their work to them

instead of having them come to the center to pick up their weekly work. We took in boot waders and

medicine to help them stay healthy. Yesterday when we made our visits, we took a nurse with us from

Bangkla Baptist Clinic to check and make sure all their health needs were met. I know I will have many

opportunities to share more specifically with them about where their help came from in the coming days

when things return to normal and they come back to our weekly meetings. Im so grateful to have the

resources that BGR made available to us in a very timely manner. I cant wait to see what the Lord will do

during and after the flood. His name be praised as His love is being shared through us and through

Southern Baptists in the USA.

MINISTERING OVER THE WATER

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good

news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who

publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns.""

- Isaiah 52:7

Taking living water to thirsty souls

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January 2014 Newsletter