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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0

August 2013 Newsletter #62
A note from the Derbyshire family, missionaries to Thailand
Family Matters
Recently, a man in his early 40s came to see me about a routine health matter. Soon we were in a serious
conversation about his relationship with God. At the end, he was concerned by the Gospel, but not ready to
make a commitment to follow Christ. So I gave him a common challenge that I give people in his situation. I
suggested that he go home and call a family meeting. Call all his relatives together and tell them what he had
heard about God, and then decide as a family what they should do. When we left the room, Andrew Hannah, a
college student from Mississippi who spent much of the summer with me asked, Have you ever had any
families come to Christ from this? I said, No, Ive had many families call a meeting, but they have always
decided to keep to their non-christian ways. But I keep recommending people do this, maybe someday Ill
get to see a family decide to follow Christ from it.
A month later my patient came back. We discussed his health matter and then I asked him if he called a
family meeting. He said, Well, it was just my wife and I, but yes, we talked together about what we should
doand after our talk, we decided we want in. So right there in exam room 2 he repented of his sin and
prayed to make Christ His Lord. His rst words after his prayer were, My wife is going to want to do this too.
I encouraged him to go home and lead his wife to walk with God as well.
He left my room and went to get his meds from our pharmacy. He talked excitedly with several of my staff
about his new faith and relationship with God. Everyone was overjoyed. I hope to see him at worship next
Sunday! Ive been making invitations like this for 20 years but this is the rst time Ive seen the Lord save
people from their family meeting. It was worth the wait! I pray that there will be many more to follow!
HE HEARD
MY
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a
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
Recently, Cheryl and I went with my team of Thai believers and a small group of students from California
Baptist University to Huay Gae a small village with a few thousand people not too far south of us. The
village was the heart of an area once called the thieves forest. There were no believers there. By the end of
our day with them, 2 women prayed to receive Christ, and then a week later, Tem, an 81 year old woman put
her faith in Christ as well. We began to meet with them and teach them more of the God that they had
placed their faith in. Immediately they began to voice
their desire to see their neighbors and family come to
saving faith in Christ as well. Soon, Tems 41 year old
son gave his life to the Lord as well. The following
week we met all together for worship. The brand new
believers from Huay Gae joined together with our
team from Bangkla and together we praised and
worshiped the Lord. By all evidences, it was the rst
time that believers had gathered in Huay Gae to
worship God since the dawn of creation.
On that day I thought to myself, This is the joy that
is mine, and the driving force that compels me to
continue this work that the Lord has given to me to
see people reconciled to God and then gather to
worship Him, in places where He had never been praised
since the world was created.
A month later we went with another group of
volunteers from Arizona along with a small contingent
of Thai believers up into the mountains of northern
Thailand. We travelled over 12 hours by van, then 2
more hours by 4 wheel vehicle up winding roads and
rock strewn paths to a small isolated tribal village. We
treated the sick until it was too late to return the road
wasnt safe at night. So we spent the night on the
mountain. After setting up the tents, our group
gathered together for a night of worship and praise. I
spoke on Hosea 1 and Gods heart to call those who are
not His people to Himself so that they might become His people and obtain His mercy. Then we shared
testimonies and sang songs of worship and praise. One of the believers who came with us was from the same
tribe as the people of the village. He closed our time together by thanking everyone for sharing his burden to
see his people saved. He said that he was so glad that the Lord had allowed us to share the Gospel with the
village. He said, This is a wonderful day. Not only were we able to share Christ with people who did not
know Him, but tonight we praised God together on this mountain. It is the rst time that God has been
praised on this mountain since the beginning of time. It was inspiring to hear him speak and amazed me
to hear him voice the same heart that I had when seeing God praised in Huay Gae for the rst time.
The Dawn of Worship
Above we see Tai (in the green) praying to receive Christ.
Below, is Lam Yai, the rst believer and the rst one baptized
in Huay Gae
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
Unscheduled Blessings
During our house church worship times in
Plaang Yaow, one of our main events is our
testimony time. During the service we invite
anyone in the group to come up front and share a
testimony about what theyve been seeing God
do. Its a wonderful time of encouragement and
dependence on the Holy Spirit, because you
never know what people will say.
At one of our recent worship gatherings a rst
time visitor to Sunday worship jumped up at the
invitation and stood before us all to give her
testimony. She took a carefully folded piece of
paper from her pocket and began to read us what
she had obviously prepared in advance to say.
She read, Im so grateful to Pa Song (one of our
Christians in Plaang Yaow) for inviting me to your
meetings. Im grateful to Dr. Doug for teaching
me about God. And today I want to pray to take
Jesus as my God.
We rejoiced with her and all the women
gleefully gathered around her as she publicly
prayed for forgiveness and committing her life to
God.
Im so glad I dont try to plan everything that
goes on my schedule I would have missed this
joy completely!
This is my work and my joy. And it is a mighty joy.
Seeing people made Gods people, and seeing God
worshiped where He had never received His due
worship before. I have left America and the familiar
to serve my Lord here, and how could I have a
moments regret? Paul says, I have made it my aim
to preach, and to preach where Christ has not been
named so that those who have not heard shall
understand. This was Pauls work and his joy; and
it is mine.
To watch a video of these new believers baptism, go to:
http://youtu.be/P__mRPsX4Pk.
For Future Generations
Deuteronomy 7:9 says, Know therefore that the
Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God,
keeping His covenant of love to a thousand
generations of those who love him and keep his
commandments. It is my joy to see people come to
a life-changing, saving faith in Jesus here. That joy
is then magnied when God allows me to see Him
then go on to save the children of new believers.
At a recent worship service at our house church in
Plaang Yaow, Pii Tum, a new believer herself,
excitedly introduced us to Samai, her 18 year old
daughter who had just graduated from high school.
Then, just an hour later, Samai bowed her head, and
with other loving believers around her, she repented
of sin and prayed to make Jesus her Lord. God
saved Tum wonderfully and now has saved her
daughter. Praise the Lord! We still have 999
generations of blessings to go!
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
Meeting Renewal
Each year in July all the IMB missionaries in our area gather to
worship, encourage each other, and hear about what God is doing in
our places of service. It is a great time of rest and rejuvenation for us.
Our mission board graciously allows this time for us and they always
send wonderfully inspired representatives from our home ofce in
Richmond to spur us on. This year they sent John Brady. Wow! John
is one of the vice presidents that serve alongside Tom Elliff, our
president. John and his family served many years in the Middle East.
As John opened his heart to us through the Word of God, he shared
with us the heart-wrenching times he had walked through in recent
years. When he nished, I was worn out from the emotion of it all. Then he shared the vision he
had to place the Gospel into the hands of every unreached, unengaged people of the world. Many
of which have no written language. I was inspired by the fact that, in his difcult times, he was not
struck down, he weathered the time and sought the Lord who carried him. Now he has taken on a
huge undertaking, a mission of God.
In my teen years I loved to watch The A team, enjoying the intrigue of the perfectly tted
team that would work to put the plan together and fulll whatever impossible mission was
before them. This morning as I was pondering my week of inspiration I saw our IMB as the J
team. Our mission: To go into all the world and preach the Gospel. The plan: To be all things
to all people so that all might be saved.
I feel so blessed to be on the J team and to serve my Lord in such a time as this.
Body Work
This summer I took a wonderful group of believers from Sevier Heights Baptist Church in
Knoxville, Tennessee to do a series of mobile clinics and share Christ in areas where there were no
churches. We shared Christ one on one with over 800 people over the 5 days of mobile clinics. All
the days were wonderful. On our last day we teamed up with a missionary from Holland who was
working to start a new church in a place far off in the countryside where there were no believers at
all. On our rst day with him he won us over as he tearfully poured out his heart to see a church
spring up there in that place that had forever been without believers. It seemed the perfect place to
do what we do care for the sick and preach the Gospel of how Jesus saves from sin. Now, 2
months after our time with him, 10 people from that village join him for worship! What a joy to
watch! The body of Christ in Tennessee, joined together with the body of Christ here in Bangkla,
joining together with the body of Christ in the Netherlands, to see a baby born in Isaan Thailand.
Body work!