August 2011 Newsletter

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Newsletter #57 1
August 201 1
Derbyshi res’ Newsletter • PO Box 1 • Bangkla, Chachoengsao • Thai land 241 1 0
Joyfully Not Following Doctor’s
Orders
After a week being gone on mobile
clinic I came back to the usual
bedlam that typically awaits my
return to work at the clinic after
being gone awhile. It was a
challenging morning with 70 some
sick patients, multiple ultrasounds,
procedures, 3 patients with new
cancer discovered today.... plus all
the mail and logistics of the clinic
work that had piled up while I was
gone. Somewhere in the morning I
silently prayed that the Lord would
ease my challenged psyche and help
me weed through the myriad of
needs and pressures to see what His
task was for me that day. Just
minutes passed and a 55 y/o woman
came in – a month early for her
scheduled appointment. She said she
had quit taking the meds I had given
her because she had been cured by
Jesus. “Every night I pray to Jesus,
and my grandson reads me again
the tract you gave me (the God that
you don’t know...), and since I
started doing that, my symptoms all
went away!” She was very happy. I
told her that God wanted to take
away more than just her health
problems. He wanted to take away
her sin. After a good talk she prayed
to receive Christ as her Lord and
Savior right in exam room 1. As soon
as she finished she said, “I want my
husband to pray that too!” May the
Lord bless her fledgling faith.
THAI LIGHTS
N e w s l e t t e r
POWERFUL WORDS TRUMP SMALL FAITH
I was on my way out to Plaang Yaow recently on a Tuesday night for one of our weekly
discipleship meetings. I had wrestled with the lesson for the night. We were covering Galatians 3. As I
read it over and over I felt more and more uneasy about it. “This is not going to work,” I thought.
“These poor simple people are not going to get this.” I read verse 13: “Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree.” All the cursing, and the trees, and the complex language kept gnawing at me. “They are definitely
not going to get this.”
So, with poor faith and poorer insights I set out to find a different lesson to teach. But that made
me feel worse. Since the group came to Christ last year we had studied together every word from every
verse of the Gospels, Romans, I and II Corinthians, and had gone verse by verse through Genesis and
Exodus as well. I had taught over and over how important the Word was – that everything God wanted
us to know about Himself was in His Word.
…..But here I was about to skip over a chapter because it was too…troublesome.
So finally, I flung my prayer to God, “Please help me Lord! I don’t know how to teach this. Please
teach your people tonight.” And on the wings of a desperate prayer I went to the meeting.
We began reading verse by verse as is our custom. And when we arrived at verse 10: “For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
And at the same time that I was groping for words of explanation, Tia, a first time visitor, blurted
out, “This is exactly where I am! Oh I’ve been wrestling with this for so long! I try to make merit and do
good – but how can the merit of a sinner do them any good?” How can I get to heaven with merit
made while I was a sinner?”
Wow, that seemed to be a great insight. I was shaken by how the Spirit had taught this woman –
obviously without any help from me at all. After we talked about Christ’s death being sufficient to take
away sins – and our goodness having no hope at all for taking away sins she seemed at the crossroads –
she was so close to following Jesus. But after a long moment of decision she decided she was not yet
ready to turn her life to Christ.
We studied for another hour, had a time of fellowship, and departed for home. We were in a van,
and 5 or 6 of the group asked us to take them home on our way back to Bangkla. Tia was one of them.
After being on the road a moment, I asked Tia again how she was feeling. And quickly, it seemed, all
her barriers broke away. “I need Jesus!”
We pulled over to the side of the road and parked. And right there on a dark night beside a
country road Tia prayed to receive Christ as her Savior.
God’s Word is living and Powerful and calls people to the Father. My abilities are paltry sometimes,
but what a joy to see my Father use His powerful Word to conquer unbelief and my weak faith to draw
people to a saving walk with Him.
A note from the Derbyshire family, missionaries to Thailand
Newsletter #57 2
August 201 1
Derbyshi res’ Newsletter • PO Box 1 • Bangkla, Chachoengsao • Thai land 241 1 0
THAI LIGHTS
Making it cool to be a Christian
North Phoenix Baptist church sent us a delightful group of
young people this summer to work at a nearby school. Their role
was to teach English and make relationships with the children
and teachers there. They were great! They were great at
teaching and making friends – but their most significant work
might have been what they did for a little grade school boy – that
we’ll call Chang (for his safety’s sake). Last year he came home
one day black and blue after being beaten by his teacher for
saying that he had become a Christian. But this year the North
Phoenix team helped change people’s hearts. Their excellence in
teaching and the wonderful way they poured out love on the
students at the school made not just the school but the whole
community come out to show their appreciation. And after
winning the hearts of the people, the team announced that they
came because of Chang. They told the crowd that Chang was a
Christian just like them and he was the reason that they came to
teach English for the school. Immediately Chang was a celebrity.
The boys rubbed his head and cried out, “Way to go Chang!”
And teachers – who had been severe with Chang in the past, now
looked with admiration on a young boy who had such influence
with Americans on the other side of the world.
At the end of the week, Chang’s grandma came to me, her
voice broken with emotion. “The whole town is talking about the
American team. It is wonderful. Chang has suddenly become
popular thanks to the Americans. I pray…I pray that this will
change things, so that he will not be beaten anymore.
We are deeply grateful to our brothers and sisters in Christ in
the US who come out with us on short term missions. Some
teams do mobile clinics with us, some do prayer walking, some do
tract distribution, and some teach English. But they all help us
with the Kingdom Task of taking the Gospel where few people
know God and encouraging the local believers while they do the
same.
If you and your church would like to be involved in a short
term mission trip with us please write us at
[email protected]. Hope to hear from you soon!
Becky’s Back and God’s Hand
One night in July while Doug and I were returning from a
mobile clinic we received a phone call from one of our mission board
vice presidents telling us that Becky had an accident while in Africa
and sustained a back injury. She was unable to move her arms or legs
and they were air lifting her from her present place to a good health
facility in Kenya. We were assured that she did have feeling in her
extremities. Doug and I still had several hours travel to get home to
our computer for more updates and information about her accident.
It was the longest two hours I’ve had in a while. When we reached
home, Doug flew around putting medicine and our team to bed
while I frantically began making plans to get to Becky.
Never was I panicked, at every moment I was assured of God’s
hand upon her. People from all over the world called us and sent
emails assuring us of their prayer support. Gordon Fort, another one
of our vice presidents happened to be in Nairobi at the time and
went to visit Becky when she first arrived. He sent us a reassuring
email as well. Everything that could be done for Becky was done and
done quickly. The insurance company was phenomenal in expediting
everything. When it was determined that Becky did not have a spinal
injury and was safe to travel back to the states, the insurance
company not only got her a business class flight home, but they
bought my ticket to join her in California and take care of her in the
weeks to come. I arrived on the CBU (California Baptist) campus 24
hours after Becky. The university gave us an apartment to be in
together and had nurses visiting her, the athletic trainer, and other
caretakers with her around the clock until I got there. When I arrived
Becky still was not able to get out of bed on her own, and still in a lot
of pain. It took us 5 days to get in to see an orthopedic surgeon but
he was able to finally give us a diagnosis, she had indeed dislocated 2
of her ribs. Suddenly many things about her pain made sense. We
quickly began the road to recovery which has included many trips to
a special sports chiropractor and some physical therapy. She is now 2
months from her initial injury and she is so much better. She still has
to be careful about her activity but she is definitely close to full
recovery.
In the aftermath of things, we are so grateful to the IMB for
their loving care of Becky in some very tense moments. We are also
very grateful to California Baptist University for their loving care and
concern for Becky this summer. They were so gracious to us and
someone was checking on us daily while Becky was in her worst
moments. I praise the Lord for his hand which reached out through
Southern Baptists in this way to our family. I feel incredibly blessed.
Pray for
Thailand
“For nothing
restrains the
LORD from saving
by many or by
few.”
- 1 Samuel 14:6
Becky being loaded
onto the van by the
team members.
Newsletter #57 3
August 201 1
Derbyshi res’ Newsletter • PO Box 1 • Bangkla, Chachoengsao • Thai land 241 1 0
From The Journal...
If I were allowed to add 1 more thing to my days of late it would be to write more. If I were to write more I would
tell of waking up early and being flooded with the presence of God in prayer. He calls me! My times of praise are filled
with floods of joy; my intercession for the lost and hurting is much empowered as the Lord tells me how to pray and
compels me to cry and groan and strain for the needs around me. His Word is alive! I can hardly put it down in the
morning – every word seems just for me and full of deep truths.
And the Lord seems to have given me a fresh joy in the work. And a renewed enabling. Tuesday I rejoiced to see Maew,
a 57 y/o woman who came to see me for a routine annual physical. She finished her time with me by praying to receive
Christ as Savior and Lord.
I am filled with an outpouring of deep love for God’s people – even more than ever before. The sight of every saint
makes me smile and fills me with deep joy. This is particularly notable since God’s people have been more than needy
and less than saintly in many of their dealings this week ☺.
Mistakes with money, miscues with driving, poor judgment in relationships, loose tongues, tight wads, and overt personal
criticism have all come to me to deal with this week, sometimes one right on the heels of another – and all while I’m
trying to see 80 patients a day and bring them to good health and a saving knowledge of the Savior.
But rather than trouble me, it seems that the Lord blesses me with more love for these saints with every encounter – be it a “positive” or
“negative” encounter. As I have walked through and talked through a steady line of saintly mishaps I have found myself looking at them just exactly as
I looked at my children when they were learning to walk. They would stand, toddle, and topple – and I remember how my heart would “pop” with
joy, not to see them fall, but to see them grow.
At one point, after a string of errors, mishaps, and complaints came my way, Gaye said, “you are like the church spittoon.” I think she regretted
her comparison and quickly added, “a golden spittoon.” But I needed no amendment. I like the analogy. I am a spittoon. And I love the job! My
fellow believers come to me and empty themselves of their troubles and undesirable effects; and it is for me to follow Galatians 6 and “bear one
another’s burdens.” The Word says I am not golden, but earthen. I am an earthen vessel. Perhaps if all I held was saintly spittle the work would
become tedious. But II Corinthians 4:7 says that I hold a treasure in my earthen spittoon. And so could not possibly add to my worth even if I were to
be made of solid gold. My worth comes from this treasure in me. And what a treasure! May I live and serve and uphold others in a manner worthy of
this treasure!
THAI LIGHTS
Mobile Clinic Update
This summer we had mobile clinic teams from North
Phoenix Baptist church, Casas Adobes in Tucson,
and Forest Park in Joplin, MO. Goodness they did a
great job! We took the Gospel to areas in the West,
central, north and northeast area of Thailand. It
would be hard to pick out the highlights. In the west,
a local mayor publicly supported the local Baptist
church after our clinic was with them. In the north, a
public official gave a long speech before allowing
patients to see us, warning them not to listen to the
Christians – “Take their medicine,” he said, “But
don’t listen when they talk about God. But 7 prayed
to receive Christ after hearing the Good News.
In another area, a woman lived for years as the only
Christian in her village. After our clinic shared Christ
with her town she cried out gratitude – saying, “I have
prayed for years that someone would come and help me share Christ here. And
today God answered my prayer.” But then she added, “But there are so many
other villages here with no Christians. Will you come back and help me take the
Gospel to them?”
In the Northeast, a missionary told us that a mobile clinic last year brought the
Gospel to a new area and now, almost a year later, there are 5 groups meeting as a
result of that effort. In another province, the missionary told me of 2 house
churches formed after our clinics there last year.
In all, we shared Christ with over 2,000 people in 14 villages in 8 different
provinces.
In Luke 10 scripture says that the early 70 missionaries came back from their
short term mission “with joy”. I wish I could better express my gratitude to the
churches that have sent me short term teams this year. I get to see the lives eternally
changed, the saints uplifted, and the Gospel shared with those that have never
heard. Thank you for coming.
Please keep coming. Please keep praying. I see an unusual open window here –
may the Lord use us for His Purpose!
Sandi gearing up to lead
songs at an English camp.
This is Tim sharing Christ at mobile clinic. Encounters
like these go on by the hundreds on a typical mobile clinic.
Meeting health needs continues to be a
great way to start meeting spiritual needs.

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