how then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?

~romans 10:14



a loving hello to you all,

reporting in with another update on thai missions. God’s mightily at work, i know and do believe that He has something in store for these hopeless people. all around us there is darkness like i have never seen. a reaching, yearning, helpless, hopeless spirit rests on the populace. a religion based on works and earning personal merit, on luck and superstition, has pierced its festering poisonous roots deep into the hearts of the people. i have seen idol worship just like it’s described in the old testament. idols everywhere, people bowing to graven deities, sacrifices to fake gods, massive golden ornate elaborate temples dedicated to lifeless powerless entities—this is the face of thailand.

and after seeing this, my heart and soul have been crying out in intercessory prayer for these people, knowing that Christ died for them but they don’t know it. ‘God, God, please for the glory of Your name, for the furtherance of Your kingdom, for the sake of these people, invade this place with Your perfect most Holy Spirit, open the eyes of their hearts to see what they cannot now see, infect and enrapture them with Your measureless perfect love. no one comes to You Father but through the precious, so so precious magnificent blood of Your Son.’ this has been my prayer, and i pray you pray it too, there is such deep need here.

with this in mind, i am rejoicing in the most recent update: dave and i have been updated on what things will be looking like for ministry in galasin (kalasin). isan province, wherein lies galasin, is a relatively small province. you can drive all the way across it in two hours. there are a couple towns of 30,000 people or less, but the main population resides in surrounding villages. just around one million people live in this province. 900,000 of them are in the villages, and are virtually and literally unreached with the gospel of Christ. we will be working with a local thai pastor living in the city. our focus will be discipleship and church-planting in the surrounding areas. we are immeasurably excited to be able to fill a void there as the Lord has opened doors. in galasin there are thousands of high-school age kids, and dave and i will have the unique opportunity of building relationship with them and sharing Christ. pray for soft hearts and open ears.

other than that, things are progressing well here in chiang mai. language studies, (by the grace of God i fully believe), are going much better than i thought they might. thank you for your prayers. we have had the opportunity to witness to kids, prostitutes, and everyday people, and we pray for more and more of this. please be praying for a group of four boys and a girl we have been spending time with, that they would hear the gospel and believe. we have been so stoked to be able to play basketball, soccer, ride bikes, goof off and just get to know these kids, and i do believe God has something planned for them. prayer is immeasurably important.

thank you all for your prayers and support, Lord knows thailand needs it. i truly am blessed to have brothers and sisters in Christ who are by my side, praying for me and the people here and sponsoring me and thinking of me and encouraging me. it doesn't go unnoticed. so much love to you all,

in Christ.

little update

hello brothers and sisters,

derrick here with a little update. i made it! after a couple days of intense travel and virtually no sleep, my plane landed safely in chiang mai. made a new friend on the flight to korea, a dear believer, and was able to reason with an elderly lady about the difference between a life of works and a life with Christ. her name’s joy, she is seeking something, praying for her. all in all by the grace of God things went very smoothly, except when i realized halfway through my first flight that i had somehow managed to get a knife past security. (they found out when i transferred in san francisco, and they weren’t too happy…pretty sure they thought i was a terrorist.) rabbit trails.

the last few days have been intensely interesting and rather overwhelming. i came excited and ready to share Christ with the unreached masses, and i still am, but things got very real for me as soon as i stepped off the plane. to walk the crazy streets, through markets and neighborhoods and such, is far more emotional than i was ready for. to see throngs of people, all under the grips of darkness, has caused my heart to break into slivers.  to see elaborate buddhist temples on virtually every corner, and to see every home equipped with tiny yard temples for the harboring of spirits and the offering of sacrifices is just crazy. painfully crazy. i was blessed to be able to spend the day today with a group of neglected and abused children, and if ever there was a sight that could break me down, this was it. i love these children, and have come to realize i love the thai populace. pray for them continually. they are lost and in line for their just punishment as mandated by the adamic nature, and Christ is the only hope they will ever have. please continue to pray that deep relationship with Christ would become common here. all this to say, it is achingly overwhelming to see first-hand the devastation of godlessness.

as far as the game plan goes, things are becoming quite clear and i am so stoked for the doors God has opened. for the next two months, dave and i will be studying thai in depth (tutors and such) and working with local outreach ministries. the family connection foundation, our ‘home base’ here in chiang mai, has a network of ministries in northern thailand that they support, and we are blessed to be able to participate as the Lord leads. after we have completed training (language and cultural studies, as well as thai-specific outreach), dave and i will be heading down to galasin. this town is virtually unreached with the gospel. there is about one believer for every 2,400 people. we will be helping with church-planting in the surrounding villages and preaching Christ with anyone who would hear. we rejoice for this opportunity, please pray that God will have His full will accomplished in the time we’re given here.

 dave has been an awesome support in helping me learn the language and understand people better. it is such a great blessing to have a brother here who not only provides accountability and fellowship, but who can help translate and communicate and introduce me to ice cream/wonderbead sandwiches and ride around on a motorcycle on the craziest streets i’ve ever seen and tell people that Jesus loves them. while we are in chiang mai, we also have a brother named tom whom we are fellowshipping and breaking bread with and this has also been a blessing. pray for continued deep fellowship and strengthening for the purpose of making His name more famous.

all this to say, pray for thailand. rejoice with us as we rejoice in Him and in His salvation, and celebrate with us as the darkness cowers at His blinding light. i love you all.