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

April 2013 Newsletter #61
A note from the Derbyshire family, missionaries to Thailand
MY THAIS
HAVE SEEN THE
GL$RY
Samuel & David - The Sequel
Every morning before work I meet with my various departments to pray before we begin our day. Tuesday is my
day to pray with my pharmacy team. One Tuesday morning I finished our time together by pleading with the Lord,
Please, Lord! Please! Would you please save just one soul today?
The meeting ended and I began to see patients. Soon, a woman in her early 50s came in. She was elated. Last
month she had come to me in a wheelchair. Today she was practically doing cartwheels. Its amazing! I can hardly
believe it! I dont understand it! She said, Ive been to four different hospitals for many years and I have only
gotten worse and worse! And now Im cured! How can this be? I told her that my staff and I pray for our patients
and ask God to heal them so that they will know Him and know how He can take away their sins. We talked for a few
minutes, but she was completely uninterested in spiritual matters. She left my office loving me, but disinterested in
God. I was so saddened by how little good I had actually done her.
Not long after that a woman in her 30s came in. This was her third visit to me in 3 months. Her symptoms were
no better than when she first saw me. After another exam and talking again, I told her that I thought her symptoms
were spiritually related. She said, Oh I never make merit merit is useless for taking away my sin. Soon we were
talking about Jesus and His death on the cross to save us from sin. At the end of our time together she prayed a
simple prayer, giving her life to God and asking Him to save her from sin. She left my room with no change in
symptoms (yet) but a transformation in her soul. Like Samuel looking for his David, I was looking for the soul God
planned to save but when I thought I had found a good prospect, God chose another.
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
Our return to the field after our recent state side time has been met with many bitter sweet
times. Lots of firsts in my foot path; first time returning to the field without kids, first time
being a grandparent, first time to leave my grandbaby, unsure of when I will hold him next,
first time, not driving kids back and forth to school spending 6 hours a day in the car, first time
with no sports games to go to, first time, being able to focus completely on ministry to
nationals with no mentoring to do at home, and first time in a long time ending our days
together just the two of us. As I look back and read what I just wrote I see a roller coaster of
emotions on both ends of the spectrum. One thing I know is that I am right where God has
called me to be. As I experience the full gamut of all the emotions that come with all these
firsts, my faith is first fixed on the King of Kings and I know he will walk me through it all. I
know He will walk beside me cheering, inspiring, and comforting through all of it.
When I walked off the plane when we landed in Bangkok on Sunday January 20
th
, I wondered
what the Lord had in store for me. Dougs job was obvious and easy to see he was right where
God had put him. I was not sure what the Lord had for me, but I did not have long to find out. On Monday morning our first week
back both Doug and I left for our offices to see what transpired while we were gone. We were both met with very difficult situations
that took us to our knees in prayer and our days were filled quickly with many meetings and decisions that were hard and sometimes
hurtful. But through it all, the Lord used his people, like our new ministry partners Rob and Lori Pengra, and people on our staffs to
give us words of encouragement. Time after time, that first week, as I met with my staff and my manager at Thai Country Trim, they
would say, Khun Cheryl, we need you here, things are so much better when youre here with us. And then I would hear the Lord
saying in my ear, This is the path I have set for you for this time, walk in it, do well, depend on me, and I will give you what you need.
I was amazed how God was showing me through my difficult time how much he wanted and needed me right where I was. And as
I walked His path He set before me, soon, things began to take shape for his Glory and Honor.
In the last few weeks God has been pouring his blessings over me. My cup runneth Over.
I am going to get to see Jonathan graduate in May.
I will get to stop and see my grandson in May.
I will get to see my girls in May.
Jonathan was appointed to be a Journeyman to Chiang Mai for the next 2 years.
We were invited to speak at Forest Park in Joplin the first week of December and will be able to be with our family for Christmas.
Sandi will spend the summer with us.
Becky is going with her church on a mission trip to Thailand and she will get to spend 2 weeks with us.
Im singing again. Im writing songs again.
My kindred spirit and my bosom friend is now my neighbor and ministry partner.
In Thai we say, de gwa ne mai me - theres nothing better than this. Being right where God needs me to be, trusting him with my
days, leaning on him in the hard times, basking in Him in the terrific times, and swimming in his blessings every day - thats where I am
right now.
He Needeth Me!
Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him. And He shall
bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
- Psalm 37: 3-6
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
Unlikely
He was 78 years old, which made him an unlikely soul, and my day was busy, which made me an unlikely witness so God
stepped in to make sure I didnt miss it. After I took care of his medical issue which seemed (to my blundering eyes) to be
pretty straightforward, I asked him what he thought about the story of God that he had heard since coming to be treated here
in January. I admit to having no faith that his response would be favorable. All I was doing was, as I call it, taking his spiritual
temperature. His answer woke me up. Yes, well after reading your tract again last night I asked God to redeem me from my
sin. What?! Suddenly, I was slightly more spiritually attuned. I asked him, How did you decide to do that? He said, I have
been sick for years. I kept gradually getting worse and worse until finally I couldnt walk because of the pain in my chest and
back. But after coming here, my symptoms all just vanished. I loved his next line. He said: I just knew medicine could not
explain how quickly and how completely I recovered. I decided it must be God that healed me. So I prayed yesterday and asked
God to redeem me of my sin.
After that we had a joyous time together! On the next Tuesday he drove his motorcycle to our discipleship meeting in Plaang
Yaow. There he gave his testimony for our little group of believers. Once again, he gave his powerful line that brought cheers
from all the other believers, God has redeemed me from all my sins!
The Passing of a
Saint
Our pastor and longtime partner in the ministry, Ajaan Sawai, passed
away in early March. He had battled cancer for over 2 years before the
Lord finally took him home. Im not sure how many Ajaan Sawai
brought to Christ after he came down with cancer but it was no small
number. To the very end, he was sharing the Gospel with all the strength
God gave him.
I first met Ajaan Sawai 20 years ago. He was the hospital janitor. He had
come to faith at the hospital and wanted to serve the Lord any way he could. Later, he studied to be a physical therapy assistant
and then about 10 years ago he went to seminary and after graduation came back to be our pastor. I preached at his funeral on
a Saturday night. Our church was packed inside, and at least another 100 sat outside the church. We buried him on Sunday. It
will be hard to forget the day. One person remarked that it was one of the largest gatherings of Christians he had ever seen in
Thailand. Not only were all of our church people there, but churches from all over eastern Thailand came to show their
respect for a man that had led so many to Jesus.
After our service on Saturday night I was met outside by a middle aged couple from a nearby city who came over to give me
a hug. I asked them if their daughter had come. They took me back inside the church. She was sitting by herself in front of
Ajaan Sawais casket. Years ago she came to our church asking for help with a number of spiritual issues. At that time, several
in our church joined me and we sat and knelt and stood beside her all day and all night interceding on her behalf. Following our
long prayer battle she stayed with Ajaan Sawai and his family for the next several days. Her life was radically changed as a result.
I went back in the church and sat beside her. We had a tearful/joyful remembrance of the prayer vigil with her many years
before. She sat before Sawais casket, her gratitude and joy in remembering this man that God had used to change her life
welled up inside her until it overflowed. Her life and thankfulness were such a beautiful testimony to Sawais life. Like David,
Sawai served the Lord in his generation. May his example spur us all to do the same.
Pastor Sawai (on the right) praying with a
patient at a mobile clinic.
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Derbyshi res Newsletter PO Box 1 Bangkla, Chachoengsao Thai land 241 1 0
From the Journal
After spending 3 months in the US on furlough, Cher and I have been back in
Thailand now for 2 months. I started feeling the weight of the work even before
our return. Paul writes of the weight of the churches. It is a good weight; I
certainly do not lament the weight. I love being about my Masters service. But
though it is a good weight, it is still heavy on my soul. The needs of Gods
people, the peril of the lost, the demands of the sick. I have come to the end
of many of these days feeling tired. But without fail, I have found His mercies
new every morning.
I have had days when I sat with patients in my exam room as they prayed to make
Christ their Lord. I have had days (many days) when the failures and needs of Gods people were again and again
beyond what I could fix. In my first week back I found a brain tumor in our pastor and soon after he passed away.
I have preached in the church and out of the church. I have taught new believers and tended to the needs of old
patients, both saved and lost. I have tried to be all things to all people and found myself woefully inadequate for
most.
My days are full sometimes straining at the seams. But today has been like so many others. The weight is
heavy, but it lightens me to pick it up. And my thoughts on this day do not go to the events or the needs or the
activities of today but to His presence. As I write, even as all day long, I am filled with a joyful contentment. It is
not a bouncy, giddy joy. It is a consuming swell of quiet contentment. Even with patients all around, my attentions
today have been riveted on the Presence of God before my eyes and the wisdom of His Word before my mind.
Scripture has been on my thoughts all day long. Every quiet moment brings my mind back to His Word. Oh how
I love your law! It is my meditation all day long! Ahh, how I see again how my lifes 3 great priorities go hand in
hand and augment and complement one another. My lifes priorities remain: Gods Name, Gods Word and Gods
people. I wake in the morning and rush to start my day praising my Lord and seeking to lift up His Name. This
leads me to study His Word that I might know Him better; and then I leave the house, desiring to care for His
people. The more I meditate on His Word, the more desirous I am to see His Name glorified by seeing the lost
reconciled to Him. And the more I contemplate on His Word the more I love the saints and seek to meet their
needs.
My days here are good days. They are often not fun days. But His Presence and His Word are always before me,
and this has made my yoke seem easy and my burdens seem light.