Today we traveled from Korat to Suraburi by the invitation of an OMF missionary who was desperate to help his sister with her church in Suraburi. 4 years before his sisters husband who was the local pastor and the district leader for churches in that area of Thailand passed away unexpectedly. This dear widow has been working alone since that time with little help and a small congregation of faith full women. These ladies were with us the whole day providing for all our food needs and greeting everyone in the community who came to our clinic. Only 87 patients came today and only 4 were interested. As our team gathered around to lay hands and pray for her, she asked that we would pray the Lord would give her strength to be a bold witness. She was concerned that some of the people interested were men. She wanted the Lord strength and Spirit to help her. We ask you to pray for her too. Her name is Khun Nuantha.
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Today we saw 129 patients. We were in a village where Ross and Shirley have been visiting monthly after leading a women to faith there over a year ago. This woman and her daughter who is also now a Christian have tried to share with their neighbors and friends with little interest over the past year. Today as our mobile clinic brought the whole village together in one place we were able to share and find 17 people who were interested in learning more. 2 men responded to the Gospel message. One of them after hearing about God for the very first time.
Our USA team was excited to be able to make two house calls. The first one was for a desperate granddaughter whose 98 year old grandmother was at deaths door. We sent our nurse Julie, our local believer, and 5 of our USA team. Upon entering the home it was apparent that the end was near for grandma. As is custom in most villages, all the neighbors came in to see what was happening at grandmas house. It was an emotional experience for all as they realized this women likely would not get a chance to respond to the Gospel before she left this world. But our nurse Julie seized the opportunity and while our doctor was gently examining her patient, Julie shared the Good News to grandma and all of the neighbors who were in attendance. It was sobering to look around and see so many lost people and one about to leave this world without the Gospel. How much grandma understood we will never know. The granddaughter was overcome with gratitude for caring enough to visit her grandma today. May God use this visit to bring this village to faith. The second visit was to the husband of our local believer. He was not feeling well enough to come to our clinic that day. He is paralyzed on the right side from a stroke a few years ago. Ross has talked to him many times about the Lord and each time, he said he was not ready. But today, after the doctor looked him over, Julie asked him. "You have heard about God many times Uncle, are you ready today to give your life to Him? " He said, "Yes." Julie was so excited to get to be the one to lead him to Christ. Ross planted, his wife watered and Julie got to bring in the harvest. Such a precious moment to have after the first house call was so sad. Today we did our mobile clinic at the home of some local believers that had a group of about 10 nationals meeting in their home for worship for over a year. Such sweet spirits they have, it was a joy to partner with them. Their desire was to have us come and share the love of Christ with their neighbors and friends.
We saw 106 neighbors and friends. At the end of the day we shared together in worship and then the stories of the day began to unfold as one by one our Thai staff and the local believers shared. We had one young woman pray today with Khun Dang. He shared the Gospel message with her after she told him that she had heard it before but wanted to know more. At the end of his explanation he gave her a chance to respond. He asked if she was ready today to make Jesus Christ her Lord. She paused, he paused. She took a deep breath; he took deep breath. She sat silently for a long moment – and he sat silently beside her. He silently prayed that God would save her. And then, finally she made up her mind. She nodded and said that she wanted Jesus. Another of our staff shared how difficult it was to share and share and share and have no one respond. She knew it was her job to share, but she wanted to see at least someone come to faith today as Khun Dang did. Then our local leader said, “Do not be discouraged, this has been my life for several years. I share and share and share, and all they do is call me the Crazy Christian. But today for me it was different. When I told my neighbors and friends that I invited doctors from America, and medical staff from a Christian clinic in Bangkla, they said, now we know you are crazy. No medical team from America would come here. Who do you think you are to think that you could have the influence to bring in American doctors? You’re crazy. But today I told them, “Who’s crazy now?” When you all came today, you showed God’s love to all the people here, and proved to them that I’m not crazy. Thank you, thank you for helping me. I will be faithful to share with these 15 who said they wanted to learn more. You have given me a new name in my community and it’s not “Crazy” anymore. I am not alone, you have built me up and given me strength to carry on. Everyone here thought I was crazy and alone. But you showed them that I am not alone. I have family in America, in Bangkla, and in Bangkok. Thank you for being my family. One of our new staff members, who came for the first time shared, “As I sat this morning and got ready to share the gospel with the first patients who came, I was overcome by the fact that God was living in me, that God was filling me, and that I was able to serve Him here at mobile clinic. I was so overcome by the joy of God’s presence and so filled with joy over the opportunity to serve Him that I almost couldn’t speak. The joy He gave me was greater than I had words to describe. Finally, our nurse Julie broke out in exuberance and said, “Today, we were like chickens.” The woman who came to faith today had heard the gospel before, but she had rejected God – she had denied Him. Peter once denied Jesus 3 times – and he did not repent or feel remorse until the rooster crowed the third time. Today, we were like that rooster. After hearing us, this woman was suddenly repentant even though she had denied Jesus before. We want to keep being like chickens. Crowing the gospel so that those who have once or twice or even three times denied Jesus before, will finally repent and feel remorse and be reconciled with God. The day began with a simple act of kindness from my husband. We were both loading our separate cars and going our separate ways to pick up the multitudes of people wanting to worship today at Plang Yao Church. I had my copious amounts of things for my children’s Bible class and Doug had his Bible with notes for his sermon, a towel and spare pair of pants (for the baptism) and a special chair for the elderly being baptized today. As Doug started out the gate, he stopped, turned, and walked back in my direction. As he neared me, he opened his arms to give me a hug -- and plop! His Bible with notes, towel, and spare pants fell into a pool of mud. We used the towel to wipe the mud caked on his Bible and gathered all his things. He told me he was coming back just to give me a hug and thank me for working with him on this church plant. He took a few extra minutes to pray over me and went on his muddy way. And then… I saw it… just dropping from Pongo’s mouth. Notes that had fallen from Doug’s Bible had been scooped up by our white retriever. I picked up what was left and tucked them in my purse, fearing that these were Doug’s (now mostly useless) sermon notes. On my way to church I picked up 10 new believers and made it to church just in time for Bible study. The room we use as our sanctuary was already filled with adults waiting for our arrival. Doug arrived close behind with a van full of teens and Ann’s (one of our Ban Pho youth) mom and dad. Doug’s sermon was a blessed time in the Word. The best part of the day was seeing Doug baptize 5 new believers. Here are their stories. First came Nut, an 18 year old young man who came to faith about a month ago after hearing the Gospel at the clinic. Next came Jaw, Ann’s mom. Her husband was baptized 2 weeks ago, and today she joined him in publicly declaring Christ as Lord. Then came Luey, Nut’s mom. While sitting in our clinic waiting for her medicine, my two cleaning ladies shared the Gospel with her. She had relied on witch doctors and spirits to help her, but after hearing the Good News, she put her faith in Jesus and renounced her devotion to demonic spirits. Earlier, she had torn the demon shelf out of her home on which she had offered spirit sacrifices for years. Now she publicly declared her decision to walk with Christ Then came Pa Laum, nearly 80 years old. Her neighbor had shared the Gospel with her, and invited her to my Tuesday Bible study group in their neighborhood. She had been coming for months, until she, too placed her faith in Christ. Hopefully, the rest of her family is not far behind. And finally, Pa Chalaem. All 86 years of her. She is Nut’s grandmother, Luey’s mom. She saw the remarkable change in her daughter and grandson and that moved her to listen to the Gospel, until she, too, placed her faith in Christ. Seeing these 5 baptized today was an absolute joy. And the joy was magnified by the men that you can see in these pictures. The 3 men you see helping Doug with the baptism are Nut – who was baptized today, Joy who was baptized 2 weeks ago, and Gong, who was baptized a few months ago. As we talked about the baptism beforehand, as I watched them help him during the ceremony, and as they talked further afterward, their dear faith, their open devotion to God, and their joy in having a role in seeing others baptized was absolute blessing to Doug and I. The morning began in the mud. But the afternoon was immersed in the waters of baptism for 5 brand new believers. And that was more than enough to wash away our muddy morning memory. What a blessed day. In August of 2015, Mong gave his life to Christ after attending our first English camp at Ban Pho school. (his story is in the archives) His mother also prayed that day but since has not been interested in the Christian walk. She has not hindered her son from his walk of faith, which we are grateful. I was in charge of the music portion of the camp and I remember vividly how the music lit up his face. He loved every song I taught and I had a feeling, the Lord was working on his heart. Now, 2 years later, Mong has written his first Christian song and asked if he could share it at our little Plang Yao church. A little nervous about what the song might be about, we said yes, he could share his song. Then he asked, “Dr. Doug, is Hallelujah a good word? What exactly does it mean? Cause it’s in my song. I just wanted to be sure that was okay?” Dr. Doug explained its meaning and told him it was very okay to have in his song. Feeling very excited to hear Mong’s song we went to church that day with exciting anticipation. It was indeed wonderful. So wonderful we asked him to sing it again at our church in Bangkla. I will attach the video url from facebook. Here is the translation. https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.derbyshire.7/videos/10214315184973993/
Oh my Jesus, Oh my Lord Lead me from all my troubles There is no one else who can help like you Halleluiah Halleluiah I dedicate my life I dedicate my life to you Jesus The one who saves me from my sins Hallelujah Hallelujah 2 years ago Mong was headed down a dark path and God rescued him. He was failing every class and his principle was very worried about where he would wind up. But God rescued him. He is now doing well in school and representing Chacheungsao in celebrations of the new king of Thailand's coronation. He has found new life in Christ and he is forever changed. Today we planned only to do a half day of clinic. Our trip back to Bangkla will take about 9 hours. The time was short with our patients but the Lord used our little to do much. Our 3 hour clinic saw 122 patients. 2 patients prayed with our evangelists and 5 others were open to learning more. A great way to end our week of mobile clinics. We are so grateful the the Lord for our team from Tennessee who worked tirelessly with blessed attitudes and a wonderful vision to make God's name known in hard to reach places.
Today we sought 150 patients. One of our patients was a local believer. She had come to help in whatever capacity she was needed. She also had a problem with a tooth that had been bothering her for several months. When she went to the local hospital they told her she needed to wait for a surgeon to remove the tooth. But she wondered if the doctor from God might be able to take care of it. Indeed, the Doctor from God was able to remove the tooth with very little pain and the tooth came out with little effort. A blessing to them both I'm sure. Another patient came early in the day. She was 95 years old. This sweet lady was relatively healthy but she knew she had a sin problem. When our Gospel sharer began speaking with her, it was clear she was speaking another language. After trying three different people we finally found someone to share the good news of Christ and she believed. The family told grandma they would not bring her to church but the local believers encouraged her that she could pray on her own in her home every day. Please pray for a way for this 95-year-old grandma to worship together with the believers and her village.
Today's mobile clinic was in a village with 250 homes. The local field workers from a neighboring Asian country have toiled this soil long and hard. They have some up against a lot of animosity and a cold shoulder on every corner. But today, mobile clinic day, the ice was melted and the entire village came to see the foreign doctors. We shared the Good News with every patient and asked every patient if they wanted to know more. Of our 204 patients 44 were interested to have our local partner come and talk with them more. Before this day, no one in the village would speak to our fellow workers. But after today, they have 44 homes to visit. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It was a good day.
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