Nakhon Pathom & Kanchanaburi

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Sorry for this coming a week later. Trying to get settled and such here in Chiang Mai has been a longer process than I planned. O well.

Handing out supplies

After we left Sukhothai, we traveled a couple of days to Nakhon Pathom to stay at a church there. Near the church the flood waters had started overtaking some of the villages, so we went to hand out care packages. While there we had the chance to join the church on Sunday morning for some great preaching and worship, and then join with a time of prayer with several local churches that evening. It was great. That next day we met up with the leaders of the village we were going to, as well as with reps from Joyce Meyers's Hand's of Hope ministry who the church was partnering with and piled onto a flatbed truck and headed out. We went to two villages, and handed out a couple around 150 care packages.We were only there 3 days, and then went to meet up with the rest of the DTS to plan a camp.

Nitro Crossing

The camp was in Kanchanburi, at a retreat area. The area itself bills itself as a resort, but the owners built it for the sole purpose of having a place where ministry leaders and their teams could go to rest, relax and recharge. It is a beautiful area. Where we stayed they also had some basic challenge course elements. The camp was for the children of 3 ministries, 2 from Bangkok and 1 from Ratchaburi. The children were mostly Burmese children of migrant workers, some from the slum areas of Bangkok. So the theme of the camp was Identity in Christ. We played games, taught dances and skits, worked on team building and unity, and taught about how to read the bible and talk with God personally. It was really cool to see all the kids come together for the three short days that we were there. Many of them said they were excited to be able to go deeper in their walk on their own.

After the camp, we traveled to Bangkok to rest for a day, then went on our way to Cambodia for the last part of our journey.

All the campers and helpers

The next 15 months and "beyond"

Hello all!

I have now been back in Chiang Mai for a week now. In that time I have managed to find a decent place I would love to rent and move into, caught up with some good friends I haven't seen in far too long, and already have one young man who wanting to do discipleship with me and is excited to get started. God is already doing cool things and the first week back is barely finished.

I am now working with Frontier Missions, the church planting arm of YWAM. I am on a team here in Chiang Mai that is committed to bringing the truth and the light of God's love to the hearts of the Northern Thai people. My vision is to see Northern Thai leaders rise up in their communities to reach their neighbors with the truth of the most high God. Men and women who will not just sit and listen, but who will go and do and have the foundation to stay reliant on God. In the next 5 years that I have committed to staying here in Chiang Mai, we want to see a movement start here that will spread across the North and through out Thailand.

My personal goals for the next 14 months are these:
1. To disciple (at least) 3 people who are wanting to commit everything, to where they are capable of, or already are leading groups of their own, and discipling others to do the same.
2. To see (at least) 1 solid 2nd generation church (church that I did not start, but was started by one of my disciplees)

I want to thank you for praying for me and for keeping up with me through emails and my blog. Because of your prayers, I have been able to:
1. Complete and pay for my DTS, as well as have God do so much work on my heart it's hard believe
2. Find ways through difficult situations that have arisen in the last few years
3. I am back in Chiang Mai safely
4. I have one person already wanting to do be discipled, and a list of others who are sitting on the fence
5. The YWAM base in Montana is looking like they will approve my application to receive donations. Which means I will have an Non-Profit who will take donations and send out tax deductible receipts.

The only thing lacking right now is in my finances. Please pray and ask God how he would have you support me.
Bottom line for the next 14-15 months is $20,000 and there is an attached file which will break down that amount if you would like to see how it will be used.

I am also needing at least $1,500 to come in before the second week of January for my visa run, work permit and rental deposit.

There are two ways to send support to me at the moment:

1. Paypal: You can access Paypal through the links on the right hand side of my blog here ==>

2. Personal Check: You can also continue to send checks to:
Zac Whertvine
301 W. Main ST
Suite 202
Ardmore OK 73401

When YWAM Montana sends me the info I need for tax deductible donations, I will email that information as well.

Thank you for partnering with me to see God do miraculous changes in peoples lives which will impact this nation. Merry Christmas and an amazing new year!

Zac Whertvine

--
"Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel" - Ephesians 6:19

Sukhothai

Well, way back on November 2nd, we got up and left the base about 7 am, and rode to here: Sukhothai



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Bananas we helped with

It was a longish ride, but uneventful. We spent the time there mostly helping out with a local family who had become believers the year before. At their house half of the team helped with preparing garlic fresh from the fields. They cleaned off the the dirty outer layers and trimmed the stalks, and then bundled them to be sold. The half of the team I was working on went to another lady's house to continue building relations with her as her family has not yet accepted Jesus. We helped her with peeling, cutting, rolling, cooking and packaging bananas which she sold out of her home (they were tasty too). We also took turns working at a radio station, and got the opportunities to share our testimonies and play some good music. And we went to the local elementary the last two days to teach English and do activities.

At the radio station

Outside of going to celebrate the Loi Krathong holiday a couple nights, that is what we did. But the good part was getting to spend the evening eating dinner with the family and their extended family. We had many opportunities to share with the them about what it means to live as Christians, not just the part of the family that had accepted Jesus already, but a few others that were still unsure. We got to share the things we were learning at DTS and why we were choosing to live the lives that we were living. Because who really in their right mind decides to be a missionary, right? It was good to get to spend time with a family of young believers, young as is newly believing not age, and encourage them in their walk and help them to grow stronger.

At the school we were able to teach English two mornings and then had one afternoon to play. We did activities and a skit, and some dances. Then Jam got up to share her life story with them and why she had come to be with them for those two days. It was a good time had by all. Then we had to say good-bye and head to the next stage in our journey. Tell you about that next week.

Slicing bananas

Now What?

Long time no see. I’ve been all over this country and around in Cambodia and have a lot of stories to tell. Problem is, if I tell them all at once, this update will be about 15 pages long and no one will read it. So in this update, about major outreach, I will be brief. We traveled to Sukhothai, Nakhornprathom, Kanchanburi, and Siem Riep. The first three were in Thailand, the last city is in Cambodia.

Outreach was rough because I was really feeling unmotivated to go. We had just finished DNA and I was all fired up to get back to Chiang Mai and get to work. Plus my introverted self was not looking forward to spending 5 weeks in close quarters with others and very few breaks. But overall it was really good. God did some cool stuff with the people we worked with and in all of our lives. Over the next 3 weeks I will summarize the places we went, what we did, what we saw God do, and include some pictures.

For the rest of this letter, I want to lay out my plans for the foreseeable future. I have spoken with my friend in Chiang Mai and the next step is getting my paperwork done for a visa and work permit and officially joining Frontier Missions Thailand. I am planning on staying here in Thailand for another year before I come back to America. What I will be doing is, first with existing relationships, and then with new ones as God brings them, finding young men who either are Christians or are seriously seeking, who want to really reach people with the truth. Then I will begin a long term discipleship process, which is a fancy way of saying I will be in their lives, encouraging, teaching, and exhorting them to give everything to Christ and live for his glory. At the same time I will be teaching them how to do the same thing with others in their lives already.

To really invest in the lives a few people, and disciple them to do the same with others, to start a new movement of people who are personally involved with each other and a community of the Living Church that will set this region of the world on fire is my short term dream. As of right now, I feel like God is saying I will be here doing this for around 5 years, maybe longer.

Thank you again for all the prayers and support in every rough situation I have found myself in over the past 6 months. God has used this time to really work some deep changes in our relationship, about how much I trust, ask for direction from, listen to, and obey God my Father. It has really re-lit the flame of the desire to share who God is to give hope to those around me, but to do it on His terms, not mine.

As of right now there is one week left in DTS, then I will move back to Chiang Mai to start working. I am still looking for a place to live, and I will have to go to Laos in a few weeks to take care of getting this new visa, and will most likely have to make the run another 3-4 times over the next year.

God bless you all, and be on the lookout for the outreach summaries which I will be sending out over the next few weeks.

Identity, Evangelism & DNA

Two weeks in Sukhothai. One week in Kanchanburi. Two weeks in Cambodia. A week and a half of debrief and final stuff. Then DTS is done. Time flies eh?

DNA: "Every Tribe
Tongue & Nation"

The last four weeks have been intense. A week of Identity and Calling. Getting back into the bible and looking at who we are in our relationship with God and what that means in our lives. What is the dream of our life that God has put into us? Are we on a path to reach that, or are we following the dreams of others around us, or our own dreams for what we think our life should be? How do you discern between the two? I think I'm starting to get an idea of the long term goal I want to accomplish in my life time.

That weekend we went to Chiang Mai for a guys weekend. The time together with them was great. Got to chill, watch the Rugby world cup, and play some good ultimate frisbee. Awesome.

Evangelism really challenged me in the way I view some forms of it. Especially my attitude towards the track. I still think there is a right and wrong way to do tracks, but I have less of a distaste for them. I also realized that I focus way too much on the method and style of evangelism rather than focusing on the why I am doing it. It also gave me just a renewed desire to do it. To tell people about who Christ is.

Worship

Then we had the DNA Infusion conference for two weeks at our base. Approximately 160 people, from 27 different speaking around 39 different languages. The DNA team's goal was to come in and give the new generation of YWAMers a sense of the values on YWAM and why they became values, as well as to give wisdom on how to be Godly leaders. There was so much stuff in there. I am still processing through it all. God was also moving in all of our hearts for having a more globalized approach to life. That Christ has called us to the nations and to the ends of the earth. There were great times of prayer, worship and intercession and a really challenging and filling time. The fact that as a student I even had the opportunity to be a part of it is a huge blessing from God. Check out the video at the bottom for a glimpse of what it was like.

Prayer requests:
Outreach - Two things
    1. Pray that it will just be an awesome time where we as a school can really be the hands and feet of God to the places we go and that we will see Him move in power
    2 . Also pray that I would be focused on the outreach, not on what I am doing after
After outreach:
    Pleas pray as I am making plans to transition into the next step that I will be walking step by step in the path that the Father has laid out for me.
Funds:
   School fees are done, yes. But as I transition into living and working, I will need to raise a bit more consistent monthly support to pay for my bills. Right now I am receiving about $150 per month. Which has been great to help me with my bills while in the DTS and give me spending money. But it won't cover rent, gas and food, let alone help with the rest. So I will need to see a substantial increase in my support in order to be able to stay here.

See you in about 5 weeks with cool stories of all the things that God is going to do on outreach. God bless.

Super! Thanks for askin'!

At a WWII Memorial Bridge in Pai

Well, I have some really great news... in fact, nothing but good news for this update, but the biggest piece I am saving for the last part, so you have to read it all to get there (or some of you cheaters who just read the fun parts, it's in the Praises section).

In case you haven't figured it out yet, yes, I got to go on out reach. The last bit of money came in literally 10 minutes before we left, but God is more than faithful and provided that last bit and even a bit more! So after I got confirmation of that last bit coming in, I packed up my computer and put it in my room, then joined the rest of the team in the truck to go to the bus station. When we got there, found out we were going to Mae Hong Son. Just a quick lesson, Thailand is divided up into provinces, and the capital city of each province is named after the province. So when referring to Mae Hong Son, I am referring to the whole province, where as when we get to the main city, I'll refer to it as the city of Mae Hong Son. Check it our on this Google map.



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The Church

So first we went to Mae Sariang (Follow HWY 108 from Chiang Mai). We spent the night there because it took us from 8 am until 6 pm by bus to get there. On Monday morning we prayed together about where we should head next and got that we should continue on a little ways north. So we went on our way up towards the next city and in talking with the driver of the truck we rented found out that he is a Christian and attended a small Karin church in that area. So we ended up staying at his house and helping out at that church and in that village. During the day we worked, pulling weeds and planting flowers at the church, making and putting sandbags in a driveway so that the truck could park, and just living with the people of that village. In the evening on Monday -Wednesday we did mini worship and teaching times, and shared about our lives and how God has affected them with the children and some of the adult members of the church. Then Thursday evening we invited as many people as we could and had a big night at the church and had maybe 50 - 60 people from the village show up and worship together, sing and play games together, and hear a word from the Bible. It was awesome. The biggest thing we saw, when we didn't really expect to see much, not that we didn't expect to see anything but that the results would most likely come after we left, was that the pastor got up and shared how God used us to show Him the Holy Spirit really is active in all of our lives.

We then headed on up to the city of Mae Hong Son on Friday and spent Saturday there for our day of rest.

At a Chinese Village in Pai

Sunday afternoon we headed to Pai (HWY 1095 above). When we got there we asked around at a couple of different churches, but none of them either needed or wanted our help with everything. So we prayed again and felt like God just wanted us to spread some joy, so we spent Monday evening looking for some good spots and then Tuesday - Thursday we sang and danced on the side of the street. The songs were a mix of worship/secular hits/Christian hits. It was a good time, and had a lot of chances to just sit and talk with people. Most of them looked at us as if we were insane whenever we explained what we were doing and how we got there. But it was still pretty cool. We also made little charms that had verses of blessing on them in Thai and English. I got to talk to people (some just a few words, a couple a good conversation) from Ukraine, Israel, France, The US, Thailand and a few others that I didn't get their nationality. Pai is a weird little melting pot of culture. On Thursday afternoon we did a couple hours of touring, and then Friday morning we packed up and headed back to base.

I asked for a favor from my leaders, and when we stopped in Chiang Mai on our way back to Chiang Rai, I got to buy my ticket for two days later so I could go a surprise Annie and spend some time with her last weekend. To all my friends in Chiang Mai, sorry, lack of vehicle and someone to help Annie at the Internet cafe put a stopper on our plans to come in a see peoples.

But then I came back to base this past week to the news that this past week, enough money has come in from a few donors that my DTS fee is now covered. I am still transferring some of it, but as of this Friday, if I can get to the ATM, the DTS will be paid off. Praise God big time for that. Now all the support that still comes in will be for my living expenses. While at the base I don't have huge amounts in that area, but that will change when I move back to Chiang Mai after DTS. It will also help with me getting a new visa when I am in Cambodia next month.

Some of the Girls with
They Lady They Stayed With

Two more weeks of lectures start this Monday, then we have a conference coming to the base for all of YWAM Asia (or SE Asian, can't remember). It is called DNA and the founders of YWAM are going to the different regions to help the new leaders stay true to the foundations laid some 50 years ago. Looking forward to that and I'll have a blog about those four weeks before major outreach.

But God is amazing. Not just because he provided for everything already, but just in every way He is showing me more and more about who He is. Seeing His provision for us the past two weeks, putting us in the middle of situations where we can work for His name, one where we could immediately see some results, one where I don't know if any of us will ever know the impact we have. For the first week getting to see a friend from Chiang Mai who had moved back to Mae Hong Son and I haven't seen in a while, and the second week getting to meet a guy from the US who has been working in India the past few years spreading the word of the Lord simply because he had had run-ins with YWAMers before, and knew that the only crazy people who stand on street corners and sing praise songs in the middle of Asia are usually from YWAM. For answering my prayers even as I am praying them. The past 4 months have been amazing and a huge blessing in my life. So thank you to all of you who have been supporting me through this so that I can complete this school and continue doing the work He has for me.

Praises and Prayer requests:
~ My DTS is paid for ~
~ God is totally changing my life daily ~
~ the chance to spend 6 months devoted to my relationship with Him ~
~ The last two weeks of lectures ~
~ DNA conference ~
~ Guys retreat next weekend ~
~ The city of Chiang Mai and the rest of Thailand as they are dealing with massive flooding which is expected to get worse the next few days ~

Two Thirds Through!

Alright! One more month of lectures finished. Two thirds of the way to completion. And for those of you wondering, IF I have done all my math right, only 250 bucks away from having the entirety of my second tuition installment so I can go on outreach tomorrow and complete the school, as well as, for those who didn't hear, not needing to make another border run before major outreach. So thanks to God for all of that!

This time I actually have other things to post about besides just lectures as on two different weekends I had friends from Chiang Mai come visit, and got to take a couple of trips, one with my friends from CM, and one with my friends from the base to go to Burma. Yet again what follows is mostly chronologically ordered, and even more from memory than usual as I forgot to bring my journal with me. :-)

Lecture Week 1: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit - Tim Ginn
So this week we talked about Who the Holy Spirit is. It was a good week because it brought me back to the fundamental Truth that the Holy Spirit is also a distinctive personality. Sometimes I think about the Holy Spirit as like this power and connection to God the Father, but not as having a personality, thoughts and so forth as we would give to God and Jesus. But if this is not true, then how can we grieve the Spirit, for one example. And we talked just about communing and being in submission to the Spirit with our own spirit which God has placed in us. Great stuff.

Annie and I

The following weekend was when Annie came to visit. We went to eat Moo Kra Tha with a couple of people from the base who have recently also become a couple (staff, not students), whoo! Then that evening and all day Saturday we just hung out at the base and had a great time. Sunday we did a Bible study together (because the church I go to meets in the evening), and then went to eat together and sent her off at the bus station. It was great to see her.

Lecture Week 2: Spiritual Warfare - Rob Wiebe (who is also the base leader with his wife Cy)
This was a truly interesting week. Usually when we think of spiritual warfare, we think of the Exorcist... or maybe The Amityville Horror (the old version, never saw the new). Casting out demons and doing battle with Satan and the like. But Rob took us back to the root Greek words, and a foundational view of spiritual warfare. To sum it up, the way we do spiritual warfare is bringing the Truth of God into our own lives, and wrestling with the lies that Satan has planted in our thinking, and learning to live in the Truth instead of our personal strongholds. We did this by going through the entire book of Ephesians. It was really good stuff, but if I get started this blog will be 5-6 pages long.

Cal hanging off a wall over about a 20 ft drop

That weekend my buddy Cal came up with a friend of his, and we hung out, and on Saturday went running around near the base. It was a great time. Got so see some great scenery and had a good time. If you want to see the full album of pics that I take, you have to get an iPhone and install Instagram, then search for my profile: zDubya81. If you don't have a profile, just go to my profile on FB and scroll through my old posts.

Lecture Week 3: Relationships - Josh Parsons (DTS staff)
Again, good stuff. We went through biblical examples of what relationships are, and all relationships, not just boy/girl ones. We started by looking in the gospels for how Jesus describes his relationship with his Father. Then built on that in application to other relationships. It was really tough week in some ways, but brought a lot of growth.

Mae Sai: From the trip with Cal and Pra Tawachai

Lecture Week 4: The Cost of Discipleship - Jeff & Becky Hooker
This past week has been a very fun week. Tough, but these two did a great job about keeping things light and not getting overbearingly heavy. But we looked at the idea of what discipleship is and that you can be a disciple of many things or people (duh), but then how to identify where we are giving authority and priority to other things than God. In our relationships, addictions, families, friends, supporters, latest fashions, etc., etc. And then how to get into the bible and really study it to see what the bible say about these things, keeping it in context as far as the fact the the bible was written for, but not exactly to us, and discerning between cultural commands and commands from God and the like. Again, great stuff.

God has continually been showing me places in my own mind and heart where I am not following Him or have believed wrong things about Him. So it has been a really growing and challenging experience. I love it here. Tomorrow we leave for our second outreach, the Faith Outreach (the link will take you to extensive information about it, starting paragraph 3). I am super excited for this. Praying hard that the rest of the money comes in so that I can go and so that I can finish out the course.

A couple students and one base staff dressed
in traditional Akha dress for international night

Next update will be at the end of the outreach, only 2 weeks, because I won't have time middle of next month because of weekend plans (guys retreat to CM & Annie coming to visit to celebrate our 1 year anniversary). Also be on the lookout for pics on my profile from this outreach! I get to take my phone but not my SIM card. I'm totally OK with that.

Prayer requests:
~ Faith Outreach: That we will be sensitive and open to the Spirit's direction~
~Final Tuition Payment: October 31st, right before we leave for Major Outreach~




Will have more after we get back!! Thank you all. Love you.

This is an emergency update: please stay tuned and be regaled with tales of Zac's lack of attention to detail as well as information about our major outreach. Not necessarily in that order.

First things first. I promised to let you know about our major outreach when I had more information about what all I can share online, which turns out wasn't a major worry after all but better safe than sorry. Anyways.

First off our Faith Outreach. Exactly what it says. Not even the leaders know where we are going. One of the staff from the base who will not be joining us will choose two locations, and then when we get to the bus station, said staff member will give us envelopes with our tickets in them, and that's when we find out where we are going. We will spend the whole time in prayer and letting God lead us to where we need to stay, who we need to meet, and what we need to be doing. We leave for that on September 11. Needless to say I am super stoked to do this as I have never really just completely gone out without an idea or plan. So we are praying a lot in prep for this and I would ask that you really remember our teams (2 teams for this) as we step out into God's will.

Then the first week of November we will head out for our Major Outreach. Again, stoked. We will go in the same 2 teams as our Faith Outreach. The first two weeks we will be in Thailand. The other team is heading to Southern Thailand. The team I'm part of will be heading to Sukhothai, which is the very South of Northern Thailand (or the very North of Central Thailand). We will be working with some ministries there and doing evangelism, but not so many details given out at that point. Then we will join up for a week at a as of yet unknown location in Thailand. Then for the next two weeks we will be working in two different cities in Cambodia!! Sweet right? Again, not so heavy on the details, but that's where we are headed. So please add that month (November & first of December) to your prayer list as well.

Now the emergency part. I miss read my email, or rather rewrote it in my mind when I gave out dates from memory rather than looking it up. But my next school payment is due on the 11th of September. So yeah, next week. As of right now I have had an anonymous donor give 5,000฿, and I have $98 transferring to from on PayPal subscriber and will have another $48 after the first. That comes to just under 5,000฿ before ATM fees and my two visa runs I will need to make before the 11th. So basically what I am saying is that I am just about 20,000฿ or $670 short of being able to go on the next outreach.

So I am asking for two things:
1. Prayer: God will provide the funds, but prayer is the catalyst for that to happen. Please join me in that. And also, just as importantly, pray for the outreaches. Funds don't matter without prayer cover to go on the trips, and if for some reason God decides not to provide the funds then my friends here still need the prayer cover. There is no such thing as wasted prayer, so please join me in praying for these things.

2. Consider giving. This is not to those who are already supporting me. I'm not asking for more from any of you. This is for those who have thought about it, but haven't. I'm asking each of you to listen to your heart. If God prompts you, give. If he doesn't, don't. I'm not asking for pity gifts, just for each person reading this to allow God to use him or her or them if He wants to.

Again, thank you all for staying with me through this in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks as well to each of you that responds to my emails with words of encouragement, they are very welcome and lift my spirit each time. Love and peace.

Repentence - Rapid ministry - Rest

Hello again all. I realize the once a month thing means a long time between blogs, but it ensures two things. One, I focus my time on being at the DTS (discipleship training school) and two, I actually have something to write about! Again, this will be more of a week by week thing so I can keep my thoughts in line. Now to pick up right where we left off:

Week 6:
Repentance and Fear of the Lord. Guy named Paul Wilcox came and spoke, originally from Australia/South America (he's an MK). As you would expect it was pretty intense. But good. We started out by looking at the nature of God vs the nature of Sin. Basically the idea of that was if you understand what Sin actually is, you will fully understand why God can not allow it in His presence. To make that clear, understanding Sin, NOT all the different ways we can sin, but what the essence of Sin is. Also the differences between Trial and Testings, and the differences between God's testings and Satan's testings. Also the difference between confession and repentance and why we must do both. We ended the week with a time of confession, and then celebration of our freedom in Christ. Good stuff, Good stuff. That Saturday I received a call from a friend saying that he was going to take care of the money I needed so that I could continue in the DTS. So thanks to God for providing and thanks to my friend for being willing to be used by God to provide that.

Week 7:
Outreach!!! We spent half the day Sunday in prayer and intercession, then went out for out first outreach. It was two weeks, but we did two different things for each week. The first week we went to a village quite close to the mai city of Chiang Rai (actually closer than the base we stay at). There is a ministry there called MMF. The are expanding their campus to include housing and a conference center to save money on putting people up and renting space to hold conferences as their ministry has grown. So the majority of our group during the day helped out building a removable shelter so that they can make their own bricks and not worry about rain. The other part (self included) went to teach English/Thai to the children of Burmese migrant workers at a school that the ministry partners with. We also painted their playground equipment to make it look nicer. On Thursday evening, we invited all the churches in the area to come and spend a night in worship, which went really well. We sang, we danced (we stole things ;-P), and then several of our people shared and we ended the night praying as a large group. Great stuff. Then on Saturday we loaded up and went to Chiang Khong Thailand, which brings us too...

Week 8:
So we all rode a bus to Chiang Khong, but then split into two smaller groups to go to our respective sites. The other group rode in the back of a truck for an hour to Chiang San, while my group rode in the back of a truck 20 minutes to a village just outside of town. It was up in the mountains and very very beautiful (I guess now would be the time to point out that my main camera is broken, no phones were allowed on outreach, so I have no pictures, go to my facebook and look for pics that I have been tagged in, sorry). The other group painted all week. Our group was a little bit different. It was a challenging, but good week. We got there Saturday evening, and then found out we were in charge of Church Sunday morning. So we prepared for that, I got to teach the adult bible study one of the parable of Jesus in a fun style that I like. Also, we did the drama, danced and we had two testimonies and our leader shared the main message. (again, we decide who is going to speak through prayer) After church we rested a bit, then in the evening walked around the village meeting some of the people there. This was how we found out about the witch doctors that live in the village and don't like the Christians and pray to the spirits they worship continuously against the church there. So there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on that week.

The church was adding on a covered area to cook food, for the kids to play to put stuff when it rains, etc., So the guys in our group helped with that. But the leader of the church had found one small job for the girls, that was completed rapidly, so the girls spend most of the rest of the week praying which was great. We were only there until Thursday (technically Friday morning cause that's when we left), but we managed to finish the add on, have some times of great worship, both with the church and as a group. I had the chance to teach much of the church one style of intercession. We also got to hike to a beautiful two level (actually three, but you couldn't see the third from the bottom or second level) waterfall. I climbed it and jumped of and nearly broke my butt bone (worth it). Also picked up some sort of infection between my toes. Right now soaking my feet in this sodium solution that dyes my feet brown and my nails like a brownish purple color (s0 cute!). But all in all it was a great two weeks.

Week 9:
This past week has been rest and debrief. Each day we have met together for a few hours just to talk about everything that has been happening, both on outreach and the first month and a half of DTS to see how everyone is tracking. It has been wonderful.

I also found out where we are going for our first outreach... but I'm not sure how much I can post online about it, so I will send out a mid month update giving full details about that. Also, I made a mistake in my last post. In the prayer request section, I put that i was missing $1,1oo in tuition, which, yes, was true, but that was how far I was away from meeting the 50% paid before first out reach. So for my prayer request section, I will outline what's gonna be happening as far as that goes. Lectures start new next week, and if I have scheduled myself right, I should be writing my next blog the Saturday before the next outreach. Thank you all for keeping up with me month to month! Love you all.

Prayer Requests

~ Smooth transition back to lectures and going all day ~
~ That God would continue teaching me about him and bringing my character in line with His ~
~ Wisdom for what to do about my visa (more about that in the Post Script) ~
~ Funds for my visa ~
~ Appx $1000 for tuition before September 31st ~
~ Appx $1000 for tuition before October 31st, then the School will be paid for ~
~ We resume going to the university next week, please pray for the students we encounter ~
~ Annie will be coming to visit next week, I'm excited!!! but please pray for her safety as she travels, and that I don't allow myself to get to distracted by it during lecture next week ~
~ That God will reveal to me in His timing what I am going to be doing after DTS, and patience for me to wait on that timing. Ok, mostly the second half because we all already know that God will take care of the first ;-) :-P ~

Thank you again for taking care of me through prayers and through finances. Thank you for reading these blogs and responding to me about them (it really does encourage me to keep writing them). God bless you all

P.S. - September 5th or thereabouts, my current 3 month visa runs out. It will cost me approximately $300 dollars to go to Laos and get a new one. Or I might just go to Mae Sai the next few weeks to get my temporary 2 week visa until major out reach which will begin in Nov. So, do I pay the $300 for a visa that is too long as I'll only get 2 months use out of it and have to miss part of my lectures to get, or do I travel to Mae Sai every other Saturday until we leave the country. I am calculating the cost effectiveness of both options, and praying that God will show me what to do about it. So same as above, please pray for wisdom for what to do, as well as the funds to do it.

DTS: The First Month

So Much to say! But I'm not gonna write a book which I'm sure you are glad to hear. But I will put it in a week by week basis so I can keep myself in order.
Week 1:
June 16th we started our introduction week. These first three days we did team building games and get to know you games to help build community and familiarity among our group and the staff. We also had times about sharing what brought us to the DTS and where we were in our relationship with God. All of it together really helped bring the group into a pretty good level of comfort. As far as students, there are four single guys, 5 single girls, and one married couple with their daughter. Even better is that one other guy and I are the only native English speakers among the students. The staff is also more balanced towards SEAsian people, with only 2 whiteys in it. So that is even more awesome.

Week 2:
Orientation. About as exciting as it sounds, but necessary. Also had fun going out on the Thursday to see different ministries around the Area.

Week 3:
First week of actual stuff. The week's focus was the Father Heart of God. A man from New Zealand came and spoke. His name is Kieth Wagener. It was a great week, and God really moved in all of our lives. Basically it was a study of how God loves us, and what it means when we say God is our father.
Out side of the Lecture part, each day Mon - Fri we wake up at 6:00 and do exercises at 6:15. Lecture is basically 10-1, and then we do various other things to finish up around 8:30 pm most nights, sometimes later. On Friday we finish at 6pm, after we eat dinner. Through the week we do different things like, sports, outreach, book reports, worship, intercession, preparation for our big outreach (which right now means learning a dance), learn about YWAM's foundational values, Journal, Memory verses, quiet times, bible study techniques, small groups, and church. That's most of what we do each week.

Week 4:
All the other stuff, lecture time this week was about the Authority of the Bible. The speaker was Eleen Hartzler who is originally from Canada, but now lives in the Northern part of the Chiang Rai Provence. She taught on what the bible is here for, the scope of years that it covers. But her over all point was the questions that the bible answers about God and His relationship with us, and our Conditions vs. Position as children of God. So really good stuff. (plus she let me copy her collection of U2 CD's, she gets a few bonus points for that for sure)

Week 5:
This past week, a guy came who is originally from Colorado, but has been living in the Philippines for the past 15 years, Dustin Campell. He came and talked about Hearing God's Voice. About the different ways God speaks to us each day, how we can get better at actually hearing and paying attention to God's voice, as well as the things in our lives that will keep us from hearing. It was pretty powerful stuff. And he brings it boldly saying what God has put in his heart to share. He doesn't make any bones about it. It was good stuff.

We have one more week of class this next week, then we leave for our first outreach at which time I will have to have the first half of my tuition paid. So far everything has been great. SOOO much information, but the staff is really good at giving us times to sit back and process what we have been learning, what's going on in our heads, and what God is saying to us. This has been so far above what I could have expected, and I am stoked for the next few months.

Every Tuesday we are going to a local university to work with the students, and my group and I think we have found a place that we can go to consistently and minister. Please be praying for opportunities for us to meet and share our lives with the students. The idea we got was a place for the students to come to as a shelter and a break, so pray for us to be faithful to God's vision for what we are doing.

Prayer requests:
~ Energy: we go hard and there is a lot of info given each day. It's fun, but it's taxing ~
~ Tuition: I am still about $1,200 hundred dollars short ~
~ Relationships: with fellow DTSers, staff, and people we encounter ~
~ That God will continue drawing me closer and teaching me about Him ~
~ Tuesday outreach at Chiang Rai Ratchapat University ~
~ Our two week outreach that starts next week ~
~ That God would continue to move in mighty ways among us ~



Love you all. Remember that if you need to get a hold of me, zacwhertvine@gmail.com is the best way to reach me. See you in a month!

zac

And We're off!!

Yay! Update! 'K, it's out of my system now. So here is how I've been spending the last few weeks. I arrived back. Went on a goodbye trip with friends, had an interview, filled out paper work, visited Laos to get a longer visa, visited friends, went to the movies (X-men and Super 8, AMAZING!!), saw more friends, moved my stuff into storage, cleaned my house, settled my house contract, turned off the internet (which cost me an additional $94), and probably some other things I'm forgetting. Sound busy... it was. Still gotta pack tonight to :-D

But it's all worth it, cause tomorrow I leave for Chaing Rai. When I first joined up, I didn't have a complete clue about what it was gong to be. I thought a lot of lectures followed by some practice, but when I had the interview, I got a clearer picture. They train people to disciple others by discipling them. So I am soo much more excited to get there and get started. I have never actually been discipled before, so I am excited to go through the process. I have also felt that is going to be a time for me to really focus on my relationship with God, and that I need to cut some distractions out of my life to really get the full impact of what God wants to do in me over the next six months.

As such, no Facebook (outside of telling you when I update my blog, and only for that purpose). I will be checking my emails, but only once a week and that will be the best way to contact me with something urgent. I will also update my blog once per month per usual of what is going on and what God is doing and showing me. They will probably be short updates so I don't get all introspective in your faces, but if something cool happens, expect details.

I can't wait to see what happens, and I know it will be so much better because of all of your prayers, so if my name comes to mind, please say a short prayer asking God to give me wisdom, guidance, patience, and an heart open to him working in me.

See you on the other side!

Standing at the edge, taking the last step

So, I'm sitting here in my friend James's apartment in Santa Monica, listening to the quiet sound of traffic and reflecting on the past two months. It has been good to be back in the US. It was great to see so many of my friends around the country and see places I've only heard talked about. It was even better to see all of my family and extended family. I miss all of these people very much when I am gone.

But the fact remains I am leaving tomorrow to go home. My heart wants to be back in Chiang Mai. And no, not just to see Annie (though that is a significant part of it). But I miss Chiang Mai. I miss Thailand. I miss the markets and the food and the culture and the people and more than all of that all of my friends. My Students, the teachers I've worked with, people at Baan Kanoon, the J-girls, the Career families. I miss it so much.

But I am still a little nervous about going back. I don't have everything worked out and situated for the training camp, I didn't reach the goal I set for myself in fundraising, and well, yeah, things haven't gone like I planned. But I know in my heart that this is where I am supposed to be, and some times that makes me nervous. I have never been this sure about something in my life.

So as I go out, for those of you who have committed to following me in prayer and financially and just by keeping up with this blog, I know that God has a path laid for me, and that it's my job to walk it with His guidance. So please pray for me:

• That I stay on that path.
• That I stay in the truth of the word.
• That I rely on the Holy Spirit for His strength and patience and love.
• That I will keep my body and mind pure and focused on Christ
• That I will spill the love and grace and knowledge of Christ out in the lives of those around me
• That I will keep to these basics (K.I.S.S. right?) so that I get out of the way and let God work.

As I go back with the intention of starting new groups and reaching the villages I live in, Pray that:

• God will bring me those who are hungry for Him.
• God will bring those that desire to tell those around them.
• God will open the hearts and minds and doors of those I am going out to meet
• God's Spirit will envelope the areas that I am working in that that there would be a mighty movement of faith in Him.
• we will see an entire community come to genuine faith.
• Leaders will step up and take the message to their families in a way that all Thai hearts can understand.
• The enemy's movement will be restricted, that the "powers and principalities" will be stricken down, and the power of the One True God seen in all His followers.

Pray for the national believers for:

• Boldness to share with their families
• Hunger and thirst for God and his righteousness
• An urgency to grow in their faith
• The ability to communicate this new faith to those around them in an understandable fashion

I need your prayers, we need your prayers always. Looking at the life of Jesus, He did nothing without prayer. NOTHING happens in any ministry if Christ is not present, and He is most powerfully present when those who follow Him call His name, and then the earth moves. So please, please keep us in your prayers. These requests above will never change. We will have others that come and go, but we need these above daily.

I can't wait to share with you all the things God is going to do in Thailand. Thank you for partnering with me to help me go and do the work God has laid before me. Together with your prayers and other support, Northern Thailand is about to be affected, and prayerfully we hope for all of Thailand to follow suite.

It's been a good ride

Well, hello again to all you out there. I am currently in Stillwater Oklahoma, visiting the greatest public university you can attend, OSU, and my little... well, I take that back, my younger brother. So far I have been to Seattle, Chicago, St. Louis, Sullivan, Lynn, Osage Beach, Bolivar, Springfield (MO), Bentonville, Coweta, and here. It has been a great trip so far, but I am worn out and ready to be home.

I'm also approaching the part of my journey where I will really be gearing up my fundraising, so I am coming back to you all who have been reading and supporting me thus far to ask for some prayer coverage for the next month. That God would be putting people in my way that I need to talk to, and that I would be alert and ready to talk to them. I know what I need to survive, and I know what I need so that I can start getting a head on bills, actually get insurance, and start saving back for emergencies, a vehicle and all those things that will come with time. I will speak at my first church this coming Sunday, so if you could start there.

Thank you all for your support so far. If you know of any churches in the Southern Oklahoma area that would be willing to let me speak, if you could shoot me a phone number that would be awesome. Let the fun begin!

Hoooooomward bound, I'm bout to be... Hooooooomward bound

Greetings to those of you out there who carry me through your prayers and support and suffer through my written ramblings! I wouldn't be here without you!

So when I last left you, I had just confirmed that I was going to attempt to join YWAM, getting ready for a Valentine's Day party, and preparing for the end of semester. I'll cover YWAM at the end of the blog, so keep on truckin'. As for the Valentine's Day party, it sounded like a lot of fun. That's right, I wasn't there. I was in the next room sick as a dog, knocked me down and out for a whole day, and then took a few days to go away completely. But the students had a good time eating candy, cooking together, and studying.


We had another couple of normal weeks, and then the first week of finals we had a big end of semester party, ordered pizza and cheese sticks (sooooo good), and just hung out together. I also said goodbye to all my students since I won't be teaching next year, almost cried but managed to hold it together. Then finals came and went, and all of my work for the University for this semester is finished. The past week I have been rushing around, saying goodbye to everyone for the summer, and for next school year as well as getting ready to head home on Monday.

I have begun the application process for YWAM, which is applying for a 6 month training seminar that starts in June. I'm on a time crunch with this as I will only have 2 months to raise the cost of the seminar, as well as find monthly support to sustain me (bills at home and such) while in the camp and after the camp is finished. I am enormously excited at the thought of actually being able to simply go and share, not have to do lesson plans, and go to work, but just go and build relationships daily in my community and build groups who are excited to share the good news with those around them.

Prayer Requests:
Ton Kla: Will, Yo and Annie are all wanting to continue studying this summer. So pray for their opportunities to study together and for Mandy to be able to facilitate that.
Mandy: for peace of mind as she is only a few months away from finishing her time here and for what to do next
Will and Yo: that they would draw closer to God and have a better understanding of who He is. also that they would be able to find good internships for their next semester of school.
Annie: that she would continue to grow in her faith and trust in God. And that she would be able to find constructive ways to use her time this summer (studying, working or whatever she finds to do)
Me: Safety while traveling. Good times with friends. That God would provide the opportunities and open doors for me to raise the funds I need, or winning numbers. either one ;-)Rest and recuperation so that I can head back here refreshed.

Thanks, hope to see as many of you in person that I can. Look for the next update mid may!

zac

Oi Vey!!

So I did not realize that I have negligent on my posts for this entire semester. Time has completely run away. I'm apologize.

Sooo, recap time. In November we had a Thanksgiving day party (which I don't have any pictures for because my hard drive crashed). There were about 86 students, 15 or so staff, and we had a great time. Got to tell about why Thanksgiving began, as well as let the kids try traditional foods.

December was the Ten year anniversary for NCU, so not so much in the way of actually teaching. We also had a big Christmas party at Ton Kla, had around 20 nationals come, eat dinner together, and then shared the Christmas story, and played dirty Santa. It was a lot of fun to watch the students trying to work up the nerve to steal presents from the teachers that came. But it was awesome. (again my pics are gone for this event, but I'm going to get some pics from friends and update this page later with some photos)

For New Years I went and watched fireworks at 700 year stadium. That was fun.

January was spent in preparation for NCU's English camp which Happened last weekend, Saturday the 5th. It was very time consuming on the prep part, but the camp went very smoothly which was a relief, but had close to 200 students, and met many new people around the area to maybe find some new partnerships with. So all in all it was great.

The past few days I have been resting, and have started to figure out what all I need to accomplish before I come home in March. Yes, for those of you who have not heard yet, I will be in America March 16 - May 21. YAY! two years and now coming back to see everyone.

I have also been waiting to figure out some answers about how I will be coming back, and those have been answered for the most part. I am going to join up with an organization called YWAM - Frontier Missions. It is a group specifically focused on doing church planting and uses a loose network of volunteers to accomplish this goal Everyone who works for YWAM from church planters to runners of the org, are all self supported, meaning that we have to find people to support us (or win the lottery!) so that we can continue with our work. So Part of my trip home will doing fund-raising to this end.

At Ton Kla we still have 3 kids coming regularly and have had different faces popping in an out as the days go by. Coming back with YWAM will help me to be able to concentrate more on my groups, and less on doing school work at NCU, though I will continue to be on campus to keep my relationships there.

So again, sorry for the long wait. But now that things are less up in the air, I feel more confident in telling you what will be happening here and in my life.

Prayer requests:
- Ton Kla: the next few meeting before the end of semester, that they would be fruitful
- TK: Valentines day party next week!! (love is in the air man!)
- TK: What to do while I am not in the country
- All my students and me: Finals start in a few weeks
- Me: preparing for my trip: making plans for while I am there, and taking care of things (house, bills, etc) while I am gone.
- Annie, Yo, Will: the three most faithful in coming to TK, that God would continue to reveal himself to them, and grow them closer to Himself
- Me: My fund-raising: I will doing this in order to fully immerse myself in church planting, pray that God provides the funds I need to live as well as prepare for the future.

Love you all, God bless

zac