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.