Up Down and All Around

This year has been hard, but throughout the year God has been teaching me so much. I know Him better now, and still want and need to know Him more. I understand myself much better. I know the things I am capable of more clearly, and just as importantly I know more where my limitations are and it's slowly translating into forward motion, progress, growth and overall healthier living.

God is good. I know what the next step is in my journey here, which is finding a longer term teaching position, and improving my credentials so I can keep it so that I can impact the lives of the people around me. Showing people the love of God is so much easier than trying to describe it.

I want to thank you all for your prayers, for your comments, for supporting me as I live out the life that God has for me. It is the encouragement coming from everyone back home and all my friends here that has kept me here at times, and I can never thank you enough.

As I take steps over the next few months to continue sharing the love of Jesus with my neighbors, coworkers and other friends, please keep my financial situation in your prayers and please consider committing to partnering with me.

I need to raise about $5,600 over my monthly living expenses in the next two months. This will pay for my new visa, plane tickets to come home, a visa for my girlfriend, a school to get a teaching certification and the dowry for the wedding.

If you would like to give a one time donation:

1. click the PayPal link on the right side of my blog, or if you would like a tax deductible receipt
2. Mail a check made out to "YWAM Montana" to

501 Blacktail Rd.

Lakeside MT  59922

Please Do Not put my name on the check, in the MEMO line write Donation for Project #3806. This will ensure the funds make it to me, and YWAM will send you a receipt. If it is posted before January 1st, it will count towards this years tax records.

If you would like to commit to monthly living support, please send me an email:

zacwhertvine@gmail.com

 

Thank you again for your help. Please continue that God would work in the hearts of my friends, and open the doors for me to show Him to those around me. 

Merry Christmas!!

Almost two months is bad form...

So. I got in a bike wreck.

I hit a truck because I couldn't see the road they were turning into. Came off, landed on my shoulder and rolled into a ditch at around 30 or 40 mph. Unforeseen to say the least. But God showed up through it all in a big way. I didn't hit the concrete electric pole I should have, didn't get hit by other traffic, and the ditch had a little but was not filled with water and I landed... feet down, though not exactly on my feet :-).

The principal of the school I had just started at the day before happened to go that way that, which he usually doesn't, and helped me at the scene. My new 'boss' came to the hospital, paid my bill, and took me to the police station all late in the evening, and the worst of it was two stitches. Police and everything got cleared up that day, bike fixed in 4 days, phone dead (means no camera so no photo u but a friend has an extra I can borrow. Yeah, God was looking out for me in a big way.

Teaching is challenging, but usually in a good way. I have found my problem age group. First and Second grade. Pre-K and Kindergarten, I'm alright. 3rd grade and up, no big problems. First and Second grade like to drive me to violence. Good thing God had been teaching me patience for the last 5+ years.

I'm now also teaching at the temple behind my house to two of the monks! And as I become more accustomed to the demands of elementary school and before, they will help me set up some free classes for the villagers around my house so that I can get to know some of them! Super exciting!

December I will continue teaching, will help at at least one Christmas day for some kids, maybe two, have a conference on teaching young children, and of course Christmas!

 Praise God for all the great things that are happening as we are looking towards the new year!

As the new year is coming, it brings with it the end of my budget! Yay for another year in Thailand!

As I am looking at my budget for the next year, there are 4 things that will really affect my budget.

1. Next month begins my process to renew work permit and visa. So that I can continue to stay and work with YWAM and everyone else, I have to go through this process.
The fees total is approximately $800 US

2. TEFL/TESL/IELTS certification school. This is a school that will train and teach me how to be an effective English teacher, and give me an internationally recognized certification as a trained English teacher. Experience is great, but more and more I am needing this to move forward. The school is in March.
This also will be about $800 US, including room and board, 4 weeks of class/practicum

3. Plane tickets. I really want to come home. I want to see my family, see all of you who keep up with me, and severely need to go out and increase my support base. And hopefully I will be coming home end of May, because I have to wait for my Visa to be extended before I can head back.
Two round trip tickets and a tourist visa will be about $3,500 US

4. Wait... two round trip tickets and a tourist visa? Well, that's because I'm gonna be bringing my prettier half home with me to meet everyone. Yeah. I'm wanting to get married. And that is why I really need to be remaking my budget to accommodate there being two of us. As she is just about to graduate university she will be looking for a job as well, but not sure what that will look like yet. We want to have a ceremony here, for our friends and family, but also one in America for my friends and family So we are looking at how to pay for those as well (everyone ready for the dollar dance?!).
 Also, in this culture, I should be paying a bride price. But her mom would be happy if I would just take care of her last semester fees, which comes to about $500 US


Now, with my monthly income, I had started saving up to pay for the school and Annie's visa, but the bike wreck took all of those funds. So I need your helps... all your helps. As this holiday season is warming up, please add me, well us, to your Christmas list!

Please be praying for us as we work on the timing of everything. I finally got all of this financial information from all parties this week. I will have a break down of those expenses above, as well as my projected budget for next year finished this week. If you would like either or both of those, just shoot me an email to zacwhertvine@gmail.com

Flux: My Life's Other Constant

Yeah! Dodgeball!

The first being God of course. So, since the end of August to the beginning of October, things have been busy and shifting and just a whole lotta fun. The month actually started out kinda slow and picked up. So to keep things readable I will just give the highlights:

Teaching - It has been steady-ish. But the place I was working at was really taking their time, and not showing much initiative in getting me the proper paperwork, which was making me nervous. I was approached by another lady about another teaching position, so I went to talk with her. The long and short of it is, 15 hours a week in the mornings, a work permit (which we have already started the process on), 10,000 baht a month, plus housing. Which means I will be moving back to Hang Dong where I want to be anyways, She also has connections in the next town to the south, and I will have afternoons and evenings to do ministry. Plus the house is near North Chiang Mai University, where I used to teach, so I will be able to pick up on some old relationships there as well.

Spelling Fruits

Ministry - Am still starting conversations, but not meeting with much interest. But been able to talk a little bit deeper about my faith in a couple of my classes talking about why I am Thailand. Please pray that the seeds I am throwing out there would find fertile soil and that the Holy Spirit would really be guiding me to the places I need to be going.

Volunteering - This month I was able to help out at two different English camps, one with friends from church and one with a school I randomly got connected to. They were fun, and got to make some new contacts as well.

I also had the chance to go with some friends on an overnight bike trip through the mountains near here. Praise God that we made it back in one piece after some of the road conditions we encountered and the sheer length of it. But it was fun, got to know several of my friends better and just had a blast. It was nice to get out of Chiang Mai for a weekend and do something different.

So in the next couple of weeks I will preparing to move again. I will start the new job at the end of this month for the second term of school, November to the end of February or first of March.



In my next update, I will be detailing what my plan is (Lord willing) for the next year, So be on lookout for that! Love you all, thank for all your prayers and support! See you in a few weeks.

Flying...

Time that is. Flying. By... Quickly like. The thing about working at different places is how much time speeds up. No excuse for waiting a month and a half again.

Things here are moving fast, and going well. The teaching isn't exactly steady, but it's going well. Right now I have a group of professionals, one architect, and a group of monks and students at a Buddhist University. And have two more potential students which will fill my teaching slots for the month. The teaching is going well, but in talking to my students, and talking to others around in the past month and a half, I'm running into a lot of closed doors. I have had one conversation that started heading down a spiritual path. But it's a start.

I did go to a conference at the beginning of this month for all of YWAM working in Northern Thailand. It was awesome. I got to catch up with with a lot of people, and the speakers were excellent. And it planted some seeds of how to move forward, that fit in the vision that God has given me. I know that I want to move out of the main city, and head south, and it looks like some doors are opening up that direction over the next year and a half. Right now I'm struggling condensing it so that this isn't a 1000 word essay. Plus everything is soo up in the air, but please be praying for me in that, that God would move it along in His time, either forward or shutting it down.

Basically, I am finally getting in a rhythm, and ready to add a few more things in. So my prayer requests for this month:

1. Pray that I will meet the right people, and God will open the doors to share His Good News, and that I will be ready when those opportunities present themselves.
2. Pray that God will show me the direction forward and give me discernment and courage to follow it out.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. I need all the prayer I can get!  Love you all! See you soon! Exclamation marks!!!!!!!!

Not leaving just yet...

God provides, though not always exactly how we expect. A month and 11 days ago, I let you all know where I was at financially and where I needed to be. At that time I was considering either getting a full time job here, and doing ministry in whatever time I had leftover or returning home and getting a job or going back to school. So I sent out a call for help.

The goal I set for myself to be able to stay was an additional $500 dollars a month minimum. I received pledges for $160. So I went back to God and asked what I should do. He said go try again at the language school, but not for a full time position. The first time I went there, with CV in hand, references and dressed to get the job. And I never heard a peep back from them. So I thought, what do I have to lose? I went back, and asked them about my old application, and they had lost it completely. So I filled out a new one, and when I finished, started talking to one of the teachers, who ended up being the director. He hired me on the spot for as many hours as I want.

CEC is run by a Christian couple, who use their business to reach out to the students who come, and so they also encouraged me that if I want to do any ministry with the students, I am free to, so long as I was teaching English first. I also have complete freedom to teach as much or little as I want to, and after a trial period, if they still want me on, then they will take care of all my paperwork for visa's and my work permit.

I also had to move out of my house, as the landlord sold it. So I have found an apartment within walking distance of the school, which is nearly $30 cheaper than my old place, even though it is downtown Chiang Mai.

So to conclude:

1. With the new pledges, and teaching part time I am at my goal to be able stay and do church planting.

2. At this center I am encouraged to do ministry, and will have new students for more opportunities.

3. I am at a cheaper apartment and close to my classes.




God does provide in big ways. I have been moving and settling into new routines the past two and a half weeks, hence the delay in this post. I have also been invited to start teaching an English club once a week at the University where I used to work, so that my turn into a great opportunity as well.

I feel like this is the right next step, that I am where I need to be. So now I am waiting on what God is going to do. Thank you again for all your support!

Still getting everything settled as of yesterday, the 14th

I'm not ready to move back to America

My supporters and friends,

I am at a hard crossroads in my life. God is opening people's hearts and starting to do great things here in Chiang Mai. More and more people are willing to talk about their beliefs rather than just hide behind the statement all religions are the same. There is a hunger and thirst for something more that is stirring in Thailand.

The core of what I am doing, in relational evangelism and wanting to see God start a Church Planting Movement through my ministry, is to go out to eat with people, go to coffee shops, go to where people are and to take trips with closer friends to get even closer. The Thai way of growing a relationship is to go out and about with people. But I can't afford to do this.

Currently, I get by each month. I pay my rent, cell, electric, trash, internet bills, and have enough left over to put gas and clean oil in my bike and usually eat and see a couple of movies. But I have no emergency money. I can not take care of things that break or need to be replaced. I have no savings. Every little thing that has a price tag is struggle between which do I need more, this or food more.

I have two dreams for what I want to do here in Thailand:
1. I want to see a Church Planting Movement take off, and see people grow in deep relationship with God. To see lives transformed all across Northern Thailand.

2. I want to get married, and have a family.

At this moment in time, both of those dreams are possible, but just out of reach because of my current financial state. I can barely take care of myself month to month. My ministry is up in the air as I usually have to decline invitations to be with people because of a lack of funds, and I can't seriously pursue an engagement with the girl I love.


I am asking God to do something big this month. I need my total monthly support to be doubled at the minimum.

The average single missionary here needs to make between $25 - $30,000 each year to be effective. I am on track to make $9,000.

I believe this is where I am supposed to be. I believe in the vision God has given me, and I believe that greater things are still to come. Please pray for me, that God will provide the support needed so I may continue doing what I believe God has called me to do- to show God's glory through my life

Back to Regular Scheduling

A brief recap, for those who are unable to follow me on Facebook, the big even we were planning did not get off the ground. Everyone involved was excited for it, but we simply did not leave ourselves enough time to negotiate all the red tape involved. But I feel it was an important step forward and has opened some doors should we want to pursue another event like this in the future.

Campers and Team

But we still had a team of DTS students come and help us out for a week. The helped me get to know a few local pastors and run a camp for the kids of several local churches. The camp itself was the big event that we could not have done at all if not for the willingness of the students in this team. It was a two night camp aimed at encouraging the children who are believers in their faith and growth as children of God and in their ability to share that faith with their friends and families. About 40 kids came in all.

Majority of this last month was spent preparing and finalizing plans for this team, I had no idea how much time and planning went into something like this. Better informed for the future now! And my mom came for a visit during the past two weeks, so the first week she got to tag along as I helped out with the team, and then last week I took off to spend time with her and enjoy Song Khran.

As I am going back into my regular scheduling, please be praying for me. I need to be firm in my goal here of discipling those who are willing to be discipled, and not get distracted by being busy. I am going to resume my prayer walking times and really trying to build on the couple of relationship opportunities that I have here in my community.

Thank you for all of your prayers and continued support!

Lanna New Year

Alright. Short mid month update and prayer request! Next month we have a team coming to work for two weeks. So we decided to use them to help us get into the local churches to start doing training. Open door idea, we help you, and then ask to let us help you more.

So we wanted to do an event. It was going to be a small showing of a film done in the local dialect. God said that's not big enough. So now we are putting together a district (think county) wide carnival to start celebrating the Lanna (Northern Thai) New Year.

This is a huge opportunity to build community with all of the churches here in Hang Dong where I live. And I mean all. We are inviting them all to build unity and purpose. It will also help with opening doors and building community across traditional walls of differing religion and with the government.

But this won't happen unless God pulls it together. He gave the vision. Now we are following it through. But we need prayer support. So please spend time today and tomorrow (Central Standard Time) because at 10 pm (CST) Monday, we will be going to meet with the Government to get permission and support. After the meeting we will need to raise all the support for the event before Friday. We will need God to open the doors to find sponsorship from area businesses.

This event has potential, beyond just that night, and can eventually open doors all across Northern Thailand for everyone to hear the good news of Jesus. The rest of this post is pictures of the location we want to use. Please be praying for that area as well. I will put an update up on Wednesday.

Prayer Points:
God will open the right doors at the Government
God will open the doors for sponsors
God will prepare the people who will be touched by this event to hear the Truth
Unity in the Church in this district
God will get the Glory for all of this, that people would know the power of the name of Jesus

Checks and Balances

You know that feeling where you take off running and then realize you're on the treadmill backwards. No? Well that's a credit to your intelligence. But metaphorically speaking, I feel like I just did that this past month. Or rather that I have yet again sprinted into a new situation with tons of plans and dreams and God's timing is going a different direction. So after stumbling over my own feet a few times and then settling down to listen. I realized He is still doing preparation both in my life and in my area.

This month has been a test of my discipline and trust, and I while I didn't totally fail, I still have a lot of growing to do. Our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord right?

But other than learning to move at God's pace, some cool things have been happening. I have been continuing to prayer walk around my village, and have had the opportunity to start to get to know a couple of people. I am now trying to find more opportunities to talk to K. Dang and K. Noi and get to know them better. ('K' stands for Khun which is basically Thai for Mr. or Ms.)

I have realized that God wants me to specifically set aside time to work on my Northern Thai so I am looking for a teacher, and will need to work payment into my budget. It's frustrating to realize that the language I have been working so hard to improve over the past 3 years really won't help me too much in the direction I am heading. It is a great starting point and not in anyway time or effort wasted, but now on to the next step in being able to truly touch the hearts of Norther Thai people.

The past few weeks I have been leading the Create DTS's evangelism outreaches as my partner and his wife have just had their second kid (with no complications, Praise God!). They have really been the bright spot in my week because to get up and teach other how to do what I am doing, I really have to be living it out myself. There have been some really cool stories coming out of the weeks, and getting to watch the students grow in confidence in sharing their life and faith with strangers and relying on the Holy Spirit to lead them and guide them through it has been amazing.

Over the next month I will be continuing the same, preparing and growing myself in Christ so that when God does say, "Now Go." I will be ready to go. I will continue to prayer walk around my village and try to grow my relationships and try to be as much in the community as possible. One big thing that I and my partners are praying will happen is this. In April, the DTS students will be doing their outreach. Over the next Month Ben and I will be putting together the plan for an event which we want to host in my village. The culmination would be the showing of the Northern Thai movie, which shows a family living through faith but in the heart language of the people.

For the even to happen, we need to make a solid plan, and then go to the village head and get him on board with the idea. So please be praying that God will be preparing the way for this event.

Prayer Requests:

• Finances: I $400 dollars of support pledged coming in each month. I am $100 dollars short of covering all my bills (not including language and other ministry expenses). Also my roommates are moving out as it is the end of the school term here, so I won't have any help in that direction either.
• Opportunities to build relationships with both K. Dang and K. Noi, but also with more of my neighbors.
• That God will be opening and preparing the way for us to host and event (and what kind of event) as well as preparing the hearts of the people who will come to receive the word of His love and power.
• That I would stay consistent in my prayer walking and in being available to be in my village. 

Thank you all again, Loves and God bless! See you in a month. For those of you who have promised support, please don't forget!!

Getting Settled

This past month has been much about getting settled in. It has taken much longer than I wanted, but God has been teaching me more patience among other things. Since the fourth of January, my last post, I have:

• Finally been able to move into the house
• My last roommate moved in on the 2nd of Feb
• Been to Laos and got my 3 month Visa
• Submitted everything for my work permit (should have it this week or next)
• Begun training to catch up to my fellow workers and improve my language even more
• Started working with Ben to train a group of DTS students about church planting
• Begun prayer walking my neighborhood and meeting my neighbors

God continues to be incredibly faithful, providing every bit of money I have needed either before or right when I needed it. All of the processes so far have been incredibly smooth. And though I keep getting checked to wait on the Lord and not to rush things, I can see that God is doing some big things in my area. I'm looking forward to getting to know my neighbors and roommates and sharing with them the good news and praying that I find some more partners who live nearby.

One of the big ways I would like to do that is to throw a couple of housewarming parties, one for my friends who have been around for a while, and one for my neighbors. The separation because I really want to be able to focus and make comfortable my neighbors who come and build relationships with them, while continuing to go deeper in the relationships I already have.

There is also a video in Northern Thai that completely expresses the gospel in story format. I and my teammates are praying for an opportunity to show this in my village, and use it as a stepping stone to forming one or more bible study groups.

I am also gathering information on my village and the surrounding areas where I will be working to know the demographics, layouts, and locations of local churches that I may be able to partner with as my teammates and I work towards a rapidly reproducing church movement.

Prayer Needs:

1. Good community relationships
2. Wisdom and breakthroughs for myself, Ben, and John as we lead the DTS students
3. Funds and opportunities for the house warming parties
4. The doors opened and connections to be made to show the movie to the who village at one time
5. That I would continue to grow in my language (Thai and starting Northern Thai)

Financial Needs:

1. I have received the support I need to get through the first month of government paperwork, but if my calculations of continued support are correct, I am about $100 short of my basic needs per month. By basic needs, I mean bills, toiletries, gas, etc.
2. I will need to see an increase of monthly support so I can begin to have a ministry budget
3. I need to buy a few appliances for the house. Namely: a hot water machine for mine an my roommates' shower, and a refrigerator. 
4. Something is wrong with my computer, it isn't accepting charge at the moment. So no pictures in this update as I am using a public computer to update this month

I am right now waiting until the end of this month so I can have more exact numbers to put forth. I have the majority of the kinks worked out and will have a specific budget by March 1st.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. Together we are bringing the truth and freedom of Jesus Christ to my friends and neighbors who need to hear it. God bless you all! 

Major Outreach Pt III: Cambodia

View Larger Map

Ankor Wat

We arrived at the Thai - Cambodian border, crossed and then made our way to Siem Reap. My first impression of the city, as we are passing glamorous hotel after hotel was that the city was making some pretty good money. Turns out, Cambodia itself is pretty low on the list of richest countries, and in Cambodia, Siem Reap is the second poorest province. Even in the main part of the city, once you leave the tourist areas, it is all dirt roads with 3 foot deep potholes.

My team got to leave the city and stay at a school run by YWAMers in a village nearby. The Blue House in Pouk is run by two main staffers, a 20 year old young man from the states, and a 24 year old young lady from Cambodia. Both of them were quite impressive. Kyle is probably the best example I have met of a foreigner adapting to the lifestyle of the people he is working with. And Nary keeps the other staff and the students in line quite well.

Road to the village
after the flood

During our time there we visited two different villages to play games with the children, teach a little English and share about God through skits and dance and song. The kids in the villages were actually a lot of fun to play with. We went to one of the villages twice, and the other once. In the afternoons we built a walkway for the students to use during rainy season when the entire yard turns to mud and in the evenings helped with teaching English in their classes. Personally I was very impressed by all of the students and the Cambodian people in general. Majority of the high school students who came, woke up at 5 or 6 to help with chores and study for the days classes. They would go to school in the morning, during their lunch break they would take additional classes, then continue in the afternoon. After school finished at around 4 pm, they would come to the Blue House and study more.

Kyle, Nary, and kids at one
of the villages

The most amazing this is, not a single one complained about any of it. They all recognized that to improve their lives and their country and the lives of their friends and family, they required education and hard work. They are not afraid of pushing their limits to achieve their dreams.

The entire outreach was a trying time, as I have already said. But God used people like the kids in Pouk to alter how I view life. From what I believe about how God interacts with us, to the things I complain about to the little things in life like consistent running water I take for granted. God has done many huge works in my heart. My priorities have be re-aligned several times through out the DTS. But I'm become more OK with that. What God has to offer each of us, every person, is the most important thing. Now I'm learning how to live my life in that belief. It's challenging, but by far the most rewarding thing I have ever undertaken.

Thank you again. I would not be where I am today with out the prayers and support of all of you who read this, and others who don't. Thank you for believing in me and vision that God has put in my life.

Students, Teachers & our team at the Blue House

Praises

Hey everybody!

I have three big praises!

1. I have been able to rent the house I was looking at!  And they guy I am talking to about going through discipleship with me is also thinking about being my housemate as well ! A bonus to that is it's a great location, good price, and near cheap exercise facilities and a pool.

2. Of the $1,500 I needed to come in for all my expenses, I have received $1,800! Which means the rest is going into savings and preparing for my monthly budget.

• My budget for 14 months was $20,000.
• I still need $18,200 which breaks down to appx. $1,300 per month. I have committed donors giving $190 per month meaning I need an additional $1,100 per month. Please continue to pray and see how God would have you partner with me in this.

3. I am now approved to receive support through the YWAM base in Montana, who will in turn send out tax deductible receipts. How it works

1. Make all checks out to YWAM. Do NOT include my name on the check, not even the memo line. In the memo line, write Project #3806. That is my designation.
   
2. If your mailing address is different than the address on your check, include a note stating where you want the receipt mailed to.
3. Mail said checks to:

YWAM Montana
501 Blacktail Rd
Lakeside  MT  59922

If you want to do automatic, monthly deposits: Contact me and I will email you a file to print and fill out. Then mail it to the same address as above. They will withdraw funds on the 15th of every month. There is also a credit/debit card option, through PayPal. For this option, email me and I will give more specific instructions of how to do that.

Thank you again for praying for me. As you can see He is already moving and answering. Again please pray about how God would have you support me financially through the next year as well.

God bless you all,

zac