Plans of Mice and Men...

So, I won't be coming home this year (unless I get $5,000 in the bank tomorrow). But it'll be OK. Goal this year is to get my budget to a place where I can save and come home next March/April/May-ish.

Praises-

1. Finished TESOL and have my certificate! That was one heavy duty course, but it was worth it. This little piece of paper made all the difference in praise 2.

2. I have a one year contract at North Chiang Mai University. While this doesn't completely bring my month to month up to the level where I can live and do ministry, it's a huge help. It is where I will be able to plant seeds in abundance and praying will reap a harvest as well

3. I may even have found a house I can stay in for a multi-year lease, so no more hopping about from place to place.

4. Got to go on that men's retreat and it was awesome.

5. This past weekend got to go with some friends to help put on a Resurrection celebration the likes of which hadn't ever been done before. It was really cool to see how they live and how they keep smiling in all circumstances.

Events -

1. Last Friday finished my TESOL certification. Had lunch at a great buffet. That's an event.

2. The Easter celebration this past weekend was really cool. We were able to encourage a 26 year young pastor who stepped up to care for his church after the previous pastor passed away. We were also able to walk around the village to pray over many of the members houses, and visited on member who was ill to pray with him.

Events this month:

1. Will be moving again. Need a house with a bit more privacy and working facilities than the one I am in now. Like I said above, I think I found one, just have to go over all the details to make sure we are on the same page. Also will need to come up with the deposit.

2. Will have to travel to Laos on my own dime. The School will pay for all the fees and such related to my visa and work permit, but the travel expenses are on me. I will also during that time find a place to hole up for a few days to take a mental and spiritual break from things, so praying for some extra support for that.

3. Songkhran. This is the Northern Thai New Year celebration. It's a time of great fun, but also a time of spiritual worship and darkness. I'm hoping to join up with a ministry that will take DVDs of a gospel movie that was filmed in Northern Thai and performed by Northern Thai actors out into the middle of the party as gifts. Will also hopefully get to see several former students and maybe spend some time with a few of my future students.

4. Will be using my other free time this month to start planning Anne's and my wedding. Yup. Getting married at the beginning of June. Looking at June 8th. So this month we need to find the space and start really getting going on that.

Other News -

Quick info on the culture I am marrying into. First is, there is supposed to be dowry that I am supposed to pay. Which I don't have. This doesn't so much bother Anne and her mom, but it could cause them to lose some honor from the rest of the family and from the community. This is actually quite a big deal in the culture. Anne and I have prayed and feel it is time for us move forward in marriage so that we can move forward together in our lives and our ministries supporting each other. But I would like to be able to pay that if it is possible.

The other thing is that Anne is the oldest daughter, and she is the highest educated, so it falls to her and as her husband to me to provide for her mother a monthly living expense, and for her to pay for her younger brother to go to school. I could be an American and say they are grown and capable of caring for themselves, but this is not my culture I am marrying into. For us to disregard this responsibility would be tantamount to throwing away her family. And since her family are not believers, it would be another wall between them and the love of Christ.

With my salary and my current support. I can just barely cover this. But anything extra, like another vehicle for Anne so she can pursue the plans God has for her, or appliances for the house, insurance, and my bills from back home, I am still short on. So I am going to need to raise another $500 dollars a month in order to be where I need to be.

In the past I have been shy about asking for more. For more partners, and more support. But God has shown me that when I do that, I am not trusting in Him to provide. He is the one who is going to bring it together, not me. So I am putting my needs out there for all of you to see, and then trusting that the Father will do all that I can not.

Long Term View: This is where I am going by God's grace and direction. I am going to get a 5 year lease for this house. This will keep my rent down, and my base stable. I will continue working at NCU for as long as God tells me to. Which would mean I will be starting my masters next year in order to keep my job, but the school has some scholarships that I can apply for that should mostly, if not completely cover that (PTL). I will be saving my income in order to purchase some land and a house for my family so that after 5 years we will be able to move into said home. Simultaneously, I am looking at starting a center in a province South of Chiang Mai. This will serve as a place of practical learning (English, vocational, and life skills), as well as a base of operations to be able to bring in teams and do community development. My dream is also purchase a large plot of land, where I can build a retreat and camp. A place with a ropes course, pool, living and meeting facilities and such things where churches, schools and businesses can come to take breaks, learn teamwork and more holistic living.

This is where God has me headed. This is what I am committing to. This is what I am praying that more and more people will join with me in making this vision a reality.

Prayer Requests -

1. I learned and didn't work last month, I won't be able to work this month. I need help.
2. $500 for my first month's rent plus two month's deposit
3. $300 for my trip to Laos for my visa
4. $200 to be able to stay in Laos and take a break
5. A dowry I can offer my fiances parents and family (I'm not sure what that amount would be... no one gives me a straight answer)
6. New partners to bring our monthly support up by $500
7. More opportunities to share and spend time with my students
8. The Holy Spirit going before me preparing the hearts of my students to receive the truth of Christ
9. Fruit in planting a church among my students
10. Fruit in raising up leaders who after graduation will go out and share the gospel as they go
11. Sanity as I prepare new courses and for a wedding. 
12. Grace to reach Anne's family with the love of Christ through all of the wedding process
13. That my family will be able to make it here in time for the wedding.

I'm sure that there will be many mini updates coming over the next few weeks. Thank you all for your support. Love you all

zac

It's March again! for the 28th time in my life...

Still got lot's of stuffs going on! Maybe I can keep up this bi-weekly thing? We'll see what happens.

Praises:

1. Finished my contracts well (still have a little grading to turn in). Had good last days at both schools.
2. Made it basically on time for the entire first week of class! 6:30 am is getting slightly, slightly, easier to say high to in the mornings
3. Had some great times of worship the past couple of weekends. God has really been poking at somethings in my heart. Not always the funnest things, but glad to know He is still there working on me.
4. Will be able to go on a men's retreat this coming weekend, and send Anne to the women's retreat that our church is putting on. Really looking forward to it, though it is at a lake, soo, I may not take my phone with me just in case.
5. Two of the students at the CDTS have been going regularly to a temple and have begun a good relationship with one of the monks there and have really been able to share with him in some deep ways. Amazing to get to walk with them in that.

Events:

There hasn't been too much. One of my schools celebrated its 10 year anniversary, so I went to that and said hi to my students.
Ate dinner a couple of nights with friends in the city... Why is that an even you might ask? Because we cooked it all on top of a Korean style hotplate. So tons of meat, with tasty sauces on the rooftop balcony of my friends apartment. That, my friends, is an event.
And school started. More on that in the next section.

Other News:

Well, the big news is that I am a student again. Will be for the coming four weeks. And it is full on. One week in and I feel like we've covered half a semester's worth of material. Super intense. I have already practice taught once, passed a test, help lead devotion once, turned in a good bit of homework, and started to learn how to say four phrases in Japanese. 
Next week I'll be teaching twice, getting my Japanese more down, have 3 tests, and two assignments due.. before Friday. As I said intense. 
I'm considering canceling my other classes (save for the DTS) so that I can survive and do well at this class, and so that I can get more that 5-6 hours of sleep a night. 

Prayer Requests:

1.  ENERGY!!! I needs it badly.
2.  Time to do my fundraising video(s)
3. Good fellowship/Safety for us at the retreats this weekend.
4. That God would really be clear to Anne and I about our next steps.
5. That I can come home this year.

Mid Month

Well, it's only been two weeks or so, but I need to update now or the end of the month will be a novel.

Praises first:
1. I had a donor who has completely covered my fees to extend my visa! More on what that means in a bit.
2. I also had enough come in that I can take a TESOL course! TESOL is a certification for teaching English as a second language. This will open more doors for me, MANY more doors. In addition, I got into a course that is half the price as the original one I was going to take, and is in Chiang Mai.
3. I have been able to get around to a few schools and drop off applications. One has made me an offer, though it's not quite what I'm looking for. So still, praying, looking and praying some more.
4. I talk a lot about how much I don't have, but I need to focus more on those of you who are faithfully, monthly supporting me. You all are amazing, and I am so thankful to have you along side me. Thank you for being faithful and obedient to our Father and sticking with me. And Thank you just as much to all of you who have come through for me in times of crisis, giving one time gifts. All of you saints are blessing to me, and some of my biggest encouragers. Thank God for all of you.

Events:
1. The first weekend of the month I went with the NCU English Club, along with Four of my native English speaking friends, and rode elephants and rafted bamboo rafts down the river. They are a great group of students. Really outgoing. We are hoping to be able to take another trip with them either this coming weekend, or the weekend after, to continue building some relationships.

2. The second weekend we had an English Camp. It was OK, good opportunity but I got sick in the middle of it. Basically a Hay Fever attack.

3. The CDTS group is really growing fast in their evangelism, so God challenged me to challenge them a bit more. They were really taken aback at first, but then they started to catch the dream. This week we will get a bit of a debrief on how they are doing. So really looking forward to see what God did with them


Other news:
I have been sick twice, during the camp and again the day before and of Valentines's, since the beginning of the month. My body is completely worn out. Don't how much longer I will be able to hold up if things don't change. But so many great doors and opportunities are opening, makes it hard to know where to step through!

This week I am finishing two of my teaching contracts. So I creating and testing the students, and saying goodbyes. Full week again. Then next Monday, the 25th, I will start my TESOL course. It will be 8-4 M-F for 3 weeks. Then 8-12 plus supervised teaching in the afternoons for the last two weeks. So still going to be very busy with reading and homework and projects, plus still teaching at ABS, the temple, and the CTDS. The small snag in that is, My contracts finish this month, but I will be learning for a solid month, meaning I am losing $300, half my monthly income in March. So that makes April look quite interesting.

The big thing in my life right now is a struggle with direction. I want to have freedom with my time to do ministry. Right now I don't have it because I have to spend so much of my time to teach to get by. I am leery both of doing half volunteer and of going full time at one place. The first is because I am a half volunteer right now, but I'm need more partners to come along side me monthly so that I can take down my teaching hours and apply them toward relationships and ministry. If I go full time, I will still need support for most of the positions I am looking at, but not nearly as much, in fact, I shouldn't have to raise my support level at all. But then that school has control over my visa and work permit (my life in Thailand), and can use those as leverage to put more and more hours into said school or school project. And that happens constantly here. I am scared to put that much control in the hands of an institution that doesn't share the same long term goals as I do.

Right now I am making some support videos to send out. I need to find more people to come along side me and help carry this load. So if you get these videos, please pass them along to friends of yours as well.

Prayer Requests:
1. Praying that my body will survive the next month, and that I can take a break after this school.
2. Pray that I finish these videos this week so I can get them in the mail before the schoolwork picks up.
3. Pray for people who will com along side me.
4. Pray that I will clearly hear and fully surrender and obey to what God wants me to do. Whether that is a job or that is waiting a bit more and staying with the half and half, part time volunteer and part time employee.


Thank you all and God bless!

What to do? What to do?

This month has gone by super fast, and really slow. Fast because, just fast. Slow because I've got so much going on I'm constantly on the go. Fills up the time.

But feeling it hard. I've been here 4 years! Thanks to God's provision, I've made it this far. I've learned so much about myself and what I want to be doing.

God has made me a teacher, I want to be teaching. I want to be in a stable environment where I can actually get close to the people I am working with without having to leave after 3-4 months. I want to have time to be able to spend with people outside of work. There are three main ways to do this

The first is to be strictly volunteer. I tried that at the beginning of this year, but I wasn't receiving enough support, and it was creating walls between me and the people I was wanting to share with.

The second is to work part time as well as have partners supporting me. That's what I am doing now. And while I think this way could be the best, especially if my funding was a bit higher and then I could do more volunteer teaching to open more doors, it isn't working out that way. Right now I am scrambling month to month trying to find enough funds to get by on.

The third way would be to get a full time job, and then do ministry in whatever time I have left over. While this isn't my preferred direction, it's the direction I am looking into as I apply for jobs now. I am looking for a more stable financial state.

My year end total income that I received: approximately $9,880. I survived another year, and a wreck by the grace of God. To be clear, that is all gifts, monthly donations and teaching.

So I am praying hard. Very hard. There is so much I want to do. But on this budget I can't. Period. I just can't. I can't even get home to see my family. Or anyone who supports me. Or to spread the news about what I am doing to find more supporters. ($1,500 round trip out of that number up there, double that if I want to get married)

So please pray for me for direction. If I don't start on my VISA extension this week, then I have to just apply for a whole new visa, which calls for an unnecessary trip out of country to Laos. I love Laos from the couple times I have already gone, but that's about $500 minimum I'd rather not spend.

I am still applying for new jobs, praying for support and wisdom about what direction to go with. Option 2 or 3. So please pray with me.

Again, you can always send a quick donation through the PayPal link on the right there.

If you would like a receipt, please send a check made out to: YWAM Montanna
In the memo line write: Project 3806
My name can not be on the check!

Address the envelope to:
YWAM Montanna

501 Blacktail Rd.

Lakeside MT  59922

Plans for the New Year

Things have really picked up! Lot's going on. Lot's of prayer needed.

Right now I am in full swing at the two schools I am working at this semester, only 7 more weeks left and lots of ground to cover. Teaching my one adult student twice a week, my two monks when they don't cancel, and started teaching an hour a week for the two months at the CDTS, same as last year.

Please be praying as I am sending out my resume to several schools to find myself a full-time position. I've had some questions asked about why I am looking for a full time job if I am working as a missionary. The two biggest reasons are my volunteer status has been more of a hindrance than a help in meeting people, and I want to get married. A full time position will help us not have to move every few months as I have done the past year.

As I am making this transition, my monthly income is sufficient for my expenses here, but I need help in a few big ways. For a teaching position, I need to get my teachers license. In order to register for the test which I must do this week, I need an additional $140.

Also, I really would like to bring Anne home to meet everyone this spring. This is the best timing for us as she will be finishing school in March, so she can come before she starts looking for a job and doesn't have to start and immediately ask for time off. I will finish my classes at the end of February. Any new jobs won't start until May at the earliest, and the teacher's license test will also be in May. So I am still looking for help there. It will be around $4000 for both of us for the two round trip tickets and her visa.

Again, you can always send a quick donation through the PayPal link on the right there.

If you would like a receipt, please send a check made out to: YWAM Montanna
In the memo line write: Project 3806
My name can not be on the check!

Address the envelope to:
YWAM Montanna

501 Blacktail Rd.

Lakeside MT  59922

Thank you all! Praying that I get to come back and see you all soon.

Happy New Year! aka December Recap

December was by far the best month of this last year... I'm OK with that.

This past month  I have been able to be a part of three Christmas outreaches, two as staff, one as a participant. Seen a lot of friends whose schedules and mine have been conflicting, saw the best live blues performance of my life, and taught a whole lot of English.

The first outreach I went to was in Lampang, with some friends from the Southern Baptist's sending agency. We had games and songs and food for the kids and adults who came, and watched a movie in the local dialect that has a clear gospel presentation. After the movie we were able to split up into groups and talk about the movie with the people there. This was a way to get contact information so the local church there would be able to follow up and make some new relationships. Over all, it was really fun.

The Second one, the following weekend, I went up to Chiang Rai with my church, friends and a team from Singapore to help at a place that works with local hill tribe children. Again lots of games, food, snacks, a Thai band dressed as cowboys doing covers of classic American country/western hits, songs, and a gospel presentation that got the kids involved acting it out. It was a blast, beautiful, and cold. It actually got down in the 50's at night.

The last one was my church's annual Christmas party. This was the most chill, and had free salsa too! Got to see a whole lot of people from a few other churches that came that I don't normally get to see.

Christmas week I taught the whole week, but then had the past 4 days off, a nice little vacation. Was able to do a dinner with some friends and my girlfriend's family that was amazing, and going into the new year excited to see what is going to happen next.

Please be in prayer for:
1. My job - I am still looking for a full time position that will help support me a bit better than my current position and give me some stability in my housing so that I can stop moving all over the place.

2. My finances - still raising money for my trip home this year and for doing some tests to improve my credentials.

If anyone has given in the last few weeks, I will find out next week when the YWAM offices open again. I will also do an update in a week or so about my current financial state.

But for this post, hope you all have a blessed new year!

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!!