It’s been interesting walking through this season. Over the years we have remained connected to several missionaries in Thailand, and have appreciated hearing how the Lord has been at work. But now, as we prepare to move from this side of the world to being a part of the work there on the field, it has made a shift happen in our hearts. As friends and brothers/sisters in the ministry, and soon partners on the ground, we feel an even deeper connection and empathy toward their investment.
A few weeks back a friend of ours shared how they helped mentor a young Thai girl toward making a decision to abstain from participating in a career path that raised a lot of red flags in the realm of trafficking. Ultimately, through their investment of time and relationship, this young woman chose to walk away from the potential for glitter and glitz in favor of protecting herself against the evils lurking around that arena.
Meanwhile, other friends of ours helped launch two new programs geared toward the needs of Thai youth in their community. They will use it as a tool to create a space for children to learn, grow and step into their purpose with passion, all while creating relationships with these young Thais where they can share the gospel.
Each of these relationships and investments matter and have eternal impact. We cannot wait to see the ways the Lord will use our family to continue the work He has already been doing in Thailand.
SHARING OUR WEBSITE
You may have caught it last month as a footnote “button” in our newsletter, but we have our website up and running.
You can find it at deringtonfamily.com
This is a useful tool for us to be able to share more broadly with people—especially those we have not yet had the chance to meet. We ask and encourage you, that if you are challenged by or excited for the work we are pursuing, would you share our website? Send it to your family, your small group, your church, your work buddies; then connect feel free to directly connect us to your friends.
We want to get the word out, not just about what our family has been called to, but more importantly the work the Lord is already doing all over SE Asia.
Thank you so much for all of your encouragement, financial contributions, and prayers. We absolutely could not do this without each of you.
MISSIONS FORUM
A few weeks back we had the honor of taking part in our church’s missions forum. This was an opportunity for us to not only share with a group about what we are pursuing, but also to hear from some other individuals preparing to go to the field and some that have recently done vision trips or encouragement trips to minister to current missionaries already on the field.
It was really exciting to see the variety of ways our local church body has actively been involved with missions work around the world, but especially encouraging to see how they are engaging directly with the missionaries on the ground. This is a huge part of why we are grateful to have Grace Fellowship as our primary sending church—they have a passion for caring for their missionaries well. Having this kind of support and involvement from our home church directly impacts our family’s longterm sustainability for the better.