Well, it's finally come. The day of departure. It's been a long journey of self-discovery and a lot of doubt and fear that had to be overcome, but in the end it's all worth it. I'm finally off! I'm really excited, and ready for whatever God throws at me. Please continue to pray for me. It's very dangerous there, as you already know and I need as much protection as I can get. Thanks everyone! Thanks for supporting me through this. I love you,

   DEREK

There's something amazing about prayers being answered. It's like...you expect it, but not really. You know it can happen...but you still hold onto a piece of you that's doubting. You trust in it...but often you're expectations come not from faith but from lack of faith, we expect becasue we're too afraid to have faith in something. Expectation and trusting something will happen are totally different things (which is something I battled with during the first part of my journey. But when your prayers are answered and your requests are fulfilled it's an amazing reconnection with the God we serve. I am glad to say that at this moment I have received all the money I need for this trip. The hardest part of the journey is over. They say it takes a lot of effort to serve others...I say the serving is the easy part, serving is concrete, measurable, witnessable, you can see the gains and losses. It's the waiting that's the hardest part. Waiting for the Visas to come in...waiting for the dates to be confirmed...waiting for the money to come in. That's the real effort involved. It's so easy to say, "Welp, it's not coming in very fast so I'm probably not going to get it all...so let's just forget about this." But the journey is the hard part...not the goal. So to all of you who prayed for me and for the funds to come in. Thank you SO MUCH! It's because of you that I'm going to Afghanistan. And to all of you who gave funds for me to go. Thank you SO MUCH! Thank you for listening to God tickling your heartstrings. Thank you for taking a chance on me and investing your money in me so that I might do the things you might not necessarily be able to do.

   May God honestly bless each and every one of you,

            DEREK

P.S. Watch this movie (Elizabethtown)...I was so impressed. Totally surpassed my expectations...and I have pretty high expectations these days. You'll take at least one quote from it, I promise!

Currently Watching Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition) see related

Summer Camp

Hey, 
   Life-Changing...It's kind of interesting how "life-changing" is an adjective used usually only to describe the most incredible experiences; the experiences that make a major impact on your life and yet, every day has the potential to be life changing. Sure there are times and places that facilitate more "life-changing" experiences and decisions. But really, we have the potential to change a life every day as well as choose to change every day as well as be changed by someone else every day. Every day has the potential to be life-changing...I think that's a good quote to live by...I'm glad I came up with it (heheh).
   So anyway, I'm not going to use the adjective "life-changing" to describe my trip down south, 'cause that's too easy and broad. What are words that can describe it...Amazing...Fulfilling...Meaningful...Powerful. Self-Developing...Challenging... Awesome...These are just a few. Ok, so here's what happened. I went down to Phang Nga to work with children down there. I didn't know much. I knew we were going to be hosting an English Summer Camp but that's about all I knew. I didn't expect it to be very powerful, I didn't expect him to use me or change me in any way, shape or form. I kind of had an attitude of "Here's a chance to get community service to put on my applications." I couldn't have been more wrong.
   God challenged me so much and I learned so much. Not only about him, but about others and about myself. I honestly don't have all the words to describe it at the moment. I tried to tell my dad today and I ended up just crying out of guilt for my previous thinking and out of happiness for my new "revelation". All I can say is that God challenged me in so many areas. In the way I act. In the way I lead. In the way I interact with people, Thai and Farang. In the way I pray. And most importantly in the way I serve. I learned so much about service. And I also just redeveloped my passion for Thai people. I'd let so many Thai relationships that I have/had go to ruin and go stagnant because of lack of effort and willpower.
   So anyway, thank you to everyone who prayed for me as I was down there. It really was an incredible. And thank you for being there for me.

     DEREK

P.S. On June 1st I will (in faith) be departing for Afghanistan to help staff a childcare service for Missionary Kids and Afghani Children. So if you could just pray that I would get all the finances I need, that would be awesome. And if you'd like to help support me financially in any way that would be great. I currently have no money towards the trip and have to get about 800-1000 dollars by June, so any amount would be appreciated. Feel free to email me with any more questions about the trip or anything. Thanks.

Currently Listening Back Room By Editors Fingers in the Factories see related

Hey,
  Well, the play was today. It went great. There were very few problems, and most of them weren't that obvious, at least to the audience. I got stuck between two doors at one point, thus having to wait for an entire scene to end for me to go. I slammed the door saying, "Open the door!" that the door opened, which kinda would've defeated the whole oliver-opening-the-door-ness if I hadn't slammed it shut again so that people wouldn't notice. There were a couple issues with sound, but other than that the show went great! I was so impressed with everyone. It was great. And I got compliments on how I was able to make a good impact on the show even with a small part, which was one of my main goals. I didn't want to be one of those people that had a small part so they don't try as hard and are bitter about it. I put everything I had into the part and was happy with the outcome. But now, I have to go to bed, because I haven't gotten more than six hours of sleep in the last four days I think. Darn homework, heheh.

       Love you,
          DEREK

Currently Listening Deja Entendu By Brand New The quiet things that no one ever knows (My favorite song of theirs) see related