Celebrating Four Years in Thailand!
June - Sept 2026 Newsletter
“Then Joshua said to the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Joshua 3:5 ESV
To our partners in the gospel, family and friends,
How are you? As I have been praying for each of you, the Lord put an encouragement on my heart to share with you. I pray it blesses you.
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Many of us have heard this teaching of Jesus before, yet find ourselves still burdened and heavy laden. If we are honest, sometimes His yoke does not feel easy. Many times His burden does not feel light. And yet, His word is always true. He will give us rest. Jesus was not lying or being facetious when He made this promise. He is not making light of our pain, overwhelm, weariness or sufferings. Rather, He is drawing us into His presence and His kingdom that is not of this world where we can enter a new and more true reality, one where peace and rest in Christ reign above our circumstances and feelings. So how? He invites you and me to come to Him, specifically in the midst of our labors and heaviness. Rest is found in intimacy, fellowship and surrender to the Prince of Peace. It is found in abiding in Him. It is found in lifting our eyes to see His sovereign hand which upholds all things. It is found in perceiving His Lordship over the affairs of the world and the smallest details of our lives. Rest is found in faith in His promise to one day restore all things. Our burdens are made light, not in their disappearing but in lifting our hearts and lives up to Him and surrendering every weight to Him. Come to Him, again and then again. Lay all before Him. Take his yoke. Learn from Him. Receive His rest dear friend.
Thank You
As you continue to faithfully walk alongside our family, we want to again thank you. As you remember us in your prayers, lift our arms practically, and give to our ministry financially, you are playing an irreplaceable role in the mission of God. We all are not called to have the same function, but we are united as one body. Thank you for using your gifts to advance the Kingdom of God among the unreached world. We honor you and recognize that your partnership is ministry unto the Lord. In this newsletter we will share about:
A Story of Hope
Preparing to Lead the Next DTS
Attending the Global Leadership Gathering
About Bible Translation Projects
Celebrating Four Years in Trang, Thailand
A Story of Hope
In our last newsletter, we highlighted one young Thai who was recently baptized. I wanted to share an update about his walk with the Lord and specifically ask for your continued prayer for him as he grows in his faith. As we shared, earlier this year one of the short-term outreach teams we hosted befriended this young man. When they met him during local evangelism, he was so excited because he was a believer but had little Christian fellowship. After a motorbike accident that left him severely depressed, he remembered the story of Jesus he learned in Catholic school, prayed, and was freed from depression. From that point on he denounced his family’s Buddhist beliefs and practices but lacked community and discipleship. He was baptized for the first time by his best friend on the outreach team and one of our staff as we showed in our last newsletter (the pictures show this amazing day below). Though the short-term team has left, he has stayed connected with us and started regularly fellowshipping with us for worship, prayer and reading the Bible. Ethan gave him our Thai-English Bible and he is hungry for the Word; he comes to our gatherings with a list of questions he has from reading his Bible the previous day. Now he will be a student in our upcoming DTS!!! Please pray for this young man to be deeply rooted in Christ and grow in his faith in this upcoming season.
Attending YWAM’s Global Leadership Gathering.
This past month, Ethan and I along with other YWAM leaders from over 90 countries throughout the world came together to seek the Lord and hear from him and leaders in our mission. It was such an impactful week for us and gave us a renewed sense of excitement and faith for what God is doing around the world and what He wants to do in our own ministry. A few key highlights were getting to connect with our YWAM elders and witnessing the humility and commitment to YWAM’s founding principle of taking the gospel where it is not!
We were able to meet with some of the other elders in our region.
Commit to Pray for Bible Translation Projects
Prayer changes the world. We were challenged at the conference to begin praying specifically for a new translation movement that seeks to “bring the Bible to people in their own spoken language, using fluent native speakers to create audio recordings that can be shared through a microSD card.” One of the major gaps in Bible translation is that many of these people groups with unique languages do not have a written code. Their language must first be put into writing and translated, which often takes 10-20+ years for the entire Bible. Even when the Scriptures are fully translated, often the community that has culturally and historically communicated orally struggles to engage with the written word because the people are oral, rather than written learners. This movement is making the Bible accessible to millions of people through audio recordings that can be shared, memorized and orally passed throughout an entire community, leading to group-wide transformation. We absolutely desire to see the written Bible in every language, but this new movement helps to bridge the existing gap that exists for millions of people in the world. Would you join us in praying for the those working on both written and oral Bible translations?
Discipleship Training School (DTS) Prep
Ethan and I continue to prepare to lead DTS which starts in December of this year and graduates in July of next. In DTS we focus on holistically discipling young people (both Thai believers and international students) in their faith. As we prepare, we are laying the foundation of prayer, building the curriculum, organizing the logistics and preparing teachings. At the heart is the call to shepherd our staff and students, teaching and discipling them in accordance with Scripture.
Celebrating Four Years in Thailand
In July we celebrated the four year anniversary of our team moving to southern Thailand together. What an immense honor it is to be serving Jesus and establishing a missionary base that will send multitudes to the Unreached, that is committed to mobilizing, discipling, and going for Jesus’s namesake.
As we look towards year 5, we want to keep giving Him our glad “yes!” Thank you for saying yes with us! ❤️
Prayer Requests
Many of you continue to faithfully pray for us. We know that this prayer covering is essential and a crucial part of empowering the work God is doing amongst us. Thank you. 🙏
Our Lives in God
Psalm 16
. That we would know intimately, enjoy and glorify God, living devoted to His global purpose
Our Marriage
Colossians 1:9-14
. We would walk in sacrificial love and humility
. We would be prepared and strengthened for the next season of ministry
Abigail/Our Parenting
Psalm 119:73-77
. We may raise Abbie in the ways of the Lord
. She may know and love Him from an early age
. She may be learning to live under God’s loving authority and worship Him
YWAM Trang
. That we would be faithful and joy-filled laborers who seek to glorify our Father in all things
. Protection from the enemy to steal, kill and destroy
. Walk in unity and intimacy as a community, marked by fear of the Lord, humility, oneness of mind and joy
. Romans 15
Next DTS
. May the students God is calling to this DTS come and not be dissuaded by the enemy
. May each student learn to live out genuine faith and experience intimacy with God that results in lasting obedience to the Lordship of Christ
. May every student come to understand God’s global purpose and participate in a significant way to bring the gospel to the Unreached
. Provision for every DTS student and staff
. May the DTS produce world-changers who are courageous to pursue the will of God completely
. May these students endure the tests that will come before, during and after the DTS
. That DTS would be a vessel for sending and mobilizing multitudes
Thailand
. Radically transformed by the power, peace and freedom of the Gospel
. Many more pioneer workers would respond to the call and go
. Thailand would become a great sending nation and used by the Lord to reach the unreached
Extended Family
. May all of our family grow in the knowledge of God, know His unending love for them, and come to a full and total surrender to His Lordship over their lives
. Protect the marriages and children in our family, may our future generations praise You and speed Your coming
Missional Community and Hospitality
. Every individual and family on our street may hear the Gospel
. We would be given opportunities to encourage, bless and minister in our neighborhood and our other relationships in Trang
. That our hearts, hands and home may be ready to welcome in and share the love of Christ
We love you and are thankful for you.
Blessings,
The Parks Family
"We have only fives loaves here and two fish...
And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces left over."
Matthew 14:17, 20
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