Derek's Testimony: (Born in Hamilton, ON. June 26, 1979) Having grown up in a Christian home, I heard the gospel since I was young. When I was 6 years old, I understood, believed and confessed that Jesus is my saviour. I had read stories about tribal missions. However, I thought tribal missions was a thing of the past. That was until I was 18 and met a missionary with NTM. He told me “There are over 6,000 people groups in the world who have never heard the gospel and we need people to go tell them.” Upon hearing this, my heart was burdened for these lost souls. From there the Lord led me through New Tribes training and now to Indonesia. January 2003, I arrived in Indonesia for the first time. After 1 year of Indonesian language study, I took on the task of visiting and collecting information from some of the many tribes on the Indonesian island of “Papua.” My heart was once again burdened, as daily I was faced with reality that these people truly have no idea about God and the free gift of salvation that He gives to anyone who would receive it. December 2005, I, along with another couple, did a survey into a tribe called the Dao. We hiked the mountains and met the people there. Upon returning from that survey, we felt the Lord leading us to move there. So we formed a church planting team and moved in. Not too long after moving into the Dao, I took a “short” 5 month furlough. Well that furlough got extended a little, because I met and then married my wife Sarah. Now together, we are back serving the Lord in the Dao tribe. The Plans of the Lord are good.
Sarah's Testimony: (Born in Guelph, ON. October 17, 1981) I grew up in Ontario, Canada at NTM's headquarters and missionary training school. I didn't have a lot of contact with unbelievers because of growing up in a Christian environment, attending a missionary school, surrounded by Christian friends. After high-school, I worked for a year, which gave me some good experience outside my "Christian bubble." Then I moved to Michigan to attend Bible School. After 2 years of Bible training, I stayed on staff at the school to continue working part time in childcare. I was also involved in my church youth group (as a youth leader), and working part time in a local public daycare facility. A year later, I moved back to Canada to continue my own missionary training. After 2 years, the training was finished and I joined the staff at the missionary school. While student parents were in classes, training to be missionaries, I ran the preschool program. I really enjoyed my preschool class, and had plans to continue with this ministry for a long period of time, but the Lord had other plans. Half way through my first semester of teaching preschool, the Lord brought "someone" into my life who changed everything.
How We Got Together: Derek was traveling around the US with friend, Tim Whatley, visiting various Mission schools and Bible schools to tell them about Indonesia. In October 2005, Sarah traveled to Michigan for her church's mission conference, and happened to stop in at the Bible School the same time Derek and Tim were there. We talked for a few minutes, then both separated ways. A week later Derek called Sarah on the phone, asking if he could take her out to dinner. She said yes, and the rest is history! We were engaged December 8th, 2005, married February 25th, 2006, and moved to Indonesia in May 2006.
2 Became 3: We found out we were expecting in October 2008. We couldn't have been more happy! There were some difficulties during the pregnancy that we had to come out of the tribe for a couple times. But, the Lord took good care of our little guy. In April 2009, we traveled back to Canada. Silas Sean was born June 28th, 2009, healthy and strong! What a joy he is!
Then there were 4! Our precious Kali Angel was born on August 14th, 2011. After complications with this 2nd pregnancy, we praise the Lord for another healthy, strong addition to our family. She is such a sweet, happy little girl...our little angel.
A Family of 5! Kai Derek was born September 4th, 2013. He was our little surprise baby. After seeing a dr in Malaysia who recommended Sarah get a D&C to further diagnose some medical concerns, we promptly decided to get a second opinion. We flew to Singapore, and the dr discovered a baby just 4 weeks along. We were surprised, but so thrilled and so thankful to the Lord for sparing this little one. Kai surprised us once again when he decided to show up 4 weeks before his due date. He is such a gentle, sweet, happy boy. We couldn't imagine our lives without him! He is a perfect fit to our family.
Silas, Kali, and Kai's Blog
