Meet the Derbyshires

Doug and I (Cheryl), have been  missionaries in Thailand since 1992.  Doug runs a small Baptist rural medical clinic and we do mobile clinics  about eight times a year to help church planters in rural communities all over Thailand. I run a women's ministery that employs over 200 women in six rural communities, which helps women maintain jobs to add to their family income.  We also get a chance to share Christ with them weekly.   Our kids, Gary, Jonathan, Becky, and Sandi lived their childhood and adolesent years with us on the mission field.  Gary graduated from Arizona State in December of 2012 and is now married to Rez, his highschool sweetheart. Rez is Bangladeshi by birth, but a child of God since the age of 16.  They have a son, Karim, and a little girl on the way.  Gary is a youth minister in Gilbert, Arizona.  Jonathan graduated from North Greenville University in spring of 2013 and immediately left to work overseas in the country he grew up in.  Becky graduated from California Baptist University spring of 2014 and married to

Josh Duval on May 29th.  She and Josh plan to head to the mission field after Josh has his civil engineer license. Sandi, our youngest, is studying nursing at California Baptist University and is always looking for ways so come home and work along side her Dad.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bangkla Baptist Clinic

Some sixty years ago, six young Americans felt God’s call to study medicine in order to serve God as missionaries in another country. Their names were Orby Butcher, Harlan Willis, Winifred Medcalf, Joann Goatcher, Alton Hood, and John Freeman. Their interest was soon matched by a vision of the International Mission Board to send doctors and nurses to build a hospital in Thailand.
The first team of doctors and missionaries arrived in Thailand in 1960. The team consulted with the Thai Ministry of Health, and they went to many provinces and found that Bangkla, Chachoengsao wanted a hospital very much. At that time there were no modern hospitals or doctors in the area. In fact, the people of Bangkla had been trying to build a hospital for more than thirteen years. They held an annual festival to raise money for a hospital. Mrs. Daeng Sitisomwong had donated over 5 acres of land to build a hospital. Mr. Prakong Thewarut, the mayor of Bangkla and the people of Bangkla  were of one mind... to build a hospital. However, after years of effort they had come up empty. After talking with the leaders and people of Bangkla, the missionaries felt that it was God’s plan for them to build the hospital here.

  Construction began in early 1962, and the hospital opened for patients in 1965. Then as now, the purpose of the hospital has always been to tell the story of Jesus Christ and to heal the sick. With its emphasis on sharing the love of God and providing excellent patient care, the hospital was soon seeing over 36,000 patients annually.
In 2002, in response to a greater need for enhancing the mobile clinic work, the inpatient hospital ministry was discontinued for the sake of an all out patient and mobile clinic ministry. Today, Bangkla Baptist Clinic continues to carry on the traditions started by the first missionaries in 1960 to provide excellent medical care and share the Good News of God’s love for man with patients that come from all four corners of Thailand.