I went to Yangon , Myanmar with Asia Area Director Rev. David Yardy and his wife Sherrill, and Miss Belle in July 7-12. In Yangon we have Chin ministry, Chinese ministry and Burmese ministry.

Special and temporary office

We stayed in the Royal White Elephant Hotel. Miss Belle and I stayed in one room. I needed to work on my laptop every evening. But Belle could not sleep with the light on. Therefore I had to find a place where I could work. Guess what? We moved the small desk into the bathroom, which served as my "temporary office" for 4 evenings. Actually the light is brighter here and the cool wind of the air conditioner could also come in. I was quite satisfied with this special temporary "APFMMA office" , are you too??

Special and surprise - Light and Life Bible Collge

We have participated a ceremony which we did not know of when we planned for this trip. But to the Myanmar FMC they shared that we were angles sent to them to confirm and encourage their ministry. Saturday July 9th was the opening ceremony of their Light and Life Bible College . To our surprise, we were invited to be the speakers in the ceremony and to offer prayer of dedication, and also speaker in the Sunday worship. After some discussion, Rev. David Yardy had a sermon in hand suitable for the opening ceremony for the Bible College and I had one suitable for Sunday worship. Praise the Lord, He has prepared the right sermon for encouragement and the students were encouraged and challenged.

Myanmar FMC has a simple heart to serve the Lord with dedicated love. Although there are many Bible schools, their teachings are quite different from the FMC and sometimes quite "liberal" . They want to emphasize only the Bible is God' s word and the FMC characteristics on holiness which is much needed nowadays. Now they have five students for the first year, and hope to have more students in 2006.

At present they do not have a library. I am told that in the country there is only one Burmese Christian book ¡V the Bible Dictionary which is translated from English. Most of the books are in English which are donated through different resources. If you have some Christian books, Bible commentaries and Bible dictionaries which you want to give, please contact us.

Prayer items:

1. Students grow in spiritual maturity.
2. The life and teaching of the three full time teachers and Principal will be a model to the students.
3. The set up of the library.
4. Fund raising for scholarship for the students.
5. Fund raising for the Bible College .

Specially for religious use

We had Sunday worship in the Chin Church and Chinese Church . We were not able to visit the Burmese Church which is an outreach of the Chinese Church . The Burmese church came for a joint Sunday worship with the Chinese church because they also wanted to meet us. The Chinese Church has Sunday worship in the afternoon in a Chin Church of another denomination in the city. Our Chinese Church use their church building in Sunday afternoon with a minimal rental.

Our churches in Yangon are house churches. There are restrictions in religion and house churches. Our churches have moved to different places a few times. They are now praying that they can find a land which is assigned by the government for "religious use" to construct church buildings, and the money needed for the land and construction.

Special and profitable

The Chin Church has started in the suburb of Yangon City for about 2-3 years. The Pastor and his wife are very smart and devoted to the Lord and the ministry. They have stared a boarding school for the high school students in the afternoon. In the country the teachers usually offer tutorial class to the students after school so that the students can learn more which the teachers have not taught during the regular classes in the regular schools. In this way the teachers can earn some more money to support their family because their wages is quite low. Our boarding school is a registered school and has qualified teachers. The students like them because they learn more here. The school also has a qualified dorm parent and a qualified Principal, who is a retired high school principal and is the father in law of the Pastor of the church.

The students come from Chin State and other States to study in high school. Every day the students have to memorize one Bible verse for the day. Every evening around 7:30 p.m. they have evening Bible and prayer time. On Sunday they all attend Sunday worship.

Praise the Lord, the income of this boarding school can be self sufficient and also help a bit in the rental of the Light and Life Childcare Center .

Special and cute children - Light and Life Childcare Center

The purpose of this trip is to see whether we can start international childcare ministry (sponsorship program). There are 21 children in the childcare center. All of them come from poor families. These children have never had nor seldom have eggs, milk or meat because these are expensive. The pastor is now making proposals for starting the program. We hope that this program can be a love witness in this Buddhist country and to the neighbors.

Special? The dream and vision of the pastor

When we asked the pastor about his dreams in the ministry, he replied, "I start the Childcare Center is to teach the children about Jesus when they are small. I hope these poor children will have the chance to learn to read and write and have good education. This childcare center is also a bridge to reach their parents. I hope we can reach out to the Burmese people because there is just a very small percentage of Burmese are Christians. "

Come, and have a part in this noble dream, a dream for the Great Commandment, a dream for the advancement of the Kingdom. You can give, go and pray. Contact us now.

Special wooden idols...god for each day

When we walked in the Sewedagon Pagoda, the biggest temple in Myanmar , I saw some very interesting idols which still had not painted golden or had just painted half of the body by the skilled workers. This scene is exactly like the description in the Bible Jeremiah 10:8-10, "Wooden idols...hammered silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. What the craftsman and goldsmith have made is then dressed in blue and purple¡Xall made by skilled workers." But Jesus our Lord is the true God, the only living eternal God and the Creator.

In Myanmar from people' s names, you can tell whether a person was born on Monday or Saturday. Most people are named after the god of the day. The name will begin with the first letter of the day. There is a god for each day, but a god in Wednesday morning and one in the afternoon. Around the big golden pagoda there are gods of each day. When people come, they will worship the god accordingly.

It is sad to know that women do not have a place in "salvation" in Buddhism. The eldest son will be a monk at least a week in his life after he reaches the adult age. His mother will hold to his yellow robe to go to "heaven" . This is the way to show their return to their mothers' birth pain and brought up. This is the obligation of the sons. Buddhism is not a "personal" religion, it is the ritual and "salvation" penetrates all areas and stages in personal life and family ties. It will be a betrayal to the family if a person changes the religion.

Prayer items:

1. Pray for strong faith and witness of the Christians in the Buddhist countries.
2. Pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in the Buddhists' hearts.
3. Pray for the love, patience and wisdom of the pastors and missionaries in these countries.
4. Pray for the FMC in different Buddhist countries like Cambodia , Myanmar , Sri Lanka , Taiwan and Thailand etc.