Greetings from Burma (Myanmar)! Let me start off by giving some background as to why there are two names for the country that I am in. Both Myanmar and Burma are names derived from the main ethnic group Bamar. Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from “Bamar”, the colloquial form of the group’s name. Up until 1989 the country was generally known as Burma, at that point the military government in power formally renamed the country to Myanmar. The renaming is still very contested to this day. Many of the largest cities have two different names depending on who you are talking to. For example Yangon is the largest city in Burma, until recently though it was known as Rangoon. The United States, The UK, Australia, and a few other countries refer to the country as Burma, some government websites in the US include both names. Many European countries refer to the country as Myanmar.
In the 19th century Burma became a British colony after three Anglo-Burmese Wars. After WWII in 1948 Burma became an independent democratic nation, however, in 1962 there was a coup d’état and the country became a military dictatorship. This lasted up until 2011 when the dictatorship formally ended, although most government offices are held by former military leaders that held power during the dictatorship. Since Burma became an independent country it has been a part of intense ethnic strife, and one of the world’s longest running civil wars between the myriad of ethnic groups that call this beautiful country home.
My team and I arrived here about twelve days ago from Mae sot, Thailand. In Thailand we worked briefly with a local Non-profit called Famous Rays they work with the local community to provide jobs through their restaurant and bike shop, as well as running a children’s home, and helping out with a few other local Christian NPO’s. One of the folks, David that works for Outpour Movement or Famous Ray’s is a native to Burma, and has been our translator and go to person for helping us find ministry contacts and opportunities.
David has been a HUGE asset and blessing to our team, it seems like he knows everyone in Dawei, Burma, the town we are residing in. If he doesn’t know them already he is quick to form a relationship with them. He has relationships with a few different children’s home spread out over the region, and so most of our time has been spent going to these homes. We play games with the children which has been, such a great ice breaker. When we first arrive the children are typically shy, but after a quick game of Fire on the Mountain they warm up to us, and are quick to hug on us, lean on us as we sit, and put their arms around us. After a couple of games we usually teach them a Christian children’s song, and then teach english. It has been hard to gauge how much English they know, most often they know more than they let on, and so we start teaching simple greetings, phrases, and try to focus on pronunciation. We then share a testimony with them from someone on our team, and pray for them. At one home, Ryan was not feeling well and was laying down to rest. The children saw him, and we asked them if they wanted to pray for him. They quickly said yes, and they all knelt beside him in a circle and prayed for healing for him. This was amazing to watch and experience! Children that we were suppose to minister to were praying for us!!! It’s amazing at how often I am humbled and taught by situations like this. It isn’t just my team who is suppose to minister, the Children are not just suppose to receive. I love how God uses children in a country I thought that I was suppose to do all the “work” in to teach me that He is the one orchestrating everything, and we really are all one body in Christ. That it doesn’t matter how young or old you are in years or in faith, anyone can minister, share the gospel, pray, and love on folks.
At the beginning of this country I was praying with God and sharing with Vivian and my team, that I really wanted to be interruptible by God. It is so easy for me to get on a one track mind so to speak. When I go to the market for something then that is my goal, and I can easily block out what is happening around me. I really desire to be present and attentive to what the Holy Spirit is doing around me, so that I can be a part of it. Well soon into my time in Burma God really showed up and interrupted me in a real way. I love the way he does use a “flashing neon sign” sometimes to communicate with us. I was sharing my testimony (The long version) with my team up on the roof of the hotel we are at. As I was sharing some hotel workers were walking back and forth doing their tasks and such. I didn’t pay much attention, and I kept sharing my testimony. A bit later I was in the middle of sharing about how I seriously hurt my back at a waterfall, and had to crawl out for eight hours with the help of a couple of friends. A pivotal point in my testimony, when out of the corner of my eye I saw to locals standing against the wall watching me. This is not uncommon there are many times when my team and I are out and about that people stare at us, and take pictures of us or with us. This time felt different though. I asked them if they wanted to join us, and one of the young men said “Yes Yes!” in a very thick Burmese accent. The other young man (who we call Haung because we can’t pronounce his full name) smiled sheepishly, and they both walked towards our table and sat down. Haung’s friend Twei Twei said that he spoke a little bit of English, and that Haung didn’t, but that Haung was a Christian and that he wanted to invite us to church the next day. Talk about your mouth hitting the floor! We had no idea there were any churches in Dawei, I thought we were bringing the church. I had the disillusion that we were going to focus on planting churches in an area that had not really heard the Gospel. Now don’t get me wrong 99% of the country has not heard the Gospel, but I believe that God was once again showing me that He is moving, and that it’s not really about me or my team.
The next day my team and I visited the church, and it was amazing! Everyone was so friendly and inviting, I should state that this is something we have experienced everywhere in Dawei not just this church. The service was great there was an abundance of singing, a times for testimonies from anyone in the congregation, the teaching wasn’t just one person talking, but folks from the congregation would respond to questions. The entire service was in Koren a local language, but the Pastor would tell us the Bible passages in English, so that we at least had a context for what was being taught. After the service Haung blessed our entire team, by taking us out to lunch! This is a huge feat for someone who works at a hotel, and makes very very little to feed a team of seven people. I am still getting used to receiving blessing likes this. I know that it’s good to receive and to allow people to bless us, but it is also hard knowing that I have substantially more money than they do. I wonder what would happen if the western world gave sacrificially like Haung and so many others that we have been blessed by.
Please continue to pray for my team as we travel, also please pray for Burma (Myanmar) that the conflict will end, and that the people will fully embrace Christ! Also some of us on our team our not yet fully funded, our deadline to be fully funded is April. You can find links to my teammates blogs on the panel to the left.
