Missions

Dear Friends,

I’ve been home for a while now and it has taken a long time to get back into the swing of things. Making the shift from one culture to another, getting back into the work-a-day world, and sorting through the thoughts and emotions connected to my stay in Myanmar (minmar) have all been a challenge, but a good one.

When people ask how my trip was there is usually not time to tell them very much so my standard answer has been “It was hard to leave, I am glad to be home, and I plan to go back.” I fell in love with the people there and made many good friends who I look forward to seeing again.

The Gospel is being preached in places where it could not go before and the people are ready to learn more about the Living God instead of the emptiness of Buddhism. Before Cyclone Nargis hit a year ago churches were not allowed into the Delta area, after the cyclone churches were encouraged to go in with whatever aide they could provide, it was one of the only ways aide could get through to the Delta from foreign countries. Along with the rice and other aide the churches carried the Gospel. The reaction of many was “Why haven’t we been taught this before?” The people were impressed with the team that came from the Tamwe (tam way) Christian Center. The Center houses Myanmar Vision Ministries, the Eastern Seminary of Graduate Studies, and sponsors the Summer Leadership Seminar for which I taught. The Delta people said the Tamwe group was united, no dissention among its members, and willing to do whatever work that needed to be done to help with recovering/rebuilding what was lost. The Buddhists groups argued among themselves, only came and brought money to rebuild the shrines/pagodas, and did little to help the people. The military kept food for themselves and distributed only what was barely edible or useable. (The military was also of little help when they got news of the cyclone coming. Just before it hit the people knew something was wrong because the military had packed up and left, but they left without passing along the warning to the villages.) The Tamwe group handed out food, helped clean and rebuild, and taught about a loving God. They were very sad to have to leave and promised to return. Several of the people who accepted Christ during that first visit and some who were considering it came to the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) where they were taught more. Four were baptised before they returned home from the SLI.

The Tamwe group has returned to the Delta since we left and they were able to purchase enough wood and materials to build six new fishing boats. They anticipate that the boats will be ready to use by mid-May. Four more were baptised at that time, which makes 13 Christians in the village now. One of those who were baptised at the SLI was the village leader who carries a lot of influence among the people there. The next project that Tamwe wants to organize and fund is to purchase land and build a community center on it. This building(s) would provide a meeting place for any village function and be a place of refuge when another cyclone hits. This building will also include, or another building will be built to provide, an area to store seed rice. Part of the devastation from last year was the loss of seed rice. Now, due to the tidal surge, the ground is saline and different seed rice needs to be planted. When a price for the land and new buildings is determined I will let you know, along with information about how to contribute to this effort if you choose to.

As I mentioned in my correspondence during my trip most of my Grief and Loss class were people from the Delta region. In the middle of the course I did an exercise with them that was very eye opening and heart breaking. I was teaching them a method of allowing children to express their feeling through drawing. I asked them to draw me a picture of how they were feeling that day. I did not mention anything about their reaction to the cyclone. Their responses showed me that they were, and are, still grieving deeply. I’m not sure what I expected them to draw, maybe about the beauty of the day or something on the line, but what I got were several pictures of broken hearts (in black and red colors). One showed the peaceful life of the village and fishing boats on one half of the page, then with a slash from corner to corner, showed dead people floating out to sea on the bottom half. A couple of pictures were of strong/bold men who, it was explained to me later, were moving forward to make the best life they could right now. It was a very poignant time for all of us. We cried together and those of us who did not experience the cyclone expressed our feelings of sorrow for what the Delta people had, and are, going through. Learning to grieve was an important part of this course because these people had been in survival mode for nearly a year and are only now beginning to understand how to express their grief.

I also mentioned before the difficulty we had starting the Connecting Link (women’s abuse recovery) course. We finally got it off to a good start Thursday of the first week and I was able to teach it for five days, three hours each day. Part of the reasoning for not having the course was because it was believed the domestic abuse was not a phenomenon in Myanmar as it is here in the United States, but it was decided that the course could be taught anyway. We were able to skim through 15 out of 30 lessons in those five days. The real difficulty lay in figuring out how to teach in culturally relative ways. The lessons are made for the American culture with American illustration which is very different from the Burmese culture. So I had to think “on the fly” a lot. For a culture that was not that familiar with domestic abuse I got a lot of “I know a lady who . . .” and “what if I meet a lady who . . .” stories and questions.

Remember I told you in my email that I was teaching anew Christians’ class. That was a class I had no plan to teach and had no outline to go by, but when I was done with Grief and Loss my students did not want to stop, they eager to learn. As it worked out my brother had packed an outline for an new believers’ class to leave with James Khong to teach as needed. Remember, I said my Grief and Loss students were mainly from the Delta and were either new Christians or searching for answers. What a wonderful “coincidence” that we just happened to have this outline when it was needed. My students were eager to hear about a God who is active in their lives and loves them no matter what they’ve done or where they’ve been (which just happens to be my mantra, funny “coincidence” that I would get to teach these lessons).

When the SLI was over two men on our team had to return home to the USA while the rest of us stayed to continue ministering to the people in Myanmar. The rest of the men went on to Sitwe to teach and the women stayed in Yangon to minister to the women there. Marta Khong (James’ wife) arranged for us to go to women’s homes to visit and pray with them. Sunday the women’s team preached and helped lead service for Sunday worship. Peggy, my sister-in-law, is quite a preacher. Emily and I gave testimonies (devotions).

The trip was an absolute blessing; I only hope those I came in contact with were as blessed as I was. It is my goal to get some of my pictures up on my Facebook page. If you are not on my friend list, or don’t have a Facebook account either join and/or ask to be my friend, and please join me in a pictorial journey of our trip.

Thank you all for your part in making this trip possible; you made a difference in many lives.

Blessings,

Anita