FAMILY ON MISSIONS / Rev Dr John Thaung, AO Coordinator Myanmar

Every year after the students graduate from Bible School, they go on a mission trip to the Chin state to evangelize and organize outreach programmes. This year after much prayer and discussion with my wife, we decided to take my whole family with us. My children, Grace Lydia 12 years old, Victoria Rebeka 9 years old, Juely Hannah 7 years old and the youngest, John Samuel 4 years old. They were so excited to be joining us on this trip. Every year they watch me leave for this long trip and we would be away for a month or so. So this time when they were told they would be going they could hardly contain themselves.

We took a bus from Yangon to the town of Matupi which is a 2 day’ trip breaking our journey for a day so as not to tire the children but they were so excited to keep moving on. The next day we continued our journey to Caki village. We travelled half-way by an old bus and then the rest of the way on motorbikes. We travelled for what seemed like hours on the bikes along the bumpy mountain terrain and finally reached Caki village at 6 pm in the evening. My body was sore by the end of the ride but my children were more excited than ever and did not even look tired.

When we reached the village, the villagers had already set up the tents and were eagerly awaiting us. The tents were for our evangelistic meetings and that very night, though we were sore and tired we could not disappoint the village and did not want to either, so we held out first meeting. The response was overwhelming and we could see how hungry the people were for the Word. We held meetings every night and during the day we would go house to house for evangelization. On the last night 40 people gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Many were touched by the power of the Holy Spirit and there was a revival in the village.

We left that village after 4 days and went back to Matupi and again the young people from the village sent us by motorbike to where the old bus picked us up for the rest of the journey. The road was extremely dusty and soon we were covered with dust, grime. My son laughed to see me saying I looked like a white man with light coloured hair. My children never complained about anything and just took everything in their stride. Half way on our journey the bus suddenly blew a tyre and that it took some time to repair. It was getting dark and all around us was the jungle and I could see the worrying look on my wife’s face because of the children. We prayed together and asked the Lord to keep us safe and God is faithful to those who trust in Him. Suddenly, we saw a big truck come up the road and the driver took us to the next town to wait for the bus so my children could get some food.

We waited for some time at that village for the bus to come and pick us up. Unfortunately, when we got to the next village of Ngala the tyre blew again and it took us another 4 hours to be on our way.By the time we got to Matupi t was midnight and the kids were  exhausted. Sometimes God teaches us to be patient with others and though we had some setbacks we praise and thank God for His mercy and looking out for us. We were so hungry especially my children but thank God my wife's sister prepared dinner for us and they still waited for us and we had a very good dinner.

The next day the people from Sun Tui Village came to take us to their village for the crusade. Road conditions here were very bad and we were advised not to take the children. So to the disappointment of my children they had to stay back in their aunt’s house. They enjoyed themselves though playing with their cousins and the other children in the village.

Three of us in the team went by motorbikes but half-way, for some reason, our riders suddenly stopped and told us they could not go further and left us along the jungle path. We were bewildered as to why they did this. There was no signal and no way to contact anyone so we sat by the path for 3 hours, praying and seeking God. We could not walk up the mountain because we had our luggage with us. After 3 hours the organizers who had invited us came looking for us as they were wondering why we had not reached. Two motorbikes came to look for us but there was 3 of us, so I decide to let my wife and the Bible student ride on the bikes with our luggage while I walk up. When we got to the first village on our way to Sui Tui village, we stopped and because the condition of roads are bad, my feet hurt and walking was so painful. My wife said riding the bike was equally bad.

It was getting dark so we had to break journey in this village. Thank God the villagers welcomed us and gave us dinner. This village is predominantly Buddhist and they were curious about us. I told them we were Christian pastors and expected them to be hostile but praise God they were not. In the early morning we continue to walked to our destination and the organizers came to pick us up half way by motorbike and we arrived there at 8 am. They told us that they waited for us till midnight and many were disappointed so we immediately started our teaching and preaching in that village.

Sun Tui Village is in a very remote area up the mountains and in the old days the people here were fierce and revengeful. They were ancestor worshippers before converting to Christianity. We taught and preached day and night and 20 people dedicated their lives to Jesus and many were delivered. The power of the Holy Spirit really touched many of them. I saw many of them were under inter-generational curses that needed to be broken. Let us continue to pray for the villagers of Sun Tui that God may deliver them from these curses. It was sad to hear that many had not heard of the Name of Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters we enjoy the presence of God but there are many who do not know Him yet. When we left the village the whole village came out to say goodbye, begging us to return again and not to forget them. We see many people are hungry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and there are a lot of villages around that area called the Daai region, a very undeveloped and unreached area that is still not penetrated with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Join us to pray that we will be able to raise up more foot soldiers, willing to serve the Lord and bring the Gospel to these remote regions. This year we are sending two of our graduates, Soe Moe Naing and Yo Han to plant churches in the Delta area. Please pray for them that God may use them to Reach, Touch and Transform lives through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Praise God we got back safely to our children and returned to Yangon. I asked my children if they wanted to go next year again and in one union the shout “Yes, please papa.” It was a good exposure for them specially to meet the villagers and learn about their culture and traditions. Though we are all Burmese there are many different tribes, each with its own culture and tradition.  Children also can evangelize to other children.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Prayer Points

1.       Pray for protection for Myanmar’s Christians, especially in the Karen and Kachin States, where they are often targeted by troops and Buddhist nationalists.

2.       Pray for the continued spread of the Gospel across this nation, for freedom to worship for all people, and for many to have life changing encounters with Jesus Christ.

3.       Pray for the Holy Spirit to move over Myanmar, to turn many hearts to the truth of the Gospel and bring transformation to families and communities in this land.

Working with the poorest of the poor / Ps  Paul Silvanus

In the little town of Puzhal in the Chennai district Prabhu lived with his family. His father was a stone mason but he was also an alcoholic and they lived in dire poverty. Prabhu’s father Sekar worked very hard but to ease the tiredness and aches in his body from the physical hard work he drank and eventually found every excuse to drink. Desperate for her family, Prabhu’s mother went out to work as a daily paid labourer, carrying sand and cement bags at a construction site. Eventually Prabhu as the eldest son stopped schooling and started working to help support his family.  While these obstacles shaped Prabhu’s life and circumstances, they taught him that, “poverty doesn’t give you strength or teach you about perseverance. No, poverty only teaches you how to be poor.” This was the simple and brutal realities of his life, and the lives of all the Indians around him.

The abuse of alcohol finally took its toll on Sekar’s body and he fell very ill. Having no money he could only afford the illicit alcohol sold illegally and this burnt his intestines and he was in constant pain, unable to eat. The whole family suffered and it was a dark time for them. One day a Christian family friend came to visit them and he brought with him Ps John Jaya Singh who shared the Gospel with the family and came daily to pray for Prabhu’s father. After a few weeks, Prabhu and his family began to notice that his father was looking better and he was not in constant pain. As the days passed, he began to get stronger and could eat. After a few months Sekar was completely healed and he never went back to drinking alcohol again. There was great rejoicing and the whole family of 5 accepted Jesus and received water baptism.  

One day while praying with the family Ps John turned to Prabhu and told him that Prabhu had a calling on his life to serve God and after praying earnestly he resigned from his job as a mason and he joined a mission training centre. After he graduated he served in the Kanchipuran District and the Lord blessed him with a wife, Jeba Priyam who shared his passion and love for serving the Lord. After serving a year there, he and his wife moved to the Teynampet city slum and started their ministry there. By God’s grace he planted churches in the Teynampet Slum and in the villages of Velcherry and Semmancheri.

 Ps Prabhu and his wife worked in the Slum  Daycare Centres, reaching out to the Dalit children and their families. After school the children come to the centres where they receive help with their school work. The children go to the welfare schools where the standards are far below the normal government schools and the teachers are quiet indifferent to the students because they are Dalit(The outcaste or lowest caste in India’s caste system). There Jeba cooks them a meal, for many their only meal for the day and they are also taught moral and hygiene issues. The parents in the slums are happy to send their children as this keeps them of the streets and from roaming around picking up bad habits and mixing with bad company getting involved in drugs, prostitution and alcohol, a real threat in the slums.

The slums are not an easy place to work. People there live in extreme poverty and are suspicious of everyone believing that no one really cares about them. Life there is a daily fight for survival. They live in some of the most dilapidated conditions in the world, unfit for human habitation by reasons of dilapidation, overcrowding, lack of ventilation or sanitation facility and having drinking water facilities in unhygienic conditions. This is where Ps Prabhu and Jeba chose to serve God and His people.

They have faced many challenges but they have remained steadfast in their love and commitment to the Lord. They have shown love to these unfortunate people going out of their way to lend a hand, asking nothing in return for themselves. This has touched the hearts of the people there and many have been saved through the Gospel, even the most hardened hearts.  Below are some of the testomonies of God’s love through the people who have not only felt but seen God working in their lives.

Saravanan, a high school student, started coming to the Sunday school with his friends and as Ps Prabhu shared the Gospel Saravanan’s heart was changed and he gave his heart to Jesus and accepted Christ. His family is Hindu so he has to remain a secret believer but he has not wavered and remains steadfast.

Muniamma’s husband fell ill and she sought the Hindu mediums for help but none could heal him. Desperate she came to Ps Prabhu to pray for him and God healed him. Today this family has accepted Jesus and been baptised. Miss Sandhya came to work at the Day Care centre as a part time teacher. She experienced the love of God as she worked with Ps Pabhu ans Jeba in the centre and she has been saved.

Ezumalai was a hired killer who had been sent to prison for murder. On his release after serving for many years he had come to live in the slums. The many fights he had in prison had taken a toll on his body and he had come out of prison unable to walk. A Christian friend in the slum began to minister to him urging him to come to church and eventually he agreed to go. There God touched him and transformed him. He repented of his sins and accepted Christ and then God healed him and he was able to stand up and walk- He became a new creation in Christ. What laws and punishment could not achieve the power of Jesus alone did. 

God is using Ps Prabhu and his wife powerfully in the slums and so many lives have been touched and transformed because this couple went where God had called them to go. They did not look at the squalor and dirt all around but what they saw were God’s people hungry for Him and in need of saving.

Romans 10:14-15 “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?  And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Prayer points.

1. Pray for every citizen to be blessed with equal rights and opportunities, not an India which is divided and discriminates on religion, region, caste, class, gender and income.

2. Pray with Christians in India for God’s provision and protection as they preach the gospel in places with anti-conversion laws.

3. Pray for restoration in the relationship of Indian slum dwellers with God, other people and their societies to bring them hope and renewal;