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.