Burma Trip 2012 Final Report

Dear family members and friends,

Now that I have finished a week at work after my return from Burma this past Sunday evening, I will attempt to describe some of the events from the trip where God was more than gracious in enabling us to again serve and witness to the poor. This being the fifth time I have had the opportunity to travel to this country allows me to see the changes that the Lord is allowing to occur that just might help to open up more remote areas to the spreading of the gospel. Please pray that the promised general election might actually take place and that the people’s choice for leader would be allowed to take office this time. 

Our team of 10 spent most of the time in two different areas of Karen State in eastern 

Burma, one of which we have visited the past two years and have continued to see the church grow from 12 to what the pastor says is an overflowing capacity on Sundays. The other area was a Christian community of around 325 surrounded by thousands of believers in either Buddhism, animism or a combination of the two. Here is where one of the leaders of a religious sect of Buddhism approached me because they have a legend  that included the prophecy of a “white skin” returning from over the seas to share the true knowledge of God from the “Golden Book”. Thus upon hearing that I had come from America, he came to hear what I could tell him. After presenting the story of salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ alone and answering some of his questions he agreed to commit his life to Christ and tell others of his sect the story I had shared with him. Please pray that he will also begin coming to the fellowship of Christians in that area as the pastor will follow up with him and make the invitation.

After one of my presentations I made the usual offer to pray with anyone who had a need and one who came forward was a tiny, beautiful 14 year old girl sobbing with tears running down her cheeks. She expressed how happy she was to now know that her sins were forgiven, but was sad that her parents had not been able to hear the same story of Jesus since they were working. We gave her a booklet that would help her tell her parents what I had shared with her when she got home and prayed with her that they too would be receptive of the good news. She wanted so much for them to also be assured of life in heaven with her when they died.

Another young 22 year old Buddhist man I met was mostly bed ridden because of terrific pain in his back that was probably from tuberculosis of the spine. I went with my translator to the house where he was staying with his mother and shared the gospel. Upon inviting him to then receive Christ as his Lord and Savior he said he believed everything I told him, but was afraid to pray to Jesus because he did not know who would then take care of him since his mother would probably abandon him. I simply said that God would also never allow him to enter his home in heaven unless he came though faith in His son. He had been sitting up in a chair near his bed and appeared in a lot  of pain so I asked if I could help him get back in bed, which he agreed to let me do. I lifted him up from the chair and laid him in bed with much care and began to feel such a love in my heart for this young man who was suffering so much. We looked into each other’s eyes and with tears beginning to flow he said he wanted to pray to receive Christ. I began to cry as well and held him gently, but firmly and prayed with him to receive salvation and the promise to be healed completely if not now in this world certainly in the world to come.

I was able again to meet with several Buddhist monks individually so I could not only share the gospel with them, but to hear their stories as well. One 65 year old said he had become a monk in order to do enough good things to hopefully enter heaven when he died. I said that according the Holy Bible, the book of truth, he really had no hope at all of achieving God’s acceptance to heaven because God demanded perfection. However, the good news was that those who have trusted Christ, the only perfect God-man, would have his record credited to their account and then granted their desire to be with God in his heaven forever. He had doubted the Christian way because he had not known exactly what it was and now learning what he had he now wanted to pray for God to forgive him and believe in Jesus for his salvation. I then gave him the new name Thomas as he took the cross I was wearing around my neck and mentioned that one of the disciples of Jesus was also known as a doubter, but later he boldly shared the story with others as far as India. To another monk I gave the name Andrew since I said he must now bring many other of his fellow monks to meet Jesus through the story I had shared with him.  

It’s quite difficult to adequately describe the joy and excitement we all felt seeing so many eagerly listening, through translation of course, to the news of Jesus Christ for the very first time. Besides over 1,500 patient visits for either medical, dental, or optical care I had the privilege of sharing from the Bible with around 600 of which about 80% had no idea who Jesus was nor what Christmas meant even though they knew about that special holiday.

Thank you all for your prayer support, which I firmly believe God used to make our trip as successful as it was in sharing the love and word of Christ with those from a very different culture and worldview. We must continue to pray even now that we are back home that the seed that was sown would remain, grow, and bear much fruit for the kingdom of God in Burma, “The Golden Land”. 

Shwedagon Pagoda covered with gold plates and 325 feet high.

Closeup of Shwedagon Pagoda originally built about 2,500 years ago

Inside Shwedagon Pagoda courtyard

Village on the bank of river

Typical rural kitchen

Kitchen stove

Collecting Rubber Sap

77 year old Buddhist monk

Village children happy to receive toys

65 year old Buddhist monk renamed Thomas

Buddhist monk renamed Andrew

Karen group after hearing the gospel in a bedroom

Consulting doctors with treatment options limited

14 year old girl desiring prayer for parents to trust in Jesus

Dental clinic set-up

Reception area outside church

One of many asking for prayer for loved ones and personal needs

John Malfinga, my Burmese translator

Affirmative response to the gospe

Washing dishes with pigs nearby as organic garbage disposals

Buddhist shrine at hot and cold water springs in Karen State

Buddhist shrine idol

Long boats for transport of rice and vegetables to market

Cruising down the river.

Washing clothes at the riverside

Shrine in an air-conditioned room

Water-Lily

Zwekabin mountain with pagoda on its peak

Zwekabin mountain with pagoda on its peak

Ready to sing "Jesus Loves Me"

Our clinic set-up in the local church

Rural well for drinking and bathing

Karen church established 1983

Jungle-like setting of church community

Wood structure house on stilts for flood season protection

Thatched roof home

Tumors prepared for surgical removal

Our typical lunch menu- rice, potatoes, corn, chicken, cutties, and papaya

Pork preparation

Large stir-fry

Gourd chopping for stir-fry entree

Religious leader seeking "white-skin" to share from the "Golden Book"

Nelson Oo, My Karen translator

More children eager to receive a toy animal or tennis ball

Our Health Teams International group

Oxen powered cart still often used after hundreds of years

Betel nut preparation used by many leaving the teeth black and gums red and swollen

People's choice for new leader Aung San Suu Kyi- "Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential."