Burma  February 22-March 8

The presence of Christians in the kingdom of Malea (North Burma) in the ninth century is recorded along with other south Asia centers by Didacus de Couto. It should be remembered that Marco Polo discovered Nestorian Christians amongst the Shans when the Mongol armies entered Burma in 1252. The first American foreign missionary, Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann, arrived around 1812. And now here we are long years later, and the work is still there. Some things don’t change – the barefoot monks are still trudging about with their begging bowls. Some things do change – the traffic is heavier, construction is going forward and while when the new democracy began lately the prices went up, they are stabilized now. But one thing does not change – the need for the Gospel.

Our work in Yangon is with Pastor Charles Edwards. His son Sam, 22, wants to be a pastor, so that now we are praying about how that could come about. I was able to visit around to some of the stations and people. Some examples of the visiting follow.

• At a Karen(tribe in Myanmar) pastor’s house I said we were Lutheran and wanted them to be Lutheran and I would be back next year to see.
• We prayed at the home of a Tamil(originally from India) member whose 17 year old had recently died.
• We prayed at a Karen widow’s house we met her children and prayed for God’s blessings on her son and his new wife of two weeks.
• Stopped in at a Baptist’s and tried to show him that immersion is not the only way.
• I had devotions at three places, one where there were over thirty children.
• Visited various individuals beyond these and in nearly every case we prayed at each home.
• Prayed over an 80 year old about ready to be with the Lord.
• Two services on Sunday.

Pastor Edwards keeps busy preaching as his schedule below shows.
His Stations:

• Hlaing Thar Yar is where he has his home, church building and attendance between 70-100 preaching each Sunday.
• Bogalay is 180 miles away and he preaches there once every two months.
• Oakan is 80 miles away and he preaches there once every two months or more if he can.
• Shwephyther is where he preaches twice a month.
• Kyawin’s house is where he preaches twice a month.
• 86th bus gate is where he preaches weekly. Todd baptized some from there last year.
• Thingangyum is where he preaches once a month.

At our seminars the following was taught: An Overview of John’s Gospel, Ps. 23, Six Chapters in Daniel, Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience, Understanding Prophecy, 16 Prophets, Baptism, Communion, Christ the Anointed One, John 19 and Zechariah Messianic Prophecies.

At Kalay I taught the same things and we had generally 85 in attendance. I preached at four services with the same attendance.
The big consideration for our brothers here is to move from rented quarters to building on the land we purchased. Pastors Thang and Kham head the church.

One of the orphans Kham and his wife care for, Zokim, required surgery to remove her appendix. This was done during the seminar times and she is recovering in the hospital for maybe two weeks.

The ZLCM Pastor Cin Lian Mung went with the Lord rest in peace in January at Chin State. He was suffering his bodily pain scar cancer. Each pastor serves 5-6 congregations and is assisted by a travelling evangelist.