Trip to Yangon, Myanmar 21-25 Sep 14

Introduction

Praise God for another wonderful trip to Yangon, Myanmar. Bro Samuel came on this trip and it this was his first mission trip.

Objectives

The objective of the trip was to teach the first batch of church planters on the following:

• Leadership Principles by myself   
• Discipleship by Bro Samuel

Arrival

We arrived Yangon on schedule and went straight to Adonai City Church where Pastor John Phongshah is pastoring. I shared the Word briefly and we had a time of warm fellowship with the members.

 

Children’s Home

After lunch we went to visit the Hlawga Children's Home, located about an hour's drive from Yangon in a village. About 13 children are being housed in the Home. Pst John explained that the purpose of this Home is to take care of children of missionaries who are serving in remote parts of Myanmar. There are no good schools in the mission field and the Home provides an environment where the children will get both secular and spiritual education. These kids are destined to become future missionaries and hence this is a worthwhile project, Pst John said. The home also has a few orphans who have been abandoned.

Although the Home did not have many facilities the children were happy and greeted us with a smile. We gave them some gifts which were sponsored by well wishes from Singapore.  You must see the joy on the children's faces when the received the gifts.

Bro Samuel and I felt that something should be done to upgrade the facilities in the Home.

 

Teaching church planters

The next three days were spent in the Myanmar Theological Training Centre. The church planters were happy to see us. As we taught our subjects, we noticed how the Holy Spirit was dealing with the students. There was hunger and thirst for the Word, wanting to know more and to be filled by the power of the Holy Spirit. The students have also become more bold in asking questions. We were also given the opportunity to share in the chapel services as well where the whole student body was gathered. 

On 24 Sep, Bro James and Bro Chew KK arrived Yangon. They will conduct their classes on Spiritual Authority till Sunday 28 Sep.

      Observations/Follow-up actions·      

•  There is a great need and opportunity in Myanmar for teaching, discipleship and church planting. “The harvest indeed is ripe but labourers are few”. We need to pray for more trainers and people with passion to equip local Christians  in Myanmar with the tools and handles for evangelism and discipleship. 
• There is also a great opportunity to work amongst children. Hundreds of orphans are taken in by the monks and trained in the ways of Buddhism. There are opportunities for Christians to do the same but sadly no takers. 
• Church planters have been tasked to write down their vision. 
• They have been told to seek the Lord for the area where they want to start a church 
• The next phase is to raise support for these church planters. We are looking at Sing $100 for the next three years. Pst John Phongshar will be the key man on the ground monitoring and providing feedback on the progress. 
• Certainly help is needed for the Children’s Home in Hlawga. Bro James is expected to visit the Home this weekend. Will wait for his feedback. 
• We should also look at our own missionaries’ children and see if their educational needs are taken care of, especially those missionaries working in remote areas. A Home, like the Hlawga Home, is a good investment.

Conclusion
 

Things are taking shape. We see the hand of God in all the connections. The students are expected to graduate in Jan 15. We believe God will help these men and woman to pioneer new churches in Myanmar. Another new beginning and another new milestone for the Kingdom.