It has been almost a month since I have blogged. So much has
been happening here and I am excited to share it with you.
Soon after I posted my last blog I celebrated my 22nd
birthday. I had a wonderful day filled with fun and friends. I was reminded
once again of how incredibly blessed my life is. Also on my birthday I received
a wonderful gift from Erin- my very own local name. My new name is “Phyu Sin,”
which means “purity.” This is not to be confused with the local name “Sin Phyu,” which means a
much less flattering “white elephant.”
The next week I headed north in our country for a solo trip
to visit the water filtration business I am doing web design for. I had a great
trip working on language, working hard on the farm, and getting more
information and pictures for the new site. While there I made some new friends,
young and old. One of my friends, DJ, * was sharing with me about her life and
how she came to be in The Family. Her story was amazing, filled with the
faithfulness of the Father. Now, she lives and works on the business’ farm with
her husband and little girl. They often spend time in the village sharing the
Truth with their lost neighbors but so far none have found the Father. She
explained that many of them work each day for just enough food to feed their
families. Most of them are too caught up in earthly worries to care much about
spiritual truths. Will you join me and DJ in talking to the Father about these
lost villagers? Ask that they will be filled with a curious spirit that seeks
to find the real Bread of Life and Living Water.
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| My friend DJ sharing at a local fellowship |
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| Some of our students on a recent trip to the park! |
We have started several new ministry projects in several
different parts of the city. The first is a small group that meets once a week
on Monday nights. This past Monday was our first time together and we had about
nine friends from around the city come. Each week we will do a short English
lesson based on a story from the Good Book, share testimony, and spend time
learning about each other. The group is very diverse with both like-minded and
non-like-minded friends present. Our hope is that the group will provide
encouragement to the believers to bring and share with their lost friends and
will allow Leah and I a great place to share about the Truth. We have no idea
what this small group will bring but are confident that the Father has led us
to it. Please lift us, and our group, up as we seek to be obedient.
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| Some of our new friends that attend our Monday night group. |
One very important friend we have made over the past few
months is Mary Beth*. Mary Beth lives close to Erin and they have been friends
for several years now. She runs a salon and is incredibly talented when it
comes to nail art. Through her friendship with Erin she has heard the Good News
but has still not believed. About once a week, Leah, Erin, and I go to Mary
Beth’s shop to get our nails done, hang out, and talk. Mary Beth doesn’t speak
English but Erin has been able to act as our translator for our times together.
We have gotten to be good friends and have been able to share that we, along
with Erin, are believers in the Good Book. Our friendship has grown and this
past Monday she took part in our small group. She has now heard our personal
stories and will be hearing a part of the Good Book each week. Please lift up
our friendship with her- that it might continue to grow and give us a platform
from which to speak Truth. Ask the Father that He might place within her an
open heart and mind for the Good News.
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| Mary Beth, Leah, Me, and Nancy at Mary Beth's salon. |
Another friend we have made also works in a salon close to
our house. Her name is DeeDee* and she is married with her first child on the
way. Both her and her husbands are followers of the main religion. She speaks
very little English and has never heard of the Father or the Son. She, along
with the family at the bike shop, the fruit stand, our longyi shop, and the
restaurant we frequent are all locals with whom we are seeking opportunities to
share with. Each of these groups of people is lost and has never heard the
Truth. They also speak no English, so we are struggling to share with them
beyond the simple phrase that we are Followers of the Son. Please continue to
lift up our language learning as we work on translating and learning our
personal stories of faith. We are eager to add this important piece of sharing
into our language arsenal!
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| Our friends at the longyi shop with Leah and I in our first full Burmese outfits! |
The second new ministry we have begun to take part in is a
weekly English study time in a village on the outskirts of our city. For this
ministry we are partnering with our friend Pam that I shared about last time.
She gathers several university students each week and we teach English through
stories found in the Good Book. One of the students in particular, Mona*, has
expressed a lot of interest in joining the Family! She has not yet fully
committed but continues to ask many good questions about the faith both during
and after class. Mona comes from a Hindu family and has 12 bothers and sisters!
Often times having a non-believing family can be a difficult barrier for
seekers in our country to overcome. Please lift up this young woman as she
seeks the Truth.
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| Our Students! |
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| Mona is the young woman in the middle in the navy shirt. |
In this same village is another family we will visit
regularly. The father of the family, Uncle O*, has an amazing story. Less than
a year ago he was a drunk with very poor health. He developed diabetes and had
to go to the hospital. There the doctors told him that they would need to
amputate his legs. That night the Father’s helper spoke to him and told Uncle O
he needed to follow the true Way. Now, he is a part of The Family! He has
stopped drinking and asks the Father everyday to help him lead his family
according to the Good Book. His wife, however, Aunt T* has yet to believe. She
has heard the Truth many times and even goes to fellowship with Uncle O, but
she is resistant to fully believing. The same is true for their son, Thad. *
Please join our whole team here and Uncle O in asking the Father to intercede
in this situation. Ask for conviction and calling for Aunt T and Thad- that our
Family might grow!
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| Uncle O, Aunt T, and Cousin Thad with our supervisor's family. |
Cultural Corner: Many people back home have expressed
curiosity in the food here, so I thought I would share about it some in our
cultural corner. The food here is very tasty 95% of the time! There is very
little that I do not like or even love to eat. That said, it is also very
different from our food in America. The staple food here is rice. For many, a
meal is not complete without it and some even think that it is impossible to
get full without eating rice or at least noodles. When they hear that in
America we often go days without eating either they are amazed. The most common
meats here are chicken, fish, and pork. Usually the meat is cooked in a curry
or on a stick. It tastes very good but feelings about bones and fat are different
here so one must be careful when biting into a large piece of meat.
Some of my favorite dishes here include: lephet-tho, Shan
kaw sway, ohno kaw sway, and mohinga. Lephet-tho is a salad dish made from
cabbage, fried bean snack, tomatoes, onion, oil, and pickled tea leaves. It is
the perfect combination of spice and crunch! Shan kaw sway is a noodle dish
that is also a little spicy and usually served with chicken. Ohno kaw saw is
another noodle dish that is often eaten in the morning. It is made with coconut
milk and is on the sweeter side. Mohinga is a very traditional dish and many
local people will name it as their favorite. It is a breakfast soup of sorts
made with noodles, eggs, cilantro, fish paste, and chili. It is delicious and
thankfully not fishy tasting at all!
To drink we mostly have water but coffee mix, Coca Cola and
orange soda are popular choices for the locals. My favorite local drinks are lime
juice and laphet-yee. Here they make fresh lime juice mixed with a little sugar
water as a tasty refreshing drink. Laphet-yee is regular hot black tea mixed
with a large amount of sweetened condensed milk and sugar.
As I mentioned most of the food here is extremely tasty and
usually very cheap. There are however, a few new dishes that made the list of
most interesting foods I’ve ever eaten. These include chicken neck on a stick
and chicken foot. They both tasted surprisingly ok but the texture took a
little more getting used to. Luckily, these are more special foods and not ones
we encounter on a regular basis.
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| Chicken Feet- Yum! |
Regardless of where or what we eat it is always an
adventure. I have very much enjoyed tasting so much of what this country has to
offer. Now the next step is just learning how to cook it all!
Conclusion: I hope
you have enjoyed reading about what Leah and I are up to here in SEA. Sometimes
it is difficult to cut down all of the new experiences and amazing things that
happen into a reasonable blog post, so bear with me if you find mine a little
long!
I also hope that through this blog it is clear that the
Father is working in this place. His words are true that the harvest is
plentiful but the workers are few. Please continue to lift up Leah, myself, and
our supervisors as we seek to wisely invest our time and effort in the people here.
Speak to the Father on behalf of the people here and ask that His light will pervade
the darkness that millions still live in. It is only through His power that the
world will hear the Good News.
