Update from Myanmar

Saturday, January 25, 2014.

I got up at 5 am this morning. I had a pretty good nights rest and was ready for the day. It will be a short day for us. The conference leaders decided to end the conference at noon today in order to let everyone go back to their homes and prepare for their Saturday evening services. I will finish up between 8-10 am. We will then eat lunch from 10-10:30 am and after that, Dale will have until noon to do his last session.

This morning as we arrived the ladies brought Dale and I a cup of coffee. We sat down and several men came to talk with us. They told us that they really enjoyed our teaching. One young pastor, in particular, told us how much he had learned that he can take back and put into practice.

During my session this morning I reviewed the key concepts with them to make sure that they fully understood what leading like Jesus is about. I basically gave them the "cliff notes" version and it took me about 1 1/2 hours. I then took 10 minutes or so to go over the Next Steps that they could take to continue their journey to become leaders that lead like Jesus. I then opened the floor for questions. Probably a mistake on my part?

The first person that stood to ask a question took about 5 minutes to state his question. Of course, I could not understand what he was saying but I realized he was doing more than just asking a question. As it turned out, he was trying to prove a point. His question was "theoretical" and had to do more with doctrine than with leadership. In answering his question, I started out by telling him that it really didn't apply to leadership but that since we had some time that I would give him my thoughts on it. I think my answer satisfied him but it did eat up most of the remaining time that I had. I then finished up by talking about how Jesus washed the disciples feet as an example for us of what it means to be a servant leader and then read the scripture to them from John 13. After this, I commissioned them to go and "lead like Jesus" and concluded with a prayer.

Overall, my time here has been well spent. However, just like in Uganda during my first two trips there, most of the men and women that attended will probably never use what they've been taught. But, I believe a few will, so all in all I think that our time, money, and effort has not been wasted. Plus, I may have planted some seeds in the minds of some of the younger pastors and leaders that might bring about some changes that would allow me to come back and invest in a few leaders who would be able to develop others like Jesus did. Only The Lord knows for sure. So, we will see.

At noon, we went back to the hotel to rest and get ready to speak at one of the local churches this evening. We departed the hotel at 3 pm for the church. To get there, we had to go through two check points that were set up by the police and had to cross a massive bridge over a river. When we arrived at Mai Na Christian Church, the pastor and several elders met us and took us to their equivalent of a fellowship hall (a pole barn type structure with a tin roof and a concrete floor). There they had a couple of tables and 8-10 chairs that were set up. As soon as we sat down, several women from the church began bringing us food. This confused both Dale and I because we thought we were supposed to speak first and then eat dinner with them. Guess not?

The food was fantastic! They had the traditional type dishes of rice, pork, and chicken, as well as soup, greens, and other vegetables.  But, what was different here was the dipping sauce and the squash, okra, and green beans (which were just slightly cooked). I asked them about the sauce and one of the men who spoke good english told us it was for dipping the vegetables in. So, I tried it and it was very, very good! The sauce had sort of a vinegar taste and had some things in it that looked like parsley, onions, greens, and cooked cabbage. Once again, I ate way too much. I was stuffed!

The evening service started at 4:30 pm and lasted for 2 1/2 hours. Lazarus, Dale, and I took turns speaking. I spoke on the "5 Things that God uses to grow our Faith" and took about 40 minutes (which was way too long). Dale spoke for about 50 minutes and Lazarus spoke for 25 minutes. After the service was over, we asked several of the elders if we were too long and they said no. Other than a couple of mothers who got up to take out crying babies, no one left early. So, I guess we did OK? They thanked us and one gentleman told us that the people really need deeper teaching and they are "like little birds in the nest who open their mouths to be fed".

When we got up to leave after the service was over, they asked us to line up at the door to shake everyone's hand. The people all lined up and and filed by to shake our hands and say "Wak wa" which is the traditional Lisu greeting and means "blessings to you".

After this, we said our goodbyes and started the drive back to our hotel. When we got back to the bridge (which is about a 1/4 mile from the church) we had to stop at the checkpoint this time through. When the officer saw me (a foreigner) in the front seat he became very upset. He ordered Lazarus to pull over. He then started to ask us questions of who we were, where we had been, etc. Finally, Lazarus got him to calm down and he explained to him that we had just attended a church service and was now on our way back to our hotel. The officer told us that we had crossed into an area that was off limits to foreigners. He told us that it was not a problem but that he needed to see our passports, record our information in his log, and report to his superiors. After about 10 minutes or so, the officer came back and gave us back our passports. We thanked him for being so understanding and then we drove off.

After we got back to the hotel, we realized what we had done and the possible trouble that we could have gotten ourselves into. Lazarus was unaware of this policy and so were we. We learned that if the officer had been a "by the book" type of person that he could have arrested us and had us thrown in jail! Evidently, there is a heavy fine, possible jail time, and even being expelled from the country as possible penalties for violating their policy. Thank you Lord for the officer at this particular checkpoint. He could have arrested us or he might even have asked for a bribe (which often happens), but he really was a nice man who was fair and understanding about the mistake we made.

Tomorrow, we are off at 7:30 am to go to church. Dale will preach at the 8 am service. I will then speak at the 11 am service at a different church, and then both of us will speak at a Sunday evening service at a third church. It will be a busy day for sure. I hope we don't have to eat a meal at every church?


Sunday, January 26, 2014.

We left this morning for church at 7:15 am. This first church was only located a few miles from our hotel so it did not take us but about 15 minutes or so to get there. When we arrived at the Sin Kyun Christian church the doors and windows were open and the pastor and several elders were there to meet us. They offered us some tea and fruit and we sat and talked for several minutes.

The service started promptly at 8 am. There were about 50 people in attendance and probably two thirds of those were women. Dale preached on the Beatitudes. Lazarus also spoke to them. With the singing and preaching the service lasted for two hours.

Our next stop was to go to the Pa Ma Di Christian Church which was located on the other side of the city. This was a large church (at least by Myanmar standards). The pastor's house (parsonage) was really nice and very large. They had a building for the sanctuary and a separate building for Sunday school and other church activities. We arrived there at 10:30 am and the first thing that we did was to eat lunch. The pastor's wife and several other ladies served us a very big meal. The food, once again, was excellent. I was stuffed and had to speak! Not good.

Following lunch, we walked over to the sanctuary. They had a very large crowd waiting for us. I would estimate maybe 350-400? The song service was great! It was good to hear them sing the old hymns in their language and be able to sing along with them (in english, of course). At this church, I spoke on the "Four Responsibilities of a Spiritual leader" (from John 17) and emphasized being a spiritual leader in the home. It took me almost an hour. Lazarus then spoke for about 25 minutes. Once again, this service lasted for about 2 hours. When that service was over we went back to the hotel to rest a few hours before the evening service where Dale and I would both be speaking.

We left the hotel for the Zion Christian Church at 3:30 pm and arrived at the pastor's home a little before 4 pm. This church is led by Pastor Timothy who is 86 years old. His daughter, who lives with him and takes care of him since his wife passed away a few years ago, fixed us a small snack before we went over to the church.

Here we learned that Pastor Timothy, along with a group of 10 other Lisu families, moved down to Myitkyina from Putao about 10 years ago and started this church. They now have 27 families that attend there. (Interestingly, they do not count individuals, they only count the number of families they have) Lazarus estimated the size of the church to be about 120-125 individual members (women, men, children).

The evening worship service started at 4:30 pm. They sang a couple of songs and then had the children's choir sing a couple of songs. This was followed by the teenagers who also sang a song. Finally, their women's choir sang for us. (They told us that the women's choir won first place at their convention in 2013 and they were obviously very proud of them!)

I spoke first and opened my remarks by telling them that I had learned three things while in Myitkyina about the Lisu people. First, their women are very good cooks. Second, they can really sing, and third, they really love The Lord. I spoke of the "Five things that God uses to grow your Faith". Dale spoke after I did and talked about the Sermon on the Mount. After Dale, Lazarus also preached. The service lasted a little longer than 2 hours.

While Dale and Lazarus were speaking, I was sitting on the front row fighting mosquitos! I did get bit once on the left elbow and I think this was the first time that I was bitten by a mosquito during the whole trip thus far.

At the conclusion of the service, Pastor Timothy thanked us for coming from the US to teach them. He praised our teaching and told us that they all had learned so much. He then told us that he did not need a picture of us because God had already placed a picture of us on his heart. It was a very touching moment for both Dale and I.

Pastor Timothy is a faithful man of God and a true servant leader. I'm very grateful that God brought us together. His example teaches me a lot about "finishing well". He is 86 years old and still pastoring a church. But, he has equipped and trained his successor, Pastor David, who is his assistant pastor as well as a number of elders and other leaders. They now do almost all of the ministry and lead the worship services, of course, under his watchful eye. What a great example of servant leadership!

After the service was over, we went back to Pastor Timothy's home where his daughter fixed us another great meal. Then, we returned to our hotel. It had been a very long day and we were very tired, but it had also been a very rewarding one. Tomorrow (Monday), we are off sightseeing and to get some much needed rest.

Monday, January 27, 2014.

This morning we were to meet Lazarus at 7 am for breakfast, as we had done every morning of our trip. Dale and I got to the restaurant at 6:50 am and by 7:10, Lazarus had still not showed up. So, I went down stairs and knocked on his door. He said he had overslept but was now almost ready. This was a first. Lazarus was always on time, if not early, to everything we did.

After breakfast, we went over to Lazarus' brother Isaiah's home. Isaiah is the director of the China Border Training Center. There we talked with him about his work at the training center and some of the needs they have. The school did not meet last year due to the civil war that had flared up in the area around the center. During the fighting, the building that houses all of their classrooms was destroyed.

Isaiah also wanted to talk about several doctrinal issues that the churches in China have. The issues mostly relate to some confusion that has been caused among some of the churches over the doctrines of predestination and "once in grace, always in grace". We had a very good discussion with them on these two topics.

After that, they took a lot of pictures of us with the various men and women. I sort of felt like some sort of celebrity. But, I guess they don't see Americans very often in Myitkyina. We then walked across the street and visited their church. Some men from the church were building some folding tables and new church pews. It was interesting to watch them work.

Then, we were off sightseeing. Lazarus took us to where the Irrwaddy River begins. It is the longest river in Myanmar and runs from the north to the south. It divides the country right down the middle. It took us about 90 minutes or so to get there. Most of the drive was over very good roads and the scenery was beautiful, especially as we got closer to the mountains (which separate Myanmar from China). But, about three-fourths of the way the road changed. From there it was a gravel road that was only one lane and it was under construction in many places. We almost got stuck once when we had to drive around a bridge/culvert that was being worked on. Dale and I both were praying that the car wouldn't break down or have a flat tire.

Eventually, we made it to our destination. At the site where the two rivers come together they had built a Buddhist temple (pagoda) and there were several shops and restaurants there. So, the first thing we did was to eat lunch. After lunch, we walked down to the river, took a few pictures, watched as a couple of men panned for gold, and then walked back up to the car for the return trip to Myitkyina. I'm not sure how close we were to China, but it must have been only a few miles from where we were?

When we got back to town, we stopped at the Kachin Cultural Center and Park and took a few pictures. From there, it was back to the hotel. When we got back to our room the power was off and the room was very hot. So, Dale and I decided to explore some of the neighborhood shops. We walked around and looked at the things they were selling, which was everything from fruit, to food, to plastic chairs, to blankets, hardware, and anything you might want. We did stop at a restaurant to drink a coke and a sprite before going back to the hotel.

OK! What's up with the power? When we came back from sightseeing at around 2 pm the power was off. It is now 5 pm and the power keeps coming on for about 5-10 minutes, then goes off for 30 or so minutes before coming back on and going off again. We have a had a few issues with the power during our trip but today is the worst. Finally, the power came back on at about 6:30 pm and stayed on.

Tomorrow, we have some time to rest and relax before catching our flight back to Yangon.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014.

We got up at 5:30 am, ate breakfast with Lazarus at 7 am and went back to our room to relax for the morning. Lazarus had some things to take care of with his brother Isaiah, so Dale and I stayed at our hotel and rested, read, and packed our suitcases for our 5:30 pm flight back to Yangon.

At 3 pam, just as we were getting ready to check out of the hotel, Pastor Timothy and Lazarus' nephew, Dee Dee, paid us a visit to say goodbye. What a pleasant surprise!

We finally checked out of our hotel at 3:30 pm and left for the airport. We had stayed there for seven nights and our bill (for both of us) came to only $210 US, or $105 a piece! Not the greatest hotel that I've ever stayed in, but not the worst either. And, the price was pretty inexpensive.

When we got to the airport we found out that our flight was delayed for "at least" two hours. The airline people couldn't tell us the reason for the delay. We were able to check-in and get our boarding passes. Then, we drove a short distance to a nice restaurant for dinner.

Our flight finally departed at around 8 pm and arrived in Yangon at 10:30 pm. Getting our bags was quite an ordeal. Once the bags were unloaded from the plane and brought to the terminal building, it was utter chaos! People just swarmed the baggage trucks and were just throwing bags around, and were pushing and shoving trying to find their bags. It was a mad house! Fortunately, we had no problem locating our bags and with a little patience we made it out of there without getting run over by the mob.

We then went outside and caught a taxi to take us to Hotel Ruby for our last night's stay in Myanmar. Once there, we checked in, took our bags to the room and thank the good Lord, were able to get on the internet and send a note back home.

On Wednesday, we will do some sightseeing and shopping in Yangon and then at 11:55 pm we will board a plane for the trip back to the US.

Note: Tomorrow, I will post my last report on our Myanmar trip and share with you some of the lessons we learned. Thanks so much for your prayers of support and encouragement.

Blessings!

Fred


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