Rice Relief 2009

Many thanks, again, to the CREC congregations in the US who poured out financial support to help relieve the pressing need for rice for our brothers and sisters in CREC Myanmar. After some initial bumps, the delivery of all the rice proceeded smoothly. I’ll let the photos say the most.

Moderators Kee Choi and Ro Zhung prep a rice delivery

Moderator Naing Thang keeping track

Loading up the rice

One of several truckloads

Loaded up and ready to head off

Before the deliveries, the presbyteries met

Delegates worked out details

Villagers welcomed the efforts

Offloading rice for the long walks

CREC members carrying rice to their villages

A long haul for rice

Rice bags arriving home

Naing Thang with CREC folks

Naing Thang hoping the next crops succeed

Weeks later, Naing Thang travels cross country for the Rakhine deliveries

Rakhine CREC folks, taking rice home

Rakhine family receiving its six-month supply

After all the travel, Pastor Naing and Brother Mawng back to work teaching at the Mercy Children's Home in Yangon

Moderators left to right: Elder Kee Choi, Pastor Naing Thang, Pastor Ro Zhung

Pastor Ro Zhung, moderator of Yampa Presbytery sent this:

“I would like to say thank you so much upon you, your friends and your CREC for helping us get rice bags for the year….I got a total of 1092 bags for the Yampa Presbytery Church members and shared that now.”

Elder Kee Choi, moderator of Mawpi Presbytery sent these words:

“I thank God first, you and your friends from CREC for helping us get the 1476 rice bags for the Mawpi Presbytery Church members for the year.”

Christ Church Visit Feb. 2009

It was great to visit our brothers and sisters in Myanmar once again. KC Rumrey and I (Doug Jones) started off our visit by meeting with each of the children at Mercy Children’s Home. Most of them hope to be pastors, and a few would like to go to medical school in the future. As before, representative pastors/elders came down from the north to attend a three-day conference. We started Sunday with a joint worship service, with me preaching, and then successfully completed three days of morning talks on the Sermon on the Mount and the nature of worship. After lunch each day, we received reports from each of the churches and prayed for their needs. We hope we were an encouragement. As always, they encouraged us much more. Please keep these brothers constant in your prayers. I can’t go into details online for security reasons, but feel free to email me for more information. Here are a few photos.

We got a quick visit to the Shwedagon Buddhist Temple area. Here’s KC Rumrey, along with CREC moderators and leaders.

The wonderful children of the Mercy Children’s Home

The kids caught on quickly to the Uno card games we brought.

KC and Naing Thang examine church plant locations.

Naing Thang and I leading in the Lord’s Supper at Sunday worship.

The children’s choir sings during worship.

Morning devotions before the conference lectures.

KC lecturing on worship, with translation by Thang.

Pastors, elders, wives, and  potential church plant visitors listening in.

Doug lecturing on the Sermon on the Mount, with Thang’s help.

Lunchtime, downstairs.

Meeting in a circle after lunch, to hear reports from the churches.

Last day’s worship service.

Conference group photo.

Naing Thang and his wonderful wife, May Swei.

Fruitful Trip to Rakhine State

In December, Pastor Naing Thang traveled west again to Rakhine State to follow-up on his recent visit there to spread the gospel. This time the meetings went even better. The people he had initially contacted went and invited many friends from the surrounding villages to come hear about Christ. They have invited Pastor Naing Thang back again in March, if he can raise the support money. Here are photos from this latest trip.

Christmas Bibles

The children at the Mercy Children’s Home received Bibles in Burmese for Christmas.

Mercy Children Go to the Yangon Zoo!

For some nice relief after the recent tragedies, the children of the Mercy Children’s Home traveled across town to visit the Yangon Zoo in early November.

Recent Requests from Mercy Children’s Home

Generous gifts from you readers enabled the Mercy Children’s Home to acquire all the needs on the prior list, and Pastor Naing Thang expressed his deep thanks.

I recently asked him for a new list of items that we might help procure, and he mentioned that help with following items would be wonderful:

Requests for the Orphanage as of November 2008:

Refrigerator – Done, thanks
Washing Machine – Done, thanks
Filter
Five Computers
Library Books
Two Cabinets
Cupboard
Wall Fans
Iron
Keyboard
Transfomer
New Uniforms

Pastor Naing Thang Opens Doors in Rakhine State

In early October, Pastor Naing Thang traveled to Rakhine State on the west coast of Myanmar on the Bay of Bengal. His aim was to visit villages that have had little contact with the gospel. His goal is to plant a mission church there in time. One family welcomed him and wanted to hear about Christ.

Tragedy at the Mercy Children’s Home

Torrential rains hit Yangon on September 6-7 and flooded the small dorm of the Mercy Children’s Home. The children escaped to Naing Thang’s house, and later they all worked to push out the water and protect the furniture. Several children quickly became ill, including Naing Thang’s own children. They all got checked out at a local clinic, but one young boy, Kyaw Win had to be admitted to the General Hospital, and the Lord took young Kyaw Win home on September 16. This was quite a hard providence for all involved. Please pray for their strength. Everyone else is now healthy.

Our brother Kyaw Win has passed on. But we will see him again.

Please Pray for young Mosi Hung

Good News Update: Pastor Naing reports that Mosi Hung was released from the hospital, yesterday, September 9. Mosi Hung is doing well, but he’s still very weak and needs continued prayer for bodily strength. Many thanks to those who have been praying.
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Pastor Naing Thang informs us that one of the boys — Mosi Hung — at Mercy Children’s Home, has been admitted to the local (risky) hospital with a serious stomach ailment. Please lift him up in your prayers.

Donations at Work for the Mercy Children’s Home

Many thanks to those of you who have contributed recently to the Mercy Children’s Home. A wonderfully generous friend in Texas supplied funds for MCH to purchase that electric generator they’ve needed for so long (electricity is sporadic there).

I wanted us to see the faces of the helpers who serve so diligently, day and night, at MCH. Here they are:

In that center row, from left to right are the women who work so hard at MCH with Naing Thang: Miss Ling Hlue, Miss Mawite, Naing Thang and daughter Ruth, Naing Thang’s wife, May Swei, with son Abraham, Miss Naing Young, and Miss Miriam.

Many, many thanks to these women. May the Lord bless you all beyond your expectations.

The children had no place to put their clothes. Donations made these boxes possible. Thanks donors.

A local Moscow family donated some clothes to the MCH children, and we sent off a small box to test the delivery system. The box got through, though the shipping cost was prohibitive for regular shipments. We’re still looking for other ways to get clothing directly through to MCH. Thank you donors!