Volume 1, Issue 7

April

2003

Dear brothers and sisters, Greetings to you again from Myanmar. It has been almost nine months since we arrived in Myanmar and started the ministry. To this point, Acha and I are well-readjusted but the children are still struggling. From time to time, they mention to us how much they miss the USA. Sarah is going into the ninth grade, Paul into the fifth grade, Rachel into the second grade and Elizabeth into pre-school this June (fall season for us). Thank you very much for making it possible to further their education in the International school. They are very excited to return to the USA for their college education after high school is done and come back to Myanmar to work for the Lord. We continue to stir in them a vision for their role in ministry here, which they are open to. The End of the First Semester We are experiencing a hot summer, which reached over one hundred degrees. No school is open during this time except our school. We are truly blessed to have air-conditioners in both classes ( Graduate and UnderGraduate), otherwise there could be no way to teach during the summertime. The first semester is coming to an end; we had a fruitful and successful semester. Neither teachers nor students were sick during the semester to the point of missing class. This week (April 14-18 is the Burmese Water Festival) and preparation week for the final papers and exams. May is the only month of summer break for the YCCS. The second semester, the regular fall semester, will begin the first week of June. The next academic year will end in February 2004 and the summer holiday will be from March to May, i.e., the regular summer holiday. (The traditional Fall semester in Myanmar starts in June and we presently rent are full with current students. We desperately need another dorm for the new students in June. We need picture 1 $200 in monthly support for this rent. Please pray for this. After the semester has ended, a few students plan to return home. Most of them will remain at the school due to transportation difficulty and limited time. We have found that our small library The YCCS students during the first is extremely helpful but still we are lacksemester. They are from different ing materials for some particular assignnational groups representing differ- ment papers. We need to add more books ent denominations. to the library. We have a list of needed book resources. We wonder if our sponthe school year ends in February). sors would consider purchasing ten As we reported to you before, books each? We are planning to provide about ten more graduate students are each church a list of those specific books coming to YCCS in June. They are with detailed information. Thank you in from Kaya, Badaung, Naga, Ah Kha, advance for considering this! Kachin, Rakaing, Chin, and Karen national groups. When you add the present Lisu, Rawang, and Burmese, you can see eleven national groups are studying at YCCS. All the dormitories of a church there. We have already purchased a small land plot, 60 X 80 feet, from one of the converts for which he charged us only $60. Actually the land is of much greater value, but the difference was partly his contribution to the ministry. The cost for constructing the church building will be $1500. [A new church building for $1599! WOW!] Although we have not yet received any designated contribution(s), we have laid the foundation and the construction could be completed by the end of May. Currently, the twenty converts worship at homes. With a church building not only would they have a place to worship but spreading the gospel would be greatly enhanced.

Church Planting Program in Yangon We are also involved as witnesses to Christ in the Yangon area. The purpose is to tell about Jesus Christ and plant a church wherever Christ is accepted as Savior and Lord. As we reported to you before, we started this ministry by opening free tuition classes for grades 5th-8th in the Buddhist community. That is part of our demonstration of the love of Christ to the people. The YCCS students volunteered for this cause. This created a great opportunity to witness for Christ not only to the children but also to their parents. To this point, twenty lost souls were led to Christ and establishment

One of our converts said that some villagers had previously heard the gospel message but they never matured due to a lack of further spiritual nourishment. No church was ever planted in this area before. Our new church is the first one and will serve as a bridging point to the community for further spreading of the gospel, providing spiritual nourishment for the new converts., and make a physical presence.

Here the YCCS students were making a stage for one of the open air preaching programs in Yangon.

We have been privileged with invitations to visit some of the homes of the new converts. The parents requested that we pray for them. On April 13, sixteen of us from YCCS went to visit a Buddhist family. One of the family members accepted Christ in January. We held a worship service at their home with singing, prayers, and preaching from the Bible. The parents and the rest of the family members expressed their willingness to hear more about Jesus Christ. We will continue to follow up with them until they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. We will continue to open free tuition classes from 5th grade to 8th grade starting this coming June. The YCCS students have committed to the cause of this ministry. This ministry involves not only teaching free tuition classes but also conducting a program every Saturday which is when we are privileged to tell them about Jesus Christ. duce the program. One more thing we need to do, is to meet the agents from the Far East Broadcasting Company whose office is situated in Bangkok, Thailand. I am planning to go to Chiangmai, Thailand, if necessary, to meet them there and discuss details about the program. While I am there, I also plan to meet Ah Di Mark who has been producing the radio program for many years. I intend to tour their studio and observe the production of the program. John Ah Khi Returned from India John left for India in 2000 for further study. He has completed his Master of Divinity program and returned home. He is a dear brother in Christ, whom we have known for years and whom we know to be of good spiritual character. He will be a full-time teacher at the YCCS. He plans to teach two classes for the undergraduate program starting in June. We praise God for sending us another full-time worker. In our next report, I will introduce all of the current full-time workers as well as prospective full-time workers and their commitment in the service of the Lord.

These YCCS students conduct the Saturday evangelist program. They teach gospel songs and stories from the Bible to the Buddhist children. We have discovered another place in Yangon where we can launch weekly evangelism to the Buddhists. We plan to start the ministry there in June. Please pray for this.

Radio Ministry The first meeting for the 15 minute Lisu Radio Program was held April 2. Isaiah Fish, and John Ezra from northern Myanmar also joined the meeting. We agreed to include the following in the broadcasts:

China Border Training Center This year the training program at the China border will last for two months (July and August) by their request. We are expecting 30 students from China and another 30+ from the Myanmar border area this year. We need to help them with $1000 in order

The first Lisu Radio Program meeting was held on the grass backyard of our Recording Studio. (1) Preaching, (2) Gospel music, (3) song requests, (4) Christian drama, and (5) Biblical proverbs developed by Isaiah Fish. Isaiah recorded 25 sermons in the form of proverbs with the accompaniment of a drum. John Ezra recorded 50 sermons. They both returned home on April 15th. We are almost ready to pro-

to cover some of the expenses for the program, such as traveling, school supplies, medical needs and food. The Christians from the Myanmar border have already pledged to provide rice, vegetables and voluntary service for the training program. Please continue to pray for this need. Isaiah will very soon leave for Panwa to do some n ecessary preparation for the training program.