A cordial greetings to you from Myanmar. I hope and pray that everything is going well with you and your larger family. As for me and my family, we are doing well. Thank God.
The work of evangelism in Myanmar has been restricted by the pandemic and the coup. Now the third wave of covid-19 is spreading again and taking many lives especially in Chin state and Kalay area. Many are sick and shortage of treatment.
We loss brother Thian Lian on June 27 which is a great and terrible loss for the work in Myanmar. He is like a father to me and to many others for our spiritual journey and a great leader in the work of the Lord in Myanmar, but we trust that God must have another, better plan for us. We also lost a good teacher and faithful brother Edward from Shan state, the eastern part of Myanmar on June 27. He had stroke before.
The worst thing about the situation in Myanmar is no vaccines, not enough hospitals, doctors as many doctors protest the coup by Civil Disobedience Movement, and not enough supply of oxygen and other equipment to treat the victims of covid above daily needs. Moreover, the peaceful demonstration is still going on with fighting in some parts of the country. Almost a thousand people had died since the coup. The civil people ask the junta to accept the result of the election in November 2020 and the junta will do whatever to protect their power and some foreign countries endorse it. Sorry for telling all about the trouble in Myanmar.
Brother Sian Thang and his family visited his native place in Chin state because of the coup and unexpectedly loss his elder son in accident on the way on March 18. They are still being locked down in their place due to covid-19.
Meanwhile, God opened some doors for us to travel and evangelize to some areas where the covid-19 and the protest are not high or partly lifted. On May 22-28 of this year, myself with other two evangelists traveled to Ngaphe township in Magway region and visited two congratulations and work with them. We brought some relief funds that we got from the brethren from USA to the brethren as people have been struggling with covid-19 and the coup. The help in need is more appreciated though a little and everyone expressed deep gratitude for the help.
God touched the hearts of people through His power of the gospel as we presented it as simple as it is and two persons (mother and daughter) gave their lives to the Lord by being baptized on May 23 after worship service. Pictures attached. We had such a good time of fellowship with other brethren after a year and a half of separation.
We could make another trip to Pyay, Thayet and AungLan townships on June 5-9. We visited four congregations and worked with them as we distributed some relief funds. The results of the help and preaching brings the same respond every where. On June 5-6, we had Bible study with young people in Pyay and two young man and one young girl obeyed the gospel on June 6. We rejoiced with the brethren and with heavenly hosts as people are being saved and added to the family of God. Those newly born into the kingdom are in the care of older Christians and leaders to grow. Let's keep them in our prayers.
There are two booklets that have been translated into Burmese ( Back to the Bible- written by Charles Box and Lessons on the Church of Christ-written by W.C. Graves) which need to type and do the proceeding work when the situation of our country get better and funds available for it.
We the Christians in Myanmar express our deep gratitude and heart felt appreciation for your undying support for the work and time to time help as needed. God has been using you to meet the needs of His people and others around the world including Myanmar. Even though you cannot visit us, we thank God for the technology to get help from you. Your second mile help for the covid-19 lockdown and the coup struggle are greatly appreciated as the ordinary people are suffering emotionally and physically. I trust that the same fellowship will remain in the future.
Brother Thian Lian, before he died, was distributing some rice to three congregations in Chin state as we got relief funds from World Evangelism Team, and the result was three souls being saved by the Lord. Whenever we got relief funds, we tried to distribute it to all the churches depends on the amount and the needs of the people as fair as possible.
Once again, I would like to express my deep gratitude and heart felt appreciation for your love and undying support for the work to continue. I trust that you are praying for us and we are praying for you.
Yours in His kingdom work
Philip Van Biak Lian