Myanmar August
2014

 

We have four reports posted
Please scroll down to read all the reports

 

 

August 2014

 

Report 4 Myanmar 2014

After spending one hour at Shwendagon observing lost souls worshipping their pagen gods, we departed by taxi for Bryce Home Five (Grant Undershute House). By this time the weather had changed radically. As this was my first trip to Myanmar during the rainy season the downpour was something I had not experienced before.

Spending time at Bryce Home Five and listening to the children sing and recite verses was a tremendous blessing. After experiencing the darkness we had encountered at the Buddhist temple, this Christian home was a bright light shining in the darkness. Habakkuk and his wife and one helper are doing a tremendous job looking after 12 children. Ten of them are either orphaned or from hopeless situations where there parents are unable to care for them. Habakkuk has two children of his own.

The rest of the day was spent visiting Bryce Homes One and Two. These two homes each have 15 children most who have been with the program since its inception in 2006. Pastor Mang oversees both homes and his two sons and their wives are the caretakers.

While I was there several of the children shared their testimonies. My intention was to record these testimonies but it was not possible because of the noise from the heavy rain. When I left to head back to my hotel the yard at Bryce Home 2 was flooded with water.

 

Report 3 Myanmar 2014

Elisha and Habakkuk met me at the hotel early in the morning and we headed out by taxi for a busy day. The first stop was at Shwendagon, the largest and most famous Buddhist Temple in Myanmar. My purpose was to better understand the battle that our leaders have as Christians living in a country that has a population that is over 90% Buddhist.

I had been to this location a couple of times before. It is necessary to be prepared for the overwhelming experience of spiritual oppression that permeates the environment. Over 10,000 people visit the location on a daily basis, many of them devout monks seeking after spiritual enlightenment. People come to this location from around the world on a pilgrimage believing that Buddhism provides the true answer to life.

If you want to know what Buddhism is all about, then sit down and talk with a monk. After walking around for about one hour we saw a monk sitting down on the steps of a building. Elisha and I sat down with him and I asked a number of questions as Elisha translated. Elisha shared the gospel with him and we moved on.

While at Shwendagon I interviewed both Habbakuk and Elisha on video which I will use for a short documentary that we will post on Youtube in the future. I was reminded of the obstacles that our Bryce Homes leaders face in Myanmar as they proclaim the gospel in the midst of one of the darkest places on the planet. Please remember to pray for them. They are truly ambassadors for Christ.

 

Report 2 Myanmar 2014

The priority for my first day in Yangon was to rest and get prepared for the coming days that I will be here. The older I get the more difficult it becomes to recover from the long flight from North America to Myanmar.  As well the heat and the high humidity at this time of the year can be very tiring. Even the short trip from the airport to my hotel in a car without air conditioning was extremely tiring.

Elisha picked me up at my hotel early in the afternoon. Even though it was pouring rain we headed out to experience some of the local markets and take a few photos. There are a number of vegetable, fruit and fish markets in Yangon so Elisha directed our cab driver to the ones he had chosen for me to see and photograph.

 

Our next stop was at the fish market. Each day dozens of boats loaded with fish unload their catch at the market to be picked up by merchants who distribute the fish throughout Yangon and other parts of Myanmar. We spent about 30 minutes there and I took numerous photos and videos of the action.

Following this I asked Elisha to take me back to the hotel. We spent an hour discussing the progress of the Bryce Homes Program in Myanmar and planning out the remaining days here. Tomorrow I will update our readers following my visit to Bryce Homes One, Two and Five.

 

Report 1 Myanmar 2014

Myanmar  Day 1

This report is coming to you from Yangon, Myanmar. While I normally only visit our Bryce Homes in each country once a year, this summer I decided to make a second trip to Myanmar in order to be updated on the progress. Since my last trip here we have added four additional homes.

This is the first time I have been here during the month of August which is during the heart of the rainy season. As our plane descended for Yangon I could see a lot of land that had been flooded in a wide area. Elisha met me at the airport and arranged my taxi ride to my hotel.

Today will be primarily a day to rest up and take some video footage of some of the sites around the city. One of my objectives here is to gather video footage for short video documentaries that will be produced at a later time. As well I will be doing video interviews with the leaders and some of the children.

Understand The Times has now been involved here in Myanmar since 2006 with the establishment of the Bryce Homes Program. It is truly a blessing to see what God has done. We are thankful to the sponsors who have assisted us over this time period. As God continues to provide we will look at the possibility of expanding the program.