Myanmar - Day 1

After travelling for 28 hours via London, Paris and Bangkok, I finally arrived in Yangon.

I was excited and happy to see David. To be honest, I was also just a bit scared. I didn't know much about Burma, now called Myanmar, but in the past I had heard that it was a repressed society and a controlling regime that didn't appear to allow freedom of thought or religion. And one that didn't appear too concerned about restricting, forcibly if need be, the actions and movements of foreigners to the country either. I knew of the persecutions missionaries had endured in the past. And I knew that Open Doors had ranked Myanmar as number 25 on their Watch List of countries where persecution of Christians is most severe. I had little idea of what to expect, but had the thought that it might be decidedly uncomfortable. And so my initial response to David's invitation to visit his country was 'No thanks...' But the idea would not go away. And when my friend Linda asked me to join her on a trip to Myanmar, I began to give the idea some serious consideration, And then of course, that beautiful song, 'Oceans' rocketed to the top of the Christian worship songs list. I was challenged, over and over and over again by its uncompromising lyrics:

You call me out upon the waters,

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand

Will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

So I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour...

As the months passed by, the idea began to move beyond idea to possibility - and now, here I was. Later, as I stood up to speak in a large hot room at the top of a building in Yangon, I would honour David for his persistence in holding onto a vision he believed was from God, and for persevering in dreaming, praying and asking until it came to pass.

I received such a warm welcome at the airport from my young friend and his companions. Any anxieties I might have had were instantly allayed by their smiling faces. I was given a beautiful pearl necklace from David's family as a welcome gift, and many photographs were taken. I felt like a celebrity :-)

We took a taxi to the hotel. It was interesting to see Myanmar for the first time, which, at first glance, does not look that different to Thailand and Cambodia. Of course the differences become apparent within a short while, but the vegetation is similar. There are many beautiful buildings from the era of colonial Britain, but sadly many are run down and are in need of care. There are lots of building projects though, and, of course, many beautiful pagodas. The city is lively and busy, and evidence of wealth and evidence of poverty are all jumbled up together. One thing that makes things much more manageable than Phnom Penh is that motorbikes are not allowed in the city.

Although I had had a very good trip, I was feeling tired, and my body clock was rather disorientated, as I was now almost 7 hours ahead of my UK schedule. I was looking forward to a rest at my hotel, but there was no time for that. I had been invited to speak to a group of students. So it was just a quick change and a snack and then off out. One look at these students quickly dealt with any sorry-for-me feelings. It didn't take me long to realize that I was deeply privileged to meet them. Aged between 18 and 25, they come from remote villages, and spend 9 months in Yangon, training as pastors and missionaries, after which they return to their communities. They live, study and work in the same building for that period of time, except when they go on outreaches. The depth of their passion and commitment is a challenge to the Western church.

Linda and I were delighted to see each other. It is rather incredible, when you think of it, that two middle-aged ladies who met just once before, two years previously, had chosen to travel half-way around their respective worlds, to meet up in a country which neither had visited before, in response to the repeated invitations of another person, David Joy, whom we had also only met once before. And it is incredible to think that the three of us had met in Cambodia, as part of an XP Missions team, and that Linda was from America, I was from England, and David from Myanmar, and that now we were were together again in his home country.  It was actually incredible to think that we were in Myanmar at all. Who would ever have thought such a thing, in the years when were were growing up and Burma was a far-away country heard of briefly in Geography classes and in occasional news reports? Certainly not me!

On this first evening I was invited to share a few thoughts with a Youth Group. I knew they were Bible College

students, but honestly, nothing could have prepared me for the passion and the devotion of these young people. They were young in years but certainly not in spirit. I was shocked and awed by them, and by the uncompromising purity of their commitment to Jesus in a country in which persecution is more than a possible outcome. They were expectant and focused. We began with worship, and then Linda spoke about the Feasts of the Lord. It was very hot, and we had some lovely young women sit with us and fan us to keep us a little cooler for the WHOLE evening. I am sure their arms got tired, but they served us with patience and smiles. It really touched my heart. In fact, the whole week did that. Throughout our stay we were treated as precious treasure, and our every wish was catered for. We didn't pay for our own meals, not even once, and everywhere we went we were showered with gifts, gifts of traditional tribal fabrics, clothing, jewellery and food. We had a hard time remembering, a lot of time, who was ministering to whom….

After Linda had spoken for some time. David explained about the Tallith, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. Looking at the discomfort the students were enduring, sitting crowded together on a hard floor in a hot room, I thought that maybe that was enough, and that I should not speak that night. In fact, they were shocked at the very idea. Didn’t I have anything to share with them? So I picked up my Bible and asked the Lord what He wanted me to tell them. I remembered how, when I was their age, I had been so totally impacted by Prov 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 

and do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways, acknowledge Him, 

and He will direct your paths.

We read this text together and then I spoke, point by point, about God’s promise… that if we trust in Him, don’t depend on our own understanding but on His, and acknowledge Him in ALL our ways, He will make our paths straight and lead us in the way we should go. It was a powerful word, much more so than even I had expected.

When I finished I asked if anyone wanted to recommit – of course I knew they were already committed, because they were at Bible College – to a lifestyle in which they would choose to acknowledge the Lord in ALL their ways. Going on previous experience in the Western world, I expected a few to come to the front for prayer.

To my amazement, about half of the students streamed to the front, where they fell on their knees, worshiping and crying out their commitment to acknowledge God in all things. Linda and I were not sure what to do, as we didn’t know the language, and there was no way we could have prayed for each person individually with our one translator. I asked God what to do, and felt just to go from person to person, laying hands on them and allowing God to do the work. This Linda and I proceeded to do. We had such a powerful sense of touching precious and anointed vessels of God, His treasure, and knowing that many of them might experience persecution and suffering for this promise, even death, made it all the more poignant. I was close to tears the whole time, and I felt so honoured to have been permitted to minister to them.

There are times in your life when you find yourself close to the holy things of the Lord, and even in the privileged position of being His daughter, I know that this is very sacred, and to tread carefully and to handle His things with great respect. This was one of those times. This is what my first encounter with the radical, passionate, laid down lovers of Jesus in Myanmar, the Burmese Christians, was like. It set the tone for the week, and I have to say, that it was the same everywhere I went.