Mission Report from Myanmar

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Our Cyclone Relief mission team has accomplished their first trip to Delta area to help Cyclone victims and their families. Please read a brief report from Michelle Chang.
Pastor Latt


Saya,

Originally, we were scheduled to leave for Phyar Pon on Saturday, but, to our frustration, we were unable to rent motor boats. We had to reschedule for Sunday, June 8th. (You will see later that this turned out to be a blessing.) We left Yangon early in the morning at 4:15 a.m. We rented a bus accommodating about 40 passengers and a 14 x 12 foot truck to carry all the goods. It took our bus approximately 4 hours to arrive in Phyar Pon. But the truck was slower and we waited for it for about an hour. Because we had made a reservation for the motor boats, they were waiting for us. One boat was to carry the donated supplies and one was for the volunteers and us. The boat ride from Phyar Pon through the delta would be about two hours.

We arrived at a village called Da Min Sak at 12:30 p.m. and found there about 1000 people who had lost their homes. First, we met with the village head and some villagers. We had contacted them prior to our trip, so they were expecting us. The village head made a list (Da Gon Sayin) for us with the village household names. After lunch, we started by giving candies and tee-shirts to the children and took pictures with them. Just seeing their grateful faces and big smiles made us so happy that we forgot our weariness from the long journey. Then we called out the names of each head of household and distributed the packages that we had bought. It took us five hours just to hand out the packages. We left the village at 6:00 p.m. and arrived in Rangoon by midnight.

I'd like to point out one amazing thing. As I mentioned before, our original plan was to leave on Saturday, but we couldn't get the boats and that Saturday it had rained the whole day. It was going to be a two hour ride and it can be very dangerous on the water. It would be impossible for us to go to the small villages in the boat if the weather was bad. We all prayed so hard for nice weather for the next day, Sunday.

With the mercy of our Lord, on Sunday morning when we left Rangoon it was raining slightly but, later, the whole day the weather was beautiful! Also, it was not terribly hot, so we didn't get sunburned. Praise the Lord!!! Even when we were handing out gifts, there was no rain and it was the nicest day that I have ever experienced in Burma in spite of it being the rainy season.

Even though it was hard work for us and we were all so tired on the way back, every one of us was extremely happy at what we had accomplished and it showed on our faces. Our friends and relatives had been worried about us and warned us not to go, but we are very pleased and thankful for this opportunity because we achieved the purpose of our mission.

We are now planning for another trip; but before we go we want to determine exactly what will be best for our next project. We still have quite a lot of funds remaining and we will let you know what our decision is. Daniel and Tint Tint are doing the expense report and will be sending it to you in a few days.

As always, we thank you and the church members for your prayers.

Michelle