Our trip to Myanmar
Mingalabar! This is the Burmese greeting for ‘hello!’ We have just returned from a wonderful week in Myanmar, spent with faithful Christians who are building God’s kingdom in Asia.
The purpose of our trip was to continue developing relationships with the church and to encourage them with Bible teaching, as well as ministering at a conference, youth events and their Sunday service.
A theme that we sensed for the week was to lay the foundations of Jesus; a very simple yet powerful reminder to the church that the living Jesus is the one we worship. Colossians 1:28 says, ‘He is the One we proclaim.’ Jesus is the one we proclaim, Jesus is the one in whom we find fullness of life and Jesus is the one in whom we find hope. One particular morning, as Pastor Steve preached about Jesus from the book of Colossians, there was a powerful sense of His presence and the Word coming alive as we listened.
It was an absolute privilege to be welcomed into the life of the church in Myanmar and to witness their sincere faith and hope in Jesus.
Something that struck me was that despite the language barrier we faced, there is no barrier when it comes to singing and worshiping Jesus. At Pentecost in Acts 2, we witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which enables the disciples to speak in all kinds of different languages. Different languages, yet worshiping the same God. On the first day we arrived at the conference, as we worshipped in English and they in Burmese, it was a blend of different languages and yet with the same focus; to worship Jesus. I felt so honoured to be a part of worshiping Jesus in a different time zone, different country and different culture.
We also experienced a Burmese market, great food and a Burmese drink called ‘ferluga’ which I think is an acquired taste!
Please pray that amidst the shrines and gold temples of Buddhism in Myanmar, the church of Jesus Christ would shine bright. Matthew 5:14 says, ‘you are the light of the world.’ Our friends out there are doing amazing work and we have loved being a part of it for a week.
- Susie Raybould
The purpose of our trip was to continue developing relationships with the church and to encourage them with Bible teaching, as well as ministering at a conference, youth events and their Sunday service.
A theme that we sensed for the week was to lay the foundations of Jesus; a very simple yet powerful reminder to the church that the living Jesus is the one we worship. Colossians 1:28 says, ‘He is the One we proclaim.’ Jesus is the one we proclaim, Jesus is the one in whom we find fullness of life and Jesus is the one in whom we find hope. One particular morning, as Pastor Steve preached about Jesus from the book of Colossians, there was a powerful sense of His presence and the Word coming alive as we listened.
It was an absolute privilege to be welcomed into the life of the church in Myanmar and to witness their sincere faith and hope in Jesus.
Something that struck me was that despite the language barrier we faced, there is no barrier when it comes to singing and worshiping Jesus. At Pentecost in Acts 2, we witness the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which enables the disciples to speak in all kinds of different languages. Different languages, yet worshiping the same God. On the first day we arrived at the conference, as we worshipped in English and they in Burmese, it was a blend of different languages and yet with the same focus; to worship Jesus. I felt so honoured to be a part of worshiping Jesus in a different time zone, different country and different culture.
We also experienced a Burmese market, great food and a Burmese drink called ‘ferluga’ which I think is an acquired taste!
Please pray that amidst the shrines and gold temples of Buddhism in Myanmar, the church of Jesus Christ would shine bright. Matthew 5:14 says, ‘you are the light of the world.’ Our friends out there are doing amazing work and we have loved being a part of it for a week.
- Susie Raybould
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