In March, 2016, we held a School of Christ in Myanmar. One of the students was Pastor Samuel. During the School, he asked if I would come and minister to his village because there were only three Christian families in the entire village, and the rest were Buddhist. I agreed to go.
When we arrived, we were expecting about 50 people to attend the meeting—there were about 400 people waiting to hear us! The crowd was large and nothing was prepared, so I climbed on the roof of the bus to preach the Gospel. Because of the crowd and the chaos; the village leaders shut us down. I prayed because of the missed opportunity to bring the Gospel to these hungry people that had never heard. With tears in his eyes, Pastor Samuel pleaded with me to come in December at Christmas time. He said the government would allow you to come and minister at that time of the year.
I have been praying and preparing for this Christmas Evangelism for eight months. Pastor Turnage gave his permission for the trip and sent the funds I needed for the crusade, travel, and to purchase each family a gift of rice. When we arrived, we were greeted by more than 300 adults and around 200 children eager to hear the Gospel. The pastors came from the surrounding villages to help with the music, and the distribution of gifts. I preached the Full Gospel, and almost all of them responded to the call for repentance.
Four pastors, graduates from the School of Christ in Myanmar, and I ministered in the village of lepers. The people there are not allowed to mingle with other villages. Doctors refuse to treat them, and their children are not allowed to attend schools with healthy children. We took Christmas as the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Christ to this neglected and unreached people. About 75 families came to hear us minister. Twenty people came forward and accepted Jesus Christ. While we were there, God laid on the heart of one of the SOC workers to start a church in this village.
Pray for the work and workers in Myanmar that we might reach as many souls for Christ while we can still work.