Myanmar10

Dear HeartCry and supporters,

I thank our God for his faithfulness in keeping His church safe and sound during difficult times both physically and spiritually. As always, I’m also grateful for your faithful partnership and generous contributions towards the needs. Above all, I couldn’t be thankful enough to you for upholding us in your prayers.

It’s the darkest time for all of us in this country. However, God’s special grace has sustained us in his ministry and caused us to advance the great commission in this part of the country. While a civil war may be inevitable for MM, hell is imminent for all unbelievers. Therefore, we must work while we can as much as God gives us the opportunity.

During the past three months, wonderful missions have been accomplished in the ministry through God’s providence and guidance, and of course, through your supports. In mid-April, I baptized eight new converts, and they were added to the local church. They were from stubborn animistic families that locals had been preaching to. Praise God they remain steadfast in the faith as our local pastor continues to minister to them. On the same occasion, we arranged two-day training and preaching program in that village, which was particularly designed for children and young people. About seventy youths and kids from both Christian and animistic families attended and heard the Gospel and bible stories. Those youngsters need to hear the Gospel, and I’m glad we did that, and I hope to follow up the preaching, God willing.

Later that month, a surprise invitation was sent to me from a particular village leader. It was to us the Macedonian call that Paul received (Acts 16:9). On my first visit with my coworkers, villagers were gathered around us and listened attentively to my Gospel preaching. Some of them looked uncomfortable with the message, but many of them expressed their desire to listen more. As a first step, we successfully built a friendship. On our second and following visits, we were able to preach them multiple times. Another village on the way also invited us to preach to them too. What an amazing opportunity!

Finally, within two months of hard work, we established a new Mission Centre in the village on the 24th of last month. With your help, we have provided them with the most abundant water resource in the area. A mission house has been constructed. I’ve also appointed two teachers to teach the children and also to preach the Gospel. Although the villagers have not yet officially and publicly converted into Christianity due to some reasons, they have shown signs of understanding of and response to the Gospel. Both by faith and experience, I can see that the Holy Spirit is at work in their hearts. Their children have received the very first education ever in their life. We believe that the harvest is soon. Through this Mission (which I call the Great Commission project) I hope to spread the Gospel to the other four adjacent villages with over a hundred families who don’t know God.

Pray that the children will have received both elementary secular education and heard enough about Jesus Christ. The villagers will convert, and a local church or more will be planted. Would you please continue to pray that the LORD helps his laborers to bring about these results in His time?

I would also like to thank you for your supports for another need, which is church building for some congregations. By the grace of God, we’ve completed and dedicated two village-style church buildings so far. A gathering place is important and helpful for the improvement of the church just simply because members have a place to come and enjoy fellowship with God and with one another where they regularly receive teachings collectively. It also gives them a sense of dignity among other religions when they are not looked down on. In my experience, those unbelievers living together with Christians in villages are not convinced by a local missionary or group of believers when they preach about the all-powerful God but don’t even have a place to gather on the Lord’s Day, at least in our context. After all, a church needs a building, and I’m so thankful you helped us with that.

Please pray for us as we continue to build up the body of Christ by our preaching and teaching, as well as for those local churches that still need a gathering place. It appears that many Christians are reading more during these difficult times that made most of them stay at home.

Recently, I sent some three hundred copies of Healthy Church to Thailand, which were then distributed quickly by my contact there. I’ve also received book requests (the Gospel’s Power and Message and Healthy Church) from believers, pastors, church leaders, and prominent persons in Lh Christian societies across the S state. We have a Bm saying, “A single written word can substitute for a hundred spoken words.” I’m so thankful that our people gradually enjoy reading and have started to benefit from such good books. I’ve received excellent feedback from those who’ve read them and recommended them to others. I’m grateful for your partnership in that area too. As I am translating another book, please continue to pray for me and for this particular aspect of the mission too.
The HC-supported missionaries and their families are serving the LORD with thankfulness.

Even within certain restrictions by current situation, they all have been able to carry on the task through the power of the Spirit. The missionaries are teaching and preaching in their respective places. Although the growth seems slow with some of them, they have at least educated many young people with our own literacy. Even they or their parents have not yet received Christ; they can now read the Bible, and, therefore, regeneration is inevitable when the Holy Spirit works in them.

Please pray for those who are in particular regions, Missionaries C, P & T, especially for C whose whole village will be relocated by the authority in a few months. He will need to start everything over again, i.e., constructing his own house and the new church building in the new location. R, S, and I meet often and are going hand in hand in most works in the fields. In mid-May, we organized young ministers’ training for three days in a local church near the town where our missionaries and other evangelists were present and rejuvenated by the seminar. My wife also taught to ministers’ wives. Would you please continue to pray for them and their families?

Last but not least, I would like to thank you all again on behalf of our men, their families, and their congregations for your expansive supports and prayers for us. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers as we go through and minister amidst the terrible consequences of Covid and the military coup so that we may be safe and healthy and be in a position to help others in times of uncertainty and dangers. Thank you very much to every one of you for your faithful partnership and continual supports. God bless you all.


In Christ, Elijah