Random Ramblings

The Opening of My Eyes

February 9, 2010 at 11:35 PM (Travel Notes)

*This is part 2 of a series of excerpts from my journal documenting my recent trip to South East Asia

1/18/10
11:00am
Yangon

I just arrived at the building where the training is taking place.  They introduced me to the group and I said a few words.  I can’t describe how humbling it was to look out to those faces.  Men and woman that are willing to be beaten, jailed and even killed for bringing the gospel to their people.

It is amazing to watch Tim teach, our translator relay the message and see the group engaged.  They are pouring over the church planting manual.  We’re doing an interactive part where each person is answering questions from each lesson.  Everyone is very well spoken and the principals they are expressing are right on the money.  You would be hard-pressed to find these kind of answers from leaders in the western church.  This is inspiring!

Lunch consisted of curried chicken, sweet sausage, green beans and white rice.  It was amazing!  We ate with our translator (I won’t share his name for his protection).  I found out that he has a healing anointing.  I can tell he is filled with the Spirit.  He has a quiet authority on him.

1/18/10
8:00pm
Yangon

The training was a great success today.  Both Tim and Sherman felt that this may have been the best training yet.  They said how they were being taught as the group answered the questions with a profound simplicity.

The time change caught up to me at about 4pm as I was struggling to keep my eyes open.  Once we hit a stopping point, a few people stayed after to talk to us.  One guy showed us picture of him using the manual to teach others in his church.  Tim was elated! He said “Look at that, we didn’t even ask them to do that.”  He said, “Usually you have to pay people to do that.”  To which our translator quipped, “No support, no report!”  Another one of the women in our group was the first Christian in her village and she has led 10 people to Christ!

This has been quite a bit to reflect on for my first day!

1/19/10
8:00am
Yangon

I was asked to share the devotion this morning.  I’ve been praying about what to share and I’ve decided to talk about the two accounts of Mary & Martha in the book of John.  I pray that I am able to convey it with the same impact as when I first heard it from Cory Russell.

I met the guys downstairs for breakfast.  Breakfast here is like a dinner meal.  There was fried rice, noodles, pork & chicken.  The drip coffee isn’t all that good so I’m going to be trying my Starbucks Via (instant coffee).

1/19/10
1:00pm
Yangon

I’m a little overwhelmed this afternoon but I need to get these thoughts down while they are fresh.  This morning I shared the 2 stories of Mary & Martha.  Once I finished, the translator asked me to sing a song, then they proceeded to hand me a guitar.  I laughed and told them that I don’t play music.  So he had one of the guys come up and play for me.  I lauged until I realized he was serious.  My mind was blank and I got nervous.  After a minute or so I started singing “I Exalt Thee”.  I don’t know the verses so I just kept singing that over and over!

The training continues to be amazing.  The group is sharing their answers for each lesson in the church planting manual.  Each answer is really profound.  They are able to take these concepts, understand them, realize if/where they fall short in their local church and figure out what they can do to change it.  There was a point where someone was invited to draw a diagram to illustrate how all the people in the church fit into their roles.  Three people went up and they all shared a unique perspective.

During the break, one of the ladies thanked me for sharing the devotion and told me that she was very encouraged.  She speaks English pretty well.  I found out that she is the translator’s sister-in-law.

As we ate, we had great conversation about how things were going overall.  Tim and Sherman talked about how we’ve complicated church planting in other countries by bringing in western influences.  They talked about how they are able to come in and train indigenous leaders without having to learn a new language, move to another country or even support them.  These churches are self-sustaining and the Lord provides everything they need.  They talked about how when money starts coming in, the focus of planting churches is hindered because once the money stops, then the growth stops.  But in the method they teach, money and buildings are not necessary for the gospel to spread.

1/19/10
4:00pm
Yangon

At the end of class today, one of the pastors that speaks English got up and gave a short thank you speech.  He went through five points of how the course has already helped transform their lives.  They then presented each of us (me included) with a small gift of thanks. Talk about being humbled!  I felt so undeserving but they were happy to do it.  Tim kept joking with me saying how unfair it was that this was my first missions experience!  He said that this was probably the best trip for him so far (and he’s been doing this since ’95).  He expressed that he was very happy that I was able to come be a part of this.  At the end the guys all came up and hugged each one of us and said thank you.  It was amazing!

This evening, our translator will pick us up for a special dinner and we are going to walk through Yangon.  Tim said it was a surprise…

1/19/10
9:30pm
Yangon

The surprise ended up being dinner at a place called Karaweik Palace.  It was basically a big palace on a dragon ship.  Dinner was buffet-style and we ate right in front of a stage where there was live entertainment.  They had traditional dance, music and even a cool marionette show.  The highlight was probably the dancing elephant at the end.  It was an ornate costume with two guys inside controlling it.

Afterwards, we took a walk around the area outside the palace.  One of the craziest things about Burma is how the electricity just randomly goes out.  I think it has only happened once so far in the hotel, but just about anywhere you are, the electricity just goes out….sometimes for a few seconds and sometimes for a few minutes.  I think the longest so far was in the restaurant tonight.  It was out for about 3 minutes but it felt like much longer than that when you are sitting in the pitch black darkness!  As we walked outside, the power went out again and we just froze where we were for a minute until it came back on.

When we got back to the hotel, we had a good time of prayer.  Tim will be heading home tomorrow so we prayed for that as well as all that had transpired in the training so far. It will be me and Sherman from here on out.  He has such a tender heart.  He is easily moved to joy or sadness.  I sense such a huge heart of compassion from him.

Tim mentioned something in conversation that really got me thinking.  He was talking about how in Cambodia he knows of a lady who runs an orphanage over there with over 70 children.  He said that orphanages were a good temporary solution but ultimately they were just that.  He said that once the gospel comes in and begins to truly transform families and the church takes its place, that one person will not be responsible for an orphanage but that everyone in the body will take in the orphan.  I thought about that even for home in the states.  Whoa!

I’m seeing and hearing so many things that are stretching what I’ve thought and understood up to this point.  I feel like my eyes are being opened to so many things.

And I still have 8 days left!!