Harvest Bridge 2023 Impact Report

Myanmar: Build A House and Plant A Garden

By Pastor Pan* and Pastor Thang*, Country Co-Directors

It is my (Pan’s) great privilege to tell you what the Lord has done through the past year. Firstly, I want to thank our God, and secondly I want to thank HB and all the staffs and all the donors for the sacrificial giving toward the ministry here. Though there were many challenges for our missionaries; they still are faithful to the Lord and boldly preached the Word of God in each of their areas. It taught me to be more faithful to the Lord as I continue to serve the Lord and I am always encouraged by their ministry efforts.

The Junta forces imposed new travel restrictions, blocked access to roads and destroyed non-military supplies, attacked the innocent civilians, and shut down all telecommunications services. They attacked health facilities and medical workers and have seized food deliveries and medical supplies enroute to the displacement sites and arrested people suspected of supporting the PDF (People’s Defence Force). What the Junta says is becoming a rule. What they say is a law. That is why we, as ministers of God’s work, have faced many challenges because of all of those things.

In 2023 the missionaries say despite all these crises, many of them have achieved their plan during the year. So they have been so thankful for that. The Lord has been answering the prayer. Most of us have learned in the three years since the coup, to be humble, long suffering and patient. In 2023 we have been waiting and learning great things from God, I think more than in the past. So I (Thang) think that is one of the reasons that we have come to the book of Jeremiah chapter 29. Book of Jeremiah says, “You are a slave in Babylon.” A lot of people say, “You are a slave, do nothing, just, you know, stay here.” But God said, “You have to build a house. Build a house and live there, plant a garden and eat the food that you grow. And then try to be at peace with the people where you live.” So I think that is one of the very exciting scriptures for me. It is a great challenge, you know?

RESPONDING AND PREPARING FOR THE WORST

In April we had wartime security training for 50 leaders. It was not easy to organize because it was hard to cross the border (into a neighboring country where the training was held). The Lord has blessed us beyond our thoughts. I (Pan) praise God for His wonderful leading and His protection throughout the trainings. Really, it was a great joy to learn so many new things from the training which is exactly what we need in our daily living in our country. One attendee, Nem*, shared:

“One day, we didn’t have time to run and we were hiding inside our home. Some of the people got injured and one innocent child was killed on that day. [In the training] there were many lessons I learned which were helpful for me. One particular thing was the medical aid training. This was wonderful for me. Had I knew a little knowledge of such medical aid earlier, the child who was killed may not have died. I am sorry for that. But, I can help others with what I learned from the training.”

Another, Khual*, said: “Some people were killed by landmines, and I saw them by my own eyes. But we don’t fully understand the danger, even after the explosions, so we would still go near [the landmines]. Now I learned myself and can pass it to my community to protect ourselves from such explosions.”

Nang* explained: “As I travel to the villages for sharing the Gospel, I have to cross checkpoints and have to face some questions. I have learned a very good lesson from that teaching about what to say or not to say. It gives me more clues to answer in appropriate way to escape from the possible problems.”

“The conflicts in Myanmar have displaced more than 1.6 million people internally since the coup, and many others fleeing to neighboring countries.”

EVACUATION AND FOOD RELIEF

One very remarkable thing we did. Because of the 1027 operation in Shan state, many people were suffering and many people become displaced. One of the orphanage homes was helpless and they were struggling so much because of the fighting. At that time, we had a great chance to stand with them in their needs. Because of HB’s help we were able to save 90 of the orphan’s lives and their families. It was a remarkable thing we have done for this orphanage. By God’s grace we also evacuated 50 children from my (Pan’s) home in December during the fighting.

Nine missionaries and their families have received help from us to run from their homes because of the fighting. It is one of the very remarkable helps we could provide to our missionaries. They could not get any help from anyone. But because of HB’s immediate action, even though their lives are dangerous, we could provide help to these people and their family.

The conflicts in Myanmar have displaced more than 1.6 million people internally since the coup, and many others fleeing to neighboring countries. The junta has blocked desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching millions of displaced people and others at risk, designed to isolate and terrorize civilian populations. Though the Junta blocked aids to come in to the needy people in our country, with the help of the HB ministry, we were able to help many families, and nearly 4000 people who were facing food crisis in their daily need. What a joy to look back on our good works and say thank you to the Lord for His goodness. It is very, very, very, very good works that we have done throughout the year to help the needy people.

Zom* explains how he helped 30 families: “Even when we distribute the food to the poor, we have to be very careful for Junta as we are afraid they may accuse us of supporting the anti-Junta group. These are the villages affected so badly during the Junta air strike in April. All of them fled from their homes for safety and during their absence, most of their properties have been lost, including their animals. The people started to return to their homes [after two months]. The people are poor and many of them have been struggling more than before because there is no works and no way to earn money. Each family received rice, cooking oil, and beans. This is a great help for them as we brought aid to the families and most importantly, they heard the Gospel from us.”

“At that time, we had a great chance to stand with them in their needs. Because of HB’s help we were able to save 90 of the orphan’s lives and their families.”

Mai* helped 120 families: “I have no other words to say except to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this possible. It took us about four hours to go to the refugee camp and we stayed there for three nights. We had a wonderful ministry there. During our stay, there was no problem and our food distribution also went very well. The recipients were so happy and so smiling. I thank our God for allowing me to do this ministry along with my co-workers.”

DAILY MINISTRY DURING WAR

I am glad to report that there are 297 new believers and 194 were baptized as a testimony of Jesus Christ. These numbers are just the low estimate. There were 11 new house church fellowships and 20 new Bible studies started during 2023. And 30 new leaders were trained for the ministry. It is a great privilege to train those new leaders so that they can work with us and they can go by themselves to reach the people with the love of Jesus Christ.

“Because of the fighting here and there, we were not able to have our meetings regularly. So the believers hunger for the Word of God as we had little chance to have Bible study and home cell. But the Lord blessed our Bible study and we had some newcomers and I had a privilege to share the love of God and His salvation message to the newcomers and by the grace of God, three people have come to the knowledge of salvation." ~ Min*

“As I went among the Buddhist community, some of them rejected me and sent me out from their house and tore up the gospel tracts that I have given to them. Some of them took and read it. For them, I prayed for their hearts to be opened and see Jesus Christ in their lives. I shared the love of God face to face and they were really interested to seek Jesus Christ in their lives.” ~ Nyunt*

“There was a man, Lin*, who was a pure Buddhist since his childhood. I had a personal conversation with him and learned that he was arrested for more than a week by the junta when the fighting took place in his village. After one week, he was released. By facing such hardships in his life, he began to search his destiny. He told me that he met a pastor after he came back from the jail and he heard a little about the salvation message in his life. I shared with him about the sin of mankind, the love of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. He came to understand little by little and lastly, he confessed his sins and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. He says, ‘Thank you so much for visiting my village and sharing the love of God with me. I know that I am now saved and heaven is my home. I praise God for saving my soul.’”

When the pastors move one place to another to escape, they cannot just start quickly witnessing the gospel. So they’re fighting just to manage for themselves in a new place, to settle, and then they find that not everything is safe, so they have to move again. So they said it is one of the most difficult parts of the year. They have been rejected. They are being pressured. But, in the end, they are very thankful to the Lord that the Lord does something and opens the door for them to witness.

“I think my commitment is that when God calls us, we need to build a house, do the works and plant the gardens. Plant a good seed to many people.”

GREATER THINGS

A big thank you to our faithful donors for their giving throughout the past year, without which we couldn’t accomplish what the Lord has called us to do. I (Pan) hope for your continued support and prayer as the needs are urgent and greater than ever before. No one can predict our future but we have the living God who holds our future. Amen! We expect to claim more blessings in His name as we carry on His Gospel message to the unreached people in our land. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” ~ Isaiah 43:18-19a.

What our leaders plan is to witness as much as they can and have Bible study in different places in 2024. Now we see the fruit of being patient. We have seen fruits, so now we are moving into new chapters to do much more greater things. This is very exciting. The thing is, we need to keep praying. Without that, nothing will get done. When you look around, it is very discouraging, very sad. But if we are always being sad and discouraged, I (Thang) think we will do nothing at all. So, I think my commitment is that when God calls us, we need to build a house, do the works and plant the gardens. Plant a good seed to many people. That will be my personal courage and challenge in 2024.