Battle Log

Friday, 14 February, 2020

Posted 18 February 2020, 12:27 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

I think this has been the busiest trip to Myanmar I’ve had. There is just so much opportunity for ministry, both in sharing the gospel with the lost, but also in sharing mutual love with the local Christians we are working with & the many orphans they support.

It is now Monday night, and I haven’t reported anything since last Wednesday. So over the next three evenings (the next three battle logs, including this one), I’m going to try to report on everything that’s been happening since Thursday on.

Thursday saw my team at a shopping center (Hledan) in the morning, and then at a university in the afternoon.

At the shopping center, the stand out conversation was with two young men. It actually started with one of them, but the other guy overheard what we were talking about, and he shuffled over and asked if he could join in. Of course! :) The first guy heard the gospel but ended up having to go, but I was able to have a deep conversation with the guy that shuffled into the conversation.

He said he didn’t have any religion. This did not mean that he was an Atheist, but that he wanted to learn about religion. If my memory serves me correctly, he came to understand the free gift of the gospel, but also understood the cost. He said he needed time to think about it - which is fair, but without applying any pressure, I did warn him that we do not know when we will die - there is an urgency to respond to the gospel!

The University is a great place for talking to English speakers! We have a favourite spot in front of Judson Church.

But my first gospel conversation of the afternoon started outside the library. There were about eight students dressed up in suits - they had just graduated (petroleum engineering). After learning that I wanted to talk about spiritual things, they invited me to the canteen where we could talk over a late lunch (for them). Two of them in particular did all the talking. Sadly, I did not get to share the gospel with them - the one that did most of the talking quickly understood the logic of what I was sharing, but became very resistant (although he was outwardly friendly and polite). But they all listened, and they all received tracts.

The team had many other wonderful gospel conversations throughout the afternoon.

Friday was a day off for the team in the morning and early afternoon before heading to an orphanage in the late afternoon to run a children's program.

But Andy & I didn’t go with the rest of the team. We ended up visiting the orphanage of one of our wonderful translators, Joshua. He and his wife are looking after 19 beautiful children. We first met Joshua last September. We hope to be able to practically help more. It is impossible to work with these precious people in the gospel and not want to get more closely involved in their lives. God loves the widow and the orphan! I intend to write more about this (in other channels).