DEARFRIEND
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Gary Krause Adventist Mission director
o p e n i n g
Prayer Journal Inside
In Christ,
PRAYERCALENDAR
12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904
s I heard the estimate, tears came to my eyes. The death toll from the cyclone in Burma [also known as Myanmar] could reach 100,000. 100,000 people! Just think of the shattered families. Ruined homes. Devastated villages. Most people in Burma battle daily to just eke out an existence. Although resourcerich, the country is ruled by a military junta that imposes many restrictions. The cyclone was a cruel blow to a population already struggling. I first visited Burma about 15 years ago. I still remember the shock of seeing for the first time gangs of small children out in the blazing sun building roads by hand—one rock at a time. The church has worked in Burma since 1919. We’re thankful for the 25,000 church members. But in the face of a population of 48 million people, most Buddhist or Animist or a mixture of both, the church struggles to grow. Most members come from among minority tribes such as the Karen and Chin, and not from the majority Burmese Buddhist population. I remember the day when 540 people were baptized in Rangoon. A young girl looked straight into my eyes without blinking. I was the first white person she had ever met. She was among a small group from an Animist village in the Irrawaddy region. It was their first visit to the capital, Rangoon. And they had come to be baptized. A student at Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary had regularly visited their village to share the good news. He taught the children songs and stories about Jesus, and they decided to follow Him and be baptized. I’ve often wondered what became of that young girl from the Irrawaddy Delta, where the cyclone hit hardest not too long ago. Some 6,500 church members live in the Irrawaddy. Only time will tell how many lost their lives. Thank you for your prayerful support of Global Mission, which shares hope throughout the world—even in remote Animist villages in the Irrawaddy region of Burma.
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