Attentiveness to The Hurting

Love For Myanmar Ministries Update

Christ Centered, Servant Hearted, Myanmar Focused

Recent reports from our Myanmar staff have revealed saddening actions from the Buddhist community. Monks are sending people to record the proceedings of our church services in the hope of finding words to incite confrontations. We are being accused of strong-arming villagers into becoming Christians. Some monks are requesting that the Ministry of Religion take legal action against us. There are instances where flood victims have been told not to accept any help from Christians.

It is astonishing that some Buddhists find our willingness to help the Myanmar people an inconvenient truth. Rather than getting out among the suffering people, they prefer to complain about those who are trying to help. They seem to have a fence around their hearts, more concerned about protecting their religion than providing compassionate help.

We have no obligation to wait for them to fix their hearts. We have work to do, and God will eventually call us to account for our service. God has entrusted us with not only talents, but responsibilities in keeping with those abilities. God knows our abilities or skills because He is the one who gifted us them for the purpose of His service.

Unfortunately, some Buddhists believe they are in a competition with Christians. This isn’t a contest to see who earns the most souls for Christ. This is about being gracious, kind, and generous with our God-given abilities through the opportunities placed in our path.

Our LFM staff and volunteers are selfless, smart, dependable, and calm under pressure, and what they are doing is working!

• Prayer Request: Please pray that God will continue to show our Myanmar colleagues enough light to see the next step, and the trust to believe there will be enough light to see each of the following steps in their service to Him.

Ministry thought

“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Hebrews 13:16

Too often, I find myself with the sense of having missed a spiritual moment that could have helped someone. Rather than pausing to gain an insight into the opportunity, I allow the pressures of the day to take control. What lingers is this feeling that I have left behind an experience which perhaps would have been memorable, defining, or strengthening.

It is so important to stay connected to God because it is that closeness that encourages us to go beyond our comfort zone and engage others where and when they are hurting. Only God knows what you are truly capable of in those spiritual moments of opportunity.

There are few images more frightening than that of a loved one, neighbor, or colleague losing their battle with hopelessness, and you’re grieving over the opportunities to help them that you ignored. We no longer act in faith, but demand evidence that the risk of getting involved is worthy of our effort. Innumerable opportunities have been missed to help hurting people because the perceived “return on our spiritual investment” didn’t add up in our minds.

There are countless inconspicuous, hurting people whose lives are sinking into deep pools of isolation. Who matters to us? Why should people have to beg through extreme acts to be respectfully noticed? Why is God so often considered an unlikely source for help by an ever-growing number of people?

Christianity without passion and conviction is an error of our personal will, and it undermines our moral responsibility to help the hurting. A glance at news headlines on any day testifies to the unresolved issues of man’s darker side. There are people all around us looking for a way to escape their despair. Are you willing to show them the door you walked through to experience the grace, love, and mercy of God? May God share His wisdom to know and His eyes to see those around us who are hurting. Hopelessness is curable!

Gary Watkins, LFM Co-founder

Myanmar coup day 1,342: Recent News Highlights

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died… He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:14, 19-20

1. Selling organs:The economic crisis caused by Myanmar’s civil war is a humanitarian catastrophe, fueling hunger and desperation. But the most horrifying outcome of the economic collapse is the dramatic rise in human organ sales. Desperation in Myanmar has reached a point where some are selling their organs through social media apps. There are alarming reports of people being forced into trafficking networks, where they are coerced into selling their organs. In some cases, victims are forced to give up their organs as punishment for failing to meet quotas in online scam operations.
2. Democratic Union: Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and nine state/ethnic representative councils jointly issued a statement announcing their commitment to working together to strengthen the future federal democratic union, emphasizing a bottom-up approach that starts with strengthening the power of the states to enhance the union. The statement was released by the EROs and nine state/ethnic representative councils, including the Chin National Front, the Karen National Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party, the Karenni State Consultative Council, the Pa-O National Federal Council, the New Mon State Party(Anti-Military Dictatorship), the Mon State Federal Council, the Ta’ang Political Consultative Council, and the Women’s League of Burma.
3. United Nations: The U.N. has verified over 3.4 million people displaced from their homes by the coup in Myanmar who are now Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the number of those impacted by recent flooding is nearly 900,000. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has proposed steps to address key aspects of Myanmar’s crisis. It stated that the flow of arms, as well as other military material and aviation fuel, powering the military’s campaign of violence against the civilian population must stop. The political process must include the civilian-led National Unity Government (NUG), ethnic armed groups, and the pro-democracy movement, to define future solutions for the country.
4. Flooding: As of 26 September, flooding caused by torrential monsoon rains, including remnants from Typhoon Yagi, has impacted an estimated 1 million people across 70 of the country’s 330 townships in Bago, Kayah, Kayin, Magway, Mandalay, Mon, Nay Pyi Taw, Rakhine, Sagaing, eastern and southern Shan, and Tanintharyi regions/states. The floods have destroyed farms and submerged agricultural tools and materials. Farmers face challenges in resuming their livelihood activities without support for agricultural inputs. Potential health risks are rising due to limited access to clean water, and immediate emergency needs include drinking water, food, basic medicine, household kits, clothes, and shelter.
5. Shan State: Myanmar’s junta is shifting troops from southern to northern Shan state in a bid to recapture several towns it lost to in an offensive launched by an alliance of ethnic armies. The junta has been conducting daily airstrikes and artillery strikes on Hsipaw and Nawnghkio townships, as well as Lashio city.
6. U.S. aid: The United States has announced $199 million in humanitarian assistance to support Rohingyas and host communities in Bangladesh and across the region. US Department of State Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya made the announcement at a Rohingya-focused side event during the United Nations General Assembly in New York last week. The new aid package includes over $129 million from the US Agency for International Development and nearly $70 million from the US Department of State.