“Christ”mas

Love For Myanmar Ministries Update

Christ Centered, Servant Hearted, Myanmar Focused

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

Christmas moves through the world as a mighty instrument of joy wrapping our spirits as a triumphant and tender gift to the time. At differing moments, the gates to suffering are closed, and our disappointments and heartaches are guided elsewhere by the sweet light of God’s love.

We are buoyed by the passion of His goodness, and each passing December day magically leaves a reverence upon our soul; a comforting encouragement that we are not alone, that we are God’s gifts to one another. With subtlety and sensitivity, a sense of belonging moves among us during Christmas time, an affection for one another that is uncommon at any other time. Christmas day is no ordinary day. Its presence sits atop all days as the beginning of the most profound love story ever told.

For some, Christmas is something to be conquered, to tame with the whole of December considered lost in the wasteland of the heart. There are ever-growing efforts to redefine Christmas, to reshape its meaning and place its bright mercenary light atop the tree to blind us to the true meaning of “Christ”mas. Amid the commercial chaos of this time of year, as the relentless advertisements call out to you, as the agony of selecting the appropriate gifts descends upon you, please don’t allow these efforts to distance you from being a gift yourself. Your time, your presence, your words can be what brightens someone’s Christmas as well as the other 364 days.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9

In recent years, because of your generosity, we have been fortunate to be in a financial position to fund many Christmas events in Myanmar. We know how powerful these events can be to help counter the despair experienced daily by the Myanmar people. The Christmas events have served as personal religious revivals rejuvenating Myanmar Christians while encouraging non-Christians to learn more about Jesus. We are praying that even as their country falls apart, you will help us not allow the Myanmar people’s hope to fall apart.

Gary Watkins, LFM Co-founder

• Prayer Request: (Myanmar coup day 1,405)
  Please pray that the power of hope in Christ Jesus will pour over Myanmar and give its people not only purpose in life but rescue their eternity.
• New displaced villagers: Armed clashes and mortar shelling by the military junta in Mon State have displaced more than 7,500 people in October alone. The conflict has forced residents from several townships, including Kyaikto, Bilin, Thaton, Kyaikmaraw, Thanbyuzayat, and Ye, to seek refuge in safer areas. Displaced families are facing acute shortages of shelter, food, and other essential supplies, with many forced to live in makeshift accommodations.
• Breakthrough: As of late October, pro-democracy resistance fighters in Myanmar had advanced to within a few kilometers of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city. This marks a significant shift in the Myanmar civil war, a conflict that has hitherto been concentrated in the jungles and mountains of ethnic states.
• Private military forces: Between the high-level visits of the Chinese Foreign Minister to Naypyidaw and Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing’s trip to China, the neighbors struck one piece of business – a deal to allow the deployment of Chinese private military corporations to operate within Myanmar. China is very concerned about the junta’s ability to protect Chinese interests in Myanmar, and a deployment of private Chinese armies is a humiliation for Min Aung Hlaing. The deployment of mercenary forces is a telling sign of China’s unease and of the desperation of the junta.