Yangon Orphanage Update: K. Sar Ram was sick with tuberculosis, but he is now taking medicine and is getting better. Dakum Pong is in 11th grade, but the school teachers and the principal saw that he could not pass the high school exam, and therefore suggested that he seek vocational training instead of schooling. The high schools are controlled by the central government and students failing their 11th grade exams can make a school look bad. Local schools compete for resources and they don’t want to look bad by having a high percent of students unable to pass and graduate. Pong has not been able to study well at school or at home because he gets very sleepy. We had his eyes checked, but nothing wrong was found. So he has agreed to quit school and attend a vocational training program to learn computer skills. In mid-October, I baptized five children from our church and 2 were from the orphanage, Mai Ruth and Sandar. We were all very excited, and I feel that the OSP pen pal program is making a difference in the spiritual lives of these children. Thanks you for praying for them. All of the 23 orphans in this orphanage have pen pals! They feel loved and encouraged when they receive your letters and gifts. Many of these children have never received any gifts before!
We have started a flower garden business and it is going well and we currently make about $50/month from it. It seems it is a good business for the long run. We would like to extend it in the coming monsoon season. Our country is an idol worship country and people want flowers to put in idols, so there is a big demand for flowers. We also sold a big mother pig for $200 (160,000 kyats). She was old and past being able to have more piglets. Now we just 2 pigs.
Putao Orphanage Update: last month I was able to spend about ten days with the orphans there. They are doing fine and growing. We have one acre of rice field there and the kids enjoy working there during their scheduled work time. The pen pal program is going well and the orphans feel loved because of the letters and pictures and gifts. I feel that that program helps the kids grow a lot spiritually. As of the writing of this update, we have 14 children in this orphanage and only 3 of them do not yet have pen pals. If you would like to become an OSP sponsor and be paired with a pen pal, please contact Suzanne Kosik at skosik@cfl.rr.com to find out how.
Wireless Church Update: The ladies of Wireless church meet every other Saturday and pray together all day. We also offer a full day of Bible study every month and invite everyone. We are studying 1st and 2nd Samuel with the church members all through October. Khaw and I and our four children are doing fine. Khaw and I have learned that as a preacher family, our children should know the Bible more than other families kids, and that they should love the Lord from their hearts deeply. While studying the book of 1st Samuel, I learned that the children of Prophet Eli did not turn spiritually, because Eli did not discipline his children well. It is not only essential to preach the gospel to others, but also essential to teach it and practice it with our children! Our church collects an offering each week and here is what we use it for:
- We support 1 Bible college student.
- We support 1 evangelist in Rakhine State, in the west part of Myanmar.
- We use some for transportation for those who need help getting to and from church on Sundays.
- We use some for transportation fee whenever church members go out to witness as a group.
- We use some in seminars whenever we have (for lunch). Every month we have a whole church Bible seminar.
- We use some to help sick people.
- We use offered rice for starving people in the community and in the church.
- We encourage our women to save one handful of rice every time they prepare a meal, and then bring this as an offering to church to be used for the poor.
Prayer requests and praises:
- Suzanne & Jeff Kosik and a team from Real Life Christian Church in Clermont are coming to Myanmar from Nov. 25th –Dec.12th. Please keep praying for them, that the whole trip is safe and unhindered.
- Thanks for all of the OSP sponsors and pen pals. Our orphans feel loved and encouraged by this program.
- Pray for Than Than Yi, she had breast tumor removed, but medicine is effecting her liver.
- Please pray for the government of Myanmar, that it would rule our country with good hearts. That the ruling authorities would have softer hearts, and that many lost people will turn to their true Lord.
- Because the current exchange rate is so low (making support dollars not go as far), we face some difficulties in our ministry, but we praise the Lord because God gives us enough strength in every area of our ministry.
- We pray that God would provide a way and the support needed for us to construct a bigger church building, because we have outgrown our current one (we currently meet one the bottom floor of my house).
