Thanks for praying for us here at the KLC near Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The Barefoot Doctor School is going well as the CHE training continues this week.
I don't have a lot of new things to report except for some samples of the Tribal Reports we heard last Friday. We also received some new pictures from some of our current Barefoot Doctors who are ministering in various places. If you follow the link for these pictures you can see what their work looks like. I hope the pictures are not too graphic for you. Here is the link:
These pictures show the work of four of the Barefoot Doctors from our most recent graduating class plus two others. It is exciting to see them doing the spiritual and medical work they were trained here to do. We are very proud of them!
As far as the Tribal Reports, I will just give a few samples. They were very interesting to listen to, and they helped us all get the Big Picture of the things God is doing in Burma. Please realize these are summaries of the things the students actually said.
The Wa’s have traditionally been spirit-worshipers. They didn’t have any formal education in the
past. In the beginning, they tried buying rice from China, but the
rice they were sold was worthless. China
had boiled the rice seeds and they wouldn’t grow. They went back to China and the people told
them that, in order to get their rice to grow, they must make human
sacrifices. That’s how that custom
started. Amazingly, after they started
making human sacrifices, their rice seeds worked! That wicked practice continued for a long
time. Everyone in their area became afraid of the Wa’s because of
this practice.
Later on their prince adopted Buddhism, so for a long time
the Wa’s had two religions, Buddhism and Animism. But then an American missionary named William Marcus came
and preached the Gospel. He first
started by teaching people to read, using the Shan script system. An important
Buddhist monk learned how to read by reading the Bible. Marcus shared the Gospel with that monk, and
he became the first convert. He was
baptized in 1908. After that, many other
people listened to Marcus’ teaching and repented. Eventually William Marcus created a Wa writing system. About 60% of the Wa’s are Christians now, and in 2008 they
celebrated 100 years of Christianity.
The Lahus are lake people who migrated from China. They are spread all over Shan State and
northern Thailand. They originally had their own country in China called Lancha
(spelling?).
They were always Animists.
There are many Lahus in Thailand and other countries.
There is a legend that every Lahu knows:
The legend is that the Lahus all came from a gourd. According to the folk tale, the Lahu people came
out of the gourd when a mouse bit a hole in it.
The legend goes on to say that there would one day be a white man on a
white horse holding a large book that would come into their community.
Because of this widely-known legend, the Lahus believed an
American missionary who came to introduce them to Christ was that man. He was a
white man on a white horse and he was holding a Bible. This missionary and some Karen evangelists were
the first ones to tell the Lahus about Jesus.
Almost 70% of the Lahus in Burma are Christians.
The Rawangs have six main sub-groups. Traditionally, they are Animists, but now it
is rare to see an Animist Rawang.
The Rawangs live together in multi-generations in very long
houses. They just keep adding on to them
as the family grows. They like to be
united. Traditionally they take care of
themselves by slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. Whenever any Rawang kills an animal for food,
the animal is shared with the whole village even if each person only gets a
little bit. If someone buys a big
container of rice, he will share some of it with everyone in the village.
Today the Rawangs have migrated many different places and
there are many dialects.
Here are some of the Blessings God has given the Rawang
people: 1. People educated in the Bible. 2. Medical doctors who are Rawang. 3. Evangelism - They share their blessings by
reaching out to other groups.
Rawang evangelists are going out throughout the whole
country. They cannot support all of them
as well as they would like to.
Missionaries from the West first brought Christianity to the
Rawang. Now missionaries from Burma feel
the need to go to America and other countries to evangelize! They have a burden for the whole world! Please pray for our vision.
Well, what do you think? Did you find that interesting?
Jon
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