~Sabbath, April 28, 2012~

Sabbath, April 28, 2012 will be one of the most beautiful days of mine and the other foreign and Karen missionaries, here, but even more so for some of our young people. There will be a baptism in the afternoon!

We are very excited about this and are working earnestly for these student's and all the others' salvation, but the enemy of souls is working untiringly and even more desperately now to keep them in bondage to dark heathenism and Buddhism, and a small few to false Christian religions. So, we must work harder, more earnestly than ever before...I must search my heart and make sure there is nothing in me that may be  holding some of our students back from making a complete, firm commitment to the only true God and the only One who loves them.

Please join us in working for their salvation, but lifting up your earnest, intercessory prayers with ours.

Here is a list and a note about a few of the students who I am specifically pleading for right now...

~ Peh Nee Htoo (age 22), is our oldest student, one of the most mature, and the most sincere. Though he isn't baptized yet, he is in many ways shown through his fruit that he is more of a Christian than most or all of the Seventh-day Adventist students, here. This all makes more sense to me as we have learned more about his background during this week. He worked in a Buddhist monastery for nine years before coming to our school at the age of 16. He would have become a monk if the Lord didn't bring him to this mission school. He has been a student at our school since then. He has been so close to committing himself to Christianity that I and the other staff had been wondering why he hasn't made a firm commitment to follow God with how much he is like a Christian. We desired to know why he wasn't making a stand with the other students who were committing their lives to God for baptism. At least some of us found out through an unexpected way, this week, when some friends, who have been interviewing staff and some students over the last several weeks for a video of our school, interviewed him. One of the questions that the interviewer had on the list of questions to ask people was How did you become a Seventh-day Adventist? She chose to skip that one, but when she talked to Thara Eh Guh Nyaw about it, he asked her to ask Peh Nee Htoo if he plans to get baptized. Peh Nee Htoo said that he plans to get baptized but wants to learn more about prayer and God's word first. The miracle working power of the Holy Spirit working in his life along with the studying of the Bible for the past few years has been transforming him into a child of God.

~ Dah Ku Say (age 17) is a very mature, proper, sincere, and sweet girl. We have built a close friendship especially over the last 2-3 months. She's quite soft spoken and one that some people might find hard to get to know because she isn't majorly out going. But, she is very friendly and once you get to know her, she can really open up her heart to you to the best that she can between speaking English and Karen. She told me the Sabbath before the last break that she would like to get baptized very much, but she's afraid that her family will not respond to it in a nice and friendly way. She may loose her family. Please pray for her and others who are dealing with this and other kinds of fears that the Devil is bringing upon them to try to hinder them from committing themselves to their Redeemer. This is a very REAL struggle and one not easy in the least for Dah Ku Say and many others to handle.

 ~ Thet Zaw Oo (age 15) is usually a very cheery boy and always quite friendly. Hardly a shy bone in him. He's one of our most sincere students and the most active in showing great interest in God's word. I wish that you could have been here during this school year to witness and be a part of seeing his life majorly changing into the image of Christ. I wrote a blog post about him a while ago, so I won't go into much detail about him though I'd love to. But, I will reiterate that he came to our school knowing little if anything at all about the Bible and God. I don't think he had even ever heard of God. A pure heathen boy to one that's becoming another on of God's jungle heroes. He wants to get baptized. And is continually showing a dedicated interest in becoming a Christian, but he recently told us that he wants to wait to get baptized next year. We don't know why but perhaps he is wanting to know more about the Bible and Christianity before getting baptized. Pray that he will make that full commitment when it is time.

~ Naw Lah Moo (age 15) is a girl of prayer. Her dedication to praying has deeply spoke to my heart to spend much more time in sincere prayer than I have in the past. She has shown in the past in other ways to be a spiritual person. However, she reads her Bible, the hymnal, or other things throughout pretty much the entire time of almost, if not every, worship. It hardly looks up at the speaker. It has made us wonder if she is doing that just to distract her from especially the worship talks. We, of course, can't read her heart, but it has concerned us. Please pray for her. I believe that she's been here for several years and so she has had countless opportunities, such as many other students, to make a decided commitment to God. I pray that someday she'll show a greater interest in eternal truths and join God's people.

~ Saw Pah Noh (age 15) has been going to our school for quite a while. He's often especially is quite serious in worship, but always seems to be very focused on the messages that are being presented. There is hardly a time when I have seen him take his eyes off of the speaker. I often have looked at him when I've done worships. There are times when I've seen expressions on his face of a boy who is struggling deeply with something. The other day, I spoke about the wise man who built his house upon a rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. I used this story as an illustration of how we can either build our lives upon the Rock and the Bible or how we can build our lives upon the snares of this world--upon sin. I barely got anywhere with the talk. I only was able to focus on the first aspect on how we can build our lives upon Christ--prayer. I looked at Saw Pah Noh. I sent a prayer up to the Lord. He looked as though he could burst into tears at any moment. His face was red and words of deep struggles again covered his face. Hannah and I talk about him on and off. We wonder if he's one of our students who may very likely be treated in a bad way, perhaps be disowned, if he should become a Christian. He may be struggling between making a commitment to the Lord and between keeping his family, or friends, ect. Perhaps it may have nothing to do with family...but it seems very clear that there's a battle raging in his heart. Please pray that He will come to love the Lord more than anything and living for Christ will become more important to him than anything else. Pray that the Lord will have victory in his life. May he experience the peace that passes all understanding and anything that this world or family could give him.

Each and every student is a gift from the Creator that is of far more worth than the greatest riches of this world. Every boy and girl was bought by the blood of the Lamb and Jesus stands before His Father pleading for their salvation and He and all heaven is untiringly working for their eternal life. Will you join me and the other staff here in interceding and co-working with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all of heaven in behalf of these treasures. You can be a part of bringing them into God's kingdom.

I cannot express how excited I am for the students who are committing themselves to Christ and getting baptized this Sabbath! There is JOY inexpressible in my heart. :)