June 2022

Bombs Drop Every Day

Today my heart is overwhelmed as I write this letter. It is heavy with the reality of the situations we face in Myanmar. The reminder of our mere humanity weighs heavy on my chest. This is life and death, and sometimes it feels as though our hands are tied. Yet as I write, the Lord continues to remind me that even when we do not understand, we must praise him even when we can’t see past the obstacle at hand. We must worship Him and walk in obedience to our King who sits upon the throne. We do not fight a losing battle. On the contrary, He already won. So as I continue to report about some pretty heavy news from our brothers and sisters in Myanmar, I ask that you praise the Lord in the midst of the sorrow and taste the joy that comes in resting in the ever-present arms of our heavenly Father who cares more for us then we can comprehend. 

On the night of 11/26/21 around 1 AM, over 20 military trucks, two by two, rolled down Pastor Naing’s street. The soldiers stopped at every house along the way, banging and yelling, waking up the owners so that they could search their homes. Pastor Naing informed us that when they reached his home, the gate around it was locked so they could not get in. He also told us, “In the morning, my neighborhood told me that the soldiers knocked at the fence door first, but we didn’t hear, and later they kicked and struck the door as well because my family was deep in sleep we did not answer. The neighbors also said the military is very angry, and they will be back.”

Pastor Naing asks if we would please pray for them. They don’t know what all of this could mean for them.

As further sobering reports come in about the state of Yangon, our team in the states has been informed that the homes of many burn while men, women, and children are missing or dead. On the bloody streets of a city we once walked freely, bombs now drop and many run in fear. Yet, there is no end in sight for those who do not know the Lord. The ever-present terror of a life without purpose plagues many, and the cry of innocent blood screams from the very ground it is soaking into.

Our people on the ground in Myanmar report that bombs are dropping every day, and they continue to get closer and closer to our ministry center. We also received word that a pastor in Chin state has been arrested, and many questions are being left unanswered as many cry for justice and peace.

Yet, in the middle of what seems to be a never-ending blood bath, there is a small-gated ministry center that has opened its gates to its neighbors despite the danger all around them. Pastor Naing, his beautiful family, and the Bible school students who live within those walls, gathered much-needed supplies such as rice, eggs, oil, blankets and masks, etc. They have opened their home to those around them. As they gave to those who have gone without for so long, they began to share the Gospel, using their hardship as a way to point back to a comforting heavenly Father. Their life has become an example of freedom in the midst of a country in bondage. 

As I end this report, I ask you to pray for Myanmar and our brothers and sisters who stand on the frontlines. Our dear family in Myanmar stands in a bloody land, yet they fight back in love. They fight back with comfort and food. They fight with refuge for the unwanted and prayer for their land and their enemies. 

This battle is far from over, and I petition you to stand and fight with us.

Stand and cry out on their behalf. Be the answer to their prayers and fight with us to keep them from being forgotten. 

Pray for our team stateside as we do our best to keep you all in the loop and pray for strength as we receive horrible news and quite literally stare death in the face in pictures that can never be erased from our minds.

Pray for courage to continue fighting back with meekness and love. 

With love, you sister in Christ,
Rebekah Robinette

Agonizing Reports from Chin State

Agonizing reports have come accompanied with disturbing pictures of those who were tied and burned alive. What the pictures show is something that once seen can never be forgotten.

I have withheld the images due to the horror of them. Yet, I think it is essential for you all to understand their circumcises. 

As their brothers and sisters in Christ, it is our call to mourn with them and understand their ever-present pain and sorrow, for that is what they feel—sorrow for the loss of their loved ones and pain as they see no end in sight of this bloodshed. 

The images of the victims show men and boys reaching and grasping for relief from the flames, yet the smoke and rope that binds them holds them back, leaving them with nothing but death to save them from the agony of their situation. 

Bystanders to this horrible event state, “We heard their cry for help and groans in agony, yet we could do nothing because of the military.” 

In addition, we’ve received reports that over 22 churches in upper Chin State have been burned to the ground, as well as over 1,000 homes left in ashes as the military grasps for control. Men, women, and children continue to flee this death and destruction, searching for shelter and safety amid the broken and torn country they call home. 

Pray and cry out to God on behalf of these weary souls. Cry out for rest and restoration of family and hearts. Pray that in this time, hearts and minds would be open to the Gospel so that they may find comfort in the name of Jesus.

Although we didn’t know those who lost their lives in this report, our hearts go out to their loved ones, and we choose to tell their stories as well as petition you all to pray for Myanmar as a whole from the friend to the stranger.

Your sister in Christ, 
Rebekah Robinette

Joy is Born in Seeming Chaos

We are overjoyed to announce that early on the morning of February 16th, 2021, way before the sun came up, we received the news from Pastor Naing that our dear sister Mae Swei had gone into labor, and we would soon see a sweet new face. Our hearts have been heavy through this pregnancy with the uncertain times and the birth complications. We feared for their lives, but God in his great mercy saw fit to answer our prayers and keep our dear sister and their newborn safe throughout the labor.

Mae Swei asked Pastor Mark to name the new addition to this ministry family. What a privilege! With great consideration he came up with Daniel Carson. Daniel means “God is my strength,” and Carson is after the incredible missionaries to the Chin people. Pastor Mark said, “I believe his name should be Daniel because of the times you are living in with great political turmoil. Your people need a man of faith, prayer, and courage right now and Carson after Arthur and Laura Carson who brought the Gospel to the Chin people.”

Pastor Naing said in response, “Thank you all for loving him. You gave his name Daniel Carson. That is great and meaningful on the condition we are facing now in our country. My wife wants to say thank you so much for giving his special name with such meaning.”

Our prayer is that this little one would grow to be a mighty man of faith, planting the cross in Myanmar and continuing the legacies of his family and the missionaries that have gone before him. 

We ask that you continue in prayer for the people of Myanmar and our brothers and sisters there, and our dear little brother “Daniel Carson Thang” and his family as they continue to lay down their lives for the people of Myanmar in the furtherance of the Gospel. 

Thank you all for your love and support for our brothers and sisters in Myanmar!

With love,
The Mission to Myanmar Team

Reach Them Oh Lord When We Cannot

Remind us it is You who has been helping all along, letting us participate in Your work.

As we walk through this difficult time with our brothers and sisters in Myanmar, we hear many of them cry out to us through messaging apps, begging us to remember them and pray for them as they either flee their homes or take shelter from war zones.

The country they know and love and believed was turning into a safe place, is now falling apart before their eyes. They are asking if we can find their lost families because they believe the military has burned their home to the ground.

“Help me! My uncle and aunt have gone missing, and I think the military could have killed or taken them. I am not sleep today. I am think about them all day all night if they are alive or dead!” 

Knowing there is little we can probably do we go ahead and ask for the names of his family so we can at least try. He is too afraid to say their names in case his phone is being watched. His fears are not paranoia. We have heard of several cases of phone messages turning into immediate apprehensions by the police. 

We share with him what information we have and tell them what we can do for them, but we often have to just wait it out.

While our brothers and sisters have no choice but to fight for their families, country, and the kingdom of God without losing hope, all I can do is stand back and watch. 

One of my dear brothers in Myanmar contacted me begging for prayer as he sends video of the streets below his hiding place. My eyes sting with salty tears and my heart physically hurts feeling as though something is squeezing it. I tell him I pray for them always and reminded him of his brothers and sisters here and how they are crying out on his behalf as well, reassuring him we will not forget him or his people. They are always on our hearts and minds.

A local Buddhist businessman who has become a very close friend of our family in ministry over the years said the times have become very desperate for them and that money is almost impossible to locate even for people who had quite a bit of it in the bank. They are also reaching out to see if we can help them. We want to be there for our friends too.

Younger ministries with less extensive in-country networks have been reaching out to us asking us if we can get finances to their loved ones in far flung places we’ve never been to. We passed their information on to our network and ask them to help if they can without endangering their families. 

Truthfully, a part of me feels bad for sharing these heartbreaking stories, knowing they hurt you all as well, but I believe it is important for us to understand the true persecution and hardship they face. These aren’t nameless or faceless people these are people we know and love. We are one body knit together in love with each other. We are called to mourn when they mourn and rejoice when they rejoice. So we don’t lose faith knowing that according to the Scriptures “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). 

We must not forget their current situation. We have no idea how long this will last. But I petition you all to remember them (always) in your hearts and prayers. May their story not grow distant and forgotten as life continues for us here. We pray the Lord would use this time of uncertainty and hardship to grow our love for our brothers and sisters in Myanmar and further connect our hearts with them, growing our faith and theirs.

Your sister in Christ,
Rebekah

Helping the Helpers

We hear the stories of the persecuted and downtrodden, the orphaned child, the homeless, the hungry, and those hurting because they are going thirsty and require fresh water to quench it, yet they have no well.

You can’t deny that all of these things move our hearts in some way and make us want to open our hands to help.

Am I right?

And truly, it is a wonderful thing to help needs like this. But sometimes we forget those who have given their lives to touch these needs directly and bring the stories of those in need to us. These people go to the hurting and work for them behind-the-scenes, raising awareness to all of these needs and becoming the voices of the voiceless.

Without them, we would never know the names of the orphaned and thirsty, and they would just be faraway people in faraway places. Truly, blessing these angels of mercy is just as important as touching the actual need.

In our work in Myanmar and now in the Americas and Africa, our main focus has been to directly help those indigenous workers or missionaries who have taken it upon themselves the burden of caring for our brothers and sisters around the world.

These, often selfless workers, point us to needs while they themselves are suffering and lacking while never saying a word. We all need to understand how important it is to take care of those who go when no one else will go, those who pick up the cross and truly follow without ever looking back. Although they go with the power of the Holy Spirit, we must not forget that does not shield them from hardship and pain. Many lay their lives down as they strive to build the Kingdom without a word of complaint.

For several years now, we have understood this, and one of our main goals is to bless these workers regularly. Over the years, the Lord has seen fit to open opportunity after opportunity to reach out and take care of many people like this.

We have had the privilege of providing phones, computers, motorcycles, and trucks as well as personal items we observe a need for while we are visiting and encouraging them. We watch as they put so many hurting people before themselves and the needs of their families. From simple things like treating them to a nice meal at a restaurant they could normally never afford because they would never spend ministry money on themselves, to fixing the broken window in their home, or putting in a new floor in their house, the needs are endless and mostly unseen. But for our team, the Lord has put it on our hearts and minds to bring attention to these needs and be the voice of the those who go unseen around the world.

Would you join us in blessing and caring for these incredible workers in the Kingdom? We would love it if you would join us in prayer and partner with us by giving toward this end.

The Myanmar Team

A Petition for Prayer

Yet again, we come to you with heartbreaking news from the front lines of Myanmar, where we are receiving reports of explosions and devastating disasters all over our brother’s and sister’s country. They look out upon blood-soaked streets and desperate people who have lost all hope for peace. Many go hungry and even starve because of the spiking food prices. This makes it nearly impossible to buy a bag of rice to keep their families alive, pushing people over the edge. Many become violent as they steal from others who are barely afloat.

As Pastor Naing Thang and his family overlook the city, they beg that we would pray for them and their people as they watch their country crumble beneath them.

“We ask you to pray for us because horrible things are happening here every day here in Yangon; bombs are exploding every day and everywhere in our area.” 

If this was our country or even our family facing this difficulty, I could imagine the utter despair that we would face, the hopelessness, loneliness, and even confusion. Truthfully, it would be easy to become overcome with doubt or even become angry with our situation, yet our brother Pastor Naing—despite everything they’re going through—continuously turns to Scripture and prayer to comfort his family and those around them. What an incredible testimony this is.

So as the Myanmar team, we are petitioning you to pray, pray for Pastor Naing and his family and those around him that he is caring for. Pray for their crumbling country. Pray for the church in Myanmar that it would become stronger and grow through this ongoing trial. Pray for the Myanmar team as we do our best to care and feed our brother’s and sister’s and that the Lord would give us the words to encourage them throughout their dire situation. 

Your sister in Christ, 
Rebekah Robinette  

Here is a Scripture Pastor Naing has been using as encouragement:

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:19-20)