The Lord is With us

The Lord is with us. Always with us. So his name is called Immanuel. This means God with us.

Many times, though they believe God and his power, Christians forget the meaning of "being with us." According to the Bible, if God is with us, who can against us. God is much greater than the one who is in the world. This is what we believe. This is what the Bible says. But this is what we do not believe many times. That's the reason that we fail many times. We tend to give up. We tend to leave. We tend to quit.

This is the Promise of God. He will be with us till the "End" of the world. Now my question is "Do you really believe the Lord who is with us?"

If yes, why you do fear? Why do you scare? Why do you have worries?? Financial problems, family problems, social problems, and many others. They are just like mountains that we cannot reach at the top. We cannot climb because we look ourselves too weak. We are just like grasshoppers. We are just like worms.

That's why the Lord says, "DO NOT WORRY". This is for you and me.

Let's move forward. Let's move on. Don't give up. Don't be discouraged because of your current situation. We are more than Conquerors. The Lord is with us.

God bless you.

I was born in a village in Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar. It is situated between the boarder of China and India. We can reach India by walking three or four days, up and down in the jungle. You also need to walk through snow mountains in winter. To China, it might be around ten days walk. There is no car, train or other means except walk. Even when you walk, you need to carry your food, clothes and everything you might need on the way.

But not like other places in Myanmar, Putao is really distinctive place to visit. These years, there were some tourists from around the world. Those who are interested in ecotourism, Putao is really a great destination. You can see unspoiled forest, trees, rare species and other living beings which you will not see in any other parts of the world.

If you are planning to visit Putao, I just want to give you some suggestions. I am not working in any tourism group but I know the situation of Putao very well.

First, you need to plan for your trip because you need to get permission to go there. If you are a foreigner, you surely need a special permit to travel to Putao region. Yangon is the only place where you can apply travel pass to Putao. The best time for travel is October to March or April. October is the begining of winter and you can see farmers working the field. If you can visit in December, you will see all sorts of fruits -- Washington, Grapefruits, Orange, and many others, I cannot name it. You can also be a part of Christmas Celebration with the locals. So you need to plan ahead if you want to visit there. You can ask any local agent to work for you or you can work on yourself. In Putao, you are required to hire a tourist guide because it is the policy of the government to travel in any restricted area.

Second, you also need to learn about Putao before you travel. Many websites or angents are there to help you. But you also need to ask details.

Third, you need to budget yourself. This means you will not be able to use cards, or any other means to receive money unless you have cash for your own. You also need to get kyats (Myanmar money) when you travel to Putao. You have some options for your lodging in Putao area. If you want to stay in a luxury hotel, you need to pay at least 400 to 500 US$ pernight. I am not sure about this. But if you are willing to stay in small hotel, you have options too. You can spend less than 100$ per night. Less than that. If you travel to villages and for hiking, you can stay where ever you are if you inform to the village leader through your guide.

If you are planning for hiking, it will be the best thing to do in Putao. You don't need to worry for your safety. You need to book for travel agent if you are planning for hiking. It will cost around 2000 $ for your trip. It will be about 4 or 5 days. This fee includes food, guide, and all the other necessary things.

You can also visit villages around Putao area. You can talk to locals and have time with their family. They are really happy if you visit them because they think that they will receive blessings if they receive guests. They will feed you whatever they have. (But for tourists, they are scare to give you food because you might not like their food).

This is just a brief suggestions if you are planning to go to Putao.

You can contact me if you want to know more.

Education in Myanmar

I am not an educational psychologist or expert in education. But as a citizen of Myanmar, and studied in Myanmar, I just want to highlight the current educational system of Myanmar.  I understand that this is not an easy task to change in a single day, but we should work together to a new education system since Myanmar is moving forward with a strong momentum today.

First, Myanmar education system sees the world as closed system. This means that we are taught in a narrow way. I don’t mean that we are not explored to the world. There are many good things that we learn in school compare to other countries too. But we are not allowed to discuss in the class, not to talk in the class, not to share our insights in the class. Of course, there might be some reasons that they have this system. However, today the world is changing rapidly and all the children are also not the children of the past. They are explored to the world , even the things that the adults could not reach. Even many teachers cannot cope with the things that their students are doing. Therefore, rather than having some fixed subjects in the class, there must be some subjects which are relevant to the students today. This means, the whole Myanmar is not the same, Shan State might be different from Rakhine State. Likewise there are many diversities in the country. If we could have subjects such as --Tribal Cultural Studies, Community development, Ethics – mentioning what came to my mind, these subjects will be really useful to our students. What I really mean is the subjects which are really useful for our students. I learn Chemistry in  my middle school and high school. But it is not useful for me when I finished studies. Actually, I should learn painting, drawing, writing and agricultural subjects in school.

                Another thing is how we deal with our students. I think there is something wrong with children, those who are in primary school.  When I read Myanmar text book, it is mentioned that kids are to listen to teacher and to repeat the words of Myanmar vocabulary, rather than writing them one by one. But nowadays, even preschool kids are taught to write not only words, but even big vocabularies. If the kids are able to follow, it is nothing wrong. However, when we see the kids, they are very tired in school. Many parents are happy for this. I think this is wrong. Schools start at 8.30 AM and finish by 3.30 PM. Then sometimes, they have classes even on Saturdays. Some kids want to take tuition classes too. For these kids, their life is ruined. They have to grow naturally rather than growing in a limited box. If we can have more free times in schools, community and even summer holidays, these kids will be excellent in their education.

                Finally, in Myanmar, especially Private schools are coming up today. They want to focus on excellency of their students, their school and curriculum. This is good. They want to force their children to learn more things than they can learn. This is what I feel. Let our children grow naturally. They will make changes in our societies. In Myanmar, we push our children when they are young, but when they are in universities, they don’t have anything to do. They waste their time in university. I think we should change this.  We should prescribe subjects which are compulsory for kids and they will learn. For adults, after high school, they need to make it in their professional area.

I am writing what I feel about Myanmar education. I don’t quote any one or text. But later, I will try to do research on this. May the Lord Bless You.

Myanmar

This is on the Machambaw Bridge, Kachin State.

We believe Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ. Though many claim today that Jesus is one of the religious icons of the world, we strongly believe and claim that Jesus Christ is the only Lord for us. There is none apart from him, we worship and praise in our life, through our life and all things that we are doing.

Today, the world seems to be very secular and many young people think that religion is not important. For many young people, religion and spiritual is almost the same. If you are spiritual, or if you confess that Jesus is the Lord, then they think that we are crazy. I think this is true because even the Apostles were seen as drunkards, or crazy people because of their faith in Christ.

I am very happy to be a Christian. Our forefathers were animists, spirit worshipers. Every day, their life was full of fear and they offered almost everything they have to the spirits. They were not happy to do that but they must do it because it was part of their life. When I was young, I have seen many spirit worshipers, and their life is totally meaningless.

Now we know Christ. We believe Christ. Not because he has done something to us. Not because He is greater than other gods. Not because He saves us. Not because He was born as a Man. Not because He died on the cross for our sins.

Because He is the LORD. There is none but Jesus. We confess with our mouth, with our hearts that He is really our LORD.

We are extreme to share about Christ. You might be embarrassed with these words. But this is our life. We are here for this purpose only. We live for Christ. We really want to testify that Jesus is our Lord and .. He is in control of everything, including you, nations and all the situations of the world.

Thank you for reading. God bless you all.

Church Building

This is an old church from Myanmar. We want to help the church to repair and renovate it again.

Glory Chritian Mission

Friends, You are welcome to our blog. We are so blessed because of your prayers and supports to us. As we are engaged in different ministries, we want to invite you to read what we are doing and be a part of us. We pray that the Lord will bless you richly as you move forward in his blessed ministry.