Pastor Hla Thaung is the pastor of a church plant of Pastor Kenneth’s organisation – Gospel for Myanmar. He and his wife Za Za Oo have ministered since 2008 in the village of Okshitgone in the Yangon Division, about 2 hours’ bus ride from Yangon City. The villagers are very strong in their Buddhism but they have 37 Christian believers in their group which meets in their home, all of whom are from Buddhist backgrounds.
Pastor Kenneth made us aware in early June that his country was experiencing its hottest summer season for many, many years and the government was very concerned about the shortage of water which was already being experienced. At that time already 1,760 villages throughout the country were facing severe shortages of water and it was expected that by April and May the entire country would be in a similar situation. He told us that three of the villages in which his organisation has planted churches were in a desperate situation as far as water supply was concerned – Okshitgone Village was one of those three villages. By God’s grace a generous donor in New Zealand sent a gift to enable a bore-well to be drilled in the village and Pastor Hla Thaung rejoiced that there would be ample water for him and his family and his believers, and pledged to share the available water, in the Name of Jesus Christ, with all those in the village.
Before the well could be drilled, the monsoon rains arrived and Pastor Kenneth advised us that Okshitgone village, like many others in the southern part of the country, was flooded! In early August he wrote…
“There was a big rain since the past few days until today and most of the place in valley sides are fill with water. A big flood in many places. It effects one of our Churches in Okshitgone Village as you see in the pictures. All the village is fill with water. Therefore, please remember for this village in your prayer time.”
There was no longer a shortage of water, but a surplus and yet still no drinkable water!!
Praise the Lord that the flood waters have now gone and village life is back to “normal” – whatever that is for a rural Myanmar village. Work has been able to start on the drilling of the bore-well to provide good water for Pastor Hla Thaung, his congregation and the other residents of the village.
On 16 September Pastor Kenneth wrote that the bore-well installers had “found water” and were beginning to install the well and pump. He wrote…
“These are the last pictures I received from Pastor Hla Thaung. We do very much appreciate for this new water well and praise God for His wonderful blessings through the donors. I do really hope that they can complete in the next few days. When they finish I will send you more pictures. On behalf of Pastor Hla Thaung and all the Church members I would like to say thank you to you and to all the donors and all who pray for Myanmar.”
A second generous New Zealand donor also gave sufficient funds for a bore-well and these were sent to Pastor David for one of his organisation’s (Fellowship Bible Church Myanmar) church plants – he wrote…
“Greetings and thanks for your helping for water well. Now we finish digging well and it is blessings for people. It is one of my church planter area in Phan kha Kung village, Mhawpi township, Yangon. Around 20 houses and there is no good water well and now they are so happy to have good water. Thanks for your helping. Please continue praying for water wells.”
