Change of seasons (at last!)

Hello again from Hong Kong! The weather FINALLY turned a little bit cooler. Some of the students are wearing warm jackets already, whereas we "northerners" are just happy to trade in our sandals and thinnest shirts for more substantial shoes and (still short-sleeved!) shirts. I was also inspired to bake a pumpkin pie this weekend. Most of the Chinese faculty and international students seemed to like it, but maybe they were just being polite. My husband can't stand the stuff, which is all right by me since it means I get an extra helping!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to lead a delightful group of LTS Mekong students  in a "Biblical women" seminar, looking at some of the lesser known texts about particular women in the Bible. It was marvelous, getting their insights. It turns out that to this day, boys in Myanmar are favored with the "fish head" (considered the best part of the fish for eating!) whereas the girls get the tail. Hmmm! It was great for us to listen together to God's Word, which sometimes comes to us as a female voice -- in the voice of a Biblical woman... or as an insight from a sister in Christ! 

On a very different note, the monkeys have been making very regular visits to our home (backyard) and also like to dive in the pond up at the seminary. Here's a couple of photos from the back roof of our house, where the monkeys enjoyed some ripe starfruit. There was also a recent stand-off between the monkeys and a troop of semi-wild dogs which have been cavorting in the neighborhood, and seem to especially like our yard. The dogs had a grand tiime, madly chasing the monkeys and barking up the trees. The monkeys screeched and shook the branches at the dogs. Thankfully, it seems it was all noise and warnings and no actual violence took place.

 As I said, the weather has turned cooler, so that means it's finally hiking weather again. Here's a photo of one of my favorite hiking companions!

Praise the Lord, my soul;

    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits—

who forgives all your sins

    and heals all your diseases,

 who redeems your life from the pit

    and crowns you with love and compassion,

 who satisfies your desires with good things

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. -- Psalm 103

Conference on Forgiveness & Reconciliation in Cambodia

Wayne and I spent nearly a week in Cambodia, including three days of the Mekong Mission Forum Joint Theological Consultation on the topic of Reconciliation and Forgiveness.


Out and about in Phnom Penh:

Mekong Mission Forum "Joint Theological Consultation" on Forgiveness and Reconciliation:

Large group and small group discussions:

The conference folks took a field trip to the S-21 Toul Sleng Genocide Museum and the "Killing Fields. Just overwhelmed again by the horror that took place in this beautiful country:

For many of the conference participants, even those from the Mekong countries, and even one or two from Cambodia itself, it was the first time to go to the Genocide Museum and Killing Fields. It was a moving experience. How is forgiveness and reconciliation possible, in a land which has undergone this kind of horror? How can we speak about this history, and how can we speak about God who Himself underwent and still undergoes the worst of human nature, the worst of human violence?


And yet we end on a life-giving note...

Cambodian children, Cambodian "Life with Dignity" ministry, Cambodian family ministry. 

17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 

-- II Corinthians 5: 17-19

God graced us in Cambodia!

Fields of hope with Lutheran Church of Cambodia outreach ministries.

God graced us in Cambodia the week before Easter!

I helped facilitate the first "Beloved Daughter's" Biblical empowerment workshop for women. I'm doing it as part of my work with the Mekong Mission Forum, and partly as research for my Doctorate of Ministry program at Lutheran Theological Seminary Hong Kong. I'm studying how Christian women in the Mekong might be experience empowerment by listening to (often long-neglected and marginalized) women's voices in the Bible... and by listening to each other's (also often long-neglected and marginalized) voices today.

"This is my beloved daughter... listen to her!" Women's Conference, Cambodia

I met with the some of the very beautiful missionaries who are serving in Cambodia - a lively bunch! Christianity is clearly not a Western religion, it's embraced, contextualized, and spread by missionaries from Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines -- and now in the LCC and elsewhere -  from Cambodians to Cambodians.

Waiting eagerly for treats, stories, music, love.

Buddha smiles at the community center where
children gather. Maybe he's listening to the
stories about Jesus, too!

Songs and stories and snacks. It's a treat
on a Sunday afternoon! 

After Sunday services in Phnom Penh, I was invited to go with a group of the LCC leaders to a small village about an hour or so outside of the city. 

In this place, I watched the Cambodian pastor faithfully walking and talking with groups of village people.

A woman whose side had been paralysed since giving birth to a child 13 years ago -- Will you pray for her, her friends asked the Pastor V.

He would and he did. And the next time there is a medical team coming from Hong Kong or Singapore, they will be visiting with, and listening, to these women.

We talked with a group of young men getting ready for a wedding. We could see the beer cooling in a big tub -- Will your Jesus help make me rich? -- one young man laughed. Pastor V. had a good response: Maybe not, but he can guide you to make your marriage be a faithful and happy one. That's a better way of being rich.  (The LCC has a marriage and family outreach ministry)

And then suddenly, Pastor V. and I were called to the side of an old man who said he wanted to be baptized. Now. Today. Pastor V. had met this elderly couple before.  He had told them about Jesus. The man was frail. Last week he said he wanted to become a Christian... but now I can see he cannot wait until we have our Baptism Day at the church.

Someone brought a basin of water. We asked him, and the old man loudly said YES, he believed in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. YES, he renounced all other gods and spirits except God alone.

I heard the old man's voice.

I saw the tears streaming from his wife's eyes.

I felt the splash of water.

I saw the gentleness of the young Cambodian woman from the Lutheran Church, who, after the baptism, together with the old man's wife, used the rest of the baptismal water to gently wash the old man's head, his shoulders, his feet.

Palm Sunday 2015 Asking for new birth of Christian baptism!

"Benediction" washing after the baptism.

God graced us in Cambodia the week before Easter! 

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called Children of God! And that is what we are!"  

(I John 3:1a, TNIV)

Lutheran Women's Biblical Life Conference in Myanmar

Catching Up on 2014... 

2014 LUTHERAN WOMEN’S BIBLICAL LIFE CONFERENCE IN MYANMAR

Oh Sing to the Lord, Oh sing God a new song!

For God is the Lord, and God has done wonders!

And sing we did! And wonders we have seen! Gathered by the Word, thirty-five women from all four of the Federation of Lutheran Churches in Myanmar took part in the Lutheran Women’s Biblical Life Conference  mid -November 2014. Hosted on the grounds of the historic Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Yangon, the event was co-sponsored by the Mekong Mission Forum (MMF).

Dr. Margaret Hunt from the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) challenged us to consider how God speaks to us today through women in the Bible. These were not easy stories:

Tamar, Lot’s daughters, the widowed Ruth, the five Zelophehad sisters. For each Biblical passage we asked: Who? What? Where? When? And then the big questions: Why is this story in the Bible? What does God want us to learn from this story?

Engaging with multi-media slides, works of art, song, small group discussion, and even a “Bible Bingo” game, participants  explored these fascinating, but in some cases little known stories of Holy Scripture. In addition, participants were invited to note how various women of the Bible offer clear examples of the Lutheran understanding of the priesthood of all believers, call and vocation, servant leadership, as well as the way in which God’s people are saints and sinners.

The women each crafted hand-sewn decorations for their “servant stoles” as a symbol of this priesthood we all share as sisters in Christ.

 I have to laugh at the way I look in this last photo (front & center!)  - like an exhausted old missionary lady!!! And I was exhausted, dealing with Yangon heat, traffic, logistics, language translation, financial reimbursements. I've since found out I was already suffering from a hyper-thyroid which affected my energy levels.  But it was a highlight of 2014, to be able to sit at the feet of my Myanmar and Australian (co-presenter) sisters and listen to their insights and encouragement to speak the TRUTH about what's happening in their communities, and plan for ACTIONS of GRACE, in Jesus' name. Wow!

 ^"The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they are saying; 

you shall indeed let them possess an inheritance among their father’s brothers and pass the inheritance of their father on to them."   

-- GOD, quoted in Numbers 27:7

God's amazing world in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar

A little bit about our Mekong Mission Forum teaching trip to Myitkyina, Kachin State, Myanmar:

Of all the Mekong countries, Myanmar (or Burma) has the highest number of Christians. Much of this is due to the perseverance of a husband and wife American Baptist mission couple, Ann and Adoniram Judson, who established a Christian Mission in Myanmar 200 years ago! The Myanmar Baptist Convention is expecting over 20,000 visitors for the celebrations in Yangon next month. Of course, those old-time  American missionaries just got the ball rolling. Since then there have been generations of faithful indigenous ministers, pastors, Christian parents and grandparents, and yes, Myanma/Burmese/ Kachin missionaries who have attempted to live lives of service, witness and love in extremely difficult conditions, in response to the Gospel.

Wayne and I had the great adventure of visiting the Kachin Theological College, in Kachin State, Myanmar. 

Myitkyina airport

We had the opportunity to teach alongside a fantastically diverse group including Kachin Baptists, Independents, Anglicans, one Presbyterian (Dr. Lal Tin Hre from the ATEM - Association of Theological Education in Myanmar who was the chief organizer of everything), two Lutherans (us!) and even one Roman Catholic priest! We Americans talk about ecumenism, but these folks are living it. When times are hard, when you are a minority ethnic group AND belong to a minority religion, when you realize the Gospel calls us to be counter-cultural, then you unite for continuing education events. Beautiful!

Along with a trip to the site of the Myitsone Dam Project (halted last year due to the outcry among environmentalists and the Kachin people who fear for their lives if the dam should break) and taking a boat ride in the cold and fast moving river

we also had the opportunity to visit the beautiful "Prayer Mountain, overlooking the exotic Kachin State landscape. Many people come up to pray for this land and its people who have been embroiled in war for years with the Burmese military (whose fighter jets we saw flying overhead, in what seemed a menacing show of power over the Kachin people).

Prayer Mountain

We were able to briefly visit an IDP camp (Internally Displaced Persons) filled with children. The children at the camp just shouted with joy as (together with the Kachin Baptist Church members) we shared the Gospel with them through a simple children's song. I imagine the sound of the angels are no sweeter to God! 

We also heard about a nearby camp where there are three toilets for 500 people, (a young Swedish guy working for UNICEF told us this... and thankfully it appears that together with the local people UNICEF is working to help this nearly unbelievable situation). Don't take your toilets for granted, people!

We then heard from one of the  Kachin ladies about her mission trip of encouragement and medical help in yet another camp, nearer to the Chinese border,  where people have to learn how to function without arms and legs, which have been amputated because of landmine casualties and lack of medical facilities. 

As we begin to head into the Advent/Christmas season, (decorations are up all over Hong Kong when we arrived back last night) I am newly aware, again, of the real Gospel of Advent/Christmas -- that into this hurting and dangerous world, God sent his son, fully human, a vulnerable baby, born to a poor family, in a land occupied by the Romans, where babies could be slaughtered upon the whims of a ruler.

What love is this that God gives to us, and which we are called to share in practical ways? 

Theologian, lecturer, at KTC (Kachin Theological College) wife, mother, daughter of God: Saw Nam.

Doing theology under the young mango tree

leaving Bangkok

I always feel how amazing life is when I take this flight -- Hong Kong to Bangkok to Yangon.

The lights leaving Bangkok are much brighter than the lights upon arrival in Yangon, but the Yangon airport is looking much, much spiffier than when I first started flying there just two years ago.


Most of today was spent greeting Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) Hong Kong alumni now teaching at Karen Baptist Theological Seminary:

Theology under the young mango tree

Theology in the clothing  shop

Karen culture textiles

Karen culture handwoven clothes

Heading out for lunch

The daughter of Dr. Christopher... who waited three long years for her Daddy
to return from his Hong Kong studies.

It's an incredible gift to be here again and to see the thriving LTS alumni. Tomorrow we fly to Kachin State... a place we've never been to before.  We are flying on either Asian Wings Airways (the name on the envelope with our tickets)... or Air KBZ (the crossed out name on the ticket)  or Air Bagan... the name handwritten on the confirmation printout.

Wayne will be teaching a seminar on healthy families and I'll be his healthy assistant :) Actually, I'm going to be doing a unit on church-based sex education, based on the Master's degree thesis from another Myanmar LTS alumnus. Please please say a prayer for us! May we listen, and learn, and perhaps be of some use in our teaching.

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, 

as good stewards of God's varied grace:" 

[1 Peter 4:10]