Myanmar Hope Christian Mission, Inc. • 308 South Oxford Road • Springfield, Illinois • 62704-1258

http://www.myanmarhope.org • info@myanmarhope.org • (217) 415-9187

Greetings It is a beautiful August day in Springfield, Illinois! As I write

this, the temperature outside is a pleasant 70 degrees Fahren-

heit. What a pleasant surprise! The normal temperatures for

this time of year range from Hot and Humid to Too Hot and

Humid, so this weather is both unexpected and very welcome.

Life is full of unexpected surprises, right? Sometimes they are

good, and sometimes they are not so good—but we know that

God works all things for the good, for those that love him and

are called according to his purpose! (Romans 8:28)

Time is Short, Needs are Great It is now less than five months before Palal, Kikim, and Solo-

mon will be returning to Myanmar to resume their work on

the front lines of the battle! We have much work to do in the

next few months to prepare them for the long trip home.

One of the things they are doing to prepare for their return is

compiling their short and long-

term ministry plans and goals. As

they try to figure out their budg-

etary needs for the coming year,

one thing is becoming increas-

ingly clear—the needs are much

greater than the current income!

We have two primary goals for

the near term: raising funds for a

boarding school in Yangon and

for a medical clinic in Bokkan Vil-

lage. These goals are ambitious,

incredibly important, and com-

pletely beyond our reach. Our

only recourse is to depend on our

faithful Father to provide!

Palal shared with me recently that he is afraid to ask for so

much money from people, because our needs are so great. I

reminded him of something that I heard a while back about

raising funds for Kingdom work:

“Never be afraid to ask God’s people

for God’s money to do God’s work.”

There are three main subjects in

this quote—God’s money, God’s

work, and God’s people.

As Bible-believing Christ followers,

we know that all things come from

God and belong to God. He is the

Sovereign King over all the Earth,

He owns it all—including all the

money!

We also believe that the work My-

Hope is attempting to accomplish is

in line with his sovereign will. We

know that God wants us to care for

the poor and the needy, the widow

and the orphan, the stranger, the prisoner, and the sick

(Matthew 25:31-46, and elsewhere). We also know that God

wants us to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ with those

who have never heard (Matthew 28:18-20, and elsewhere).

We believe we are engaged in God’s work.

September 2009

Volume 3, Issue 3

In This Issue:

Greetings.................................................................... 1

Time is Short .............................................................. 1

Summer Camp! .......................................................... 2

Vacation Bible Schools ............................................... 3

Khongsai Family Update ............................................ 4

Schools of Missions .................................................... 5

Updates from Our Churches ...................................... 5

Medical Clinic / School Project .................................. 6

Support Programs Update ......................................... 6

Online Bible ................................................................ 7

Community Health Evangelism Training .................... 7

More Photos .............................................................. 8

One of our ministers sharing the Gospel with a Buddhist monk.

With the help of God’s people, we are expanding his Kingdom

here on Earth, specifically in the country of Myanmar, and we

are so thankful for all of you who have partnered with us in

this Kingdom expansion. Your willingness to share God’s re-

sources with God’s people truly proves your love for the Sav-

ior. God bless you all, and please continue praying that we will

have open doors to preach the Gospel!

Summer Camp! Palal, Kikim, and Solomon had the privilege of serving as camp

missionaries for Lake Springfield Christian Assembly camp this

summer. Each week, from June through August, they inter-

acted with a new group of campers, ranging in age from Kin-

dergarten through High School.

Every day of the camp, Palal would present a different aspect

of our ministry to the children, using PowerPoint slides with

pictures, and telling stories of the different situations in Myan-

mar. He focused on everyday life, health issues, education,

persecution and evangelism.

Kikim was able to help out

in the kitchen and dining

hall on occasion, and had a

lot of fun. She also pre-

pared a Burmese meal for

the staff once or twice.

Each week, the campers

would take up an offering

for the ministry of MyHope, and we are very thankful for all of

their generosity. Some days, the campers would even give up

their canteen treat money so that the children of Myanmar

might be able to afford food, medicines, school supplies, and

clothing.

At the end of camping season, Palal wrote the following story

to tell of their experience at LSCA.

Our Thanks for Summer Camps

Every summer in Myanmar (March through May), we usually

have a summer camp and youth seminar. During the seminar

we teach the Bible, conduct music training, focus on health

care and disease prevention, and so on. We plan for one to

two weeks for the seminar and one month for the music train-

ing. God has developed and changed the lives of many children

and young adults through summer camp. Summer camp is

one of the best programs we have to call the children to Christ

and to help them to have a vision for their future.

I am glad that the churches in

America have programs similar to

what we have in Myanmar. In

2008, we spent our summer with

the campers at Prairie State

Christian Service Camp in Wat-

seka, Illinois. We were able to

share our ministry, and we met

many campers, faculty, and staff

from the area churches. It was a

great help for our mission. I

would like to express our thanks to our brother Chauncey, Sen-

ior Minister of Martinton Church of Christ, for introducing My-

Hope to the board of Prairie State camp.

We met Carl Dahlquist in 2008 at West Side Christian Church,

Springfield, Illinois. He is the Director at Lake Springfield Chris-

tian Assembly (LSCA) camp. He and his wife, Sunny, live at the

camp. They are such a wonderful couple, and have a great

ministry.

We are so glad that Carl introduced us to the Board of LSCA,

and for allowing us to serve as camp missionaries in 2009. We

participated in staff training from June 1-5. During training,

Carl and Kerma, the Program Director, shared with us the mis-

sion, roles, and policies of the camp. We also spent time to-

gether with all of the staff members.

The first week of

camp started on

June 6, and ended

on August 6. Even

though the camp

lasted over two

months, it seemed

to us a very short

time. Each week we

met new campers and staff. Every day, we were given from 20

to 45 minutes to share our ministry in Myanmar. It was a great

opportunity for us to share about our country and our minis-

try.

Page 2 MYanmar HOPE Christian Mission, Inc.

Mr. Mint Aung and wife with their new mattress.

Mint Aung suffers from a non-contagious form of leprosy.

Palal shares with the High School campers

Kikim cooks for the staff

Solomon helps his dad lead a song

Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 3

In the presentation, I had five different topics. First, I spoke

about our living standard, compared with the standard of life

in America. Next I focused on the difficulties of Christian life in

Myanmar. Then, I shared about our education system. The

next day, I would share about our health care situation, and

finally, I talked about the natural disas-

ters that have recently affected our coun-

try—Cyclone Nargis, which killed over

140, 000 people in May 2008, and the

devastating rat plague in Chin State. The

children were fascinated by stories and

pictures of the rat plague. For example,

one biologist, working in just a small

area, collected over 30,000 rat tails in

just a couple of months.

All the campers liked the pictures on my

PowerPoint presentations. Some of the pictures that attracted

the most attention in my presentation were the images of

“restrooms.”

The campers also loved the story I told about the man who

lives in a bamboo house and eats bamboo shoots for his meals.

They laughed when I told them that he always says, “Oh, bam-

boo! I live in you, and you live in me!”

The older children were also

very interested to learn about

Christian life in our country.

They were very quiet and at-

tentive when they heard the

stories of oppression and per-

secution of Christ followers in

Myanmar. Many of the chil-

dren had never heard such

things, and were very moved

by these accounts.

Altogether this year we met

825 campers, plus faculty, from thirty-three different churches

in and around Springfield. We also met many dedicated volun-

teers who offered their time to serve the campers. They

served in the kitchen and dining hall, they fixed things, mowed

the lawns, and performed many other much-needed services. I

believe all will surely get rewards from God.

The camp is a wonderful place to meet God and many new

friends. We did not see anyone who did not like being at the

camp. They all said, “It is a nice camp. I like it.” I even saw

some campers who did not want to go back home. Why is

that? The answer is clear and simple—they loved the camp

and felt like it was their home. I can say that everyone felt the

presence of God at the camp.

Solomon, our four-year-old son, was one of the happiest

campers this summer. He met so many new friends, and he

really enjoyed playing with them. He loved the waterslide,

even though he is very young. He also loved swimming in the

pool. Everybody loved him and cared for him.

We would like to thank all of the campers for

your generous donations to Myanmar Hope

Christian Mission. It is such a great blessing for

our ministry, and the funds will change and im-

prove many lives back in Myanmar.

Finally, we would like to say thank you to every-

one who helped us this summer. We saw many

great things in the lives of the young campers.

The children were so obedient and their love for

God was evident. We praise God that we saw several young

campers decide to follow Christ and were baptized!

The campers, faculty, staff, volunteers, and parents all made

LSCA a wonderful place to be during the summer of 2009. LSCA

has been such a great blessing to us, and to God’s Kingdom.

We are so glad that we have many new friends who will be

praying for us as we

return to work in the

country of Myanmar.

We will never forget

our two summers of

camp in the USA, at

Prairie States Camp

and Lake Springfield Christian

Assembly!

In His Service,

Palal, Kikim, and Solomon Khongsai

Vacation Bible Schools This year, we want to thank two churches who decided to have

Myanmar Hope Christian Mission as their VBS missionaries—

Martinton Church of Christ, in Martinton, Illinois, and Lakeside

Solomon and Kikim enjoy their first swim in a pool

Posing with a group of campers

A typical Myanmar “bathroom”

Christian Church, in Springfield, Illinois.

Martinton Church of Christ

Due to scheduling conflicts, we were unable to personally visit

the Martinton VBS, so we are even more grateful that they

chose to support us again this year! The children were very gen-

erous with their donations, which are being used to improve

the lives of many people in Myanmar.

Thank you so much to Minister Chauncey Latimer and the con-

gregation of Martinton Church of Christ for your faithful and

generous support of Myanmar Hope Christian Mission!

Lakeside Christian Church

Since Lakeside Christian Church

is just a couple of miles from

Lakeside Christian Assembly

Camp, we were able to be with

them each night of their VBS.

Their theme this year was

“Studio Go!,” which emphasized

Christian service. Each night, the

children learned about a local

ministry or need, and then per-

formed some “hands-on” activities in support of those minis-

tries.

The children completed several projects during the week.

They assembled and painted picnic tables, made blankets,

shredded paper, designed

placemats and cut paper

money, filled designed bags

with toiletries, wrote cards to

military personnel, missionar-

ies and to those businesses

that donated items for VBS.

The recipients of these projects

were LSCA, Inner City Mis-

sion, Lewis Memorial Christian

Village and a local animal shel-

ter.

For their missions emphasis,

Carol Smith, the VBS Director,

set offering goals for the children to reach each night of VBS.

The goals were in the form of tangible items that their offerings

would be used to purchase. These items included rice, piglets

and a pig, a bicycle for Pastor Thangkhomang, and hymnals.

Each night, Palal would speak to the children for a few mo-

ments, highlighting the offering item for that day.

The whole week was a lot of fun! Solomon had a great time

participating in the VBS activities. At the end of the week, after

a final tally was made of the offerings, the children not only

met their weekly goal, they more than doubled it!

We praise God for Carol Smith, Senior Minister Jon Morrisette,

and the entire congregation of Lakeside Christian Assembly.

Even now, your offerings are beginning to change the lives of

many poor and needy individuals in Myanmar!

Khongsai Family Update In May of this year, Palal, Kikim and Solomon were able to

travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit with some members of their

tribe who had immigrated to the US as political refugees. They

had a great time visiting with the folks out there, and Palal was

able to encourage them in the faith. He also preached during

their church service on Sunday afternoon.

They also stopped

in Joplin, Missouri

both on the way

out there and on

the way back. They

had the opportu-

nity to visit with

representatives of

several important

mission organiza-

tions which are

based in Joplin,

such as LATM International (Literature and Training Ministries)

and ARM Prison Outreach, Prayer House, and CIY (Christ in

Youth).

Joe Garman, President of ARM, later donated a portable baptis-

tery, which their ministry designed and builds, to Palal for use

in Myanmar. The baptisteries, which normally sell for $850.00,

are made of sturdy 1” square aluminum and heavy-duty vinyl.

They fold up into a space small enough to be checked onto an

airline flight, and fold out to a space large enough to hold 200

gallons of water and baptize a 6’ tall man!

We are extremely thankful for this wonderful blessing, and

Page 4 MYanmar HOPE Christian Mission, Inc.

Palal, Kikim and Solomon in

front of the Offering Wall

Portable baptisteries designed and built by ARM

Joe Garmin of ARM with Palal

Solomon with his new buddy, Bryce

Page 5 Volume 3, Issue 3

hope that you will check out the website of ARM and consider

supporting this great ministry! http://www.arm.org.

On Monday morning, Palal had the opportunity to share our

message with the residents of Spring River Christian Village in

Joplin. The service was well attended, and well received by all.

We also want to express our thanks, again, to Mary Fern Phil-

ippe, who made this trip to Tulsa and Joplin possible by driving

Palal, Kikim, and Solomon all the way there and back! Tim and

Mary Fern have been wonderfully supportive of MyHope, and

their love for the Khongsai family is evident to all.

Schools of Missions At the National Missionary Convention in November, 2009,

Myanmar Hope Christian Mission was invited to participate in

two different “schools of missions.” The purpose of these

schools is to provide a forum for missionaries and mission or-

ganizations to get their message out to as many people as pos-

sible in a very short time.

The organizers of the schools partner with area churches to

host a group of missionaries or organizations—usually up to

five different ministries. For a period of from two weeks to a

whole month, the various ministries travel from church to

church, presenting their message. The hosting churches then

get to hear from all of the different ministries during that time.

We will be participating in the Northwest School of Missions,

which runs from September 17th through October 16th, and

covers churches in the states of Washington and Oregon. We

will also be participating in the Hi-Plains School of Missions,

which runs from October 2nd through October 15th, and in-

cludes churches from Oklahoma and Texas.

Chuck and Palal will travel to Seattle, Washington, to begin the

trip. They will share the speaking responsibilities for Northwest

School for the first two weeks. Palal will then travel to Laverne,

Texas, where he will meet up with a ministry friend who has

agreed to drive him from place to place. Palal will speak to the

churches of the High Plains School of Missions, while Chuck

finishes out the Northwest School on his own.

We are looking forward to this opportunity to share our mes-

sage with over thirty new congregations in the West and

Northwest parts of our country! Please pray for us as we

travel, and also as we speak. The schedule looks to be pretty

grueling, but with your prayers and the Holy Spirit’s empower-

ment, we believe great things will be accomplished!

Updates from Our Churches In our last edition we told

you about the fact that most

of the Christian churches that

we support lack sufficient

hymnals and songbooks—

most congregations only

have one or two copies at

most.

We are happy to report that, thanks

to the generous donations by the chil-

dren of Lakeside VBS, our volunteers

were recently able to travel to India to

purchase sixty brand new copies!

Like Bibles, the hymnals are not al-

lowed to be brought into Myanmar

legally, so our volunteers had to

smuggle them in, a few at a time.

Once they were all in the country,

then word was sent out to the various

churches that they would be receiving

two or three copies each—depending

on their need.

Some of our churches are so remote, they have not yet re-

ceived their copies, but they will soon.

The Lakeside children also pro-

vided funds for a bicycle and for

piglets! Several pastors, elders,

and widows were able to receive

a piglet. One widow was given a

full-grown sow. These animals are

income-producers for these fami-

lies, and will help them tremen-

dously in their daily struggle to

survive their abject poverty.

Some of the widows that we have

donated piglets to in the past are

MaryFern, with the residents of Spring River, listening to Palal

An elder receives three new

hymnals for his congregation

The New Hymnals

Masan with her new piglet

living much better, thanks to the income produced by raising

and selling the offspring of the animals they received.

The bicycle will be a great help to the

pastor who received it. As we have

told you in the past, the congregations

in Myanmar have no radios, televi-

sions, books, or Internet, from which

to receive spiritual nourishment. One

way they are able to be fed and en-

couraged is through home visits by

their ministers. On foot the pastors

can only visit two or three families a

week, but with a bicycle, they can visit

many more.

These bicycles, which are heavy-duty and very well con-

structed, also function as make-shift ambulances, taxis, rice

and vegetable trucks, and lots of other things.

Thanks again to the children, staff and volunteers who made

Lakeside VBS such a great success! Your gifts are even now

greatly improving the lives of your poor and needy brothers

and sisters in Christ! God bless you!

Medical Clinic & Boarding School We are still raising funds for our medical clinic and our board-

ing school/ministry headquarters. The medical clinic will be

built in Bokkan Village at a cost of about $15,000.00 and will

service between 15,000 and 20,000 people. So far, we have

received about 1/4th the amount needed for the clinic.

The boarding school will house and educate children from the

northwest villages. It will also function as the field headquar-

ters of Myanmar Hope Christian Mission. We do not yet have

an estimate on the cost of the school, but we know that it will

be a significant amount. So far we have received a little over

25,000 in donations toward the cost of the land purchase,

which will probably be between $50,000 and $80,000 dollars.

If you or your church could help us with these programs,

please let know!

Support Programs Update

New Missionary for Irrawaddy Delta!

We are happy to report that we have a new missionary for our

two adopted villages in the Irrawaddy Delta! He is Thong-

minlal, a young man who very recently graduated from Bible

College in Yangon. During the past two years, even while at-

tending classes, he helped a lot with our relief efforts in the

Delta. During that time he also served as a youth and chil-

dren’s minister for Yangon Christian Church.

We have been praying for just the right person to serve the

Buddhist villagers in the Irrawaddy Delta, and also for some-

one to come forward to sponsor such an individual. Since the

last edition of our newsletter, both prayers were answered!

Thongminlal was very busy this past month, purchasing, trans-

porting, and delivering much needed school supplies to chil-

dren in Nahkhonggyi and Nakhonglay villages. Supplies were

purchased for 164 students in two schools.

Mr. Thongminlal is very excited about his new responsibilities,

and he takes them very seriously. He is not yet financially able

to serve the villagers full time, but we hope that someday soon

he will be. We look forward to hearing great reports of his

work among the Buddhists of the delta region, many of whom

are still recovering from the devastating cyclone of 2008.

Would you, your family, small group, or Sunday

school class like to sponsor a pastor, a missionary,

or a poor family?

There are still a great many Christian families and individuals in

Myanmar that are in need of help. These people are not lazy—

Page 6 MYanmar HOPE Christian Mission, Inc.

Pastor Thangkhomang with his

new bicycle

Nakhongyi Village School (K-4)

Nakhonglay Village School Building (K-10)

Page 7 Volume 3, Issue 3

they work very hard, but the

reward for their labor is just

pennies a day. Is it right for

Christians in one part of this

world to live in wealth and

abundance, while Christians

elsewhere are suffering from

malnutrition, disease, and

poverty?

If you are ready to be a part of changing this situation for the

better, please call us at (217) 415-9187, or email

info@myanmarhope.org. Your help can vastly improve the

lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ! Just $30.00 per

month is all it takes to help provide a family with life-saving

rice, medicines, clothing, and other necessities. $60.00 per

month will help provide a pastor’s family with food and neces-

sities, and will also allow him to spend time doing the work of

ministry.

OTHER WAYS TO HELP There are many things that you can do to help our brothers and sisters in Myanmar. Here are some ways:

• Pray for them! (free)

• Purchase one or more Kuki Bibles ($5.00 each)

• Purchase one or more Kuki hymnals ($4.00 each) or song-books ($2.00 each)

• Purchase a bicycle ($80.00)

• Purchase a mattress (single: $50.00; family: $100.00)

• Purchase a short wave radio ($35.00)

• Purchase a pig ($150.00) or a piglet ($40.00)

• Purchase a mithun cow ($500.00)

• Fund the construction of a new well ($500.00)

Online Bible One of the things that Palal has

wanted to accomplish ever since

arriving in the US is to put the

Kuki translation of the Bible on

the Internet. This will allow peo-

ple who speak the Kuki language

to read the Bible in their own

language anywhere in the world,

as long as they have basic Inter-

net access.

Another reason for putting the

Kuki translation on the web is to make some necessary correc-

tions to the translation.

The Kuki Bible was transcribed and printed in India by the India

Bible Society. The persons who did the editing and transcribing

were not Kuki. Because they did not know the language or the

culture, they inadvertently made several grammatical errors

which resulted in strange sounding or nonsensical phrases.

Palal wanted to correct these in the online version.

Putting the Kuki Bible on the Internet is a multiple step proc-

ess. First, someone

(usually Kikim) types a

book of the Bible into a

Microsoft Word docu-

ment. After the docu-

ment is proofread and

edited several times,

they forward it to Chuck

for conversion to HTML

(the language of the

World Wide Web.)

Romans 1:1 in the Kuki dialect looks like this:

“Christa Jesu lhacha, Pathen Kipana Thupha

seiphong dia solchah dinga lhentum Paul,”

So far, we have most of the books of the New Testament

online, and the rest are being proofed and edited. Kikim has

now started on some books of the Old Testament as well.

You can see the ongoing results of our work at our website:

www.myanmarhope.org/bible.

Right now the Bible is hosted on our ministry website, but we

are working on a new website, called The Kuki Christian Net-

work, and we will eventually move the Kuki Bible to this new

site.

Community Health Evangelism Community Health Evangelism

(CHE) attempts to seamlessly inte-

grate evangelism and discipleship

with disease prevention and com-

munity based development. The

work is holistic, seeking to meet the whole need of individuals

and communities through complete obedience to everything

that Jesus commanded.

Palal and Kikim will be attending Phase I of the CHE “Train the

Trainer” sessions, from October 26-31, 2009, in Camby, Indi-

ana. The intensive, week-long training will be provided by staff

members of FAME (Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evan-

gelism, Inc.)

CHE Training for Trainers is designed to equip missionaries to

implement their own integrated ministry of community health

and evangelism in their area of ministry. The training is done in

three phases. Each phase involves 35 hours of learning fol-

Kikim typing the Kuki Bible

Kuki Bible Home Page

Bicycle/Ambulance/Taxi

Myanmar Hope Christian Mission, Inc. 308 South Oxford Road Springfield, Illinois 62704-1258

Page 8 MYanmar HOPE Christian Mission, Inc.

September 2009

Volume 3, Issue 3

Bringing the eternal hope of Jesus Christ to the people of Myanmar in a holistic manner

by addressing their spiritual, physical, emotional and educational needs

Web: www.myanmarhope.org Email: info@myanmarhope.org Phone : 217-415-9187

Myanmar Hope Christian Mission, Inc. is a federally recognized, not-for-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois. All donations made to this organization are 100% tax deductible according to the Internal Revenue Service Code, Section 501(c)(3).

Federal Tax Identification: 26-0324244. NGO License Number: BU-1679.

lowed by approximately six

months in the field. CHE training

is "just-in-time training" de-

signed to give participants what

they need to take the next step

with their targeted communi-

ties.

Phase I, which Palal and Kikim

will attend, is aimed at under-

standing the biblical basis for

CHE and basic principles of ho-

listic community-based develop-

ment. Participants learn steps

for implementing CHE, how to

choose a target community, and

strategies for entering the com-

munity. Participants learn basic

skills for raising awareness, or-

ganizing, and mobilizing the

community for cooperative ac-

tion through the formation of a

development committee.

We are excited about this train-

ing, and believe it will be a great

help to Palal and Kikim as they

return to their home much bet-

ter equipped to fulfill the mis-

sion of My Hope!

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