This weekˇs Shepherdˇs Voice
contains a reprint of an Intercession Letter from Gospel Operation
International missionary Keith Lee. I hope that members will be heartened after
reading it, and intercede in prayer often. (The total devotion of service of Brother
Lee and his whole family had previously encouraged this writer to commit to
serve our Lord full-time.)
To whom should you fear the most?
Dear
Prayer Partners:
There
is quite a time without contact since our last prayer news in May. No wonder we received a lot of email
asking if we are still surviving.
In
fact, Keith began his exploratory journey since the wrap up of the first
mission intercultural training in North Thailand in June. He went to the head office of GO
International in San Francisco for two months in order to fulfill some
administrative duties. He
also took this opportunity to visit a few supporting church in America and Rev.
Mark Cheng, our honor pastor. Rev.
Cheng is still taking opportunity to preach the mission vision every week, even
though he is near eighty years old.
He shared how the Lord saved him from serious sickness in early this
year. He didnˇt fear death as he
had a mission in his life.
During
the time working at the head office, Keith knew more about the system and the
colleagues. Everyone at the office
enjoy their work for supporting missionaries. Working overtime is common. We are so glad that having a team supporting us behind. Therefore, please consider supporting
our mission agency while you are supporting the frontier missionaries.
After
the annual staff meeting in early September, Keith went to Sydney and Melbourne
for preaching at mission conferences.
It was a follow-up trip after sharing in last year. While sharing in Australia, we heard that
there was a largest demonstration in Burma in decades. Finally, peacefully demonstration
became a brutal crackdown by the junta.
Back to mid-August, a number of protects led by pro-democracy
activists demonstrating in Yangon, the country's biggest city, over the
government's arbitrary increase of fuel prices. In early September, thousands of Buddhist monks engaged in
fuel protests in Yangon, Mandalay and Sittwe. By September 24, over hundred thousands of ordinary citizens
and Buddhist monks had overcome their fear of the regime and took to the street
in Yangon. On the next day, the government
imposed curfews and banned gathering of more than five people in major
protesting cities. Violent
crackdown launched resulting hundreds of protesters killed and thousands
arrested. Since we had a line of
work in Yangon and the northern cities in the following week, I tried to
contact my contact person in Yangon in order to know the updated situation. The last information I received before
the local internet service being cut off was suggesting us to cancel the trip.
When
I was wondering if I should follow the suggestion to cancel the trip, the Lord
spoke to me through my speech at church, ¨A courageous person doesnˇt mean
without fear, instead, one knows who shall fear the most.〃 After calling a local pastor in the
training field, we were informed the situation was under control. As a result, we decided, as long as the
airport was operating, we went as we planned.
After
a week of pro-democracy protests brutally suppressed by the junta, Yangon was
quiet. People returned to their
daily life. However, major streets
and intersections in the city center were still blocked by the security
forces. Some displaced warning
signs written in Burmese and English warning the residents to go home and not
taking picture. We took the advice
for the hotel staff and stayed at the hotel after mid-day. We could see through the hotel window
that the streets were filled with army after sunset. On the next morning, we continued our trip by taking the
morning flight to the northern city.
The
local pastors and students were enthused when we met them. Some of them took a long journey and
they arrived the training ground ahead of us. They also prayed for our journey for a month earnestly. However, a few students could not come
out from their villages since the local government restricted the mobilization
of the village people. We returned
to Yangon after three weeks of training and transfer to Bangkok by the end of
October.
This
was the fourth times we engaged in emergency situation since we began our
mission in the Golden Triangle eight years ago. In March 2001, there was a conflict between the Thai and
Burmese armies in our border town.
We retreated 20 kilometers away from home with our Bible institute
students. In January 2002, we were
forced to leave our hillside school due to the conflict between the Burmese
army and the rebel. Last year, we
met the military coup in Bangkok.
Each time gave us different levels of fear. Indeed, if we know how to fear God, we wonˇt fear the
world. To whom should you fear the
most?
Your frontline partners,
Keith & Mei-yee together with Samuel, Amos and Micah.