This year has been a year to reflect and act upon our calling to Witness.   We have explored the way the early church carried this testimony from Jerusalem all the way to Italy and beyond, in obedience to Jesus’ direct command:  “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).   We have also been asking how we can be faithful witnesses in our day and time and respond faithfully when we sense God’s calling.

For the past few years we at Keizer have been hearing a lot about a small country in Southeast Asia called Myanmar (also known as Burma).   A couple in our congregation has been burdened for Myanmar and persistently raised awareness of the need for mission work in that nation of almost 62 million people.  More than 89% of the population are active practitioners of Theravada Buddhism and do not know Christ.   This couple asked the Keizer elders to consider overseeing a short-term mission to Myanmar.   After several months of prayer, research, and discernment, the Elders agreed to oversee a six-week mission to Myanmar this coming summer utilizing the material and the methods of the World English Institute (WEI).     From the beginning, Roger Elliott, Leon Haight, and Dick and Pam Haines felt the call to Burma and were committed to going.  A few weeks after the decision was made for oversight, Bill Zoerner answered the call as well and joined the team.

For me, I have to admit, committing to Myanmar was not an easy decision for several reasons.  I had been hoping to do a short-term mission this year somewhere, but other parts of the world are more of a draw to me on a personal level; visiting Myanmar has never been on my “bucket list”.   But, as I assisted the team development and prayed through the issues related to my ministry and my family’s situation, God began to soften my heart toward Myanmar and I began to wonder whether God was calling me there.  Several things along the way helped confirm that I should go to Myanmar, three of which I will share with you.  First, reading up on the nation and seeing the numerous Buddhist temples (pagodas) populated by thousands of worshipers helped me see the need and reminded me of scenes from the book of Acts when the apostles came into pagan cities and observed the worship of idols.

Second, I sought some advice from a godly minister friend of mine who has done many different kinds of short-term missions.  Without hesitation he declared to me that the WEI short-term missions are the best form of mission work he’d ever done and he highly recommended them.  This removed that nagging concern that maybe it would be just a form of ineffective missionary tourism.  Finally, I casually asked Melody whether she wanted to go with me to Myanmar and her response was awesome:  she said “Yes” and really meant it.    Then she and I started praying together about both of us going and the sense of calling grew.   When both sets of grandparents agreed to come to Salem and take shifts hanging out with our kids while we were away for 2.5 weeks, the answer seemed pretty clear.   A pathway was being cleared for us to go to Myanmar this summer.

We are excited about this opportunity for our family and for our congregation to grow in its bearing witness to the good news of Jesus Christ in Myanmar.  Please begin the process of remembering the Myanmar mission in your regular prayers.  Start by visiting the Keizer Myanmar mission page and reading up about the mission.   Who knows, maybe God is calling you to Burma as well.     DTW