Late January/Early February Teaching, Education, and Preaching Trip (By Julian Bull, AMSOI)
In late January & early February 2020 a number of us were privileged to visit Hosanna Bible College & Mustard Seed Youth Development Centre in Yangon. The purpose of the visit was to minister Gods word & love to young & old, and to encourage & support the children, students, staff, visitors, Pastors & other Christian leaders who gathered for a week of meetings to mark the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of Hosanna Bible College. One team of visitors concentrated on presenting a Bible based English language literacy programme to children & young people in the 2 youth centres that Mustard Seed runs in Myanmar. The remainder of us were involved in presenting a week of theological lectures, some doctrinal & some expositional. All in all God blessed the visit abundantly, kept us all well & safe (in spite of the spread of coronavirus). We were challenged & encouraged by the lives & testimonies of those we met & ministered to. On behalf of everyone involved we wish to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you who made this trip possible through your prayers & generous giving. Please continue to support this work as we go forward into the year ahead. The opportunities are many & open to us but the opposition & challenges are great & insurmountable in our own strength & human resources. But God is unchanging in His power, goodness & grace. Thank you all so very much for sharing in this ministry & mission with us.
Des Burne September 2019 Trip to MSO Youth development Center Yangon
It has been my great privilege to have recently returned to my birthplace
Myanmar for now the fourth time under the trust and encouragement of the
Australian Mustard Seed Organization and the Hosanna Bible College. Pastor Timothy of the local Presbyterian Church, Principal of the Hosanna Bible College and Overseer of the Mustard Seed work was as supportive as ever and kindly invited me to preach on the second and third Sundays of my three weeks. How good it was to worship with these brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. Their earnestness and profound enthusiasm is abundant and I think we could all learn a great deal from them.I lectured at the Hosanna Bible College where we looked at an “An Introduction to the Book of Genesis”. I suppose there were about twenty-five students, made up of both ladies and young men. Some faces were new to me whilst others I knew from my previous visits. Some spoke a little English though with the aid of atranslator I think we managed to understand each other quite well. Certainly if the quality of the questions asked along the way is anything to go on, then our time together was certainly not in vain.
The Hosanna students are precious. They are young, keen, hard working, warm
and joyful. Some were in their last year of studies and a few were working toward
their BTh. At least one intended going on to further Biblical studies whilst others
were either returning to or praying about entering into ministry in or about their
home churches. Their development in Biblical understanding as well as their confidence levels from one year to the next I think is clear testimony to the excellent work being
carried out at the College. And for that a great deal of credit without doubt must
go to the humble and capable faculty, past and present at Hosanna.
My last week was spent engaged with administration duties largely with regard to
the Mustard Seed work in Yangon but also relating to the Hosanna Bible College and the work at Ebenezer to the north. With Pastor Timothy we endeavored to streamline our communications between MSO Myanmar and MSO Australia by introducing an updated means of record keeping and cross checking. We also discussed some present concerns for the work including ongoing building maintenance, the need for an alternate means of transport for the children given changes in recent government legislation and also issues concerning future funding for students wanting to engage in higher education.
The work of the Mustard Seed Organization is maintained due to the continuous hard work and selfless efforts of Timothy, his wife Mawi Te and staff, who mostly onsist of past Mustard Seed children. Thank God for their tireless efforts. Nevertheless the work does struggle and is in constant need of the kind, generous and ongoing support it continues to receive. On behalf of Timothy and the staff and the MSO in general, we would like to sincerely thank all who have supported the work in the past and who continue to do so presently. Only eternity will reveal the countless loving acts and selfless giving. May the Lord continue to bless the work and all who lovingly support it.
Your labors in the Lord are not in vain.
Des Burne