How The Lord Led 13 Burmese Fifth Graders To Christ

I never expected to love ministry in Myanmar the way I did. We taught English in a mountain village, 20 hours from the nearest big city. They were paving their first-ever paved road in Hakha village when we showed up. They beamed about how much of the village has developed in the past five years. Yet, the majority of houses were shacks and huts, while stores were all hole-in-the-wall shops without electricity. We found a total of three or four places that qualified as a restaurant in the village, all with a wide variety ranging from egg fried rice, chicken fried rice and egg fried noodles.

The school we taught at was a twenty-minute dirt road ride away with the most spectacular views along the way. Starring into God’s amazing creation was an amazing way to prepare for the day. We arrived at Mount Carmel School International, which is a very primitive facility of small buildings with hard floors and no insulation on the mountain side.

On the day of orientation they unexpectedly asked each of us to take a class and teach by ourselves for an hour and a half.

None of us had prepared a lesson plan since it was the day after we arrived and thought we were just getting to know the kids and staff. But as the Holy Spirit leads, I chose to teach the fifth graders.

I love languages in general. But the only time I’ve really taught English is private tutoring to some kids when I studied abroad in Spain. I didn’t really know what teaching English to a class of kids that spoke Burmese would look like.

As the days went on, I tended to chose the same class while some of my teammates enjoyed switching it up. But my heart was for the class fo fifth graders. All thirteen of them had my heart and I was building relationships with them. They all remembered my name and would behave well for me because they loved and respected me.

As I taught English, I shifted the content to be biblical stories. From the stories we would pull out vocal words and practice reading comprehension and sentence structure.

Of all the stories in the Bible that I could have taught on, I chose to teach them about the Passover for whatever reason (thanks Holy Spirit).

I took them from why the passover happened and the ten plagues, to Moses leading them through the Red Sea. On one of the last days of class I simplified a comparison of how the Passover pointed towards Christ’s death on the cross. I talked about his death being a sacrifice and what that means for us.

It wasn’t until after I taught them about the parallels that I found out from one of the teachers that a girl in my class comes from a Jahova Witness family and had missed Christmas events because her parent’s wouldn’t let her participate. I thought it was amazing that the Lord would have me teach on that unbeknownst to me, considering that JW don’t believe Jesus’ death is a sacrifice for us to have a restored relationship and the gift of salvation in heaven.

Then on the last day of class, I felt like the Lord was asking me to invite my kids to accept Christ. I’ve never done that before in my life. I’ve seen other squamates and my squad leaders lead that with groups. But the Lord was asking me to step out boldly and create the space for that.

On the last day of class I let them all ask me questions about Jesus and Bible verses. Then I spent the second half of class explaining to them what it meant to accept Christ into their life. I explained to them that having Jesus was a personal choice and that they were at the age where they needed to make that decision for themselves because they are not saved based on their parents faith.

I had them all close their eyes and as I prayed I asked that if any of them wanted to receive Christ for the first time from their own choice to raise their hand.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It would have been okay if none of them raised their hand because all I was doing was being obedient to the Lord and what He had asked of me.

Within seconds all thirteen of the kids raised their hands.

THE ENTIRE CLASS.

I told them to open their eyes and look around.

I wrote a prayer on the board and had them repeat it, since they understand written English more then spoken and I wanted to make sure they knew what they were saying when they prayed.

After we all prayed we clapped and jumped in excitement.

God chose that class for me. God chose the lessons I taught. God was the one that led 13 new children of God into his Kingdom.

My prayer is that they would never forget the day they chose to accept Christ. That it would be a pinpoint that they can look back to in their future and say “my relationship with God started there.”

I pray that their childlike faith would bring parents and grandparents to Christ. That it would build a generation of Christians in the tiny village of Hakha for decades to come.

This is why I came on the Race. Saving souls will always be more important that a savings account and a job title to my name.

Thank you Lord for choosing me to be your vessel. You don’t need me to do the work. You’re all powerful and all mighty. But although you could do it yourself you choose to let me in on your journey. Because you know that these are the experiences I will cherish for the rest of my life, that continue to change my heart and my perspective on life.