First, we want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and support towards our family. We hope you can take the time to read this letter. We know it is a long update, however the Lord has been keeping us busy and we wanted to share all that He is doing with you.
Our Lord has flooded us with so many ministry opportunities and yet since He works all things for good and in His timing we have not been overwhelmed. We have been in Myanmar four months and we are just amazed with everything we have had the privilege to be apart of.
Ministry
Arron’s Ministry:
Arron has had the opportunity to preach most Sunday’s since arriving to Myanmar. This has opened the doors to allow him to make contacts with pastors and church leaders in the area to introduce the Inductive Bible Study (IBS) method. The churches vary in size from 50+ to home churches with a dozen people. One of these churches is a Buddhist home, yet he was asked to come and share the gospel.
In February Arron is flying to Kachin State to teach at a pastors conference with an attendance of over 150 pastors. Arron will teach a 3 day introduction to IBS in hopes of returning later in the year for a full 1-2 week class. He has also been told there will be some pastors there from Chin State that would be interested in this teaching method with hopes that this will open the doors to travel to Chin State and share the gospel there.
At the end of February he will fly to Shan State and work with a Calvary Chapel from Oregon to hold a conference for pastors and leaders. This is the same group that was featured in the Calvary Chapel magazine we showed last year as we traveled. It is a great experience to be able to partner with them in sharing the gospel.
Vicky’s Ministry:
Vicky has been volunteering at the Thelo Restoration Center teaching women how to study the Bible. Jocelyn has also been able to attend which has been a great mother-daughter ministry for the two of them.
Vicky is developing a good relationship with Po, the lady who runs the Restoration Center. During her visits at the center she learned that there were a handful of women who are illiterate. The Lord set a burden on Vicky’s heart because these women could not read their bibles. Everyone who arrives at the center is issued a bible, however because they lack the ability to read they cannot receive the full counsel of God and are dependant on someone else to be taught the word.
Vicky wanted to help these women learn to read but lacked the resources and was unsure how she could do it. Then the Lord opened a door. When she returned home she posted on Facebook some of the items the women at the center were making. Many commented that they like the items and wanted to know how to get them. Vicky offered to send items back to the US, with the US teams that visit, in exchange for a donation to the center. We were able to raise over $300 which will go directly back to the center. In addition to raising the money, a family from the states donated $1000 towards the purchase of 20 bible sticks in Burmese along with other teaching supplies for the illiterate. This will help the center and our family’s ministry because we believe we will be encountering this problem quite a bit. Vicky hopes to be able to go back regularly to teach the ladies and lead a bible study.
Family Ministry:
Update on the Dala Orphanage that we visited the first month we arrived in Myanmar: During that visit we noticed a need for bibles. A family in the US sponsored the purchase of bibles for this orphanage and we had the opportunity to deliver this gift. The family was very generous and also provided a Christmas to all the children at the Dala Orphanage. Our family purchased the bibles here in Myanmar along with the other gifts. We were able to teach the children how to play Uno, soccer and American Football. It has been a great joy to see our children interacting with and being able to love the children here.
A fun story that happened a few weeks ago: We were invited to teach Sunday school at a church near our home but since we had a busy travel week we declined the offer. They then persuaded us to attend and just teach one song to the children. We decided to go ahead and participate. They had us open in prayer and teach the song, Arron then shared and taught, then Vicky shared and we closed in prayer. It is amazing the love for the Word of God here and how the people desire the richness of it.
Outreaches we have been a part of:
We have been so blessed by the Lord for finding us this home and neighborhood. There have been many fun adventures living here. There have been power outages, and government water shut-offs (which is a mystery of when this will happen and when the water returns). Vicky sleeps with the mosquito zapper by her side and the bite relief in her hand. Each of the children take turns with who gets to sleep with the bite relief cream.
Fun facts aside, our neighbors are awesome. A couple times a week a neighbor will bring us food and then come back and teach Vicky how to make it. We taught one neighbor how to make pizza and we have had a couple of movie nights with them. We found a great taxi driver at the end of our road who is more than reasonable and there is also a taxi bike driver that helps us shop at the market. One neighbor supplies drinking water so when we are low we just walk next door to get more.
We have another young man who lives on our street who speaks English well, he has tagged along with us quite a bit. He will start teaching us the language twice a week until we find a teacher. Our neighborhood is a great ministry field for us, we live by many Christians who are cultural Christian. They can pray awesome prayers and sing from their hearts to the Lord but they are not firm in their bible knowledge. It is a blessing to be able to share with them as well as learn from them.
Our Children
Our children are adjusting, the younger ones more easily than the older ones. They are trying to all get caught up in their school work from our initial move and constant sickness. The older children are torn between being here and missing Indy. We are involving them in all of our outreaches and some of our individual ministries. They are also interacting more with the neighborhood kids.
Hardships
Arron Jr.
Highlights: Going to the Monkey Park, going to the Dala orphanage, and getting our first package from the states.
Lowlights: Being sick
Jocelyn
Highlight: Going to the monkey Park.
Lowlight: Everyone getting sick
Julianna
Highlights: Getting our bag of goodies and going to the monkey park.
Lowlights: Doing school and being sick.
Jenavieve
Highlights: Getting my lucky charms from the US, and going to the monkey park.
Lowlights: Bug bites and having bugs in my food.
Our Lord has flooded us with so many ministry opportunities and yet since He works all things for good and in His timing we have not been overwhelmed. We have been in Myanmar four months and we are just amazed with everything we have had the privilege to be apart of.
Ministry
Arron’s Ministry:
Arron has had the opportunity to preach most Sunday’s since arriving to Myanmar. This has opened the doors to allow him to make contacts with pastors and church leaders in the area to introduce the Inductive Bible Study (IBS) method. The churches vary in size from 50+ to home churches with a dozen people. One of these churches is a Buddhist home, yet he was asked to come and share the gospel.
In February Arron is flying to Kachin State to teach at a pastors conference with an attendance of over 150 pastors. Arron will teach a 3 day introduction to IBS in hopes of returning later in the year for a full 1-2 week class. He has also been told there will be some pastors there from Chin State that would be interested in this teaching method with hopes that this will open the doors to travel to Chin State and share the gospel there.
At the end of February he will fly to Shan State and work with a Calvary Chapel from Oregon to hold a conference for pastors and leaders. This is the same group that was featured in the Calvary Chapel magazine we showed last year as we traveled. It is a great experience to be able to partner with them in sharing the gospel.
Vicky’s Ministry:
Vicky has been volunteering at the Thelo Restoration Center teaching women how to study the Bible. Jocelyn has also been able to attend which has been a great mother-daughter ministry for the two of them.
Vicky is developing a good relationship with Po, the lady who runs the Restoration Center. During her visits at the center she learned that there were a handful of women who are illiterate. The Lord set a burden on Vicky’s heart because these women could not read their bibles. Everyone who arrives at the center is issued a bible, however because they lack the ability to read they cannot receive the full counsel of God and are dependant on someone else to be taught the word.
Vicky wanted to help these women learn to read but lacked the resources and was unsure how she could do it. Then the Lord opened a door. When she returned home she posted on Facebook some of the items the women at the center were making. Many commented that they like the items and wanted to know how to get them. Vicky offered to send items back to the US, with the US teams that visit, in exchange for a donation to the center. We were able to raise over $300 which will go directly back to the center. In addition to raising the money, a family from the states donated $1000 towards the purchase of 20 bible sticks in Burmese along with other teaching supplies for the illiterate. This will help the center and our family’s ministry because we believe we will be encountering this problem quite a bit. Vicky hopes to be able to go back regularly to teach the ladies and lead a bible study.
Family Ministry:
Update on the Dala Orphanage that we visited the first month we arrived in Myanmar: During that visit we noticed a need for bibles. A family in the US sponsored the purchase of bibles for this orphanage and we had the opportunity to deliver this gift. The family was very generous and also provided a Christmas to all the children at the Dala Orphanage. Our family purchased the bibles here in Myanmar along with the other gifts. We were able to teach the children how to play Uno, soccer and American Football. It has been a great joy to see our children interacting with and being able to love the children here.
A fun story that happened a few weeks ago: We were invited to teach Sunday school at a church near our home but since we had a busy travel week we declined the offer. They then persuaded us to attend and just teach one song to the children. We decided to go ahead and participate. They had us open in prayer and teach the song, Arron then shared and taught, then Vicky shared and we closed in prayer. It is amazing the love for the Word of God here and how the people desire the richness of it.
Outreaches we have been a part of:
- An outreach at the All Boy Correctional Center: This is a center for boys 16 and under who were either arrested or lived on the streets and is a government-run facility. The outreach consisted of sharing the gospel, singing, creating a couple of skits, and feeding them. There were over 70 boys who came up to receive Christ.
- The same day we delivered the bibles and gifts to the Dala orphanage, the church arranged an outreach in a new building they recently built. They had an open house in the building feeding about 300 people who came from the local village. The church family shared Gods love by loving the village.
- A new building near Dala will be our base for our first large outreach. We are blessed to say we will have our friends from the states, the Roesner’s, here to help. We are expecting over 300 people, most of which are Buddhist.
- Part one will be for the adults. We will be showing "A Gospel Film" followed by a short teaching and a meal together.
- Part two will be with the children. We will show them a short film followed by a teaching of the wordless book (sharing the gospel), making gospel bracelets, teaching songs and memory verses followed by some games. They will then join the adults for the meal.
- We will be having two more outreaches in Thanlyin with the Roesner’s. These will be geared toward the children but all parents will be present. We will again be teaching on the wordless book, making bracelets, teaching songs and memory verses and playing games. We will be expecting around 100 people between both outreaches, most of which are Hindu.
We have been so blessed by the Lord for finding us this home and neighborhood. There have been many fun adventures living here. There have been power outages, and government water shut-offs (which is a mystery of when this will happen and when the water returns). Vicky sleeps with the mosquito zapper by her side and the bite relief in her hand. Each of the children take turns with who gets to sleep with the bite relief cream.
Fun facts aside, our neighbors are awesome. A couple times a week a neighbor will bring us food and then come back and teach Vicky how to make it. We taught one neighbor how to make pizza and we have had a couple of movie nights with them. We found a great taxi driver at the end of our road who is more than reasonable and there is also a taxi bike driver that helps us shop at the market. One neighbor supplies drinking water so when we are low we just walk next door to get more.
We have another young man who lives on our street who speaks English well, he has tagged along with us quite a bit. He will start teaching us the language twice a week until we find a teacher. Our neighborhood is a great ministry field for us, we live by many Christians who are cultural Christian. They can pray awesome prayers and sing from their hearts to the Lord but they are not firm in their bible knowledge. It is a blessing to be able to share with them as well as learn from them.
Our Children
Our children are adjusting, the younger ones more easily than the older ones. They are trying to all get caught up in their school work from our initial move and constant sickness. The older children are torn between being here and missing Indy. We are involving them in all of our outreaches and some of our individual ministries. They are also interacting more with the neighborhood kids.
Hardships
- In December our family lost a patriarch, Vicky’s grandfather, Bert Millspaugh, who went to be with Jesus. He was a great father in her eyes and has always been there for her throughout her life. She is grateful for the time the Lord gave them to be together before she left the states. She is at peace with it now, that being said, she misses hearing his voice. We have never had to grieve someone who was so close to us before and it has been a challenge. We both thought we were prepared but we were not. As a family we are trying to support one another.
- Over the holiday season we all missed our friends and family. We received our first package from home. The package was very well received and needed during our difficult time. The comfort it brought us was nice. We were expecting the package to be a Christmas surprise, however, the bag showed up almost 2 weeks later. It was worth the wait and we were super excited.
- We have been sick most of the time. Any given week at least one of us is ill. As I’m writing this four of us are sick. This may be our new normal. The sicknesses range from colds and stomach problems to rashes. Adoniram Judson, who was a missionary here in the late 1700's, had many hardships with sicknesses as well.
- We have had our share of bug bites! We have been bit by mosquitoes, ants, spiders and we don’t even know what else. Adoniram Judson’s 3rd wife (the other 2 died from illnesses) mentioned the bugs here in her journal. Centuries later, they are still an issue.
Arron Jr.
Highlights: Going to the Monkey Park, going to the Dala orphanage, and getting our first package from the states.
Lowlights: Being sick
Jocelyn
Highlight: Going to the monkey Park.
Lowlight: Everyone getting sick
Julianna
Highlights: Getting our bag of goodies and going to the monkey park.
Lowlights: Doing school and being sick.
Jenavieve
Highlights: Getting my lucky charms from the US, and going to the monkey park.
Lowlights: Bug bites and having bugs in my food.