FAME Trip to Chin State, 2018
What an amazing journey. At the end of January, 2018, I traveled with a group from FAME (Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism) to Myanmar. There were several medical professionals along with others with a heart to serve the people. Harvey Waddelow from Missions Alive also came along with us for this adventure. This trip was very exciting to me as most in our group had not yet worked with the Chin. We served alongside Lincoln and Leah Bill, of Myanmar Christian Services, Simon Thaung, of Asia Christian Services, and Aung Josiah, of Asian Children's Mission. Our goal was to conduct medical outreaches for the first two weeks, followed by two weeks of CHE training. (Community Health Evangelism)
The first week we served in the Yangon area, holding medical clinics in various locations, including the Myanmar Community Development Center and Hope Children's home, both ministries of ACM. On Friday of that week, we had our clinic at RBI (Restoration Bible Institute), Lincoln's seminary.
The second week of our trip we held our medical clinics in Chin State at several villages around the Kalay Myo area. In total, from both weeks, our providers met with nearly 700 patients. At each of the clinics, Harvey taught the Word through magic. This is something he is quite gifted at doing. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching and listening to him while waiting for their turn to go see their provider.
The day after we had finished the medical clinics in Chin State, many of the medical professionals on our team began the long journey back to the United States. Some of us remained in Chin State to begin preparation for teaching CHE. On one of these "off" days, we rented a van and traveled about 3 hours up into the mountains to the village of Zawng Lei, where IDES (International Disaster Emergency Service) had recently helped with a water project.
With the departure of some in our group, we had an addition. Ellen came from Indianapolis and met us in Kalay Myo, as one of our primary CHE teachers. I have personally taken CHE, but never seen it taught in the field. It was so exciting to watch all of these minds lighting up with new ideas and insights into serving the Lord in their own communities. Most were expecting a lecture type of learning and CHE utilizes group participation in almost every lesson. So much fun!
Lincoln and I weren't allowed to be a part of the Women's Seminar, so we visited with several of the churches during those final days. The seminar did go well, and has now been replicated by Leah Bill and some of the other ladies who were in attendance to a much larger group.
As you can tell, I spent a lot of my time in Myanmar shooting video and now editing since I have returned home. I think some of these videos can tell the story much better than what I write on paper. Special thanks to everyone who gave to help this trip become a reality. I saw so many encouraging signs for the future as there were several different ministries working together to serve the needs of our friends in Myanmar. I truly enjoyed working with Lonnie from FAME and all of the others who volunteered to come and give of their talents to help the suffering here with so much love and compassion.
Watch for more because more is coming soon! God bless.
Steve
