News!

The first of two children’s camps was last week and the second is going on now.  Several of our Burmese children were enabled to attend these camps through the scholarships provided by the Outreach Class.  Thank you Jerry Farlow and class.

Frosintina made a quick trip to High Point last weekend so that Joshua would be back in time for camp.  Grandma Nu Nu got to see the baby for the first time.  Frosin Tina has some great pictures of the baby on her Facebook page.

Klo  Say with Nelson and Nyein with June will join the FWC father/son camping trip for the Aug 13th weekend.

A Burmese (province) preacher is going to be in the area next weekend.  He will speak on Saturday night at the Chin home cell group and Sunday morning in the Burmese language service at FWC.

One Kiss’ son. Ku Lu Taw, had a choclear implant (in one ear) and is learning to hear for the first time.

We have had 4-5 newly arriving refugee families in the last two weeks.

Lea Rey and Zu Zu are going to try to meet with Dace Hennesey about some work this week.  He helped Da Htoo get a job a few months ago.

Klo Say preached in the Karen language service this past Sunday.

Max Inthisane stepped in to preach to the Laos congregation while his father was away a few weeks ago.  But Max says it was not preaching but just a “teaching”.

Bibi Thakbal will start classes at GTCC on August 22.

Great to get back from vacation and get in touch with my friends once again!

Thaw Dar’s Family to Arrive

I got a call from Thaw Dar the other day and he told me his family will arrive July 26.  Thaw Dar  told me he has not seen his wife and two elementary age children for 6-7 years.  What an exciting time of anticipation for this family to be reunited!!   Thaw Dar plans to continue to live in High Point.  He speaks excellent English (with a British accent).

Cultural Profile: Refugees from Burma

The US Dept of State has provide a profile of various people groups.  For those who seek to know more about the Burmese, here is the link to a downloadable pdf.

http://www.cal.org/co/pdffiles/refugeesfromburma.pdf

“Max”, “Rose” and Gloria

Max, John, Rose and Pastor Inthava

Max and Rose have been in the United States for five years.   They are both fluent in English and several other languages.   When they came to America, they were first located in Jacksonville Florida.    They have lived in High Point now for several years.   I first met Zar Lwin, nicknamed “Max” when we were working on funeral arrangements for Van Boi’s baby Moses.   Max said to me, I don’t know how to help with American funerals and you don’t know about Burmese funerals.   Together we were able to minister to the family during their time of need.

Max grew up in an urban region of Burma, near the capital of Yangoon (formerly called Rangoon).  When they were  children his mother sent him and his brother to language school.  Max learned English and his brother Japanese.  You can guess where his brother ended up when he had to flee the country.    Max is a night production manager at Mannington flooring.  Max ably steps in to help with some of the harder problems facing the Burmese arrivals.  He is a real blessing to our Burmese friends.  By the way do not challenge Max to a game of billiards,you’ll be sorry.

Rose grew up in a more rural area of Burma, as a Poe Karen [Car rin].   Most of our arrivals are S’gaw Karen.  Rose can speak several international languages as well as English, Burmese and Karen.  She has her own Sushi business here in town.   Pray for her as she is facing a scheduled surgery in a few weeks.

Max and Rose have a daughter named Gloria who is just now school age.  They have been worshipping at our church for the last couple of months.

Pastor I. I.’s Message in Six Languages

On Sunday I had a chance to hear the last part of Pastor Inthava Inthisane‘s message to his congregation.  He was summarizing his sermon to the church.  His word was to encourage them to become solid church members through regular church attendance, living a consistent Christian life and bringing all the tithe to the church.

The amazing thing was that I could understand what he was saying!!!.  Actually he was self translating, once in a Lao/Thai dialect, once in English, then it was being translated into S’gaw Karen by Philip and into Hakha Chin and Burmese by Biak Cin Thang.  Six languages were being negotiated in the service!

On the left is Philip, center is Pastor I.I. and right is Biak.    Above is the congregation in prayer at the conclusion of the service.