Burmese Bible School Update

Many of you may recall us talking about starting our first Bible School in Burma through the work of a past student named Saw Daniel. Saw Daniel is a 56 year old Burmese pastor who came to us for training here 3 years ago. His vision was to see the pastors in the Karen Baptist convention to be trained and equipped in inductive Bible study. We helped secure a scholarship for him, and he parted from his family for 9 months in order to be trained. We had attempted to bring his family with him, but after 3 years of having his visa denied, he finally had to come alone. Saw Daniel has 30 pastors that are under his oversight and care, and he began the first inductive Bible school for them in June 2007. The school graduated 13 students this July, 2008! Based on our training here, Daniel based his school on our 9 month course. The unexpected happened in September of 2007, when the Golden Yellow Uprising took place in Burma, ending in the death of many monks who were protesting. This landed Burma in the national news for the violence and brutality of the military government ruling over Burma. This uprising caused all ministries to stop for three months, until the political situation calmed down.
If an uprising wasn't enough, in April of 2008, Cyclone Nagris savagely blew through Burma, killing thousands, and leaving many more homeless. The students again had to take a break to repair damage to the Bible school, and help those in need around them.
Yet, nothing stops the plans of our God! Uprisings and cyclones can't thwart the plans of God, and so we are thrilled to report the successful conclusion of our first school there. Many of our US based staff traveled there to teach and support this school. Saw Daniel is already planning his next school this year, and we will again be sending our staff in to teach and support him.
Praise God! Enjoy some of the photos below from their graduation program. All you need to do is to click on the pictures, and your browser should open them in a large format so you can see them better.