Dear Friends, 

Many good things are happening with Ancient Words… too many for a one-page update letter!  So please allow me to give the highlights in abbreviated form and then provide more detail below.

-       I just returned from a two-week teaching trip to Myanmar and we had a great time and the Principles of Bible Study classes were well received!  Two groups, 32 church-leader students!

-       A very good friend of mine, Richard Cross, traveled with me and handled half of the teaching load.  He did an excellent job and was loved by the students! (I’d like to keep him ;-)

-       I was able to preach in a house church on Sunday afternoon – I taught about The Offense of the Gospel (i.e. why Christ is the only way to God), which is a much needed message in a predominately Buddhist land.  Because of this message, I was asked to teach a group of 60 ladies, many of whom were Buddhist.

-       Richard and I were able to meet with these ladies on Friday, and I shared a similar message about the offense of the gospel.  There was no invitation or request for to accept Christ, but before I finished speaking, several ladies started raising their hands, saying they wanted to follow Christ!  Afterward, they came to the front and sat on the floor in front of me and I explained more about faith in Christ and led them in a prayer to express their faith to God – what a beautiful experience!  The lady who leads the group is going to buy Bibles for them and disciple them!

-       Richard was able to preach in a house church in an impoverished village on the other side of the Yangon River.  He explained the importance of discipleship in the Faith.

-       I was so pleased with the many comments that we received about how the PBS (i.e. Principles of Bible Study) material was so valuable for them.  We heard many stories of how their pastors teach via proof-texts, rather than teaching the Word in its context.  They were so excited that they now have the tools to understand the intended meaning of the original writer/speaker of the Bible. 

-       Several students are teachers in Bible colleges and were also very excited about the PBS material.  They want us to spend more time with them to help them learn how to teach it in their schools.  We will develop a plan – perhaps a class – that will provide them with books, materials, and techniques for teaching the Principles of Bible Study course.

Julie and Steven (our translator-interpreter couple) did so much work for us, including planning, scheduling, translating, interpreting, printing, communicating with students, arranging catering for student lunches, etc.!  I am so thankful, not only for their diligent and conscientious work, but because they are proven workers in the Faith and they deeply believe in our approach to training church leaders… plus, they’re fun to be with!  They are also working on a plan for expanding our teaching to Mandalay and Myitkyina.

There are more good things happening with Ancient Words – one of them is really neat and will open an entirely new audience to our work, but I will tell you about these things in a future update letter. 

Thank you so much for being a part of this work and enabling us to teach God’s Word to people who are so needy for it!  Your encouragement, prayers, and support keep us going!  May the Lord richly bless you!

Don