BY JULIA O'CAREY
The Lord amazed us with your tremendous response to the urgent, heartbreaking needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ, following the recent coup and Covid-19 outbreaks in Myanmar. Here are just a few examples of the many creative, generous ways He impressed you to respond and provide desperately needed humanitarian support. Due to lack of space, I can’t thank each one of you by name, but Jesus made note of your loving sacrifices in heaven!
My prayer partner and I were interceding for the situation in Myanmar and the Holy Spirit impressed her to send $10,000. Unbeknownst to her, this was just the amount we needed beyond what ASAP had on hand to supply an urgent need in the Upper Myanmar Mission. Praise the Lord!
The Friends of Refugees Committee, a group of passionate individuals who are working to streamline the Adventist response to refugee needs, felt impressed to fundraise $10,000 for food distribution to displaced people in Yangon Adventist Mission. This was another absolute answer to prayer.
Joi and Jade McClellan, two musically talented sisters, inspired their friends to join them in a benefit concert for Myanmar, titled “One More Piece.” In one night, they raised over $2,500, which provided aid for the families of students at ASAP schools in the Southeast Mission, in the Karen State, which has been impacted by air raids and heavy fighting.
Karen refugees in North America also joined together to respond to the suffering of their people. It moved me to see the amount of funds that poured in from this community, where many struggle to keep food on their own tables. God blessed their sacrifices, and ASAP was able to send $55,000 in humanitarian aid to the Karen on the Thai-Myanmar border. Altogether, ASAP has sent more than $133,000 to help those affected by the multiple crises in Myanmar this year.
All of these efforts and your individual gifts were preceded by much prayer, including a special effort organized by 24/7 United Prayer, a ministry supported by ASAP that seeks to initiate an unbroken global chain of united prayer and revival. We teamed up with Music Verse, a new ministry, to lead “1 Mind 4 Myanmar,” a 24-hour prayer session that also featured inspirational music throughout. Here is what one participant named Nandar shared after the event. “I am a Burmese. I always pray for my country every day but it becomes just a normal prayer for me since I am out of the country right now. But after I joined this meeting, I was so touched with your prayers. I appreciate all your care. I felt like I was in heaven. Thank you so much for your earnest prayers and uplifting songs for my country. I want to add one more thing. After hearing someone praying for the military soldiers, I am speechless. We just hate them for what they have done to the people. But we forget to pray for them, too. Thank you for reminding me to love the unlovable. Please keep praying for us.”
