Light in the Darkness

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- Isaiah 9:2,6

God has been faithful through this whole year amongst many hardships. God is in control—and He is working through you, our strong Earth Mission community. You have prayed, visited, and given in many ways.

The stories of His light piercing the darkness here in Myanmar are endless. Here are some recent examples:

Closer to Jesus

In late November, a 15-year-old girl came to Rain Tree Clinic. Her leg was destroyed beyond repair by a mortar blast. One of the doctors in the operating room poignantly told the story:

"This is a 15 year old girl who suffered a mortar injury to her leg. We had to do below the knee amputation today. She cried."

What the doctor didn’t mention in this post was that it took this patient 4 days to get to our KMC hospital. Or that Yangon, the biggest city in Myanmar with many hospitals was only 3 hours away from the place she was injured. Or over the 4 days, they travelled right past many smaller military controlled hospitals to get to our small hospital in the jungle. In fact we are seeing many patient like this … traveling for 3 or 4 days with horrendous war injuries or complex medical problems. Why? The Burma Army often arrests people going into the cities. Certainly any with war injuries as they are guilty by association. Patients are simply too afraid to go to the city hospitals. So several days after this 15 year old girl came to RTC, Earth Mission sent a mobile surgical team closer to the front line fighting areas in order to help stabilize patients closer to the scene of injury. It wasn’t the safe thing to do … but it was the right thing to do.

Our mobile surgical unit had just been set up when a 2-year-old girl arrived with severe shrapnel injuries from an airstrike. Grandmother and an aunt were with her. Her injured Grandfather had died on the way. Our surgeon did a damage control colostomy under general anesthesia and we were able to move her to Thailand for definitive care.

The Great Escape

Our T-RAD hospital has been working inside one of the towns that have been under military control for over two years. By their own choice, our staff have stayed put to care for anyone who needed their help. As the above situation became more clear however, we realized that most patients needing healthcare in the area would not risk a trip into the city to see our doctors. And this was no small number. The immediate area around our clinic serves about 3,000 people. The whole town has a population of 10,000. The township area is listed as having 100,000 people. So in order to improve access for patients, we decided to move our hospital and all the staff out of the city. The military would not have allowed this as part of their strategy for holding the cities is to use civilians as human shields. We snuck all of our staff out except one who refused to leave and most of our equipment out of the city over several days. It could have been a disaster but praise God—all are out now. Not safe but out. Thank you for praying for them.

Now, they are all IDPs (internally displaced people)—refugees within their own nation. Living in a makeshift camp near our mobile surgical unit, they have mixed feelings. They worry about the fate of the houses they left behind and about their children’s education. They wonder how long this situation will last. But most are also deeply grateful to still be in community with each other, to have a job, to be empowered with a purpose in life. They can continue to provide healthcare to those in need. They are in fact, quite welcomed by the hosting Buddhist village who also desperately needs healthcare. In fact, a few days after the Great Escape we hosted a Christmas service open to all. Many children came from village. With the thunder of mortars in the distance, using his laptop instead of a flannel graph, Dr. Judson told the Christmas story—of the birth of the promised Savior of the world. Near the end of the narrative, Dr. Judson told of the young Jesus’ own Great Escape to Egypt when his life too was in danger. Jesus understands what everyone there is going through. Jesus himself was a refugee. We are not alone.

Finding A Savior

Our students come from a mixture of Christian, Buddhist, and animist backgrounds. For 3 to 5 years, we get to speak God’s truth into their lives as we live, learn, and work alongside them. They will know if we really love Jesus by the way we love them and their people.

In this environment, we can’t fake it. Either Christ is real in our lives, or He is not.

Our 12 Year 1 students have been with us for 8 months now. In mid-December, one young man decided to follow Christ and was baptized! Now, he’s hungry to grow in his new faith, as he expressed in a recent writing assignment:

“Pepe (Karen for “Grandmother”) I want you to encourage me how to build a new life as a new Christian. My physicality is looking quite strong but my mentality is trailing. I want you to show me some clues of the scripture of the bible to make my mentality stronger. As a result, I have less experiences about it though. In addition, what did you do first when you became a Christian?”

Several of you suggested places where he could start, one of which is the book of John.

This is how John—a man who walked with his Messiah for 3 years, who knew he was deeply loved by Him—introduces Jesus to us:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- John 1:1-5

And now, our 8 Year 5 students have just wrapped up their final exams. In January, they will walk across the stage as our 4th graduating class of Physician Associates. Then, they will be released to go out into the darkness, bringing healing, hope, and light with them wherever they go.

All of this is possible because of you, our Earth Mission community. God is shining His light in the darkness through you. We are grateful for you and pray His love, joy, and protection over you and your loved ones this Christmas season as we celebrate our Savior who has overcome the darkness.