Monthly Archive

My friend Stacie was finally able to email last Friday with an update.  She’s doing really well in Myanmar.  Here’s her email:

“Hi everyone,

I wanted to email a lot sooner, but as many of you know, a big Hurricane came through and so I was unable to email last weekend. I am doing well. I have plenty of food and water and a safe place to live. Thank you for the many prayers, and I ask that you will continue to pray for those who have lost loved ones and homes. There are many people who can’t afford food and water because the prices for everything are going up. I have been helping out here and there for those that I know and those that my friends know. It sometimes get sad though because there are so many people in need and I wish I could help them all, but I just have to do the little that I can.

I’m sure many of you have been worried for my safety or worried that I may be afraid. Amazingly God has given me peace and safety through the whole storm and these 2 weeks afterward. Here is an entry that I wrote in my journal, it will give you a little look into my experience.

“Last night there was a big Typhoon. I woke up at 1:00 because the wind was blowing so hard, so I got up and looked. (My house has ventilation holes in the wall near the ceiling) Wind was blowing into the house through the holes in the walls. Dust and leaves were blowing in. I checked the windows and they were all closed. There was nothing I could do so I crawled back into bed under my mosquito net and tried unsuccessfully to sleep. Next I knew I heard glass shattering. I got up to check and found that one of the windows in another room must not have been latched all the way and so it blew open and shattered, thankfully outside so I didn’t have any glass to clean up. This allowed even more wind to blow in, but thankfully there wasn’t much rain and so only a little water came in. The tree in front of my house started banging against the roof. With each blow the whole house shook. I was back under my mosquito net just listening to all the sounds around me. The shower and bathroom doors started banging around down stairs so I went down to latch them, then the door upstairs started to band and so I went upstairs to latch it. (It was amazing that although what was happening around me and being all alone was a little eerie, I had a peace knowing that I would be just fine.)

“When it got light out I used a shower curtain to cover the broken window to block the rain from coming in. Good thing because from about 6:30 it really started to rain and so much would have blown in. The shower curtain worked pretty well to patch the window, but was pretty difficult to put up in the wind. It kept blowing out the window, but I finally did get it in place. (Now 2 weeks later it is still doing its job.) After patching the window I read a little in Matthew and then I played guitar and worshipped for a little while. During this time I was thinking of how powerful the wind was, but how God is so much more powerful. I was also reminded of how Jesus was able to calm the storm just by saying ‘Quiet, be still!’

Around 10:00 the wind had died down a bit and the rain let up so I decided to take a nap. I slept a little off and on until 12:00 and then I got up. I went down stairs and was surprised to see about 10 inches of water in the house. Thankfully I didn’t have any personal things that got wet, but the bottom of the refrigerator got wet, an power inverter box, and some fluorescent lights that Kiyoshi was going to hang up sometime. When the power comes we will have to see what is ruined or not.

There wasn’t much I could do to clean up yet, so I decided to go and see how the families and school were.

So many trees were down and houses lost roofs. I felt so sad for all the people. So many of them are poor and don’t have money to be fixing their houses. I thought of Naw Eh Wah (the kids’ Burmese teacher) and prayed that she and her family were ok. I know that their house is not very strong.

One of the families’ house lost the entire roof and at least 5 windows broke. All the DD girls store their things in that house and all their stuff got wet. They were able to go next door to the school to get out of the weather. At the school the only damage was one window in my classroom broke. Shiho moved my things and covered the bookshelves so that nothing got damaged.”

Well, that gives you a little insight into my experience. The water didn’t come for 4 days and now 2 weeks later we still don’t have power in my area. The areas that call pool enough money and pay are able to get power the fastest. I heard of a street that is only 4 or 5 blocks long that has apartment buildings paying 2,000 dollars just to get their power restored.

I’m going to go now. I want to see what news I can read on the internet. I haven’t read or heard anything yet, I’m sure you all know more details that I do.

Thanks for all your prayers and please continue to pray for the people of this country.”

My friend Stacie is currently working as an English teacher in Myanmar.  She loves being there and has a tremendous love for the Burmese people.  With the recent cyclone, Stacie has not been able to make contact with anyone in the “outside world.”  Of course, we know that Stacie would have it no other way than to be in Myanmar at this specific time, and for His specific purposes.  May she know the Father’s protection and guidance during this time.

The school year has officially ended.  Students are headed home, and the once busy campus has gotten a lot quieter.  Our focus over the past few weeks has been getting to know these students and the campus culture of UVM.  We’ve been meeting with advisors, program heads, and other campus pastors.  We’ve talked to several dozen students about their experiences at UVM.  Here are some of the things we’ve discovered:

• 39% of students said academic pressures were the biggest challenge they face.

• 35% of students said they needed help with time management and balancing studies with their social lives.

• 70% of students said it was easy or very easy to establish healthy friendships.

• There are 250 enrolled international students at UVM.  Most are in graduate programs and come from India and China. There are no ongoing support programs to help them with language and cultural challenges.

• 87% of students have never attended a religious event or meeting while in college.

These statistics reinforce what is a common perception about UVM: This is a party school where students show very little interest in formal religious expression.  Most students were not even aware of the presence of any campus ministries at UVM.

One conversation stands out most for me. I was talking to a young woman who is a freshman at UVM.  She was raised in a Baptist church, but she has not attended church or a campus ministry while at UVM.  I asked, “How easy has it been to establish healthy friendships at UVM?”  She replied, “It has been very easy to establish friendships.  But I wouldn’t call them healthy.”  I could detect a bit of sadness and regret in her voice.  My heart broke knowing that this young woman had probably made decisions she regretted.  Our prayer is that she, and other students like her, will discover love and healing through our community of faith.  We want her to know friends who desire the best for her, not just a good time.