[The following report is from pastor xxxxxxxxx in Myanmar.]
Greetings in Jesus’ name!
The [new] Stay at Home declaration was also announced to our city last night. The spread of COVID19 was so rapid and many were dead daily. The Government’s shopping centres and all shopping markets will be closed from Friday and the cost of all things will be highly increased day by day.
During [this] crisis, the civil war movement was reaching the whole country. Humanly speaking we are so regretful of it but it leads us nearer to the Lord.
In Kalay town there were more than 15 persons per day who died with this sickness and many pastors were killed by it thus we regret hearing such bad news everyday.
As the situation in our country is getting worse and worse, in many villages, towns, and cities, there is no money in banks nor in the hands of the people. We all are now facing this crisis in the whole country.
We are going to start facing problems for daily living. Some have no sufficient daily food for their families. During this time Covid 19 problem is increasing especially in Chin Land/State and Kalay Valley, Sagaing Division, 65 Chin pastors and 450 people were killed by this Covid 19 virus last month June and we were so sorry for them.
Agape orphanage (50) children could not go to school, the increments of daily living are so rapid and the Covid 19 problem is also rising up and we do not understand what will happen in our future. We are looking only at the Hands of the Lord with prayers. We hereby humbly request you to have special considerations and understanding more than before due to the crisis we are facing now. All the costs of things are rapidly increasing day by day. I humbly request you to pray for us and help us.
The Mission for Myanmar Organization is planting 15 house churches at 15 different places in Myanmar now. Each village has its own house churches where new believers come together to Sunday worship regularly. Due to the pandemic and our current situations, our missionaries and their new believers are running out of foods such as rice and oils. We are facing daily food difficulty with co-worker missionaries now. They really need help.
Many families across the country are starving for food now. We thought that the situation was getting better. But now we are in the third wave of Covid-19. Our dear friends and relatives are passing away with the virus everyday. Because of the military coup most medical doctors and health workers are not giving any service to the people. They do Civil Disobedience Movement to against the coup so that the junta will not be able to run the Government. Because of CDM most of the hospitals are closed. The people suffered more than words can say. They have no place to go when they are sick. They don’t know if they are covid-19 positive or not. In this way, they spread the virus among each other and families.
The military also forced the parents to let their children go school or they will be punished with a criminal case. They traced and followed the students who did not come to school. They got the list of students and their addresses from school record books. One of my friends who is also a pastor was beaten almost to death for not sending his children school. Now 200 students at a school are covid-19 positives and 100 students at another school. But they tried to hide the news from the people. Some school teachers died from covid-19. The military doctors announced the cause of death is not covid-19. They don’t want to close the school. They want to show the world that everything in Myanmar is normal now by running the schools. But that is not true.
The pastors and missionaries are working as health workers in villages without any protection such as PPE or mask in Kalay Township, Sagaing division and Chin State. They didn’t know that the person they took care of and prayed for was covid-19 positive. In this way many pastors got infected. Our close friends, pastors, Evangelists were passing away even right now while I am writing this I got information. They request our prayers and help. They badly need donations of PPE , Portable Oxygen, Oximeters. They need those to take care of the patients and to handle the dead bodies for funerals.
Now the people formed a “people defense force” in every division and state to protect the villages and towns by themselves from the junta. Now there is fighting between the military and pdf in every city and town. The military arrested or killed every young person they met on the street, suspected them to be pdf members and burned villages where they believed some of the pdf members live. Many villagers are afraid to live in their villages. Some of them run to the city and stay at a buddhist monasteries. Many people are wandering for a place to stay and food to eat. Some villages, they run to the forest and hide there as the military comes and burns their villages. Now is the rainy season in Myanmar. The suffering of those who live in the forest without extra clothes, mosquito nets, light or food is unimaginable.
The PDF just announced that there will be more fighting and war in the months to come. They encourage the people to find a shelter or safe place to run at any time. We can say that the civil war has begun already even though what happens on the ground does not reach the tension of international news media as it should. Crying to the Lord with tears for help and healing of our nation is what we can do for now.
Now there is also more war and fighting happening at our mission field in Lashio city areas Shan state. The people are seeking a safe place at buddhist monasteries. There are many people who are seeking help, especially food at our mission center in Pone Htun. If we can help their basic and daily needs such as food and drinking water to them, it will open ways to preach the Gospel to them.
A pastor from Yangon called me today saying that there is not enough food for many families in Yangon areas. They can only eat food one time a day. It will become worse in the weeks to come. A great famine is hitting Myanmar now.
Besides the current situation of military coup, covid-19 third wave and great famine is destroying the people of Myanmar who deserve freedom, health and well being. It is the darkest time for Myanmar. We earnestly pray and hope that the dawn will come and the light will shine again soon in Myanmar in Jesus name.
Now is the time Myanmar is crying for help.
With humbly request,
Your brother in Christ,
xxxxxxxxx
JonahzSong 
Wil, thank you for posting this. Very sad. We need to keep them in prayer. I will be re blogging your post.
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Yes. Praying for all the true followers of Jesus in these most trying times is a must. The pastors I hear from say they, too, pray for His people though out the world. In all their distress, they still take time to pray for us.
LORD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
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