We are now on a relief mission in Kachin State, Northern Burma, and here there is no ceasefire. During the training of the new teams, we could hear shells explode as the Burma Army shelled villages nearby with 105 Howitzers, 120mm and 81mm mortars. Over 50,000 people remain displaced, and during this mission, we saw over 12,000 of them in eight different sites…Attacks have slowed down this month to three in our area, and one we witnessed, but there are still over 110 Burma Army battalions operating in Kachin State…

What can we do? For us it seems we can do very little - but those little things we can do, we do with all our might. We pray with and for the IDPs; we run a Good Life Club program of songs, health and spiritual teaching for children and skits and games for the families; we hand out sports equipment for schools to teachers and t-shirts for the kids, and set up a mobile clinic to treat basic ailments and pull teeth as needed; we interview the people here and send their stories out around the world; we go near to and recon Burma Army camps to monitor their activity and put a light on their actions. During this mission, we visited IDPs near towns as well as in the jungle and spent most of our mission on foot to reach different communities, document destroyed villages and report on the Burma Army activities…

We did multiple recons of Burma Army camps, usually only able to get no closer than one kilometer away, but sometimes we were able to move within 200 yards of their camps. We took photos of the Burma Army as they occupied the ground that belonged to the Kachin people and as they sat in dominant positions overlooking villages, towns, bridges and the Taping River dam they had taken. Even as we observed them, I felt sorry for them: they looked hungry, unkempt and not motivated. Their mission is not a noble one, and I believe they know it. So we crawl as close as we can, document as much as we can, and even though sometimes we do not want to, we pray for them. All of us are in need of redemption and while we stand with the oppressed, we know the line between good and evil runs between each heart, not between people. We also pray for ourselves to not be wounded, captured or killed as we do this…

I write this from a small dilapidated bamboo hut on the edge of a town ransacked and burned by the Burma Army, and it is clear that the situation in Burma is not simple. In Burma there is more than one government. There is the central government, and there are many representative ethnic governments. While positive changes have occurred, there are still attacks and oppression. We had a very good meeting in March with representatives of the central government, and we felt mutual warmth and a shared sincerity for change, but on the ground in some areas we see other realities as well: children killed, homes destroyed, churches desecrated, people fleeing. As changes occur in Burma, how can people under oppression and attack be helped in a more comprehensive way? What do you do when oppression which is destructive to both oppressed and oppressor goes on? We thank you for your part in standing with and helping those who are in need and not yet free. While giving thanks for the signs of liberalization and reconciliation that have been reported on in the past months, let us continue to pray for His healing and transformation of Burma and for the ministry of Dave Eubank and other believers who are interceding and serving inside the nation.

Here is another report for prayer from local prayer leader friends in another area of Burma:

Thank you so much for all your concern and prayer for Myanmar. I would like to update the situation in Rakhine State.

More than 50 people have been killed and 54 wounded in the communal clashes, state media said on June 16. A total of 5280 houses were burnt including 9 Buddhist monasteries, 7 Mosques, and a school building. Nearly 31,900 people from both sides are being housed in 37 camps across Rakhine. According to UN, around 90,000 people fled including those who are in the camps. The Government as well as the local authorities and those who are helping the IDP said there is a huge need for humanitarian help (food, clothing, etc.) right now.

Those who remained in the Rakhine state capital, Sittwe, slowly started coming out on the streets after tensions between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas appeared to have eased after five days of rioting, torching houses, and knife attacks. Praise the Lord! We are witnessing God’s intervention. The situation is under control.

However, it is very important to pray that this conflict (between Buddhists & Muslims) would not be spreading to other parts of the nation. The U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomas Ojeas Quintana, said the escalating violence in Rakhine state represented a “serious threat to the country’s future”. “It is a threat to Myanmar’s democratic transition and stability,” Ojea Quintana said in a statement issued in Geneva.

Some people firmly believe that there are some who do not like the country’s democratization and reforms taking place in the nation, who caused to spread the spark to the whole Rakhine, and are wanting to see spreading the whole nation. Please continue to pray that the Lord who has answered our prayer by starting a good work in reforming our country will continue to do it until we see revival and transformation and His glory fully manifested. Pray that the Rakhine Buddhists and the Muslim Rohingyas will experience God’s love, God’s provision, and they will get saved.

Thanks so much for all your prayer support. May the Lord bless you all,
A Burmese couple in prayer ministry.