In January of last year, a colleague and I were invited to Yangon to help lead a special prayer initiative for Burma and for the raising up of children as intercessors. About 200 ministry leaders took part, and we had good unity and authoritative prayer for the nation. The participants developed plans to train and encourage prayer by children in various parts of the country.

My experience is that the united prayers of children can be especially powerful in bringing His transformation. We observed this while I was with World Vision in many of our development projects. What we are seeing now in Burma may well be the result of such intercession by kids and by adults who are uniting in prayer for the deliverance of the nation. Praise the Lord and thanks to all who have been besieging Heaven for breakthrough all these years and especially for the brave and compassionate efforts of David Eubank and the Free Burma Rangers who have stood in the gap and risked their lives to be instruments of His love and healing! Please read the recent report of the Free Burma Rangers. David Eubank, took part in the launch of the IPC in 2002, and we have prayed for him and his work through the years. His report is an exciting account of prayer and reconciliation from the front lines for which we can rejoice and give thanks even as we must continue to pray for God's full healing of the conflicted nation of Burma.
John Robb, IPC Chairman
FBR REPORT: Unplanned Meeting with Burma Delegation
Karen State, Burma, 2 April, 2012
Last year we wrote a letter to the Government of Burma (Myanmar) telling them that we pray for them, encouraging them to reconcile with all people in Burma and telling them that we were willing to be of help in any constructive way.
The Burma government let us know indirectly that they were interested in meeting. We discussed this among our teams and prayed about the right steps and timing. We did not know if and when a meeting would take place but unexpectedly we met the government delegation last week. I will make a full report on the events of this past week- meeting the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA - a breakaway faction of the Karen and a prior proxy of the Burma Army), a surprise for all meeting with the local Burma Army in the field in Burma, the Lay Ton Ku and Talako visit, IDP programs and how our friends, the Bluegrass band-Dogwood Cross - opened many hearts and how Eliya, opened a door into Burma thru the DKBA. We were able to meet, play for and pray for many people who are enemies there - Karen National Union (KNU), DKBA, Burma Army, the two factions of the Talakoe Karen - all this was God's gift. Then back to Mae Sot where we had the unexpected meeting with former Burma Army Generals Aung Min and Khin Gyi and others in Mae Sot in the middle of a KNU/Burma government prisoner release/negotiation - Aung Min is the chief negotiator for the government and ethnic groups in the ceasefire process. He is the one we had been praying about meeting after the Burma government expressed interest in meeting FBR. Now with no plan from us to do so, here and now, we have met.
This is what happened.
We had just returned from the Lay Ton Ku and Southern Karen State areas and the IDP programs and were in Mae Sot. We drove in on Friday night from the border and then had meetings with some in the KNU until midnight. Prior to this we had been asked to meet KNU leaders and others to offer to facilitate a possible multi ethnic unity meeting in the future. I prayed to God and said, "Lord, I want this to be of You; can you just do all the arraigning of meetings? That way it will be of You and not be me wasting time or going the wrong way. Thank you, Lord".
The meeting with some in the KNU unfolded as soon as we got back that night. Then, the next morning- Saturday - we were preparing to go to Mae La refugee camp when I noticed KNU, local authorities and others starting to come into where we were staying. I knew most of them, and we started to talk. They told me that very soon a delegation of the Burma government would arrive to release Mahn Ye Maung, a KNU leader who was being held prisoner. Mahn Ye Maung is an old personal friend of ours (Karen has especially been praying for him) and is known as the Karen 'Robinson Crusoe' for his escape from Coco island prison. While on work details, he secretly built a canoe he dug out from a tree and his multi week journey across the ocean to the Burma/Thai peninsula and eventual escape back to Karen lines many years ago is a story of brilliance, endurance, and daring. He had been captured again last year after a trip to coordinate with the Kachin. As he was going between China and Kachin State, northern Burma, the Chinese arrested him in Kunming and sent him on request from the Burma regime to Burma where he became prisoner again. He has been an issue in the ceasefire negation process. I prayed about what to do and decided that I would try talking with the KNU and other friends and see if this was an opportunity to meet. The Burma delegation approached and right away I was identified and called by name. They came over to me and said, "You are David Eubank, leader of the Free Burma Rangers". I said yes and that I was glad and surprised to meet. I shook hands with the 3 Burma government ministers that led the delegation (ex-Burma Army generals) and some of the delegation including the president of Egress - a business oriented peace-making group. (Egress later told me to give them a month, and they would arrange a meeting in Burma for us.) The meeting was warm, and I told them, "It is good we did not meet on the battle field, one of us or all of us would probably be dead!", and we all laughed. I gave them our FBR DVDs and FBR annual report and told them they may be angry when they look at all of these but that we reported what was true and tried to speak the truth in love. I acknowledged we were looking at things from one side and one perspective but were open to seeing the other side and all sides. They told me they would like to meet again and invited me to come to Burma. They then proceeded to the meeting hall where the official release of Mahn Ye Maung would take place.
Many of us FBR joined the meeting and stood in the back of the room. When the official handover of Mahn Ye Maung to the KNU was over the delegation moved back out, and we hugged and prayed with Mahn Ye Maung. On the way out Aung Min saw Baby Suu standing with me. He smiled and introduced himself, asking who she was - Suu shook his hand and introduced herself as Baby Bear and Suu. I took Aung Min's hand in mine and asked him if I could pray - he looked surprised but smiled and said yes, so I prayed - first in Burmese - "May God bless you" then in English-asking God to lead, help, and bless us as we try new ways that we do not know. Aung Min squeezed my hand as we prayed, and I felt God's love with us. After this we took a photo together. Then the Burma and Karen delegations ate lunch together at the next long table over from our FBR and Dogwood Cross group - very amazing positioning. After lunch, one of the Karen leaders asked me to stay on as the Karen and Burma group would continue meetings, and he wanted me to meet briefly after that. So the team took Dogwood Cross to Mae La refugee camp for the evening concert and Karen, the kids, and I stayed on where I worked while the kids played. Later that afternoon, the meeting finished, and now the delegation met our whole family and invited us to Burma for a meeting. There were real smiles as the kids, with both monkeys - Wesley and the Luthaw Kid - jumping about, introduced themselves and saluted as a team. We talked about the FBR mission, the multi-ethnic focus of our work, how we do this together as a family and how this is grounded in love and the desire for freedom for all. I told the kids in front of the delegation, "See these leaders, they were generals in the Burma army and now we are meeting in a friendly way together - we are all human beings, and we can be friends." The kids smiled, shook hands and looked intently at the delegation. They showed a lot of interest in the kids and wanted to talk to them. We were asked about the children's schooling while we are on missions, and they were all glad Karen was home/backpack schooling them. At the end they turned to me and said, "We do want you and your family to come to meet us in Burma. We want to start a new way. Please come." I told them we had been praying about it, and yes, we wanted to come at the right time and looked forward to that.
We said goodbye and they departed. ...Thank you for your prayers. We do not know what will come of the meetings with the Burma government and if there will be any more.
Thanks for everyone's prayers for this.
God bless you all,
Dave, family and teams
The Free Burma Rangers' (FBR) mission is to provide hope, help and love to internally displaced people inside Burma, regardless of ethnicity or religion. Using a network of indigenous field teams, FBR reports on human rights abuses, casualties and the humanitarian needs of people who are under the oppression of the Burma Army. FBR provides medical, spiritual and educational resources for IDP communities as they struggle to survive Burmese military attacks.

For more information, please visit www.freeburmarangers.org

Let's continue to pray for the full healing and reconciliation of Burma and all its peoples. Pray also for David Eubank and the Free Burma Rangers that the Lord will continue to use them effectively in this process.