Sent to me today about the China relief......and are they really saying they used the UN????
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We still don’t have Internet back yet at bethel so we are sending this from a friend’s place downtown. We try to go and check around every 10 days or so, so we are getting all your wonderful emails!
An update on the situation: The Relief Construction Teams are busy building new houses for the brothers. The houses are prepared here at bethel and assembled on site.
In the Yangon area alone about 30 houses will be built and many more, about 100 houses, need repairs. Three new houses are ready in our congregation, Thanlyin, and it has been a great witness. The neighbors look on in awe as the construction team come in with their hardhats, good shoes and tool belts and make houses that are nicer than what the brothers had before… I have to send you some before and after shots soon! Many in our congregation are very poor and live in slum areas. One sister has this new little timber house now, but she still has nothing inside, just her straw mat!
It is amazing to think about that over 1000 of the around 3000 brothers we have in Myanmar lives in the affected areas, but NOONE has been hurt or died. We can really thank Jehovah for that. Most brothers have showed a very good attitude and a spiritual outlook on the whole situation. We have heard many good experiences from the Irrawaddy area. They have really been through a lot, some things that we don’t really even want to write about, but they show that they still put spiritual things first.
For example we would like to tell you the continuation of the experience from Bothingone, if you remember. When the brothers climbed up inside the roof of the Kingdom Hall to survive.
I wrote before that two circuit overseers and one bethel brother (Pum Cine Khine, Myint Lwin and Sai Hlua, for those of you that knows them) already had arrived to the brothers village when he came to bethel. Now the circuit overseers have come back and told their experiences:
After they had visited 6 other congregations in the Irrawaddy area (damaged houses, brothers ok) they arrived on Thursday May 8 th (5 days after the storm) in Labutta. The town had become like the wild west where everybody was just fighting for survival. Most people had lost boats, houses and animals. The brothers had their truck filled with bags of rice, medicine, noodles and other provisions so they were very worried about getting robbed. They went around the jetty and asked many if they had a boat they could rent to take them to Bothingone. But they noticed that the people were not honest, they couldn’t trust any of them.
They went back into the town center wondering what to do. Finally they found themselves outside a building with a sign that read ‘UN’. They went inside and explained that they were Jehovah’s Witnesses and were trying to get to Bothingone to help their members.
The UN representative said: “We know you, and would like to help. No relief organizations have gone to Bothingone yet. We just have one problem. We have a boat but no diesel left. ”
The brothers explained that they had brought diesel with them. So they got permission to follow with the UN boat but it could not take longer then an hour. A UN lady also came along. But they got strict orders not to take any passengers because of safety reasons.
On the river up to Bothingone they were met by terrible scenes. Dead people and animals were piled up along the river bank. The UN lady said that a few days earlier they had to zigzag between all the corpses floating in the river. The brothers say they still have the stench in their noses and can’t sleep because of what they saw. They also saw people sitting in the trees shouting “Save us!” but the UN lady said they could not risk anything because some of them could be robbers.
When they arrived to Bothingone they saw around 200 villagers waiting by the shore. The brothers got worried. So Myint Lwin said “Don’t show them the rice, wait here in the boat. I will go into the village alone. I am afraid the men will rob us. But if they come into the boat, don’t resist them but give them what they want.”
When Myint Lwin entered the Kingdom Hall he was met by all the friends. They looked at him wide-eyed: “It is our circuit overseer!” “He has come to help us!”. and they all hugged him. (yes, MM people hugging!). They were amazed that the brothers had got there so quickly because they understood that all the roads must have been damaged. Myint Lwin whispered to them about the boat outside with the provision, and the brothers told him there was another way they could go with the boat that led up just behind the Kingdom Hall.
So while the UN lady was talking to the big group, taking their information and distracting them, telling them they would be saved soon, the brothers went around with the boat and unloaded everything. The brothers got instructions to share the rice quickly among the brothers, and then give to their neibours after their own judgement. Up until then they had been surviving on coconuts and water damaged rice that they had been drying on the roof. Especially the children were so thirsty. They then had a quick meeting, prayed and then they had to leave.
The Relief Committee decided later to evacuate all the brothers from Bothingone. There is no houses left there (except the Kingdom Hall!) and because there are so many dead bodies lying around and no clean water, the is a big risk of deceases. Some children in the village had already died from diarrhea. So places for them to stay was prepared in Myaung Mya Village, as well as clothes and other provisions.. Well on the way to Myaung Mya (that trip is an experience in itself) the brothers said: “ No we don’t want to go to Myaung Mya, we want to go directly to the circuit assembly in Thabawngu Village!” This is despite that they did not own anything but the clothes they were wearing. The whole way there they sang Kingdom Songs from their memory at the top of their voices.
We can really see how their decision to put spiritual things first was blessed. It turns out that if they had gone to Myaung Mya, the athourities would have put them in a relief camp from which they cannot leave, because they want to make sure everybody votes on the new constitution. What a trial that had been for those brothers! Now they will stay in Thabawgnu until the voting is over.
Of all the villages were there are brothers Bothingone is the worst hit, so it is wonderful to see how Jehovah takes care of all.