Being able to speak English in Myanmar can mean better employment opportunities and open the door to a broader worldview and ability to think critically through reading English literature. Much of the Christian literature produced and books donated to the college are also in English.

This year HMP Australia will be sending Dave to teach English at the college in Yangon for one year. Dave has completed an English teaching course here and has also been studying the Bamar and Chin languages.

Dave needs to raise US$15,000 to cover travel and living costs in Yangon.

If you’d like to contribute specifically to help Dave, you can do that by clicking the ‘Donate’ icon below (PayPal or credit card), or making a direct donation to Hope Myanmar Partnership (BSB: 062831 Account: 1023 1603 and use Reference: “Dave P”).

Note: please use reference “Dave P” on your transactions, otherwise it will end up in general donations and won’t go to Dave.

For $50/month ($600/year) you can help train a young person in Myanmar to spread the gospel and teach the Bible.

Students graduating from Restoration Bible Institute often go on to work in full-time ministry, evangelizing, pastoring churches, leading children’s ministries and sometimes to post-graduate studies.We now have student profiles ready for those of you interested in sponsoring a student at RBI. You don’t have to commit to a particular time period, we would simply be grateful for your commitment as long as you are able. Sponsors will be allocated a student to pray for and write to.

How to Sponsor

1. Click here to open contact form in a new window.
2. Complete form – be sure to select Student Sponsorship, and click ‘send’ to submit the form.
3. We will contact your to make arrangements, and send you a photo of your student and a brief bio, along with information about how to make monthly payments.

More Information

What Will My Student Study?

Your student will be studying towards a Bachelor of Theology or Bachelor of Divinity degree. These take 3 and 4 years respectively.

Can I Choose My Student?

You can certainly choose whether to sponsor a young man or a young woman, however students are allocated on a needs basis.

Can I Write To My Student?

Yes! And we encourage you to do so. You can send your handwritten letter to: HMP Sponsorships, PO Box 112, Jesmond NSW 2299. Or you can simply send your letter by email to: australia@hopemyanmar.org

What Does My Sponsorship Cover?

Your monthly sponsorship will provide a student at the Bible College with:

• Food
• Stationary
• A share of the rental costs for the college & dormitory facilities
• Occasional costs e.g. bedding, medical treatment, extra-curricular activities, mission trips.

What About The Students Without Sponsors?

Of course, all students will be cared for and provided for. In fact, some of your sponsorship funds will sometimes be shared with other students or elsewhere in the ministry as required. But the more students that are sponsored, the better off they will be, and the more students the College can accept.

In January a team of 5 of us headed to Myanmar. The primary purpose was to take Hunter Bible Church Senior Pastor, Greg Lee to preach at the annual preachers conference. Brooke, Dave, Jes, and I (Andrew) went to teach at RBI.

The preaching and teaching happened in the first week we were there. Greg taught how Jesus fits into the whole bible and from all reports the ministers found it so valuable. They said it was the first time they had seen Jesus in the old testament. About 65 ministers had come from all over Myanmar, which was more people than were invited but such was the reputation from last year, ministers decided to invite extras. One minister invited his Buddhist next door neighbour who seemed to become a Christian during the conference. All in all it was a really exciting conference.

At RBI, Brooke and Dave taught English, while Jess and I taught some ‘Tree of Life’ counselling skills and some basics about personality. Lincoln asked us to teach these things because knowing English helps people become more employable and knowing about psychology would help them broaden their horizons and understand and accept differences between different people. The students really enjoyed the lessons and so did we.In the second week we went for a trip to Bagan, which is a valley with around 2000 Buddhist temples in one valley. It was interesting because it was incredibly beautiful but terribly dark, spiritually. Lincoln came with us and it was a wonderful time to hear more about his and Leah’s plans for their ministries and Myanmar in general.

As a team we had a lot of fun. It sounds weird to say but we had a blast. As with most short term trips we probably benefited more than the Burmese people. But saying that, I think we made some useful contributions and have come back really pumped to keep supporting HMP because Lincoln and Leah have such a great, gospel based and effective vision for Myanmar.

Andrew Orenstein
HMP Trip Leader

The following was written by Hannah, one of our Australian partners, after our recent trip to Myanmar.

Peals of children’s laughter and joyous singing reverberate through the air. Passing rows of neatly stacked shoes and bags, I enter the most brightly coloured room I have ever seen. 50 small children are holding hands in a spinning circle, jumping up and down to nursery rhymes with their teachers….

Sounds like a scene out of a typical Australian preschool right?

But it’s not. Replace your new and fancy Australian preschool with thatched walls and a bamboo floor and you’ve got Blossom – HMP’s preschool. It’s smack bang in the middle of the slums of Yangon, Myanmar, a country where the average wage is less than a dollar a day. These Buddhist children are some of the poorest, yet are getting a world class education. Seriously…the methods of teaching that are being used at Blossom are the same as I am learning at university in Australia studying Primary Teaching!! 13 children have graduated during our trip, and when I was taken on a tour around the neighbourhood and saw such poverty and suffering, I realized what a feat these children had achieved just to make it through preschool.

Our God is a God who provides, and enough money was raised (Thanks!) for the Pastors’ Training Conference to take place with 43 pastors, many from the Chin state being blessed and built up through Sam’s messages.

We had the privilege of spending time with incredible students at HMP’s Restoration Bible College. 16 RBI students graduated during our trip, with many of them returning to their villages or remote areas to spend their lives sharing the gospel.

A highlight of the trip was 13 of us piling onto the back of a smoke-blowing truck and travelling 10 hours inland to remote Mindon, where HMP has a boarding school. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the 4 hours we spent in this village. The people are overwhelmingly friendly and welcoming. We learnt that on average, for the last 25 years someone has become a Christian every 2 weeks in this area – Amazing huh?!!

As we travelled around Myanmar, I was overwhelmed at the poverty and suffering that I saw, even for Christians. Yet those who have faith in Jesus were so joyous and happy. I realized during the trip that the hope for Myanmar does not lie in a new government to replace the evil one that is there now. The hope and future of Myanmar lies in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Myanmar church is growing despite the persecution.

So… what can YOU pray for???

• That Blossom kids and their families would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
• That the messages preached at the pastor’s training would reap a rich harvest and the pastors would be encouraged to keep going strong.
• RBI graduates and students, as they return to their villages and full time ministry.

We’ll post some news on our recent trip shortly, but just wanted to quickly let you know about a small tragedy that occurred while we were there.

During the pastor’s training, which we were leading in Yangon, a fire broke out some 800km away in Chin state, in the home of one of those pastors. The fire spread and destroyed the pastor’s home along with 30 other homes. 30 families lost everything they owned. The main village store and a great amount of food and goods have also been lost.If that wasn’t bad enough, the pastor’s wife (in whose house the fire began) has been imprisoned, supposedly on suspicion of arson though more likely because she is simply the pastor’s wife. She is still in prison at the time of writing – almost 2 weeks later.

Please pray for the victims of this tragedy. HMP has already sent some money to assist, and our coordinator in Myanmar has gone to the village to assist however possible. If anyone would like to donate money directly to this village and its victims, please click How to Help above for information about our bank account details.

[UPDATE]
This just in from Lincoln:
“Some more of the money you sent is already sent to the village, the elder of our church in the village has arranged to give the fire victims according to their needs. ( 26 houses with 30 families)
Attached is some pictures of the village. The pastor’s wife is still in prison … the case is not still solved as we have expected.”

Please continue to pray for this village.

Later this month, a team of 6 young people from Australia (including a pastor, an engineer, an OT, a physio and two teaching students) will visit Myanmar to encourage and train local indigenous people.

The main activities will be the Bible School graduation, and a 1-week training course for some 50 pastors from various remote villages. During the course, these pastors will receive invaluable training in the book of Corinthians and about the role of a pastor. Many of these pastors have not had any formal training, and this training is something that none of them could normally afford to receive.

HMP is collecting funds to allow these pastors to travel from their remote homes to Yangon for the course and for their accommodation in Yangon. We have so far raised $5800 of our $8000 target. Please pray with us that God would provide the remaining moneys for this training.

If you would like to donate, our account details are:Account Name: Hope Myanmar Partnership Aust. Inc.Account Number: 1023 1603BSB: 062831

Or you can donate by credit card via PayPal:

Our coordinator, Lincoln has sent many photos from the his trips into townships in the Delta Region. The teams he has traveled with have included his whole family, neighbours, HMP staff (from Bible School and Pre-School) and volunteers from the Karen Baptist Convention (a large Chrisitian group in the area).See the link below to view photos on our web album:http://picasaweb.google.com/rayandalice

We spoke again over the phone last night with our coordinator, Lincoln in Myanmar.It seems the burden of reaching survivors weighs heavily on Lincoln and his family. Having made several trips now into the worst affected regions, Lincoln reports there are still regions and survivors that have not yet been reached with aid. People there are living on one meal a day with only the clothes on their backs.Discrepancies between the treatment of people of the Karen ethnic group (who are also mainly Christians) and the Bamar people (the majority ethnic tribe, from which most of the authorities come from) have been obvious, with aid and shelter being provided to some but denied to others.Lincoln stated HMP needs to be delivering aid to the people most in need and to those who have been neglected and mistreated by authorities as we show God’s love to the needy.Some families, mainly fathers have been returning to their villages to attempt to begin working life again. Due to cyclone damage however they have no fishing boats, no nets and no farm machinery to work with. Many have had to leave their families in survivor camps to return to their home villages alone as they are unable to provide for their loved ones. HMP, Australia has been asked to consider raising financial support for the purchase of these items to give to families and villages.Cost Estimates:Simple fishing boat: $200Fishing Net: $70-$80Diesel engine (for a tractor or generator): $700-$800During trips in the Delta region, Lincoln met with thousands of survivors to hear their stories and to provide aid and encouragement to them. Lincoln has told us of overwhelming psychological needs, with survivors suffering depression, young children displaying trauma symptoms and girls as young as twelve having been sexually assaulted.HMP Australia has been invited to take a team of helpers with psychological training to Myanmar. Next week we will arrive in Yangon and begin training local volunteers in how to deal with young people who have experienced trauma. We will also be providing much needed medications. The team consists of coordinators, Ray and Alice, psychologist Andrew, psychology student Jessica and social scientist, David. It is hoped we will also gain permission to visit Bogale, an area in the Delta region not usually accessible to foreigners, where we will meet with survivors themselves.Please pray for this journey, as we encounter great tragedy and seek to help heal people’s physical and psychological wounds.Please pray also for Lincoln and his family and he has been sick with the Flu recently and is still recovering from a chest infection. Pray also for his spiritual health as he has been surrounded by sadness, tragedy and desperation and feels the weight of his responsibilities acutely. We hope to be able to encourage him, his family and HMP staff while we are visiting.We will shortly be uploading photos of Lincoln’s recent trips in the Delta region.See also ‘Release International –The voice of the persecuted church’ who sent a team of staff led by Lincoln into Bogale some weeks ago.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea..”Psalms 46:1-2As we read this chapter in Psalms, we see the most beautiful character of our God: the powerful protector who cares for his people and comforts them despite the devastation around them. During this time of devastation in Myanmar, one thing is clear – God is present. God is comforting his people. “Be still, and know that I am God”, he says.Sometimes it takes such tragedy for people to be still. But those who take a moment to be still and seek God will surely be met by a God who is compassionate, gracious and abounding in love.Let us pray for those in Myanmar that have been so shaken. Let us pray that they will call on the name of God; that they would come to learn that Jesus has made it possible for them. May this bring them real hope at a time when they feel so hopeless.We received welcome news from Lincoln this week that he and his team have been busy sharing the aid that many of you have donated. They were able to make a second trip into the most affected areas of the Irrawaddy delta last week. Accompanied by a number of other church leaders, they headed to Pathein by car, by boat to Nga-Pu-Taw, and then by another boat to a small, remote Karen village.

“As soon as we walked into the village, we saw a good size beautiful brick church building providing shade in the scorching sun. Some cyclone survivors were ready for their evening meal, and we had a little chat with them and then walked deeper into the neighboring villages where church leaders and villagers arranged survivors in different buildings. Some stayed at a church, some at a newly built hut. All together 574 cyclone survivors were staying in these 8 villages. We walked for a little more than 4 hours non-stop to cover the 8 villages, accompanied along the way by the president and secretary of the Nargis relief committee of [the village]. In the evening the committee had a meeting about how to distribute rice and clothing that we brought. We had a good dinner and the committee told us that the rice that was left was only enough for one and a half meals for the 574 guests.”I had the opportunity to talk to some survivors and their stories are all very similar, always heart breaking. When two old ladies in their early 70s told us about their survival stories, every one was listening. They said they were amazed by the great hand of God and that they had held coconut trees all night long to survive.”These people are very honest people – making their living mostly by farming and catching fish. When we asked them how they were doing (knowing that they are in desperate need for everything), they always said that they were doing OK. We heard of one incident where a young lady survivor came out of the salty water naked and looked around for something to cover and warm herself. She saw some longyis [sarongs] hanging on coconut trees and some others on the ground. She picked up one longyi after another, but finally took nothing because she could not find one that was hers!!”The situation in Pathein was also grim. The nearly 2000 Karen survivors held at the high school (where we visited twice) were taken by the authorities to an unknown location as the school is due to open for a new academic year. No one knows for sure where these people were taken, or what the authorities would do to them. There have been several other reports of survivors being forced to leave home villages and leave support camps and of being taken to other locations. We know of another 2000 being cared for by the church, but if found by the authorities, they would not be able to stay where they are. We heard of another 3000 who have been put in a dark and wet old warehouse. There are no windows and three people have already died from snake bite. There were originally 1000 at this warehouse, but the authorities put another 2000 in.”We have seen that international aid has been coming in, but where we have been, none of the aid has been received by any cyclone survivors.”Our next trip will be to [a village] in Bogale township. Only 4 houses remain standing out of 89 houses. Some 30 villagers have already been back. [Our daughter’s] teacher is from this village and she told us about the situation in her village. She has been back to her village more than 4 times already. Many survivors from this village were taken to the high school in Pathein and now no one knows where they are. There are still many dead bodies floating and on the ground. Villagers who came back to start life again have no strength to start working. There is no drinking water – villagers wait for the rain to come down for that’s all they can do for now. We gave some money to clean the village’s drinking water pond. This man-made pond is the only source of water for the villagers. We need to clean this pond and await rain to fill it. They say there are many houses where the debris has not yet been cleared and that some dead bodies may still be under those fallen houses. Dead bodies along with animal carcases need to be cleared first and then we can start rebuilding the houses. It seems we will have to cremate the bodies there.”From what we have seen from our trips, most people are suffering from depression. The villagers at [a small village], for example, could not bring themselves to cut even the smallest of the fallen trees at the village entrance. They need food, as well as counseling. Children are starting to die from contaminated water. Animals are also dying and soon there will not be enough animals to work in rice fields. Farmers do not have high expectations of a good harvest in the salty rice fields.”We need to help them with money to buy food and clothing, at the same time, we need to have fellowship with them and lift them up as much as we can. [Our colleagues] took more than a hundred survivors to be resettled in Yangon, and temporarily put them up in Hmawbi, but the authorities have taken them all to an unknown location. Children are the most vulnerable and we must get them to a safe place.”God willing, we plan to go to [a small village] next week. Our team will be mostly men at first. We will do the cleaning first, staying there for at least three days. After that trip, we plan to go to [the village we just visited] where the 500-odd survivors are staying. We hope to stay at least three days and four nights there and have a good fellowship with them – we will play with them, talk with them, discuss about life skills with them. Most of all, we will pray with them and tell them about the caring God who never sleeps but is always ready for His beloved children.“Please pray along with Lincoln for the people of Myanmar. Please also consider giving some money. All the money we receive is being sent to Myanmar for HMP’s ministry and relief effort there.Ray

A nice map of Myanmar showing the affected areas:Google Maps Myanmar Affected Areas