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#MYANMAR LOVE STORY 84 HOW TO#
We started to wonder how these young leaders and their communities could be supported financially and become self-sustainable.That’s when Pastor Isaiah and his entrepreneurial spirit began to thrive! First, he taught the pastors and farmers on the mountain how to plant a new rice variety, then he taught them how to plant velvet beans and finally he started growing star beans. We were amazed at the dedication we saw in many of the young pastors connected to Pastor Isaiah, as they gave up everything to serve their people. Together with Pastor Isaiah and Pastor Moe Aung we started dreaming of joining them, as our desire grew to see positive transformation reach the Myanmar communities we’d been investing in. With a new democratic spirit, the country of Myanmar started to open up more and more at that time which encouraged many migrant workers to return to their home country. Pastor Isaiah started making yearly visits to the western mountains close to Mindone to help train leaders, encourage the churches and help the communities. An instant bond was formed between Pastor Isaiah and the Acho people. In 2012 Pastor Moe Aung invited Pastor Isaiah to visit his people on the mountain with him. Many nights Pastor Moe Aung and Pastor Isaiah would pray together and dream about a way to bring economic hope to the Acho people in Myanmar. This was dangerous work and hard on the environment and the families, as the men were forced to be away from home for long periods of time.
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He explained that men hunted for wild animals to provide for their livelihood. Pastor Moe Aung knew personally of the hardships his people group faced living on the mountain. He would often speak of the Acho Chin people living in Rakhine and the Magway region of Western Myanmar. It wasn't long before Pastor Mo Aung, another Myanmar migrant worker, joined our team. We felt an instant connection and started engaging more and more in the migrant workers’ community. Then one day we were introduced to Pastor Isaiah, a Myanmar migrant worker who shared the same love and passion for his people we had been carrying in our hearts. Even though we loved interacting with them, we always felt sadness over the fact that we couldn’t do it in their native language. Dave and I had already spent eight years living and working in Southeast Asia, when in 2009 we had the privilege of meeting some Myanmar migrant workers who lived near our church in Thailand.