Final blog.. 18/10/06

It's our last night in Yangon tonight, and I am looking forward to being at home.

It's been a great time and I feel like I have really achieved some useful things for the church in India and Myanmar. As well as that I think that the exposure to such different cultures to Australia has probably changed a lot of attitudes in me and taught me a lot about what is happening in Asia.

Today we went to the Gospel For Asia Bible College just outside of Yangon. At this College 255 young people are learning how to be missionaries to their own country. I peeked in at the accommodation as we walked past and it was scary- bunk beds packed into a dormitory. There hardly seemed to be space to walk around them.

Michael preached at the church service and I gave the final prayer, then we had lunch with the President of the College and the students. The President said it was important for us to eat with them like this as many Asians, even Christians, feel that they are less human than western people- to see us eat with them made them understand that we were not above them. My goodness, that is a shocking thought- these people giving all that they have for the Kingdom of God think that they are less than we are.

We went shopping this afternoon. A final frenzy before returning home. We went back to the Myanmar Evangelical Graduate School of Theology to change our US Dollars to the local currency, kyats- I think the exchange rate is 1250 to the Dollar (give or take a zero or two). I changed $20 and Michael changed $100. We thought we were going to the markets, but in fact Ram took us to a place where they have the same product, it's air-conditioned and you don't have to barter- in fact they told us it was 50% off the marked price of everything today (and probably everyday, I suspect).

They had a huge lot of stuff in the shop and I decided to buy gifts for everyone at home. You wouldn't believe what you can get for $20 in this place- well actually it came to $30 in the end but what a bargain! I had to borrow the extra kyats from Michael. Michael really splashed out with some special jewellery for his wife, and gifts for his children. He is very thorough in his shopping- every item must be inspected and discussed with the staff. Finally he finished and discovered that he had overspent also. No problem because the staff accept US dollars, and we needn't have changed our money.

Ram also took us around the pagoda which is huge- the biggest in the world. I won't bore you with the details, you can probably find them on the internet. The central tower just looms up into the sky, and can be seen from just about everywhere in Yangon. I didn't go much on the idols and stuff- it all just keeps people locked into their religious bondage- but it is an awesome building.

We shouted Ram tea tonight. Since we had spent all our kyats it was dinner at the hotel, but for a change we managed to eat it in the dining room instead of having it in our room. Perhaps they realised that with an extra guest it was probably more congenial to entertain in the dining room. It was a fine Chinese meal, very nice. I did have a problem a couple of nights ago with the MSG keeping me awake, so I'm praying I don't get a repeat on that tonight.

Well tomorrow we're off home. We are praying that we will be able to get all the way to Australia tomorrow, arriving Thursday morning instead of Friday. I'm looking forward to being surrounded by a society I know and voices I understand.

It will take me a while to sort through all my thoughts about this trip. I've started trying to write things down to help me sort it all out. Coming to Myanmar has been good, partly because it helped me see how much I am drawn to India! I don't know if I'll ever come back to Myanmar- perhaps God will open up some doors, I don't know. But I do know that I will be back to India one day. I seem to have a passion developing for ministering in that wonderful, chaotic, crazy country. So God willing, I will be back.

Blessings

Keith