So much has happened since our last update in November last year! As I write this letter, I have a heavy heart. I would love to just share all the victories and ac
complishments we have been a part of, but I feel that it would be dishonest and fake to only talk about those things. I have prayed and want this letter to be filled with grace for the glory of God. Below is an outline of what is highlighted in this newsletter:
Single Mother Released from Debt
High interest loans - impossible to get out of
14 year old daughter in danger of forced prostitution
School Evangelism Training
Training the students the last 3 weeks, preaching in the village
31 heard the gospel, 15 people saved!
1 already baptized
Expecting NEW BABY!
Due March 15
Mother is 16 years old, second baby, no father
We will be taking full responsibility for her
Various Ministry Highlights
Grace Church Myanmar preaching - 16 children come to Jesus
Preaching at Judson Bible College Graduation
New Motorcycle gift for All Nations Family
7 new guitars and 1 ukulele given to ANF and Zion children’s home
Struggles and Challenges
Passing off Ethne International Academy
Implementing Luke 6:27-36 and Matt. 6:12-16
Major Ministry Move
God has called us to Home of Stars Orphanage and International School
Challenges and answered prayer
Moving sometime this summer
Single Mother and Daughter Released from Debt
Tessa has a friend who works with a ministry that helps single women and widows. One lady had a high interest loan (60% monthly) she took to pay for basic needs (food and a room) for her and her daughter. This is a common thing here and other countries that don’t have laws against trafficking and unjust loans. The man who loaned to her initially threatened to put her daughter into prostitution to pay off the loan. She also tried taking other loans to pay off his loan. We looked at her income vs. the loan amounts, the interest, and her monthly expenses and realized it would be impossible for her to ever pay it off. Sakawah is a Christian woman, and we believed God desired our ministry to pay off her debt. We also realized someone had just donated an amount that covered the loan amount and we had prayed about how to use it. Brother KoKoGyi and I had meetings all day long to pay off the different loans. We made a contract with Sakawah. She will pay a portion of her income every month into a savings account that we will manage and invest for her. When she has reached a specific amount, we will give it back to her with the interest it earned. We also had in the contract that she will never again take a high interest loan, and that if she needs financial help, she will contact us for advise. Sakawah said after her debt was paid, the burden lifted and she was so excited that she couldn’t sleep all night! She is now helping us once per week for income and soon to be three or more times per week. She and her daughter have become part of our family and our church. Her daughter, ZunPan, will be attending our school next year! Praise God for forgiving our debts!!!
School Evangelism Training
I learned about a method of sharing the gospel with story telling and drawings (pictured below), called Creation to Christ (C2C), which has been very effective here in Myanmar. Mr. Cho (pictured with my family) has been a missionary here for 24 years and has modified C2C to speak to the Buddhists here. One day during his church’s evangelism, Brother ZoZo and I shared with 4 adults and 5 children, and they all believed the gospel! You can see these families below.
Immediately, I started implementing C2C training during our devotion time at our school (about 3 weeks ago). Since then, the students have preached the gospel in the village to 36 people! Jesus has saved 15 people through it, turning them away from Buddhism to worship the Only True God!!! One of our neighbors that we had prayed for since we came to Myanmar believed, and he has already been baptized. In the picture below, you can see students sharing in the homes of the villagers.
Below are two men (father and son) with whom little Nate, Levi, and I shared the gospel. Both of their wives were there listening from a distance, and their two little children were running around the whole time. When they accepted, they both said they would share with their wives. Tomorrow, we are going back to all these houses to give bibles and also connect them with the local churches that we know. Many of the homes are like the one pictured below. Once one person is saved, the whole family follows! For example, our neighbor who was baptized asked one student to come share with his wife. She has a hard time hearing, but with God’s help, she was able to understand and with tears, she also trusted in Jesus! Praise God!!!
One of the most amazing things about this training has been seeing the students’ growth. During testimony time afterward, all of the students told us that it was their first time sharing the gospel outside the local church (except for a few children who had come with us before). They have shown such excitement to bring the message of salvation to their neighbors! It has been so encouraging seeing them being filled with boldness. They have seen the reality that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to those who believe, and they have seen how God has guided their steps to their neighbors in order to save them. Now the students are on fire to preach the gospel to their friends and people in their lives!
I have been reminded of a few biblical truths in all this. One of the most important things I am seeing is that God’s design for the church works practically. Ephesians 4:12 says that God gave the evangelist “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” This means the job of the evangelist is to train the members of the church to preach the gospel. The evangelist is like a commander in charge of a small army. He must equip them by showing them how, and then he must send them out. I noticed another thing. The training must be consistent and practical. On a weekly basis, church members need to be taught a practical method of sharing the gospel. What a shame that so many Christians have never shared their faith. It is sad that there are people in America who haven’t heard the gospel, yet live next to a church. May God protect us from that kind of fake Christianity. May God fill us with passion and boldness! May we realize that Jesus gave His life for us so that we would love God more than our fear of man!!! And may we love our neighbors enough to warn them of the coming judgment and offer salvation through Jesus!!!
Expecting NEW BABY!
A local Myanmar person reached out to us about a 16 year old pregnant girl who is due March 15. We were told that the father is either gone or dead (not sure). We said we are willing to help the mom, but the mother is not interested in keeping the baby. She wants to give away her daughter, so we said we would take her. This will be her second baby she has given away. We will be taking full responsibility for her. We are committed to protecting, providing for, and discipling every child God shows us. We will not turn away any children who need care or parents. Because of the war, poverty, and cultural issues, sadly there are many unwanted little ones here. Thankfully, abortion is illegal here and God is giving us a chance to care for these precious little ones. Please pray for us for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding for the best way to care for any boys or girls that God puts in front of us. And pray for God to connect us with the right people who can help us with this mission.
Various Ministry Highlights
Many other things have happened since our last newsletter. Exodus Global Ministries gave some needed items to the children’s homes we have served for the last year: a new motorcycle, nine new musical instruments, new clothes and some school supplies. Also, we will be hiring KoKoGyi full-time at some point soon. Since we moved to Myanmar, Brother KoKoGyi has been teaching our family the Burmese language. He has been very diligent, faithful, and we can see that he has a good heart. He will be joining our team.
Along with preaching daily at the school and weekly in the villages, I am frequently asked to preach at different churches and events. I try to accept every invitation as I feel this is part of the reason I’m here. I was invited to preach to a group of children who were part of an outreach ministry at a local church. This was the second or third time I shared the “Creation to Christ” (C2C) method, and God used it. There were 16 children who came forward to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior! I was also invited by the president of Judson Bible College to preach at their graduation. God led me to expound on 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 to exhort and recommission these young men and women to preach the gospel here in Myanmar where the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Allow me to clarify what I mean by that. There is no shortage of pastors, worship leaders, or teachers in or near Yangon city (mostly from other states and people groups due to the civil war). The Burmese people group is considered unreached with only about 1/3 of 1% of the 32 million Burmese people being Christian. There is, however, a serious shortage of Christians who have taken the Great Commission seriously. There is no scarcity of chapels, church gatherings, or hymn-singing. The deficiency of the Church here is in the area of “on-fire” Christians who love Jesus and their neighbors enough to live out and share the gospel. Dead religion is alive and well around Yangon, and only the Spirit of Christ can wake them up!
Struggles and Challenges
We have been running the school here in Hmawbi and realized we needed a new building, as the current school building will not pass the Ministry of Education’s requirements, nor will it pass the School of Tomorrow requirements. Mr. Cho is a missionary from Korea who runs an orphanage, school, church, Bible college, and seminary here in Myanmar for the last 24 years. He asked me after we started the school to be the principal to his school and move our students over to his school. Initially I did not believe this was God’s will for us because it seemed too easy. However, we continued to meet with him because he has a lot of wisdom and experience here and I knew God was using him to teach us about ministry here as we also are passionate about orphans, education, discipleship, and leadership.
Then in December, he asked us again. We had been praying about a way to build a new school building. This was the answer to our prayers. We would move our students to his school and operate there for a year while we tore down the old dilapidated school building and build a new building. We were also thinking about building a house where we could stay and possibly start an orphanage and other ministries. We talked with Allan Karr and he said we could move forward with this idea as he didn’t see any problems. We talked with the directors of both children’s homes and everyone seemed to be on board and they said we could announce the move to the students. We took them to the new school to show them and we explained they would go to school there next year. Everyone seemed very excited.
After a few weeks. We heard students saying they weren’t sure if they would go to the new school. We checked with the directors, and it was true; they were not going to come to the new school. Then we had meetings with Allan and the home directors. It seems to me that the main issue is that they do not want us to lead any other ministry on the property other than the school. There are about a hundred other issues, but the bottom line is that we will not be running Ethne International Academy any more. We believe God has called us to minister to orphans, preach the gospel, plant churches, and other ministry. We have decided to pass off this school to the leadership here in Hmawbi. We will try to make this transition go as smoothly as possible.
There has been a lot of hurt on both sides of this issue, and we want to leave in peace. We have been focusing on praying for everyone involved, especially for the students. We want the school that we started here to succeed. We will be leaving curriculum, desks, chairs, and many other supplies to run the school. Our ministry has been able to build a security wall and a gymnasium, as well as install lights and fans in the school building. Allan Karr’s ministry (EGS) will be taking over the funding for the school next year, so we are confident that the school will get the things it needs. We see that this was God’s plan. After the property was donated in 2000, it sat here for 4 years doing nothing. God was waiting to send us here to plant the school and train the leadership how to run it. We have done what God called us to do here and now we will be moving on to the next chapter in Myanmar, yet the ministry we planted will continue. Praise God!
Major Ministry Move
God has called us to move from Hmawbi to Htauk Kyant, about 25 minutes closer to Yangon city. God used the events in the previous section to come to this decision. Not only that, but Mr. Cho and his wife are excited for us to be accepting a baby. We don’t know exactly where this will lead, but we believe that God will continue guiding us in this process. We know that initially, we will be running the school, starting a gym, and setting up some kind of English language church ministry. We will be continuing to do and teach evangelism as well. Brother KoKoGyi will be moving right next to the school so to be close to our ministry. Sakawah also lives in Htauk Kyant. Both of their daughters will be attending our new school (Home of Stars) and they will both be helping us with whatever ministry God has for us. Please pray for us to have faith to see God’s plan and not get discouraged.
We are so grateful and honored to have you all behind us in your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. Honestly, we will do what God calls us to do with or without any kind of support, because we know that God will always provide. That being said, it is very encouraging and humbling to have your trust and friendship, and I believe God will reward you and us for the things we do with pure motives and a cheerful heart. I want to give a special thank you to our sending churches: Calvary Chapel Aurora, Spirit + Truth Ft. Collins, the guys from 242 Training, and the Bible studies in Florida.
Love,
Nate Marquardt
Funny story... Once, I was in a Burmese Lethwei film…
😂🇲🇲👊🏼
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