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The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC) are now providing their own monthly updates. These posts will include news of the denomination either in Yangon or Chin State, plus prayer points and occasional articles written for the church bulletin.

News from ERC and RBI
Not a lot to report this month, with most activities having wound down for the break, but a few worth mentioning.

• The RBI kitchen has been completed and they even managed to get the appropriate local authority approval documents.

Dean of Students and Teacher, Be Nwee, enjoying a refreshing cola

• Joshua, Be Nwee, and Mordang have not yet returned from their ministry journey to Chin State, but reports suggest that it went very well. Be Nwee is currently continuing some ministry with his father around their area of Khumiland in Southern Chin State.

• A new kitchen area has begun construction for the children’s campus at Samee. This campus is used to house children during the school terms. They come from far and wide to attend the government schools in Samee, so they need somewhere to stay during this time. Isaac, an RBI graduate, along the some occasional help from Samuel and Barbor, also past graduates, take care of the children and all their many needs. This kitchen will help greatly in providing an area to better prepare food for the masses (about 70 kids).

Prayer Items for ERC and RBI

• For RBI lecturers, fresh back from various trips, to be able to get back into the swing of preparation for upcoming classes beginning early June.

• For ministry of ministers of ERC.*

• For ordination and examination of ministers at Samee.*

• For ministry of evangelism.*

• For travelling of Thang Bwee in Australia (returns to Myanmar on May 22nd).*

* Request mentioned in a previous newsletter

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Thanks for reading, may the Lord bless you and make his face shine upon you.

From Thang Bwee and the ministry teams of the ERC and RBI.

The Evangelical Reformed Church (ERC) are now providing their own monthly updates. These posts will include news of the denomination either in Yangon or Chin State, plus prayer points and occasional articles written for the church bulletin.

News from ERC and RBI

• On March 8th, RBI was granted their Building Certification. It has been a long time coming for the college, with various things causing delays. Papers went missing, people went missing, then the problem was that a wall was missing – fortunately only an internal wall, and not load-bearing. These have now been sorted out and the local building authorities signed off on the approval. As with many things here it’s do first, get approval later. The building’s been up for about 4 years and the paperwork has been ‘in play’ for about 3. Anyway, a great result for ERC’s ministries with their training facility being now fully legit.

• The RBI semester finishes late March, and so all the students leave the campus with some returning to relatives in Chin State. Others board elsewhere in the Yangon area and find some work during the break. One of our smallest students has proudly gotten himself a full-time job as a security guard for the grand income of $40 a month. Even for Myanmar, that’s a pretty lousy wage, but for security work it’s atrocious. He’s happy though, and the money he makes will help buy some treats during the next college year.

RBI's kitchen being replaced with a solid structure

• Whilst the students are all off-campus, Be Nwee, the Dean of Students, Annan, one of ERC’s elders, and one student who volunteered to take care of the campus in the absence of others, have been working hard on replacing the existing kitchen and dining area. They’re also taking the opportunity to extend the foundations of one of the existing buildings so that it’ll be ready to move the walls to match later in the year. As we’ve now entered the Summer season, the day’s are extremely hot (38+) and this is making the work very challenging. Kudos to the guys for hanging in there and putting in solid 10-hour days.

• On April 2nd, Be Nwee, Joshua (Thang Bwee’s right hand man), and Mor Dang, ERC’s newest pastor and church planter, will head to Samee in Southern Chin State to conduct a few weeks of training to some of the younger members of various congregations. It’s called a “Children’s Seminar” and training will include the Westminster Confession and Sunday School preparation.

• Some of RBI’s graduates will attempt to progress to the next official phase of their ministry as they sit for the ordination exam. Though I don’t have names and numbers at this time, please pray for them as they prepare, and that the Lord would have His hand upon them as he leads them into greater ministry responsibilities.

• And last, but certainly not least, Annan, the elder I mentioned earlier, and his wife gave birth to a healthy baby son on March 3rd. Please pray for the child’s ongoing health as various things can happen to babies here in Myanmar and healthcare is neither handy, affordable, nor of good quality. Sorry, no picture available at this time.

Prayer Items for ERC and RBI

• For ministry of ministers of ERC.

• For ordination and examination of ministers at Samee.

• For Bible training to the youth at Samee.

• For some infirmities in the church.

• For ministry of evangelism.

• For travelling of Thang Bwee in Australia.

• For travelling and training ministries of Be Nwee, Mordang, and Joshua as they head to Samee on April 2nd. They expect to return in the last week of April.

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Thanks for reading, may the Lord bless you and make his face shine upon you.

From Thang Bwee and the ministry teams of the ERC and RBI.