A "new" used ministry vehicle is high on the list of special needs.
Special Needs of MVM
From time to time, our needs become pressing. Can you help?
Current Needs as of September 2007
Current special needs to be posted soon. Read the previous needs below which, in large part, are still unmet. Please visit this page soon for an important update of our most pressing ministry needs.
Ministry Vehicle UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2006
Our old and worn out Honda (pictured above) is prone to frequent breakdowns and repairs. We are just beginning the critical process of raising $40,000 for a used ministry vehicle that will be a 10 to 15-passenger truck. A 4-wheel drive truck is preferred to maneuver the large pot-holed streets and rough dirt roads that are necessary to travel on as we facilitate ministry throughout Myanmar. Myanmar was recently identified in the American press as one of the most expensive countries in the world to purchase a vehicle - new or used. Won't you consider becoming our partner during this time? A reliable vehicle would help us tremendously do the work we believe God has called us to do. The point person for this special support-raising project is Kimberley Barrera, our USA contact. Please contact her at kbarrera@nms-intl.com for the details of this much needed special need.
Thank for considering our request.
James and Marta Khong
Medical Needs UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2006
Although I have many other things to share, I would like to present one area of need to you so that you can consider and pray about helping us out. It is finding resources to pay for medical expenses needed by those here with health problems. Every summer at the time of the Summer Leadership Seminars we get to help two or more persons get treatment for their health problems. In the first year of SLS, we helped two persons from the North with their eye surgery cost, later the next year one old man from Rakhine State had been helped with an eye operation and he was able to regain his sight. This affected his personal witness among the people around. Last year, we helped four or five pastors with some medical checkups and one pastor among them was treated and had a kidney operation. He was like withdrawn from half way to death as a result of the bad kidney being taken out.
This year we also helped a young man with his eye operation and he got well too. One pastor from the north has been helped to replace all his seven bad teeth with a denture. He was so happy. He needed more but that's all we could do him for then. He was one of the two pastor who representatively received the DVD machines for the Rawang and Lisu gospel committees for those who were in the SLS this year.
So helping the pastors and the believers in their health problem like this has been a good tradition during the SLS seminars. But there are many persons who need help like this in the North. And medical cost is becoming unaffordable. But I have also been processing my thinking in many ways.
1. If we can give the regular support for a doctor and three staff at PE ME CLINIC (DADDY MOMMY CLINIC) which is run in Putao, it will prevent a lot of unnecessary death and illnesses. The medical supplies are supplied by one organization, but they need fund to pay mainly for the doctor. Because to get a doctor for the clinic, they need to be able to pay. But we never knew how much they paid. If a doctor is to be hired they need funds to pay him or her at least $100 to 200 a month at current situation. Right now no doctor at the clinic.
2. I have been talking to Phil Hudson of New Mission Systems International and he was thinking about having a system of helping in this area. We can pray for this and wait for God.
3. One thing we can do now in urgency would be supplying the SHINE HOPE and GARNO DERMA medicine which are scientifically produced from natural plants (Linzhi) and they are good for many things. For example, one pastor's wife whose whole body was yellowish red from jaundice and malaria had been suffering for many years. But after we sent her two sets of those (Garno) last year, she was OK now. I heard from the Pastor there yesterday about her. This morning I was called from the north about two pastors who are suffering from bleeding (from ???? do not know how to call in English), and was told that the SHINE HOPE medicine would be good for them. They cost only $40 to 100 for one person and if these medicine can be purchased and distributed for those who are suffering from complicated causes, it would make a big difference in less money.
Could you help us find resources who can supply this needs? I am sure No. 3 option alone can make a big different. But No. 1 and 2 should also be considered fro long term goal. My motto in this, is encouraging the believers in the North is encouraging the churches all over Myanmar.
I wrote this from my first hand knowledge of the needs in this area. If you need more detail info to be supplied, we can do more studies and do so. God bless you all.
Thank for considering our request.
James and Marta Khong