I am currently sitting in Toyko's Narita Airport with a three hour layover before the next leg of hour-long flight is behind me. The bad news is that I have another twenty-one hours in planes and airports ahead of me before I touch down in Syracuse (and then an hour drive to Utica). So, I thought I would redeem the time by bring you a little more up-to-date on our visit to Burma.
Saturday, February 21
We spent the morning touring the facilities and meeting faculty of the three Baptist seminaries located on “Seminary Hill” in Insein. They are: Myanmar Institute of Theology (an English language MA, MDiv, and DMin granting school), Myanmar Institute of Christian Theology (a Burmese language bachelor level institution), and the Karen Baptist Seminary (a Sgkaw Karen language school that awards a bachelor degree).
Saturday, February 21
We spent the morning touring the facilities and meeting faculty of the three Baptist seminaries located on “Seminary Hill” in Insein. They are: Myanmar Institute of Theology (an English language MA, MDiv, and DMin granting school), Myanmar Institute of Christian Theology (a Burmese language bachelor level institution), and the Karen Baptist Seminary (a Sgkaw Karen language school that awards a bachelor degree).
I also hoped to see the Dr. Yah Ha Lay Lay Lah, an Eastern Baptist Seminary D.Min. grad, Professor of Pastoral Theology at KBS, and good friend of our congregation. However, Yah Ha was out of the city ministering at the church he pastors. However, I was pleased to meet Lily Kawdoe, registrar and professor at MIT. Lily teaches ecumenics and inter-faith studies and was a visiting scholar at my DMin alma mater, Hartford Seminary, last year. The photo below is of me with Dr. Kawdoe.
After a delicious lunch at MIT, we spent the afternoon meeting with some of the various regional and ethnic conventions which comprise the Myanmar Baptist Association. We met with the leaders of the Pyo Karen Baptist Convention, the Asho Chin Baptists Convention, the Mynamar Baptist Convention Union. As the pastor of a congregation with so many Karen, the highlight of the day for me was meeting over the dinner hour with the Karen Baptist Convention leadership. Here I am pictured with the convention’s general secretary.
Sunday, February 22
On Sunday morning members of our team fanned out to attend and/or preach at various Baptist churches in Yangon. Peter Vogelaar were invited to join the Asho Chin Baptist Church. Peter prayed and I preached! We were very warmly received by the growing church of about 150. Afterwards, we were treated to another feast, this an authentic Burmese meal, featuring a variety of curries (chicken, beef, pork, and goat), a salad of raw prawns and vegetables in citrus, fish paste and chilies, and of course, rice.
During the afternoon we visited the Shewdagon, the most famous Buddhist temple in Yangon, if not in all of Burma. Unfortunately, much of the site was covered with scaffolding for repair and regilding. We next visited Scott’s Market --- which includes a wide variety of stalls selling everything from vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat to handcrafts, jewelry, and clothing. We concluded the day with a relaxed dinner at the House of Memories, a restaurant housed in a historic home that served as General Aung Sung’s office during World War Two.
