In March 2009, Philip brought a team of students, pastors and evangelists back to Luk Pe to visit Andrew and his village. They were privileged to baptize 30 believers upon profession of faith. Most of these 30 were elderly people who formerly embraced the worship of animism.
After Andrew’s ordination, he was able to take the gospel to a neighboring village (Bu Gwe) with a population of about 35 families, most of whom were animists. With four Christian families, Andrew has now planted a new church in Bu Gwe. Potential leaders within that blossoming church are now being trained. A pastor will be ordained within the next year or two.

Late February and early March of this year, Philip and a team of 10 associates (teachers, students and graduates) returned to Luk Pe to evangelize and offer additional Bible training in that area. Samuel, leader of the evangelist team called the experience “John 4 coming alive.” As they shared the story of Jesus, the woman beckoned other animists to come and listen so more and more heard about Jesus.

Next missionary effort will be to Kaya State to strengthen and encourage the existing church there in their evangelism strategy. Philip will be working closely with Peter who is a former Communist leader and now evangelist and church planter. As earthquakes and wars dominate the news today, both Philip and Peter are aware how urgent are the times and are compelled to reach as many as possible with the good news of Jesus Christ.




If God is calling you to be a part of this exciting outreach, you may mail your gift to Word Within International at PO Box 33178, Tulsa 74153.

Early in November Susan and Gail traveled to Myanmar to teach a seminar on how to interpret the parables of Jesus. We conducted two sessions—one in Yangon and the other in Mandalay. Both were housed at local seminaries so the environment was not only safe but conductive to learning.

The results of both seminars were gratifying. We had approximately 70 participants at each of the locations, from a wide variety of age groups and walks of life. In Yangon we addressed mainly Bible school students and in Mandalay a selection of missionaries, Bible students, and pastors. Most of the attendees in Mandalay were from the city and most of those attending in Yangon were from the out-reaches of the country.

In addition to the expenses of putting on the two seminars, we were pleased to be able—with your generous donations—to provide financial support for Philip and his ministry efforts in Yangon. A large part of that support went to fund the mission trip for 15 into the most western areas of Myanmar.

There are many success stories that could be shared, but the most touching for me was on the first day of the seminar in Mandalay. A young man took issue with something I said and we carried on a lively discussion through the aid of our translator (Philip). I worried—in this patriarchal culture—that I, a woman, might have offended the man with my straight-forward insistence on the truth. When the day finally came to a close, the man approached me and in broken English told me how much he’d learned from the teaching. Then he embraced me in a huge teddy-bear kind of hug.

How wonderful it is to know that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free! We are one in Christ and have much to learn from each other.

     We will be meeting with Philip’s people who will be coming to his hometown, and then we go up north where we will be teaching villagers that Methodist minister Muana has invited into his city.  Travel in this area is difficult at best, but for the poor it is virtually impossible.  God has made it clear to us that paying travel, lodging and meal expenses for the participants is part of our ministry.  If you would like to participate in that effort, we welcome your support.  Even a small donation will go a long way in this endeavor to get God’s words out into the most remote sections of Myanmar.

     God has opened yet another door of opportunity for Word Within International in which we can serve Him.  We have been contacted by an evangelist in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The evangelist is coordinator of a local Christian library in that area, beginning the operation with a mere 10 books.  “God is always faithful,” Kassahun says, “and our small library is packing with people who are reading our Christian books.”

     There is a note of sadness in what Kassahun relates to us from Addis Ababa.  “We don’t fulfill our mission,” he says, “because of the smallness of our library and limited books.”

     The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few!  This is a situation we simply cannot abide.  Kassahun is humble in his request.  They need English Bibles, spiritual books, tapes and other Christian literature—both new and used, whatever we can spare.  We ask that you search your shelves and do what you feel you can.  Books, tapes, etc., can be delivered to me and we will see that the material is shipped.  Shipping is extraordinarily expensive, so you might want to help in that area instead.

     In the words of Kassahun, “Please if you be able to send us both used and new Christian literature for our library so that we can reach as many people as possible to the knowledge of the saving gospel.  Is there anything worthier than to reach people with gospel of salvation and be an instrument for the growth and maturity of Christian people by feeding their spirit through gospel books?”

     If you would like more information or wish to help, please contact:  Gail at 918-492-0945.

In November this year, we will bring a teaching to the pastors and missionaries in Philip’s organization who are able to travel to Yangon from outlying areas. At the conclusion of that seminar, we will travel inland again, this time north to Mandalay for a 3-day teaching to be held there. This is a brand-new location for our team.

This latter seminar will be held in conjunction with Brother Lalthlamuana ( Muana) with the Methodist Church in Mandalay. Our association with Muana stems from a meeting with the Director of Missions, Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa, during a training that Muana was attending here in the States.

By combining a trip to Mandalay with a teaching in Yangon, we are able to reach considerably more people with the same travel expenses. It is our hope that we can do more of this in the future and thereby maximize your dollars for the Lord.

We are receiving invitations to teach from a number of different nations: Tanzania, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, in addition to others in Myanmar. Each request is prayerfully considered and decisions are made on the basis of what we feel God is leading us to do. We have neither the time nor the money to accept all the invitations, nor would it be prudent to do so. We are currently forming an association with a brother from Pakistan to have some of our teaching material translated into Urdu. Our mission is to accomplish the specific tasks that God gives us to do.

We are grateful to each and every one of your who make it possible for us to take God’s teaching to people who otherwise receive no outside help. Our goal always is to enable believers everywhere we go to read and study God’s word without the use of man’s commentaries. We believe this is the most effective way to minimize the risk of false teaching infiltrating their Christianity.

In March, Philip and his family made the arduous trek to Chin state for the memorial services of his father, who was laid to rest five years before. Since the father’s death, Philip’s mother has remained in the hometown where Philip grew up and his father is buried.

More than 600 believers attended the memorial service, at which Philip spoke of his father’s legacy. The father was the first of his village to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 1954 and was active in the Baptist church until his death at the age of 86.

As a result of his dad’s witness, Philip was led to serve the elderly, widows and orphans with his time and resources. On every trip into the remote areas to share the Gospel, he takes money, blankets and clothing for the elderly, While there, he and his team wash their laundry, cut their grass, haul and split firewood and any other task that is hard for a frail person to do.

Philip writes about how the work has brought many to Christ: “To those of us who give this humble service to widows and elderly people, godly characters have been brought and it’s no wonder that many of the people who took baptism during those trips that we made between 2006 – 2009 were mostly more than 40 years of age. Some of them were more than 60. The Lord truly has blessed this service.”

Although Philip’s inspiration comes in part from his father, he is also living the model of the first century church. In the words of James, brother of Jesus, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.“
—James 1:27

EDITOR’S NOTE: We want you to come to know Pastor Philip as we know him—man of God, husband, father to many children in addition to his own, pastor to his flock., missionary, student of the Word.

Word Within International is a teaching ministry committed to teaching the Word of God to believers worldwide, We teach both the Bible and how to study the Bible. But according to James, if we see a need and do nothing to help, then our teaching is for naught as far as our relationship with God is concerned.

How can we in good faith teach pastors in Southeast Asia how to study the Bible when these same pastors have no means of supporting themselves and their families?

For this reason, Word Within has started a program we call The Timothy Project. Through it, we hope to be able to supply start up funds for indigenous pastors and evangelists to begin home businesses through which they can feed and clothe their families. Through this fund, Asbury UMC has contributed funds for the purchase of a rice paddy for Timothy and Phoebe, two of our sponsored missionaries. We have also supplied Evangelists Timothy and Sui each with a motorbike for their travel into the remote regions of their country.

Now, we are working on funds for Sui and his wife to purchase a small plot of land for raising chickens. If you would like to be a part of this exciting project, note on your donation check: “Timothy Project.”

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

Like the apostle Paul, Philip returns frequently to the site of churches he has helped plant in order to disciple Christian leaders and encourage a strong walk in the faith. In each of the villages they visit, the team washes the clothes of the elderly and gathers firewood for the widows. They carry with them also whatever meager support they have managed to gather before setting out. In essence, these are your donation dollars at work in these remote areas. We are pleased to be able to send as much as we can to help the believers in this corner of the world.

Travel to the area is difficult at best. During this 23-day junket, four days were spent in the bus, three days on the river paddling and pushing a small river craft, and nine days traveling by foot. No one is complaining, but all are praising God that they are still young enough to endure the hardship.

In the words of Pastor Philip, “We thank the Lord for lives that have been touched and fruits we witnessed in churches God has established since 2007 and for funds invested in lives of elderly peoples. There remain yet many villages that have asked us to visit and to share His words… We are determined to enter into these doors that God has open in other villages.”

At the end of February, Philip and a team returned to Chin State to minister to a few additional villages. In April, they traveled to Kaya State where Philip taught Leadership to more than 60 church leaders. Team members gave teachings on holiness and forgiveness.

“I was born and raised in a Christian family. My mother was a pastor who serves the Lord with all her heart and with all that she has. However, despite so many examples my mother had shown to her family, I was living a life that brought so many disappointments to my mother and my family until I came to know the Lord Jesus personally in 1996. It was in 1996 that I was convicted of my sins and failures and was brought to the Lord in such a manner that I repented of my sins and asked Him for forgiveness.

“I have been married to Ma Hmun and have been blessed with five biological children and three adopted children. Though I was involved in different activities of the church, I was not serving the Lord as fulltime until 2007. Since 2007, I started serving the Lord as missionary in Taung Gyi, the capital town of Shan State.

“There are more than one-hundred-thirty-five small tribal or ethnic people groups in this area. Presently, I am actively involved in sharing the Gospel, helping orphans and discipling new believers in view of starting a church. I do also help in arranging seminars for training of pastors in Shan State.”

Sui attended the seminar in Yangon in June 2009 at which Gail Knox taught pastors, teachers and missionaries how to study the Bible inductively. Sui wanted the pastors in his home state to benefit from the teaching as well and so, working with Pastor Philip, he hosted the seminar in Taung Gyi in January 2010. At this latest seminar, Gail brought the teaching to fifty or so indigenous pastors and missionaries from Sui’s home state. With the generous support you provided, Word Among Us Ministries was able to give Sui the funds for the purchase of the motor bike he needs for taking the Gospel to the villages in the mountainous regions surrounding Taung Gyi.

Sui wants to start a home business that will allow his family to generate an income and thus be independent of outside support and free to carry on his evangelistic ministry full-time. He and his wife have decided to raise chickens. He feels they can start out with an initial investment of only $1000, which will be used to build houses for the chickens and to buy the initial chicks that they will raise for meat and eggs. Their hope for the project is to earn about $200 per month in addition to providing meat and eggs for the family’s subsistence.

Our thanks to you who are helping the indigenous peoples of Myanmar become self-sufficient and freed up to serve the Lord in the capacity to which they have been called. Last month we told you about Timothy and Phoebe. We pray that you will continue to support the Timothy Project so that we help these indigenous missionaries spread the gospel in the remote parts of their country where Jesus is not yet known.

Here are their stories:

Timothy Yarhtunhla’s Testimony
I was born on the 10th of February, 1987 and was raised in a Christian home in a small village. My mother divorced my father and this made my life so difficult that I had to stay with another family. I heard the true Gospel for the first time when Philip Lian came to our village as a missionary to my people group.

As Philip shared the Gospel, I was convicted of my sins and my ways of trying to be saved which was depending on my good works. As he keep sharing, I was repenting of my sins. Tears were shed and I could not help myself but placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

After this, I took baptism and started sharing my new-found Jesus with friends. As my spiritual mentor Philip suggested, I left my wife and one-year-old baby to pursue theological studies at Biblical School of Theology for four years. I miss them while I was away at school. In 2009, I graduated with B.Th and now I pastor the church at Bethel village and lead this small church to reach the animists (nature worshippers) with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayer and vision is to see my people group come to know the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Phoebe Na Soe’s Testimony
I was born on the 13th of June in 1985 and was raised in a Christian family. I had gone to Sunday school and tried to be the best in all things. In 2002, Philip Lian came to our village and started the church.

Through Philip’s teaching, I realized that I was not saved at all. I decided to attend the three-month training Philip brought us. It was during this training that I gave myself to the Lord and took baptism as a testimony of my faith in Christ.

Since my husband Timothy had gone to Bible School, we decided that I should study at Bible school also. I had to leave my one-year-old baby to pursue theological study and I could not afford to return home to visit while away at school. I studied for two years at Grace Theological College and two years at Yangon Grace Bible School, graduating from Yangon Grace Bible School with B.Th in January 2010.

I am now helping my husband Timothy in his pastoral work. My vision and prayer is to find a way I can help children in remote areas and also help my husband become an effective servant of God.

If you would like to help Timothy and Phoebe achieve their goals, make out your check to Word Among Us Ministries and mail it to:

P.O. Box 33158
Tulsa, OK 74153

Indicate “Timothy Project” on the memo line. Your donation is tax-deductible.