Real Men Wear Skirts!

Thank you so much for your prayers and please also continue to let me know how I can be praying for you as well.

The time in Myanmar was amazing and it was so awesome to see God's faithfulness again and again in answering prayer. The first week I taught on a Training School there for about 25 Christians who are headed into missions. I loved being with them and we had a great time together, however the teaching was only in the mornings and there was no one who spoke English to be with the rest of the time and nothing to do other than remain in my room and study. It was much more down-time than I have ever had during a seminar. By the end of the week I was getting concerned about the weekend because there were no plans made and there would be no one who could speak English until the next seminar began on the following Monday. On Friday morning before class I prayed and asked God to give me opportunities to serve on the weekend. I then went to class to finish the week's teachings. At about 12:30, just 30 minutes before the class was to be finished, I was looking forward to being done after a week of teaching and was dreaming of a nice afternoon nap away from the scorching heat in an air-conditioned room. Just then, the leader of the school walked in and interrupted the teaching. He said, "James, you said you would like to be busy, is that still true?" I told him I would and asked if he had found opportunities for the weekend. He told me that the Bible School I would be teaching at on Monday had asked that I teach all day Saturday and be there on Sunday as well. I was so excited. That very morning I had been praying for this very thing, but he then said, "How much do you want to teach? They are also asking if you could go there and start teaching in one hour!" I couldn't believe it. I quickly finished up the morning teachings, grabbed lunch, and jumped in the car to go to the Bible School. When I arrived I told them the story of how God had brought me to Myanmar and how I had been praying that very morning that God would give me more opportunities to teach. The Director of the school then stopped me and praised God as he said that he had been praying on his end that God would send them someone to come and teach. He was very worried that he would have to send all of the students home if I had been unable to come and their homes were days of travel away. It was just so awesome to see that even though I was worried and the Director was worried and both of us were praying, the whole time God had been working out his perfect plan. God's plan is always the best one and I often need to be reminded of that fact.

The week with the Bible school was amazing since they were all studying for their Master's degree in Theology. It was so much fun to teach these pastors and leaders who were so hungry for the word, yet also had a solid foundation. I am usually teaching in villages with pastors who have little education, so it was fun to work with this group, though sometimes frustrating to see the effects of the education system that has greatly stifled creative thinking and makes Bible Interpretation quite difficult to grasp.

On a side note, one of the biggest highlights of being in Myanmar was getting to wear dresses every day! Well, actually it is a Longji and it is more of a wrap-around skirt that is worn by all Burmese men, but if it was culturally appropriate I would wear these things in every hot climate I travel to. They are the most comfortable clothes I've ever worn.

Right now I am back in Taipei and our Training time here has started. We have six students on the school, two westerners and four Taiwanese. So things are getting pretty busy and it won't slow down for at least six months. I am actually pretty excited because in the last few days I prayed through and set down my schedule for the next six months. In three weeks I will be leading a team to Kyrgyzstan where we will be training village pastors and Bible School students. After that I will head to South Africa to help pioneer a new Titus Project location beginning there in July. I will staff that school and lead an outreach to one of the surrounding nations to train pastors there and then come back home to Seattle for a couple weeks at the beginning of September before heading back to Montana for the Titus Project there. I hope to lead another team of Bible Teachers from the Montana school back to Uganda in the fall and follow up on the work we did last year while there. So please continue to keep me in your prayers as there will be a lot of teaching and traveling coming up.
Please be praying for:
- The training time. That the students would be fully equipped with all they need to train the pastors they will be going to.
- Finances: The schedule above is being set in faith, however it will require some miraculous financial provision to see it all happen.
- Anointing in preparing and in teaching: that I would continue to be desperate for God and His presence each day whether I am teaching or preparing.
- Continued Health & Safety
- Whatever else the Lord lays on your heart.

Thank you,

James
www.ToMakeHimKnown.com