But rather than preparing for bed, the students at Faith Baptist Theological Seminary were wide awake as three trucks lumbered up to the building. Within each truck was a stack of 500 boxes full of theological books that had just completed their voyage from North America. The students and staff joyfully unloaded the trucks and passed the boxes from student to student, up the stairs, and into the new library.
For the past 15 years, seminary founder Dr. Do Suan Mung and other believers have been praying for God to provide new theological books and Bibles for the institute. Due to political unrest in Myanmar, Christian materials were prohibited for sale or purchase in the country. The only way for believers to access Bibles or other Christian print content was through the help of foreign countries.
ABWE’s partnership initiative, Live Global, shared this request for new library books to build up and train believers in Myanmar with solid doctrine. Christians in the U.S. and Canada advertised the need to others and joined Dr. Mung in prayer for God to provide.
Churches across North America began collecting books. Retired pastors donated their libraries, while others donated unused and extra books. Still, more people and organizations purchased books specifically to give to the library. In the end, 30,000 books were gathered and sent from Ontario, Canada, where believers packaged them in banana boxes and shipped them to Yangon in a container.
There were several updated arrival dates and some uncertainty over whether the books would be allowed through customs. Ultimately the Lord guided the new library books halfway across the world to the seminary.
The last time the Myanmar seminary received books for its library was in 1986, carried on horseback and led by Dr. Mung himself. Yet even with limited resources, God has continued to use his word and faithful believers to equip men and women for gospel work as they disperse to all areas of Myanmar.
Editor’s Note: You can learn more about the Myanmar seminary.
