During the half-yearly committee meeting of the Delta Section, arrangements were made to hold evangelistic meetings throughout the Irrawaddy Delta area as soon as the rainy season was over. Saya U B. Keh, principal of Burma Union Bible Seminary, at Myaungmya, suggested using the services of the Bible Seminary gospel band in conducting the evangelistic meetings for the Arakanese nationals residing in the western coast of Burma.
The ministers in charge of the local churches in the western coast and also a minister from Padaung, named U Mya Thee, who has a good knowledge of Buddhist teachings and beliefs, were commissioned to cooperate with the Bible Seminary band in conducting the meetings.
Twenty-one of us, including the members of the band, set out on our journey from Myaungmya to the western coast on October 29, 1967. Traveling partly by land and partly by sea, we reached our destination after three long, tiring days. As we had traveled on foot for about one and a half days, all of us were thoroughly exhausted on arrival. We spent the night at the first village on our way. That night members of the Bible Seminary band took advantage of their sojourn in that village to entertain the villagers with a few selections of band music, which were followed by a presentation of the gospel message. Five hundred villagers attended that casual meeting. They thoroughly enjoyed the music presented by the band, as they had never heard anything like it before. They invited us to visit their village again, because they wanted to hear the gospel message again. The Bible Seminary band is making arrangements to conduct evangelistic meetings in that village during the early part of 1968.
Continuing our journey, we finally reached Padaukkon and Kyaukpyu, villages where we already have established our own churches. The time of our arrival coincided with the November Week of Prayer, so we divided our group into two bands, one led by U B. Keh and the other by the writer, and sought the Lord in prayer. At the end of the week, November 12, we began our evangelistic meetings in the pandal (tentlike structure) that had been constructed for this purpose in Padaukkon village.
Five Hundred Attend Meetings
As the band music was a new thing for the residents of the western coast of Burma, five hundred villagers from the surrounding villages turned up at the first meeting. The pandal was not big enough to seat everyone, and so quite a number of those who came had to stand outside.
Arrangements were made to make our programs attractive to the audience. The meetings lasted from seven o'clock to nine o'clock every night. As the first item on the program, the audience was entertained with a couple of selections of band music, which were followed by the singing of spiritual hymns by the choir and also by children. The various speakers took turns in addressing the audience. Song services and educative dialog were used to interest them.
Still pictures were shown at the conclusion of each preaching service. When the meetings were over, our teachers helped the villagers back to their homes, using Storm King lanterns to show them the way.
Visitation
As soon as the meetings were started, the teachers, in bands of two, made daily visits to the nearby villages, distributing pamphlets and inviting the villagers to come to the meetings. Members of our group also gave Bible studies to those who showed an interest in the gospel message.
Some of the people residing in the western coast are traditionally spirit worshipers while others are adherents of the Buddhist faith. The latter are especially interested in the Christian doctrines, and whenever we visit their homes they receive us gladly. Some of our teams spent much time profitably discussing with them Christian beliefs and by making comparative studies of Christianity and Buddhism.
November and December are the busiest months for our Burmese farmers. During the day their time is occupied with reaping paddy or cultivating dry-weather crops. So the only time convenient for us to meet these farmers was their lunchtime. Some of them were so interested in the gospel that they asked us to accompany them to their places of labor and preach to them there.
When these farmers get back to their homes in the evening, they hurriedly eat their dinner so that they will be able to attend the meeting in good time. Although they are tired after the day's work, some of them attended the meetings night after night, as they did not want to miss any of the religious lectures. Some of the village children were taught to sing hymns and choruses, and when they were asked to sing what they had learned during our meetings, this proved to be an added attraction to the parents. Copies of The Marked Bible, Prince and Rebel, and other gospel books were presented as a gift to those who regularly attended the meetings.
Breaking New Ground
Most of the villagers from the nine nearby villages who attended our meetings had never heard of Christianity as practiced and taught by the Seventh-day Ad