We have just returned from a truly memorable convention in Myanmar
> We had a peak attendance of 5,123
It was such an emotional and memorable experience
Brothers came down from as far as the Chinese border. Others came from across the Indian & Bangladesh borders. Still others, from the northern Thailand & Laos borders and from many other places in between.
The longest trip we heard but cannot confirm was a 9 day trip one way, many travelled for 5,6,& 7 days.
In the most remote areas there is only one means of transport and that is on foot. So for many, that is how they started their journey to the convention and how they will finish it as they return home. Many are still travelling now even though the Convention finished on Sunday a week ago.
One 69 year old brother, who took six days, walking for the first two days, said they thought they had saved for so long but they still did not have the
finances to come. So the branch had provided some funds for 'hard circumstance' brothers (those who found it extremely hard to financially make it to Yangon).
The further up country you go, the further away from Yangon, the poorer the brothers are. So the ones who could afford it the least were the ones who had to travel the longest distance.
Most of the brothers had been saving for two years to make it to this convention.
One of the brothers on the branch committee told us that many had sold their one cow or their pigs or their chickens, in many cases their livelihood, in
order to attend and were willing to trust in Jehovah to provide for them somehow, on their return to their homes.
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Makeshift wheelchairs
One group of 50 that came across the Indian border, had two handicapped brothers, so they made some make-shift wheelchairs. These collapsed not long into the journey and as the first two days travel was on foot, the brothers carried these two on their backs over those first two days.
The ruling Military junta provided a special train with 18 carriages that brought 1200 brothers.
Many kingdom songs were sung during the 20 hour
journey from Mandalay to Yangon.
One brother we met, had no legs at all; that is no visible legs from the pelvis down. He provides for his family of five children by cutting grass and tilling soil. Both he and his entire family were faithfully in attendance.
These brothers came these vast distances by a combination of walking, jeep or truck, boat (deck class with little or no toilet facilities), bus and
train. Some needed to use a combination of all five modes of transport.
Some of the brothers who were not used to travelling suffered badly from motion sickness. So once they arrived in Yangon some opted to walk to the
convention site instead of by vehicle. Some chose to walk two hours each way to and from the convention each day in preference to getting in anything that had wheels. They must have been dreading their return trip to their homes.
Many arrived with little or no money, no means of paying for food or accommodation. So some of the Bethel brothers went and paid for their own accommodation so that 113 of these brothers were able to stay at the Bethel.
A further 500 stayed at the Kingdom Halls in Yangon. Another 504 stayed in the private homes of our Yangon brothers. In some cases every square inch
of floor space was made available for sleeping.
We heard one unconfirmed case of a sister offering to accommodate 35 brothers & sisters however 54 turned up! One sister hired a warehouse, used by a further 300 plus for the days of the convention.
Still more than 500 needed to be accommodated. The brothers did not know what to do! Then the unthinkable (from a Myanmar point of view), the
Military junta gave permission for the rest to stay right there at the convention site.
Accommodation was somehow found for 1916 who had insufficient money to pay for such; And yet still had the faith to come.
This leads me to the most remarkable part of the whole convention. It was not what happened during the convention but what happened in the lead up to it.
The hundreds of us who were foreign delegates who had already paid our fares and for accommodations in 4 star hotels and sight-seeing tours, had no idea of
the drama that our brothers in Bethel, who were organizing the convention, were going through.
Not only were many of us totally ignorant of the conditions many of our brothers live in, the sacrifices they had to make to afford to attend, the
willingness to put up with sleeping on railways stations etc and to travel in overcrowded trains, buses, trucks, boats and walk for days.
But... even these brothers who happily endured these things were unaware that, as they were preparing to set off to the convention that the convention site
had not been approved. The brothers had been making application for two years for the sports stadium to be used for the convention but each time they met with refusal.
As they applied each time the brothers added more information and reasons why they should be granted permission to use the facility.
They were told a religious organization would not be permitted to use it, especially a church. The brothers were very careful how they worded things and explained that no they were not a church and no they did not sing hymms.
"Then what are you, what do you do?" "We teach people high moral standards,
how to be better law abiding citizens, better husbands & wives, to have a positive attitude to life & to the future etc."
One particular official was blocking it each time, but finally they found a way around him with less than two weeks to go before the convention date.
However then it had to go through a long seven step process. The brothers knew it would never get through in time without something extraordinary happening.
Only the brothers in Bethel and the Governing body knew of the situation. So each member was told to personally beseech Jehovah to help. They now had got past the main person who was blocking them. So they
presented the application at the next desk and where told yes it would be forwarded to the General but he was not in town hence was unavailable, so the application could not proceed until his return.
The brothers silently prayed and at that moment who should walk into the room but the General himself! So it was handed straight to him.. Not only that, but for some other reason the junta had convened a meeting and instead of having to go through the seven step process it was dealt with promptly and given approval.
There was now only 9 days to go to the start of the convention. However there was another major hurdle to overcome. The venue had already been hired out for the days of the convention for a boxing tournament which had already done its advertizing over the radio.
The brothers approached the sponsor and explained they had been planning this convention for over two years and that over 4000 would be attending (over 5000 did attend).
The sponsor said that the only way that he would change the date to the following weekend would be if every single one of the 16 boxers and their trainers etc would agree. Again the Bethel brothers beseeched Jehovah and almost unbelievably all 16 agreed!
Now came the HARD work: Even though repairs to much of the timber seating had been carried out by the management, other areas of the stadium required urgent attention.
One Bethel branch member said that he almost collapsed from the stench in the toilet facilities. Plumbing needed to be repaired; walls painted. There
needed to be electrical repairs and the air-conditioning needed to be repaired all in the space of just eight days..
Despite the stench, brothers & sisters got on their hands and knees and scrubbed the amenities to a much nearer acceptable standard. The large
mirror in the male amenities was black and not only unusable but also unrepairable, so the brothers replaced it. They fixed the air-conditioning and electrical problems and painted a number of walls as well as polished the floors. The 300+ brothers worked tirelessly for eight days!
The manager was most impressed and took picture of before and after and presented these to the junta [apparently taking much of the credit for the improvements.]
We knew nothing of this before arriving and can only marvel at the faith and diligence not only of the Bethelites and local Yangon brothers but also of those with such little means, who have such mountain-like faith, who attended from so far away under such trying conditions.
But we heard no complaints. Just expressions of joy and appreciation. All those who were unable to provide their own food, were fed three good meals a
day, such was Jehovah's loving care. The Bethel had arranged for food boxes for all the delegates who were unable to provide their own food. They were
all so appreciative to Jehovah's organization for the food and shelter they received.
Many of the visiting foreign brothers were so moved by the local brothers' plight, their faith and their obvious humble attire, that they felt moved to
donate to them what clothing they had brought along but did not really need, so that there would be at least a little equalizing.
How important our contributions to the worldwide work are!
There is so much more I could say but I will just conclude by saying that after the final prayer no-one wanted to move. Everyone clapped and clapped and waved and waved to each other around the auditorium. Then they hugged all those around them and cried tears of joy. There was not a dry eye in the stadium.
As brother Losch of the Governing body said, everyone there would remember this occasion for many, many years.
We saw in an amazing way the application of Romans 12:10 "In brotherly love have tender affection for one another. . ."
We experienced overwhelming evidence of Jehovah's loving care, his spirit and his blessing. As
2 Corinthians 1:3 says 'Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort. . .'
We witnessed the power of prayer and Jehovah's ability to take control of any situation. We feel as Joel expressed 'YOU will be bound to praise the name of Jehovah YOUR God, who has done with YOU so wonderfully'. Joel 2:26
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> {By Ann Marie and Malcolm, delegates from indonesia}
> Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009
from: Forest Walters
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