A mother and her baby daughter whom we met during a tea break on the road to Hakha

We made it to Hakha, Chin State’s capital that sits at an elevation of 6,000 feet, after ten hours of uphill driving. The one-lane road was often muddy from the frequent rains we encountered. But when clouds or fog didn’t obscure our views, we enjoyed some amazing (and sometimes dizzying) scenery.

When we finally arrived in Hakha around dusk, our team of three Americans and one Brit was met by a large crowd of people who had been waiting hours to see us. They placed wreaths of flowers around our necks, and they told us that we were the first Westerners to visit Hakha for the sake of the gospel since 1964. The last missionary who lived in Hakha was forced to leave 46 years ago, and the government had since forbidden any visits like ours. Needless to say, we felt quite blessed.

Amazingly, the Chin State government, which has a reputation of being somewhat hostile towards Christians, invited us to stay at the Hakha Government Guest House, a very nice hotel at which only high-ranking Burmese government and military officials are permitted to stay. It is the only building in town that has 24-hour electricity. So it certainly appears to us that there are genuine political improvements in Myanmar for which we are thankful.

We’ve spent part of our first few days here visiting precious children at three orphanages, all of whom live in buildings that were funded by Heaven’s Family, and none of which I had seen (other than in photos) until this trip. Below is a photo of one that we built a few years ago after the Chin State government ordered the demolition of their original building on charges of a small legal infraction. You can read the whole story here.

Since Heaven’s Family is now encouraging foster care and adoption over orphanage care, we conducted a Foster Care Conference yesterday that was taught by U.K. foster care expert Mick Pease. It was very well attended by at least 150 attentive saints.

Finally, we’ve conducted the first of two nights of a three-day evangelistic crusade. The first night we estimated the crowd to be about 200, but last night the church was packed tight. People were sitting on the floor in front of the pews and in the aisles. There wasn’t even any standing room. About half of 400-or-so people who gathered raised both hands as a sign of surrender and repentance when I gave the invitation. That is the nice thing about being the first Western preacher in Hakha in 46 years….God can use even the second-rate sermon of a non-evangelist to touch people’s hearts!

Below are some photos that should help tell the story of the last few days. Again, thanks for your prayers. — David

HF staff member Jeff Trotter at a scenic spot and during a sunny moment along the road to Hakha

A more typical scene during our ascent to Hakha

A few of the beautiful young Chin women who greeted us on our arrival, all dressed in traditional tribal clothing

One of the Hakha orphanages, Christ’s Home for the Needy, that we built a few years back, which is now self-sufficient thanks to the work of Philip Barker and Heaven’s Family U.K.  Team member Bruce Harris is in the foreground with some of the children. The town of Hakha sits on the mountain in the distance.

I was glad to see that the “dynamic man of God” on this poster had his back turned to “Shakira,” who would have done well to attend our three nights of calling people to repentance and a living faith in the Lord!

A scene from our crusade last night