One of my favorite photos from this trip…it is amazing that all adults were once innocent babies

All told during my travels in remote Myanmar, I visited 15 villages where Heaven’s Family is serving. In one of those villages, Maul Zawl, we began working about 4 years ago. Among other things, we offered $100 to $200 agricultural loans to every one of the village’s 39 families.

This year’s visit to Maul Zawl was one of the highlights of my trip. The elders enthusiastically told me that, because of our loans, their village continues to prosper. This year, they said, 15 families made unheard-of profits of more than $1,000 from growing and selling ginger. When we first began working in Maul Zawl, there were only 2 motorcycles in the village. Now there are over 20!

Maul Zawl also has running water, solar power, a school, a medical clinic, and a rice mill, all because of Heaven’s Family. At the request of the elders, in 2015 we’re offering second loans of $500 to each of 20 families. I joked with them that next December when I return, they might all be driving Land Rovers!

At left: The elders of Maul Zawl with my friend Lalchhuan Mawia. At right: A non-typical non-terrified Maul Zawlian baby.

Below are a few final photos with captions. Thanks again for joining me on this trip via our blog, and thanks for making all our ministry in Myanmar possible through your partnership!

David

Central heating in Chin State: On cold mornings, charcoal canisters are the only source of warmth, enjoyed here by friend and micro-banker Lalchhuan Mawia

At left: With a borrower and the village chief of Cong Khua, standing before the village’s incredible mountain view. At right: A borrower and the village chief of Ngai Zam. Behind him a woman pulverizes corn (or rice) in a hollowed-out log.

By pouring out pounded rice in the breeze, grain is separated from chaff

Fishermen casting their net from a semi-floating bamboo platform. Thankfully, fishing with dynamite, an unsustainable common former method of angling, has been outlawed in Chin State.

Burmese women and children often decoratively paint their faces with thanaka, a cosmetic paste made from ground tree bark which has a fragrance similar to sandalwood. These kids were all painted by their nursery school teacher.

Sweet success: Here are six children who, due to their parents’ poverty, were formerly living in a far-away orphanage. Now, because of HF micro-loans that have enabled those parents to prosper, the children have been reunited with their families. This is one of the primary objectives of our Orphan’s Tear Ministry.

Here’s a typical outhouse in Chin State. Inside is what I call a “squatty potty,” which requires both flexibility and stability to use. This is the way that billions of the world’s people do their business…and the way God designed for people to do their business! And now there is a business to help you do your business the original way…see squattypotty.com!

Contrasted with Chin State’s squatty potties, here is the toilet in my Tokyo hotel room. You can even adjust the temperature of the heated seat!