Akha (CHINA, LAOS, VIETNAM, THAILAND, BURMA)

Introduction

The Akha are a hill tribe nestled in the mountainous region of east Burma, north Thailand, north Laos, north Vietnam, and southwest China.  They are one of the six tribes recognized by the Thai government as a hill tribe or mountain people group[1]. Originating from Southwest China in Yunnan province several centuries ago, the Akha migrated into eastern Burma, northern Laos, and northern Vietnam in the mid-19th century and into northwestern Thailand from Burma in the early twentieth century[2]. Like many hill tribes, the Akha traditionally practice a farming technique referred to as swidden, or slash-and-burn, where swaths of virgin forest are cleared, burned, then farmed for several years until the land will no longer support crops. Once that happens, the whole village picks up, moves to a new location and begins the process all over again. In more recent years, untouched land has become scarce and national governments have forbidden slash-and-burn techniques so the Akha have turned to more sustainable farming or the creation of cash crops to earn cash to buy food.  One of the most lucrative (and dangerous) cash crops is Poppy cultivation for the harvesting of opium, which has led to high incidence of opium addiction in Akha families.[3]

The ‘Akha Way’

The Akha practice what is considered to be the most rigorous and difficult to follow belief system of all the hill tribes. According to Akha oral tradition, long ago, many people – Chinese, Thai, Lahu, Lisu, Akha - went to the creator god to receive their religious belief system – called Za’n[4] in Akha.  Each people group took with them baskets to carry their Za’n back home.  The other people groups had loosely woven baskets and their Za’n slipped through the cracks rendering their Za’n less numerous. But the Akha had tightly woven baskets and were able to carry all their Za’n back with them.  This is why the Akha say their belief system is so vast and demanding. The Akha themselves say, “Akha Za’n is numerous”, “Akha Za’n is difficult”[5], and it is “a heavy burden [given] by their ancestors.”[6]

This ‘Akha way’ or ‘carrying the Akha way’ is all encompassing and prescribes how the Akha should relate to each other, cultivate crops, hunt, marry, birth, and die.[7] If an Akha stops carrying this ‘Akha way’, for any reason, they must leave the village immediately. This elaborate religious/belief system is a burden that has been passed along to each Akha by their ancestors, thus each Akha is expected to uphold this great chain of Akha tradition at all costs.[8] This burden means that their ancestor’s spirits must be taken care of through the cultivation of an ancestor shrine that travels with each family as the home is moved.  To stop carrying the Akha way means the potential of greatly angering the ancestor spirits and causing much calamity for the village and individual family.[9]    

The Akha Encounter the Jesus Way

It is critical to understand what carrying the Akha way means to understand why the Akha took so long to turn to Jesus. But it is also critical to understand why the Akha then started coming to follow after Jesus in large numbers. For many Akha, following the Akha way is extremely burdensome, difficult to follow, and expensive.  Like Christian in the Pilgrim’s Progress, carrying the Akha way is like carrying a heavy burden on ones back: it can never be satisfied and keeps getting heavier and heavier until it threatens to crush the load bearer. And so it is with any of man’s attempts to approach God by human effort or the Akha’s attempt to satisfy the ‘spirits’[10]. None of us, the Akha included, can come up with a system to become right with the creator of the universe.  Paul said of those who attempt to keep the whole law under their own efforts, “All who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” [11]

The Akha way can never be satisfied. For the Akha to keep the Akha way, many animal and grain sacrifices are required to satisfy the different spirits and ancestors; it becomes a heavy financial burden for an already poor people.[12] This heaviness and difficulty of following the Akha way is a great contrast of what Jesus offers and what was attractive to the first Akha followers of Jesus.  Jesus said:

Jesus offers a light yoke and rest for the weary Akha, strapped with their heavy yoke of rituals in every aspect of life to placate the spirits and ancestors. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice in his death and resurrection, allowing those who choose to follow Him to have a restored relationship with The Creator God.

The Gospel was first introduced to the Akha in Burma in 1869 through American Baptist missionaries and the first Akha turned to Christ there in 1909 [13].  The Akha initially were an oral culture, meaning they had no written language and passed along information from generation to generation through stories. An American Baptist missionary couple in Burma name Paul and Elaine Lewis worked to create a written language for the Akha and translated the New Testament in the 1950’s and 1960’s [14] for these believers [15].

One of the Lewis’ Burmese Akha Christian coworkers named Ya Ju traveled to Thailand and began working with an Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) missionary couple names Peter and Jean Nightingale in 1955 [16] to bring the Gospel to the Akha in Thailand.  After 7 years of investing in the Akha in Thailand, two Akha men, A Tsa and A Shah and their wives, made the decision to follow the Jesus way and the Thai Akha church was born![17] Part of the Akha way of keeping bad spirits out of the village is to have village gates at the entrances to demarcate the realm of humans and the spirits; the spirits live on the outside of the gate in the forest, the humans live inside the gates[18]. To keep the spirits happy and bad things from happening to the village occupants, only Akha who are totally following in the Akha way of Za’n are allowed to live in a traditional Akha village. Once these first two families decided to follow the Jesus Way, they had to immediately leave their native village and form their own ‘Jesus village’.[19]

The Akha Church Today

Following these two couples, many more Akha came to follow the Jesus Way in subsequent years, including many family members of the original four. It is estimated today that 13.8% of the 674,000 Akha in the five golden triangle countries are Christian – making approximately 93,000+ Akha Christians.[20] The percentage of Akha Christian in each country range from over 90% in Thailand to .35% Christian in China.[21]    

111 years after the first Burmese Akha chose to lay their heavy Akha way burden at the feet of Jesus and follow the Jesus way, and 57 years after the first Thai Akha chose to follow the Jesus way, Biblia Global is honored to be a part in providing Akha believers and their church leaders with their first copy of God’s Word.  The New Testament has been available, though inaccessible to the majority of Akha Christians the last few decades. It is only recently that the entire Bible with the Old Testament in the old Akha writing dialect that Paul Lewis pioneered has been made available. 2019 marks the first time the Old Testament and New Testament together have been printed for Akha believers in this old dialect that the majority of poor Akha can understand. The second printing occurred in 2022 with distribution in late 2022 though 2023. Below are pictures and testimonies of these believers receiving their first Bibles in 2019, then 2022-2023. Your support of Biblia Global makes getting God’s Word to believers like the Akha possible.

2023 Bible Deliveries to Akha Christians, PArt 2 

In 2023, Biblia Global funded the transportation of 30,000 Bibles for Akha Christians in Myanmar, distributed throughout the spring and summer of 2023.  This was the third complete Akha Bible printing that Biblia Global has helped with. The entire Bible in the old Akha dialect was only available for the first time in 2019 when Biblia Global helped with that first printing.

Pastor Joseph, Myanmar

My name is Pastor Joseph and I am 37 years old.  I have been the pastor at G Church in Myanmar since 2006.

I was born in a Myanmar village about 1.5 hours by car from the Thai-Myanmar border.  I was born into a Christian family, but they were not strong Christians.  They were mixing animism and Christianity.  They were cursed, and it caused my brother to die.  When my brother was sick, he took medicines and herbs, but nothing helped.  And doctors didn’t know why he died.  I had five brothers and sisters, but they all died at 2 years old and 3 years old.  I am the only one who survived.  I believe this happened to us, because we called ourselves Christians, but we mixed with spirit worship, and the spirits attacked our family.  At 17 I decided to go to Bible school.  I learned a lot and I understood the Bible better, and when I came home I taught the Bible to my parents.  But they got angry at me at first, but I kept trying, and finally they listened, and then they accepted Christ again.  Before that they were drunks like everyone else, but now their lives have changed.   

God has really used me to pray to for people and God heals them or delivers them from demons.  I like to go to villages and share the gospel, and because God is moving through me, the people really respond to the gospel.  

One time there was a woman that spoke in a man’s voice and she was so strong that no one could constrain her.  But after I prayed a few times, the spirit left and she was free.  Her supernatural strength was gone and she could once again speak for herself in her own voice.

Another time there was a man with stomach, lung, and liver problems, and the doctor said there is no way to treat him.  But I prayed for him and God healed him. 

Every time that I pray to cast out demons, the people are set free.  When I pray for people to be healed, once in a while I witness the LORD healing them. 

Every day I pray in the morning for at least one hour.  And sometimes I will pray two or three times more in the day.  Each time I may pray longer than 1 hour.  In those times I pray and sing to the LORD.  I pray for my people and my county.  I start by singing and reading the word and I pray according to what the needs are.  

There are still big needs for Akha Bibles and I will help distribute the large amounts you will send.  My church has about 40 people, but I will help distribute the thousands and thousands of Bibles you are sending and will bring them to people in the villages.  Thank you and thanks to all your sponsors.  God bless you all. 

Pastor AN, Myanmar

I am Pastor AN and I am 32 years old.  I am from MLPK Village, Myanmar.  My church is MLPK Church.

MLPK Village, Myanmar is where I was born.  It is a Christian village.  Three villages in the area are all Christian, and mine is the middle of these three villages.  I was raised by Christian parents, so I thought I was a Christian, but I didn’t know anything about salvation or faith or anything else.  

Because of this I did bad things with all the other Christian kids, like drinking alcohol and using drugs.  When I turned 23, I decided to get baptized, because I thought if I got baptized my life would change. I thought my life would get better, but it got worse.  When I turned 24, I got sick with a stomach ache and head ache and I could not eat.  I could only eat boiled rice or something soft like that.  I couldn’t sleep well, because I couldn’t lay down comfortably.  I thought to myself, “I shouldn’t die like this, and I should go somewhere to study the Bible and to know what it truly means to be a Christian.”  So I went to Thailand to study the Bible at a Bible school owned by a Korean who accepted anyone to come and study.  Because of that my life was changed.   I learned salvation, who is Jesus, how to be saved, and the rest of what they taught.  Since then, I have been serving God.  At the school I prayed and got better and better and after two years I was healed.  

Then the Thai government closed the Bible school, because it was full of people with no passport and no visa.  When the teacher took everyone to town one day, they were discovered at a police check point.  The government found out that they were all staying illegally at the Bible school, so the government shut down the school. 

After this I moved to the Thai-Myanmar border to attend another Bible school.  In 2019 I moved back to with my family in Myanmar, because my parents could not pay for my Bible school, so I didn’t finish.  In my town, there is a blind pastor, and he worked with a pastor in Thailand who has a children’s home.  He wanted me to work to start a new children’s home in Myanmar.  I worked there for a while, but then I went to my home village to build a house, and now I am the Pastor in my home village.

In the past, I was born into a Christian family, so I was considered a Christian, but before I committed my life to Christ, I could not change.  I often did bad things.  Only God can change our lives, and my life changed only after I surrendered myself to Jesus.  A lot of my friends did not believe there was a God who can change lives, but now through my life, people can see the change in my life and they can see that God does change lives.  Now they know God can change lives.  But some still have a hard time to believe in God, so please pray for them.  The change in my life, that has come because of God, is the greatest thing that I have ever experienced in God.  It is wonderful. God is wonderful.  And I want my friends to know our wonderful, life-changing God.  Amen.

Pastor LJ, Myanmar

My name is LJ and I am 47 years old.  A year ago, I started a new church. I am the pastor and we have 30 people attending regularly. 

I was born in MP Village, Myanmar.  My parents were animists.  My father was the village witch doctor.  My dad passed away when I was 7 years old.  It was suicide.  When a witch doctor dies, his eldest son is supposed to take over the job, but my older brother didn’t want to do it, so the spirits killed him.  I was next in line and I was supposed to do the job, but I also didn’t want to do it, so the villagers kicked us out of the village and I lived. 

We went to live in the town of KT.  My mom had five children remaining, but she couldn’t take care of us.  She put all five of us into different homes.  I was put into a Burmese Christian minister’s home.  He and his wife raised me up and I got to know about God.  They were happy and peaceful and always sharing the good news.  I got saved in 1986.    

After I got saved, I experienced who God is.  Once I went to a store, and at the store they were trying to record a magic show for a television program.  But the magicians were not doing tricks, but they were really using the power of demons to do miraculous things.  As I watched I prayed to the Lord, and the magicians could not do any magic.  So they all believed that because I was there, because a Christian was there, that the spirits couldn’t do anything.

When I accepted Christ, I had a desire to serve God.  No one talked me into it, it was from God.  So, I started writing songs to God, and I translated them from Burmese to Akha, and I have recorded over 200 songs for the churches.  

I will also serve in helping to distribute the thousands and thousands of Akha Bibles that you are donating to us.  There is a such a great need for the Word of God so that we can understand the ways of God.  Thank you for your ministry and God bless you.  

Mr. Moses, Myanmar

My name is Moses and I am 46 years old.  I was born and raised in Myanmar.

I was born into a Christian family.  I always heard the gospel, but I didn’t really understand it until I was 16 years old.  A pastor came to our area and explained the gospel to us.  Before then, all us kids were drunks and using drugs.  And we didn’t obey our parents.  But after coming to Christ, I stopped all the bad things, I obeyed my parents, and I always went to church.  One week the pastor talked about us saying we are Christians and having been baptized doesn’t necessarily mean would go to heaven.  But only those who truly believe, accept Christ into their life, repent, and follow Christ, these are the people who will actually go to heaven.  At that time, I made a commitment to not just believe in Jesus, but to also obey Jesus.  Then my heart was changed.  I didn’t want to spend any time with old friends who smoked and used drugs.  Then God brought a new friend into my life. 

When I was 17 years old I met a woman and we got married.  She was a strong Christian, so she helped me to become a strong Christian, too.  In 1999 we moved to M.Y. Village and I became their pastor.  This was a Christian village, and the organization that sent me there supports 7 other pastors.  At night time in the village the dogs were always barking, but no one could figure out why the dogs were barking. So people said it was evil spirits.  Someone said they should fire their gun and it will scare the spirits away.  But I stood on the stage in the church and said, “Don’t be afraid, let’s trust God to scare the spirits away.”

My wife and I fasted for two days in preparing to pray for the families.  We prayed for three nights as the children in the village came into my house.  The kids said they heard some voices, like spirit voices, and these spirits were crying.  I asked how many spirits were crying, and they said, “More than there are people in our village.”  So only my wife and I didn’t hear the voices, but everyone else in the village heard the voices.   Then my wife and I prayed, and since then all the voices stopped, the dogs quit barking, and 40 families got serious with God and quit mixing religions. 

At that time, in 1999, only three people could read Akha.  Then I started teaching Akha literature to the people.  I divided them into three groups: 12 and younger, 13 – 20, 21 and up.  Two months I taught them and by that time they could all read Akha.  So I tried to get some small Christian booklets to give to the people.  The road is so difficult to travel, we had no vehicle, and we had to walk three days to reach the village, so I could not carry many books.  I found 30 very small sized New Testament Bibles with Proverbs and Psalms and I gave them to the people in the village.  They read them, but they couldn’t pray.  So I had to teach them how to pray. 

In 2000, I broke the people up into five groups and taught them to pray, each once a week.   I copied prayers and teaching about how to pray, and I gave copies to the people.  One group was people 70 and older.  So I encouraged them one at time to come to the church to read the Bible and to learn to pray.  I had them start praying out loud, one by one, and then they learned to pray.  One old man said you will be cursed if you ask me to pray out loud, because I cannot pray out loud.  He was scared.  But after one year everyone could pray out loud.  Then the church started to grow, and the church building was too small, so we built a new church building. 

I have always been involved in helping to distribute the Akha Bibles when your ministry donates.  The people are very appreciative.  Without your help, most people would never have a Bible in their life time.  God bless you.  

Mrs. BD, Myanmar

My name is BD and I am 39 years old.  I am the wife of Pastor M.M. Aay. We live in eastern Myanmar.

I was born near the Thai-Myanmar border.  My parents were Christians, but they didn’t understand the Christian faith, so they didn’t act like Christians. They came out of animism, but they didn’t grow in Christ.  They went to church regularly, but they didn’t understand anything about salvation.

A pastor called for all the children in the village to his house if they wanted to learn how to read and write in the Akha language. So we were often with that pastor’s family and they also taught us the Bible and how to pray.  I was raised up spiritually with this pastor’s family, but because I was young, I still didn’t understand well.

My grandparents were animists, so I heard the voices of the spirits, but I didn’t see the spirits.  I was scared and I couldn’t sleep when I was alone.  Then I told the pastor, and he said Jesus could save me and He is powerful to overcome all the spirits and all the fear.  So I accepted Christ, and then all the voices stopped and all my fear was gone.

Since God saved me, I prayed to Him.  And then one time I saw a vision of Jesus Christ when I prayed.  I couldn’t see Jesus’ face, because a bright light shown from His face. He took me to heaven and showed me what it is like in heaven.  It looked like there were different levels and I saw so many big, huge buildings.  Jesus showed me the home of James and the home of John.  Jesus said to me, “Don’t be afraid to serve the Lord.  Whatever you see, don’t be afraid.  Continue to serve me and I will be with you.” 

From that vision I knew for sure that Christ is real and is the Living God.  Jesus can truly save and redeem.  I had assurance of my salvation and I wanted all the people to be saved, too.  So I went to a mountain north of where I live and started an Akha church, because I believe God wants them saved. 

I have experienced that when I pray for the people, God heals them.  In my village the kids get stomach aches.  They try to get medicines and herbs to heal them, but the medicine doesn’t work.  Then the children are brought to me and I pray for them. Jesus then heals the children and the parents know that Christ is real.  

There was an unbelieving village leader who didn’t like having Christians in the village.  At our church, at the time of worship, we ring a bell to invite the people to come.  When we rang the bell, a certain village leader would curse us and the church and all of Christianity.  He wrote a letter to the Buddhist monk to not allow us to stay in the village. But then God touched him, and he could not move.  He didn’t repent, and then he died.  And now no one can stop us from sharing the Gospel.  They believe God is working in the village for the salvation of the villagers.  Many Buddhists now want to become Christians.  Six families asked me to take away the idols from their homes.  We had prayed for them and God put it in their heart to get rid of their idolatry.  

We are now teaching all of the kids in the village how to read Akha, and they are doing well.  We will give them your Bibles.  The children’s parents are also learning to read Akha. 

Pastor LP, Myanmar

My name is LP and I am 33 years old.   I am an evangelist and missionary.  I help people in their need.   I have been doing this since about 2016.   Now I am very busy.  Some people don’t even have food and clothes.  I’m helping the Akha, the Lahu and other tribes.  

There is this one tribal group called the El, and they are a small tribe with no authority and no farms.  So they don’t have food or clothes.  The El are animists and they resist the Christians coming to help them.  When covid hit, this stopped us from being able to go to the El for a while. 

Lately we have tried to go back to several El villages, but in two villages, the leaders have kept us out.  When we arrived the elders held guns and wouldn’t allow us to come in.  They told us we could not share the gospel there, but they allowed us to show the Jesus film, so we did that and the people watched.  Then we gave out food and clothes and the people were happy with that, but not with the message we were sharing. 

Now we are going to Lahu groups.  They need food and clothing.  There are two Lahu families that have become Christians.  

When I travel place to place to help, people try to stop me.  When I travel from village to village, sometimes the police check me for a passport, but I don’t have a passport, so I just pray.  And they show me favor and they let me pass.  Without God it’s impossible to get past the authorities.

I thank God for His provision.  We don’t have support; we just use our tithes and some Akha churches will sometimes send support.  Sometimes it’s not enough.  Each church gives a little, but every time we pray, God answers and provides.  There are no missionaries helping, only the Akha people.  

I was born into a Christian family, but we didn’t really know about Christ.  My parents said they were Christians, but they mixed that with demon worship (animism).  Because of this, I had four brothers and sisters who were all killed by the spirits.   Because my parents mixed religions, the spirits attacked my family.   My oldest brother died at 2 months.  The others died between two and five years old.  I believe God chose me to serve His work, so that’s why I survived. 

My Dad died when I was 8 years old.  Now I have a step Dad who is a true Christian, but my mom still doesn’t really believe in Christ.  She is still mixing religions.  My step dad became a Christian at 16 years old.  He used to walk to villages to share the gospel, but now he cannot go.  He is now 83 years old and he cannot walk. 

When I was 12, I studied in the classroom with all the other Christian children, and I heard the Bible lessons.  Through this I eventually I accepted salvation through Christ Jesus.

Pastor RC, Myanmar

I am Pastor RC and I am 46 years old.  I am a pastor in NL Village, Fellowship Church.

My parents lived in China and my father was a doctor and an animist.  He wanted to move to Myanmar, but after he moved just over the border into Northern Shan State, Myanmar, the Burmese government in the area would not allow him to be a doctor in the village.  So, he moved to southern Shan State, Myanmar where we have some relatives.  I was born in Mua Yoh Village, which is three hours by motorbike from the Thai-Myanmar border.  I was born into this animist family, and we had to often make sacrifices to the spirits, but it was exhausting and it took a lot of the money that my parents had.  I didn’t like it, but to give it up would mean to be made sick by the spirits or to perhaps even be murdered by the spirits.  So, it was a heavy situation. 

Because life was hard, even from a young age I was smoking a lot and I was addicted to drugs. 

When I was 13, Christian preachers came around, and I heard how Jesus was our savoir from our sins and from the evil spirits.  These preachers said Jesus was the perfect sacrifice and we don’t have to sacrifice anything if we will believe in Jesus.  When I heard that, I believed I needed Jesus to be redeemed from the animal sacrifices and from the evil spirits, so I came to Christ.  Since coming to Christ, I didn’t enjoy the drugs and the smoking anymore, and I had no peace in that anymore.  I had no more desire for that life and so I quit smoking and drugs. 

          I grew up and I married, and my wife became pregnant with our first child.  But late in her pregnancy, in my prayer times, I felt God was moving me to move to another village where I have a relative.  So, I obeyed, and my very pregnant wife and I traveled to this village to see our relative.  It was a 100% animist village.  We told our relative that we would like to move to this village, and asked if we could stay in our relative’s house until we could get established there and get our own house built.  But our relative said, “No,” because it wasn’t allowed in an animist village for someone else to bleed in your house.  My wife would not be allowed to give birth in their house.  And, in addition to that, the headman of the village didn’t want any Buddhists or Christians in the village, so he didn’t give us permission to stay and to build our own house.

I went to all of the surrounding villages to see if we could move in there, but no one would allow us to stay in their village.  So I prayed unto God saying, “Father, You are the Living God.  You created everything.  I believe that you sent me to this village, but they don’t allow me stay, and none of the surrounding villages will allow me to stay, so I need your help to change people’s hearts and minds so we can stay where you have directed us.”  I didn’t hear and answer from God, but shortly after that, I met a man who was the Chinese language teacher in the village, and he was also a Christian.  He had been thinking of leaving the village, because the headman didn’t want him there.  I told him I was a Christian, and if he stayed, then I would stay near him.  We went to petitioned the headman to let us stay, but then found out that he had just been arrested by the police for selling drugs.  He was now gone, so the villagers gave us permission to stay and build a house.  The villagers were never against me, but only the headman. We began building, and the house was ready just in time for my wife to give birth to our first child who was a son.  That was in 1997.

I shared Christ with the villagers, and some started to believe, so I built a church in the village.  The headman who had sold drugs was in prison for 12 years.  When he came back to our village, he was angry and asked why the villagers had allow a church to be built there.  But I kept sharing Christ with him, and four years ago, in 2019, he also accepted Christ.  God wanted me to bring salvation to this village and now there are 16 families in the village who are Christians.  Some of my relatives have also believed.

My son has grown up and he graduated Bible school.  He has become a pastor who also shares Christ in the villages. Thank you for the Bibles for our church members.  These are the first Bibles they have ever had, and now they can grow in the ways of God more and more. 

Pastor M.M. Aay, Myanmar

My name is M.M. Aay and I am 39 years old.  I am the pastor at the CM Church in in NWW Village, Myanmar. 

I was born in NP Village, Myanmar, but my family moved near the Myanmar-Thai border when I was one year old.  My parents were animists and they appeased the evil spirits.  My grandmother was the witch doctor of our village.  She also moved in with my parents.  In this city they met many Christians and they became interested in Christianity and they started attending church with their friends. But whenever my grandmother attended a service, she was shaking and convulsing.  Finally, she wanted to get baptized, and after she was baptized, all the convulsing and shaking stopped.  And until today, she has never had this problem again.  Grandma’s freedom got my parents’ attention.  They both had many fears from serving and appeasing and sacrificing to the demons, and they also wanted freedom.  So, they came to Christ after my grandmother and found freedom in Jesus. 

I was raised a Christian. Since I was 1 year old when my parents came to Christ I didn’t really understand much from the Bible.  When I was 20 years old, a Burmese pastor wanted me to learn Burmese so I could bring the gospel to others.  He sent me to a Burmese village where they taught people to speak and read in Burmese, but this was an animist village.  Everyone in the village would hear the voices of the demons.  But my whole time there I never heard the voice of the demons.  I realized God protected me from the spirits.  But the people in the village were amazed that I never heard the voices of the spirits, because they heard the voices often. 

After I graduated from learning Burmese, I could then read and understand the Burmese Bible and I could begin to teach in villages.  Later I went to seminary and I finished, and this was the first time that I understood the salvation message.  I became a pastor and I preached grace, salvation, and overcoming the evil spirits.  

Later, I felt led of the Lord to move to another village and to pastor the people there.  But this was in an area where a denomination was trying to dominate all Christianity.  The chairman of this denomination contacted all his pastors in the area, and asked them to come to a meeting the village that I had just moved to and was starting to pastor.  This chairman wanted to convince me to come under his denomination and under his headship.  He was saying that if I wanted to serve in this area that I had to come into his denomination.  The people in my village said they knew this chairman and that he was a mean man.  So I didn’t know what would happen at the meeting, but I met with the chairman and the pastors of this denomination.  But God was faithful, and the chairman didn’t do anything to hurt me.  The people said I acted so well and wise and calm and kind that I found favor and I was not controlled.  Praise the Lord. 

Then a Buddhist leader didn’t want me sharing the Gospel in this village, so he wrote a letter to the Buddhist headman of the village to say that what I was sharing was bad.  He sent letters to leaders of many surrounding villages and told them I was a dangerous person.  He wanted them to be against me and my evangelism, and he tried to get me put in prison.  These other village leaders came to my village and they tried to find out if what the Buddhist leader wrote was true or not.  They first came to me to ask if I said what was written in the letter, but it was all untrue, and I told them so, but I wasn’t sure they would treat me fairly.  But the people in my village stood up for me and said the Buddhist leader’s letter was full of lies.  So this Buddhist leader finally admitted to everyone that he had lied, and he stopped attacking me, and he said the other leaders could do what they felt was right.  The other leaders left me alone, and I told the leader who attacked me that I forgave him and I would not seek any vengeance against him.  But he didn’t change.  He remained in his dreadful and resentful state.  Then suddenly he could not walk.  But this also didn’t humble him and he still didn’t repent and change.  Finally, he died unrepentant.  Besides pastoring my church, I also go to the surrounding villages evangelizing anyone who will listen.

Thank you for bringing the full Akha Bible to us.  There is a great need for our people so they can understand all that God has written for us. 

2022-2023 Bible Deliveries to Akha Christians, PArt 1 

In 2022, Biblia Global donors funded 10,000 Bibles for Akha Christians distributed over late 2022 through early 2023.  This was only the second time the Akha have had the Old Testament and complete Bible in the old Akha dialect that the majority of Akha people can read! The first printing of the complete Bible was printed in 2019, and Biblia Global helped with that printing as well.

Mee Mae b, Thailand

My name is Mee Mae B. and I am 54 years old. Originally, I am from Myanmar. But I have been living in Thailand thirty years already.

In Myanmar, my parents were animists, but we lived in a Christian village. We were the only animist family in this Christian village. But me and my family were always sick. My grandma and grandpa were always sick. And since we were the only family that was not Christian, no one would associate with us. Because of this we all decided that maybe we shouldn’t be animists anymore. So we all decided to become Christians. But we didn’t understand the Christian faith.

And while I was still young, I wanted to study the Akha language. But my parents wanted me to work in the fields with them instead of going to school. And the school said I was too young to go to the school. But when we were home in the village, and school was on, I would go to the school and listen to the Akha language lessons from the back window.

There was a time when an old Akha missionary from Myanmar, Pastor Luke, came to our village. We allowed him to stay in our house. And he offered to stay a long time and to teach me to read and write the Akha language. I was excited for this, and my parents agreed. So I had a language tutor, but while he taught me Akha, he also taught me the scriptures. So I learned more and more.

And I learned that a Christian should only marry a Christian, and so I wanted that in my life. But when I was older, I fell in love with a non-Christian man, and I married him. I know this was against God, but in every other way I tried to stay faithful to God. But my father-in-law, who was not a Christian, told me that when he dies, if I still believe in God, don’t come to his funeral. Because as non-Christians, as animists, they feel when someone dies they must kill pigs or cows in sacrifice for the dead. But I loved him, so when he died, I did participate in the sacrifices, just because of my love for my father-in-law, and I didn’t realize that this was dishonoring to God to make sacrifices to the spirits.

Later my husband and I moved to Thailand, and we met Pastor AJ who came to our village and taught a Bible course for 8 months. But afterwards I didn’t feel like I learned much and nothing changed for us. But then another Bible teacher came to the village and taught, but he was not as good as Pastor AJ. So I thought back to what Pastor AJ taught, and one thing I had not applied was paying the tithe. And then I thought that I want to commit my life to God once again, because I was always sick, and I have to raise our four children. So I made the commitment that I don’t want to go back to the old ways, but I want to commit fully to obey Christ. That was 11 years ago, when I was 43 years old.

Then my husband got a job in the south of Thailand, in Phukhet, selling clothes, and I needed to work with him in a night market type of setting, and selling also to foreign tourists. But I got sicker, to the point that I could hardly walk. So I prayed to God and asked, “Why God? What did I do that you won’t heal me? How do you want to use me?” At that time, I just felt to come back to my village in the north. When we came back, there were pastors coming together to study the Word together, and I wanted to study, too. Because I wanted to learn to do only what God wanted. And I decided to serve the pastors and do all they needed. Then I was totally healed. And my son was stubborn and disobedient, but then I prayed for my son and he changed quickly. And I started seeing God answer me quickly when I prayed and asked for help.

I want to say “Thank You” to everyone who invested to provide us with Bibles, because it is the Living Word, and it makes my life happy and full of joy. And in the Bible we learn about salvation and faith and healing. And now I realize, that Pastor AJ, teaching the Bible word by word, really did help me. And now I am experiencing real life, because of the words of the Bible. So thank you to everyone who is doing this project. Thank you so much. I can’t even put into words how much we are thankful.

Booyong Y, Thailand

My name is Booyong Y. and I am 52 years old. I was born in MJM, Shan State, Myanmar. My parents were animists, and we had never heard about God, because there was war amongst the people of Myanmar. I was raised with fear, and I never heard about God. We had to run away from the war, and then we had no place to sleep and no food to eat. For this reason we had to try to escape the war. While I was in Myanmar, I never heard about Christianity, but I heard about one group that people called “blessing-blessing group.” I heard my parents talking about this group, and later I learned that this was a Christian group. This group had this name, because they were always talking about blessing, like, “If you sacrifice, you will get a blessing.” My mom said this group has a blessing that they can use to bless people where the evil spirits cannot overcome them. And because of this blessing, my mom was interested in the “blessing-blessing group.”

One time my uncle came to my family and talked my mom saying, “In the past, God judged the earth with water. But in the end time, God will judge with fire. And the God who is coming is called Jesus.” I didn’t understand about that until I was older, and then I learned that my uncle was talking about the Christian faith. But when my uncle shared with my mom, I was still very young and still in my mother’s arms. But God worked in me so I understood my uncle’s words and I remembered them. While we were still in Burma, and the war was still going on, then my parents passed away. So, I had to escape. I tried to find an animist village to live in, but I couldn’t find any. Instead, I moved into a Christian village. It was in this village where I became a Christian. But I struggled, because no one taught about God and I didn’t grow spiritually and I didn’t know how to grow in faith and I had nothing to read, so Satan tempted me and stole everything from me. One time, I harvested my rice, and then someone stole it all. A second time I planted tea, but people burned down my tea field. A third time, I grew plants for drugs, since there was more money in it, but again people destroyed it all. And a fourth time, someone stole all my money. And since I didn’t know how to live as a Christian, I didn’t know how to pray nor how to react properly. I didn’t know the gospel, and I didn't know anything about faith. But I did have the teaching of my mom who taught me from a young age that if something bad happens, don’t blame other people and don’t say anything bad to other people. So even though all these bad things happened, I didn’t blame anybody. Sometimes I felt good, but other times I felt weak, so I would just praise God. But the temptations kept coming stronger and stronger.

One day a spirit touched my son, and he became very weak and then was paralyzed. No Christian had ever taught me how to pray or what to do in this situation, so I went back to the old way and I went to the witch doctor to ask him to deliver my son, and he could walk again, but a worse thing happened to him.

Satan brought stronger temptations. My husband started using drugs, and my son became very stubborn and rebellious. So I said to God, “Oh God, let me die. Wherever you put me I will go there. Even if you put me in hell, I will go there, because I don’t want to suffer under Satan and the spirits anymore.” Then I asked God, “God, isn’t it true that You and Satan cannot be together? Please do something. Please help me. I don’t even know how to pray, but I believe that You and Satan cannot be in one place together. So do something, God.” After that, my husband was caught using drugs and was put into jail. Then my son ran away to Bangkok. Then I was by myself, and I was wondering what happened. After that I had pain in my body and I was bleeding. And people looked down on me like I was a bad person and like I had many sins. Then I cried out in prayer, “Who can help me? Who can help me?” But no answer. Then I just went to work. But a pastor called me and invited me to come and study the Bible in the Bible school. But I could not read and I could not write, so how could I go and study? And I was still in pain and still bleeding, and no one took me to the hospital, so I didn’t know what to do or who could help me. When I wasn’t a Christian, everyone was nice to me. But now that I was a Christian, when I was facing a problem, no one wanted to associate with me. The Christians didn’t help me, but they pulled away from me. In fact, they gossiped and lied about me and judged me saying I was committing adultery, but I wasn’t. I struggled like this for some years up until 2019. So finally, I called to an old pastor and asked, “What can I do?” But he didn’t have an answer for me. Then I remembered the pastor who wanted me to come to the Bible school. I couldn’t read, but I could cook, and maybe I could serve there in this way.

So I cooked for the Bible school, and I was able to attend many worship services and seminars, and each time I felt the Lord wanted me to confess my sins. As the word of God came into my mind, I realized there was no one who could help me except God. So, I confessed everything to God. I prayed, “Because of this sin against you, I did a lot of things in the past, like going to the witch doctors, so now I am committed to change my life. Cleanse me from all my sins. I realize that I need you, God, and that only You can save me." After I repented and committed my life to Christ, then someone took me to a Christian hospital. I needed surgery, and it was going to cost maybe 70,000 Thai Baht (about US$2,300). But that was way more money than I had. But I went ahead with the surgery, and in the end, they only charged me 30,000 Thai Baht. I don’t know if the hospital cut the cost, or if someone paid 40,000 Thai Baht for me, but it was less. I prayed again to God and said, “I have confessed my sins to you and asked you to cleanse all my sins, God, but I still struggle with this problem of my health and now this debt. Please help me.” I felt like Satan was still tempting me to not trust God.

After the surgery I needed to stay in the hospital for eight days, but then I was able to go my home town. But I was not recovering, and I only lay on my bed, or I would go to the church services. I went to every worship service, prayer meeting, and seminar. People would ask me why I didn’t just stay home, since I was still sick. I answered, “Some people, when they are sick, they stay home. But when I am sick, I will seek God.”

Shortly after this, one night I was going to bed and I was just closing my eyes to go to sleep, but then I thought I saw someone walk past my bed and immediately I was reminded about the story of Job. Job suffered a lot, and God used that suffering to put down Satan’s pride. And then God opened my mind and I knew God allowed my suffering to happen, because he wanted to bring me to Him. In the past, even when I went to church, I didn’t understand what the preachers were trying to say. So maybe Satan was blinding me from understanding. I understood that the more I suffered, the more God wanted me to seek Him. So I sought Him as much as I could. If I ate something or drank something, I would give thanks, and ask God to heal me and not let me die. And after time, God healed me. Then I decided, even though I cannot read, I would attend the Bible school and hear the word of God. I realized that just going to church was not what it means to be a Christian. But as Christians we must obey and live according to the Word of God. I realized the only wisdom I have in my life came from hearing the readings from the Bible. Nothing in this life can satisfy my heart. Only the Word of God satisfies me. Even though I cannot read, every time I hear a Bible story in church, then I will try to tell someone else about this Bible story. And sometimes if I don’t tell people the Bible story I just learned, then sometimes I get sick. Naturally, I get sick easily. But when I do what I believe God wants me to do, then I don’t feel sick, because I feel that God wants me in His service in this way and He blesses my obedience.

Thank you for your work to do this Bible distribution. I know 30 people who have no access to the Bible, because they are not connected to any organizations. But I am excited to be able to bring Bibles to them. I cannot read it, but I can bring it to those who can read it. And they can read this Bible to me, too. Thank you, because even though we are different nationalities and we speak different languages, but we know God and one day we will see each other in heaven, and we will pass over judgment into the grace of God and be saved. May God bless you more so that you can serve Him more.

Ahbau M, Thailand

My name is Ahbau M. and I am 43 years old. I am originally from Myanmar. I moved to Thailand 18 years ago. I graduated high school in Myanmar and I worked for the government, but the salary was not good enough. I thought I could have a better income and a better life in Thailand, so I moved here.

I was raised in a Christian family, so I heard Bible stories in the church, but I didn’t understand anything about Christ and salvation. Then just two years ago, when I was 41 years old, I came to the Bible school here, and pastor AJ taught clearly the true meaning of the Bible and salvation so I could understand it. It was only two years ago that I made a commitment to follow Jesus. After I came to Christ, the way I spoke changed. Before this I had heard that God was good and God is beautiful, but I didn’t realize this until I had I abandoned God many times, but God never abandoned me. And I feel like this is the beauty of God. God is good. And the living Word about God’s story never stops mentioning Him. There is so much about Him in the Bible. The Bible became more real to me. This is something that changed in me after I committed myself to God.

I believe my parents truly believe as they believed that God is the living God who can save, and they had surrendered to this. I believed, but I hadn’t fully understood and I hadn’t given myself to God. My husband and my children are like me before. They believe, but they don’t really live what they believe. My children are adults, and now they have left the village and they live in different places. But Pastor AJ is helping me to follow up with them to share the true meaning of salvation with them.

As I look back over my life, it seems God has done many wonderful things for me, but I still didn’t appreciate Him until two years ago. One thing that I would like to share happened back in 1997 when God did a miracle for me and saved my life. At the time I was living in Tachileik, Myanmar, and my husband was from Yangon, Myanmar and we were just engaged. We traveled to Yangon to have the wedding there. After we were married, we were going to fly back to Tachileik. We had enough money to buy two air tickets, but there was only one open seat left on the plane. So instead, we took a bus back home. But the plane we were trying to get on crashed, and everyone on board was killed. God saved our lives.

I have another story that I would like to share about how God revealed to me that He truly was the living God. Back in 1992, I was sick and I was even wetting my bed at night when I was 14 years old, and this was very shameful. And the doctors couldn’t heal me. And I remember one night that I woke up a little bit, I didn’t feel fully awake, but I felt that my bed was wet again. I hated this. So, I prayed and asked God, “God, can you help me? In the name of Jesus, can you heal me? Amen.” I didn’t know if I was in a dream or if it was real, but I felt like a man came in my room and stood beside me. And he touched me and he said to me, “Daughter, can you just turn from side to side?” And I remember thinking, “Is this a dream or is this true?” But it felt like it was really happening. So, I tried turning from side to side in my bed, but then I was asleep. When I awoke in the morning my bed was dry, and I never again wet my bed. God healed me.

I thank God for the Bibles you have sent. I want to first thank Pastor AJ who invested his life to help me understand the Bible. He showed me in Genesis 1:17 that God created man in His own image, so that mankind is of great value to God. Therefore, mankind should also greatly value God. Pastor AJ also taught me that God’s words have power, because God created everything with only His words. Therefore, everything will happen according to what God spoke. I learned that we should also speak God’s words, because what we speak, other people will hear. I also learned that the evil spirits and the angels that are around us that we cannot see can hear our words. And God, our creator, will also hear what we speak. And one day in the judgment, we will give account to God for every word we have ever spoken (Matthew 12:36). After I became a Christian, I learned to change how I spoke. Instead of speaking like the world or from my flesh, I try to speak the Word of God. But we must not only speak the Word of God, but we need to also obey the Word of God. And now I am careful to try to speak only what is good.

Meedoe M, Thailand

My name is Meedoe M. I was raised in a Catholic family in Burma, but I didn’t know who was God nor who was Jesus Christ. After I heard the Gospel from an evangelist, my heart was full with joy. I learned who God was and who Jesus Christ was. So I became a Christian when I was 12. Then my whole life was happy.

Then the pastor taught that when we are Christians that we must pay the tithe and offer offerings to help people to serve God. And even though I was young and I was from a poor family, I really wanted to give an offering, because when I heard about serving, I also wanted to serve God when I was older, or as soon as possible. So I started sewing dresses for money. I would only get about 4,000 Myanmar Kyat (less than $3 USD) with each dress, but at least I was getting some money that I could give to the church. So the pastor told me that even though I was only sewing dresses, but because I was giving offerings that meant I was already serving God. But that didn’t satisfy me. I wanted to serve God more than by only sewing.

In 2002 I moved to Thailand and I started to attend a Bible study here and I learned more about the Gospel. In Burma I was baptized, but I was just following all the people, but not really following Jesus Christ. But this Bible study helped me to understand the steps of the Gospel. The first step is to understand the Gospel and to accept Christ as savior. After that, we must believe the Gospel and be baptized which means we are dying to self and rising up in new life to obey Christ.

I realized that just believing in God was not enough for me. When I first believed, I did not respond to Jesus Christ the right way, because I did not commit to obey Jesus and I didn’t make Jesus Christ my Lord. When I heard the Gospel, I heard about Jesus and I heard what Jesus can do, like healing the sick. And I believed that, but I did not accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life. I believed I had to do that to truly begin my Christian life.

And because I hadn’t learned in Burma how to properly respond to the Gospel, when I was 20 years old, I started worshipping the idols with my family who had converted to Buddhism and were the only Buddhists in our village. I also prayed to the Buddhist monks and I worshipped the monks. I did this, because I never learned to let Jesus Christ take control of my life. So I became a Buddhist. But then one day something scary happened. In Buddhism, when we cook rice, we cannot eat the rice until we make a sacrifice and give some rice to the idols. But this time I saw the front of the idol turn upside down, and this scared me.

And in Buddhism, we have altars with flowers and candles before the idols. And one time a mouse came and stole the flowers. When I saw this, I started to think that maybe I should go back to worship the living God, and not this dead god. But then the Buddhist New Year was approaching, and we were supposed to make an offering to the idols, so I decided to make a dessert wrapped in banana leaves. I put it into the pot to cook it, but it didn’t cook. So I thought again that maybe God was doing this to bring me back to him. But now I also felt that Satan was deceiving me so I could not make the right decision.

Since my family was the only Buddhist family in the village that was otherwise only Catholics and Christians, my father invited other families to become Buddhist, and one Christian family became Buddhist. Not long after that family became Buddhist, the father of that family died. And that made my father very afraid. He was actually terrified, and he became cold and he was trembling. That day we went to the man’s funeral. Afterwards my father walked home, and I followed him home. Then he just sat and stared and was like a dead person himself.

The reason my father left the “Christians” and became a Buddhist is because a lot of people in Burma use drugs, get drunk, and do illegal things, even the “Christians”. But my father never used drugs and never drank alcohol. He only drank tea. And he never did anything illegal, so he didn’t want to be around this bad behavior of the “Christians” in our village. And when we became Buddhist, the “Christians” didn’t like us anymore. But then some “Christians” in our village got arrested by the police for using drugs. And the headman of the village tried to help get these two “Christians” out of jail. So, the police asked for money (a bribe) before they released the two “Christian” men. Then the headman went to every family in the village to ask for money to get these two men out of jail. But my family said they did not want to give any money to this, because we were not involved in any drugs or anything illegal. Because of this, the rest of the village hated my family. And when I asked the Christian pastor to come and pray for me, he refused to come, because he also hated my family. And this is the reason that my family turned away from Christianity and turned to Buddhism, because we felt so hurt from the “Christian” community.

But then, after the funeral, my father was sick, he couldn’t walk, and is mind wasn’t good, but he wanted to know how he could leave Buddhism and come back to Christ, but there was no one willing to help him. I took him to the hospital and I spent a lot of money, but it didn’t really help. Because every time my father thought of the new convert to Buddhism who died, then my father’s blood pressure went up and he became sick again. So my family wanted to become Christians again, but the “Christians” in our village told us that if we want to become Christians again, then we needed to pay the village 100,000 Myanmar Kyat (maybe three months’ salary) in order to become Christians again. But my family didn’t have any money, because all our money was spent on the hospital. No one wanted to help us come back to Christ, so that’s when we decided to move to Thailand.

But while on the way, we stayed with my brother who was living in another village. And the pastor in that village helped us to come back to Christ. After we came back to Christ, my father’s health improved some, and he could walk again. But after one year he died. That was 20 years ago. But praise God that he died after he became a Christian, so that he inherited eternal life. I was happy for this, even though I was sad that he died.

What I learned from this time was that since people hurt us, we left Christ and became Buddhists. But God did not hurt us, so we should not have blamed God and hurt God. We should not have run from God, because of the harm caused by people.

When I completely submitted myself to Christ, that’s when I was completely full of joy and peace, even when there is trouble. Even if troubles come, I still have peace and joy. But being a Christian is not only believing, but also committing my whole life to God. Christ is my lord and I must let Him control my life.

When I was young, I married a Burmese man who was not a Christian. I told him that if he became a Christian then I would marry him. So he said, “Okay, whatever belief you want to follow I will also follow.” But after we married, he didn’t make any effort to follow Christ. But the Gospel changed my heart, and I could love even when there were troubles, and I showed my love to my husband, even though he resisted Christ. And here in Thailand, Pastor AJ shared the Gospel with my husband, and now he has accepted Christ. Then he was baptized, and now he serves with Pastor AJ. I thank God for the joy and peace and the power of the Gospel that God has given me.

I thank God for this opportunity to share my testimony. I never thought I would have an opportunity like this. Before I received the Akha Bible, I could not read. But I tried for two nights to read it, and God has empowered me and now I can read the Akha Bible. This Bible is the very precious thing in my life. Now when the pastor preaches and if it’s hard to understand, I can study the Bible myself and ask God for understanding.

We are so thankful for your work and for all those who supported to bring us these Bibles. We are different nationalities, but we are the same family of Christ. We are thankful for the translator and those who printed this, because the Bible is the word of life for Christians.

Ahsam M, Thailand

My name is Ahsam M. and I am 49 years old. I work at S Village as the pastor of the church. Many people want to learn to read the Akha language, so I want to use the Akha Bible as the way to teach our language. Many people do not have Bibles. But I will use the Bible to teach both Christians and non-Christians. So as they learn to read our Akha language and they will also learn the scriptures.

Before I was a Christian, my whole family was into animism, and my father was the witchdoctor for the whole village. But at that time a Christian pastor came to the village and taught how to read the Akha language. I went to the Akha language study, but I didn’t know about Christ and I didn’t believe in God or Christ. My parents had two children, and I was the oldest, so they didn’t want me to learn to read the Akha language, so they tried to stop me from going to the classes. They did this, because they were the witchdoctors, and they knew I would be learning Akha through the Bible and I would be learning about Christ. And the role of witchdoctor in the village is handed down to the oldest son in the family, so if I became a Christian, then there wouldn’t be anyone else to take the role of animist witchdoctor in the village. Also, the leader of our village didn’t want me to become a Christian, because I was destined to be the next witchdoctor for the village. But I still studied with the pastor to learn to read our language, but I did not become a Christian. But when the course was over, the pastor gave me an Akha Bible. He didn’t give a Bible to anyone else, but only to me. He saw that I was a good student, so he thought that later I could teach the children in our village how to read Akha using this Bible. This was in 1995. So even though I was not a Christian, I taught many children how to read using the Akha Bible. I started teaching by going through the Gospels. I didn’t really understand them, but I could teach the kids how to read these stories. But when we got to John 3:16, that touched my heart. God gave me revelation through this verse that whatever my parents were doing could not give us eternal life. This was in 1996. Then the pastor asked me to attend a Bible school. I wasn’t a Christian, but the pastor said since I can read the Bible, he wanted me to go to Bible school. I didn’t understand the Bible, but I did believe that the Bible was the living word, so I believed the Bible could give me life, so that’s why I decided to go to Bible school.

But in the Bible school they were not teaching the Bible in the Akha language, but in the Lahu language. But they translated from Lahu to Akha. I began studying in 1997. At that time, I didn’t have a Thai ID card, but I took the chance to travel from here to Chiang Mai (almost a 4-hour drive) to attend the Bible school. But I got caught by the police many times for not having an ID card. But I was not afraid, because I believed God was the living God, and that he had the power to save me. So I gave 150 Thai Baht (about US$5) to the police to release me. After that I knew how the police worked, so I wasn’t afraid of any of the police.

When I was in the Bible school, the verse that really touched me was Romans 6:8: “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”

Jesus died in our place, and because of Him we live. This is when I got saved. When I finished Bible school, I went back to help the pastor who had shared with me, to assist him in the ministry. And I went home and sent my brother, my only sibling, to another Bible school near our village. My brother got saved at that Bible school, and he decided to serve God as a pastor. And he has been a pastor since he graduated. Praise God! Our parents were still witch doctors, and they didn’t want to become Christians, but they were tired of the spirits. So they converted to a Chinese religion. And the whole village followed them into this religion. But after three years, all of the villager wanted to go back to animism. So the villages, along with the village headman, tried to force my parents to be their witch doctors once again. These are village people who don’t know the gospel and don’t know any Christians, so they just tried to go back to what they knew. So my parents went back to being witch doctors. And the villagers put so much pressure on me to work with my parents, that finally I left the pastor and went back to be with my parents. But my heart was not to work with my parents, but to be with them and to pray for them. And I prayed for them every day to stop being witch doctors and that they would leave animism. My brother also came back to be with the family at this time. Then after two years, my parents became Christians and they were baptized. After I learned about salvation and believed in the living God, then God revealed through me to my parents that God is the living God. This is the reason they believed.

I kept helping the pastor who discipled me until 2007. After that I decided to become a pastor, but doing so I faced many troubles. Sometimes I didn’t have enough food nor other things that I needed to live. So I worked hard, because I have three children and I had to pay to send them to school. And even though I believed the Bible and that God is the living God, I got into debt, but God helped me. In 2007 I started being a pastor with a salary of 600 Thai Baht (less than US$20) per year. But God provided for me and I had enough to live. Sometimes friends or missionaries would come and visit me and would give me special gifts. I served as a pastor in that place for six years, until 2013. Then I told my sending organization that I wanted to move to the place where I am serving now. I was able to move to the new village in 2014 and then I received 750 Thai Baht per year. As I served faithfully, God provided for me and I didn’t lack anything. God faithfully provided.

Pictures and testimonies from the 2019 Akha Bible delivery

Biblia Global donors funded 1,200 Bibles for the Akha which were delivered in the fall of 2019 (see below).  Thank you to all who give to our Bibles for Asia project who made this possible!

Reverend Joseph, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Reverend Joseph and I am 46 years old. I am the pastor of Grace Church and I am also an evangelist. I started serving the Lord full time when I was 25 years old. I enjoy sharing the gospel with the animist and Buddhist Akha people in Eastern Burma. But I face a lot of persecution because of the gospel. Seven times I was beaten by the order of the village leader. Four times I was stoned. Once a group of 12 young people beat my whole body. Once I was put in a room for three days without food. But all these difficulties molded me and caused me to mature in Christ and I saw how great God is in my life. The obstacles to the gospel among the Akha are varied. Sometimes the Buddhist monks forbid the people from hearing the gospel. Most Akha people are not educated and cannot reason well. Many follow only money. And when someone does convert, the villagers will beat him and kick him out of the village. The open doors to our Akha people are that most of them are always searching for the truth about life and God. But they are also very obedient to their leaders. So if a village leader becomes a Christian, then the entire village will come to Christ. I am so thankful for your donation of free Akha Bibles with hymnals. You have given living water to those who are thirsty.

My favorite scriptures are Psalm 119:105; Ephesian 2:8-9; and Philippians 4:13.

Mrs. Muilen, Burma/Myanmar

I am Mrs. Muilen and I am 58 years old. I was raised in a Christian family, but my faith was not serious. I married when I was 17 years old, but then came to Christ when I was 21 years old (in 1982). Once I came to Christ I had much more happiness than before. I always shared Christ with my children, and after 7 years they are all believers. But my husband was a drunk who also smoked and used drugs. Finally in 2017 my husband also came to Christ and was delivered of all his addictions. Praise the Lord. By God’s grace I have a very sweet family. For years the children and I prayed together and sang songs to God, but we didn’t have a Bible to read from. Thank you for freely giving us a full Akha Bible.

My favorite Scriptures are Psalms 1:1-3 and Joshua 1:8.

Reverend Moses, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Reverend Moses. I am 45 years old and I pastor an Akha Assembly of God church. I was raised in a Buddhist family. My father was the chairman of the Buddhist monastery. I watched him offer up many sacrifices to the Buddha in hopes that our family would prosper. But we never did prosper, and in fact we became poorer and poorer. So I did not believe Buddha was a real god, and I started searching for the true and living God. When I was 18 years old I heard the gospel preached and I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. My heart was changed and I was so happy that I had to tell others about Jesus. I went house to house through many villages sharing the gospel. I shared with Akha and Lahu people and other tribes as well. I have faced many difficulties for sharing the gospel. Once I shared in an army camp, but the commanding officer had me arrested and put in jail. I had only one meal and one liter of water each day. But I shared the gospel while I was in jail and seven people accepted Christ. Today, five of them are missionaries to remote areas of Eastern Myanmar, and two are faithful deacons in their churches. After two months I was released from jail, and I could not stop sharing the gospel. In 2001 I was sharing in a village near the China border. The police took and burned my Akha New Testament Bible. From that time I never had a Bible. But I had memorized many full Bible verses, so it was good for evangelism. But today, by the grace of God, I received a full Akha Bible plus hymnal. This is unbelievable and beyond our prayers. When I received the Bible I cried to the Lord and I am praising God without ceasing. But we still need more copies to get one copy into each home.

My favorite scriptures are John 3:16; Psalms 121; and Philippians 4:13.

Mrs. Abuna, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Mrs. Abuna. I am 35 years old and I am a Sunday school teacher. I teach 35 children, but our class has only 5 Akha New Testaments. Our old, spiritual, leaders all died without having their own Bibles. So we Akha were very poor in knowledge, and because of this other tribes looked down on us. When I was very young my parents were found dead in the forest. The villagers found their bodies and brought them back to the village. They told me that my parents died from poisonous snake bites. I was lost and broken. But the village headman adopted me and he always told me about Jesus. In 2003 I accepted Christ as my personal savior and Lord, and from that time I have great happiness and I never get discouraged. I am serving the children and I am so happy and satisfied in life. We Akha people need many more Bibles. Please remain concerned for our need for Bibles.

Pastor Joel, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Pastor Joel. I am the happiest and most joyous man, because of this give away of full Akha Bibles with hymnals. This is the greatest day God has made in my life. We have never had full Bibles before. There have been some New Testaments, but they were printed years ago and many are damaged now. Most Akha leaders have been praying for this day since about 1990 (29 years). When I think about this blessing from God I cry and I pray to God. I never dreamed that this free distribution was even possible. That is my human thinking. But our God is the God of the impossible.

Mr. Silah, Burma/Myanmar

I am Mr. Silah and I am 58 years old. I was raised in a Christian family, but I never when to church until I was 18 years old. My village was in the civil war, and all our houses were burned up and there was no place to stay. I was so discouraged that I tried to kill myself 6 times. When I was 21 years old I met an Akha evangelist on the bus and he shared Jesus with me for two hours. Then I felt something in my heart, so I accept Christ that day. The evangelist suggested that I serve the Lord, but as my parents were poor. I could not serve the Lord, because I had to work for my family. When I went home I loved my parents even more than before. They were old and so I worked even harder so I could take care of them. But in my free time I started sharing the gospel, and then I became the leader of the young people at our church. But we didn’t have any scriptures in our church. I have been praying for a Bible since 2001. And after 18 long years God has given me a full Akha Bible with hymnal. My favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 33:3, because as God promised, I called on him and he answered my prayer. Praise the Lord.

Mr. Lasila, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Mr. Lasila, I am 41 years old and I am from MP, Eastern Myanmar. I was raised by Christian parents, but I never attended church. I drank alcohol, smoked, used drugs, and more. I did all the wicked things in my life and my parents were always upset with me. In 2010 my parents put me in a drug treatment home led by Christian Evangelical Fellowship. They didn’t allow us to go outside and every day they taught us the word of God. On the last night before I was to leave, I committed my life to the Lord and God took away all my desires for all the wicked things in my life. PRAISE THE LORD. After I accepted Christ all my thinking, life style, and habits were changed. I eagerly wanted to go to church. I enjoyed singing gospel songs and I longed to read the Bible. Nothing could stop me from living for God. Now my parents, relatives, friends, and church members love me more. I prayed to God to open the door for me to attend Bible school and in 2016 God opened the door for me to study in a Bible college in Yangon. I am so thankful to God for His full grace to me always. When I accepted Christ I was given a Bible in the Burmese language, but I don’t understand everything. It is very difficult to own a Bible in our country, and especially our Akha Bible. There are many reasons for this. Three reasons are poverty, poor transport, and the Bibles are controlled by the Bible Society. So from that day in 2010 I have prayed for a Bible in my own Akha language. Now, in October 2019, God has answered that prayer through all of you and I have been given a free, full Akha Bible with hymnal. This is the first Akha Bible I have owned in my life. I have never seen a free Bible giveaway before. Though God has answered many of my prayers, this is the greatest answer to my prayers that I have seen God accomplish. It is AMAZING for me to receive our Akha Bible FREELY. Thank you so much for your greatest and precious gift for our Akha people.

Mrs. Nalar, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Mrs. Nalar and I am 49 years old. I accepted Christ when I was 19 years old. When I accepted Christ I was longing to read the word of God, but I could not find even one copy to buy. But there were some New Testaments. We Akha Christians have been praying for the full Bible since 1995. After 24 years of praying God has answered our prayers through all of you. Some years ago I was sharing the gospel to Akha people near the border with China who were animists. But the local priests and villagers arrested me. They wanted me to promise I would never share the gospel again, but I would not make that promise. They held me captive for five days and they were preparing to kill me. But then one night a man came and secretly released me, saving my life. God is so good. My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Because when I was arrested and they tried to get me to deny Christ and my calling in Christ, God kept me strong and I did not deny Him. You are always in our prayers.

Reverend Maduk, Burma/Myanmar

I am Reverend Maduk. I am 51 years old and I am a pastor. I was born into an animist family. My father always pushed us to worship the demons. My mother and my two brothers and two sisters obeyed him. But I disobeyed. Secretly I went to church and prayed to God. In 1985 I was 17 years old and I went to a Christian camp in Yangon. I accepted Christ at that time. When I went back to my village I boldly shared the gospel. My parents would not listen and they kicked me out of the house and out of the family. But God is so good and He prepared a place for me to stay. I prayed to God for my family members and now they have all accepted Christ as there personal savior and Lord. The local authorities do not allow us to build a church, but we still worship God faithfully. But the government requires that they approve my sermons before I give them. I am a pastor, but I have never had a full Bible. Never in my life have I ever seen a full Akha Bible with hymnal before. Thank you for giving these to us freely. They are unspeakably precious to us.

My favorite Bible verses are John 3:16 and Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Pastor Ajay, Burma/Myanmar

My name is Pastor Ajay of MA Baptist Church. I was raised in a Christian family, but I never went to church until I was 21 years old. From the age of 10 I smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol, used drugs, and did every bad thing. In 1984 my parents sent me to attend Bible college, and afterwards I was a full time minister in the Akha Baptist Association. But I was not born again and I continued all my bad ways and substance abuse. In 2007 I attended a pastors’ conference, and that’s where I accepted Christ as my savior and Lord. John 3:16 opened my heart to God. Then I easily stopped smoking, drinking, drugs, and all my bad ways. I was full of joy and I was very hungry to read the Bible. I was much more faithful in God’s service. I had been a pastor for more than 20 years without even accepting Christ or being born again. In the past 12 years I have never had a Bible, not even a New Testament, even though I searched all over for a Bible to buy. The Bible and hymnal you gave me today is beyond my prayers and thinking. Thank you so much for sending Spiritual light to our Akha people. Now the light will start shining to our Akha people and we will clearly see the ways of God.

Mr. Jawla, Burma/Myanmar

I am Mr. Jawla. I was raised in a village in the war zone. Before I could even remember my parents they were killed in the war. So I was a lonely boy. During the war, all the houses in my village were burned down four times. We lost all our animals, houses, clothes, rice, everything. But God loved this lonely boy very much. I heard the gospel when I was 12 and I accepted Christ. Then I listened to Bible teaching on the radio, and it was amazing to me and others. I was so happy and excited for my future, because I believed God was the greatest and that He would lead me. God opened the way for me to go to school and later Bible school. I am now a deacon in my church. There has never been a Bible in our village until today, when you gave us Bibles with hymnals for free. God has answered our prayers and our pastor brought a Bible for each family. Amazing. Nothing is impossible with God.

My beloved scriptures are 1 Corinthians 15:58 and Philippians 4:13

NOTES

[1] Lewis, Paul and Elaine. Peoples of the Golden Triangle (London: Thames and Hudson LTD, 1998), 7.

[2] Ibid, 9, 204

Tooker, Deborah. "Identity Systems of Highland Burma: 'Belief', Akha Zan, and a Critique of Interiorized Notions of Ethno-Religious Identity", Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. 27, No. 4, Dec. 1992, 801.

[3] “The Akha People,” Peoples of the World Foundation, peoplesoftheworld.org [home page on-line]; available from http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Akha; accessed May 7, 2020.

[4] Tooker, 800, 803-805

[5] Kammerer, Cornilia Ann. “Customs and Christian Conversion among Akha Highlanders of Burma and Thailand”, American Ethnologist. May 1990, 280.

Tooker, 804

[6] Tooker, 804.

[7] Lewis, 222.

Kammerer, Customs, 279-280.

[8] Lewis, 222.

   Kammerer, Customs, Ibid.

[9] Tooker, 803-804.

[10] Lewis, 224.

[11] Galatians 3:10, cf. Deuteronomy 27:14-26

[12] Kammerer, Customs, 283-284

[13] Ibid, 278.

[14] Kammerer, Cornilia Ann. “Discarding the Basket: The Reinterpretation of Tradition by Akha Christians of Northern Thailand”, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Vol. 27, No.2, Sept. 1996, 322.

Kammerer, Customs, 323.

[15] Incidentally, the Lewis’ were the last American Baptist missionaries to the Akha before the Burmese government kicked out foreign missionaries in the mid 1960’s (Kammerer, Customs, 278).

[16] Kammerer, Discarding, 278.

Nightingale, Peter. “The Akha Work”, in Ascent to the Tribes: Pioneering in Northern Thailand, Appendix I, by Isobel Kuhn (Singapore: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1984), 145.

[17] The story of the birth of the Thai Akha church is told in Jean Nightingale’s book, “Without a Gate” (Republic of Singapore: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1990), and Peter Nightingale’s appendix, “The Akha Work” (In “Ascent to the Tribes: Pioneering in Northern Thailand”, Appendix I, by Isobel Kuhn, Singapore: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, 1984). In an interesting side note, the Nightingales, along with many other OMF missionaries in Northern Thailand in the early 1950’s were originally serving in China when the new Communist regime kicked all foreign missionaries out. Because of this turn of events, God opened the door for many other unreached people to receive the Gospel as OMF pivoted from China to these unreached tribes.

[18] Lewis, 224.

[19] J. Nightingale, Without a Gate, 147.

    P. Nightingale, The Akha Work, 147.

[20] “Akha”, Joshua Project, joshuaproject.net [home page on-line]; available from https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/10223; accessed May 9, 2020.

[21] Ibid.