Wa (Myanmar, Thailand, China)

Background

General area where the Wa live

The Wa are a hill tribe in Southeast Asia who have existed in the rugged mountainous region between Myanmar/Burma, Thailand, and China for for many centuries. When the British administered Burma in the 19th century, full administered never extended into the northeast Mountainous area of Burma that the Wa inhabit. Chinese rule never fully extended into Wa territory. These various ruling powers who have controlled the region have never exercised full control over the area primarily because of the rugged mountainous terrain. This semi-autonomy has contributed to an ongoing sense of Wa identity and Wa territory being very distinct from Myanmar, British-Burmese, or Chinese identity. Once an independent Myanmar separated from British colonial rule in 1948, the central Myanmar government has continuously fought to gain full control of this region from the many ethnic minorities who desire autonomy, particularly to the east. The Wa have been one of these ethnic minorities who have fought for autonomy over the last eight decades since Burmese independence from Britain.

Like many traditional hill tribes of Southeast Asia, the Wa historically were animists, worshiping and appeasing the spirits they perceived inhabiting rocks, trees, and other elements in nature. Unlike most SE Asia Hill tribes, however, the Wa historically practiced human sacrifice for the success of annual crops and were notorious head hunters with dozen’s of occurrences being documented well into the late 1950’s [1]. Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity have all made inroads into the region and people. William Marcus Young, a young missionary from Nebraska, first came to Shan State, Myanmar in 1892 and introduced Christianity to the Wa. William, his wife, his son Marcus Vincent, and other members of the Young family devised a writing system for the Wa and Lahu languages, translating Christian material and books of the bible into Wa in the early 19th century [2]. The Wa New Testament was completed by the Young family in 1938 [3] with the Old Testament being completed later.

While Christianity has been established in the decades since the introduction of the Gospel by the Young family and the translation of the entire Bible, many of the churches, pastors, and believers still didn’t have their own copy God’s Word to read and study. The civil war that resulted from the February 2021 Coup in Myanmar has had a profound effect on the Wa churches as the fighting and battle lines have increasingly gotten closer to and pushed into Eastern Myanmar and the Wa region. Biblia Global was privileged to be able to print and deliver 14,000 Bibles to these Wa believers in 2026 as they continue [as of this writing] to face an extremely difficult situation between government opposition, devastating fighting from the civil war, and lack of outside resources.

Mrs. Nang, Myanmar

My name is Mrs. Nang, and I live in a remote Village in Wa State. By the wonderful grace of God, I have received this Bible for free, which I have been waiting for many years and months. I have longed to read the Wa Bible, both the New Testament and the Old Testament. In the villages and areas where we live, Christianity is strictly prohibited. Over seven years ago, local authorities banned worship in church buildings, chapels, halls, and other places of worship. These establishments are still closed. However, since last year, there have been some relaxations regarding worship. Although we are not permitted to gather in churches, we can now meet in our homes and worship with our families, friends, and church members.

About seven years ago, when the authorities attempted to suppress Christianity, they burned and destroyed Christian symbols, crosses, calendars, literature, books, hymnals, and Bibles. Now that we have regained the right to worship in our homes, hymnals and Bibles are urgently needed. I am incredibly happy and grateful to God for the timely delivery of the Bible, which comes at a critical moment when we desperately need hymnals and Bibles. I cannot read Thai, Chinese, or Burmese at all; I only know the 'Wa' script.

Since receiving the Wa Bible, I have been reading it every day and receiving spiritual guidance. Additionally, I have been able to share the events and messages of the Bible with others. I believe that receiving this Bible will benefit not only me but also other believers who hunger for the Word of God and our churches as a whole. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the organizations and donors who helped publish the Bible, as well as to those who ensured it reached us when we needed it most. Thank you all.

I would like to introduce to myself first. My name is A.L., Wa State. I am (41) years old and my professional job is Agriculture and Livestock Farming. In the past, my life was completely directionless. I spent my days consumed by worldly anxieties, constant worries, and a profound lack of inner peace. Free-falling through life without knowing its true meaning, I frequently battled overwhelming feelings of depression and despair.

However, a pivotal turning point arrived, completely reshaping my destiny. That was the day the Holy Bible was placed into my hands from the Wa Baptist Convention. When I first received it, I treated it as just any ordinary book. But during one of the darkest seasons of my life, I opened it and began to read its pages. In that very moment, my soul was miraculously awakened.

By reading and meditating on the Holy Scriptures daily, I have personally experienced extraordinary benefits and profound changes in my life:

Finding True Peace of Mind: I received a genuine, abiding peace through the promises in the Bible, a peace that calms the storms within my heart, unlike the fleeting happiness the world offers.

Discovering a Blueprint for Life: Whenever I felt lost, unable to discern right from wrong or light from darkness, the Holy Word became a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It granted me the wisdom to navigate my anxieties every time they surfaced.

A Complete Shift in Character and Lifestyle: My old habits of short-temperedness, selfishness, and impatience gradually faded away under the gentle correction and teaching of the Word. In their place, a new heart capable of loving, forgiving, and showing patience toward others began to grow.

To conclude my testimony, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." [Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4]

I can testify that the Bible is not merely a work of literature but the living Word of God. Since receiving and reading this Holy Bible, my life has been completely redirected from a path of brokenness to one filled with abundant blessings. I remain eternally grateful for the power of the Word, which revealed to me the true purpose of existence and transformed me into a new creation.

My name is Miss Shi. I am from Wa State. Now I’m (31) years and I’m ordinary people. In the past, I was a person who did not truly know God. My life was focused only on making money, seeking pleasure, and spending time with friends in vain. Deep inside, I had no peace. worry, anger, and caused many problems in my family. Although my life looked fine on the outside, but my heart was empty within.

One day, I received a Bible as a gift from the Wa Convention. At first, I was not very interested, but during my free time I started reading it. I began to know the scriptures. The words are easy to read and understand for me. Because of that, I made a commitment to read the Holy Bible, God’s Word, consistently every single day. At that time, I never imagined that this decision would completely turn my life around. Instead of reading the Bible as a mere ordinary book, I began to read it with prayer, reflection, and deep meditation. That was when God’s words entered my life with living power.

From that day on, I developed the habit of reading the Bible every day. The more I read, the more I realized my sins and weaknesses. My angry attitude slowly changed, and I became gentler toward my friends and my neighbors.

Moreover, through faith in God, I found a new hope in my life. Even when difficulties came, I no longer lost heart but learned to depend on prayer and God’s Word. The Bible became a guiding light for my life.

In conclusion, I want to testify with my own life that the Bible is not just an ordinary book, but the living Word of God. Reading the Scripture has purified my thoughts, enriched my spiritual strength, and empowered me to live each day with meaningful purpose. Today, by the grace of God, I am living a new life. Reading the Bible changed my heart, my thoughts, and my entire way of living. Therefore, I would like to encourage everyone to read and study the Word of God. God’s Word has the power to transform a person’s life. Thank you for your donation of the Wa Bible to us.

My name is Miss Kat from Shan State, Myanmar. I am 38 years old and I am a full time minister at the church

Our village was built in 1971 and started with seven Christian families. There was a civil war around 1970 in the Wa region, so the villagers migrated to this new village. They received the gospel from a missionary. Today, there are 100 migrant church members in our village. Our ancestors were animism and mountain people. They worshiped the spirits (Nat). They sacrificed animals to spirits for their economic, fields and health. And they could never fully follow and please the spirits with sacrifices. I was raised in a Christian family and I got the gospel from my church school teachers and pastors. I believed Jesus as my personal savior and I was baptized on 28 February, 2004.

I want to live my life like God’s daughter before Christ. I love and want to live my life with a pure and humble heart until the end of my life. I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with my two friends who are Buddhist monks about salvation in Jesus. They understand Jesus Christ only as the way not as their savior. I do pray for them; may the Holy Spirit guide them to be clear that Jesus Christ is not only the way but that He is the way, the truth and the life for the world.

I have prayed for the chance to live together with my parents since my school life. I got the answer to my pray after I graduated from seminarian in 2014. I lived and served in a stranger’s house while I got my education from kindergarten to Grade 8.

I had a big headache before I went to seminary. There wasn’t any medicine that could cure my headache. Since I decide to attend the seminary for God’s ministry, the headache has gone away and I did not take medicine to this point.

After they received Jesus Christ as savior, my great-grand parents from both sides of my of my family were delivered and freed from the burden of the spirits. They were transformed by the good news of the gospel.

Our senior pastor is 95 years old. He has served God since 1960. He shares in the church service his life experiences. There were difficulties in his life, but he always takes courage in God’s word and prays throughout his ministry life to this very day.

On July 13, 2024 we have faced civil war. Our church youth department leader was struck with a 50-pound bomb and some houses were destroyed with a 500-pound bomb. We left our village for one half of months and returned home together.

We have blessings of God because God prepared a new Bible from the providers’ donations. If there is no Bible, we cannot hear, know and understand the word and the will of God.

We give thanks to God and all donations around the world provided for us to have free Bible. May God richly bless you all for the glory of the kingdom.

Our local church members are poor in education and economic. But we are clear in belief and salvation. We are mountain people and farmers. We receive God blessings because of your donations to have the Bible, the basic need of our daily life. We pray that you all may share more your blessings for all who do really need the word of God.

My name is Rev. Titus. I am serving as secretary of a Wa denomination convention. Our Convention is organized with (20) churches and eight department which are (1) Christian Education department, (2) Youth department, (3) Women department, (4) Evangelical and Mission Department, (6) Literature department, (7) Minister department and Christian Service and Development department.

I was orphaned as a child, and my adopted parents are Christians. They are God fearing people. Ever since I was young, my adoptive parents always sent me to Sunday school and they always took me to church. That’s how I came to know God. When I was young, I dedicated my heart to serve God, because of seeing the fields of Wa people with so many of them needing to be harvested into the love of Christ.

In 1995, as a young man, I was invited to join and help carry out the Convention’s AD – 2000 mission project. This was a five year evangelistic mission. I accepted and I served the Lord for 5 years working hard, but with happiness, in the rural areas and the mountain villages going to many Wa villages. After that, in 2001, I attended Bible school and I have been involved in the ministry to this day. I have served in various capacities in God’s service.

As the secretary of the Convention, I love God and I am very interested in missionary work. The churches I currently serve and lead have five mission fields. As the leader, the first thing I need to focus on is making myself stronger in God, stronger spiritually, by mediating on the Bible day and night and being stronger in prayer. Only then can I make the organization I lead look like what God desires.

I have had a great desire to see all churches become faith filled, witnessing, missionary, praying, and living churches.

We had some Wa Bibles before we received this new version. The old version from were hard to read and understand. This new version is clear and easy to understand for readers immediately. And also we, the church pastors, ministers, and only some church members can own and read the Bible, because most church members cannot buy the Bible from the Bible Society, because it is expensive and not free. Now, every church member can own a free Bible for their own and they can now read the Bible as often as they would like, because of your great donations. The Word of God is the way for our believers in every region. Thank you for your free Bible contribution to the Wa believers.

Our Convention is so blessed and we received God’s blessing from your donations from all the donors around the world, those who love God’s ministry and have sent your love of God to us. We do pray that you may all have God’s blessing in your daily life and receive more abundant life for God’s ministry.

Sincerely and with all thanks,

Rev Titus

My name is NK Med. I live in a special region, specifically the Wa resettlement area near Thailand. I can not read or write in Burmese, English, or Chinese at all. Growing up in a mountainous area with difficult transportation made it unnecessary for me to learn to read. I come from a traditional family of worshippers, and I became a Christian after hearing the gospel preached in the Wa language at a funeral in another village. After my conversion, I began studying the teachings, beliefs, attitudes, and practices of Christianity. I had the opportunity to learn the Wa language, and since I did not know any other language or literature, I picked it up quickly. For me, learning Wa was essential for my spiritual journey; in worship, I needed to sing hymns, praise the Lord, recite scriptures, and read short passages from the Bible. I realized that if I could not read Wa literature, I would not be able to understand the Bible and the Word of God. During worship times, we sing hymns, praise the Lord with worship songs, read scriptures, and recite responses.

Therefore, it is crucial for me to read in the Wa language. As I do not know Burmese or Chinese, I can only read Wa literature. Having the Wa Bible will help my family grow spiritually as we read it every day. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who contributed to our ability to own a Bible. Without your generous donations, I would not have had the opportunity to have my own Bible when I needed it. Thank you to all the donors who made it possible for us to receive these Bibles.

I am the secretary for a Wa denomination. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work and dedication of the Wa Bible in the Wa language, despite the difficult times. The Bible is the most important book in the world and the best-selling book. I would also like to express my special gratitude to the donors who have worked hard to do it, those who have given their time to translate it, and especially I also would like to thank our Wa denominational Convention. I promise to read it with appreciation. I will continue to share it to our churches so that they can read the Word of God. I will encourage every church to read it with appreciation.

This Wa Bible is very easy to understand because it is translated with beautiful and precise expressions of Wa literary words and many profound Wa phrases. It is thin and easy to carry, so it is suitable for children, young people, and adults.

By obtaining this Wa Bible, the church is working on a challenge to read it. This Wa Bible is read once a week by teachers in the church, and the youth are invited to study and read in groups. The difference between the Bible and other books is that it is a book that God himself started. The church is trying to organize Bible reading programs so that the youth can learn about where the world came from, why it came to be, where humans came from, and where humans are headed.

This Bible is used in family morning and evening worship, as well as in family Bible readings. We, the Wa people, are grateful for the free publication of this Wa Bible so that we can effectively study the Word of God in the Wa language.

We are distributing this Wa Bible to the Wa churches and mission fields [in our area]. We also encourage our members to appreciate and read this Wa Bible.

NOTES

[1] “Wa”, Joshua Project, joshuaproject.net [home page on-line]; available from https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/15759/BM; accessed May 17, 2026.

[2] “The Young Family’s Work with the Wa People”, The Humanities Computing Laboratory, humancomp.org [home page on-line]; available from https://www.humancomp.org/wadict/young_family.html; accessed May 17, 2026.

[3] Ibid.

FURTHER READING

Hattaway, Paul. “Wa”. Operation China (Pasadina: William Carey Library, 2000), 534.

“The Indigenous Wa People”, Peoples of the World, peoplesoftheworld.org/ [home page on-line]; available from https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Wa; accessed May 17, 2026.

“Wa People”, Wikipedia, wikipedia.org/ [home page on-line]; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_people; accessed May 17, 2026.

“Wa States”, Wikipedia, wikipedia.org/ [home page on-line]; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wa_States; accessed May 17, 2026.