{"id":84256,"date":"2024-08-26T23:15:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T03:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freeburmarangers.org\/?p=84256"},"modified":"2024-08-27T02:20:15","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T06:20:15","slug":"because-of-god-i-am-still-alive-a-ranger-finds-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.freeburmarangers.org\/my\/2024\/08\/26\/because-of-god-i-am-still-alive-a-ranger-finds-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"“Because of God I am still alive”: A Ranger Finds Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Because of God I am still alive”: A Ranger Finds Jesus <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Karenni State, Burma<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

30 July 2024<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Beginnings: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aung Gyi, whose nickname means \u201cVictory,\u201d is 27 years old. He is from the Sagaing area of Myanmar, but grew up in Mandalay, a city in central Burma. As a young teenager, he lost both his parents, who passed away just one week apart. He has three older brothers, but isn\u2019t able to communicate with them anymore after they were all briefly arrested by the police due to Aung Gyi\u2019s participation in the revolution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aung Gyi returned to Sagaing for university, where he studied mechanical engineering and, perhaps more importantly, met his future wife, Lin, in 2019. In February 2021, the Burma Army staged a coup and overthrew the elected government; very quickly the people of Burma rose up to resist – the revolution had begun. In the cities of central Burma there were mass protests, and in the outlying ethnic areas, the scale and intensity of violence by the Burma Army against the ethnic people began to increase. Aung Gyi and Lin both became involved in the people’s movement and in May 2021, after learning more about the situation for Karenni IDPs (internally displaced people), they and three other friends raised 4 million kyat so they could travel to Karenni to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aung Gyi and Lin.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the coup, Karenni State has seen some of the heaviest attacks by the Burma Army, and hundreds of people have been displaced. While the need is great, travel there, especially from the outside, is difficult. Aung Gyi and the group knew their trip could be difficult and dangerous. Once on their way, they arrived in a town near the Karenni border and stopped to buy supplies and try to learn more about the situation and safest way to the IDP area. While there, they heard there was a ceasefire, so they set off again to reach the IDPs. At one point, they were stopped at a Burma Army checkpoint, but were miraculously the only people on the bus who didn\u2019t have their IDs and phones checked. On the way, they often didn\u2019t know where to go next but Lin would encourage the team to pray and wait. They heard there were many IDPs in Demoso, so they decided to go there; but, before continuing, they decided their group needed a name. Freelance Volunteer Myanmar was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, FVM has grown to a total of 20 volunteers. Their mission is to visit IDP camps to give supplies and medicine, and facilitate children\u2019s programs. In September 2021, they met FBR Karenni teams and began to collaborate. They were able to give money for mobile medical clinics and participated with Good Life Club programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2022, during an FBR relief mission, an FBR Karenni leader called Aung Gyi to see if he could help to organize food for some team members who were returning to the area. Aung Gyi liked what FBR was doing since there were many similarities between FBR and his work. He also met Dave Eubank who gave a donation to FVM to help continue their work. In June 2022, Aung Gyi met with FBR teams again on a relief mission and asked to join a team for basic training later that year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aung Gyi often uses his musical abilities to give IDPs hope.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New Faith:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aung Gyi was raised Buddhist, but he says that it always felt more cultural than personal. Lin is a Christian and while they were dating, she would take Aung Gyi to church every Sunday and explain her faith to him. Aung Gyi says that he would have identified more as an atheist at that time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Aung Gyi met Dave Eubank, he started to think a lot more about faith. He saw that Dave would go to the frontline in Burma and in many other countries as well, but every time they met, Dave just talked about Jesus. He remembers Dave saying, \u201cHe (Jesus) forgets my sins and shows me the way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aung Gyi said, \u201cI think he prays a lot and that\u2019s why he hasn\u2019t gotten injured on the frontline. So I started asking my girlfriend because I was curious about that. My girlfriend was so happy and we started reading the Bible together. Dave Eubank inspired me a lot. When I graduated from Ranger training, Dave said ‘Pray, think, act’ and so I wrote it down. Whenever I went back to the frontline I always thought about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretty soon, God started working in Aung Gyi\u2019s heart, and he shares three testimonies of God\u2019s faithfulness and calling to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n