Update --- Nov. 27 - 29

Here's some of what I've been doing for the last several days.  On Wednesday morning, the Karen Baptist Theological Seminary dedicated a new four-story academic building named in honor a beloved former professor, Dr. Mooler.  At the dedication, Tabernacle's Brando and Ma Pyo Sancrown, who are visiting Yangon  from Thailand, and I were reunited.

With Brand, Ma Pyo in front of new KBTS academic building.

On the evening of the 26th and all day on the 27th we attended the Karen Baptist Conventions Centennial Meeting at the newly built Yangon Baptist Association meeting hall.  The hall seats over 3000 and was filled to overflowing!  The opening ceremony included a brass band, the beating of the traditional Karen drum, and blowing of water buffalo horns.

Blowing the buffalo horn at the KBC Meeting opening ceremony.

At the morning worship service on the 27th I was honored to bring greetings from Tabernacle Baptist Church and the ABC/USA Burma Refugee Taskforce.

Bringing greetings at KBC Centennial Meeting.

For lunch on the 27th the Sancrowns took Duane and Marcia Binkley, and me to the restaurant atop a 20 story building in downtown Yangon that offered a panoramic vista of the city and delicious Burmese and western cuisine.

The KBC Meeting also afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with several friends I haven't seen in several years.

With fellow EBTS/Palmer Seminary alum Sonny Dongpongpee and his wife.
Sonny is now the General Secretary Karen Baptist Convention of Thailand.

With Pi Sharon, an American missionary to the Karen whom
I first met in 2008.

The Binkleys, the Bostroms, and I spent all day Friday (Nov. 29) doing some Yangon site-seeing.  We visited Aung San Suu Kyi's home (we could see it through the gate!), her National Democratic Party's headquarters, and her father's home. Her father was General Aung San - a Burmese World War II hero and leader in the effort to win Burmese independence from Britain.  After lunch at a traditionl Myanmar restaurant, we visited the National Museum, which includes natural history, fine arts, cultural anthropology, and historical artifacts. (Sadly, no cameras are permitted!)

We concluded  the day with a visit to the Shedagon, the iconic Buddhist pagoda which stands at the center of Yangon.