Htay Soe and his wife, Hla Chit (not their real names) are working as teachers among the Karen people in the jungles of Myanmar. Htay Soe and Hla Chit's dedication to teaching encouraged a lot of young people to commit themselves to study and prepare for the future. The parents of the children loved the couple so much because of their passion and dedication to teaching their children. There are about 170 kindergartens and grades 1 to 8 students in this village of about 120 bamboo houses.
Htay Soe is the principal, and his wife is the registrar. Hla Chit is a Lal-hu lady from the Shan state, but her several years of working with the Karen people enabled her to talk in Karen, winning the hearts of the people in the village.
One day, the school had a graduation exercise for their eighth-graders. They invited several guests to commemorate the event and to make it special for the children and their families. Everyone was happy, this was the first time they had a lot of people in the village. Parents were so happy seeing their children's accomplishments through Htay Soe and Hla Chit.
A few days after the graduation, Htay Soe’s son got sick. He needed to take him to the nearest clinic which was three hours away by motorcycle. Htay Soe was very worried. With his family, he prayed for healing. His son's fever never subsided, so they rode on. Three hours later, his family reached the clinic.
While they were in the clinic, Htay Soe received a call from the school pastor telling him to go back immediately before sunset because there is an impending conflict between the Karen and the Burmese soldiers. As soon as he got his son’s medicines, he took his wife and his son with him and headed home right away.
On their way home, they noticed that trees along the road were cut down. They had to drive around obstructions. They came to a spot where the road split into two. Someone has told Htay Soe that the easier road was planted with land mines.
From a distance, they can hear that the fight has started. Htay Soe and his family knelt and prayed in the middle of the road for God's protection and guidance. With renewed courage and confidence in Christ, Htay Soe chose the difficult road.
He drove through this difficult road like never before. Before long, Htay Soe and his family made it home safely. His nephew was very happy to see them back because he was very afraid to be alone in the house while the fighting was going on.
Htay Soe and his family were exhausted, so he asked his nephew to fetch some water for them. Htay Soe wanted to start cooking, so he decided to go to the bunker to get some fire
wood.
When they were about to leave the house, Htay Soe heard a very strange sound. A few seconds after that he saw smoke coming out of the ground close to his house, just a few meters away from where he was standing.
When he realized that it was a bomb, Htay Soe shouted, “Lie down!”
There was silence. A few seconds later, they heard nothing. There was no explosion. He came close to the hole. There was no smoke. He looked closely and he found out that it was a bomb that didn't explode. What a relief to everyone in the village.
Late that night, two soldiers came and checked the bomb. The bomb had penetrated the ground to a depth of about three feet. They didn't want to do anything about it either for it might cause casualties. It was dangerous.
The soldiers stood there for a while analyzing the situation. Why did the bomb not explode? Then one of the soldiers asked, “Are you a Christian?” Htay Soe said, “Yes, we are Seventh-day Adventists.”
“That explains it!”, the soldiers said, “Your God is very powerful! If this bomb had exploded, nobody would be alive within 100 feet.”
The two soldiers said, “This is not our bomb", and left without doing anything to it. Htay Soe stood there for a while trying to absorb the words of the soldiers. He knew that God protected everyone in that village. No one can explain why the bomb malfunctioned but he knew in his heart that His God has intervened. Htay Soe made a bamboo basket and put it on the top of the bomb's hole so that nobody will approach it. He told everyone not to touch or remove the basket because this hole is very dangerous.
That day, the whole village witnessed a miracle that proves who God is. The whole village was amazed by the power of God being served and worshipped by the Htay Soe family.
Myanmar Region of Seventh-day Adventists