From the day he announced that he would no longer follow Buddha, Ko Myo’s family disowned him and his name was wiped off the village records and books. This meant that he was no longer a citizen of his village, and his children could no longer register for school. It was a painful rejection, and it was only the beginning.
Soon after, the slander began. Whenever something broke at the temple, it was deemed to be Ko Myo’s fault. Town meetings were called to accuse him, and over time the animosity became so acute that Ko Myo was forced to live outside the village. And although he had been working with us at Lighthouse farm for some time, the threats that he received caused him to draw back. At the time, we thought that he had chosen to no longer work with us and discontinued the small stipend that he received. It was then that Ko Myo felt the lowest and loneliest in his life. Not only had he lost all his Buddhist friends and family, but he felt abandoned by his new Christian family as well.
“I would sit alone in the rice field,” Ko Myo said, “and read my Bible every day. It was a very difficult time. But God was there.” In fact, it was during this time of isolation and persecution that God did something amazing for Ko Myo. “I got a phone call from the principal of the school,” he shared. “He asked me to come to a town meeting. I thought, ‘What now? What are they going to accuse me of?’
At the meeting, the principal stood up and said, “Ko Myo, it is the new requirement of our government that the head of the school board must have a high school education. You are the only person in our village to do this. Before we pushed you out of our village, we also saw you volunteer your time to bring building supplies for the new school to our community. You are honest, educated and faithful, so we choose you to be president of the school board! Congratulations!”
Ko Myo was stunned, but humbly accepted the responsibility offered him. Since that day he has faithfully served our community, and encourages other believers to not give up, even in the face of rejection and persecution.
