An early Christmas Gift

God is great. God is real. God can do wonders.

100 copies of newly photocopied Myanmar song books sit in my study room right now. I’ve just brought them in from the printers yesterday and spent an hour or so folding them into little booklets. I’ve not finished them all yet—maybe around 50-80 more to go. They are thick and hard to fold, but looking at them makes me marvel at how God has brought this entire thing about.

You see, the idea of taking up this project began when I was taking a shower after work. I recalled my pastor, P Dan, talking about how simple it is to bless the Myanmar church by providing them with songbooks for their services. I visited their church once and found that they were lacking of song books. And because they are not very well off, and the song books are thick, it was probably very costly for them to print a book. But as many ideas go, this idea was just an idea... floating around in the air, waiting for someone to catch hold of it and put it into action. And so, I decided that I would be that person to bring this idea into reality. And because Christmas was coming, I made it my goal to have the books ready in time for Christmas.

I SMS-ed P Dan and told him of my desire. He was delighted and said that he would borrow a copy of the song book for me. That was a Monday, the 15^th of November, exactly 40 days to Christmas day. By Tuesday, I had the book in my hand and was ready to get things going! I started typing on Wednesday and found that the task was more complicated than I had initially thought. Due to the difference in language, I had some trouble with the spelling and how the words form from one to another. As a result, it took me longer than expected to complete typing out a song.

As the days went on, and December arrived, it dawned upon me that I was running out of time. Just when I was beginning to panic, Lydia came forward on Saturday, 4^th Dec to offer her help. Apparently P Dan told her I needed help. I wondered who told him about it as I never shared my difficulties with him before, but that was exactly what I needed!  However, Lydia would not be around that week and will only be available the following week, which was the week before the Christmas week. I thank her for volunteering and set about getting some 50 songs photocopied so she can refer to them and type them for me when she comes back from her holiday. At the same time, I bucked up on my own typing to cover for all the lost time before. Lydia came back the following week, I passed her the songs on Saturday, and she had them typed out and mailed to me by Tuesday, as she understood the importance of getting the books ready by  Christmas. I later found out that Samuel helped as well. Those two were a great blessing indeed. By Wednesday, I had all the songs compiled and printed the very first copy. I had some trouble with the printer and the ink; the fonts and page alignment were incorrect too. I had to print several times before I got the final copy right. But due to the many error trials, the ink was running out and so the final copy came in colours of blue and red and whatever colours in between! The alignment was not perfect too, but I was too frustrated and tired by then to print another round.

Next, I had to decide which Photostat shop to go best to get my books photocopied. Since the master print was not in perfect order, I felt it was important to go to a good printer to help me straighten things up. After consulting with my mom and dad, my mom suggested a shop at the back of a row of shops in Kelang Lama. I didn’t know which shop she was referring to but promised to take a drive around the next day to check it out.

On Thursday, during my lunch break, I brought the master copy to the shop, selected what I thought were the best and worst pages and told the man in the shop to print a copy. He cautioned that the red ink might be a problem but said he’ll try anyway. He did and it turned out almost as nice as the blue. Then I told him about the page alignment problem, and he said he’ll try to adjust it for me. He did a sample and I found it satisfactory. I asked him about printing the entire book, having it stapled and bind with a thicker cover. He said he could do it. And I thank God I had gone there that very day and not one day late as I had earlier planned, because he was going to leave town the next day. If I had been one day late, I would have missed meeting such a wonderful man! He said he could complete the 100 copies before he left the next day. I asked him to calculate the cost for all 100 copies and was shocked when the figure came up to RM 303, and he immediately said, RM 300! See, when I first started on the project, I made a mental dedication of RM300 to the Lord for it. But as the project progressed, I realised that RM300 would most likely take me only as far as 50 copies of the book. However, after consulting with the Chairman of the Myanmar Church, Peter, P Dan had told me to print 100 copies! I was a little dismayed when I heard the figure, as that would mean I have to fork out double my budget.

When the master copy didn’t turn out alright, and when I was contemplating on whether or not to just go ahead with the printing, regardless of how it turned out, God spoke to me through 3 John 1: 1-8. I repented of my initial thoughts and decided to check the Photostat shop out first. If it was not satisfactory, I would re-print the master copy and do whatever was needed to get the books done in good order. I told the Lord, if it has to be so, let it be so. I had expected about RM 500-600 for the 100 copies, and so it was a really pleasant surprise when the man told me RM300, the exact amount that I had dedicated to the Lord for this project. I sang praises all the way back to the office.

I collected the books on Friday, and was delighted when the man offered to carry them for me to my car. He is indeed a good man. May God bless him and his family and save them from the grasp of the devil! After work, I began the task of folding the 78-pages-thick books. It was hard work indeed, but a joyous one nevertheless! Tomorrow, I shall have to finish folding them all before sending them to P Dan to bring them to the Myanmar church. I’m sure the church will be blessed. I have already been blessed. I’ve seen the hand of God at work and experience his provision first-hand once more. Thank you Lord for this early Christmas gift!