Thing Sai didn’t know why he felt compelled to go to Myanmar but knew he needed to make the journey. Sai is pastor at Kitchener Emmanuel Church in Ontario, a Mennonite Church Eastern Canada congregation of people from the Matupi area of Chin State in Myanmar.

Last January — under cover of darkness, during a time of war — he and his guide slipped into the jungle on a scooter. They met people who fled bombs and the military, finding refuge deep in the jungle. To their surprise, they were waved through checkpoints without question.

In each community, Pastor Sai offered hope.

“That’s what people are looking for — hope and peace,” he said. “I preached the love of Jesus.”

Civil defenders joined them for protection in dangerous areas. More than once strangers greeted them saying, “We knew you were coming,” though no one had told them. Locals in one village warned him not to enter because “everyone who goes in doesn’t come back.”

What he discovered was heartbreaking: every home empty of life, its people killed by an attack. It was a painful sight and an even more painful story to share later with a church member in Kitchener whose family was from that very village.

In another settlement, weary from travel, Pastor Sai hoped to rest. But people gathered as soon as he arrived.

“We’re going to have worship, and you’re going to preach tonight!” they told him.

“I don’t speak your language,” he replied, hoping it might delay them long enough for him to sleep.

It did not. As he introduced himself, someone exclaimed, “We know your father!” Pastor Sai was astonished. His father was killed more than 30 years ago for refusing to stop preaching.

“It really made me happy,” he said. “It was like seeing my father again through their stories.” He preached until midnight, answering questions until 3 a.m. When he finally lay down to rest, he was urgently awakened and told to leave before dawn.

Hours later he met an old man waiting for him on the road who said, “Thank God you are here. I have been waiting for you.” Again astonished, Pastor Sai followed him deeper into the jungle, fearing an army trap. Instead they reached a clearing filled with the sound of singing. A hundred people hiding from danger were waiting for a preacher.

They told him they had no food and were learning to fast. He stayed and shared the hope of Jesus. When he finished, the old man smiled and said, “No one is going to stop you now. You can go peacefully.”

Pastor Sai slipped out of Myanmar as quietly as he entered. He sees God’s hand in every step — from the moment he was granted time off work to the strangers who seemed to expect him at every turn, to the echoes of his father’s faithfulness and the protection he experienced.

“The people are living in makeshift villages, afraid for their lives. Fathers can’t feed their children; people are starving,” he said. “I long to go back and bring them the hope of Jesus. I carry my Bible and share the gospel. I don’t have anything else to give them, but I have the Word of God, and I can at least bring hope.”