“Honestly, I have done many bad things. When the streets were very quiet, around midnight or one in the morning, I mugged people for their money… I used to stab them two or three inches deep so they would bleed. So they would be afraid and wouldn’t run away.” – An ex-gangster in Myanmar

Because of the instability created by the coup, gangs are ruling over the poorest areas of Myanmar. They come with strength, weapons, and a willingness to commit violence to get what they want. The people, struggling to survive and often despairing under rapidly growing debt, live in constant fear that these gangsters will come to extort money from them in the darkness each night. They come in with long knives, destroying the house and even stabbing family members, until they get the money.

Many believers in our partner ministry’s church groups are among those indebted to gangsters. The leaders of these church groups encouraged the people to pray when they are afraid, so they began to pray a lot, especially at night. The gangsters stopped coming to their homes. Instead, they came to the church groups. Gangsters have begun to come to the ministry centers, and a growing number are being transformed and saved by God.

One former gang member testified, “I did many wrong things that didn’t please God. I was a bad guy; I didn’t care for other people. But still God chose me, and now I’m a good guy, and I want the same for my old friends.”