By Shayla Papik –
Seeing a soldier hit by a landmine, medic Aung Gyi ran straight towards him to stop the bleeding.
“I’m not afraid of mortars, jets, or gun fire, I’m only afraid of landmines,” said Aung Gyi, who had just been introduced to Christianity in Myanmar’s war-torn country. “Lord be with me and cover me.’
Suddenly he noticed all the other soldiers dive to the ground, as he stood over the wounded man. “What’s wrong?” he shouted. The soldiers pointed down at a tripwire right between his legs. He was within a hair’s breadth of an explosion.
This was the second time God moved to preserve his life. It was not the last time. Even though God saved him, Aung Gyi didn’t yet know God.
When he joined the rebellion against the military dictatorship that opposed democracy in Myanmar, Aung Gyi described himself as a cultural Buddhist. He was born in Sagaing, near Mandalay where he grew up. He lost both his parents as a young man.
He was studying mechanical engineering at the university when the military coup took over in February 2021. Aung joined mass protests against the coup with his girlfriend, Lin.
Traditionally, Myanmar’s civil war has been waged against the ethnic people in the mountains around the central plain where the Burmese dominate. It is the world’s longest running civil war, starting in 1948.
Thousands of university students abandoned their studies and traveled to the mountains to join the ethnic opposition against the military government. Aung and Lin joined the war effort in Karenni (Kayah) State, where some of the heaviest fighting was going on.
When he was on the bus traveling to Karenni, police got onboard and checked everyone’s documents and phones – except his and his girlfriends. Had the police checked Aung’s phone, they would have found incriminating evidence to arrest him.
As a medic, Aung joined the Freelance Volunteer Myanmar (FVM) group helping Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs), which are refugees of war who stay in their country as opposed to finding refuge in another country.
He was dispensing medical supplies and doing children’s programs when he met the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian group helping IDPs led by Dave Eubank.
What was this American doing in the hinterlands of Myanmar? Aung wondered. As he got to know Dave, he was impressed.
“I think he prays a lot and that’s why he hasn’t gotten injured on the frontline,” Aung said. “So I started asking my girlfriend because I was curious about that. My girlfriend was so happy and we started reading the Bible together. Dave Eubank inspired me a lot. When I graduated from Ranger training, Dave said ‘Pray, think, act’ and so I wrote it down. Whenever I went back to the frontline I always thought about this.”
The first time God moved in Aung’s life is when he needed a truck.
He prayed to the God he didn’t really know. “God, I need a truck for my organization. If you’re really God, please help me.”
The next day, Dave gave him a truck. (This article is adapted from one written by FBR’s newsletter.)
“That was the first time I prayed and God had already answered me,” Aung says. “I told my girlfriend what had happened; it was so crazy!”
Then in July 2023, in Pan Tein, Aung was saved from landmines with the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) and other resistance groups.
With a trip wire right between his legs, “I said a prayer, ‘Lord be with me and cover me,’” Aung recalls. “I was safe, and the landmine didn’t explode.” This was the second time God moved in his life in a dramatic way.
The third time was in November 2023. He was driving a truck with 25 IDPs and some Rangers in Loikaw, the capital of Karenni, when he came under fire from rockets and machine guns.
“I remembered I needed to do one thing – I needed to pray,” Aung relates. “The Rangers shouted that the jet fighter was diving. I was yelling in my mind ‘God please help me’ and suddenly I stepped on the brake. Bullets came three feet in front of my truck.
“The IDPs were crying, and I just drove fast to get away,” he adds. “The Rangers were shaking, and I grabbed their hands and prayed with them. I said we need to thank God because we are still alive.”
It was time to stop wavering and wondering about God. It was time to make a decision to follow Christ.
“I want to get baptized,” he called and told his girlfriend. “Because of God I am still alive.”
Lin had been praying that he would accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord.
In December of last year, Aung and Lin got baptized and married.
To his routine of rescuing people on the frontline, Aung has added ministry in FBR’s worship nights.
“Every worship night I want to show young people that Jesus is real and you just have to ask him. He’s real,” Aung says. “Every night at worship I am so happy. It feels so powerful for me. Even some Christians they forget to pray and connect with God. You don’t need a long prayer – just ‘God help me’ and ‘God be with me.’”
Aung’s next project? “Try to share my life with my people and give love to my enemies.”
To learn more about a personal relationship with God, go here
Related content: High risk missionary Wes Bentley, on raising kids in a high risk missionary situation Karen Eubank, conversions due to high risk missionary in Myanmar.
About the writer of this article: Shayla Papik studies at Lighthouse Christian Academy near Culver City, CA.
