Say May Pwe is studying at Kingdom Mission Training College in Thailand. She is a Third Year Student, here she tells her story.

When Say May was thirteen her village and the whole region of the Lower Delta of the Irrawaddy River was struck by Cyclone Nargis. It was 2008 and the winds which came and the ensuing floodwaters killed about 400,000 people. I have been into that region and a lot of ground is only about one metre above sea level.

As she tells her story, Say May and her family ran in different directions as their beach village was swept away. They ran as best they could to a neighbouring village, scrambled onto the rooftop of a large house and there they clung amidst wild winds and swirling floodwaters. It was night time.For many hours she held onto the ridge with waves breaking over her, all the while hanging onto other children. Her sister was tiring of the struggle of holding onto a four year old boy and battling the currents and winds. So she said to Say May, ‘I can’t hold him any longer, I will have to let him go’. Say May responded, ‘Continue holding him. We will all be dead soon, so we’ll die together’.

During the chaos and fear she cried out to God,. Eventually the winds died down and the waters stopped pounding. Say May, her brother, all the members of her family and this little boy, somehow managed to remain alive. Eight hours of fear and chaos had ended.

Two and a half years ago, Say May came to Kingdom Mission Training Centre with her husband Win Tun. In her first year she became born again and was filled with the Holy Spirit. She is one of our best students and is a young woman of vision and enterprise. She and her husband will make great church planters and children’s pastors when they return to the Delta.