Hear Mark Tell His Story, Click Here.
“My Name is Winner Lynn. I was born in a small Village in Burma (Myanmar) And I grew up in a small rice farm by the river bank in the country that no one will want to live. Burma is governed by a Military Junta. Christian who lived in Burma was persecuted because of their faith. I never knew anything about persecution until I was six years old. When I was six years old, my village was attacked by the Burmese military. Houses were burned, people lost everything they have, and many innocent people lost their lives. My father was one of those people. He was tortured before he was murdered, and my family was forced to flee into the jungles of Burma. Life in jungle was really awful. There is no treatment for the sickness, and we want to go to school but there’s no school for us to go to. We eventually arrived to another village, where my mother’s family lived. Because my mother was now left alone with seven children, life was very hard for her, and we had to be separated. As a 6 years old boy I have leave my family and went out to live with my aunt to another village because I want to be able to go to school. It was very sad and hard to be away from my family, but that is the only way that I can get to school. My mother does have the money for me to go to school. A year later we moved to a refugee camp in Thailand. Here, I was able to stay at the Freedom House with CFI. There, I met Jim Jacobson and others from CFI. I was very nervous meeting them because I didn’t speak English. I lived in the refugee camp for about nine years and I was able to go to the CFI Vocational school. At the school, I learn English and many other things. I was away from my family again, and missed them very much, but I knew in my mine that education is very important. At the CFI vocational I found hope and God open up a wide door for me and a bright future. I wanted to be a pastor or a missionary when I grew up, to tell everyone about God. And that is what I felt like God want me to do and has put in my heart. God was faithful to his promises to me. He knows the plan he has for me, a plan for good and not for disaster, to give me hope and a future. I do believe that he will fulfill his promises in the right time according to his will. He reveals the verse in Jeremiah 11:29 to me again and again while I was in CFI vocational school. After 4 years at CFI Vocational school, with the grace of God, our Karen refugee people got an opportunity to go to other countries to live in freedom which we never have. I wanted to come to America at first but I was not planning to come to America. I don’t want to leave my people who have to suffer in Burma. I want to live there and Help the rest of my people in Burma, suffer with them and share what I have learned. But God has another plan for me. In June 3 2007 God lead me out of Thailand refugee camp and my family got in US in the 4th of June 2007. It’s was really hard when I first got in America. Everything around me has changed but God is good always there for me even when a difficult time. With all the help with C.F.I, I moved in Sault ste. Marie (MI) in July 11 and started school on September. The first few months of school were really hard. Everything is new for me; People, Language, Place. I pushed and tried really hard so that I can go to college someday. Even when thing are hard and It seem impossible for me to get through, God gave me all the courage I need and help me through those hard time. In August 2010 I completed all my high school courses. One thing I learned was that Life is a challenge; you just have to fight it and push hard. My dream for the next step is College. I want to go to college to be a missionary so that I can help other persecuted people, lead them to God and spread the words of God. That is the dream that I have in me since I was a little boy. I believe and trust that God has the plan for me; plan for good and not for disaster, to give me hope and a bright future. God is the only answer to my life and I want to follow my savior, my God; say yes to his call and never turn away from him.”