Annie: Back to Burma

On August 16, 2021, Camille called and told me, “You’ll never believe this.  Annie has been sent to spend the rest of her mission as a missionary to Burmese refugees”.  Camille posted this message on Instagram:

 “Apparently, Southern BBQ and pie was the wrong food to serve at Annie’s missionary farewell open house!  Everything we anticipated about her mission was completely wrong.  Annie has been asked to become a Burmese refugee missionary.  She went from English speaking to Karen speaking, which is a Burmese tribal language.  She’ll stay in one spot her entire mission and have the same companion for nine months until that companion switches out to go home. 

“Annie will teach her new companion the Karen language so she can take over when Annie returns home. There are no training materials and they are working hard to establish a place for these sweet people to worship together in their native language.  One of the elder missionaries will begin translating the Book of Mormon into Karen when he finishes his mission in a few months.  

"For cultural reasons, Annie was assigned a new name by these tribal Burmese people.  They chose “Many kinds of Beauty,” which will be on her new missionary tags, in Burmese, of course.  (I love it!)  Annie is so happy and loves these people already!

“Fun fact:  In the 1950’s, my mom and her family lived in Burma.  My grandpa taught business at the university and helped train the people to become independent after the British left at the end of WWII.  His job was also to help establish democracy vs communism as their new government was forming and the Cold War was brewing.  My grandparents continued to love and connect with the Burmese people.  Burma has always been an important place and culture in our family.  The Burmese and Karen people Annie has met are so excited by this connection, as is Annie.  Annie’s mission president said he was very prompted that Annie should serve these people.  He, of course, didn’t know this background, or how significant this would be to our family and to the people she is falling in love with in Kentucky.  We can’t wait to hear all about her adventure serving these people.  In the meantime, I’ll be collecting Burmese recipes for her homecoming dinner!

Blondie865 (Liz Calder) responded:  Can’t tell you how happy this made me!  Unbelievable…Grandma Rose throwing a curveball!  Can’t wait to hear Annie’s stories! (Photo above:  Grandma Rose with Kent, Gretta, and Scott in Burma, 1957)

Annie will spend the next 18 months in Owensboro, in the northwest corner of Kentucky, on the Ohio River.  She has already begun her "get acquainted" campaign by taking a plate of cookies to each family in the Karen branch!