In our research into the Bible issue and ministry of Adoniram Judson, we have dug pretty deep to find resources. It has amazed us that we were not able to find much available inside Burma. Rather, most of the old Bibles and out of print books concerning the missionary and his translation have been obtained from overseas sources.

When we took photocopies of some early Bibles into Burma, we were surprised that none of the pastors we showed them to have ever seen them. Upon study it was determined that the text of the current Bible was different in many ways from the early copies.

All of this has driven us to obtain several out-of-print Bibles, and other resources for the research. As brethren in Burma have seen some of the materials I have taken them, several have mentioned the great need to have that material available to other people in Burma. We have taken the challenge and are trying to assemble a historical library about missions and the translation of the Bible. Of course, everyone knows the story of Judson and his work with the Bible. But most do not have authentic texts to refer back to.

The heat and humidity, along with lack of facilities to preserve old books makes it imperative that we digitize the books and resources. This in turn makes electronic or facsimile copies widely available.

We are still trying to obtain some of the early tracts that were printed in Burma by Judson and his colleagues. Those we have now show tremendous understanding of the methods needed to reach Buddhist people. We plan to reprint some of them. Old copies of books and the early Bibles we have collected are all being scanned and converted now to digital format. These will be put on disk and offered to Brethren there as a digital research library.

The work of missions in the region involves more than just the Burmese language. We also have old materials in S’gaw Karen and Pwo Karen.

May our Lord be pleased to use this effort. It represents many hundreds of hours of research, and labor in digitizing the texts as well as many thousands of dollars investment. More of both are needed to expand it. We have just purchased a New Testament dated 1832, the first New Testament printed in Burmese as well as another very rare volume with some publications from the early days of the mission press in Burma. These items are not cheap. If you wish to get involved in this project, contact us.