In this edition we have news of
- Anne's forthcoming Summer
ministry tour in Europe
- Papua New Guinea
- Vava'u School in Tonga
- Mamburao School graduation ceremony in Mindoro in
the Philippines
SUMMER 2010
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Anne Miettinen's summer ministry tour in Europe is now getting close!
Anne arrives in Finland at the end of May and she is in Europe until mid-August. The first two weeks of June she is in England and she goes to France for a few days at the end of July. You can view and download her full itinerary here. As there are a few slots left in her diary, please email us immediately if you want to book an additional meeting for your church or home group.
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PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Pastor Caspar Tambian wrote to us on 28 April about the good things that God is doing in Papua New Guinea.
God's works have touched many Papua New Guineans with deep blessings, healings and big increases in faith. Many have been encouraged as they simply pray for someone and healings happen before their eyes.
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He sent pictures of the simple kunai grass skirt buildings
that have been set up to house the Bible College. These are located in
the bush about 20 km away from the main highway, to cater for the eleven
bible students currently attending the college, under the guidance of
Pastor/Teacher Apolos Sauan and the college principal.
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One of the college buildings
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Apolos Sauan
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There is no
electricity at that moment so studies can only take place during the
hours of daylight. We want to provide some form of generator or
solar-powered lighting system to offer reasonable study facilities. Pastor Caspar writes: "We would need
around K3,000.00 (about €850) to install
the solar-power system for the desperate and lonely students out
there
in the bush." Hosea Ministry subsequently sent the funding for this system.
OUR SCHOOL IN TONGA
Dorothy
Nawadradra, head teacher of Hosea Christian Mission Preschool in Vava'u,
Tonga has been sending us so much exciting news and photos of the work
there that we have set up a Tonga Blog
on our web pages.
Here is an extract from what Dorothy has told us in April:
It is so surprising to understand that most of the Christian children who attend our kindergarten don't know much about Jesus. It is often the case that they hear about Jesus as their Saviour for the first time when they come to kindergarten. We can tell that the parents are not focused on helping their child to love the Lord by the funny answers we receive from our children. In the middle of the first term of school each teacher in the school holds a teacher-parent session with all the parents of the children in her group. In this session the parents are introduced to the whole school program, school extra-curricular activities, and what their children will be learning at this kindergarten.
We also make them aware of the developments that are normal for a child that is 3-5 years old. We encourage them to help their child to love the Lord and to help them trust in Him – the focus is on the God of Possibilities. We make them become aware of what positive disciplining is and how it encourages good behaviour in their children. At the end of each group / class session the parents and teachers pray together for the school, the families, the teachers, their children. This is a very special moment and it helps the teachers to get to know the parents more and the parents to work with the teachers to help their child to progress positively.
NEWS FROM MAMBURAO & AROMA (THE PHILIPPINES)
Plenty of news and personal stories of our friends in Mindoro Island has also been coming through from Nheng Sonio, head teacher at our Mamburao and Aroma schools there and you can read more on our new Philippines Blog page.
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Our second Hosea fishing boat is under construction and it is even bigger than the first boat! The Aroma villagers have been getting substantial catches from the boat, especially of tuna, and this has really improved the financial situation for many families there.
Also, Nheng recently sent through photos of the school graduation ceremony held on Wednesday 24 March 2010 in the municipal plaza of Mamburao. She wrote:
I experienced many things during our graduation, because we prepared more than 100 certificates and we did our best to make it a very nice graduation andI praise God because itwent so well.
Many people were amazed because we had a little pupil as master of ceremonieswho called the names of all of the graduates. Also our valedictorian and salutatorian gave a speech to everybody. Attheir very young age they did so well to speak in front of so many people, I felt quite nervous because I thought they would beshy in front of the people,but you know they are so very talented and proud to be there facingthe townspeople! Evenour guest speaker was amazed when he saw the results of our graduates.
The girl wearinga floral dress is our valedictorian,Carla Mae Mortel - her father is a fisherman. Our salutatorian is Jervin Robee Fabol, and he was our little Jesus in our Christmas programme last December when you were here.
Wealso gave medals for academic awards, as you canalso see in the pictures. We gave character awards to our children too so they received most cleanand neat, most patient, most responsible, most punctual, most polite, most helpful, most kind and other awards. These were givenin nursery,kindergarden and preparatory here in Mamburao and Aroma. All of our childenwere sohappy when they received their awards.
Carla, as pictured in the middle photograph above, was one of the very first pupils to join Mamburao School, when she was just three years old. At that time we were renting premises from Brother Benny, one of the church member. Now Carla is six years old and she has graduated - you can read her story in our new website feature Philippines People.
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Finally, I would really appreciate your prayer support for my forthcoming trip to Europe. Please pray that there would be no travel hindrances, such as from volcanic ash, and that the Lord would use me to bring His words and His power to all of those that I meet.
With love
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