Hosea Ministry International
Hello friends, there is plenty of good news this month from Hosea Mission!
Hosea's pastor Billy Balsamo is a real testimony of God's healing power. He was taken into hospital, seriously ill for a month and a half, and his relatives were told that he would not survive unless God created a new organ in his body to replace the one that failed. We all prayed for his healing, and indeed God performed a complete miracle! The doctors had already given up, but Matt 19:26 was fulfilled: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
The Philippines suffers from the monsoon. Flooding rains caused by Typhoon Gaemi covered the entire country in late July. The flood waters even covered the huge city of Manila, and our island was not spared from the floods either. Aroma's Hosea school was located in the flood zone, and I prayed earnestly that the water wouldn't rise above floor level, because I wouldn't have been able to start another renovation. The Lord must have heard my prayers, because the water mysteriously stopped just at the level of the floor, and did not rise higher.
The stormy sea also overturned the oil tanker MT Terra Nova, which was on its way to the island of Ilo Ilo, and the tanker sank. A massive operation is currently underway to try to remove the resulting largest oil spill in history from the sea.
Because of the floods, the start of the school year was delayed. The Hosea school building in Santa Cruz was completed just days before the floods. Years of moving the school from one rental premises to another has been exhausting.
Amongst this year's student intake is a disabled boy who was not accepted as a student by other schools. The boy wanted to go to school, so we took him as a student, and now he eagerly tries to keep up with the lessons. We also have many hyperactive students this year. The teachers are used to dealing with them, but of course the first couple of weeks will be tough before the situation settles down. We use the "special Jesus method": Jesus laid his hands on the children, blessed them and prayed for the children, as we read in Matt. 19: 13-15 and Mark 10: 14-16: "Then children were brought to him so that he would lay his hands on them and pray.."
The Philippines has two national languages, Tagalog and English. Many children learn English at school, and therefore the teaching in groups for three-year-olds is bilingual. State schools do not have special classes, just like other pre-schools. Many localities don't even have a pre-school, so we provide the only opportunity for many children to learn. Teaching at our Hosea schools is free, and it also includes teaching materials. A poor family cannot afford private school tuition fees: if they have to choose between food and school, they have to choose food.
This year, Hosea also donated free school materials to a government school in Malpalo, which is located in a terrorist area. We have a church there and we have been able to preach the gospel in this government school.
We are not able to establish Hosea schools everywhere, despite many requests, because we rely on donations, but Hosea has an official license from the Ministry of Education to preach the gospel in all schools whenever we want. What wonderful favour God has shown to us!
As a Christian school, we often get to hear about the encouraging progress of some of our past students. Our school was recently visited by a young man who said he had been one of Hosea's pupils. He came to thank us for helping him get grounded in the basics of faith at our school: he is now a pastor and proclaims the gospel. We are also happy that our former students have succeeded as adults in different colleges and remained in the faith.
Our work has not been in vain! As Psalm 32:8 says : "I will teach you and show you the way in which you should walk, I will instruct you"
Thank you for all your support -- we continue to remember you in our prayers.
Anne
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