| NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2019
New Year Blessings for 2019 to All Our Readers!
Our Hosea churches celebrated the new year as usual with the different congregations holding church family celebrations, gathering to hear God’s Word and to eat together. Pastor Billy from Sablayan Church invited parents of pupils from our school there to meet together and listen to Bible teaching, and the school hall was full to capacity with parents and other relatives.
 
This girl got healed We gave food to this child's poor family
A group of our young people accompanied Pastor Billy in visiting the huts of local people to pray for them. There are many people who are sick. The poor have no chance of getting medical help as they cannot pay, but of course there is a Heavenly Healer who does not charge and who can heal every ailment. After people have been healed through prayer it is easy to introduce them to the good news of Jesus and hence we often see whole families turning to Him. When we pray for healing it always attracts interest from people’s neighbours who leave their huts to see what is going on. Pastor Billy frequently goes round neighbouring villages from hut to hut, together with volunteers from amongst his church members whom he has taught to pray for the sick. The results have been outstanding with many sicknesses being healed.
 
People testify healing The Hosea team with a healed man from paralysis
Of the many healing miracles that we have seen, one of the most memorable was when one of our school graduates was healed of paralysis. The girl was seven years old when she came to the Hosea School in Montalban, having left a state school where she had been badly bullied. The family lived in a village far from the school and every day her mother carried her to school. The girl had a beautiful singing voice and so she was always given solo parts in the school performances, where we would lift her up to sit on a high stool to be on the same level as the other children. I and several others prayed earnestly for her healing but nothing happened. After the school year ended she returned to her home village. Two years passed and I heard nothing of her until late last year I got the amazing news that one day she had simply got up and started walking, much to the astonishment of all the villagers there.
The Hosea team that visited her village told me that the girl’s legs were still somewhat crooked as there is no possibility for physiotherapy but she is still walking well. All the glory went to Jesus! Her case is similar to that of Nico whom God healed in 2006. For him I was able to arrange for a member of the church to massage his legs after he was healed because the leg muscles were atrophied through lack of use for so many years. Today Nico is in his teens and he loves to play basketball.
At the end of last year there was also a miracle for a sick father of seven children. He had been immobile, just lying on his bed for two months. His wife had rejected him and left him with all the children to somehow care for - but of course they had to do the caring and somehow find food when they could, which was not often. Today this man is walking again, his muscles are strong and his family has joined our church, where there are many others who have come to faith through receiving God’s healing power. We have a reputation as being a church where God heals and so we get many sick people coming along for prayer.
 
The healed Hosea pupil Pastor Billy and the healed woman
At the beginning of December a single mother sought prayer for her daughter who had contracted black measles, a serious disease that is often fatal for children. It is also known as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and is a tick-borne disease. The doctors held out no hope for her recovery but our Mamburao congregation started praying for a miracle. God heard their prayers and the girl was instantly healed! The lady lives in the slums and has many children - the family is very poor. Our church members collected foodstuffs and vitamins for them and the mother wept at their generosity saying that it was the first time they had food for Christmas celebrations.
Papua New Guinea
There are Hosea churches in Papua New Guinea and schools catering also for primary age pupils. We are sending our young Norwegian evangelist Nathan there for a month in June of this year. There are many young people there who desperately need the good news of Jesus Christ. Even though I still feel myself to be youthful, I think it is better to send someone who is still in their twenties and really looks young (unlike me!) for this ministry to the Papuan youngsters.
Prison Outreach
There has been significant fruit from Nathan’s work amongst prisoners on Mindoro Island. There were two brothers who were released from a prison colony where they had come to faith in the last year. They were at the top of the hierarchy that existed in that prison colony and so their salvation had a huge impact on the place. Their repentance was life-changing and they started preaching Christ with fiery enthusiasm to their fellow prisoners, many of whom were struck by their radical conversion and faith. I was really surprised when I heard about their release from prison. They are now keen members of our church in Mamburao where they are eagerly evangelising the surrounding villages. What an answer to prayer for their sister who is one of our Hosea school-teachers - she had been praying for their salvation for a long time. So don’t give up on your prayers, even though you may not see the results immediately. The answer may be delayed but it will come in God’s timing.
These stories are just a fraction of what the Lord is doing on Mindoro Island. I am convinced that the Lord will do similar mighty acts in our homelands too, and I am excitedly awaiting for my June/July tour in Finland. Lets all pray for significant changes in 2019 within our own countries, asking the Lord to shake off the dusty layers of unbelief and religiosity and to revive and restore our destinies.
Thank you to all who have supported our ministry through faithful prayer and giving - your support is absolutely invaluable.
Blessings
Mangyans had bravely formed a choir and even composed a song. We have now more than 40 adult students in the school, their ages varying from young to old. They told us that they were now able to vote for the first time in the elections. Earlier they had had to give their voting slip to others to fill in, without knowing what they wrote in them, because they could not read or write.
When the Mangyan students were singing their song, I was standing in the back of the church. Suddenly I noticed four small children hiding between benches. Our teacher said that they were our students, and she then went and asked why they were not among the other children. One of them explained with tears, that they were so hungry that they could not go to sing. I was so surprised to learn that they were already 6 year olds, even though they looked more like 2 year olds, skinny and bony small children. Nheng commented that this is due to malnutrition, which is the reason why all these tribespeople are so small: their continuous lack of food stunts their growth. We brought a 40 kg bag rice with us and also other foodstuff and fed them all after the meeting, thanks again to the donors! We made so much food that there was enough for evening meal as well.
Last spring Hosea organized a medical mission for the Mangyan tribe. We also left some medicines with the local Pastor, so the tribespeople could be given help later as well. The Pastor said that some Mangyans come even at night begging for help in their desperation. Also some people from other tribes turned up for medicine and were given some, for it is hard to turn desperate people away without help. Now we are in the process again of collecting funds for another medical mission, which should happen sometime next year.
While we were in the Mangyan village, I recognised that most of them were walking bare foot again. I wondered what had happened to all those sandals which had been donated for them a year earlier. The Pastor laughed and explained that the Mangyans have a peculiar walking style, they step heavily on their heels and that wears out the heels of the shoes very quickly. That means that they will need a new pair of sandals every year. One man had a good pair of sandals slung over his shoulders, so I went and asked him why he didn't use them. The man replied: “I don't want to use them as they would wear out. When they hang on my shoulders everyone can see that I have shoes.” So this man had still good shoes, while others had worn theirs out”¦ Now, who is the wise and where is the wisdom here?
We also distributed a bag full of clothes. Birgit and Ulla went to buy some more and as always the Mangyans put the new clothes on top of their old rags. They can't see any reason why the old clothes should be taken off, so they carry their whole wardrobe with them all the time. The same clothes are worn day and night and the extra clothing keeps them warm at night on the mountains. The price tags are also left on, so everyone can see they are new clothes.
Hosea's second fishing boat is now operating on the eastern side of Mindoro Island (Oriental Mindoro) where it is manned by our Mangyan pastor, thus serving the Mangyans also. There are more fish now on the Oriental side of the island because big Indonesian fishing trawlers have appeared close to the Occidental Mindoro shores (the western side of the island). Occidental Mindoro is facing the open ocean, so Indonesian factory ships come close to the shore and take in all fish, big and small, diminishing the fish population. Locals usually fish with spears, sparing spawning fish for reproduction. They understand the laws of the nature and know that spawn fish are needed to keep fish stocks -- you cannot empty the ocean of fish. Local small fishing boats can't drive away large foreign fishing vessels, so locals are deprived of their fishing livelihood.
The Hosea Filipino team want to send their heartfelt thanks to all the supporters and prayer warriors. They and also our students keep praying for you. They understand that it is because of you, your prayers and your donations, that they have this wonderful opportunity to get an education and thus a good start to their lives. It was really great to meet some of our very first students, the ones with whom we started this ministry in the Philippines. It was so wonderful to see the fruit of this work. Many parents are also saved as they attend our weekly Bible studies.
Great blessings from the islands,
ANNE
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