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Newsletter
  May 2017

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NEWSLETTER MAY 2017

Hello again friends

I will soon be travelling to Finland and later in the summer also to France. It will be great to see many of you again!

Medical Mission

We have just completed a medical mission to the Mangyan tribes people in the Philippines and I want to take the opportunity to say a big thank you to all those who donated towards it. This mission trip was the biggest we have ever arranged, with two Medical Doctors from Manila and also three dentists with their assistants working together. The dentists were specialist orthodontists which was really great.

Of course, a dentist cannot do everything if they don’t have their proper equipment with them, and we could not bring their drilling machines with us to the remote interior! But they still managed to see 200 people for checking their teeth, and 100 of them had some kind of procedure done. Please don’t even ask whether they used any anaesthetic before the dental work - I don’t want to even think about it! One assistant gave “light treatment”, namely shining a torch into the patient’s mouth while the other assistant held the patient’s head tightly.  A plastic chair worked as a treatment chair.

The dentistry department was separated from the medical treatment area by tarpaulins and in addition there was a separate waiting area for people. Our schoolteachers had already been trained on our previous medical missions to help, so they wrote down the patients’ details, measured their blood pressure and weighed them. Things worked very efficiently this way. A couple of our teachers were in charge of a “pharmacy”, and of course we could not forget the “counselling department” that everyone visited even before they met with the doctors. The gospel was preached to the patients and so both their physical and their spiritual needs were met in the same visit. Two young people from Scandinavia, Nea Reis from Finland and Nathan from Norway, helped on this Hosea mission. This was their first experience of such mission work in a developing country.

We also offered food to the patients because many of these Mangyan tribes people had travelled a long way to get there, and they also had to wait a long time to see a doctor. The doctors took care of hundreds of patients during the day. And to top it all, around 500 people gave their lives to Jesus during this event.

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Nathan on left and Nea on right Dentist

Nathan and Nea preached the Gospel

Our thanks to Nathan, Nea and the youth team who again walked around from home to home and through the alleyways to tell people about Jesus. Every evening they brought new souls to the church, and the newly saved people were baptised in the ocean.

Nathan also visited some prisons preaching the gospel of Christ. Many prisoners are young men like Nathan himself, so they could relate well and have heart to heart discussions with him  about the gospel. Mindoro Island hosts many prisons and is in fact an official prison island of the Philippines. The city of Mamburao has a political prison and close to Sablayan there is a prison colony. The prisoners are allowed to work in the fields on the mountain slopes but the colony is very well guarded. There are officially around 2000 prisoners there. I myself have preached the gospel there and I can assure you that prisons in Western countries are like holiday camps in comparison to Filipino prisons. There a life term in prison means exactly what  it says.

Nathan donated some much-needed essentials to the prisoners, particularly shoes as they do not have them. Blankets are also something that they often ask for, as it is very cold up on the mountains especially during the winter time. There is also a shortage of food. An adult man gets just a bowl of rice to eat per day, and that is really far too little. On one of my visits to the prison colony I saw prisoners gathering hay from the pool. When I asked why they were doing that, I was told that they eat the hay. They also try to catch fish. A big thank you to Nathan and our Hosea pastors, who have a real heart for these prisoners! Every person is valuable to Jesus.

It was also wonderful that many young people experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit right after they gave their lives to Jesus. There were also many who received physical healing. Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. His power has not faded away: He still saves, heals and gives peace to those who come to him.

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Tonga Hosea school has a dance performance

Our school in Tonga

The Tongan school has also been blessed. Vava’u Island, where our school is located, has become a stopping off point for large cruise ships. The ship company had asked if the islanders could do some kind of performance for the people on the ships. Nobody volunteered so our main teacher Dorothy put up her hand and said Hosea school children would come to perform Tongan national dances for the tourists. The company was very happy with this idea and so our little pupils came in their national dresses and performed a number of Polynesian dances, much to the delight of the tourists. However the first performance was almost cancelled due to a mumps epidemic on the island, with many of the students falling sick. But enough students, together with their younger siblings, still managed to show up and the program went ahead. The tourists were so impressed by the performance that they donated $1600 dollars for the school. This was an answer to our prayers, as the school dearly needed more funds - it was awesome to see how God came through in this way!

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The building workers are constructing the motel

The motel in Mamburao

The motel building has progressed to the phase where the plastering has been completed both inside and outside but now we have no more funds to continue. So the building work has paused until I hopefully can gather more funds during this summer’s tour, so that both this building work can be finished and the Hosea college could be started. It is already a miracle to see how far we have come in the past year. All funds donated to Hosea go to mission work. Everyone who works for Hosea (except the teachers) are volunteers with no salary paid because we do this work from the heart.

I wish blessings to you all. I also pray that the Lord would touch the Western world with revival. It is possible that we are closer to the revival than we can understand, as the churches are going through an effective clean-up. Let us all continue to stay awake and to pray.

Blessings,

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Nea Reis on left

Nea’s journey

In April I was offered the opportunity to go once again to the Philippines but it really looked impossible. My whole spring was full of studies and my calendar seemed to be full without any room such an extra trip. However, there was a burning desire in my heart to go and I just knew I should go. I prayed: “Father, if you want me to go, would you please arrange everything so that I can.” God never asks us to do anything without providing the means for it. .And indeed that’s just what happened, as miraculously a three week gap appeared in April, exactly when I needed to go. Our God is supernatural and nothing is impossible for Him. We just need to trust in Him, whatever happens. I knew that Daddy God had something special lined up for me this time.

When I arrived in the Philippines it was wonderful to see the fruits of the work. The young people were interested in the teachings and they came with enthusiasm to the church meetings and even turned up when there were no meetings scheduled. They also brought their friends along and the group had grown in size since my previous visit. It was wonderful to see how the young people had been so full of love for Jesus that they wanted to tell their friends about Him. We taught them how important it is to build a personal relationship with God and this increased their enthusiasm. There is a radical generation of young people rising up in the Philippines whom God wants to use. I am so glad to see what God has done amongst these dear young people.

During this trip I also got to be part of a family camp.  We were privileged to baptise several young people who made up their mind to follow Jesus. Many were deeply touched during the camp and the Father did so much work in the hearts of many people. This time there was a medical mission arranged too and I was so excited to be able to join in to help. It was really interesting to see how the local doctors took care of the patients, as it was somewhat different to how things are done in my home country Finland. Tooth after tooth was removed by dentists and medicines were given to those who needed them. Several hundred people were helped both physically and spiritually, and the medical mission was a success. All the help goes to those people who genuinely need it.

I am so thankful to Anne and the whole Hosea team, that I could come along. The Filipino people are very hungry for God and the ministry work there bears plenty of fruit. I believe that God has many more things in store and that the ministry work Hosea does will be even more blessed. A big thank you to all those who have helped this mission work!

Blessings,

Nea Reis

 



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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