Archive for the ‘News Article’ Category
Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Act 13:3 “Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”
Dear prayer and financial partners,
The above verse was part of the text used during daughter and son-in-law’s commissioning service last week. What a privilege to be here for that and know that there are lots of people praying for them.
Saying goodbye is never easy and this time is no exception. We have had 3 wonderful months with our daughter and her family and it is now time to say goodbye. They are scheduled to leave two weeks from today for Asia. Please pray for them as they will have a lot of adjustments over the next few months. Praise the Lord with us for how He has lead them and how He will continue to work in and through their lives.
We have really enjoyed our time here and especially appreciate First Baptist church of Memphis, NY, allowing us to use an office during our stay here. This has allowed Lance to get a lot of work done with very little interruption. He has finished Joshua and is now starting on Judges.
Thank you for praying for us over these past few months and especially now as we say goodbye.
Our schedule:
As most of you know, we never tire over sharing what God has done and continues to do amongst the Higaunon people. Victory Bible Church in southern New Jersey has invited us to share this ministry with them this coming Sunday. From there we will be making a few stops on our way back to Florida.
We will be in Florida only until middle of March, when we’ll depart for the Philippines. This will be a 3 month visit to do checking on the scripture translation Lance has been working on. Ron and Michelle are looking for a native speaker to work with us full time to check over his work. Please pray we’ll have the right person for the job.
Finally, we are praying that God will allow us to visit our daughter and family in their new location before we return to the US. Please pray with us for the finances, timing and all that will be entailed in that. To us it seems impossible but we know if God is in this He will do it! If any of you are interested in helping us with our upcoming trips along with some equipment we would like to take with us, please let us know and we can share with you more details.
Thank you all for your part in this ministry. May God bless you in this New Year!
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
Tags: Church planting, goodbye, Higaunon, New Tribes Mission, NTM, Old Testament, scripture, scripture translation, translation
Posted in Family, Ministry, News Article, Prayer Request | No Comments »
Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
For those of you in the US, Happy Thanksgiving. We have so MUCH to be thankful for.
This past month has flown by and the things we were looking forward to in the future are now past. When Justin and Nicole asked us to help with their children while they attended their last pre-field training, it seemed so far into the future. Now, those 11 days are past. We really enjoyed helping out and are THANKFUL to the Lord that we could be here for this time.
Our daughter and son-in-law have now asked that we stay and help with the kids as they pack and sort in preparation for leaving to work overseas. We are of course more than happy to do so. Lance continues to work on translating Deuteronomy and is close to finishing it. We are THANKFUL for an office at their church where he can work undisturbed.
Thanks to all who are praying for the tuberculosis situation in the village. Ron and Michelle are busy getting things organized with that. Sansuwa is doing much better on his medication. We received a letter from him recently. He shares, “I thank you for praying for me while I was sick. I thought I was going to die and though I would have liked to have gone to heaven, the Lord has a purpose for me here.
We were really surprised when God allowed us to have our daughter Dina back while I was in the hospital. Thank you
so much for praying for us and her!”
Yandang, pictured here with Ron, remains in a TB quarantine house in the city. He wrote a letter letter recently that was such an encouragement. He is thankful to all who have been praying for him. You can read his letter by clicking here.
Over the past several weeks we’ve been THANKFUL to be able to report to several of our supporting churches in the Western New York & Pennsylvania area. We have one more meeting set up with a supporting church this coming weekend and then a meeting out in New Jersey the first weekend in December.
Finally, Thank You to each of you who pray for us and give financially. We are so grateful for everyone who partners with us financially and in prayer for the ministry to the Higaunon.
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
Tags: Higaunon, thank you, thanksgiving, translation, tuberculosis
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Sansuwa teaching
As we type this, Romans 8:28 is fresh on our minds!
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Thank you for praying for Lance this week. He and our son-in-law had a great three days in Indianapolis at the North American Missions Conference. They met many people and enjoyed hearing how God is at work around the world.
In our last update, we asked for prayer for the tuberculosis crisis in the village. The first few days following that update, we anticipated word of Sansuwà’s home going. He had told his family to prepare themselves for the very strong probability of him dying. However, God had other plans and on top of that, something else happened…
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Tags: Ansihagan, Church planting, Higaunon, Lance & Laura, NAMC, Ostman, Romans 8:28, Ron & Michelle Jennings, Sansuwa, TB, tuberculosis, Yandang
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Please pray for the Higaunon as they reach out to other villages with the gospel of Christ!
Psalm 119:147 says: I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your Word.
Most mornings finds us out of bed and walking two miles before dawn as we prepare for our day. What a joy it is to know our “help” and “hope” are in His Word.
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Tags: adjustment, Aloma Church, Changes, Children, Grand Kids, Numbers, Ron Jennings, telephone, translation
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Monday, July 18th, 2011
Bayhon is son of Salvador, the witch doctor who invited us into the village.
Word came to us the other day that Bayhon has passed away from the cancer he was battling. We mentioned in our last update that we didn’t think he was saved. Since hearing of his death, more news has come which gives us some reason to hope.
Since the church has basically been “on its own” since the 90′s, we don’t hear about many of the things that take place amongst them unless someone specifically comes and tells us. The other day, Sona shared with Ron that Julie will be doing the burial for Bayhon. (Julie is one of the church leaders amongst the Cebuano population in a neighboring village) Questions were asked and according to what was said, Julie has been teaching Bayhon through the scriptures and he made a profession of faith before he died. It’s hard to know for sure if Bayhon was sincere in his profession of faith but, there is reason to HOPE that we’ll see him again one day. Praise the Lord with us!
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Tags: Bayhon Ansihagan, cancer, Church planting, funeral, Higaunon, mature church model, Pastor Julie
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Sunday, May 1st, 2011
Dear partners in ministry!
First of all, thank you all so much for praying for us. Many of you have shared with us that you pray daily. That is so humbling! Thanks also to all of you who give to us so we can do what we do.
There are a couple things we need you to pray for.
First some background on the first request:
Kabuhayon is the tribal word for “LIFE” and usually means “eternal life” – it’s something the spirits promised them in their old culture but of course were never able to give them.
Now however, they have found “Kabuhayon” through believing the good news of Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary.
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Tags: Bible, encouragement, eternal life, good news, Higaunon, Kabuhayon, mountain rice, prayer requests, rain, rice, seminar, slash and burn
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Sunday, January 16th, 2011
Pogong teaching
Pogong and his family
Thank you so much for praying for Lance’s work on the Psalms. He’s really been enjoying recording each chapter with Pogong, his translation helper. However, last week and this week he’s had to lay that aside as Pogong is away on a ministry trip.
Pogong has lived with his family in a village for a number of years where He has been teaching God’s Word to about 100 people. Last year he started living here more often then there handing over the responsibility to the people there. As Pogong and his wife phase out of that village, they will visit from time to time to check on the church’s progress. Their heart’s desire is to move to another village that needs the gospel. (more…)
Tags: church growth, Church planting, Higaunon, mature church model, outreach, Proverbs, Psalms, translation
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
It’s harvest time here in the mountains and people are busy bringing rice in from their fields!
This year has been a particularly good harvest for which they are all very thankful. They have had just the right amount of rain and sunshine at the right times to ripen it. The village is often empty during this time of year because people are working to get the harvest in before it rots with the oncoming rains or the rats get it. It’s important to get it in while the getting is good. (Speaking of good – it is delicious! Wish you could be here to enjoy it with us!)
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Tags: Church planting, Higaunon, laborers, Lord of Harvest, New Tribes Mission, NTM, Ostman, Philippines, Pray, rice harvest
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Friday, October 8th, 2010
Two Visitors
We had two visitors at the house the other day. The first one was all about “everyone is persecuting me!” Our neighbor was rather upset by the way he perceived people were treating him. We told him he needed to go see the church leadership. It has been many years since we have taken any kind of teaching/leadership role amongst the Higaunon. Our job is to provide teaching materials and translation of scripture. Not that we mind hearing what people have to say… not at all… like Alice who came later in the day. (more…)
Tags: Children, church growth, Church planting, headache, Higaunon, insane, Jealous God, New Testament Church, Visitors
Posted in Ministry, News Article, Prayer Request | No Comments »
Lance and Laura Ostman Helping to equip the Higaunon People of North Central Mindanao 
