Lance and Laura Ostman Helping to equip the Higaunon People of North Central Mindanao
We are just days away from leaving the village. We have thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship with everyone; our co-workers, Ron & Michelle as we met daily for prayer, and with the Higaunon believers as we visited with them. Lance has finished the initial checking of all he planned on doing as well as gotten a good start into 1 Samuel.
Tata was one of our first language helpers.
To borrow a phrase from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are scattered around the world: Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing to experience God’s grace and peace day by day and know He is in control of all that is going on around us, no matter where we are in this messed up world. What a privilege to serve Him wherever we are.
Our neighbor, Wiki, with one of his many grandchildren.
Thank you so much for praying for us. We have had a great time reconnecting with the believers here and we praise the Lord for allowing us to accomplish our goals! Lance finished all that he had prepared to do and is now working on the book of 1 Samuel. It has been a lot of fun watching the translation assistants’ reaction as they hear a lot of this for the first time in their language.
We have a lot to praise God for and to ask prayer for. Here are some items on our list:
We praise the Lord for each of you who pray and give towards this ministry. What a privilege it is to be co-laborers together in that which has eternal value; the lives of PEOPLE!
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura
Have you heard the account of the birth of the Higaunon church, or maybe you want to hear it again? For those who are interested, click here to listen to a podcast of us telling the story of the Higaunon people’s journey from Fear to Faith.
a warm welcome
Less than a week from our arrival in country and we arrived in the village we have called home since 1983. Praise God for an absolutely wonderful trip. Everything went smoothly and we know it was because so many people were praying! Thank you!
As we type this, we have 48 hours to our check-in time. Many of you have written assuring us of your prayers. Several have given towards our trip and also towards being able to see our daughter and her family. Praise the Lord, we have received enough not only for our trip, but also we have been able to purchase some needed items that we’ll use during our time there. Thank you to all who are praying and to those who have given.
We hope and pray that this finds each of you encouraged in the Lord. The picture above reminds us that there are still many unreached people groups in the world living like this that need PEOPLE to bring them the good news of Jesus Christ. Are you praying for laborers?
As we write this update there are some verses that come to kind
Thirty years ago
Some of you remember that this is what we looked like thirty years ago – the rest of you are probably laughing! 
Who would have guessed then that we’d be looking back from this vantage point having experienced so much in life!? God is faithful – that’s for sure!
Thirty years ago on Super Bowl Sunday we boarded a plane in Chicago for Manila, Philippines. Maybe you can imagine how much reminiscing we’ve been doing, as our daughter and her family have now begun their own “adventure” on the other side of the world! (they arrived safely Feb 3rd)
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
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…
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!
Enjoying the grandchildren
We trust this finds each of you encouraged and rejoicing in the Lord. Thanks to each of you who are praying for us as we adjust to life here.
What exciting days we are living in; so many are re-defining “truth” as something fluid that changes with time and circumstances. What a privilege to serve an unchanging God! “Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not!”