Posts Tagged ‘Higaunon’
Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Friday, February 3rd, 2012
Thirty years ago
1 Thessalonians 5:24 – Faithful is He who calls you who also will do it!
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)
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Tags: adventure, Asia, Church planting, faithful, faithfulness, Higaunon, history, Kids, Lance, Laura, life, New Tribes Mission, NTM, Old Testament, Ostman, Philippines, Super Bowl, TB, translation, travel, tuberculosis
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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
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Posted by Lance and Laura Ostman on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Ostman Family - December 2011
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to you all and greetings in Jesus’ name – that Name above ALL names! What a wonder that He became a man to give us eternal life. We are in awe of His grace!
We are still in New York with our daughter and her family while they prepare to leave for Asia. They have purchased tickets for February 2nd. Thank you for praying for them.
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Tags: Christmas, Family, Higaunon, TB
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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 Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Ostman Update…
Our life verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:24 “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (referring to the previous verses that promises He will preserve us unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.) 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says that “…the Lord is faithful; He will make you strong and guard you from the evil one.” Indeed, God is faithful and He is conforming us to the image of His Son, so much so that we can say that “All things work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28,29) It is exciting to see God at work in and through our lives and the lives of people around us.
We are writing this from near Syracuse, NY. with our daughter and son-in-law who will be attending their field prep seminar and they asked us if we would come up and watch their children for the ten days they will be in meetings. Of course we said “yes” and they graciously offered that I use their office at their church. Praise the Lord with us that their support is coming in.
I continue working on Old Testament translation. I just finished Deuteronomy 20 and yes, I continue to enjoy it!
We did have a week off from translation as we attended a workshop called, “Strengthening Your Interpersonal Skills.” We really enjoyed that and ask that you pray for us to put into practice the things we learned.
Tags: 1 Thessalonians 5:24, Deuteronomy, faithful, Higaunon, Lance & Laura, Ostman, TB, 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 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 Monday, June 13th, 2011
Us with Sona and Yanit saying "goodbye"
We’re home…
They say home is where the heart is and our hearts are where we are so I guess that means we are home! We are grateful for our church here in Florida that has provided a wonderful place where we can live and work on the Old Testament translation for the Higaunon. We are also thankful for all of you who have been praying for us.
We did have some bumps on the way here… but that was all good.
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Tags: Aloma Baptist Church, birthday, bumps, Church, Church planting, Enrichment, Family, Higaunon, home, Old Testament, Pray, prayer requests, scripture translation, translation, travel, volunteer
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Lance and Laura Ostman Helping to equip the Higaunon People of North Central Mindanao 
