Lance and Laura Ostman Helping to equip the Higaunon People of North Central Mindanao
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.
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!”
Us with Sona and Yanit saying "goodbye"
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.
Returns and Rejoicings
I had a wonderful time with Nicole, Olivia, Jacob and Owen. Being there with them for those weeks met the desires of my “mother’s and grandmother’s heart.” Thanks again for praying for us both, especially during the time I was away, through my sickness, and for my return to the Philippines.
Our son-in-law Justin returned from his trip to Asia before I left their home. He came back excited about the work that is going on and which they hope to join by early next year, the Lord willing. Justin & Nicole continue to do pre-field ministry and their support level is now at 72%! This is cause for rejoicing. Please join us in prayer for the remainder of their support, for the contacts and meetings to see more partners in their ministry. We rejoice in those who have already joined their “team.”
Please pray for Laura.
She was scheduled to return home to the Philippines earlier this week. However, last week she came down with the flu and developed pneumonia. Consequently, she had to cancel her return flight. She saw the doctor at the urgent care clinic twice and after two prescriptions, one for flu and one for pneumonia, she is finally improving, albeit slowly. Because she was traveling alone, I thought it best to get her trip insurance. Praise the Lord with us for that! Please pray she gets well so she can return home! In the mean time, she is enjoying the grandkids and Nicole isn’t disappointed to have her mom there a bit longer!
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…)
Please be praying for the packing and shipping
Of the Higaunon New Testaments
Pray they arrive here by the end of October.
getting the plywood from the hard ware store and letting THEM do the cutting!
Some assembly required!
these boxes will hold precious cargo!
This job took 4 hours!
We hear they enjoyed a high cholesterol breakfast first.
Looks like they did a fantastic job!
33 boxes to ship the New Testaments.
These New Testaments will go into those boxes!
Pallet of New Testaments
No sooner had we sent out our last update and we received word that the New Testaments were being shipped to our international office in Sanford, Florida. Praise the Lord! There are 3 pallets of books ready to be checked and then boxed for shipping.
Members of our church in Florida will be constructing 33 boxes to ship them in. (Thank you Aloma Baptist Church!)
Once they arrive on the island they will be trucked to as close as possible to the village and people will hike them the rest of the way here. You did realize there is no road into the village, didn’t you? Each box will hold 60 New Testaments and weigh just over 100 pounds. PLEASE PRAY for a safe arrival. We know the enemy does not want this to happen but we also know that Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
In the mean time, we received a ‘dummy copy’ of the New Testament. This was a blessing as an error was found. Page 135 had smaller print than the other pages! We hope that the company that did the printing will supply us with 2000 copies of that page. Since the binding will be done here, it will be relatively easy to insert the newly printed page.
All of this is for the Higaunon church to be able to have the Word of God in their language. It is a culmination of almost 30 years of hard work! Please do not take your copy of God’s Word for granted!
Please be praying for the villages where the Higaunon church is ministering. There is one place in particular that is experiencing some peace and order problems. Please pray for safety for the believers and wisdom for the church leadership. We live in a very volatile world and the enemy would like nothing more than to put an end to what God is doing. Pray that the believers in these outreach areas will be encouraged in the Lord. Please do not take your freedom to worship for granted!
Ron bound this copy that we received.
Thank you for praying for us!
Lance & Laura
Jason & Shirley were the first white people the Tala Andig of that remote region had ever seen. Some of those people had never even seen a logging truck.
The Birkins moved into the jungles during the mid 80′s and have labored there faithfully ever since. Today there is a strong church who now, for the very first time, will be able to open up and read a New Testament in their language.
Pictured here is the very first bound copy of the Tala Andig New Testament. As you know from our last update, Jason & Shirley spent several days with our partners Ron & Michelle Jennings, formatting the layout of the recently completed translation.
Lance has been busy printing copies on our big printer and now that a number of copies are printed, Higaunon believers are binding the New Testaments. It has been neat to work together as a team in seeing this job accomplished.
Please pray with us for the completion of this project. We have experienced quite a number of paper jams. Ron and Lance have looked for the cause and think it’s a combination of the quality of the paper we’re using and the humidity. One thing is for certain, the enemy of our souls does NOT want this printing to happen!
Please pray that we’ll get all copies printed and bound by the deadline. That’s a month away from now so there “should be” plenty of time.
Rejoice with us and the Tala Andig church as they receive their first completed copies of the New Testament in their language!
Thank you for your partnership in this ministry!
Secure in Christ’s love,
Lance & Laura for all of us here who are working together for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom.
The Lord brought us safely back “home” to our village on Thursday.
We had a good time with our friends who were visiting from Hawaii, plus we got to surprise our coworkers, the Harts, when they got back into the country at the end of March!
We visited three islands that we’d never been to before and enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation anew. Thank you for praying for us over the past couple of weeks while we traveled.
Lance was able to finish up his part of the last check through the Higaunon New Testament. Our coworker Ron wasn’t able to finish up his part yet, due to a previous commitment to help a fellow missionary who is here for a few days to get his own New Testament ready for print.
We are going to do the printing of Jason & Shirley Birkin’s Tala-Andig New Testament here with our big printer, God willing! They want 100 copies initially. Upon printing the first copy this morning of the Tala-Andig New Testament Jason said, “It will be such a blessing to have the New Testament in one book for the Tala-Andig Church to study from!”
Jason & Shirley Birkin
We would appreciate prayer for this project to go smoothly, as well as the finishing up of the Higaunon Scriptures so it can get sent to the printer soon. We appreciate your part in our lives and the ministry to the Higaunon people.
Have a blessed Resurrection Day!
Secure in Christ alone,
Laura & Lance