Hosea Ministry International
Greetings, I am pleased to share some fresh news from the Philippines
We have been particularly happy about young people turning to Jesus. Our youth meetings have had good results, and the youngsters are active in bringing their friends to the meetings where the young believers get to preach and lead. There are already so many of them that they cannot all fit into the normal Sunday meetings. We recently organised a baptism ceremony at the seashore where, among new believers as young as twelve, even an 83-year-old was baptised. Better late than never of course!
We also have separate children's meetings, in which the believing children take turns in being responsible to lead or preach, under the safe supervision of adults. We have a separate Sunday school for children where Mr. Sim takes care of the teaching, and this work has borne good fruit with many wanting to attend other meetings.
The Hosea team continues to work hard to evangelise remote areas where the gospel has not been preached. As I’ve explained earlier, no one has dared to go to these areas because of the NPA terrorists. During the team’s recent evangelism expedition into the mountains, tribespeople in that area received food and heard the gospel for the first time. But fighting between the army and the terrorists was taking place just a short distance away. The NPA was forced to retreat in the fighting, but almost sixty of them were able to escape and then of course they could regroup.
Evangelism is especially important in such areas because it is in these mountain villages where the terrorists have families and relatives. As people come to faith the communities get free from terrorist propaganda and their young men can find a far better alternative than being recruited into the NPA. The Word of God is the only one that brings freedom from this cycle.
The presence of the army with our outreach teams is important in other ways than just for security: the soldiers usually also teach the villagers about terrorism and explain that it does not bring any solution to their lives. Terrorism does not eliminate poverty, but instead makes their conditions even more miserable because the terrorists rob the villages of food for themselves. Yet another reason for us to distribute food and related support.
We are also invited into other schools in these terrorist areas. Among their pupils there are many children from hill tribes. It is they that particularly benefit from our food distribution, as well as gospel preaching, because many children come from poor backgrounds and their homes do not always have the opportunity to provide a meal every day.
We have already organized a second large assembly in the city hall of the island's capital Mamburao. The hall was filled to capacity and listeners travelled from long distances. Among the participants was the head of the education directorate and the governor of the province, who came with his armed bodyguards and listened to all the sermons, although the meetings lasted all day.
At the end, the governor came tearfully forward, with his hands raised in adoration, asking for personal prayer. So our Hosea pastors gathered around him to bless him, much to the consternation of his bodyguards! The leaders of the island are targets of kidnapping and assassination attempts by the NPA because they represent the country's administration, and that is why the governor is so closely guarded.
Only the Word of God can change the destiny of our island and the entire country: that is why we work hard and start with young children. The work of our schools has already produced a generation of young believers. Thank you again for all your prayers and support.
With blessings, Anne
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