Lance and Laura Ostman have ministered among the Higaunon people of the Philippines since 1983. It is hard for them to believe that their time there is rapidly coming to a close! Their hearts are filled with gratitude for each one who has partnered with them so that they can do what they do. They are thankful for answered prayer for Lance’s leg. He was experiencing some numbness. Praise God the numbness is gone!
Little did Lance and Laura know when they arrived in February what this year’s visit would look like. It was a shock to find that their house was not liveable! Praise the Lord that He has allowed them to get most of the repairs done. Even without the house repairs, Lance knew that he was not going to finish Ezekiel. The 48 chapters have a lot of hard-to-translate concepts. However, they were able to finish the rough draft and initial checking of chapters 1 through 30.
Lance and Laura were very encouraged earlier this month by news from the Higaunon leadership seminar that took place in one of the outreach villages. More than 150 attended including wives. Praise the Lord, forty from that outreach were baptised during the seminar.
The Higaunon church has developed a very successful two-year discipleship programme. During the seminar, they honoured twelve graduates from the programme. The main pastor shared with them recently that the main problem is not finding places to work; it is finding people to do the work. These graduates will be working in an area where several villages have asked for someone to teach them God’s Word! Praise the Lord for this provision, and please pray that more will soon be available to go to other areas with the Gospel. There are many villages without any Gospel witness.
Pray for the health of one of their friends in a different village who is not doing well. He was recently in the hospital where he underwent surgery.
As Lance and Laura start on their return to the USA, they will arrive in Manila at around the same time as their co-workers, Ron and Michelle Jennings, returning from their home assignment. They look forward to catching up with them.