I'm terribly sorry for not updating yous in a while, things have been a little hectic lately!
The team is still going strong. Our ministries are a bit slower here in the Philippines, but we are seeing God move in new and exciting ways every day. We have been painting a mission house, discipling youth and participating in feeding programs up in the mountains. We have the privilege of enjoying great food cooked by Pastor Pats daughter (training to be a chef) every day, there is internet a bit more accessible than in PNG & it is easier to communicate with the Filipino's in english. On one of our days of we got to see a famous volcano that erupted only a few years ago. We are also planning on swimming with whale sharks!
I, Claudy am no longer with the team. It was very hard to leave them behind, but I had to go back and staff the next school they are running on the Sunshine Coast. Jonathan is in control and I'm sure the girls are managing just fine :) They are all extremely mature and wise women and I trust that they will make the rest of the trip awesome together.
I will try to keep yous updated with the information that I am receiving. The team has 9 more days of outreach in the Philippines until they head back to Australia for a week and a half ish debrief time. The rain has finally calmed here on the "Sunny" Coast and we are praying for excellent weather in the couple of weeks that we have to rest and catch up here.
Thank you so much for your prayers, they are highly appreciated!
Love in Christ,
Claudy
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Greetings from the Philippines!
The team arrived here safe and sound wednesday morning and was welcomed by Pastor Pat and his wonderful family. We are staying in a city called Naga, a 45 minute flight from Manila which is the capital city. The first thing we saw stepping out of the tiny plane was a huge volcano surrounded by beautiful green landscape. Something that we have learned on this outreach is that no matter how bad humans have messed up this planet and no matter how much poverty we have created, nothing can take away the beauty of God’s creation. Both Papua New Guinea and The Philippines is mind blowing in spite of it’s horrible poverty issues.
We will be staying in Pastor Pat’s house for the rest of our outreach. He has got lots of different ministry opportunities for our team, we are very exited to see how God wants to use us here during the next few weeks. It will not be as intense as our schedule in Papua New Guniea, but we will face many new challenges of different kinds so please pray for patience and cheerful hearts no matter what gets thrown our way.
Again I must say that I am so incredibly proud of my awesome team. We are still getting along great, becoming more and more like family each day. It has been great to see God move in each of their lives throughout this challenging journey.
Please keep praying for unity, love and joy within our team. We are also praying for open minds and that we will not compare these new experiences with our old ones. Our desire is to see the world through God’s eyes and to love like He loves. We want to become selfless and wholeheartedly live in His purpose and will for our lives.
I will try to update this blog weekly. We appreciate your prayers more than you know! Thank you also for all the encouraging comments!
God bless!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
CHRISTMAS & NEW YEARS!
Hello Everyone!
Where to begin! Our original plan was to visit a village up in the mountains over Christmas, but doors kept closing for us so we ended up going to a different village inland in stead. We traveled 6 hours by "car" (on the back of a truck sitting on top of each other and other Pgians) Then we traveled about 1 hour by banana boats through thick jungle to get to a small village called Lelefiru. We can`t even begin to tell you how happy we are that God changed our plans. There was about 400 people living in this village, there was no electricity, no shower, weird and interesting foods and they drink rain water. The people of the village share everything and all have different roles in the community.It was so unreal for us to actually experience this kind of living and we have learned so much from these people. We were the first missionaries to visit their village and for many of them we were the first white people they had ever seen. They were a bit scared of us to begin with! During the 2 first days of our stay we tried building relationships with the youth of the village, we gardened with them, went fishing, made weird food, chased funny bugs, ate lots of coconuts etc. The village had a church community, but only old people were involved. They asked us to run the whole christmas service on the 25th which was such an honor and extremely challenging (and fun) for our team. After christmas we had a week to do whatever ministry we felt like doing for the youth so we created a mini DTS. We had lectures every morning that week. We had split up the main topics that we learned about in DTS and we all taught on different subjects. This was an amazing opportunity for us all and we all grew and learned so much. At night we also put on night meetings where we shared our faith on a more personal level. During the day we would spend time getting to know them and teaching them more about our faith and the love of God. We had a very busy schedule, basically doing ministry 24/7, but we know that we are backed up with lots of prayer and we really appreciate that! One night we did communion in our night lecture and we invited people to get prayer. More than 30 people decided that they wanted togive their lives to Christ and have a personal relationship with Him. It was a beautiful night and our team was in such awe of God`s mighty power and love. The next day (after a lot of convincing the religious elders of the church) they allowed us to offer baptism to anyone who really wanted that. The next day after our last day lectures we explained and offered it and 9 people ended up making the decision to get baptized!
We had 12 UNDESCRIBABLE days in the village that we will never forget. We have seen God move in such AMAZING ways and we are still in awe of what just happened in that village. I have little time to go into detail or even read through this so im sorry for all the spelling mistakes!
Now we are back in Port Moresby for 3 days of debrief and rest and we are heading to the Philippines on the 4th. I am SO proud of this team. They have been going strong every day of this outreach and they have put their whole hearts into every ministry we have done. Our days have been super long and draining, but we have had no complaing of any kind. I can`t even begin to tell you parents how VERY proud you should be of your kids. The stuff that we have seen and participated in is extremely challenging and our hearts have been touched deeply in so many ways. Please keep praying for us, your prayers really is our fuel and we appreciate it so much!
We will have more time to get online in the Philippines so we`ll tell yous more then! We hope you all had a very good Christmas and New Years! Greetings from the jungle!
Where to begin! Our original plan was to visit a village up in the mountains over Christmas, but doors kept closing for us so we ended up going to a different village inland in stead. We traveled 6 hours by "car" (on the back of a truck sitting on top of each other and other Pgians) Then we traveled about 1 hour by banana boats through thick jungle to get to a small village called Lelefiru. We can`t even begin to tell you how happy we are that God changed our plans. There was about 400 people living in this village, there was no electricity, no shower, weird and interesting foods and they drink rain water. The people of the village share everything and all have different roles in the community.It was so unreal for us to actually experience this kind of living and we have learned so much from these people. We were the first missionaries to visit their village and for many of them we were the first white people they had ever seen. They were a bit scared of us to begin with! During the 2 first days of our stay we tried building relationships with the youth of the village, we gardened with them, went fishing, made weird food, chased funny bugs, ate lots of coconuts etc. The village had a church community, but only old people were involved. They asked us to run the whole christmas service on the 25th which was such an honor and extremely challenging (and fun) for our team. After christmas we had a week to do whatever ministry we felt like doing for the youth so we created a mini DTS. We had lectures every morning that week. We had split up the main topics that we learned about in DTS and we all taught on different subjects. This was an amazing opportunity for us all and we all grew and learned so much. At night we also put on night meetings where we shared our faith on a more personal level. During the day we would spend time getting to know them and teaching them more about our faith and the love of God. We had a very busy schedule, basically doing ministry 24/7, but we know that we are backed up with lots of prayer and we really appreciate that! One night we did communion in our night lecture and we invited people to get prayer. More than 30 people decided that they wanted togive their lives to Christ and have a personal relationship with Him. It was a beautiful night and our team was in such awe of God`s mighty power and love. The next day (after a lot of convincing the religious elders of the church) they allowed us to offer baptism to anyone who really wanted that. The next day after our last day lectures we explained and offered it and 9 people ended up making the decision to get baptized!
We had 12 UNDESCRIBABLE days in the village that we will never forget. We have seen God move in such AMAZING ways and we are still in awe of what just happened in that village. I have little time to go into detail or even read through this so im sorry for all the spelling mistakes!
Now we are back in Port Moresby for 3 days of debrief and rest and we are heading to the Philippines on the 4th. I am SO proud of this team. They have been going strong every day of this outreach and they have put their whole hearts into every ministry we have done. Our days have been super long and draining, but we have had no complaing of any kind. I can`t even begin to tell you parents how VERY proud you should be of your kids. The stuff that we have seen and participated in is extremely challenging and our hearts have been touched deeply in so many ways. Please keep praying for us, your prayers really is our fuel and we appreciate it so much!
We will have more time to get online in the Philippines so we`ll tell yous more then! We hope you all had a very good Christmas and New Years! Greetings from the jungle!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
WE ARE SAFE!
Hello Everyone!
The team arrived safely in Port Moresby on the evening of December the 11th. We were greeted by our contact Joyce and driven to Boroko Baptist Church where we are staying during our time here in Port Moresby. The church compound is surrounded by tall barb wired fences and we are not allowed outside unless accompanied by local Png’ans. There is no internet close by, so we apologize for not updating you sooner and letting yous know that we arrived safely. We have been in the city for almost one week now and tomorrow (sunday) we will be heading up to the highlands to do different village ministry work.
The temperature ranges from 35-40 degrees Celsius, but we do fortunately experience delightful showers as this is the rainiest season of the year. This week we have been sleeping on the cement floor of a sunday school room, but the team has a great attitude and we are able to enjoy ourselves by making the most out of a tough situation. We are surrounded by cockroaches and other unfamiliar creatures, and even though they disgust us an awful lot, we have fun memories of chasing after them and smushing them with our bibles.
Our meals consist mostly of corn beef and rice which is something we quite enjoy. The poverty has really moved our hearts in huge ways and we can’t help but to feel hopeless and spoiled. Our prayer is that the world, and especially Christians would open their eyes to see the reality of this issue and start fighting for justice.
Proverbs 31:8-9 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
During this week in Port Moresby we have visited and tried to encourage the people living in the slums, we got to help out at a free clinic driven by a foursquare church and we have gone into the general hospital to feed, chat, read and pray for the sick (Tuberculosis and AIDS/HIV.) We have also had the opportunity to visit a few orphanages and a disabled home, and we have worked with a prostitution ministry. We have had to improvise a few A Cappella songs, dances and messages which was very challenging, but the most fun we’ve ever had. We truly feel so blessed and privileged to get to share the love of God with the beautiful people of Papua New Guniea.
I am extremely proud of my wonderful team. We are all getting along great, encouraging one another and building each other up constantly. We have seen and worked under extreme circumstances. At the free clinic we got to participate in real medical work which was pretty intense. We have seen and experienced things that we’ll never forget.
We have had a little bit of sickness this week, but we are all back on our feet now. Please keep praying for unity, love and joy within our team. Our desire is to see the world through God’s eyes and to love like He loves. We want to become selfless and wholeheartedly live in His purpose and will for our lives. We love you. Thank you!
If you want to get ahold of your child on Christmas feel free to call the team phone!
+67572115869
Monday, December 6, 2010
PNG & PHILLY BLOG!
Welcome to Team PNG/PHILLY ’10/'11 blog!
There are 13 people in total on the team.. 2 staff members & 11 students. Starting in the back from left to right in the picture above: Jonathan Cunliffe (Leader), Andreas B. Kristiansen, Trevor Ashlock, Emil Andreassen, Alex Roback, Heidi Hem, Marianne Sundsvalen, Rina Ronkainen, Carmen Mausse. Front left to right: Claudia Maniscalco (Leader), Helene Gramsett, Tiff Pabst & Noora Hakala . All together 6 different countries are represented; Norway, England, USA, Finland, Switzerland & Sweden. We are quite a diverse group with many different gifts and talents but we fully believe that God is going to use the uniqueness of our group to do wonders with our time over in these countries.
Our team bible-verse really emplifies how powerful the number of people in our group can be:
“In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” Romans 12:5-6
Our team bible-verse really emplifies how powerful the number of people in our group can be:
“In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.” Romans 12:5-6
The purpose of this blog is to update family and friends at any chance we get, for prayer requests and updates on ministry. Feel free to leave comments on the blog of encouragement to the team or someone you know! This is a great way to be involved in what God is going to be doing through us on our time overseas. I have the flight itinerary for you to know when we are flying, and also be praying for safe travel during the days we are traveling.
Fly out of Brisbane: 17:55 December 11th, 2010
Arrive in Port Moseby: 21:05 December 11th, 2010Fly out of Port Moseby: 17:00 January 4th, 2010
Arrive in Manila, Philippines: 20:05 January 4th, 2010
Fly out Manila, Philippines: 21:35 February 1st, 2010
Arrive in Port Moseby: 05:00 January 1st, 2010
Fly out of Port Moseby: 06:30 January 2nd, 2010
It will be quite a long traveling period so we ask you to pray for energy, some sleep on the flights, patience for everyone, for the lay over’s to go well, safe flying time, also quick & easy boarding, no luggage lost and no complications.
The first 10 days we will be staying in Mount Hagen at the local YWAM base doing ministry there. We are not yet sure what kind of ministry that will be doing. Our contact does not speak much english! Please pray for our relationship with them as it is the very first time our base sends a team there. Then we will be returning to Port Moseby and working with all sorts of different ministries. We are visiting 5 different villages, visiting hospitals and praying for patients (please pray for the gift of healing within our team), street evangelism, prostitution ministry etc. And we will also spend Christmas down there!
The adventure continues on January 4th as we set sail for The Philippines! We are flying into Manila which is the capital. We are traveling on to a city called Naga where we will be staying for the whole next month working with different ministries. Please pray that we can find cheap flights from Manila to Naga once we get there. Otherwise we'll all cramp in the back of a truck traveling on bad roads for about 13 hours. (Pray for good attitudes!) The base have frequently been sending teams to The Philippines working with Pastor Pat and his lovely family. Pat overseas all the churches in Naga hence has lots of different ministry opportunities for our team. We will be updating you on what we are up to!
Arrive in Brisbane: 09:30 January 2nd, 2010
It will be quite a long traveling period so we ask you to pray for energy, some sleep on the flights, patience for everyone, for the lay over’s to go well, safe flying time, also quick & easy boarding, no luggage lost and no complications.
The first 10 days we will be staying in Mount Hagen at the local YWAM base doing ministry there. We are not yet sure what kind of ministry that will be doing. Our contact does not speak much english! Please pray for our relationship with them as it is the very first time our base sends a team there. Then we will be returning to Port Moseby and working with all sorts of different ministries. We are visiting 5 different villages, visiting hospitals and praying for patients (please pray for the gift of healing within our team), street evangelism, prostitution ministry etc. And we will also spend Christmas down there!
The adventure continues on January 4th as we set sail for The Philippines! We are flying into Manila which is the capital. We are traveling on to a city called Naga where we will be staying for the whole next month working with different ministries. Please pray that we can find cheap flights from Manila to Naga once we get there. Otherwise we'll all cramp in the back of a truck traveling on bad roads for about 13 hours. (Pray for good attitudes!) The base have frequently been sending teams to The Philippines working with Pastor Pat and his lovely family. Pat overseas all the churches in Naga hence has lots of different ministry opportunities for our team. We will be updating you on what we are up to!
Please pray for safety and health as we are going into an area of the world which is diverse and different from the western culture all of us come from. Pray for divine appointments with people over there, and for our ministry to be fruitful. Pray for the students as they are in their last week right now trying to get ready.. that they will continue to focus on lectures & soak up all that they can before they get ready to put into practice all that they have learned. It is going to be a tiring, hard, challenging, joyfully, tearful, laughing, crying, unique opportunity for all of the team to encounter pray that we embrace it and remember the reason we are over there.. to share the Good News “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” Mark 16:15 and serve the people we encounter with a Christ like love. Thanks for being a part of Team PNG & PHILLY prayer support!
Stay tuned for more updates & details! God bless,
~CLAUDY
Stay tuned for more updates & details! God bless,
~CLAUDY
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