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

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

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, 2010
Fly 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

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