HCC Mission Blog
To The Ends Of The Earth
Wedding…. then home
Dec 12th
Thursday we arrived in the northern part of Luzon. It was in the middle of nowhere, pitch dark and John Thomas (6) and I were riding together on a motorcycle tricycle. I learned to do some serious praying on these rides. When the bike stopped he looked at me and said “Ms Amy are we where we’re supposed to be.” I laughed and said “I sure hope so buddy”. (not wanting to think about what I’d do if we were in the wrong place) Thankfully we were where we needed to be.
Saturday we had a medical mission in which 450 people were seen for medical visits and 450 for dental. They were pulling teeth left and right. We worked with the Lions club and they were able to distribute boxes of reading glasses to people. It was so neat to see them get excited when they could see clearly! We played with the kids and did the wordless book with them while they were waiting to be seen. One little boy had a colostomy. If you’ve ever seen or known anyone with a colostomy you realize how difficult this must be to deal with, especially for a young teen. I was thinking of the things we take for granted…like having specialized nurses that deal with colostomies. In his village all he has is a rag and rubber band to hold the rag around his belly. I met a pastor on the bus who said that children die here within hours because of not having money to buy medicines.
Sunday morning we started our trip to Tagaytay for a wedding. That is where we are now. In total yesterday we traveled about 14 hours or more, Ugh. Was able to see a lot of beautiful scenery along the way. We saw rice patty after rice patty and water buffalo working the fields. I felt really bad yesterday. Sick with sinus, cough, asthma..Feeling better today, but still rough. I’m sure they wanted to disinfect the bus after I got off. Please pray for the flight tomorrow. Nothing like sneezing and coughing all over people. Many people in Manila walk around with masks or cloths over their face because of the pollution. I was able to get an aisle seat! Yeah, so I can get up and walk around.
Wedding is at 3 pm, followed by 1 1/2 hour drive into Manilla to the hotel. Sounds easy enough, but I’ve learned traveling in Manila makes rush hour on 635 in Dallas look like a piece of cake. So realistically we may get into the hotel around midnight. Flight leaves Manila for Hong Kong at 6:30 tomorrow AM, then at 9:35 AM for the USA!!! We will arrive in NY around 12 Noon on Tuesday, then drive home.
Thank you for your prayers. Please keep them up..it will be a long day of travel tomorrow.
Love,Amy
Praise!
Dec 11th
Thanks to all who prayed for Amy, she is doing better. Yesterday, Jane and one doctor ministered to 450 patients. Amy gave the plan of salvation using a microphone and an interpreter!
The team will be spending the night with a former mayor who has a pet monkey! Tomorrow is another travel day – cabs consist of motorcycles/sidecars which they use to get to the bus!!!!
(update provided by Shirley, Amy’s mom)
Christmas Party Like No Other
Dec 9th
Tuesday, December 7
Yesterday we were invited to a special Christmas party. There are many people that live as squatters here in the Philippines. They build shacks on other peoples land and take up residence. Many of these areas were flooded last January and what little belongings the people had were swept away. Habitat for Humanity works in the Philippines and has helped some of those people to build new homes. They pay 500 pesos a month (about $100 US dollars) for 15 years, at which point they will own the home.
There is a lady who goes to Jane’s former church who lost her son a few years ago. She has a heart for these children and has started a scholarship program for them in his memory. Currently they have sponsors for 25 children and are looking for more. These kids are former street children/squatters. They now live in a Habitat home and go to school. Last night was their Christmas party. The owner of a beautiful hotel/restaurant in town is a Christian and offered their services at a low rate. The children arrived at a beautifully decorated restaurant, with linen table cloths & napkins, glass goblets, a Christmas tree and Christmas music. They were fed a feast. Many of them said that this is the one time that they are able to eat so much food! They were treated like kings and queens. They were served by the waiters. After dinner they were served cake and ice cream. There were games to play, Christmas carols and Christmas presents for all. We were able to give goody bags with some items brought from home. Thank you to all who contributed. A pastor shared the Christmas Story with all of the kids and shared God’s love with them. It reminded me of one of my favorate Hallmark movies where a couple were getting married and the guests couldn’t get to the reception because of a snowstorm, so they ended up inviting the homeless. It was beautiful…
When we arrived “home” last night, Jane’s aunt had a reflexologist come to give us a reflexology session. Wow, does that hurt! : ) Those people have thumbs of steel! It was relaxing though and we all slept great.
Tomorrow we will be leaving at 10AM for an hour and a half flight to Manilla. Thursday we will take a bus 8 hours to northern Luzon where we will be doing a medical mission. We will be going out in the middle of nowhere so this may be the last update I’m able to do for a while. I will make a call home sometime while there, so I’ll have mom update the church. Cell phones are pretty popular here and apparently get good signals.
Thank you for your prayers.
God Bless,Amy
Praise & Prayer Requests
Dec 5th
Friday and Saturday we had a medical clinic where people could come see the doctor or dentist for free and receive free medicine that HCC provided. Hundreds of people were seen. Jane saw one little baby girl that was malnourished. Her mother had no money for formula so she has been boiling rice in water and straining the rice. The baby has been living off of the strained water. Jane tried to refer her to the hospital to a malnutrition clinic (Where she had worked)and was saddened to hear that no one has yet to replace her in that clinic. Mike was able to go to the store and purchase some formula for her. Many children are sick for a long time here. We saw a few kids with ruptured ear drums because of ongoing infections. Then they need to see a specialist that they cannot afford. A dentist was available Friday and did some tooth extractions on patients that needed them. One man had been in pain for 2 years! So many children’s teeth were rotted. There was a baby, probably under one year old that had a puss filled boil the size of a walnut on his forehead. Many children and adults were helped this weekend. All received a Bible in their language and heard the gospel message.
We have some prayer requests for you. Yesterday Jane saw a child who she thinks has TB. The family cannot afford to take the child to the hospital for an exam and X rays. She is trying to see what she can do to help the child. You just feel so helpless. If the child is positive for TB the whole family will need to be tested, which is a huge expense for them that they just cannot afford. In the meantime the child is potentially infecting everyone they come in contact with if they are positive. The other child you can pray for is a teenager that has a heart defect and needs an echocardiagram and possible heart surgery. Pray for wisdom for Jane and that God will lead her to the right people to help these children.
I know of one mother that accepted Christ on Friday at the clinic.
The other day a little boy was begging for money on our way into Mc Donalds. I bought a hamburger, french fries and a drink and went out to find him. He was gone, so Jane and I walked around and saw a little boy that looked about 5 or 6 years old. He was thin, dirty and in rags. When he saw my bag he came up to me and pointed to the bag of food. I asked him if he was hungry and he opened his mouth. I gave him the food and we left. It breaks your heart. I wanted to hold him, give him a bath and put him in a clean bed. There are so many like him.
Tomorrow we will be going to visit street children. There is a church that has relocated them and found housing for them. We will be participating in their Christmas program. Thank you for your prayers. I wanted to upload videos and pics but the computer is very slow here. I will upload as I’m able. Talk to you soon!
Love,
Amy
Medical & Dental Procedures in the Mountains
Dec 3rd
We did medical and dental procedures in the mountains. Some of the people had suffered two years with toothaches. One baby was so malnourished (the mom had been cooking rice and giving the baby the liquid in which she added salt). Mike was able to buy formula for the baby.
The day before, we were at a public school where Amy gave the wordless book presentation to around 200 kids. Jane was allowed to teach some Bible stories. Most of the children could speak English.
The children are tugging at our hearts, always asking for food. We try to carry extra peanuts or m&m’s to give them.
Today, we are joining a local church to minister to the squatter children (several hundred) feeding them and doing a VBS.
Will let you know how that goes soon!
Greetings from the Philippines from Amy
Dec 2nd
I just wanted to let you all know what is going on here (I have also updated my facebook page).
Yesterday, I got to see rice patties, banana, mango, pineapple plantations, visited a monastery, and a Christian hospital where we handed out some toys to children. Today we’re visiting a public school and sharing Bible stories with the kids. Can you believe that…in a public school! We think John Thomas is going to be brave and share a story. He was a little worried because he didn’t have his Bible along! What a good little preacher! He wanted to be Biblically accurate! Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying. This weekend we will be doing a medical mission and working with street children. Amy
Our Schedule
Nov 30th
Some church members wanted to know where we would be at different times for the purposes of prayer so our schedule follows. November 28-30 are travel days (and the 30th is Jane’s birthday!) and we end up in Mindanao, the large southern Philippines island. December 1 and 2 we will be at the Bethel Clinic working with the mountain tribe in Bukidnon. December 3 we travel, and December 4 and 5 we will be doing a mission with the City Alliance Church in a squatter area of Cagayan de Oro City. December 6 we will have a meal and games and VBS with street kids. December 8 and 9 we travel to Manila and the northern part of Luzon (Nueva Vizcaya). December 10 and 11 we work in Quezon, Nuevav Vizcaya, and December 12 and 13 we travel to go to a wedding and return to the USA. We appreciate the prayers and support of church members, and the blessings of God that we have felt along the way. We are leaving now, and the kids (and we) are super excited. -Mike and Jane Flaherty
Ready, Set, Go!
Nov 27th
Philippines Mission Trip: November 28th – December 11th
Early tomorrow morning, our Philippines Mission Team will be leaving short one person. Please pray for Elaine as she broke her foot and will not be able to participate in the trip. Also, pray for the rest of the team as they have a long flight ahead. Pray for their travel safety and health and that God would reveal himself to those to whom they minister!
Preparing for Home
Aug 1st
We had a great day touring today. Antigua is beautiful!
Thank you very much for your prayers. Today was our hard travel day and we all did pretty good. No serious car sickness. Tomorrows drive will be short but that dosen’t mean it will be easy. We will be leaving around 7:30am. Please continue to pray.
Very sorry for the short update. We are packing and getting ready to come home 
See you soon!
God Stretched and Missing Home
Jul 31st
What an exciting day! There were over 100 kids attend VBS today. What a blessing. It is hard to believe we are preparing to come home. We have all been severely stretched by God this week. It is something how God will stretch you right to the point where you begin to think “there is no way I will be able to do _____________ without your help Lord”. You fill in the blank. It is different for all of us but it is the same answer from our Lord. ”Don’t worry my child, I am right here and you can trust me. I am about to do something wonderful”. Paul was right when he prayed, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” -(Eph. 1:15-17) The next time you are God stretched, remember that it is so that you would “know Him better”.
We present gifts to the Pastor here tonight. It should be fun. The kids are low on money. I guess there were too many souvenirs 
We are all holding up pretty good. We have been loving one another like never before and yes – WE KNOW JESUS BETTER!
p.s. I’m missin Kim
Jesus Saves!
Jul 30th
The church service went great! Thank you all very much for your constant praying.
There were about 75 kids at VBS today. It was great. We played street soccer and had a great time. The other youth group is great and we have been becoming friends.
We did some more work in the area where the mudslide went through. We found out today that a 10 year old girl died in the mudslide which impacted us greatly. While painting the church today a man came in and noticed that we were all there to help. He could not believe that we would come this far to help paint their church. He was so impacted by this that he started to help as well. The Pastor from the church noticed the man there and began to talk and share the gospel with him. The man accepted Christ right there! It is truly incredible how God works.
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” – Ephesians 2:1-10
God has really been working on us. We have been praying constantly for His direction. Tomorrow is our last day of ministry here. Sunday we go on a tour to Antigua. We will spend the day there then its back to the airport. Please pray for us as we prepare to head home. It is going to be difficult to leave our new friends in Guatemala. Pray also for our ride back to the airport. It was a tough ride here and we will need to take the same road back.
p.s. Renee said she has bruises all over her body from the ride in the truck over here and her whole body is sore
Church service in Guatemala
Jul 29th
Well the “mail from home” was a HUGE hit!! The kids loved reading the letters and notes from home. What a blessing! Thank you VERY much.
We went on a horseback ride today. It only lasted 1 hour and it cost $4 but it was worth every second and every penny.
Tonight we go to church. Austin and Alexis give will be giving their testimony, IMPACT performs, and Jake will be speaking. I can’t express how excited everyone is to share the gospel of our Lord Jesus through testimony, song, and message. Please pray that hearts would be opened and cultivated to receive the seeds that will be planted. Pray that Christ would be glorified and the power of His Word would transform hearts and lives.
We know that you are praying already and look forward to rejoicing together over what God is doing here in Guatemala.
Update from AIM Leader
Jul 28th
| 7/28/2010 By: Christy Barnard, co-leader |
|
We split in two groups this morning. One group headed to a house that was raviged by the mudslide in San Pedro while the rest of the team went to the church in San Pablo: Vida Real to paint the inside of the church a typical latin america color: mint green.
The other team was told they’d be cleaning the house effected by the mudslide however, what they didn’t know was the extent of the job and that it really wasn’t cleaning more like landscaping as they’re having to move boulders and get dirty to prep the land for farming. All were really touched deeply by seeing the effects the mudslide has had on the people and the village. Tomorrow the painting team will be able to stop and see so they too can see a little bit of the effects. Tomorrow evening the Hanover Church will be leading the whole service at Vida Real and it looks like “Jake” will be preaching tomorrow one of the youth. We’re so proud of him stepping out in faith and being used by God. Thank you for your prayers we all are well and are excited to continue our mission here in Guatemala! 4 more full days of ministry left. Copied from http://www.adventures.org/a/reports/r3re.asp?id=3140 |
Mail from home!
Jul 28th
What an incredible opportunity for God’s glory! We were able to go to a radio station today. During a 1 hour segment we were able to give our testimonies, sang songs, and prayed. We all got to talk. It was an awesome experience!
God has really been stretching us. This morning, half of the group painted with the locals through a church. Others worked on a home that was affected by a mudslide. Needless to say, the kids loved doing this. We also had some time to do some shopping. We had a ball.
We are giving out the “mail from home” tonight. We have so much to be thankful for. It will be a wonderful time to thank God for the many blessings. You have no idea how much we appreciate your prayers. Thank you VERY much!
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” - Colossians 1:9-14
May God get the glory, we are just “jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Tuesday Update
Jul 27th
It is incredibly beautiful here — the mountains and the lake are amazing!
This morning, Jordan’s group will be at the school presenting a drama enacting the story of the good Samaritan. This afternoon will be VBS with the group presenting the sheep story. The day will conclude with a worship service.
Car sickness is no longer an issue. Everyone has been having fun being transported from place to place in the backs of trucks. Clean, pure water is plentiful!
Thank you for your continued support through prayer!
Bienvenidos a Escuela Bíblica de Vacaciones! (Welcome to Vacation Bible School!)
Jul 26th
Thanks to everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement! We all woke up this morning feeling much better and quite refreshed. We had a wonderful devotion and prayer time this morning. It was great to sit before the Lord and reflect on what He has already taught us and brought us through. We have already begun to pick up a bit of Spanish and have started inviting some of the kids in the area to Vacation Bible School. We may have a chance to be on the local radio station for 1 hour this Wednesday. What an experience and blessing that would be.
Please continue to pray for each of us as we serve our great God!
Well we are off to VBS!
Finally there!
Jul 25th
Well we are FINALLY here safe and sound and at our hotel. The journey here was quite an endurance test for all of us. The plane ride went very good but the car ride was VERY difficult. It took us about 5 hours over mountains and lots of curves. It was windy and rough. Many of us were car sick, some more than others but we are doing okay. We are staying at the Hotel Maria Elena in San Pedro. Gotta tell ya, we are pleasantly surprised by how nice it is! We are all pretty tired and ready for a good night of sleep. God is so good!! We are all doing well. We are going to get some supper and call it a day – A long day.
Good night to all! Please pray for rest, health and strength as we look forward to serving our Lord. We will keep updates coming when we can. God bless.
Fusion Youth Guatemala Mission Trip
Jul 20th
Trip Dates: July 25th – August 2nd Countdown to Guatemala
Only four days until Fusion Youth leave for our first international mission trip. Three adults and ten students will be traveling to San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. This is a beautiful lakeside area about sixty miles from Guatemala City.
We will be partnering with another group to provide a VBS for local children. Please pray that these children will understand that there is only one true God and that they would accept His gift of salvation. We’d also appreciate your prayers for safe travel and good health for everyone on the trip.
Check back for updates!
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