AFCI Focus on the Heart

By the Side of the Road

2012-04-28T10:37:00-04:00

A report from Paraguay from Chris Hanak

Standing by the side of the highway waiting for the bus to take us 5 hours west across Paraguay from Ciudad del Este to Asuncion. (They call it the Road of Death because there are so many accidents on the road, but our Good Shepherd watced over us as always.)

Fortunately for us, we had to wait for the bus by a chipa stand at 4 pm. Chipa is a ring-shaped anise-flavored cheese bread, crunchy outside and chewy inside, that Paraguayans eat hot from the oven in the late afternoon. The baskets on the stools in the photo are full of chipa to be sold to the drivers of the stream of cars, buses and trucks who pull off the highway where we were standing.

In this photo, Emi and Luisa are chewing rather than smiling, but our hearts were full of joy after 2 days of training in Ciudad del Este. Last year when we were in Ciudad del Este leading Becoming a Godly Woman, one leader was set free from her bitterness and anger to such a remarkable extent that her pastor husband later reported to the Bishop that she had completely changed. We were delighted to see that the changes have been permanent and to be able to introduce the first half of The ABC’s to the group.

Multiplication

2012-04-26T19:46:00-04:00

A Report from Paraguay by Chris Hanak

Focus on the Heart’s vision, the desire of our hearts, is to multiply the number of spiritually mature women worldwide.

For FOH, multiplication means preparing national leaders who then train and mentor women in their churches, encouraging them to share what they learn with others. We see each other close-up in church, and the reason many women want to be in the classes is they have seen significant change in those who have been through FOH courses.

On this trip to Paraguay, Chris, Emi and Luisa trained women from 12 churches in 3 districts of the Paraguay Methodist Church using the second half of The ABC’s of Care-giving. Most of the women are pastors’ wives, whose changed lives are powerful testimonies to their husbands and churches of what the Lord can and will do in those who want to follow Him more closely.

Jumping for Joy

2012-04-25T15:22:39-04:00

An FOH Report from the Philippines

Jumping for joy -- a natural reaction for 6 of the leaders we trained in November who just completed leading Becoming a Godly Woman in Iloilo for 24 women. One of the groups included the Academic Dean of the Bible College for the Christian Missionary Alliance Church on Mindanao. She had requested they come and train some strategic women there.

Focus on the Heart produces such joy in our heart as, again and again, we see women opening their hearts to the Lord and beginning to experience the abundant life that our Lord Jesus came to bring us.

Commitment

2012-04-13T08:14:49-04:00

A Report from Paraguay by Chris Hanak

I arrived yesterday afternoon in time to accompany Emi to the town of Puente Remanso by the Paraguay River where she had her first Becoming a Godly Woman meeting with a new group. The Bishop of the Methodist Church had asked Emi to begin work in that church because of the testimonies he has heard in different churches from women about how God has been using Focus on the Heart under Emi’s leadership to restore their lives in dramatic ways.

As we began the meeting, Emi placed a small box in the center of the table. After introductions, she began to talk to the women about the importance of being able to share their hearts with each other and how vital it is to keep what they hear confidential.

She explained she was not asking them to promise her they would do that. We are studying in the presence of the Lord, expecting Him to work in our lives, so this needed to be a promise to Him to keep what they hear confidential and to only share it with Him.

Then she opened the box.

Inside was a simple silver ring, a symbol of commitment. As she waited, one by one each woman took out the ring and prayerfully put it on her finger while she silently made that commitment to the Lord.

At the end of the class, Emi closed with a story for the women to think about. Gladys was a woman who sincerely loved the Lord, who was faithful in the church and in her private devotional times, but who became sharper and more critical as she aged, and who held grudges in her heart rather than forgiving them. A woman whose life did not demonstrate her beliefs. How many women in our churches are like that? Lord, have mercy on us so we do not follow that path.

Pearl

2011-11-10T18:36:00-05:00

A Report from Chris Hanak in the Philippines

On Wednesday, at the end of the first class of Becoming a Beautiful Woman, our Philippine sisters gave us a unique gift. The box contained a small can about the size of a can of tuna fish. Inside the can was a clam: we opened the clam to discover a cultured pearl inside and then put it in a silver cage for a necklace.

Cultured pearls are made by introducing a grain of sand into a clam and allowing it time to deal with the painful irritation. The clam begins to surround the grain with a substance that, layer on layer, forms a pearl.

As Miranda shared her gratitude to the women, she said the beautiful pearl reminded her of Jesus’ parable of the pearl of great price, which fit the Godly Woman theme of our class perfectly. Proverbs 31 says that the worth of a godly woman is more than rubies – maybe like the worth of a pearl?

The way a pearl is formed is very similar to the way the character of a godly woman is formed. As the Lord permits trials and painful circumstances in our lives, we can try to escape from them or persevere through them in faith. Our faith (of greater worth than gold) forms a beautiful character that reflects His love and compassion.

Salamat, Salamat

2011-11-09T23:50:42-05:00

A Report from the Philippines by Chris Hanak

Our three days of discussing Becoming a Godly Woman flew by! With good participation from all of the women, snack breaks, and exercise times led by Barbara, we were amazed that the end came so soon. We were all sad to have to say good-bye to each other.

For the closing program, the class sang a Tagalog song, “Salamat, Salamat” (Thank You, Thank You), and treated us to a revue of our class activities: they dressed as older and younger women to recite TItus 2:3-5; Edna led a great parody of Barbara’s aerobics; each one danced up to receive her certificate and we all laughed until our faces hurt. At the end, they prayed for us and for the Focus on the Heart ministry.

All of the women were pastors’ wives and/or pastors. They shared that this material is just what they need to teach the women in their congregations and districts -- “The timing of your coming is from God!”

First Impressions

2011-11-06T04:07:40-05:00

A Report from the Philippines by Chris Hanak

Barbara and I landed at the Manila airport at 11:00 –- in the morning according to US time and at night according to Philippine time. Our hosts, AFCI national director Isaias Catorce and his wife Judith, were there to pick us up. A few hours after our arrival, Miranda Nakhla flew in from Australia to join us for these 2 weeks.

The “Welcome” sign that greeted us at the airport turned out to be a good predictor of the helpfulness of the people we have encountered here.

For lunch on Sunday we went to a nearby mall and ate noodle soup at a Chinese fast-food shop. There are many malls in Manila including the 2nd and 3rd largest shopping malls in the world. Manila itself includes a metropolitan area of 18 cities with over 12 million people.

After getting some electric outlet adaptors, and $2 umbrellas (it’s supposed to rain all week), we headed to the grocery store, a hypermarket filled with familiar and unfamiliar products. As you can see in the picture, the shopping carts are frames for baskets that can also be carried by hand.

Our first class begins Monday afternoon: teaching Becoming a Godly Woman to a group of 8 women from different churches. Although the Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia and is nominally 95% Christian, we are told there is a great need for discipleship in the churches, especially for women. So the Focus on the Heart courses will be a useful addition to the programs of the churches.

But I Can Cook!

2011-10-07T15:56:00-04:00

A Report from Asuncion, Paraguay by Chris Hanak

October 4, 5, and 6 were long days in the Chaco region of Paraguay, the western plains area. Emi Monges (Paraguay FOH coordinator), Luisa Cardenas (Peru FOH Coordinator) and I taught a group of pastor’s wives and leaders the first part of The ABC’s of Care-giving in the church of Benjamin Aceval.

We started early, broke for lunch and ended at 5:00 with a snack. Our lunches were prepared by one of the church members. She told us that she would love to have been part of the course, but these classes are for those who will lead the class in their churches. “I can’t teach,” she told us, “but I can cook. This is what I can do to help my sisters learn.”

How well the church functions when everyone shares their gifts with others and all work together to build up the community of faith.

God Doesnt Practice

2011-10-06T16:52:00-04:00

A Report from Asuncion, Paraguay by Chris Hanak

Emi Monges (Paraguay FOH Coordinator), Luisa Cardenas (Peru FOH Coordinator) and I led the first part of The ABCs of Caregiving in the Chaco town of Benjamin Aceval. Three pastor’s wives and 3 church leaders participated in the 3 days of the course.

The class began with a thorough discussion of confidentiality, since fear of exposure and gossip is one of the reasons we don’t share our hearts in church. This group learned to trust each other through the previous FOH course, so, with that reminder, they were confident enough to be honest with each other about problems they were facing.

The main topic of the course is how to listen to each other with our hearts as well as with our ears. One of the hardest things for many women to do is to listen without giving advice, solving the problem, or telling their own experiences.

During our times of listening practice, the class discovered that, although we were practicing, God was actually working in their hearts. They were amazed at how listening and praying helped them gain new understanding of the issues they were dealing with in their lives. One of the women exclaimed, “This isn’t a course, it’s freedom, freedom for ourselves so we can help others find freedom!”

An Ah-ha Moment

2011-09-30T11:22:48-04:00

A Report from Paraguay by Chris Hanak

Teaching a class in the Methodist Bible Institute in Paraguay is a unique experience!

This week I taught 2nd and 3rd year students the FOH Inductive Bible Study course. This course is designed to make it easier for students to discern what a biblical text really means and to apply the text faithfully in a message.

It was very hot, so the students constantly drank terere, a herbal tea, as you can see Pastor Hugo is doing in the photo above. He is the father of the girl who was brutally murdered earlier this year. The passages on suffering we looked at were especially relevant for him – not only did he lose his daughter, but the guy who undoubtedly was responsible is the son of a friend of his. One of his comments was, “God knows what we are suffering and He is faithful. We keep reminding ourselves of that when things seem hard.”

Mothers in Paraguay usually do not have someone they can trust to care for their babies, so children need to come along, even to class. Celeste, the student in this photo, brought a baby sitter with her to the Institute, but still needed to nurse her 2-month old while she studied. Celeste and her husband are leaders in a non-Methodist church and her desire is to work with women. Perhaps she will be one of those FOH works with in the future.

The students divided into small groups to work on observing, interpreting and applying the passages and then shared the results with the class. We spent extra time working through how to be faithful to the text in applying it in a sermon.

After the class, the students said, “Now we understand what they were trying to teach us in homiletics and hermeneutics about sticking to the text!”