A report from Metro Manila, Philippines, by Chris Hanak

During the gap between the Heart Freedom 1 and 2 courses, a number of pastor’s wives who are leading Focus on the Heart courses came to greet us and share testimonies of how these courses have changed their lives and the lives of the women in their churches.

Focus on the Heart courses are being used as the official program of the denominational women’s program.  The training focus has been on the pastor’s wives, who then share the courses with the women in their churches.  We were very encouraged to hear their reports of changed lives.

A pastor who joined us for lunch told me in a quiet voice how amazed he was at the wonderful changes he has seen in his wife and in the other women of the church as a result of the Titus 2 course.  We hear similar reports from India and Paraguay, the two other fields where the courses are being led on a wide scale. 

All of us who are involved in Focus on the Heart have experienced the same thing: the atmosphere of love and caring that nourishes our hearts when we meet with a small group of sisters in Christ whom we can trust, and the powerful love of our Lord Jesus work together to set us free to love God, ourselves and others in a much greater way.

A Report from Metro Manila, Philippines, by Chris Hanak

Focus on the Heart has spread throughout the Philippines during the last three years, making a strong impact through the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church in the islands.  The initial participants have been pastor’s wives, who have then taken the courses back to their churches.  The leadership team, headed by Agnes Dianga, has been tireless in visiting different parts of the country to begin the work.

Last year, one of the Bible Colleges began a program granting a Certificate in Women’s Ministry.  At the heart of the curriculum are the FOH courses.  Last night we heard an encouraging report of one of the students in that program.

She works for a company owned by Chinese Christians who allow her to lead Bible studies with the office workers after quitting time.  She has been leading small groups of women through the Becoming a Godly Woman (Titus 2) course and, as a result, the atmosphere of the office has changed for the better as women have taken this challenge to live their faith seriously.  To her surprise, the owners are now allowing women participating in the TItus 2 course to clock out AFTER the study each week rather than meet on their own time. 

Jesus told His disciples that the fields are ripe for the harvest and we have found that this is very true among women around the world.  In many corners of the world, women are longing for a deeper and more authentic relationship with the Lord and many are finding it through the courses from FOH.

A Report from Chris Hanak in Asuncion, Paraguay

October 15-17 were the days of Heart Freedom 2 in Asuncion.  The answers to our usual question, “Have you seen anything change in your life since April (our last class)?” included smiles and tears of joy.  For one of the women, what she learned last time made such a change in her life that it was a ‘before and after’ experience.  Another said that her relationship with the Lord has been totally different in the last 6 months.  She said, “The Lord wants to give us everything, but we have to be willing to receive it, to take it.”

One of the activities of Heart Freedom 2 is a look back at our childhood years. One of the women  confessed that she chose to never think of her childhood  experiences because they were so terrible.  She began to cry as she shared some of the things that had happened to her.  She cried and cried as she remembered her pain.  As we listened and prayed, her tears turned to a new, peaceful appreciation of how the Lord has worked in her life.  On the last day in class, she was noticeably more relaxed and peaceful.  What a difference it makes when the Lord touches our hearts!

A Report from Chris Hanak in Huancayo, Peru

Yesterday in the meeting with pastors of the Huancayo District, we discussed similarities and differences between watching sheep and pastoring a congregation.

I asked the question, “Who do they send to take care of the sheep?”  The answer, of course, is those who can’t do anything else. We see this in the Old Testament: girls like Rebecca, youngest sons like David.  They send important people to do important things.  They send the ones who are either too young or too old to watch the sheep.

When Jesus lived on earth, His society valued being an authority on the Scriptures.  He chose to be a carpenter, working in construction, rather than aspire to a position of honor.

When the Lord puts us in a position of leadership in His flock, it’s good to remember His definition of a leader: the servant of all.

A Report from Lima, Peru by Chris Hanak

Today is the day. It’s the day we drive up to Huancayo. This city, where we lived for a year, sits in a valley at 11, 500’, over 2 miles above sea level.

For the last few days, off and on, a disquieting thought has jumped in my mind: when I go to Huancayo, I’ll get sick. I’ve been up and down the mountains for years and only had altitude sickness twice, so this was an unusual thought to come into my mind. And anyway, it’s not a medical problem, even though it’s tremendously unpleasant at the time.

I had gone as far as to remark that thinking about altitude sickness was probably just the enemy putting that thought in my mind, but had not taken those thoughts seriously. I know better than to let the enemy have even a small space to whisper his lies, but this time, I just fretted rather than dealing with it.

Sunday morning, I took my fear to the Lord and He invited me to remember the first time I had altitude sickness and of what happened as a result.

It was my second trip to Huancayo, before we moved to Peru. I was leading a retreat and had left the activity for the first evening blank in the schedule because I planned to do something related to what happened in the discussions during the day. That first day, though, my stomach was so upset and my head ached so badly from the altitude that I couldn’t think of anything. All afternoon, I prayed and prayed, asking the Lord for an idea. Nothing. Confident He would give me an answer, I went into the evening session with a blank mind. We sat down, had our opening prayer and still no idea came.

So I had to say to the ladies, “Sisters, I’ve asked and asked the Lord for an idea for this session, and my mind is absolutely blank.”

I’ve never had to say that before. But the Lord had a wonderful plan. One of the older women said, “Let’s sing the Psalms.” Peruvians have a tradition of opening the Bible and singing the Psalms to Andean tunes. We spent an hour singing praises to the Lord from His Word, then closed with a time of prayer.

As I was worried about altitude sickness, that memory came into my mind along with the assurance from the Lord, “If you get it, I have a reason for allowing it!” My heart is at peace.

What a wonderful God we have. How wonderful to allow the memory of His past faithfulness to cancel out our fears.

We are such fearful, forgetful creatures!

A report from Lima, Peru, by Chris Hanak

December 7-8 Chris and Luisa Cardenas presented Becoming a Godly Woman (Titus 2) at a women’s shelter in one of the outlying suburbs of Lima.  This is a small shelter for abused women and children that has a vision to provide help for women with no other options to restart their lives.  We were invited by mission leaders of an Atlanta-area church that supports this shelter as well as the work of FOH – they saw a natural match between what we offer and what the women need.

As often happens in missions, the actual seminar turned out to be quite different than we anticipated.  We expected 7 young women from the shelter and instead, only 3 attended.  But the rest of the class of 8 included the social worker from the shelter, two older women from a Catholic church in Chimbote who are organizing a shelter in their city and wanted to learn from the Lima experience, plus 2 other older women from the Villa Maria Methodist Church in New Chimbote.  Most of the young women in the shelter attend a nearby Assembly of God church and the ones who participated in our class were fairly new believers who were still trying to reconcile their trust in God with their traumatic past experiences. 

One of the women from the Chimbote Catholic Church (wearing the turquoise shirt in the photo) is a public defender working with women and children.  She and her friend were somewhat surprised by the theme of the course: they thought they were coming to a seminar on working with battered women.  As the class went on, they became more and more engaged in the discussions.  During lunch on Saturday, she said, “This is the missing piece!  We are providing counseling and legal aid to these women, but what they really need is this kind of connection with God.”

Her friend (in the navy shirt) was equally excited.  “I didn’t know I was going to have a weekend of spiritual renewal!  I feel so much more strengthened in my faith through this seminar.”

A Report from Chris Hanak in General Santos City, Mindanao, Philippines

As we began The ABC’s of Caregiving Part 1 in General Santos City, Barbara reviewed Titus 2:3-5, the verses the women had memorized in Becoming a Godly Woman. The Philippine FOH leadership team had visited some months before to facilitate the course for 2 groups, and most had returned for The ABC’s.

Then Barbara asked what part of Becoming a Godly Woman had made the biggest impact on their lives. One of the women shared, “What I hate most about housework is cleaning the toilet.  But now I remember we are to do everything for and with the Lord Jesus.  While I’m cleaning, I sing, “Make me a servant, faithful and true …”