AFCI Focus on the Heart

Pearl

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

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

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!”

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 Doesn’t Practice

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

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!” 

Free

A Report from Chris Hanak in Asuncion, Paraguay

In March 2011, Luisa Cardenas (Peru) and I taught Becoming a Godly Woman to 3 groups of women in different districts of the Paraguayan Methodist Church.  We have been delighted to visit some of the groups that our students have started.

Tuesday, June 28, we went out to the Chaco, the western plains, where 3 pastors’ wives who were part of the original class are leading the study for the women in their churches.

The session we sat in on deals with one of the 4 characteristics of a woman who is mature in the Lord: the ability to handle the pain of life with the Lord rather than run away from it or become angry and bitter.  A key to allowing the Lord to help us with life’s painful moments is forgiveness.

One of the leaders of the study gave a personal testimony as she introduced the subject of forgiveness.  She told the group that until the class in March, she had not realized she needed to forgive herself when her daughter died.  She lived for many years with the pain of believing she should have done something to keep her from dying.  She also realized she needed to forgive God for letting her first husband die in a car accident.  During the prayer time in the class, she forgave herself and let go of her anger at God.  “As a pastor’s wife, how could I help others while I was still angry at God and myself?  After 17 years, I’m free of that weight!”

You Can Cry

A Report by Chris Hanak from Asuncion, Paraguay

Sunday we left Asuncion at 5:00 am to drive up north to the interior to meet with the pastors’ wives who have been praying for the start-up of Focus on the Heart.

We arrived for the 8:30 church service at the church in Yrybukua.  The pastor’s wife met us on the sidewalk to explain that the guest speaker couldn’t come because it had rained (morotcycling is dangerous on the red clay roads when they are wet).  She wanted to know if I would preach.  In Paraguay, the Bishop often reminds the pastors that Methodist pastors have to always be ready to do 2 things: to preach and to die.  So, of course, I said yes.

I preached on God’s peace, because the community has been deeply shaken the last couple of weeks by the brutal murder of the daughter of one of our lay pastors.  Her battered body was found dumped on the street in front of the police station one morning and this has become a major police case, complete with charges of bribery and corruption.  The parents want to see justice done, but have had to restrain their relatives from seeking revenge against the people the girl was with the night she was killed.

 

The mother of the murdered girl came to the meeting of pastors’ wives that afternoon and we had a chance to pray with her afterwards.  Luisa and I were able to talk with her and pray for her in Spanish, but then Emi talked with her in Guarani, their Indian language.  She reminded the mother that Jesus knows her pain and, that if she felt like crying, it was ok, she could cry, because that’s a way to share our heart with Him as well.  As Emi then prayed for her, the mother began to cry and cry.  We cried with her, sharing some of her pain.  As the Lord said, we need to weep with those who weep.

Though her difficulties are far from over, the mother went home with more peace, comforted by the love and prayers of her sisters in Christ.

 

 

 

An Eye-Opening Moment

A Report from Chris Hanak in Asuncion, Paraguay

It was an eye-opening moment as I listened to a small group of women discussing 'caring for their homes' from the Titus 2:3-5, Becoming a Godly Woman lesson.  Emilia Monges, Focus on the Heart's Paraguay Coordinator, asked the women what household duty they liked least.

Three of them said the worst job was laundry.  One woman reminded the group, "I have 4 sons and sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed by the piles of dirty laundry." 

 

I could empathize because piles of dirty laundry have been overwhelming to me in the past, but then I remembered the situation of the women at the table. They do all of their wash by hand in cold water -- clothing, jeans, sheets, towels, everything.  In a wash basin.  In a patio of red clay.  And in the winter when it rains a lot, nothing dries well because of the high humidity.

Then another woman said she didn't mind the household work, but there was one thing she really, really didn’t like.  She was hesitant to mention it at first, but then said, "What I don't like is cleaning up after drunks, getting up in the morning and coming out to all the mess."  The older woman next to her nodded, "And having to take care of your husband when he's so stinky and uncooperative."  Several nodded.  The group was quiet for a moment: they all understood what that was like.  They didn’t need to talk more about it.

The situations that so many women around the world live with are almost incomprehensible to those who live in technologically advanced countries.  Once again I was glad that our FOH materials are discussion-based, so women in each culture apply the Scriptural principles to their own lives.

A Roadmap to the Heart of Jesus

A report from Chris Hanak in Atlanta, GA

Yesterday, as the women who met for The ABC’s of Care-giving shared their impressions of the course, one of the women said, “I think the course should be called 'A Roadmap to the Heart of Jesus'.  That’s what this course is really about.”  Another woman agreed, “Or even, Christianity 101.  There are so many things I know …. but realized I didn’t know!”

Our goal in teaching Focus on the Heart courses is to multiply the number of spiritually mature women worldwide.  We look for women leaders who will take what they have learned and share it with other women that the Lord has put in their lives. 

The women in this ABC’s group were already thinking about others they want to take this material to.  We praise God that He’s allowing us to see Him bless so many women through what He has helped us develop.