BLOG HAS MOVED

Our Blog has now moved to our new Website!

Please click on the link below for our blog:
Hope Hands Blog

Blessings
Ashley & Paula

HOPE HANDS - OUR VERY OWN WEBSITE & FACEBOOK PAGE

We are proud to announce the birth of our very own Website called "Hope Hands" and a Facebook Page with the same name. This website has everything you need to know about us and the work we will be involved with in the Philippines and the Facebook page will be for us to post everyday happenings in the mission work. 

Please see the links below for both of these.

Website: www.hopehands.com.au

Click on the link below and like our new page for updates on our mission work in the Philippines.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hopehands2014


In the next couple of weeks all our past blogs will be moved to the  new website.

Blessings
Ashley & Paula

WAITING FOR OUR ISAAC

Over the last 17 years there have been so many times that we just really felt like nothing around us even remotely confirmed our calling to the Philippines and there was definitely no one in our world coming beside us and validating that they seen in us what we believed God had given us. One day in my devotions I was reading the story of Abraham and Sarah and the promise God gave Abraham about becoming a father. After waiting many years, Abraham and Sarah got impatient, therefore Ishmael was born.

God spoke to me very clearly in this time about not creating an Ishmael in regards to getting to the overseas mission field full time. I knew we were to wait for our Isacc. This was not easy, but God showed me through this story that in waiting for God's timing, there would come blessing, favour and fruitfulness. Trying to make something happen would only bring heartache, strife & hostility.

Abraham and Sarah thought that their time was running out and had to do something to make their promise/dream happen - many of us do the same thing. We need to remember that God's time is not our time, His Ways are far above our ways.


Blessings

Paula 
         xo

CONSTRUCTION SITES, ROOSTERS & KARAOKE

Hi everyone...Ashley here... I thought is was about time that I write a blog...so here we go.

Paula and I have just returned from 4 weeks (the whole of August) oversees. We spent the first week in Thailand at the Pan Asia Global Mission Conference, followed by a 3 week mission trip to the slum of Baseco in Metro Manila, Philippines, where an Aussie couple Mark & Christine Pedder have lived and worked as Missionaries for the last 11 years. This is the place that Paula & I will be initially going to next year when we move to the Philippines as full time Missionaries (Field Workers). We did a previous blog with a video called "BASECO will be our new home!" When we go next year full time we will live & work in Baseco under the Pedders for anywhere up to 2 years, learning as much as we can from them. After our initial time with the Pedders we will go to another place in the Philippines and start a new work there.

This was the first time Paula & I had been to the area of Baseco which is approximately 1 square klm and home to 100, 000 people. In the slum area there is never a dull moment with something always going on. The constant noise level from nearby construction sites, the shipping port next door & plane flight path should be enough, however there is also the people, roosters, dogs, cats, children and of course the not so welcoming Karaoke Entertainment, all which has a time zone of its own.

I came home from Baseco with a new and greater Honor, Respect & Admiration for Mark & Christine Pedder and the God directed work and passion that these saints of the faith are doing. Just to live and minister in this slum is challenging enough but to have such influence in so many peoples lives in the diversity of areas as they do, is something else.




Paula & I are honored and greatly blessed to be going and serving God under these great people.

Left to Right: Paula, Ashley, Christine & Mark

No matter what your circumstances may be, Jesus has an answer and in fact He is the answer.
That is the hope in Jesus that is slowly changing the face of Baseco, one person (soul) at a time. No-one is turned away, everyone that Mark & Christine & their leaders encounters is seen as an opportunity to share Jesus whether verbally or by "Christ's love in action". We witnessed this love by everything from bandaging wounds (which the patient would never be able to afford medical care) to rebuilding slum houses to connecting lives to the King of Glory. People may be poor in material sense but when they become a child of God Almighty they then possess the most valuable/richest possession that a person can own on earth. Their ticket to truth, peace, salvation and heaven. That in itself is what it is all about. That is what motivates, drives and keeps us going when we want to give up.

Just like to end with some of the words from a Delirious song "Majesty", which encourages me regularly, hopefully it will you also.

"Your Grace has found me just as I am, empty handed but alive in your hands"

God Love You

Ashley 

THE CRY OF THE POOR

For months & months I have had a phrase going over and over in my head…

 “THE CRY OF THE POOR”  “THE CRY OF THE POOR”  “THE CRY OF THE POOR” 

These words pervade my thoughts and my heart on a daily basis. My prayer life is sabotaged as I find myself interceding for the poor, and on two occasions during my prayer time I have had what I could only explain as a vision. I actually seen hundreds and hundreds of people with their arms outstretched to me crying and wailing. I believe it was the poor crying out. It was chilling and disturbing to me at first as I felt extremely overwhelmed by the desperateness in their cries.

I know God is doing a greater work in my heart for our work ahead in the Philippines. But I have been challenged to open my eyes for those around me here in Australia.

One of the major influences in Ashley’s and my life are Missionaries Roland & Heidi Baker. The Bakers were the main speakers at a conference that we were recently privileged to attend. As Heidi spoke she told two stories which highlighted the concept of “LOVE LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING”. I was immensely touched and challenged to the core. In the first story she explained how many many people in Africa have to walk to get their water and she outlined the dangers facing these people as they walk....some an hour, some 5 hours, some for 8 hours…and then they have to walk home again. I do not need to write here those dangers as I am sure you can assume what they would be. Many are children & young people who walk these distances. Heidi goes onto to say,  “This is why we drill wells in or near the villages…because LOVE LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING”. Her second story so profoundly effected me, that it caused me to be much more aware of those around me and what they may be going through. Heidi begins to tell the story of her visiting her people in her village. She came across this lady who had a severely disabled son that she looks after. When Heidi asked her how she was the lady said she was not good. When Heidi began to ask more questions she found out what was actually wrong. She discovered that this lady was being raped EVERY NIGHT...simply because she had no door on her hut. Heidi met this ladies need and put a door on her hut that locked...and the Rape stopped.  

As in the words of Heidi Baker...“right where we are we can stop for the one in front of us”.

God has shown me that “The Cry of the Poor” does not necessarily mean economically poor. People are crying out all over our neighbourhoods. There are people all around us who are lonely, hopelessness is suffocating people, so many are being swallowed up in the black holes of depression, marriages are disintegrating, loss of jobs, loss of loved ones, franticness of trying to make ends meet, the inadequacies of parenthood, peer pressure, people simply need a friend and to be accepted.

People need our time, finances and resources, we need to show people God's Love and that comes through action & doing. The Gospel is so much more attractive when people are shown God's love and not just told...God loves you.

We have to have eyes that see past our own busyness and selfishness. I must admit I did not realise how selfish I am.

Our challenge is to identify & make the time to Answer the “The Cry of the Poor” around us!

Blessings
Paula

ONE TEAM - ONE DREAM

In 2008 a Team of 9 of us from Centro Church, Ipswich Queensland, Australia went on a short term missions trip to Silay City & Cauayan on the Island of Negros, Philippines. Leading up to this trip and even while we were there our team seen God make every crooked path straight. Each one of us had our faith built and came home a different person because of what the Lord had done in us and through us.

We planted hundreds of seeds, ran children's programs, visited a number of Primary & High Schools taking the gospel in creative ways like science experiments and song and spoke on the danger of drugs. We gave free haircuts and massages to the squatters areas, played with the children and played basketball with the men & boys in the squatters areas. The team also preached the gospel, prayed for the people and ran feeding programs in those same squatters areas. The highlight of the trip was definitely being invited to the Military Base in Cauayan where 8 soldiers and 1 prisoner gave their hearts to the Lord. They then invited us to go down to their shooting range and have a go shooting the M16's. The Military do not just invite anyone to their shooting range, therefore we knew this invitation was a huge privilege and a very humbling and exhilarating experience at the same time.

Our team consisted of an Antiques Dealer, a Mum, a Child Care Worker, apprentice Hairdresser, a High School Student, a Teacher, a hospitality worker and two uni students one studying massage & the other studying human services. What a varied bunch, but what an awesome bunch. Does not matter what you do for a living or how old you are...you need to go on a short term missions trip.

GO...and then you can explain to others why they need to GO..


Enjoy watching the video below which shows a snippet of what we got up to on this trip.

If you would like to keep-up-to-date with the videos we post relating to our Mission Work in the Philippines CLICK HERE  and then press the Subscribe button.

Blessings

Ashley & Paula

"BASECO" will be our new home!

Many have been asking Ashley & myself about where we will be going to in the Philippines.

Soooo....Below is a video of where we will be going to. We are very privileged and honoured to go and be a part of what God is doing with the Filipino people in this place.

Mark & Christine Pedder are Aussie's who have been in the Philippines for 11 years and are doing an amazing job loving the people and training the nationals & we get to go and be apart of this...

Please pray for us as we prepare to GO...

Blessings

Ashley & Paula

LIFE HAS SPEED BUMPS

In life there are many things that can happen to cause us to think that our dreams, passion and destiny is now null and void and never going to happen. Hope and vision can easily be snuffed out – if we let it.  

In Australia, like many other countries, our streets have many speed bumps everywhere. They are used to cause drivers to slow down. Unfortunately we have some riduculously high speed bumps and the speed required to get over these humps is extremely slow. We also have smaller ones where we do not need to slow down as much. All we need to do as drivers is too ascertain the size of the hump as to the speed we need to take to safely get over to the other side.

As drivers there are a couple of things that we don't do when we see a speed bump. We don't see a speed bump and say "well I was not meant to be out driving today" and then turn around and go home and we definitely don't say that "I will never drive again because I came across a speed bump". This may seem a riduculous thing to do, however in life many of us hit a circumstance, or tragedy and we literally do this with our passions, gifts, destiny and the call of God on our lives. 

Speed bumps in our lives can present themselves in many shapes and forms. For some it can be a relationship breakdown, illness, the loss of a job, disappointment, betrayal, the loss of a loved one, and loved ones who have addictions. This is definitely not an exhaustive list and I am sure that as you are reading this, you could add your own grief or situation to this list.

I have personally hit many many speed bumps in my life, and so have most of you. There were times that I thought that my gifts, passions, destiny and the call of God of my life were no longer applicable because of those circumstances. But I did begin to learn that my challenge was to slow down to the required speed for the size of the speed bump, so I could navigate myself to the other side, and then I could pick up speed and carry on.

When we are driving somewhere and we reach a speed bump, it does not mean that we can no longer keep driving to our destination. A speed bump just means that it is time to slow down until we are on the other side.

Whatever your speed bump is today, my encouragement to you is that you just need to slow down for the required speed needed for that hump. Do not negate the gifts, the destiny, the call of God on your life because of that circumstance. This season in your life requires you to go slower, BUT DO NOT STOP, TURN BACK OR GIVE UP. Keep moving forward and keep your eyes focused on a loving God who knows everything we are going through. A God who brings us through the fire and can be trusted. 

Galatians 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Blessings

Paula

          xo

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

I remember very clearly where I was and what was said in that initial conversation with my husband in August of 1995. It was not pretty or nice and my darling husband kept it to himself and prayed for God’s Will in my life.

So this is what happened that led up to this conversation.

Ashley had been asked many times by our then Pastor to go on a number of mission trips, however Ashley had always said "NO" and said "why would you ever want to go to a Third World Country". Then one day in early July of 1995, I came home to inform Ashley that our Pastor was going on another mission trip and this time he was going to the Philippines. When our Pastor asked Ashley this time, he just knew the Holy Spirit was leading him to go and in a little over two weeks they were gone to the Philippines for a couple of weeks.

On the 29th July 1995, a few days into Ashley being in the Philippines on this mission trip, I received a call from my father that would rock my world and cause tremendous grief. At around 2.30am in the morning my father called me to say that my beautiful sister and my best friend Alison had been killed in a head on car crash the day before. I was grief stricken and was struggling to keep it all together and look after our 4 children on my own, while Ashley was on this mission trip. I remember despising this stupid mission trip. I managed to eventually get a hold of Ashley and I had no concept on why it was so hard for him to get to a phone or even why he could just not get on a plane and come straight home. It was not until years later, that the realization came of how difficult the communication and transportation can be in the Philippines. My sister’s death is another whole story, and an awesome testimony to God that I will share on another occasion.

On a bright and sunny day in early August, my husband, our eldest son and my self had all arrived at the Brisbane Airport. However we had all come from very different scenarios. My husband Ashley was returning from his mission trip to the Philippines and he was on cloud 9. He was excited, inspired and God had spoken to him, used him and he was on fire. Our eldest son Paul and myself were arriving at the airport from my sisters funeral in Northern Queensland and we were everything that Ashley was not.

He tried on several occasions over the next weeks to fill me in on his trip, but I told him I was not interested and shut him down. So he proceeded to tell others about the trip...while I was around. This was how I heard about what had happened in this amazing time he spent in the Philippines. I was happy for him, but my sorrow and grief over my sisters passing was just too much and I did not want to hear any of his amazing stories.

THE CONVERSATION
I remember very clearly one day Ashley worked up the courage to say to me that he would like us both to go to the Philippines together on a mission trip. My response was straight to the point and very clearly articulated, so therefore there was no room for misinterpretation on his part...lol...This was my respones "NO WAY, there are many places in this world I want to go and Philippines is not one of them. Why would I want to go to a third world country. If I am going to go anywhere in the world outside Australia, it will be Germany and Switzerland". Ashley tells me he just prayed and asked God to change my heart.

WOW did this happen or what! 

Fourteen months after this mission trip that changed his life, our family moved churches to the awesome church where we have been planted for almost 17 years. Back in those days Centro Church had a very large Filipino membership and we even had a Filipino pastor that our church had brought here from the Philippines to Pastor the Filipino’s in our church. Over a period of time I had noticed I was being drawn to these people and I could not explain it. My heart was being changed from a heart of stone to being soft. I found myself falling in love with the people and the nation of the Philippines. There was a time when I knew I was done for when I could not have a Filipino walk past me in church without me being a blubbering mess, I would uncontrollably sob. At times it was embarrasing, but there came a time when I knew what God was doing and I yeilded to God's heart for me.

One day after realising what God had done in my heart and both of us knowing we were called to the Philippines, I was at a prayer meeting when a women who I hardly knew, gave me a book and said she felt God had laid it on her heart to give me the book to read, but I could not keep it. The book was called Arise & Reap by Isabel Chapman. It is the true story of business women Isabel Chapman, who after only being a Christian for 6 weeks was on a plane to the Philippines as a missionary. We read the book and were touched deeply and inspired by her faith & obedience to her God, despite the resistance and criticism from those around her.

We tried to buy the book, only to find out it was no longer being printed. I contacted Christian Book Stores, suppliers, and the publisher, all to no avail. I spent a small fortune phoning around Australia, trying to purchase our own copy of "Arise & Reap".

After finishing the book, we very grudgingly gave it back to the lady who lent it to us, and we prayed that one day we would be able to get our own copy. 

Years later, at a time that we had given up on ever being able to go to the Philippines as full time missionaries, as there seemed to be too much against it ever happening, we were at our Childrens School Annual “Spring Fair”. We decided to go and have a browse through the second hand book stall.

There were just rows and row and rows of books, all stacked on top of one another on tables. I chose a table and began to look nonchalantly through the books that were stacked on top of one another, moving them from the stack and putting them on top of another stack. Not really expecting to find anything I would be interested in, but nevertheless trying to fill in some time. About half way through the stack, I could not believe my eyes. I looked away and looked back several times as I really could not believe what was before me. There was the book “Arise and Reap” I picked up the book to make sure I was not seeing things and then I shouted out to Ashley so loudly that he wondered what was wrong. Ashley and I have read the book several times since then and it is very precious to us.

It was 1999 before God made the way for Ashley & I to go to the Philippines together for the first time. On our second day in the Philippines I ended up in hospital for 5 days, this was a very scary and fearful experience for me. Even so, this did not deter us for long, we have been back several times since then and taken others with us.

I remember one day in the late 90’s, I was speaking to my brother on the phone and telling him that one day we were going to move to the Philippines as missionaries and he told me that when I was a little girl, I told him I was going to be a missionary...I cannot even remember saying that. But I do remember seeing the missionaries that visited our church when I was growing up and I was so drawn to them and mesmerized by their appearance. God was obviously drawing me then and preparing me.

In around 1997, God had revealed to Ashley and I that He had called us to the Philippines as missionaries. Now here we are 16 years later and we are now actually preparing to go and next August is our leaving date. The journey to now is probably several blogs...lol...

Blessings
Ashley & Paula