Holger and Laarni Tetzlaff

Background

We are Holger and Laarni, and we have been sent to the Philippines as missionaries by the Credo Church in Wuppertal.
We have been working for Globe Mission since November 2006.

We met in Hong Kong in 2002 at JmeM. There we completed spiritual training and took part in evangelism missions.
After our wedding in 2003, we moved to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, to work with children in slum areas.

Our work in Metro Manila (on the Philippines)

In Feb. 2005 we started a Sunday school in a slum, for kids from the slum who were on the streets. At first we had 15-20, but this quickly grew to 60 kids and God opened doors for us to be able to use various rooms for the meetings and to hold meetings for different age groups. We are now able to use church rooms in two slums for our Kids Church. And we are building up increasing contact with the parents…

The second slum area in which we have started Bible sessions for kids is in Payatas, very close to Metro Manila’s biggest rubbish heap (about 30 000 people in the area live largely by collecting, sorting and sometimes eating the rubbish). Since 2008, a total of about 180 kids come to our children’s services in different groups.

Since early 2009, we have been leading a small church in Payatas, which we pioneered, with weekly worship services, youth, teen, and children’s meetings, and Bible study for mothers.

Payatas is a place in Metro Manila (Quezon City) with a lot of poverty, which until five years ago had two large garbage dumps that were closed because of the danger of collapse. Hundreds of people still work in the many junk shops (garbage sorting garages). There is still a lot of poverty here, even though some things have improved for the better.

We have a small school and college sponsorship program to enable a few poor families to receive a better school/college education. We also work with various pastors and Christian organizations, such as the IFP (Intercessors for/from the Philippines) and the B1M & PEM, which bring holistic (spiritual and practical) help to places and stand up for the nation.

Vision and goals

1. We want to get to know God better, be captivated and transformed by Him.
2. We want people to get to know God personally and be saved !!
3. God has put it on our hearts to work specifically with children and young people (Laarni especially with the really small kids, and me more with the teenagers and adults)
4. For people (particularly from an early age) to be led forward in following Jesus and in discipleship and to be given a foundation in the Bible and in their faith. (Those new to the faith should be taken care of within a fellowship or home group / church)
5. To pass on to others an evangelistic and missionary heart and to lead the way ourselves.
6. We want to help and encourage people to enter into their calling, become co-workers and leaders and follow God with conviction.
7. We want to try (on a practical level) to meet the needs of the poor and help them.

We know that we ourselves still have a lot to learn, but God has touched us with His love and we want to tell others about the love of God and help them to get to know Him and follow Him!