MEANS Ministry visit to the Philippines… MEANS Coconut Grove

In our (Lina and Carmena) recent trip to the Philippines, we visited a school that has been a long time partner of MEANS in Kingdom building. Our partnership has gone a long way to include soccer coaching and mentoring, scholarship program, Inter-School Christian Fellowship groups, Read to Grow projects, Organic gardening and tree planting.

We thank God for this Christian school, the Good Shepherd’s Fold Academy in Guimaras Island, formerly part of Iloilo, for their gracious partnership and hospitality in welcoming us as ministry partner.

When we were there, we requested to see the MEANS coconut grove. In the early 1990s, MEANS donated coconut seedlings to be planted in a vacant area in the school’s premises.

We met the caretakers of the grove who told us that coconuts are taken down every three months. Proceeds from the sale are used to fund some school expenses.

We were so happy and encouraged to see the coconut grove.

Lina Padilla and Carmena Cruz visited ministry partners in the Philippines and Thailand on Jan. 30th – Mar. 7th.

A blessed Christmas greeting to you, our dear partners.   How swift time flies!  It was as if we just started January 2016 and now, we are nearing the end of 2016 in another month.  Presently, we have been thinking about how we can once again show compassion to our ministry partners who have been faithfully serving the Lord in difference areas in the Philippines and some countries in East Asia.
Through the years, the MEANS volunteers have been faithfully serving the Lord by helping in our third Saturday MEANS workday to process gifts/donations for missions.  Some of our volunteers are also supporting individual missionaries.   At present, MEANS has   embarked on some project initiatives that will complement our missionaries’ work in sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I listed some of the MEANS initiatives that are ongoing:

1) Caring for Creation by planting fruit trees which will be profitable in supplementing food to the poor

2) Read to Grow –  by giving books to our ministry partners who are involved in literacy projects

3) Leadership training   using local resources and expertise

4) Educational scholarship – to help pay school tuition to deserving students whose parents cannot afford to send them to universities.

5)  Vegetable gardening in Maesot, Thailand – our partners in this area minister to at risk for slave and sex traffic migrant Burmese girls.

6) Reaching out to youth in schools – Student ministry run by Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship.
7) Flip Flop projects – to be given to poor children in urban and rural areas whose parents cannot afford to buy rubber slippers because buying food is their priority.

8)  Distribution of rice buckets – to supplement the livelihood of ministry partners’ volunteer workers.

These initiatives are being done in collaboration with our ministry partners who are seeking to expand the Kingdom of God.  It is our desire that our ministry partners balance the preaching of the Word of God by good works and works of mercy in order to make the Kingdom of God more visible in their midst, not just sporadically, but relentless, consistently, and faithfully.

Christmas is a great opportunity to demonstrate the love of Jesus. Would you partner with us in empowering them as they help those whom they are seeking to bring to the Kingdom of God?  Thank you very much for partnering with us through the years.  As you help, may this be a reminder to all of us.

“In this way, they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  1 Timothy 6:19 (NIV)

For Christ and His Kingdom,

Lina Padilla, Board Chair

Plant fruit trees in the communities