Forras Missions

One of Pete’s primary jobs is to help make this project financially self-sustaining. That includes small business loans for our pastors to help them earn a living. We released our first loans the past two months and now have eleven completed loans. Our first two loans were for Pastor Fred Valenzuela and Pastor Josie Sangalang. Pastor Fred is a car salesman as well as a pastor. With the loan, he now has his own capital to buy and sell his own vehicles. Pastor Josie Sangalang is also a pastor. With the loan, she can buy a pig which her husband Pastor Rey picks up in his tricycle, butcher it, and resells packaged meat to their community.

Pete has also been meeting with other non-profit groups to help fill other needs in the communities. Under employment in the Philippines and a shortage of capital for small businesses is a huge problem. One of these groups called CCT (Center for Community Transformation) lend small amounts of money to people living in the poorer areas of Manila. We have started a pilot project with them and invited them to our communities. Our pastors take them around their community and hold introduction meetings explaining how CCT works. Even though it has only been four weeks, we are hearing and seeing great things. We are really trying to get our pastors to pastor a community and not just their own little church.

Another problem is lack of affordable medicines. There is another non-profit group that supplies generic medicines and training. By partnering with them we can get volunteers trained and start a little pharmacy in the church. We hope to pilot this in three areas in the next month before expanding.

Tina has also been working at the UCPP office once a week to help set up, clean up, and get the computers ready to be used by the preschools. The computers were donated by the school district in Kirkland with the help of Patricia Shirley. Tina also updates the UCPP website. Check out the website at http://www.ucpp.org for more information on the project. She is also involved with the twenty-one preschool teachers in their monthly fellowship meetings and prayer group.