Link Letter No.22 October 2015
Link Letter October 2014 – February 2015!
Dear friends,
Eric and Sandra Read
With Peter and Atiyyah
CMS mission partners
Philippines
Back in the Philippines now, our time in
the UK is rapidly receding into the past as we
get absorbed back into life here. It was good
to see so many of you and to catch up. We
are very grateful for your encouragement and
support even as we made our visits with some
trepidation, feeling that we have not achieved
much. Instead, you were all very supportive and
Eric and Sandra Read are CMS mission
partners based on the main southern
island of Mindanao. Their vision is to
train and mentor local churches and
other groups to reach out holistically
and practically to local communities,
particularly within the context of barriers
between different people groups.
understanding of the difficult time we have had
and we have come away much encouraged by you all and your prayers and support for us.
A number of you asked us about the longer term plans for the farm and in talking with our
families we found that they did not know either, so we thought it would be good to clarify it for
everyone. So here are some FAQs.
Why are you doing farming;
what does it have to do with
mission?
Following our experience
of trying to obtain funding for
our work in Congo, we decided
from the start that we wanted to
develop a local source of funding
in the Philippines for our work.
We also felt local funding for
our work is more in line with
the principles we are trying
to teach others of self reliance
and sustainability. Engaging
Our house
in business also brings us into
contact with a lot of people
P.O. Box 0408, Cagayan de Oro, 9000, The Philippines
[email protected]
in ways and places that would be much
harder as a “missionary”. To this end, after
consideration we decided an organic farm
was the best option. We feel being organic is
important in relation to one of the five pillars
of mission of CMS being creation and the
environment. There is a push here by the
government for organic farming and care for
the environment. Although people understand
the whys of it, the ordinary farmer struggles
in the how. So we intend to pass on our
experience and learning to others as we get
better at it.
How did you start the farm?
Drying rice hull before burning to charcoal for
use as soil conditioner
We bought the farm with our own money
and additional borrowing from Eric’s father and at present the farm is in Sandra’s name (foreigners are not
allowed to own agricultural land).
We had expected the farm to break even this year; however, with the five month drought earlier this
year hitting production, it will now most likely not reach this point until next year, especially as the
weather bureau is predicting another few months of dry weather coming – in fact the rainfall we have now
is noticeably less than normal.
What are the longer term plans for the farm?
In the longer term our intention is for the farm and the ministry it supports to become a foundation or
other suitable legal entity that will continue even
after we retire. The farm is not an investment for
our retirement or any other purpose. However,
as this is still some distance away in the future
and we will need to take plenty of advice, we are
not doing anything about it at present. Instead,
we are concentrating on getting the farm to start
earning to support the work we plan to do with
some local churches here.
What are you producing on the farm?
Our main produce are guavas and
calamansi, of which we have about 1,400 and
Testing different plastic bags; the pink are the
old ones, the white and the grey the new ones
1,300 trees respectively although not all are
productive yet. We also have
eight goats for meat production
and to keep the grass down
amongst the calamansi,
although we don’t have enough
yet to make much impact. We
also have about half an acre of
citronella which we are starting
to distil to extract oil. We are
researching and experimenting
the production of insect
repellent. If there is anyone who
can help us in formulating the
solution, we would be grateful
for your help.
What are the immediate
plans for the farm and
Time for hobbies too - Peter and Enoch (dorm parent)
doing some carpentry
ministry?
We started doing some research and testing on processing our fruits into juices, and
distilling oil from citronella.
We’ve got some more durable sunlight resistant polythene from Manila. We are
conducting trials in better wrapping of guavas to protect from fruit flies and reduce spoilage.
We found and bought some very low cost drip irrigation (developed over 10 years and
produced by a man who just saw the need and came up with a solution affordable by even
very small farmers). We plan to test it on some
guava and calamansi to see if we can sustain
production even during times of drought.
Mixing and testing of citronella oil-based
insect repellents.
In the next few months we will finalise
the detailed plans and preparations to build
the reading corner and children’s dorm.
After the initial presentation of our
idea of a small dorm to house students from
distant areas with Pastor Boy, we hope to
start some definite planning with him and his
Atiyyah with her room mates,
Hannah and Imogen
church and Pr. Dodong and his church.
And finally…
How are Peter and Atiyyah getting on at their new school?
They do both seem to be settling in and getting used to boarding and making friends. Atiyyah is
disappointed there is no middle school football team; she’ll have to wait until high school next year
for that. Peter has decided he wants to join the rugby team when it starts this month. Academically
they are both finding they have a lot more work and it is harder than they are used to. But we are
encouraged to see they are both passing in all but one subject (algebra) and only just failing in that.
We have been blessed with receiving Eric’s father’s cottage, which is currently undergoing
repairs and redecoration and which we will then let out. The income will go towards Peter and
Atiyyah’s school fees, which are significantly higher than at their previous schools.
Praise and prayers
They’ve been busy wrapping guavas the last couple of weeks, getting on for 8,000 in all which
is encouraging – praise the Lord! (just as long as we can keep the pests off). Please pray that our
efforts to protect the fruits will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest by November to December.
Praise God for the wonderful (but different) dorm parents both Peter and Atiyyah have. They
have settled in well with dorm living, but they are struggling to keep up with the academic demands.
Peter still has his ups and downs. Please do continue to uphold them with prayers.
There are so many things we need to do to get the farm and the ministry moving forward, and
everything seems to be a priority! Pray for wisdom, strength and for God to just get all things to fall
in the right places.
For the reading corner and dorm, that we will be able to get the plans in place and start work
on them and for a good working relationship with the churches.
For our processing and marketing plans, that we will have success
That we will be able to let out the cottage quickly.
Thank you for your prayers and support, and with love and every blessing
Eric, Sandra, Peter and Atiyyah
Church Mission Society
Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ Tel: 01865 787400 Fax: 01865 776375
Email: [email protected] www.cms-uk.org Registered Charity Number 1131655
www.cms-uk.org