One mission, different voices: overseas missions of the convention of Philippine Baptist churches.

This brief survey of the history of overseas missions undertaken by an association of local churches in the Philippines known as the Convention of Philippine Baptist churches (CPBC) covers the period from the inception of the CPBC's overseas missions work in 1969 through 2003.

Filipino church historian Nestor Bunda, in his dissertation, "A Mission History of the Philippine Baptist Churches," argued that the history of the CPBC itself began in 1898 when Filipino Braulio Manikan joined a Baptist church in Spain and began translating the Bible into Hiligaynon, his native language. (1) Manikan and Eric Lund, a Swedish Baptist missionary supported by the American Baptist Missionary Union (which became American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1910), started the first Baptist mission station in the Philippines in 1900 in Jaro, Panay Island. (2)

In 1898, two years prior to the organization of the first Baptist work in the Philippines, the Filipinos declared their independence from Spain, which had colonized the archipelago for more than three hundred years. Although the Filipino spirit of independence was never quenched, the actual political experience was delayed for another half century due to a United States invasion and occupation of the country following the Spanish-American war. Finally, on "January 23, 1899, (Emilio) Aguinaldo was elected the President of the Philippines but the United States' intervention crushed the new republic." (3) The Americans fortified their occupation with soldiers, educators, and missionaries.

Even with their strong spiritual commitment and deep faith, the early Protestant missionaries and their missions work in the Philippines were strongly connected to the American occupation. Many of them understood America's presence there as divinely ordained. Bunda noted that "Charles W. Briggs, the first American Baptist missionary sent to the Philippines, declared that there were two remarkable Divine interventions in the Philippines--first, the coming of the Spanish friars and second, the coming of the American missionaries through the United States of America." (4)

Notwithstanding this missiologically questionable and theologically troublesome beginning, from the early 1900s through 1934, the American Baptist missionaries and the Filipino Baptists were able to work together to organize local congregations in Panay and in neighboring Negros Occidental. In 1935, the Filipino Baptist pastors and church leaders formally organized the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches. (5) Significantly, 1935 was the same year in which, due to "an upheaval caused by the economic depression," the country was granted commonwealth status by the United States in preparation for independence. (6) Through the commonwealth years and following formal Philippines independence in 1946, the CPBC churches continued to have strong ties with the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) and its missionaries, who served as consultants. The ABFMS continued to provide financial support to the CPBC and to the related educational and medical institutions begun by the American Baptists in the 1900s. In December 1969, the ABFMS properties at Central Philippine University (an educational institution founded by American Baptist missionaries in 1905) were formally turned over to Filipino Baptist stewardship, (7) which began a process culminating in May 1974 with the complete turn-over of all missions properties to the Filipino Baptists. The celebration of the turn-over was held at Jaro Evangelical Church, the first Baptist church in the Philippines founded in 1900. (8)

In 1969, the year when the turn-over of ABFMS properties commenced, the first Filipino Baptist missionary was sent by the CPBC to Indonesia. This first overseas missions endeavor was spearheaded by the Federation of Women's Missionary Societies of the CPBC or the WFMS (now known as the Convention of Philippine Baptist Women's Missionary Unions). (9) The initial steps toward a more tangible overseas missionary work were undertaken by the WFMS when they launched their "One-Centavo-and-A-Prayer" project in 1963. This project was part of a chain of events that began in 1958 when the Asian Baptist Women's Union decided to hold their 1963 meeting in the Philippines. (10) The Filipino Baptist women prepared for the meeting by making a commitment to "save one centavo a day with a prayer.... After the Asian meeting (in Central Philippine University, Iloilo City) in 1963 ... the women voted to continue the "one-centavo-with-a-prayer" offering and designate it for Overseas Missions." (11) Remedios D. Vaflor, one of the key leaders, recalled:

   Gradually and slowly opportunities for participation in overseas
   missions opened. Rev. James Long, then Director of Missions of the
   Convention, made arrangements for such opportunities. Miss Sharon
   Ruiz was the first to go overseas to Indonesia in cooperation with
   the Southern Baptist Convention. (12)

In 1969, Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz became the first overseas CPBC missionary and was sent to Indonesia; soon, several other missionaries were also sent overseas. The WFMS of the CPBC was the primary mover of overseas missions when it was first launched. Significant support also came from foreign missions partners, such as the American Baptism, the Southern Baptists, and various ecumenical missions organizations and humanitarian organizations.

The significance of the pioneering work in overseas missions by Filipino Baptist women was highlighted in the celebration of seventy-five years of Baptist missions in the Philippines in 1975. Domingo Diel, Jr., Filipino Baptist missiologist, affirmed that "The CPBC or more precisely, the Baptist Women's Missionary Societies in fact started in 1969 to involve themselves more concretely in missionary activities overseas.... It is, therefore, a question whether CPBC itself, should not take the lead by also encouraging the men and the youth to support missionary endeavors overseas." (13) Consequently, the challenge posed by Diel's question was heeded by the CPBC. From 1969 to the present, the CPBC and local churches have sent young men and married couples as well as women.

Like Joseph who enlightened his brothers that "You intended it to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 40:20), and like the young captive servant girl who sent her master Naaman to see the prophet Elisha and so come to know the living God (2 Kings 5:2-3), CPBC missionaries have attempted over the last four decades to undertake to do "mission that comes not with imperial power, nor with economic power, but from a position of powerlessness." (14)

In the context of this article, overseas missions is understood as the work of the CPBC in recruiting, training, commissioning, and sending missionaries to foreign countries to share the Christian faith, with both foreign nationals and with Filipino overseas foreign workers. Overseas missions also refers to the task done by this diverse group of Filipinos committed to fulfilling the mission as preached and lived by Jesus Christ. These "different voices" refer to the unique individuals who responded to the call to participate in God's mission through the missions program of the CPBC and her missions partners. "Different voices" also pertain to the spiritual gifts, cultural identities, and experiences that Filipino Baptist missionaries shared with the people they served in foreign lands.

The following stories and reflections are representative "voices" of the many women and men who have been sent out as CPBC overseas missionaries, attempting to do missions in a newly recovered but biblical way arising out of their own experience of powerlessness and vulnerability as a colonized people. A partial list of CPBC overseas missionaries over the last four decades is attached as an appendix to this article (see pp. 52-53).

Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes: Pioneer Missionary to Indonesia

Sharon Ruiz-Duremdes, the first overseas CPBC missionary, had been actively involved in her home church, Jaro Evangelical Church, especially in youth work and the programs of the Convention Baptist Youth Fellowship and the Asian Baptist Youth, when in 1969 she was asked to serve as a missionary to Indonesia. She had just graduated from college at Central Philippine University and was asking herself the question, "What was my space in the whole round of things?" (15) At that time, Ruiz-Duremdes wrestled with "a sense of emptiness and unpreparedness ... and an offer (to serve as a missionary teacher) from an institution/mission field." (16)

As a teenager, Ruiz-Duremdes in 1963 had met Indonesian delegates to the Asian Baptist Youth Conference held at her alma mater, Central Philippine University. The Indonesian delegates asked her to consider the possibility of teaching full-time at the Baptist Student Center in Semarang, Indonesia. The student center needed someone to teach English and to run the English course program. Six years later, fresh out of college and feeling that she was not yet ready to do professional work, (17) Ruiz-Duremdes accepted the invitation to serve for one year in Indonesia.

As the first overseas missionary commissioned by the CPBC, Ruiz-Duremdes considered this pioneering endeavor as "experimental." (18) The convention was trying to determine whether the organization and its local churches were ready to send out an overseas missionary, (19) and in an effort to discover the answer to their question, the CPBC commissioned Ruiz-Duremdes and funded her transportation and travel documents. (20) The funds for her transportation came from the overseas missions fund of the WFMS. (21) Her salary and lodging were provided by the Southern Baptists in Indonesia based on a memorandum of agreement between the CPBC and the Southern Baptists. (22)

Ruiz-Duremdes recalled that while serving in Indonesia her missiological perspective was "conservative." (23) But she observed that the Southern Baptist theological view was more conservative than that of the CPBC. (24) Yet, she did not at that time have a problem for she shared a similar view of missions with the Southern Baptists, which emphasized "soul-winning and church planting." (25) About her experience working at the student center, she noted, "You had to work within the parameters of the vision of the mission work. You are free to do whatever you want to do within a particular vision statement. I was given freedom to plan and implement my program within the particular vision: winning souls." (26)

Before leaving for Indonesia, Ruiz-Duremdes was "armed" with a curriculum and program that she had prepared herself. She did not receive any cross-cultural training prior to her trip, nor did she learn Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesians. Her early months on the mission field were rife with loneliness and struggles with a strange culture and food. (27) Only after arriving in Indonesia did she begin her study of the culture and language. She learned as she went along, not surprisingly encountering difficulties in cross-cultural communication along the way. After a few months of finding ways to "connect" with her Indonesian colleagues, she was able to develop more cultural sensitivity and became conversant in the Indonesian language.

Recalling her experiences as a missionary teacher at the Baptist Student Center in Semarang, Indonesia, she wrote:

   I was the first Filipino/Asian Baptist missionary in that area doing
   mostly student ministry.... [There were] other Filipino missionaries
   there [but they] were not Baptists but from para-church groups doing
   mostly medical work. Indonesian students (the majority of whom were
   Muslim) were enthusiastic about my program.... [T]hat increased the
   number of students going to the center.... [T]wo other schools
   invited me to teach English to their students toward the end of my
   work there ... [and on my] initiative, I organized the young people
   of my Indonesian home church, Sion Baptist Church, to put up shows
   and dramas to present them in churches in Java island.... [W]ithin
   the student center, I created an English drama group. In my cultural
   group, our dramas had religious themes. At the end of the week
   (after studying and rehearsing the drama or play) I would make an
   invitation using the message of the gospel: the love of God. Our
   lead character (a young man) was a Muslim ... as a director (of the
   drama), I just asked him to internalize his role. As a result,
   he wanted to receive Christ. The (American) missionaries were so
   happy.... as a result many youth were led to Christ. I was so happy
   and felt that I was going to heaven because I had led so many to
   Christ.... They (the American missionaries) didn't want me to leave
   at the end of my term (because of the results of my work: many
   youth were led to Christ).... Upon my return to the Philippines,
   I felt "holy" ... and even if I am far removed from that perspective
   (theologically) ... I learned (from serving in Indonesia) ... that
   I cannot do it all by myself ... I have to depend on God.... I have
   to depend other people and God. (28)

Since her days on the mission field in Indonesia, Ruiz-Duremdes, or "Nang (older sister) Shar" to many of her students in the Philippines, has a come a long way from that early experience. She has since served as a university and seminary professor, a human rights advocate, and an ecumenical leader, and those roles have reshaped her theology and her view of missions. In 2006, she served as the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. She was the first woman and lay person to hold this office.

If given the opportunity to do overseas missions again, she reflected: "Learn the basic traits before you go to the country where you will serve as a missionary.... A Christian going to a Muslim country should have humility and not arrogance. Before I went to Indonesia I already had a program, ready to be implemented because I believed that I was sent there by God to do this. It was not met with resistance because the missions orientation (of the people) was similar to mine at that time.... If I go back again as a missionary, I will go empty-handed except (for) my commitment." (29)

Manuel De la Fuente: Missionary to Cambodian Refugees in Thailand

Manuel De la Fuente described his call to serve in Thailand as a "providential call from God." (30) He recalled, "It was not a hard decision at all. I was young, single ... and I got excited about it." (31) De la Fuente's enthusiastic response was largely influenced by what he called a "dramatic religious experience," which occurred a month before he left for Thailand. (32)

Born in a Christian home, De la Fuente had been nurtured in the Christian faith and had strong Baptist roots. His grandfather was a Baptist minister, his mother was a graduate of the Baptist Missionary Training School in Iloilo City, and his father was a Baptist church leader. But as a young adult, De la Fuente felt his life was meaningless. He searched intensely to find meaning. (33) Some time in December 1980, while working as quarry officer at Panit-an, Capiz, Philippines, he experienced what he considered as a "concrete and real" encounter with Jesus Christ. (34) At 2:00 in the morning he woke up and felt led to read the Bible. As he began reading about Jesus in the gospel of John, the "words seemed to be literally moving and alive." (35) As he read about Jesus as the Word, he realized that for the first time he understood what the passage meant. (36) Weeks after this epiphany, De la Fuente set out to walk with the "Living Word" that he had encountered in scripture. He carried his Bible around with him, became a frequent participant in prayer meetings, and was on "fire" with God. In spite of these outward manifestations of his new-found zeal, he still could not fully surrender to God. (37) After three days of "not being able to feel anything," De la Fuente finally took the bold step of "confessing his guilt" and surrendering his life to God. (38) This experience was a turning point in his faith journey. One month after his life-changing experience, he joined the CPBC medical missions team bound for Thailand.

Health Aid to the Needy for Development (HAND), a health project sponsored by the Australian Baptist World Aid and Relief Committee (ABWARC), organized the missions team of which De la Fuente became a member. The ABWARC and the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship (TBMF, American Baptist Churches-USA) worked with the CPBC to organize a medical team. In Thailand, TBMF also worked alongside Thailand Baptist Missions (TBM) of the Southern Baptists from the United States. (39)

Before leaving for Thailand, the missions team was commissioned by the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (CPBC) at Baptist Center Church (De la Fuente's home church where he had served as church secretary). (40) Along with his team, De la Fuente served at a refugee camp in Kamput, a village in the town of Tapsai, Thailand. Recounting his experience, he wrote:

   I went to Thailand in January of 1981. The contract was for one
   year. So I served for one year. I was considered the "jack of all
   trades" among the Filipino missionaries.... At the start my task
   was just to assist the hospital and the other missionaries in
   whatever way I can, such as serving as driver for the
   missionaries, personnel and patients in the refugee camp. Later
   on, I was able to develop or define my own tasks according to my
   God-given gifts. I started doing prayer meetings and Bible
   studies among the missionaries. I worked in the Cambodian
   Refugee Church as music or choir teacher and led very young
   Cambodian kids in Bible study. I also taught them some Christian
   songs. I preached at the refugee church occasionally. At the
   middle of the year, there a was great need to train the
   Cambodian English translators in the Camp. The Field Officer of
   the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) asked
   me if I could organize an English class for the translators.
   I accepted the challenge and toward the second half of the year,
   this became my main task. It was a fulfilling one. I even had the
   chance of attending United Nations-sponsored seminars related to
   my work.

      Perhaps I was not so emotionally prepared yet for the trip (at
   that time). I was only 24 years old. And yet my relationship and
   experience with the Lord was so real and dramatic when He revealed
   himself to me in December of 1980 that (when) I arrived there and
   talked with the other ... missionaries, I connected right away.

      I can say that I also connected more with the Cambodian refugees
   because I was Asian. I "blended" and assimilated myself (in the
   Cambodian culture) more easily than the other foreign missionaries
   and Western volunteers. My particular experience working in the
   Sewing Center in the refugee camp resulted in a friendship with Mao
   Vat, the Cambodian translator and assistant there. Vat (raised in a
   Buddhist context) would never listen to the Anglo or White
   missionaries when they talked about the Christian Faith. He resented
   it and took it as an imposing and dominating thing. But if I was the
   one talking about it, he (took) ... it as a mutual conversation and
   exchange among friends. I learned that the effective way of sharing
   the Gospel is not to preach to people but to live that good news
   among the people ... (then) they really get to feel the good news
   being shared.... [The Gospel] is shared when there is true and
   authentic friendship. (41)

After his missionary work in Thailand, De la Fuente continued to be involved in Christian ministry in the Philippines with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Ecumenical Center for Development and in the United States with the City Chapel and in various capacities with the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey. (42) He received his theological education from the College of Theology, Central Philippine University, and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he earned a Master of Theology degree. (43) In November 2001, he was called as the senior minister of an American Baptist church, Calvary Baptist Church, Clifton, New Jersey. (44) He was the first Filipino pastor of this historic church, organized in 1909 and incorporated in 1910, (45) which has become an international/multi-cultural church with Euro-American, Yugoslavian, Filipino, Jamaican, and Hispanic members worshipping together.

Jessie and Rachel Albestor: Missionaries to Filipino Migrant Workers in South Korea

In 1997, in response to the invitation of the Presbyterian Church of Korea through the Christian Conference of Asia to send a missionary couple to minister to the migrant workers, especially those coming from the Philippines, the CPBC sent Jessie and Rachel Albestor to South Korea. (46) Jessie Albestor was an ordained minister of a CPBC church and had served as Bible translator for the Philippine Bible Society. His wife, Rachel, was an elementary school teacher at the Elementary School of Central Philippine University. Both received their education and training from Central Philippine University, Jessie at the seminary and Rachel at the College of Education. Their main mission in South Korea was "to give pastoral care for the migrant workers." (47)

After they began their work, the Albestors sought to serve other migrant workers from other countries as well, but the language barrier limited their work with non-Filipinos. For this reason, they focused their energies on ministering solely to Filipino migrant workers. Jessie Albestor discovered that there was a great need for the church to respond to migrant workers. (48) He observed that these workers, or OFWs (overseas foreign workers) as they were often called, were considered the "modern heroes" of the Philippines because they brought much-needed U.S. dollar remittances to an impoverished country. Yet, the migrant workers were also victims of injustice and abuse in foreign lands in which they worked. (49) Albestor's call to fellow Christians was for them to respond to the "cry" for help by these migrant workers and not be quiet about it. (50) He believed that the church's mission involved being in solidarity with these workers in their struggles for a humane way of life. (51)

The Albestors served until 2003 as missionaries working with the Presbyterian Church of Korea. Toward the end of their term, Jessie Albestor shared his reflections on their ministry:

   [A] ministry to the migrant workers is a holistic ministry. Giving
   pastoral care to them is the Biblical picture of shepherding,
   giving total attention to the whole person for whom Jesus Christ
   died.... Most of the migrant workers are Roman Catholics and we
   assure them that our ministry is interdenominational and we serve
   them regardless of their religions. (52)

Working with other denominations and even with other religious groups, such as Buddhists, the Albestors viewed as an opportunity to share the Christian perspective and lifestyle while interacting and cooperating with co-workers from other religious backgrounds. (53) "For us working with them (to serve migrant workers) is not compromising what we believe in. In fact, ... it was one way of reaching out and showing them how we live as Christians." (54)

An important aspect of this ministry involved working with the families of migrant workers back in their home countries. Albestor urged local churches not only to send missionaries to care for migrant workers in foreign lands but also to develop ministries to address the needs of the families these workers had left behind. (55) "Members of the families of the migrant workers who are left behind (also) need pastoral care.... The [c]hurch has a lot of work to do for the families." (56) Albestor's reflections were helpful to the CPBC and to those involved in foreign missions, especially in countries in which migrant workers live.

Conclusion

This article focused on only a few "voices" among the many CPBC missionaries who have served overseas. Their testimonies and insights challenge those engaged in missions today to consider the experience of powerlessness and vulnerability as a starting point for missions. (57) This view of missions is related to what Melba Maggay described as a "missions that comes not with imperial power, nor with economic power, but from a position of powerlessness." (58)

Maggay related her view of missions from the experiences of overseas Filipino workers, who in 2006 are dispersed around the world due to a depressed economy and unemployment problems in the Philippines. This so-called "Filipino Diaspora" had left the country in several waves since the colonial period but was officially sanctioned by the state under the Marcos administration in the 1970s. (59) According to Maggay, "It is a documented fact that the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are one of the most vital mission forces in the world today. OFWs are in 181 countries, and most of them are Christians." (60)

This "new model of missions" that is emerging especially among Filipino Christians in the twenty-first century (61) has been fermenting in the experiences of CPBC overseas missionaries from the inception of the overseas missions in 1969 to the present time. Even if their initial missions strategy reflected the strong influences of their western colonial education, their experiences on the mission field heightened their sensitivity to a different missiological approach. These Filipino Baptist overseas missionaries have been bound together by a common thread: their desire to serve God. They have found themselves among those who had no "voice" and no power. In contrast to their encounter with Christianity as a religion imposed by a dominating power, the proclamation of the gospel of Christ by Filipino Baptist missionaries resulted in an opportunity to share in the powerlessness of those who listened and responded to the gospel. The missionaries, committed to God who called them to be the "eyes," "mouths," "ears," and "hands" of Jesus to those who were in need, have experienced God's liberating, healing, and transforming power.

APPENDIX--List of CPBC Missionaries Sent Overseas (62)

1. Sharon Rose Joy Jainga Ruiz (Duremdes), Indonesia, student worker, 1969-1970

2. Omega Diesto (Moore), (63) Laos, teacher, 1971-1974

3. Efigenia A. Fernandez, (64) Laos/Cambodia, social worker, 1971-1972

4. Susie Ramales, (65) Tokyo, Japan

5. Ruth Giner, Sammuk Christian Academy, Thailand, teacher, 1972-1974

6. Sharon Dean (Lagulao), Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), doctor, 1979

7. Tessie Pedregosa, (66) doctor

8. Valerie Diesto, nurse

9. Evamir Garingalao, Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), nurse, 1981-1982

10. Nora Carnage (Gierza), (67) Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), nurse, 1980-1982

11. Manuel De la Fuente, Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), teacher, 1981-1982

12. Morna Lynn Francia (Wood), (68) Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), nurse, 1980-1982

13. Nick Barunda, doctor, 1981-1982

14. Leah Lindero, Thailand (Cambodian refugee camp), nurse, 1981-

15. Eli Cong and wife, North Thailand (Maesariang Hospital), doctor, 1981-

16. Jessie Galia, Papua New Guinea, doctor, 1986-1988

17. Gaye Deocares, Trinity Health Center, Papua New Guinea, nurse, 1986-1988

18. Florence Gonzales, Papua New Guinea, nurse, 1991-1994

19. Chita Naciongayo, Papua New Guinea, nurse, 1991-1994

20. Cedric and Beth Plagata, Bengal-Orissa, India, agriculture missionaries, 1995-1997

21. Querico and Norma Caipang, Ye Lung Haw Baptist Church, Macau, pastoral missionaries

22. Jessie and Rachel Albestor, Kang Nam Presbyterian Church, South Korea, pastoral missionaries, 1997-2003

23. Liberty Belandres, Thailand, OMF missionary supported by CPBC, 1998-

24. Danilo and Mary Lou Borlado, International Baptist Church-Filipino, ministering to Overseas

25. Filipino workers/domestic helpers, Hong Kong, China, pastoral missionaries, 2001-

(1.) Nestor D. Bunda, "A Mission History of Philippine Baptist Churches 1898-1998, From a Philippine Perspective" (Th.D. diss., University of Hamburg, 1999), 19.

(2.) Ibid., 94.

(3.) Ibid., 57.

(4.) Ibid., 75.

(5.) Ibid., 176.

(6.) Felix B. Regalado and Quintin B. Franco, History of Panay (Iloilo City: Central Philippine University, 1973), 217, 219, 221.

(7.) Domingo J. Diel, Jr. "A Story of the Baptist Churches in the Philippines," in 75 Years of Mission in the Philippines 1900-1975, A Diamond Jubilee Number (Iloilo City: CPBC, 1975), 13.

(8.) Ibid.

(9.) Ibid.,14.

(10.) Remedios D. Vaflor, "Federation of Women's Missionary Societies of the CPBC," in 75 Years of Mission in the Philippines 1900-1975, A Diamond Jubilee Number (Iloilo City: CPBC, 1975), 41.

(11.) Ibid., 42.

(12.) Ibid.

(13.) Diel, "A Story of the Baptist Churches in the Philippines," 14.

(14.) Melba P. Maggay, "Early Protestant Missionary Efforts in the Philippines: Some Intercultural Issues," in Asian Church and God's Mission, edited by Wonsuk Ma and Julie Ma (Manila OMF Literature, 2003), 39.

(15.) Sharon Rose Joy Rniz-Duremdes, interview by author, May 24, 2005.

(16.) Ibid.

(17.) Ibid.

(18.) Ibid.

(19.) Ibid.

(20.) Ibid.

(21.) Remedios D. Vaflor, CPBC Diamond Jubilee Yearbook, 42.

(22.) Ibid.

(23.) Ibid.

(24.) Ibid.

(25.) Ibid.

(26.) Ibid.

(27.) Due to her struggles with loneliness and being a single person in a foreign land, Ruiz-Duremdes subsequently recommended to the CPBC that it not send single persons into foreign mission fields.

(28.) Ibid.

(29.) Ibid.

(30.) Manuel De la Fuente, e-mail to author, November 10, 2005.

(31.) Ibid.

(32.) Ibid.

(33.) Manuel De la Fuente, telephone interview by author, February 27, 2006.

(34.) Ibid.

(35.) Ibid.

(36.) Ibid.

(37.) Ibid.

(38.) Ibid.

(39.) Ibid.

(40.) Ibid.

(41.) Ibid.

(42.) Ibid.

(43.) Ibid.

(44.) Ibid.

(45.) Ibid.

(46.) Jessie S. Albestor, "Internationalizing Missions: Missions for the Migrant Workers in South Korea," in Journeys in Faith and Ministry, edited by Nestor D. Bunda, et al. (Iloilo City: Institute for Advanced Theological Studies, 2003), 187. 47. Ibid.

(48.) Ibid., 196.

(49.) Ibid.

(50.) Ibid.

(51.) Ibid.

(52.) Ibid., 197.

(53.) Ibid., 198.

(54.) Ibid.

(55.) Ibid.

(56.) Ibid., 198-99.

(57.) Maggay, "Early Protestant Missionary Efforts in the Philippines," 39.

(58.) Ibid.

(59.) Aida Santos, "Case Study: The Philippines: Misogyny, Microeconomics, Migration and Mistreatment." (See http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/vaw02/mod3-1c.htm, accessed February 27, 2006.

(60.) Maggay, "Early Protestant Missionary Efforts in the Philippines," 39.

(61.) Ibid.

(62.) Deliciosa Baclagon, e-mail to author, January 30, 2006. This is a partial list and does not contain all the information about CPBC missionaries.

(63.) Omega Diesto-Moore, telephone interview by author, February 22, 2006.

(64.) Ibid. According to Diesto-Moore, Fernandez served only one year in Laos and visited Cambodia for about six months to observe the mission work there.

(65.) Vaflor, "Federation of Women's Missionary Societies of the CPBC," 42.

(66.) Nora Carnaje-Gierza, telephone interview by author, February 27, 2006. Carnage-Gierza recalled that Pedregosa was no longer in Thailand when they arrived there in 1980. She may have served there in 1979 for a shorter period of time along with Sharon Dean-Lagulao and Valerie Diesto.

67. Ibid.

(68.) Carnaje-Gierza remembered serving with Prancia-Wood from 1980-1982 in Thailand.

Carla Gay A. Romarate-Knipel is assistant professor in the College of Theology and the Religion and Ethics Department, Central Philippine University, Iloilo City, Philippines.