June 2012 Dear Friends and Ministry Partners, Warmest greetings!

Please allow me again to share what the Lord is doing among the poor in the Philippines through the various ministries of the Center for Community Transformation.
VOHCS iS OFF tO a Great Start! The Visions of Hope Christian School got off to a wonderful start in the new academic year with a total of 718 students in 29 schools 14 schools in Luzon, five in the Visayas, and 10 in Mindanao. In the pre-schools (composed of about 600 children from the poorest families in the communities) morning and afternoon sessions are held from Monday to Thursday, with the more advanced students attending the morning sessions. One of our goals is for all children who are five years and younger to be readers by December. On Fridays, the children attend joint classes consisting of Billy solves a math problem on the board, and E.J. reads some two-letter syllables. Both are first-graders at the VOHCS in Intramuros, Manila. Childrens Brigade drills and lessons in music, arts, and physical education. While the children attend these sessions, their parents learn how to do follow-up work on lessons taught during the week, pick up homework for the weekend, and attend discipleship meetings. Thus, doors are opened for ministry to parents as well. We still have parents from last school year coming back for Bible study this year! Aside from the pre-schools, we have started first grade in Intramuros, Manila, and in Malungon, Saranggani on the southern island of Mindanao. In our boarding school program for former street dwelling children, we have 52 children in grade school and 21 boys in high school. The grade schoolers are temporarily housed at the Training and Development Institute campus in Magdalena, four towns from Bay, Laguna, where construction of a chapel, dormitory, academic building, and pool are nearing completion. We hope to move the children back to Bay in October. Some 150 students in the towns of Midsayap, Aleosan, and Libungan, also on the island of Mindanao, have signed up to attend Alternative Learning System (ALS) classes which will prepare them to take grade school and high school equivalency tests. ALS is another way of reaching out to underprivileged youth and adults because the staff are able to include sharing of the Gospel though Bible readings, and devotions in their lessons. This year, one of the students aiming for high school equivalency is a woman in her 50s. MiniStry tO tHe taGa-KaOlO. If you have followed the work of CCT over the recent years, you know that we work among the Blaan tribe of Saranggani province. God has given us the opportunity to begin to reach out to another ethnic group in the same province
5F Joshua Center, 1428 Taft Avenue, Ermita, 1000 Manila, Philippines Telephone:(632) 524-1835, (632) 524-1819 Telefax:(632) 524-1810 loc. 11 www.cct.org.ph ho@cct.org.ph

 the Taga-Kaolo initially through the school at the community center in Malungon. The Taga-Kaolo are self-sufficient farmers and are animists. Some Christian missionaries have worked among them but the response has been minimal. One of the students currently enrolled at the VOHCS in Malungon, Saranggani is a Taga-Kaolo teen-ager who still has to learn how to read and write. I am excited about how God will work among this group of indigenous people through CCTs programs. BelieVerS BaPtiSM. The CCT church planting ministry holds a water baptism service for believers from CCT community churches in Luzon once every quarter. Board members Stephen and Helen Roxas have graciously offered the use of their swimming pool for this purpose. Praise the Lord for the 155 believers who have been baptized so far this year. This number includes community partners from the microfinance program, children and adults from former street dwelling families, Alternative Learning System students, staff, and even children of staff members. PrOGraM FOr lOyal PartnerS launCHeD. The CCT Savings and Credit Cooperative recently announced a new set of products and privileges exclusively for those who have been active members of the co-op for five years or more. The products and privileges, offered in appreciation of the community partners faithful patronage of CCT programs and services are: Emergency loan of P5,000 P30,000 for hospitalization of immediate family members Study Now, Pay Now E-loan of P2,000 to P20,000 for tuition of immediate family members Enterprise financing for immediate additional funding for business 50% discount on service charge for growth enterprise loans (loans P50,000 and above) 50% discount on service charge for regular business loans (loans P49,000 and below) BuSineSS MentOrinG uPDateS. The Lord has blessed our business mentoring group with five more volunteers, bringing to 45 the number of Christian businessmen and women who spend time with micro entrepreneurs, coaching them on how to better run their micro enterprise. In cases where the mentee is doing well enough in the business area, the mentor focuses on spiritual discipleship. The group has begun to use a manual on business mentoring adapted for use in the Filipino context through the initiative of young mentors Ryan Uy and Kerwin Tan. This same group is preparing to hold an expo of products from CCT micro entrepreneurs in November. The best exhibitors in this one-day event will be rewarded with inclusion in bigger expositions. I thank God for these men and women who beyond giving to the poor have taken an active role in serving them. lOCal aDViSOry GrOuP FOrMeD in General SantOS City. Something similar to the business mentoring activities in Luzon is happening down south, in General Santos. Three seasoned Christian businessmen in this city have made a commitment to guide the micro finance staff in such areas as decision-making, and are exploring possible mentoring relationships with chosen community partners. Praise God for this development! CHriStMaS in June. Children from four poor communities in Metro Manila experienced a bit of Christmas right in the middle of the year when they received presents from the Operation Christmas Child project of Samaritans Purse. The 130 children who received the gifts mostly school supplies and small toys packed in shoeboxes are regular attendees of the Vision of Hope Foundations feeding program. One little boy who also attends Sunday School at one of the community churches was delighted to receive a pair of pants exactly his size. Before this, he wore the same pair of pants to church Sunday after Sunday. I know this was no coincidence. Only Gods hand could have directed that particular box among the hundreds of shoeboxes packed in the US to this particular boy in the Philippines. I pray this incident will bolster the boys faith and in the future always remind him that our God is a loving, personal God. Blessings in Christ!

ruth S. Callanta

PreSiDent, CCt GrOuP OF MiniStrieS

5F Joshua Center, 1428 Taft Avenue, Ermita, 1000 Manila, Philippines Telephone:(632) 524-1835, (632) 524-1819 Telefax:(632) 524-1810 loc. 11 www.cct.org.ph ho@cct.org.ph