SULADS Trains New Missionaries to Reach the Unreached

With a meager allowance, the volunteers would live with the tribesmen and, with simple means, teach the children and adults, mostly illiterate, to guide their agriculture and health practices while maintaining full respect for their culture as “lumads.”

As the years went by, SULADS’ mission grew. It opened the Sulads Comprehensive High School for the Lumads at Sto. Domingo, Lumintao, Quezon, Bukidnon, and served other parts of Mindanao, like Tawitawi, Agusan del Sur, South Cotabato, and places outside Mindanao.

SULADS missionaries who have spent a year or more at the mountain village or any territory needing their unique services could continue their studies at Mountain View College with a special privilege similar to a scholarship grant.

But things have eventually changed. Many professionals joined the mission, believing in the need to spread the gospel to the hard-to-reach territories and even the unreached. Ma’am Jo-anne Kristine Lalas Lucero was a nurse when she joined the happy throng of missionaries in the mountainous village of Valencia, Bukidnon, and now serves the Adventist University of the Philippines after the challenging experiences. Mr. & Mrs. Neil Tagarao were professional teachers and pastors. They went to Basak, Sinuda, Kitaotao, and Bukidnon and transformed the village into a happy community before moving to the USA as missionaries.

This year, many committed armies of God are joining the throng.

Lornie Lapas was a Tigwahanon Manobo child from New Tibugawan, Kawayan, San Fernando, Bukidnon. He enrolled as a SULADS pupil at a mission school and proceeded to Sulads Comprehensive High School for the Lumads to finish high school. Despite financial difficulties, he finished a degree in Education at a lay-led school in Acmonan, Tupi, South Cotabato.

“I will wholeheartedly serve SULADS after my graduation because, without the willingness of this missionary group to serve my tribe, I might never experience the wonders of education,” Sulads Lornie shared during a video interview. “I will teach my fellow Tigwahanons and other tribes and help them know Jesus,” he added.

I learned about this organization from YouTube and Facebook without any person explaining to me about the ministry,” narrated Miss Ziah Bernadette Capio, a BS Human Ecology graduate from Laguna. I will share my time and talents for SULADS because of the many favors God gave me. I already served a year for His people, and I decided to give God more years to serve where He sends me,” she explained further.

“I learned about SULADS during a Youth Congress at MVC, and I saw their Facebook videos about how they provided education to the people of Tawitawi,” explained Engr. Erlyn Seroy, a new Electrical Engineer from Cagayan de Oro City. “I committed to God that after graduation, I will help people, especially those in remote places. The only reason why I joined SULADS is because God called me to do it.”

Gerald Brao is a convert to the Adventist faith and has recently finished Theology at MVC. He said, “I never heard about SULADS before I accepted Adventism as a way of life, but when I learned about it, I was so amazed at how it works to connect people to God, and by being with them all along, they can make a difference in the village. After completing my studies as a theologian, I pledged to commit my life as a SULADS missionary. I prayed, “God use me at the right time.”

Those are only a few testimonies of people leaving their comfort zones to provide comforting lessons or help by being teachers, counselors, engineers, farmers, carpenters, or health workers for the underprivileged Indigenous tribes anywhere in Mindanao.

Yes! SULADS, with its simplicity and sincere sacrifices, proved many things impressively. One of those was being adjudged the “Most Outstanding Literacy Program of the Philippines” for three consecutive years sometime in the late 90’s90s.

“Because time is short, we should work with diligence and double energy.” Mrs. Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, 3:159 (1872)

To learn more about SULADS, please visit the link: https://www.facebook.com/sulads?mibextid=ZbWKwL. Your prayers will work wonders for God’s workers and the people they serve. (SePUM Communication)