BY GAY DELES, Adventist News Dispatch

Adventist world church president Ted N.C. Wilson took a
one-day break from a major evangelistic series that wrapped up in Manila last
weekend to offer encouragement to self-supporting missionaries working with
marginalized indigenous people of the Occidental Mindoro province.

Wilson, accompanied by his wife, Nancy, got a first-hand
look at the work of the missionaries on the mountainous island located just
south of the island where Manila is located. The missionaries’ effort has led
to the opening of five village elementary schools, a high school that provides
housing to students and staff, and a prison outreach program that has
resulted in a number of baptisms in the 15 local prisons over the past 15
years.

“You will not only provide physical light but a spiritual
light to the townsfolk as they see the 'light on the hill,’" Wilson told
the missionaries during the May 6 visit.

Wilson visited the local Seventh-day Adventist church and
prayed with church members.

The missionaries are associated with Laymen’s Ministries, a
private group run by Adventists and connected with the Adventist-Laymen’s
Services and Industries organization.

Wilson was in the Philippines to lead a May 4-17
evangelistic series called “Hope Manila 2014: iCare,” which resulted in
more than 3,000 baptisms. The evangelistic series is part of a one-year
initiative to reach out to the people of Manila, particularly the affluent
upper class.