Mila & Hernani Resueno

Gateways’ first involvement with Mila and Hernani Resueno was in the mid-1980’s, when Jono and Mary Turner were looking for suitable outreach opportunities for their CATS (Church Action Training School) students. Eric Hodgkinson, who was on the church staff at the time, had met Mila in the 1970’s when he was travelling with Youth For Christ, and recommended supporting her and Hernani with their Panabo Foursquare Gospel Church. As a result, several CATS outreach teams went to Panabo, which is near Davao on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.

An ongoing relationship with the church resulted with numerous teams going to Panabo over the years. We have had teams who taught practical skills such as quilting and flower arranging, teams that helped them practically with their building programme, and several teams of young people served the church as needed. The most recent Gateways team to visit Panabo was Betty and Josh in 2024.

One of our current projects originated with a visit from one of our young men, Mark Pearce, who saw the need of so many widows, and also the need of the churches for reliable staff. He set up the programme whereby donations from New Zealand are sent to Mila and Hernani, and they employ some of these women in their church programmes, giving them the dignity of earning a living and being able to provide for their children. If you want to contribute to this project, please deposit your donation into the Gateways’ Missions Account with the reference ‘CEM’.

Mila and Hernani have a big heart for people, particularly the poor. In addition to leading the Foursquare Gospel Church, they set up the Strength in the Valley Foundation. Under the umbrella of this Foundation, they have a programme feeding and teaching children from poor families. They also encourage rural pastors by visiting them, and putting on conferences where the pastors can gather and receive teaching, and be built up through fellowship and prayer. Mila and Hernani carry all the costs for such events as the pastors are very poor. Another aspect of the work of the Foundation is disaster relief. One of the most recent relief efforts was in 2019 when a major earthquake occurred in the area. Then at the beginning of 2024, there were devastating floods in Davao, the neighbouring city to Panabo.

Mila and Hernani retired as pastors of the church in 2021 after 40 years of dedicated ministry. Now they are concentrating their efforts on the Strength in the Valley Foundation, and their pastoral and practical ministry among the poor.