Ed and Gigi Valencia: CdO Community Doctors and Missionaries Out to Spread Love and Hope 24/7!

March 3, 2011 - PRLog -- Each person has his own story to tell. Stories of achievements, dreams, challenges and adventures can be found anywhere. Books, newspapers, blogs, websites and TV programs worldwide contain different recounts of human experiences. But the greatest stories are not those of men, but of those that are designed and stirred by the guiding hand of God himself. Such is the story of Doctors Ed and Gigi Valencia, an ever-supportive husband and a doting wife who live and share with others the overflow of God’s love that they have experienced in their life.

Medical Doctors Who Are Committed Missionaries by Heart

Gigi and Ed were formerly based in Manila as a practicing dentist and pediatrician, respectively.  Ed was a graduate of the UST College of Medicine and holds a  Masters in Public Health  (MPH) degree.  Gigi, on the other hand, specializes in Aesthetic Dentistry after graduating from the Centro Escolar University College of Dentistry. She also taught for sometime in her Alma Mater.   They chose to leave Manila and heeded God’s call to work with communities in Mindanao.  “God sent us here,” Ed says.

As full time Cagayan De Oro based missionaries, Gigi and Ed have been around the country and in some parts of Asia to share their blessings with the needy. They have been doing medical missions in different parts of Mindanao and have held community development and community health projects in places such as Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, and Cagayan de Oro, and had extended their help in areas hardly reached by government organizations and humanitarian groups. The couple has been through a lot of hardships – one being the aftermath caused by surviving the dreadful bombing of a passenger ship last 2004 – yet they still manage to look back at what had happened with smiles on their faces. “We are ordinary people with an extraordinary story who are just given an opportunity by God to see and experience His love. The near-death experience proved that our God is a living God. And due to this, we feel the urgency to help out those in need so we could share the love and blessings that He has blessed us with,” Gigi fondly shares. “So in order to do this, we collaborate with our fellow missionaries to design projects that we feel would best address the peoples’ main problem at hand. When everything has been well-planned, we then endorse the project to local partners who are willing to take part in the endeavor to help improve their own community. We, as professionals, supervise all ventures so that the community always feels assured and secure about the community work that we and our partners do.”

Currently, Gigi and Ed are supervising a preschool operated by their faith in God in Lanao Del Norte that has already schooled eight batches of kids, each group consisting of 35 young and eager students, for 10 years. They are also conducting Mothers’ Classes in each native’s house in Lanao to teach mothers how to cook meals for their children, do basic gardening, budget funds and allowances, and utilize basic life skills so that they  would be able to care and manage their families and homes. “We aim to address the root cause of each problem, so we craft projects that we believe would sustain and empower the families living in a community,” Ed enthuses.

The Missionaries’ 24/7 Partner
Ed and Gigi see communication as a much needed tool that helps them act on their missions for the poor. As Doctor Ed relates, “We constantly communicate with our project partners, colleagues and fellow missionaries to see to it that our collaborations and family sustaining programs are smoothly implemented and that all problems have been addressed efficiently.” As a practicing dentist, Doctor Gigi also considers communication as an important means of staying in touch with her patients and fellow dentists in the health care industry. “I get important calls any time of the day from concerned patients who need my immediate advice. They call me every time they need something urgent or if they need to see me in my clinic. I also make it a habit to touch base with my friends who practice dentistry often so that I’m always updated with what is new. ” Good thing the couple has already found the strongest communication partner that they can lean onto in times of need.
   
“We are bona fide, loyal, and happy subscribers of Sun Cellular,” Gigi happily shares. Ever since they blazed the trail for unlimited calls and texts services, we decided to avail of their services without thinking twice.” The couple admits that Sun’s affordable rates encouraged them to get three phones under Sun’s Plan 350. “We get to utilize the power of our mobile phones anytime, anywhere with Plan 350. It’s packed with unlimited Sun-to-Sun calls and texts and 250 FREE texts to other networks, so we really get to cut our costs. One line is for Gigi and I, one for her parents, and one for our Chief Operating Officer (COO),”  adds  Ed. With Sun, the couple gets to say hi to their kids and see what they’re up to at home, touch base with their patients whenever needed, coordinate with their friends and partners in the ministry, and stay in touch with their fellow pediatricians and dentists in the medical industry. “We have encouraged our ministry friends, project coordinators, families, and colleagues to switch to Sun so that everyone is within reach,” Gigi says. “Sun definitely is our one, true, dependable partner!”

   Sun has a wide coverage in Mindanao. This provides Sun subscribers within the island, like Ed and Gigi, wider network coverage and a stronger signal. In their case, Sun’s wide network coverage allows Ed and Gigi to extend their help to others, even if they may be hundreds, or even thousands of miles away.

   Sun has also recently launched Sun Magic Zone Mindanao SIM, a SIM specially made for Mindanao residents who use their mobile phones to call and text their friends within Mindanao. Exclusive, inexpensive load products are available for Sun Magic Zone Mindanao SIM at affordable prices, thus making coordination and communication for millions of Sun subscribers in Mindanao easier and less costly. The Sun Magic Zone Mindanao SIM may also be used to call & text outside Mindanao using Sun Cellular’s nationwide value-packed offerings. Available load denominations are P10, P15, P50, and P200. These can be bought via Sun Magic Zone Mindanao Call Cards or by load conversion. Simply text MCTU 10, MCTU 15, MCTU 50, or MCTU 200 to 247.

Helping the Hopeless Among the Helpless   

   Aling Tating, a widow with five children, is one of the couple’s beneficiaries in Cagayan De Oro. As the wife of Ed and Gigi’s gardener, Aling Tating and her kids assumed her husband’s responsibilities upon his death. Little did anyone know that their perseverance to work shall mark the beginning of a new, blessed, and happy life. “We found out that the family had ear infections due to bathing in the creek near their home,” says Gigi. “This disease caused the children to gain nothing out of their school activities, as they are often discriminated by other kids and are unable to hear the teacher’s lessons and instructions. Aling Tating was unable to perform several motherly duties.” Ed and Gigi took her family in and fed, homeschooled, and cared for them. Gradually, they helped build her a sturdier, happier home. “We prayed, and it was given to us,” says the couple. “With God’s grace, faithfulness and love, we are able to show all those that we have helped that they are loved by God and by us. This story only proves that with God, everything and anything is possible!”

    Hope, love, and faith serve as Doctors Ed and Gigi’s encouragement to share all that they have with people from all walks of life. And with Sun Cellular’s powerful coverage, the couple is sending out strong signals of hope that will continue to transform and touch lives in more ways than one.

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Sun Cellular blazed the trail for unlimited call and text services in the Philippines. Since its birth in 2001, Sun has been expanding its network with its high-grade services and offers. Sun is now the top postpaid service provider in the country.