IN THE PHILIPPINES, a determined minister fights for self-sustainable agriculture to bring his people to prosperity — and salvation.


ANONANG SUR, Philippines — Salvador Cariaga is furious.

The Filipino evangelist carefully places three bottles of liquor across a blacksmith’s anvil, their glass bottoms clinking as rain pours from the thatched roof over his head.

Quietly, he asks their owner, Bebe, to stand on the other side, facing him.

For an eternal moment, raindrops make the only sound.

Normally, Cariaga is all smiles as he touts to anyone who will listen the virtues of goat milk, earthworms and coconut vinegar — all part of life here at Arapal Christian Camp, a sustainable agriculture community he oversees on the island of Cebu.

Just over the hill, a mission team of Texas high school students has finished tearing down Bebe’s ramshackle house and building it back, stronger than before.

Bebe, who struggles with alcoholism, smiled as she stripped wood alongside the students the previous day, making thatch for her new roof. She helped two of the girls from the group make candy from coconuts.

Minutes ago, as Cariaga drove back to camp with supplies, he passed Bebe’s 10-year-old son, carrying the three bottles of whiskey.