A Note From Donna |
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In spite of the teachers of Honduras being on strike, we were able to launch DESEO as planned. I hope you enjoyed the photos. They do a fairly good job of capturing the joy the children experience. We are very encouraged and excited about the potential of this ministry. We have so many opportunities and we are prayerfully seeking God's will in discerning which ones to take advantage of first. Your excitement over this ministry has been encouraging. I am always amazed at how God pulls just the right people together to accomplish His goals. I recently spoke with a PhD in Education who is willing to collaborate with us to bring seminars to the teachers in these schools as well as assisting us as we continue to write the curriculum for DESEO. That's just one example of what I mean when I say that God brings the right people together to accomplish His goals.
Everyday, Phil and I are reminded of how impossible it is for us to do all that God has placed before us. While He has brought to us an amazing team of hard working men and women, we must have N.American partners who are promoting our mission and contributing monies as well as ideas and service. As you read about the things we have shared this month, ask yourself if God wants you to partner with us. He is our Provider, and we are all His instruments. How does He want to use you today?
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WORLD RADIO PROGRAM OPENS IN SANTA ROSA de COPAN
 After more than a year of work in arranging details World Radio has funded a six day, 30 minute, radio program broadcast from Santa Rosa de Copán. We are enthusiastic about this new ministry tool especially in its potential for reaching out to outlying villages that we are presently not working in. We are very grateful to the World Radio organization and all of their many donors and supporters. If it were not for them we would not be able to afford to sponsor this program. Jeremías Santos, our very talented, Dominican, evangelist is the one responsible for the program while everyone else on the Mission UpReach team are collaborating with him. Each day (Monday through Saturday) numerous announcements are made offering a free Bible course produced by Spanish Literature Ministries (Wichita Falls, TX). The course is entitled, "¿Que Dice la Biblia?" (What does the Bible Say?). As time goes on we will report more news regarding the impact of this ministry. Please keep Jeremías and his work in this field in your prayers. Please pray specifically that God will open hearts and doors in the individuals and communities within our reach. 
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NEW CHURCH PLANT-LA JIGUA, COPAN
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This month we are very excited to share with you that Wilmer Hernandez, a Honduran missionary supported by the Hermitage church of Christ, TN moved to a new community and began a small church in his rented home. Mission UpReach supervises Wilmer's work and also provides monthly training seminars for churches just like the new church in La Jigua, helping them develop and mature strong church leaders.
Mission UpReach is beginning the process of raising funds for purchasing the property where Wilmer and his family are living and where the new church is meeting. The Owner of the property is willing to sell it for $25,000 US. It is a very good deal since the lot is enormous and it already has a small house on it in which the fledgling church can meet. If you can help with the funds for purchasing this property please earmark your donation La Jigua-property.
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1st QUARTER SUCCESSES BEGET GREATER NEEDS FOR RESOURCES
CAN YOU HELP?
The above report communicates only a fraction of all that God has been doing through our efforts this first quarter of 2011. The needs that we have mentioned are only a few of the very real needs that we have here at Mission UpReach. Each month we need to raise enough money to fund the Waldron family's salary and expenses along with salaries and expenses for 11 full time employees of Mission UpReach. In addition to these costs, we have to raise funds for all of the general expenses for each of the ministries that Mission UpReach sponsors and leads in the western region of Honduras. All of these ministries and expenses are funded by monthly donations from several hundred individuals as well as some individual churches.
The largest single monthly contributor that we have is $1,000 per month. We depend on your good will and the good will and generosity of hundreds of individuals each month. At times our funding is precarious because so little of it is on a committed monthly basis. In spite of us not being able to really know, from one month to the next, how much money will be sent to our overseeing congregation, God has clearly communicated, through His prospering our fund raising efforts, that He is sustaining us.
Would you be willing to support us with a one time contribution or monthly amount? We need your help to sustain the good efforts that we have initiated here.
We believe that the value of you trusting us to steward a donation is self evident in the results that Mission UpReach is realizing. The efforts that Mission UpReach are involved with focus on long term sustainable growth via education and equipping. Please consider helping us with the above mentioned items as well as our monthly on-going expenses.
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Greetings!
Our newsletter this month is a bit longer and has a few more photos than normal in an effort to give you a quarterly update. As we report,we are amazed at all that God is doing here. We feel constantly challenged to keep up with God and we feel humbled that He allows us to be a part of His efforts. We are also thankful for your support through prayer, encouraging words, and financial means. May God bless you abundantly! Blessings, Phil, Donna, Harrison, and Laura www.missionupreach.com
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DESEO
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This month, after much preparation, we launched our public school program (DESEO) for teaching children a curriculum of Christian values and morals coupled with very practical lessons on health, hygiene, nutrition and good citizenship.
One day per week in each of three different schools in surrounding communities the DESEO team presents these lessons. One of our male Mission UpReach team members conducts a devotional that includes singing spiritual songs with the entire school body after which our team of ladies work with each classroom of students. Below are pictures from the first week of the program.
There is an assortment of levels of poverty throughout the three schools that we are working in. These levels range from obvious abject poverty to some who would be classified as "prosperously poor" if there is such a thing. None of them would even begin to be classified as middle-class in Honduran society let alone in US terms. While DESEO does not presently incorporate a feeding or nutrition program that includes daily meals or vitamin distribution; in the long run we are dreaming about incorporating these complementary missions in our overall pursuit of helping this selected group of children to be able to learn to help themselves.
 
  
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LET'S START TALKING
Our first six week LST program, involving two couples from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area was a great success. On Friday night, April 8th a total of 27 students received diplomas in a small ceremony. In total more than 40 people participated at one point or another in the program. As a follow up of the good work done by our Dalls/Ft.Worth couples we are offering a once a week English Bible study during the month of May for these same students. They all expressed great enthusiasm for participating in the study when it was announced at the graduation ceremony.
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Mission UpReach has rented a house in order to house year round LST teams and as a result of us making this faith commitment we now have on the calendar a team in June, July, and August with another potential team in September. Mission UpReach took the leap of faith in contracting for two years to rent this house and then furnish it. We spent a considerable amount of our funds in doing so. If you can help in defraying the cost of this ministry for Mission UpReach we would appreciate you earmarking your contribution as LST housing ministry.
In addition to giving out diplomas to the students on graduation night there were activities that allowed some of the local church members to get to know these LST students, only two of which were members of the local church. That means that the local church got to know 25 new friends in the community from those who were present for graduation.
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CHURCH BUILDING CONSTRUCTION IN CRUCITAS AND IN EL PORVENIR, SAN JOSE
The construction projects that we have mentioned in previous newsletters have been proceeding in full force. Below are pictures from Crucitas (almost 100% complete) and El Porvenir (which is just beginning). Our costs on these projects have been managed "ruthlessly" in order to deliver a functionally, attractive and permanent structure for the use of the churches in each of these communities. In spite of these "best practices" in cost control and construction management our costs are exceeding the funds that we have raised for these projects. One of the main reasons being the incredible sur-charge attached to construction material because of the spiraling cost of gasoline and diesel. This impacts the cost of material delivered to the supplier and in turn the cost of us receiving the material at the job sites. If you can help in us covering these construction cost increases please ear-mark your funds for CONSTRUCTION and send them to Mission UpReach Campus View church of Christ address listed below. (Here is the Crucitas building)
And here is the El Porvenir project getting started:
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