A Note From Donna | 
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As of this writing, I have just completed our first evaluation with the school directors for our DESEO program. The response was even more positive than I imagined! The directors were all very content with the content, presentation, and especially the consistency in which we are executing this program. One school, that we have been visiting every other week, has decided to have us come weekly. Additionally, we added another school, with a total of four schools receiving the DESEO program.
Several of our short-term mission groups this summer will be working in these same schools. The first group will be conducting vision screening and using donated glasses to improve the vision of those that need it. Statistically, 25% of school age children need some type of vision correction. In these four schools, I have not seen one child with glasses, which proves the obvious need. We have another group that will be conducting a VBS in one of the schools.
The most moving feedback I received was from one of the directors who said that she has had several parents tell her they have seen the impact of our teaching. They shared that their children are praying before meals and at bedtime, and they did not do that before.
On the home front, we are about to celebrate Harrison's graduation from high school and get him ready for Harding University in August. Although it will be hard to not have him around, we are excited for him.
May God bless each of you!
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Church Building in El Porvenir
Our church building project in the village of El Porvenir de San José is rocking along very well. It is amazing to us how many things can get in the way of successfully executing the construction of a single project.
This month after, we began the construction, the sewer department decided to dig up the street in front of the entrance to the neighborhood blocking the trucks bringing material to our site. Why after years of no activity like this they decided to do it now is a great mystery.
Fortunately we were able to continue construction by having a half dozen men hand carry 1500 concrete block, several hundred bags of cement and wheel barrow after wheel barrow of material down the long entrance to the neighborhood where the project is.
This little congregation is barely one year old and it is already self-directed. It has not been an easy process and there is a long way to go in achieving a mature thriving congregation but we are grateful to God for the progress thus far.
The process we are using is one that we would like to repeat over and over again in working towards the goal of planting one church in each village in this generation; and that is to train leaders, both men and women, through a series of workshops and seminars conducted every fifteen days.
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Special Prayer Request
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Some of you may recall our efforts to help a little girl by the name of Cindy Sarahi Mendez. This effort has been going on for nearly 3 years. Our desire is to get Cindy to Tampa, FL where the Shriner's Hospital has agreed to treat Cindy's severe clubbed feet. Cindy is basically an orphan. Her mother died while she was very young, leaving her to her maternal grandparents, who have since died. She has been cared for, or rather tolerated by her two older sisters, who have too many of their own to really care for Cindy. She basically sits all day in her chair. She is smart enough to attend school, but that would require that someone take her, and no one is really that concerned about her getting an education.
The story of how Phil came to know Cindy and her situation is too long for this newsletter, but what we are asking is that you pray with us as we approach the final and decisive step in the process, the attempt to get a VISA from the US Embassy. We finally got an appointment for Thursday, June 2nd. We would like for you all to be praying that we will be successful in getting the visa so that we can take her to Florida and begin the process of helping Cindy finally walk normal and wear a pair of shoes for the first time in her life!
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Greetings!
As your summer, and ours approaches, we wish you safety and blessings in your travels! We will be receiving 11 groups this summer! We ask that as you travel that you continue to remember us to our Father, asking Him to bless the efforts of our mission, as we attempt to show Him to the thousands we will serve with eye glasses, medicines, and most importantly, The Good News! Please take special note of our Special Prayer Request. We look forward to sharing how it turns out! May God bless you abundantly! Blessings, Phil, Donna, Harrison, and Laura www.missionupreach.com
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19 Congregations Send Leaders to Regional Seminar in Santa Rosa
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This month, Mission UpReach held the third, semi-annual regional preachers and church leaders seminar. This is a three-day workshop event. It is a resident program where these men come from as far away as Choluteca, (9 hours to the south) and Puerto Cortes (3.5 hours to the North). There were a total of 19 different congregations represented by those in attendance.
The theme presented was, "The Cultural, Social and Spiritual Context in Which We Live". The goal is to help equip leaders in various congregations of the church of Christ to lead their members in their spiritual formation. Our churches here in Honduras, just like our churches back in the US, are struggling with secularization and the basics of consecrated living. This seminar focused on practical steps in identifying both the root causes of a secular spirit in the church and solutions of how to lead the church back to a Christ likeness that permeates not only the church but also the surrounding community.
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Regional Easter Weekend Church Retreat
For the first time in the history of the congregations of the church of Christ in the western highlands of Honduras, there was a regional church retreat much like the "Blue Ridge Encampment" or other regional church retreat that you might experience in the US.
There were a total of 4 congregations that participated from across a wide region. More than 150 people, including men, women and children, participated. The evaluation of the event is very positive. It was both encouraging to the individuals that participated and it also helped to forge stronger links between congregations.
Maintaining good will and cooperation among congregations here in western Honduras is just as challenging or more challenging than it is in the US. We believe this annual event (conducted over Easter weekend) is a great tool for maintaining harmony and cooperation among sister congregations.
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Surprise Mother's Day Event
Typically churches recognize mothers on mother's day. This year the Santa Rosa church did that just like it has in the year's past. In addition to the normal recognition of mothers during Sunday worship services the men of the congregation surprised the mother's by handing out specially printed invitations to a Monday evening mother's day celebration at a local restaurant.
I cannot tell you how delighted these mothers were and it is clear that the entire church was blessed by having 48 mothers' in attendance.
There was live music, door prizes, special recognition of one 82-year-old sister in Christ who visits the sick in the hospital every day, and on top of all the activity, there was good food. Everyone enjoyed the good Christian fellowship.
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