Mission UpReach Newsletter
  September 2011, Vol 4, No 9     
In This Issue
A Note From Donna
OCU and Washington, DC LST Group
First Baptism Directly Attributable to LST Efforts
Cindy in Tampa, Finally
Church Leader Boot Camp

A Note From Donna

    

     When we fully trust God to direct us, we often find ourselves facing things that we do not expect.  That is exactly what happened on September 7th when we met with the medical team at Shriners' Hospital in Tampa, FL.  The news that the only real option for Cindy was amputating both feet was shocking and disappointing.  Often what seems like a great loss is redeemed for what is good and best.  We believe that will be the case with Cindy's upcoming surgery.  I created a blog to journal Cindy's journey for those who would like to follow it.  The website is:  http://cindymendez.blog.com/.

     This coming month is going to be filled with exciting things.  The arrival of the Jon and Stacy Stacy with their three young children is something we have looked forward to for about one year.  We can't wait to see how God is going to use them to enhance the Kingdom work we are a part of here in Western Honduras.  We also are welcoming Richard Parsons to Mission UpReach team.  Richard is a recent Harding graduate and the son of some of our best friends, Tom and Priscilla Parson.  Richard will be spending a good part of the next few months studying Spanish so that he can be most effective in his work with us.  We also have another LST group who will be spending 3 weeks here continuing the good work of previous groups. 

     We do not feel like we say "thank you" enough!  Your prayers, love, encouragement, and financial support mean so much to us.  Thank you and may God bless you abundantly!

  

OCU and Washington, DC LST Group  

       

Leah

     We want to say thank you to Lynn McMaster, a sister in Christ from the Washington, D.C. area who came to Santa Rosa along with two students from Oklahoma Christian University, Natalie Nalley and Leah Graefe to hold two weeks of Let's Start Talking classes.

     This continues to be a very effective outreach to our community here in Santa Rosa. The LST organization and the participants are all very focused on sharing the Good News of Jesus using conversational English classes as their medium.

 

      

First Baptism Directly Attribuitable to LST Efforts

Glorisel

     This baptism is indeed something to celebrate. Even though every baptism in Christ results in the Angels in Heaven rejoicing, we are happy to report that Glorisel is a direct result of God using the LST outreach to bring someone to Christ that might not have come to know him in any other way.

     Often LST is the point of contact for making friends in the community and it is much later that "fruit" is produced in that person making Jesus Lord of their life. The longer the time between the initial contact and the commitment to Jesus is, the more difficult it is to classify "from where the contact came". In Glorisel's case, in only three months from initially coming to our LST classes, she made the decision to put Jesus on in baptism. Thank you LST'ers.

 

 

Greetings!

 

      As we share our September news with you, we would also like to ask you to be praying about two very specific situations.  First, as you will read about in this newsletter, please pray for little Cindy Mendez. Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, September 27th in Tampa, FL.  Donna will be traveling to be with her and the Berry family during the days before and after the surgery.   

 

     Another need for prayer is for our team member Ren� Rosa's wife, Zonia.  She will be having open heart surgery to replace a valve on Saturday, September 24th.  The surgery will take place in Tegucigalpa.  This surgery is needed to save her life.  Please pray for her and her family as she undergoes this challenging surgery and recovery.   

 

Blessings,

 

Phil, Donna, Harrison, and Laura Waldron

www.missionupreach.com  


 

Cindy in Tampa, Finally

    

cindy1  

     

     Please celebrate with us the good news that Cindy Mendez, the little girl from Choluteca, Honduras, that has Spina Bifida and clubbed feet is finally at Shriners in Tampa, FL.

     You can see from the photo that we promptly introduced her to American cuisine at Cracker Barrel. This was a bittersweet journey. Upon examination the Chief Surgeon, Dr. Grogan, immediately told us that she had severe Osteomyelitis, which is bone and bone marrow infection that in Cindy's case is incurable. Dr. Grogan very compassionately stated that Cindy's only hope of treatment was double amputation below the knee and fitting her with braces. What a blow for her, her sisters, aunts and the rest of us that have labored so long and prayed so often for her over the last two years.  

 

cindy3

     

     Upon reflection though, here is the reality that we all had to come to grips with; with both feet being amputated and then fitting her with prosthesis Cindy will be able to run and play like a normal child for the first time in her life.

     If the feet and lower legs are not amputated the Osteomyelitis will eventually be the death of her. Cindy and her family made the difficult choice to proceed. Her surgery is scheduled for September 27th.

Please be praying for her. Pictured above is Lupita, the Shriners Hospital translator and child advocate showing Cindy a photo album of other children who have had feet and legs amputated and are now running, playing soccer and living a normal active life.

 

  

cindy2    

 

     The other photo here is of Tim, Susan and Stephanie Berry who are lovingly, hosting Cindy in their home for the duration of her treatment and therapy. This family deserves our honor and praise. They immediately accepted Cindy as a part of their family. Cindy, in just a matter of days, is communicating in English with them as a result of their loving attention and care for her.

 

     Please keep, Cindy, her family and the Berry family in your thoughts and prayers this month as they work with Shriners in helping give Cindy the hope of a much better quality of life.

  

  

  


      

Church Leader Boot Camp  

 

  boot camp3

     

    

     This past month, the team here at Mission UpReach hosted and taught in a 72-hour, one week, intensive leadership training for region wide church leaders.  The 24 men that were selected to participate in this event, lasting 7 days straight, were new Christians from 13 different congregations. Each candidate was carefully selected for the strategic impact that he could have on his home community.

 

  

boot camp2 

     The over arching goal was to take these men from a point of being newly converted (Point A) to the point where they could handle basic Biblical doctrines (Point C) and then go back to be leaders in their local church congregations.

 

Boot camp  

 

     Throughout the week we imparted 72 hours of lecture and Bible study. The idea for this form of preparation came to us after considering how to meet the great need for Kingdom workers that we are faced with in our region. The military uses a similar method of training in order to train young raw recruits for warfare in only a few short weeks.

     Our plan over the next 12 months is to repeat three more weeklong intensives with this same group. Over time we will be adding more groups to the program so that we can leverage this type of training for maximum impact in the region. Ultimately the goal is to save more people who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to plant churches in their communities so that they can continue to grow and serve in the process of God redeeming the nation.