April 2012
Vol. 5, No. 4
Greetings!

     We need your help to make our 2nd Quarter fund raising goal of $35,000. What would you be willing to give to help someone experience a new life in Jesus like the three stories we have shared below? Here at Mission UpReach we are completely dependent on God moving in the hearts of Christians all across the United States to provide the funds for the many ministries that we lead. Your contributions are tax deductible and will bless countless numbers of people here in the western highlands of Honduras.      

      

Blessings,

 

Phil and Donna Waldron

Mission UpReach

www.missionupreach.com  

 

  

Dulce Refugio Logo
Dulce Refugio
One Girl's Story
DR photo

     Scarlett is one of the girls that lives in our safe house for at "risk girls". A gift from you can help Mission UpReach continue to be Jesus' hands and feet to people just like Scarlett. Scarlett and girls just like her, who live in communities in western Honduras, often deal with life pressures that rob them of any chance of what you would consider as a normal, healthy life .

      For instance, Scarlett, who is 16 years old and has a baby was born to a mother who made her living as a prostitute. All her life Scarlett has lived with countless numbers of relatives and friends. Before coming to live in Mission UpReach's safe house for girls, she was living in a home where the man of the house, who was living with her aunt, began pressuring her to have sex with him. After she refused, he began offering her money in exchange for sex. She shared this information with one of our Mission UpReach staff members and commented, "I know if I stay there he will eventually rape me and if I am going to be raped I would at least like to get paid for it".

      Here at Mission UpReach we were compelled by Scarlett's story to help her escape the oppression she was facing. She now lives in our safe house for girls that we call "Dulce Refugio" which in Spanish means Sweet Refuge. Considering the plight of these girls we felt that the name was appropriate. Because; that is what Jesus is for a broken and sin ridden society, sweet redeeming refuge.

 

 

DESEO logo
UpWard Basketball
Making a difference

     Our public school outreach program to elementary schools is making great inroads. This little girl named, Dulce, is a good example of the positive impact that we are having. Dulce is a latch key kid. Her father often beat and abused her mother so her mother left him and took up with another man who is a policeman here in Santa Rosa. Her mother works in an orphanage run by nuns and is gone for days on end. Her "step-father" works lots of hours as well which means she is practically on her own. She is a student in one of the schools in which we conduct our  DESEO program teaching Christ like character and health and hygiene. She is also a participant in our afternoon youth sports league where we conduct basketball training and games along with teaching scripture memory, Bible lessons, and as well as other lessons that teach Christ like character and values.

 

DESEO Picture
     Dulce is an at risk little girl based on the norms in Honduran society.  With so much unsupervised time on her hands it is almost certain that she will follow the course of so many other girls in her community. The average first time pregnancy for a normal girl in Dulce's society is between 13 and 17 years old. Most of the girls that windup with a baby as a teenager almost always begin a path that, over a life time, leads to serial, "common law" relationships with different men. Marriage as a foundational stabilizing influence in the growth and development of families and the ambient society is a distant dream in the lives of young girls like Dulce; unless there is an intervention of God's church in her life. Our DESEO/UPWARD program is making a real difference in Dulce's life. Just the other day she told Karol, who is her DESEO teacher, "I want to be just like you".

 

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CREO/Boot Camp
Tomorrow's leaders
CREO photo

     CREO (which in Spanish is an acrostic for Western Regional Center for Evangelism) continues to have an ever growing impact on the leadership training of local congregations of churches of Christ. Marcos Garcia, pictured here is an example of just one person who is being impacted by this program. Marcos is fourteen years old. Although very young, he was selected by his local church to attend one of our Boot Camps, which are one week intensive evangelist and leadership training programs. After attending his first week of Boot Camp he decided he wanted to come and study in our year round resident program for young single men.

       The "catch" was that he was his father's right hand in their small chain saw repair business. His father is a paraplegic and for Marcos to come to our program for two years represents a sacrifice on the part of the entire family. After discussing the idea with his family and after our Director of CREO, Aristides Sanchez accompanied by Ren� Rosa one of our other MUR staff members, talked with Marcos and his family; the conclusion that the family came to was that it was far more important for Marcos to grow into a strong spiritual leader in the church than for him to stay at home and continue to help his father in the repair shop. The faith of this family in entrusting Mission UpReach to prepare their son for a life time of leadership in the Lord's church is both humbling and affirming.           

 

 

 
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Would you help us make it possible for people like Dulce, Marcos, Scarlett and 100's of Others to Come to Know the Transforming Power of Jesus of Nazareth?

 

Consider giving today and share in what God is doing to transform lives in western Honduras!  You can donate online by clicking the button below or mail your donation to Mission UpReach, 196 Alps Road, Suite 2-395, Athens, GA 30606.

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