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Baptisms and Boot Camp
This past month we held another Boot Camp where twenty five men from across the western region attended. Two of those come from communities where we have planted new churches. These particular men had been attending church but had never been baptized. During the course of the week both of these men recognized their need to surrender their life to Jesus as Lord in the watery grave of baptism.  We have a great team here at Mission UpReach in facilitating and teaching throughout the week. It requires a team of 11 to 15 people, including two full time cooks, in order to have a successful week. This program continues to produce concrete results. Ninety six different men have taken at least one of our six modules in this Boot Camp series.
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Elder Preparation in Puerto Cortés
David Waldron, an elder at the LaVergne, TN church of Christ came to visit here in Santa Rosa this month. Later he and Phil went to the coastal city of Puerto Cortés, where both David and Phil preached.
Next January 6th (2014) the congregation will celebrate 25 years of existence. Both David and Phil spoke on the Biblical pattern of local church leadership emphasizing the need to begin the process of preparing and installing elders and deacons.
David Waldron shared a message filled with practical advice based on his personal experience as an elder.
Mission UpReach provided 15 men there, who were selected as possible candidates to either be elders or deacons, with copies of Alexander Strauch's book and study manual on Biblical Leadership, An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Leadership in the Church.
Phil is going to be traveling to Puerto Cortés once a month to preach on the theme while the 15 men singled out by the congregation as possible candidates study through the course material. It takes between 6 to 12 months to complete the course.
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Santa Rosa de Copán Youth Group Serves the Poor in Tegucigalpa
 This month our local church youth group, led by Jon and Stacy Stacy and our Mission UpReach team, took our youth on a mission trip to the capital city of Tegucigalpa.  Dozens of groups consisting of 1000's of youth and adults, almost all North American, come to Honduras on short term missions every year. But in this case this was Honduran youth serving their fellow countrymen that are poor and in great need. They built a wooden house for one family and they fed 100's of people who work in the city's landfill and played with orphans. It had a great impact on the kids from Santa Rosa as well as on those that they served. 
One story that illustrates the transformative power of serving others in the name of Jesus is the story of Marvin and Kerlin.
Marvin is a young man who most likely has fetal alcohol syndrome or something similar. He is very poor. He is one of the kids that attends church here in Santa Rosa as a result of our DESEO public school program and our UPWARD after-school basketball program. Marvin went on the trip but he didn't have any shoes. At least they weren't what you and I would recognize as shoes. Kerlin, also one of the boys attending church as a result of our DESEO ministry, woke Marvin up one night at midnight and gave him his shoes so that Marvin would no longer have to go shoeless. He did it at midnight because he didn't want anyone else to know who had given Marvin shoes.
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Note From Donna
The story shared in this newsletter about the young man giving his shoes away, exemplifies what I believe we are all called to do. For many of us, giving away a pair of shoes just means more space in our closet. For Kerlin, it represented a young man with a changed heart because of his relationship with Jesus Christ. These stories encourage us to keep doing the things we are doing, knowing that it is God who gives the increase. The increase isn't always numbers of new Christians, but can also mean the increase of faith in action by those we are discipling. Kerlin is the result of the impact of several of our ministries. First, he learned about God and His church through our public school outreach, DESEO. Then, he participated in our afterschool basketball league, where we conduct devotionals and teach God principles while having fun. These outreach efforts brought Kerlin into the church body, where the youth ministry took him to the next level. His participation in our youth retreats, our monthly youth service projects, the weekly Bible studies, and recently the mission trip to Tegucigalpa all impact him and others. Without a presence here in the country, these ministries could not exist. Thank you for making that possible!
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