Two New Churches Planted
More than anything else Mission UpReach is a church planting mission of the churches of Christ.
We are thrilled to announce to you that this past month, our church planting team, consisting of Aristides Sánchez, Jeremías Santos, Juan Carlos de los Santos and Nestor Sánchez, all alumni of the Baxter Institute that are MUR employees led an effort to plant two new churches. That makes four new churches this year so far.
Please keep these young churches in your prayers. Our goal is to plant one more new church this year and spend the rest of the year nurturing and growing the leadership in these four new congregations.
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More Weddings Strengthen Churches
As we have shared with you in past newsletters. Family life in our part of Honduras tends to be very unstable because free-unions or common law marriage is the norm instead of the exception. This leads to the dismal statistic that from birth to eighteen years of age an average Honduran child in our part of the world will have four different men in their home as "father".
We have an aggressive program to promote legalization of marriages in our churches and communities. This past month we had two weddings in the community of Torihuaque where we planted a church earlier this year. Both of these men have now been participants in our Boot Camps and are helping to lead the church in their community.
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Snellville Georgia Church Sends Group to Do VBS and Construction
The Snellville church sent a diverse group that split into two different work teams. One team, shown here, focused on building bathrooms for one of our DESEO schools in a community called Cablotal. They dug a 10'x10'x10' deep hole for a septic system, dug and poured footings and laid block. Men from the community joined in and helped out as well.
The other part of the group conducted VBS in a number of schools as well as at the local church of Christ in Santa Rosa where we bussed in kids from the surrounding area. They did a great job. They used puppets to teach Bible lessons and it was a great hit..
They also prepared great crafts for the kids to work on that emphasized the Bible lessons.
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Cindy Has New Legs. And She's Taller Too.
Tim, Susan and Stephanie Berry, Cindy's host family, sent us this picture after she received her new legs from Shriners.
Isn't she beautiful? On Stephanie's birthday the family took Cindy bowling with them.
Apparently she did well according to Tim. At first she didn't want to do it but before long she was bowling right along with Stephanie. Tim did say however that the bowling alley would never be the same.
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Mid-Year Tabulation of Results
One of our supporting congregations asked us for some specifics of results that we have seen in our labors in the Kingdom since the first of this year. We sat down and tabulated some of the results and were pleased to see how God has blessed our efforts.
We are reminded though of the words of Jesus when He said, "the fields are white unto harvest...but the laborers are few". There is so much more than can and should be done.
- 75 baptisms
- 4 new churches established
- 11,000+ hours of Bible Studies Conducted
- Medical consultations and Medicines for 3,500 people
- 2,000 people received eye-glasses
- 700 people received dental care and extractions
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Pine Tree Church Sends Group to Work in Special Needs School
Wendy Gibbs from the Pine Tree church of Christ, in Longview, TX organized a group of people to come and work in the special needs school here in Santa Rosa. She recruited her good friends from Ohio, the Bennetts and Dick Mason, as well as Diane Smith from Longview to help out. This school has really been blessed by their efforts.
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University Church from Denver, CO Holds Medical Brigade
The University church of Christ, from Denver, Colorado actually had four women living and working here with us for the summer. In addition, the church brought a large group to hold a medical clinic in the community of Contamal where we planted a new church earlier in the year. Carlos Orellana, the self-supporting carpenter-preacher, that is working as the evangelist for the congregation said, "you all have opened doors here that we could have never opened".
In all, 770 people received a consultation with a doctor and received prescription medicines if the doctor indicated it. In addition, everyone who came through the clinic received an eye exam and a free pair of glasses if they needed them.
What a delight it is to see someone's face light up when they can see clearly again for the first time in years. Our thanks to the Lions Club who donates all of the glasses that we use in these free clinics.
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A Note from Donna
As you can see, we have been very busy! Our mission is busy year round, but hosting short-term mission groups adds even more activity to an already packed schedule. Only by the grace of God are we able to keep up the pace.
We ask that you pray for our Mission UpReach team that we will keep our eyes on Jesus and remember what our purpose is here. We recognize, almost daily, the tactics of Satan to distract us and take us off track. We also recognize that Satan would have no reason for such tactics if we were not doing something opposed to his purposes.
In the midst of this busy season, a doctor friend of ours noticed a growth on my thyroid. Some of you know that I went immediately back to the U.S. for a biopsy. I am happy to report that the biopsy results were benign. I will just have to watch the growth for now.
While the news was great, it did create some added stress and distractions. Fortunately, we have a great team who could step up and easily replace my contributions to the work. We appreciate your continued prayers for good health and safety. Our Laura was once again given a scholarship to attend Camp Deer Run in East Texas this summer. As I write she is in the states and preparing for her two-week stay at camp. It means so much to us when folks are attentive to such needs. We know her life will be enriched by the experience.
I will be traveling in a few days to Tampa, FL to retrieve Cindy and take her back to her family. As you read in the article, she is doing well. We didn't expect her to have to have surgery, but we are thankful for the attention and service of the doctors at Shriner's Hospital.
We are also overwhelmed at the kindness and love of the Berry family. No doubt Cindy will have mixed emotions when I arrive to take her home, wanting to stay with the Berry's and wanting to return to her family all at the same time.
In closing, I want to share with you that I have a new appreciation for the word "benign" and realize how much it reflects the nature of our God. It means gracious, pleasant, good, benevolent, tender, gentle, and compassionate.
I invite you to praise our benign God for all his tender mercies and love!
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Evangelistic Campaign Results in 12 Baptisms
MUR's church planting team held a week long campaign in a small village that is located thirty minutes drive outside of Santa Rosa de Copán where we all live. Vivihistorio is where we intended to plant a new church as a result of holding a campaign there. What really happened is that we wound up with two small churches with one in Vivihistorio and another in Plan San Geronimo, which is a smaller community outside of Vivihistorio.
Nestor Sánchez did the preaching every night. And Aristides Sánchez was the director of the campaign with 20 of our Boot Camp graduates from all over western Honduras coming in for the week and working as evangelists. Here is a picture of the whole team.
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Dr. Bob Young Holds Leadership Seminar in Puerto Cortés
For those of you who have read our previous newsletters this year you know that Phil has been traveling once a month to Puerto Cortés on the North Coast (four hours drive from Santa Rosa) to preach on themes that are helping the church prepare leadership for beginning the process of naming elders and deacons at some point in the future. This month, we here at Mission UpReach, were able to facilitate Dr. Bob Young coming to hold a weekend seminar on a number of themes that have been helpful for this same church. Below is Dr. Young's own report of how the weekend went.
Puerto Cortes leadership seminar and weekend, by Bob Young
The three days in Puerto Cortes went by very quickly. Shortly after my arrival on Friday afternoon we made an evangelistic visit and Bible study followed by an evening Bible lesson and prayer time for the church. Saturday's leadership development seminar was well attended. I made five presentations followed by questions and answers, about 6-7 hours of intense study and thought. The building was filled Sunday morning and about 30 responded to the invitation with requests for prayers, primarily for their families.
A "youth seminar" on Sunday afternoon included two congregations, again with extended questions and answers about morality and other Bible topics. Along the way, there were lots of opportunities for informal discussions and studies during the three days.
By the time I finished the sermon on Sunday evening I was tired, but richly blessed by the love and encouragement of the brothers and sisters at Puerto Cortes.
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