February 2014

Vol. 7, No. 2

This year has started off with a bang. Some of the things that we have seen this past month are; a medical brigade, our Team Mission UpReach family retreat and the inauguration of our new two year Saturday Bible school that is training 35 men and women on a university level of studies that is sure to bless our churches in the region.

Keep us in your prayers please as we focus planting four new congregations this year.

Dios bendiga,

Phil and Donna Waldron

Mission UpReach

www.missionupreach.com

MUR Annual Kick-off Event

For the last two years we have begun our year, after the Christmas and New Year's Holidays, with a breakfast and outing for all of the members of Team Mission UpReach and their families.

This year we celebrated the kick-off with an outing where everyone got to zip line over a 1500 foot deep gorge.

Everyone participated from the young girls like Ashley and Nixi pictured here with a guide taking them across the gorge to Carmen Sánchez, wife of our church planting team director Aristides Sánchez, and her son Jonathan.

Even Donna got to go across and in spite of how she looks here in the picture she says she enjoyed it.

Our team works very hard all year long so we were glad to be able to take them on this outing. It was a great time of fellowship and helped draw us closer together as a team. Our hope is that as we face the days and weeks ahead that are filled with long hours and sometimes tense moments our team will be able to draw on these "deposits" that they have made in each others emotional bank accounts.

Boot Camp For University and High School Students

We held our largest Boot Camp for High School and University students ever during January with 35 participants not including the instructors.

Medical Brigade in Puerto Cortés

The LaVergne church of Christ from Tennessee came to Puerto Cortés and held a medical brigade during this past month. We were able to attend to 700 people from the community during the time they were here.

While our Mission UpReach staff and members from the LaVergne church, along with two Honduran doctors, attended to the medical needs the local members of the church were busy setting up Bible studies with the people who attended the clinic.

They were very effective at it. We pray that God will bring much fruit from this effort. On another note, while we were there a man who had been attending church decided to be baptized and we all were able to be there to witness the event.

Team MUR Family Retreat

Once again Jason Bybee and Matt Moore from the Mayfair church of Christ in Huntsville, AL came and held a three day retreat for our team members and their families. Our theme was Transformation. We focused on a Biblical message of how we can first be transformed by God's spirit by "drinking" deeply from His word as the first step in our seeing our dream of planting one church in each village in this generation come into reality.

CRESCO Saturday Bible School Opens

Feb. 1 we held the inauguration of CRESCO The core of this 2-yr program is the CELO courses by the Baxter Institute in Tegucigalpa. We have supplemented the CELO courses to extend the training to cover 3 hours per Saturday for two years.

Once these men and women complete their courses they will be able to participate in the annual graduation ceremony at the Baxter Institute that is held every December.

A Note from Donna

It seems that Phil could have selected a more attractive photo to share with you, but I think that one captures the moment best. We believe that good healthy fun is important for our Mission UpReach team due to the many hard hours they devote to serving others. It also creates a bond of fellowship that carries us through more challenging days, and we do have them. I often feel like we have a "dream team" and I do not doubt that God has had His hand in selecting each of our team members for the work we are doing right now. I also believe that retreats, such as the one conducted by Jason Bybee and Matt Moore that emphasize personal spiritual growth are essential to our continued success. Being busy and working hard is important, but if we neglect our own personal spiritual growth, we will burn out and lose our way. We are thankful to God for these opportunities!

Our year is going fast already. We will have more short term mission groups this year than any past years, making for a very full calendar in addition to the day to day functions of the mission. We ask that you remember our team and us as we face the adventures and challenges of this year!

Would you consider becoming a regular donor to Mission UpReach? Or, would you be willing to give a one time donation? We appreciate you stepping out in faith with us and watching what God does with your investment!
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.