2018 Campaign Brochure

“fully developed within & without, fully alive in Christ.”
Ephesians 4:13b (The Message)

hello
Have you ever imagined how the disciples of Jesus felt on Saturday? He died on Friday and took
their dreams and their hopes to the tomb with him. He was dead. Some of them even saw him cry
out with his last breath and then slump over a lifeless corpse when only a second before he was the
living hope of Israel. How would you describe their feelings in that moment if you were to put it into
words? Sadness, despair, lost, numb, hopeless and numerous other words would probably come
close to describing what they were feeling.
Today in Western Honduras where we live and work there are countless lives that could be described
with the same words that you might choose as descriptors of what the disciples were feeling back
in the first century. Although here in Western Honduras the words hopeless, lost, and numb could
easily be combined with other word descriptors like hungry, dirty, and worried about the future. Do
you think that the disciples, viewing the dead body of Jesus would have described themselves as living
life to the fullest in that moment? Probably not. But how would they have felt on Sunday when
he rose from the grave? When Mary saw him in the garden do you think that she felt fully alive?
In the same way that Mary and the other disciples surely felt fully alive when they encountered
the risen Savior; God’s plan is that each and every person experience that feeling in Christ. MUR
is working among the poor in Western Honduras to fulfill the desire of the Father that everyone
come to repentance so that he can receive them as sons and daughters. In other words, as sons and
daughters of the God of Heaven each and every person is rich beyond measure.
Here at MUR the programs that are transforming lives and communities depend on donations from
you and others like you. Over half of our annual cost of operations is typically given in our year-end,
annual giving campaign.
Would you please help by giving now? On the back of this brochure you will find several options of
how to give. We try to make it as easy as possible for you to donate and help men and women and
boys and girls to experience “being fully alive” for the first time in their lives. Read the options on
the back cover and choose the one that is most convenient for you. And please take a moment to
read through the stories that we have included in this year’s brochure. The lives of these people are
typical of lives that are being changed through the power of the Gospel. You can make a difference.
You can be a part of transforming a life.
Thank you for your support of this life changing mission.
Dios bendiga,
Phil Waldron
CEO
Mission UpReach, Inc.
P.S. The sooner you make a donation the sooner we can report to others on our success in reaching
the goal. People are motivated to give when they know we are closing in on the goal. Please give
now in order to help us succeed.

Evelin Yojana Barrientos
Evelin, a 10-year-old from a
village outside of Rosario, is
part of our DESEO program
and receives values and
morals classes once a week.
She is also involved in
our after-school tutoring
program. Evelin has trouble
in school and has been slowly
improving thanks to our
tutoring teachers.
More impressive than
her progress however, is the
commitment she has shown
over the past few months.
Evelin walks over four hours
every day that she attends
Tutoring. She lives an hour’s
walk from the school where
our bus picks up the kids for
tutoring. This means that she
gets up at 4:30 a.m. each day
to eat breakfast and get ready
to leave by 5:30, walks one
hour to get to school and one
hour to get home after school
to eat and change. Then she
makes that same walk back
to school to wait for the bus
in the afternoon. Then, once
again, she walks an hour back
to her house after tutoring,
arriving at her house around
5:30 p.m. When visiting
Evelin, we realized that she
lives at the bottom of a deep
valley. So two of those hours
are spent climbing a steep,
non-stop incline.
Evelin lives with her
Mom and two other workers
who are taking care of the
coffee, tilapia, and livestock
for a wealthy businessman
from Santa Rosa. This
type of arrangement is not
uncommon in Honduras, but
often the families working
the land are taken advantage
of and remain poor and
oppressed. From the looks
of it, this is not the case with
Evelin and her family. They
have been living on the land
for over 9 years and have full
access to the many fruit trees,
chickens, and swimming pool
in exchange for their work.
Most children in Evelin’s
situation would not pursue
their education due to a
push from the family to stay
and help work, or a lack of
motivation to get to school
from such a rural area.
Evelin’s mother, however,
recognizes the importance
of education and encourages
Evelin to continue through
the repeated story of how
when she was a little girl,
she walked over six hours
a day for school. This level
of commitment shows the
value that Evelin puts on her
education and the importance
of DESEO’s tutoring program.

Martha Leocadia Bernandez Barrios
Martha is a first year student
in our school for the deaf
(ESPERO). Martha is 37 years
old and a single mother to a
21 year old son. Martha grew
up in a home with a single
mom and her 5 siblings. She
was born deaf into a hearing
family.
Martha went to school
up through the second grade
but didn’t learn anything
because there were no
accommodations for the deaf.
In fact, no one in Martha’s
family nor any of her friends
nor her own son know any
sign language. Martha has
only just begun to learn sign
language, having used crude
gestures her entire life to
communicate what she could
manage. After the second
grade Martha was forced to
leave school to take care of
household chores while her
mother worked to make ends
meet.
Martha describes her
life (up till now) as boring,
stuck without a means to
communicate. Martha was
only 16 when she got pregnant
with her son and worked to
feed him by cleaning houses
and braiding hair. She is from
La Ceiba, a northern coastal
city of Honduras. A year ago
Martha found out about a job
opportunity in Santa Rosa
de Copán as a nanny and
housekeeper. She says she
is teaching the children she
cares for sign language so that
she can communicate better
with them.
Watching Martha
communicate with the
new signs she has learned
since starting school is
like watching a caged bird
fly for the first time. She
is expressive, vibrant,
hardworking, intelligent,
independent, and now
extremely communicative.

Alex Oswaldo Ruiz Lopez
Alex, 17, first came to The
Moses Project in 2016. Alex
was living with his Mother and
little brother in a small village
called San Andres Minas. A
neighbor was participating in
The Moses Project and started
telling Alex about all the
opportunities this program
had to offer. Out of all of
them, what caught Alex’s
attention was the chance to
finish High School. In the
village where Alex is from,
school only goes up to 9th
grade. In order to finish his
schooling, Alex would have
had to pay to ride an hour
and a half on a bus each day,
which his family could not
afford. Alex’s true passion is
soccer and he dreamed of one
day becoming a professional
soccer player, but he also
realized the importance of
having a career; “a plan B”.
As a result, Alex decided to
interview at The Moses Project
and was accepted into the
program. He says that coming
to the project was, “far greater
than I had imagined”. On top
of being able to finish High
School, he was now learning
about coffee, agriculture, and
the Bible. Alex comes from a
Catholic family but says that
they would only go to mass,
“maybe once or twice a year”.
After a few months of daily
bible studies with the rest of
the boys at The Moses Project,
Alex decided to commit his
life to Christ. Only a few
weeks later, disaster struck.
Alex received the difficult
news that his (then pregnant)
mother had ovarian cancer.
Alex made the tough
decision to leave The Moses
Project and move back home
to help take care of his mother
and provide for his family. In
his mind, the goal of finishing
school was now unattainable.
Instead, he would now be
responsible for the wellbeing
of his family for the
foreseeable future. After
almost a year of working odd
jobs and helping take care of
his Mom and little brother,
his mom started feeling better
and was able to do more
around the house. There are
thousands of kids who never
even make it to High School
because it’s better financially
for the family to send him to
work instead of pay for their
schooling. However, with
newfound energy, Alex’s mom
recognized the opportunities
that higher education can
bring and began encouraging
him to try and return to The
Moses Project.
Alex started coming to
The Moses Project on the
weekends so that he could
attend the local church with
the rest of his friends from
the project. Eventually, he
talked to Jon Stacy, who gladly
let him rejoin the ranks and
continue his education. Alex
is now working specifically
with the Tilapia and is more
than happy to be back out at
the project. He says, “Without
The Moses Project, I would
probably be in San Pedro or
in my home town just trying
to get by. I wouldn’t have the
knowledge or the relationship
with God that I have now. I
don’t know what I want to
do after I finish here at the
project. I still would love to be
a professional soccer player
but I am focusing more on
my schooling. Right now I’m
studying Accounting and
Finance. I would love the
opportunity to stay on at The
Moses Project as an employee
when I graduate next year.”

Give before December 31st. Giving
sooner rather than later is better
because every dollar given gets us
closer to the goal which inspires
even more people to give.
q Yes, I/we will help. Enclosed is my gift in the
amount of $__________ to do more kingdom work.
q Yes, I/we will help on a monthly basis in the
amount of $____________ per month.
q Yes, I/we will help by making a campaign pledge.
Enclosed is: $___________ as partial fulfillment
$___________ my full pledge amount.
Name: _________________________________
Email: _________________________________
Phone: _________________________________
Address: ________________________________
City: ___________________________________
State: __________ Zip: _____________________
Mail this form with a check to:
Mission UpReach, Inc.
3221 Dundee Road
Longview, TX 75604
To give online, go to
www.missionupreach.org and click DONATE.
Or text GIVE to
706-350-6800 & follow the prompts.
Or make a donation via venmo at
Phil Waldron@mission upreach so that
your money goes directly into the Mission
UpReach checking account.
Gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law. Contributions are solicited
with the understanding that the donee organization has complete
discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.