The Builder and The Architect

For those of you wondering, or navigating to my site to find out more about my trip, on Monday, April 27, our trip was moved from Nayarit, México to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Everything else about the trip is the same.

This is very exciting since the trip could have been cancelled but was not, and we are still staying within Central (Latin) America, which is very important to me. The group leaders felt it was the best precaution to take given the possible harm the H1N1 virus could cause if we travelled to México. So instead of cancelling it, we got moved! God is good! His mercy endures for ever, and He is faithful across all generations.

Dear Friends,

Well this time it has not been long at all since you have heard from me. Oh, I’d say, maybe two days. I wanted to quickly update you on what I am up to. I also wanted to tell you that I am going back to México!

Currently I am still working as a server in a restaurant. I am still looking for a professional job (darn economy!). I am planning on going to grad school no later than August 2010, probably in Atlanta. I have started dating a magnificent woman named Amanda who loves Jesus so much. I still live in Augusta, and will be moving to another house soon with more roommates. God is still working in me and leading me and transforming me into the image of His Son. I am still trying my hardest to love Him more than anything in this world and glorify Him above all. And of, course, on May 3, I will be traveling back to México!

I am so excited. If you read my update from my trip to Guanajuato, you will know why. This year, however, I am not going with a medical team. This time, we are going with Habitat for Humanity to Nayarit, México. I will be going with a group of grad and undergrad students from Georgia Tech, sponsored and led by North Avenue Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

I am also excited because we will be laboring with future homeowners on the very houses that they will be living in. It will be a great opportunity to serve the Lord and others with my muscles and hard work while simultaneously sharing the gospel and demonstrating Christ’s love. We fly down on May 3 and fly back on May 10.

Nayarit is a small west coast Mexican state, just northwest of Guanajuato. The Habitat for Humanity program in Mexico is one of the largest international programs Habitat supports, so we should be very productive while we are there. If you don’t know, Habitat for Humanity’s primary mission is to eliminate poverty housing worldwide by partnering with local residents in creating programs to build simple and decent above poverty housing. They also provide low to no interest loans so that people who apply for and receive this housing opportunity can realistically pay it off. That is just a part of what they do, though. I encourage you to find out more by researching their website: www.habitat.org.

I believe the Lord is calling me back to México this year, and I am fully excited about going. Last year the Lord put a desire in my heart to invest myself in furthering the Gospel in Latin America. I believe that this is another opportunity He is giving me to do so. This opportunity also continues to put me in situations in which I must trust the Lord to lead me through and depend solely on Him for guidance and resources.

Here is where you come in. Please participate with me again in sharing the love of Christ with the people of México! As I mentioned last year, even though I am the one physically going on the trip, you can have a huge impact by participating with me. The biggest need for participation is through prayer. Please pray for the unity of the team. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would greatly equip us, prepare us, and would precede us and prepare the hearts of the people with whom we will be in contact and of the entire community. Please pray that the Lord would make us effective and efficient tools of His to minister His love and reconciliation to all those that we touch because of this trip as we speak and work. Please pray that He would provide all the resources we need, both physically and financially. And please pray, above all, that this trip and each person going would glorify Him and His name in the greatest ways.

Another way you can participate with me in this trip is by supporting us financially. If you are interested or feel that God is leading you to participate in this way, you can find very simple instructions for how to do so at the bottom of this email. You may also contact me if you have any questions or want more information.

I look forward to sharing this with each of you again this year, and I look forward to hearing what the Lord is doing in your life as well.

For the Glory of Christ,

Dan Upshaw

Instructions for how to participate financially:
1: If you itemize your tax returns and want a tax deduction OR want a formal receipt, make the check out to “North Avenue Presbyterian Church.” Leave the “For” line blank. I will fill that in with the appropriate information. Send the check to my address.
2: If you won’t get a deduction for it, just make the check out to me, “Daniel Upshaw,” and send it to my address. I will send you confirmation that I received the support.

The first part of this entry can be found here: Post-Guanajuato Update, part uno.

I still do not think I have a grasp on everything our Father did there, but I think He has given me a few insights. The most obvious work that He accomplished was in the people we were able to treat and help. We gave ultra-sounds to women would probably would never have gotten them, months worth of medicine to help control epilepsy to a man who lived in poverty, and care to those who had suffered years with various ailments. But the Lord also ministered to their hearts. Not only did some patients come to know the Lord, but family members also came to faith. If they already knew Christ, we were blessed to see some come to understand that they could do nothing to earn salvation, but that believing in Christ and trusting in His sacrifice is sufficient. Not everyone was opened to the message. Not everyone stayed to talk to us afterwards, but I trust the Lord that He used us to speak to those to whom He desired to speak.

Our trip also helped open the door to Continue reading

Hello team!

It has been almost a year since I traveled to Guanajuato. I bet you’re thinking that you were never going to hear from me, since it has taken so long to write this. On the one hand, I have taken way too long to write this update. On the other hand, it did take me a long time to process everything that I experienced there and figure out what I wanted to say. But because you are a part of my team, you deserve to hear from me about it, and I vowed to write to you, no matter how long it took. First I will briefly recall the events of the trip then fill you in on what all I got from it.

When we arrived in Mexico, there was short delay at the airport then a long drive to the compound at which we stayed. We got there about dawn the next day and spent that day resting, being briefed, and getting to know each other. We also spent time in devotion and worship. That was extremely meaningful to me and was a tremendous start to our trip. The next day all the medical personnel set up clinics in two different sites. Those sites were each about 2 hours away from the compound. The non-medical group, of which I was a part, stayed back. We had the privilege of staying behind and performing menial tasks around the compound. I say that in jest. The compound is actually a plot of land with barracks, a cafeteria, and an open pavilion purchased by MTW, but it needed and still needs a lot of work and repair. So while we went there to support the medical team, the day we got to spend working on and improving the compound was definitely needed and served to make the place better for all the teams who will be using the facility in the future!

Over the next three days we went along with the doctors, nurses, and medical students to the clinics. We served them the best we could, but because of circumstances out of the organizer’s control, there weren’t enough translators for the doctors when it was busy, and there were many times when there were just were no patients to server. So when there wasn’t even enough work for the med personnel, that meant that there was little for us to do. But that doesn’t mean that God didn’t work or move in our lives and in the lives of the people to whom we ministered.

Our first day of clinic was at Continue reading

If you want to join with us on a daily basis while I am on the trip, please consider using this as a guide.

Saturday, June 14: Psalm 104; Col 1:15-17; Dan 4; John 13:34-35; Pray for safety while traveling and other logistics of traveling internationally. Pray for he logistics of the trip and to trust God about them. Pray for safety in Mexico, pray for our health and against illness, pray that all equipment will arrive safely, that there will be nothing lost or damaged, and that everything will run smoothly at the clinic sites. Pray for the language barrier, that it wouldn’t be a hindrance on the trip, and pray for our translators, that they would not be overwhelmed with the demand on them. Continue reading

Dear team,

As promised, I want to share with you a little bit more about what we will be doing there and about MTW. Guanajuato is a Mexican state in the middle of the country. The place where we will be going in Guanajuato is about four hours north east of Mexico City and a few thousand feet above sea level amongst the Mexican mountains. The specific location is a place purchased by MTW called “The Campground.” This will be the “base of operations,” as it were. MTW purchased this place because of it’s centrality to Mexico and to the rest of Central America. The campground is in the rural area of the state’s capital, Guanajuato City. The trip leaders assured us that we will get no such luxury of getting to stay in the city. There are lots of villages, called ranchos, surrounding this site. Those ranchos are the places to where we will go to minister. We hope to visit two ranchos every day we have a clinic (we will have two med teams), and since there is a larger portion of the team that will be staying an additional week, we have the opportunity to visit quite a few places.

My specific group, the non-medical providers and non-med students, will not only have the opportunity to minister to the needs of and share the faith with the citizens before they enter the clinic, MTW has also tasked us with Continue reading

Dear team,

It is getting close and closer! It is just about three weeks away. I am also getting more and more excited. I want to take this time to share with you a little bit more of what I know about the trip and some encouraging things that the Lord has shown me since I last wrote you.

First, I want to share with you a few things that I believe are very spiritually significant about this trip. The first is the theme. Continue reading

My Dear Friends and Family,

Well hopefully you have received my letter about the mission trip that I will be going on in June. From many of you I have already heard or have been made aware of your response. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my letter and participate in my life and in the work of God! I am emailing today just to touch base with you about how that has progressed and where it stands right now. However, I first want you to know how much I appreciate you and your involvement in my life.

Ironically enough, Continue reading