Dr. David Upp’s “MISSION LINK” Combined December [2016]-January [2017] Issue

This is a combined December 2016+January 2017 issue coming to you after the UM Great Plains Conference’s GPconnect Staff took a well-deserved Christmas Break. {No, I don’t ONLY serve Places starting with a “P”, but… }

MISSION LINK Tropical Perspectives for Christians Living Mostly in Earth’s Temperate Zones

Torrential Rains on Mindanao are Filling-Up the Rice Paddies

It was my 4th Mission, staying at Eddie & Genna Payaron’s in

Iglugsad [San Fernando], but the first time I wasn’t too chilly during the nights in those mountains. December is very rainy, but milder temperatures, are filling the fields with that amazing chartreuse of Taue/Newly-Germinated Rice Seedlings. Rains

also turned our dirt-roads to MUD and played a thunderous

“tattoo” on the corrugated metal roofing of their buildings …

Paraguay Visit! Philippine Mission!

December 3-12: I took an unexpected second 2016 Mission to Mindanao. Read more developments w/Manobo Tribes.

Pakistani Class! January 8: I began my 2nd Semester of Teaching OT Classes at Lahore College of Theology, in Punjab; Now- The Kethuvim!

Bak-Bak Breakfast Probably not too many of you were eating a bowl of fresh frogs for your Breakfast on December 6th … Swedish fans of Santa Lucia weren’t either. But that’s what we were enjoying that morning in Iglugsad! Charlie caught them [he’s a Master Hunter], then gutted/cooked by Genna + Edward. Do you know the names of the people who killed and filleted your meats? Caleb took a snapshot of me with a frog hanging in my beard by its claws! I’d told my friends that my Mother & I used to “hop over” to a Buffet in Kansas where frog-legs were served. I also enjoyed a Churrascaria Feast for

5 of My Family down in South America.

Read about my three weeks on the Tropic of Capricorn. Photo with Paraguay’s Anglican Bishop Bartlett [plaid shirt] + Pastor Ron after the Evening Eucharist.

DR. DAVID UPP’S MISSION LINK DEC. 2016—JAN. 2017

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The Rest of the Old Testament Books, following my Torah & Prophets Classes

Mission Work in my official appointment, by Bishop

Ruben Saenz of the UM Great Plains Conference, is

continuing to extend. I teach three classes a week for

2nd + 3rd

Year M.Divinity students in Lahore, Punjab.

This Teaching Post came from my meeting with Bishop Azad in Dubai [UAE] last July. It is being

held over the Internet, since I have not yet obtained a

Teacher’s Visa to be physically present in Pakistan,

but that is the next step. Please, pray about that visa!

Happy Chanukah! Dec. 31 in Paraguay! For the first time in my life, I was invited to a Hanukkah Party!

A Rabbi and other members of Asunción’s Jewish Community

gathered for an afternoon of Sharing, swimming, and soccer! We

sang the Ladino song “Ocho Candelicas” & observed the Lighting

of the Lights [as Jesus did -John 10:22], heard the Dedication to God {Blessed art Thou…!}. We spun dreydls, we enjoyed latkes and sufganiyoth, and SUMMER Fellowship all at 94º F./34º C.!

LapuLapu Slew Magellan at Mactan Island/Cebu

I’ve often traveled to the huge Philippine Islands of Luzon and Mindanao, but in December I made my first trip into The Visayas Islands in-between. I discovered that what I learned in school about Magellan dying in the Celebes was wrong, that he actually died on Mactan Island near Cebu.

He also shared the Gospel & many Filipinos were Baptized.

Vapor Cué – The World’s Largest Riverine Naval Battle

One surprising site I visited in Paraguay was Vapor Cué, (this name means ‘Former Steamship’ in Guaraní). During the disastrous War of the Triple Alliance (when Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay attacked the more advanced nation of Paraguay: 1864-70) the engagement was fought on the River Yhaguy, near Caraguatay, now a National Park with a permanent Navy Detachment. In that war “90% of Male Paraguayans died.” Worst was “The BattleofAcostaÑu,foughtduringtheTripleAllianceWarin1869.Havingrunoutofmentofight,familiesdressedtheirchildreninfakebeards and gave them sticks painted asweapons. Easily defeated,more than2,000Paraguayanchildrendiedinthebattle.”Only2childrenwerespared.

DR. DAVID UPP’S MISSION LINK DEC. 2016—JAN. 2017

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Amazing Jesuit Missions from Paraguay’s Past avoid the evil encomienda system which made

slaves of native tribes, and instead to allow the Natives to find new Life in Christ & allow them

to adapt to a totally changed political context. It

worked. These “reductions” are the reason that

90% of Paraguayans speak Guaraní today. The Jesuits were “suppressed” globally for allegedly “compromising too much” with non-European cultures (though it had more to do with jealousy

from Franciscans & Dominicans)… but their missionary ideals were close to “best practices” as those are recognized in today’s Missiology. Tavarangue is Guaraní for ‘That-Might-Have-

Been’. HOW much richer Latin America’s past would have been, & its Christianity, if this

Approach to Missions had been followed all throughout Evangelization of the New World?!

David Upp’s Trivia Questions Jan. TQ: What nation has 2 different seals on the 2 sides of its Flag?

December Trivia Q. :Where-in-the-World did the USA's Founding Fathers get the WEIRD idea of an Electoral College for choosing our Presidents?

Dec. Answer : There are only three models for "Multi-State States" now or back in the 18th Century: a) Empires where some king-of-kings had militarily crushed the other kingdoms & did whatever he wanted to do, or b) a loose Confederation which never endures [we tried this 1776-88], or c) The Holy Roman Empire , where civil and ecclesiastical "Electors" around Europe chose emperors peacefully! That system had been developed over the course of a thousand years, so they adapted it for our young Democracy. Why should we keep the Electoral College? So that: Every state counts! Far from Unique, we share such Electoral Systems today with many lands: Germany, Burundi, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Myanmar, Pakistan, Trinidad-and-Tobago, France, Macau, Hong Kong, Ireland, and Vanuatu! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_college /… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince-elector

IF you’ve watched the movie “The Mission”

then you have already been introduced to the world class Missions founded by the Jesuits & Franciscans in Paraguay. Who can forget the penitent conquistador climbing up Iguazu Falls? Who can forget the pure voices of the Guaraní Children’s Choir filling the forest with praises to God? I finally got to visit those old Missions.

Imagine stepping back into the imperialist,

racist 17th & 18th Centuries, only to find relative

respect & freedom for Native South Americans! At Sanctissima Trinidad Mission, 2~3 White

Jesuit Priests excluded all other foreigners in a City of Thousands of Natives. Priests, but also traditional Caciques [chiefs] were buried under the aisle of the Church. Guaraní, not Spanish, was the language of that city. Its business was to

DR. DAVID UPP’S MISSION LINK DEC. 2016—JAN. 2017

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2016 probably set what will Remain as the “High Water Marks” of all my Global Missionary Life!

Arabia! Aug.-Sept.: Mission Itineration + South-Central Jurisdiction Mission Academy in Arkansas. Sept.-Nov. Teaching 6 hours/week in Old Testament [Torah for 1st Year and Nevi’im for 2nd Year M.Div. Students of the 800,000-member Church of Pakistan] for my new appointment: as a Faculty Member of the Lahore College of Theology in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Nov. Teaching on Methodist Doctrine & Preaching in Jérémie, Haïti [hit hard by Hurricane Matthew] for MCCA / Caribbean Methodists’ Lay Preachers Academy. [+ Dec.: Back to Mindanao, Philippines, for more Tribal direct-Evangelism]

Another Highlight was hosting D.S. Daniel Chitsiku of Mutare, Zimbabwe—who had hosted me there in August 2015. I am still listed as a Professor of Methodist Leonard Theological College in Jabalpur, although I can't get a Visa from India’s Militant Hindu Regime. Until I can obtain a “Teacher’s Visa” for Pakistan, I’ll continue to teach my courses via a secure audio-visual Internet link (First Time I’ve taught remotely); I have fifty-five students, including a dozen women, from all over Pakistan. >My Charge Conference Report

Why do I share this Recap with you? 1) To express how I have faithfully been obeying Jesus’ Great Commission & have been Making Disciples of All Nations

2) To Encourage the United Methodist Church & other Readers’ Denominations to again make this their FIRST Priority

3) To stress how God has given us access & ability to Share the Gospel of Christ to ALL the world, IF we’ll only Obey Jesus!!

"Delight yourself in the Lord & He will give you the desires of your heart!"

2016 Log: 20 States & 16 Nations, All inhabited Continents, 91 Islands; 20 Inter-Island Cruises, 52 Flights in 52 Weeks; Preaching/Sharing/ Worship at 68 Congregations, 233 Students in My Classes [in Haiti & Pakistan]. The 7 underlined items are now Lifetime-Records for My Ministry! In addition, I just Crossed the Equator for my 60th Time, on Epiphany. My jet-journeys totaled three-and-a-half times around the World: 138,000 km or 85,750 miles. Let me express this another way, with my emphasis on Missions, not externals:

2016 has been a Fabulous Year for me as a UMC Conference Missionary!

Jan.: Fellowshipped/trained with dozens of new Missionary Appointees in Florida. Feb.-March: Served on a Relief-Ship taking 12 tons of supplies to remote islands of Fiji devastated by Typhoon Winston [325 mph winds: “the strongest storm to ever strike land”] and Preaching in Indo–Fijian Methodist congregations. Mar.-April: Evangelism with Manobo Tribes of Mindanao, Philippines: Highlight was two days interviewing the Supreme Datu of the Tinananon Tribe in North Cotabato Province [Salimba’a Miracle Gateway] & their NT Translators. May in North Carolina writing their Ethnography. June: Summer Institute on Islam in Boston, July: Preaching & Teaching in Egypt &

DR. DAVID UPP’S MISSION LINK DEC. 2016—JAN. 2017

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More Photos from Mindanao Ansulao/Noel Translates a Sermon When our Team arrived at a Church in Arakan, North Cotabato for the night, we didn’t know that the Pastor would invite the congregation to a worship service. I was invited to preach & my friend & colleague interpreted (I have attended both Ansulao’s Graduation & Wedding). The Pastor’s daughter graduated from [Methodist] Bishop Han Theological College in Malaybalay, Bukidnon—with her 2016 Master of Divinity degree!

New Tinananon Leader [yellow shirt] Our Manobo Mission Team got to meet in Arakan at the Tinananon Tribal Center with the eldest son of Supreme Datu Veloso (who died of a stroke 9/27/16). The New Testament translators are beside Caleb Byerly & we had good meetings with them as they prepare an Alphabet for this Language. The Leader invited us back into their Tribe’s Panuvaram/House-of-Prayer where the Salimbaa reminds them we all serve the Same God.

Funeral Banner Shows Faith in Jesus “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” is the text on the banner of the late Supreme Datu. He shared that he had read the Bible and committed his Life to Jesus Christ. When he received the Salimbaa & meditated on its significance, he realized the best path forward for the Tinananon Tribe needs God’s Guidance. The traditional Tinananon God of the Salimbaa has now been indisputably confirmed as The God of the Bible!

An Invitation for me…Post-Pakistan! Here’s the organizational chart of Staff and Faculty of BHTS. On January 3rd, I received an e-mail from Dean Arnaldo Estrella inviting me to teach Homiletics at this Methodist Graduate School [M.Div. & M.Min. degrees]. This was after I met with Rev. Lee Inhong on Dec. 9th. Retired UM Bishop Leo Soriano, MD, teaches there. I want to accept, after I finish teaching in Pakistan; but they need to upgrade so I’m can connect with the www while living on that campus set into Central Mindanao!!