Bill and Diana Upchurch end missionary service

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Bill and Diana Upchurch have collected so many stories throughout the years.
After almost 16 years serving as United Methodist missionaries in Africa and South America, they say retirement is bittersweet. But the memories will last another lifetime.
The husband and wife, who entered missionary service from the Southwest Texas Conference, were officially decommissioned by the General Board of Global Ministries Tuesday in Stamford, Conn.
Diana said she would always remember the hundreds of women and children she taught about health care, nutrition, family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Bill said he would always remember the way a sawmill and workshop for apprentice carpenters he established helped revitalized a community.
Then there’s Akeem. His story is heartbreaking but will always be threaded through theirs, the Upchurches say.
Akeem was a young boy, abandoned by his family to the streets of Guyana because he carried HIV. A man found Akeem dying on the streets and brought him to the Georgetown Hospital in Guyana.
The hospital refused to admit the boy.
So the man took Akeem to the local newspaper, where the boy’s story was printed on the front page. Only after that bad publicity would the hospital admit the boy.
Diana was able to spend time with Akeem the final seven months of his life three years ago. His funeral, she said, was very, very big.
Akeem’s story stirred something deep within her. She said she felt an urgent need to get involved with the AIDS scene and educate residents and medical staff members about the disease.
In the final year or so of her missionary work, Diana focused on helping raise funds for the Ruimveldt Children’s Home and Care Center. That’s a place for HIV-positive children who have been abandoned by family and community and end up alone on the streets.
The home is slated to open Nov. 25, Diana said.
She said she planned to stay involved with the board that runs the home following her retirement from missionary service.
Bill and Diana, who have been married 20 years, began in mission work 16 years ago because they “felt it was time that we really devoted our life to serving God,” Diana said. When they left San Antonio for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they were the only missionaries for 110 miles.
People thought they were crazy, she added.
Steve Goldstein from the mission board personnel office said the Upchurches served in the Congo for more than 10 years and did good work there.
Bill and Diana, still members of First UMC, Austin, have moved to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to be nearer to their newest grandbaby, Sarah.
They are also nearer to South America and can keep an eye on the Ruimveldt Children’s Home and Care Center and have a hand in its development, Diana said.
She will do it for Akeem.