Hunter Uplinger

Hunter grew up in Warren, PA and has been coming to Miracle Mountain Ranch since she was ten years old. She came as a first-year student in our School of Discipleship program and graduated in August of 2021. After graduating, Hunter went back home where she had the opportunity to manage and run her own lesson and training barn. In her year away from Miracle Mountain Ranch, she has been a volunteer in our barn and has assisted in the student’s horsemanship lessons. Hunter joined our resident staff in August of 2022, and her responsibilities will be to assist in the equine department and to instruct and facilitate the student’s horsemanship lessons.

Hunter Uplinger’s Newsletter

December 2024

Hello friends and family!

This newsletter is long overdue, but I am excited to share what God has been doing in my life this past year!

This year has been a whirlwind with retreats, summer camps, and our School of Discipleship students graduating. However, God has shown Himself to be so good to me by providing me with times of rest during the busyness of life.

This summer, I had the wonderful opportunity to supervise the Barn In-Training Program again! In the BIT Program, I was blessed that eight teenage girls wanted to come be discipled and to receive horsemanship lessons. Our focus this summer for the BIT Program was on the I AM statements that are found in the gospel of John. Each week, we would dive into God’s Word and study what it means when Christ says, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14), and “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). These are just to name a few, but it was such an encouragement in my own life getting to soak in God’s Word everyday with these girls.

In addition to receiving riding lessons and being discipled through Bible studies, the girls in my BIT Program really stepped up this summer and blessed the barn in so many meaningful ways. I watched these young women – who are ages 15-17 – step out of their comfort zones and serve the ranchers, and some of these ranchers were the same age as my BIT girls! Every summer, I am blown away by the maturity and humility of some of these young women. I praise God for the work He has done and is doing in each of my BIT girls.

I was also blessed with the amazing opportunity to go on a mission’s trip to Fairbanks, Alaska at the end of the summer. My church sent several members to serve at Camp Li-Wa for a week, which, oddly enough, is very similar to Miracle Mountain Ranch! Several people asked me why I left one camp ministry to go serve at another camp ministry, and honestly, God used my time in Alaska more as a retreat than a mission’s trip. While we were there, we did several projects, such as sanding and staining picnic tables, and scraping paint out of old buildings to prep for new paint. I was also blessed to get to work in their barn for a few days while I was there! I was blessed to get to step away for a short time and to serve God’s people in a different way, which provided me with lots of time to be refreshed in God’s Word and to be present in His creation.

The end of summer always brings mixed emotions with it because we say goodbye to our students from the School of Discipleship, but we also send them off with excitement to serve in God’s kingdom. Graduation itself is an interesting time here at Miracle Mountain Ranch. While we grieve the end of a season with some of our students, we praise the Lord that He has equipped these students to “‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation’” (Mark 16:15, ESV, The Holy Bible). I feel so blessed to get to watch these students grow into godly men and women, and to see God work in their lives firsthand.

With fall also beginning here at Miracle Mountain Ranch, we find ourselves welcoming 26 new students to our School of Discipleship Program. We are looking forward to the relationships that are just now beginning here at Miracle Mountain Ranch!

Prayer Requests:

• Pray that the students we have just graduated would find a gospel believing church to serve in;
• Pray that our new students would become more and more comfortable with their new life here at MMR;
• Pray that God would supply for me financially to pay off my student loans;
• Pray that God would continue to supply the necessary funds for me to continue to work here.

Please prayerfully consider supporting my ministry here financially. In doing so, you partner alongside me in the work God is doing here. I am currently just below 75% of my ideal support level of $1,000 a month.

You can donate by addressing a check to Miracle Mountain Ranch Missions with a separate note specifying “Support for Hunter Uplinger”. All gifts are tax deductible, and 100% of your support goes to directly supporting me, and can be sent to:

101 Rodeo Drive
Spring Creek, PA 16436

Gifts can also be made online through the Ranch’s website by using the link below.