“WON’T YOU BE MINE??”

February brings with it a focus on love and relationship—both of which that God himself first brought to us all and has demonstrated in the hugest way possible…. on a cross.  Which of the above valentines would you choose in your heart to follow?  Many of you remember Millarai, who died from bone cancer here in Chile at the age of fifteen, but not before she was baptized and had reproduced our son Julian’s tattoo on her own arm in the hospital with a permanent marker.  

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  1 John 4:7-10

How can we Christians not fully serve him who sacrificed it all for us? 😊  We so appreciate your ongoing prayers for us and for Chile Mission!  Here below is our February update.

IN CHILE

Thanks again for your continuing prayers for the following:

• Jack spent a week with Abraham & family on our land in middle Chile.  First “steps” are going forward.  New inner roads have been completed by the excavator and we now have received from the electric company the price of roughly $11,500 U.S. for increasing our voltage with a larger transformer and for relocating the electric poles currently in place in the middle of the area that we will develop into a lake.  All in all, the cost is very worth it.  The construction of a roofed parking area is also underway and Abraham continues to clear more land of trees and thick brush.
• Jack & Abraham met with Rosa about re-surveying the borders of her property located at the entrance to ours.  Progress was made and she shared that the surveyor she had hired admitted to making some mistakes in his points of reference.  She will schedule him to come out again as soon as possible to correct those mistakes.  That is good!  The only hitch is that towns and cities in Chile continue to comply with changing covid-19 restrictions and his small town is now newly in full quarantine.  Ai yai yai!  😊
• Jack, Domingo & Sandra, Renata, & Paola were able to have a good meeting regarding the best Foundations structure for the future focus and approach to our combined works in rural Chile.  They already have the Luz en el Campo (Light in Rural Chile) board of directors formed, along with how they want to approach the work of their Foundation.  We had talked about one of us being on their board of directors and one of them being on ours in what we do in the country.  It was decided to keep the two Foundations separate and to not directly be a part of each other’s work.  This in the short and long run will be better for us all, and allow us to help each other when needed and also allow us to approach our works as each group sees fit.  We remain close friends and we all are at peace with our decision to not combine the directing of the two groups.
• Paola & Jack are making good progress toward an up & running Spanish web site for Chile Mission.
• Related to this effort, Paola has just now submitted the necessary paper work to the government to change the name of our Foundation Residencia Familia Cristiana (Christian Family Residence) to Misión Chile (Chile Mission).  The name change reflects our intention to add further Christian works to the current works of which we are a part.  The change also includes making changes to our board of directors to better enable the Foundation’s effectiveness and impact to grow.  We are excited by the name change and are praying that it is approved.
• APEM, the Christian pregnancy center that operates in our Santiago mission property, has the opportunity to present a project to the Presbyterian church one block away to use their next door building as a house where pregnant women can stay, if necessary.  This would be a great addition to the center’s ability to help such women in need.  This is the same building that used to house the children’s home that Janine directed in 2000-2002.  The main denominational board of the Presbyterian churches is now the owner of the property.   Please pray with us that this opportunity is approved by them.
• Jack will spend another week on the camp property beginning February 1.

Here are some photos of God at work at the camp land:

IN THE U.S.

We are grateful that Janine was able to locate and purchase a house two hours outside of Los Angeles.  This will still leave us relatively close to Jonathan’s & Jordan’s families.  The prices of homes farther away from Los Angeles are also quite a bit lower!  The purchase means that we will be able to complete the sale of our Indiana house and have a place to ship furniture, etc.  Thus, Jack will return to the U.S. in March to help with the whole “moving project”, and the goal will be to return to Chile in May.

Praising, praying, and fasting with you in the Eternal love of God,

 Jack & Janine

“WE are new…. from now to eternity”

New Year’s resolutions can be good, giving us a fresh and new, or renewed commitment to change habits and achieve goals.  On the other hand, I (Jack)  had some very unfulfilled results doing the above at different times in my life.😊😊  Most of us can say the same.

Are we perhaps missing out on the TRUE new beginning that God has already given us to live?  It was Jesus’ sacrifice of his life to pay the penalty for every one of our and others’ sins that already makes our lives completely new and we now have the opportunity to serve that same Jesus and share God’s precious gift of forgiveness with all others, because it is WE who have been made new.  It is our motivation that makes the difference and it begins with gratitude, not sheer will power!  We truly are Christ’s ambassadors  in this world, as without him there is no hope or salvation—only separation from God and the penalty of death for sin.

With and without resolutions, let’s all be his ambassadors in 2021… out of gratitude, of course.  Thank you so much for your on-going prayers that help us in CHILE MISSON do exactly that!!  Jesus promised that piercing the darkness comes with obstacles and persecution, but the results are totally worth it.   

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  2 Cor. 5:14-19, living the newness of our Christianity! A page in Jack’s prayer journal:

January 4^th Jack returns to Chile for roughly two months, amid quarantines and covid restrictions.  Please pray for the following:

• His good health during the trip.
• We’ve been asking for prayer in recent Prayer Letters regarding our on-going conflict with Rosa over the boundaries of her 2 ½ acre of land at the entrance to our own property.  She is still unwilling to accept the correctly done survey to identify the boundary of the line that divides our property from hers.  Jack & Domingo will again meet with her to agree to divide the cost of a new survey that we and she will accept as accurate.
• Jack will spend time with Abraham to outline 2021 goals for further development of the land, including the improvement of the public road that always floods during the rainy winter season.  We hope to obtain municipal cooperation and financial help in diverting the flow of water off of the road.
• Jack will meet with Domingo & Sandra regarding the camp’s vision and our approach to its structure that includes its all-important underlying Christian tenets, sources of financial support, and make-up and role of the board of directors.  Complete unity on the above issues is fundamental in our partnership as we go forward together with the camp.  Your prayers for this issue are very much appreciated!
• Jack and Paola will work together on setting up a Spanish version of the Chile Mission website, as well as reassess the priorities of her work with us.

In the meantime please continue praying for Janine as she prepares our Indiana house for sale.  The young family renting the first floor of our house hope to be able to move to their new location by the end of January.  Janine is also hunting via the internet for a house for us to buy in California, so that in future years we will be able to live near two of our children in Los Angeles. 

Praising, praying, and fasting with you in Christ, The Source of our Newness and message of reconciliation,

Jack & Janine