“EXCELLENT AND PRAISEWORTHY”
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4-9 is certainly a great passage on prayer and Christian living in Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church! In looking for a passage to start off our May prayer & update letter, the words excellent and praiseworthy seemed most applicable, because in the end, they apply first and foremost to our One, True God who makes all things possible, with his perfect timing to boot. They also apply to your regular prayers for Chile Mission and for us!! We in turn send the Lord our prayers for each of you. Thank you!
Another excellent and praiseworthy opportunity coming our way in June and July is the impending visit of Abraham’s family’s trip to the U.S. this summer. They are due to arrive in Los Angeles on June 2nd and leave from there on August 1st. As we mentioned in our April prayer & update letter, they will be traveling with us to Christian camps in California and other states—especially those camps with similar physical characteristics as our land in Chile being developed and camps that have built lakes. This kind of extra time taken represents our and their desire to continue with excellence in our approach to this significant step to reach and enrich Chilean lives with the gospel. Abraham, Catalina, & Abril have their passports in hand with one month to go and we will have more trip details to share in next month’s prayer letter.
We are now in the process of setting up visits and very much appreciate your prayers for those contacts. As always, God is the Master Door Opener! We also ask you to be in prayer for the right person that will live in their house and take care of needed details on the Chile land in their absence. It looks possible that Abdías, son of Julián and Carolina, who live and work on the Chile Mission site in Santiago, may be able to do so. He has been helping Abraham with the addition of an extra bedroom and bathroom to their house on the camp land. We know that God will provide for the need.
In Santiago….
Carolina is one more month into her duties as our new main coordinator of Chile Mission’s ministry to parents coming to stay at our mission site for periods of time ranging from a couple of days to a couple of months. Julián, Carolina, and son Esteban are adapting well and Esteban really likes his new military school in Santiago. In addition, Joherlit (who formerly handled the details of the job that Carolina now holds) continues to help her with details of the job and with hospital contacts.
A variety of parents have come to stay on the mission site and Esperanza, the infant mentioned again in last month’s prayer & update letter, has been transferred to a hospital in the town where Esperanza’s parents live. Her infection was treated and doctors are continuing to look at her heart problems. Thank you for continuing to pray for her and her family!
In the U.S. ….
Many of you have been praying for Jack’s low white blood cell count. Initially diagnosed early in 2015 as CMML, a rare type of leukemia, a recent bone marrow biopsy now shows that neither leukemia or other form of cancer are the cause of his on-going condition. Instead, the oncologist believes that an auto-immune problem is responsible. To investigate further, Jack has an appointment with a doctor specializing in such conditions. His main symptom is chronic fatigue, but he moves forward and deals with that! Thanks for your prayers and thank you, Lord, for taking us forward!
Stateside we are concentrating on short-term mission trips of supporting churches and individuals in helping in specific ways with the development of the camp property. Such trips are definitely both excellent and praiseworthy!!
Praising, praying, fasting, to our ONE, TRUE, EXCELLENT AND PRAISEWORTHY GOD!!
Chile Mission 
Jack, you are a true blessing in the kingdom of God here on earth. He is giving you the strength to continue to serve even as you are sufferig with a low blood count. I praise God for you and for Janine who is a loving and supporting wife. The work at the camp in Chile sounds like it is progressing at a steady spead with the help of a committed team of workers. What a great God we have as He keeps his hand on everything we do to further His kingdom in spite of the mess our world is in. May God continue to bless you both. Twyla