“Going, Sending, & Open Doors—the ANTIOCH Example”

² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.  –Acts 13:2-3

²⁶ From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. ²⁷ On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how HE had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.  –Acts 14:26-28

Paul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas was incredible and we invite you to read in Acts 13 & 14 about all that God brought them through and did through them, including the toughest circumstances and the biggest triumphs.  As the above verses show, isn’t it amazing what God accomplishes through his Churches in the world that pray, fast, send, and go?!  Nothing beats an entire Church involved from beginning to end, with GOD in the middle!

We and CHILE MISSION so appreciate your prayers and your sending us off to complete God’s work marked out by His Holy Spirit.  We also very much appreciate your coming to Chile to help!  A team of eleven from First Christian Church of Wilmington, IL, were with us in April, and then two good friends, Donn & Rick (from our home Church when our family left for language school in Aug. 1992), came to install electric service to the platform structure that is being finished being built.  Donn is also our CHILE MISSION teammate in the U.S.  Nine volunteers from Dover First Christian Church in Ohio got us off to a great start when they came in January.

These photos help tell the story….  The first one shows the Wilmington Church team at the small “one-room school” not far from our camp property.  It has one main professor and 10 students, first through sixth grade.  We and Wilmington visited them on their English-teaching day of the week.  We introduced ourselves, taught them games, shared, and even made S’mores over a fire—all in English. 🙂  What fun we had–with an open door to visit again in the future!  We also planted a seed toward their helping look for another couple/individual to live on the camp property and help in its development, which would be a real answer to prayer. They finished laying the floor for the outside deck, in addition to many other chores, including delicious food from the garden and pumpkin pie from scratch!!

For their part, Donn & Rick were able to run pvc electrical tubes and connect all wires to have electric lights and sockets where needed on the platform, now taking final shape—all in just three days!  Their parting photo with Abraham & family at the bus terminal is fantastic!  Abraham is now finishing the roof, just in time before the winter season rains begin in the area.  Regarding the construction of the two-story metal maintenance/storage/workshop building, Luís (with whom Abraham & Jack talked with in March) would like to visit our property to see the projected building’s exact location and soil composition, etc.  before completing his design and bid.

Raquel, Abraham’s and Catalina’s special nearby friend, did pass away from cancer in April, and we attended her wake in their home and service at the cemetery.  She and Pedro have many relatives, including other Chileans living in the area that have known them for years, and the number of neighbors and friends attending the ceremonies was well above 100 people.  The best part, though, was that Raquel was a Christian and some local church choirs and the message delivered by her pastor were listened to by all!  Chileans living in rural areas of the country do not show outward emotion, but God’s Spirit was clearly moving and working.  We pray for Pedro, Raquel’s husband, as he embarks on his life without her help and presence.

Meanwhile, as we were preparing to travel back to the States after Donn’s & Rick’s departure, Esteban, youngest son of Julián & Carolina in Santiago, suddenly become sick with a very painful urinary tract infection and was hospitalized for over a week.  His infection has been treated and his kidneys appear to be functioning without damage, and we are all thankful for God’s healing touch.  The prognosis is for complete healing as we and others continue to pray for him and give God thanks.  Julián took several days off of work and the private clinic was very expensive for them.  He was obligated to sign papers promising to pay the daily hospital room bill in excess of $500—on top of the charges for doctors, medical tests, and medicine.  Considering his low salary, they are waiting to see what payment arrangements can be made.

Our time in the States is off to an amazing start.  So far in Florida we’ve been able to visit and stay with several special long-time friends and we also attended a new church, which we pray will lead to their sending a short-term mission team to Chile next year.  Our contact with them, along with our visit to the “one room school” near the camp property in Chile are both examples of how GOD HIMSELF has always has been and always will be THE DOOR OPENER, just as He was with Paul & Barnabas!

Janine, in the meantime, finally was seen for her fractured fifth metatarsal bone in her left foot—it happened 10 weeks ago.  She has not been in pain, but the foot has been swollen.  She now sports a supportive sandal, along with a beautiful right foot counterpart. 🙂  We’re glad that’s she’s now “on the mend”!

We now just arrived in Houston, TX at the house of Julian & Devyn to meet our newest grandchild, Joah, born on March 22^nd.  What a super blessing, and Lyon is already showing to be a good big brother.

Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks to our “Holy Spirit-Powered, Door-Opening” One, True God,

Jack & Janine

“JOY WITH PURPOSE: Reconciled & Renewed Life”

Either way, Christ’s love controls us.  Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.  Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.  –2 Cor. 5:14-15 NLT    In verses 16 through 21 Paul goes on to identify us all as “new creations and as Christ’s ambassadors.

The above verses taken from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a perfect way to enter April and commemorate and give REAL thanks for Jesus’ once-for-all time sacrifice of himself for all who believe in him to restore our relationship with God!  He then conquered eternal death for us all with his resurrection back to life three days later.  What an incredible achievement on both counts, and also what an incredible reason to give our lives back to him that he would reach and change others through us.  Paul’s words thus resonate with our chief calling and purpose in this world.

In our case, God was already preparing us to be missionaries before we knew Jesus as Lord through a variety of experiences, people, and friendships and, thus, we give him thanks for these past 31 years of extending Jesus in Chile together with our Misión Chile Team.  All of you who support Chile Mission in the States with your prayers and contributions and mission trips are Chile Teammates as well, and we are SUPER GRATEFUL!!  Sharing our relationship with Jesus in the best way possible will always be the bottom-line calling of Misión Chile!!

—Speaking of mission trips, the 11-member team of First Christian Church of Wilmington have arrived!  They’ll be here eight days, dividing their time between Santiago and the camp property in middle Chile.  Their team t-shirts really “hit the nail on the head” for ALL CHURCHES, don’t you think?!  On Sunday, their first full day here when they sang “Lord we lift your name on High” in the Chilean church we attended.  They also didn’t waste any time helping on the camp property when we arrived.  Thank you for praying for them and their trip!!

—Thank you for praying with us for some time for the best type of additional help to get projected buildings constructed on the camp property.  We and Abraham are convinced that we will need outside competent help to be contracted to build our first building, a 2-story metal maintenance/storage/workshop structure with an apartment on the second floor.  Unfortunately, none of us have any experience in building metal buildings.  SOOOO–Abraham has been making contacts these past several months to find such a company without result.  In Chile it is not nearly as possible as in the United States to find reasonably-priced, proven and competent construction companies.  Two weeks ago Abraham contacted an acquaintance working in the electric company who, in turn, gave him a good reference on a construction company that had built several metal buildings for them.

Abraham and Jack met with that construction company owner two weeks ago at one of the structures that his company had built and he now has the plans for our planned 2-story metal building and will be getting back to us with a projected total cost in these next couple weeks after his engineer/architect looks at them.  His company’s specialty is the construction of metal buildings and structures.  Please join us in praying for this significant step forward!!   And at a price we can afford!!

—Abraham’s neighbor Raquel is back in the hospital in her battle against liver cancer, and it appears that she is not eating and declining quickly.  We continue to pray for both her and her family in this tough time and we are grateful that they are a close family.  Abraham and Catalina are also close to the family and have shared Jesus and have prayed with them several times.  The whole family has recently been regularly attending the church that Abraham and Catalina attend.

In Santiago

—Teresa, the wife of Carlos, one of our long-time maintenance workers at our Santiago site, has recovered from her surgery to remove her gall bladder.  TYL!! and thank you for praying for her!  She does continue to have doctor appointments for certain heart irregularities.

—Our Santiago site is currently hosting Marta and her daughter for a couple weeks.  She came to Santiago for surgery to remove a tumor from her pituitary gland (Cushing’s syndrome) and is now staying at our ministry site with her daughter waiting to be released to return home.  Her situation is very similar to that of Catalina’s mother Julia, who also had successful surgery several months ago.  Both women were diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome.  Julia has almost fully recovered from the effects of the syndrome.  Like with Julia, we appreciate your prayers for Marta.

–Last month we were able to send you a photo of Nallely and her brother Jorshua, taken when Jorshua came with her to visit Janine here at our Santiago site.  Please reread our March letter to reconnect with their visit.

One week ago, Juan, another of our past children came to visit.  We called him Juanito, because he had just turned 7years old when Janine and Fabiola (a psychologist we hired to work full time with the children who came to live here) went to find Juan—the half-brother of Alberto, who already was living in our children’s residence.  How cool that the brothers could live together!  We are planning on having a get-together with several of the children this month.

Juan is now 20-years-old, is stable as a young person and has a good job working for an office supply company.  When he saves enough money he would like to pursue studies in a university, and he’s even a ping pong champion. J  Unfortunately, as with many of the other children, he has no good adult counsel.  His mother has mental problems and his dad is an alcoholic.  Our hearts break for all of the children with no good guidance for helping them with their futures.  In addition, Juan’s and Alberto’s extended family is not healthy for them.  We plan on helping him further in different ways and Fabiola wants to work with him “virtually” using the internet.  During his visit Janine was able to fill in a lot of his background and time with us in answering many questions he had.  As you can see from the photo, he’s as cute as a button, and we, along with Fabiola, hope to again be a good influence in his life.  Thank you for joining us in praying for him!

We wish you an extra-special JESUS Easter!!   Hard to believe we are already in April!!

Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks to our “Reconciled, Renewed Life” One, True God,

Jack & Janine