“JESUS—OUR SOURCE OF NEWNESS!!”
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given US this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” –2 Cor. 5:17-19
In the middle of New Year’s Resolutions made by many, there can be no commitment or goal greater than our re-connection to our ongoing growth as NEW PERSONS IN CHRIST and in our roles as his “Whole-World Ambassadors”. It’s a newness without equal, no matter our location, language, age, or situation. As we enter 2026 may we all be able to look back to see all three persons of God continually at work in our lives, and his eternal love for us knows no equal.
Thank you so much for your on-going prayers for us and for CHILE MISSION as we in turn pray for and give thanks for each of you. Together may we ALL connect with and spread God’s love and newness in us to others, that they might experience them, too. They are eternal! A SUPER HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!
We have much to celebrate, give thanks for, and pray for as we enter 2026:
Firstly, we celebrate our container’s release from the port in Chile and we even have a photo of its leaving! Thank you for your ongoing prayers through the whole process of buying & filling the container beginning in July for two months and shipping it to Chile and now in having it finally released to us after its arrival in Chile on November 3rd–7 full weeks of completing different requirements set by three separate Chilean authorities.
The total costs paid to each of those authorities:
- The final fees to be charged us to cover the unloading of the container from the ship, general port fees, and the total number of days that the container sat in port came to roughly $12,500. The port, however, reduced the amount (much to do with how long it took for SAG, Chile’s agricultural authority, to finish with fumigation and burning of the wood we sent inside the container) to a total of $1,100 for general port fees and $750 for daily storage, which we paid. TYL!!
- We paid $1,100 to SAG for their inspection, fumigation, and burning of wood that they would not allow to enter the country. They found one stink bug and decided the whole container needed to be fumigated.
- The truck transport from the port to our property, including a separate truck with a crane, comes to $1,250.
- Another praise is that we received word that we were approved as a not-for-profit Foundation in Chile receiving a 100% donation from another not-for-profit entity from outside of Chile (our Chile Mission corporation in the U.S.). We thus are officially exempt from paying the 19% value tax normally charged to incoming shipments—a savings of approximately $5,000. Another TYL!!
Abraham returns this first weekend of January to the camp property from Santiago where they spent Christmas and New Years with their families, and the truck is due to deliver the container the first full week of January. It was kept at the trucking company’s compound at no additional cost in the meantime. We are very grateful and the container’s skid steer, log splitter, and other tools are well-needed and appreciated!
Secondly, we are giving God great thanks for the generosity of several in response to our special recent request to help our Santiago CHILE MISSION teammates, Julián & Carolina, pay a large medical bill. Carolina coordinates and manages CHILE MISSION’s Refuge House “Dulce Refugio” carried out on our Santiago Mission site. Julián works full-time for a window fabricating business and brings home a monthly take-home pay of roughly $700 to $800. It’s important to note that Chile’s large middle class earns considerably less than the U.S. typical middle class, and his pay is typical. As such, they pay into the country’s basic national health insurance coverage, which enables them to receive free medical care at any public hospital.
Their 17-year-old son, Esteban, earlier this year went to the public hospital nearest their house with severe abdominal pain. They simply gave him some medication and sent him home, but the pain persisted and they had no choice but to take him to a private hospital, where he spent a week in treatment. It was good they went, as Esteban’s kidneys were in danger of totally shutting down, but amidst the prayers of many and good medical attention he fully recovered in the ensuing weeks. The total bill came to roughly $5,000, which during the last months of this past year Julián & Carolina have been trying without success to get reduced due to the misdiagnosis they received from the public hospital. The bill is now due, payable in full.
Both we personally and CHILE MISSION are helping with the bill and we in addition sent out a request to many of you to help, if so led to do so. The huge good news is that the bill is now almost fully covered and we will be able to convey that news to their family when we return to Chile on January 12th! What a big blessing and they have no idea that this God-sent help will arrive with us. Again, we thank you for your help and for both your prayer and financial partnership!
Thirdly, we give you special thanks for praying for those staying at our Santiago Refuge House. We continue to include their photos from time to time, but all are in need of prayer. We were sad to learn this past month of the passing of Edison, who came to Santiago with cancer in July to receive a bone marrow transplant. He was sent home in August with no hope of recovery. The GOOD NEWS is that he attended church services with Julián & Catalina during his stay at our site and was prayed with and for by several. Thank you again for your prayers for this important ministry!
Fourthly, we likewise are giving thanks for a very good year on CHILE MISSION’s camp property in middle, urban Chile six hours south of Santiago!
- Two separate churches sent teams to help in the continuing development of the land and camp, along with three separate Mennonite small teams and two other individuals coming on their own.
- The large platform structure behind Abraham’s & Catalina’s house was fully finished, complete with a 10’ x 20’ enclosed room to house 4 bunkbeds.
- Abraham installed additional security cameras and other measures to better enclose and protect the camp property.
- Headway was made in the design of the first building to now be built in early 2026, along with progress in the clearing of land for tent camping. This coming first part of 2026 does look to be a time of significant progress in the construction and interior finishing & equipping of our 2-story maintenance/workshop/storage building, along with the final clearing of the property’s tent camping area, complete with back-to-back bathrooms.
- Leonel, a close neighbor, began helping Abraham by working 2 days a week. A very capable and hard worker very familiar with the type of work needed, we hope to now have his help more days a week or even full-time going forward.
OTHER MAIN 2026 GOALS
We return to Chile on January 12th through to April 17th to help accomplish 2026 goals, in addition to receiving two small groups from our supporting churches already to set arrive and help on the camp property. Thank you for your prayers for safe travel and for Chile Team accomplished headway regarding the following:
- Complete the 2025 financial summary needed to be able to open a CHILE MISSION checking account. It needs to include all money received and spent by both the Santiago and Camp Property ministries. Also needed will be a complete inventory for both Santiago and the Camp Property. While we already have the above information, both need to follow a certain format.
- Establish five main 2026 short and longer-term priorities of both ministries.
- Identify personal expenses and mission expenses for the purpose of establishing a format for the salaries of all CHILE MISSION paid staff.
- God’s provision of a second family to live on the camp property to be teammates with Abraham Catalina. This need continues to be a prayer focus and ideally this couple or family would come from urban Chile to better be able to adapt and become part of God’s plans for the camp. Abraham is always looking for potential teammates.
- As written above, two supporting churches are scheduled to come help on the camp property in these first months of 2026. TYL!! More visits of small groups and individuals from the States are needed, so PLEASE consider and commit to making a short trip to Chile during these first four months of 2026 to come and add your giftings to the work! One week or more is ideal and you might decide to include time for a side trip—the country is beautiful!! Our cell # is 949-919-2028 and our email is chilemisson1@gmail.com so please contact us to get started in planning. Just over $1,000 should cover all your costs including airfare for 8 days. BESIDES, IT’S SUMMER IN CHILE!! 🙂 We give God thanks for putting your special giftings to work!
And finally, it was a super blessing for our family to be together for Christmas and New Year’s, and as always we took a family photo of our group. We all wish you a very blessed 2026! From left to right are:
- Jonathan & Christina and children Bella & Joshua
- Julian holding Lyon, and Devyn holding baby Joah
- Janine & Jack
- Jayme and children Sofia, Matthias, & Havalah (wife Malia was not able to attend due to work)
- Jordan & Rob and children Ariana, Tiago, Eden, & Selah
Thank you again for your prayer and financial partnerships and may MORE AND MORE Chileans come to know and follow Jesus in ALL NEWNESS!!
Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks in and to our “JESUS-OUR SOURCE OF NEWNESS!!” ONE, TRUE GOD,
Jack & Janine
Note: All photos can be double-clicked to make them larger.
Chile Mission 