“Out of Overwhelming Thanksgiving Gratitude”

Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.  –1 Thes. 5:16-18  (NLT version)

November has for several hundred years been a month of Thanksgiving in the United States, commemorating the first harvest celebrated in Plymouth between roughly 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Native Americans in the year 1621.  The many months leading up to that 3-day celebration were marked by sickness and death of many Indians and Pilgrims alike, in which roughly half of the pilgrims lost their lives, in addition to surviving a very harsh winter.  ….and yet they had cause to celebrate life and harvest together, for they knew that God would lead them on.

The Bible also is totally“Thanksgiving” –based.  The above verses in 1 Thessalonians are clear in their admonition to all Christians, and in Psalms, Ephesians, Philippians, & Colossians we are further urged to thank God for his goodness and for answers to prayers, for salvation, & for living thankful lives.  Overwhelming thankfulness is the first place to start in addressing our Overwhelmingly Giving God, because without God’s sacrifice of his own Son Jesus, we and this world would know NO real hope of any kind!!  We, CHILE MISSION, thank you too for your prayer & financial partnership with us as we work to help extend the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus in Chile, that Chileans would also know and follow him!

OCTOBER GRATITUDES

—We first have the privilege to share a photo of Abraham, Catalina, Abril & Facundo with you.  He was born on October 5^th, a healthy boy.

—We and five other missions successfully finished sharing with 17 churches in Oklahoma, Texas, & Kansas.  Some of the churches had few members, and yet they ALL warmly received us and the other missions, encouraging us and learning about Jesus’ gospel message and work being carried out in the world.  It was a blessing to be a part of it!  Here below is a photo of us all taken at the home base of Hi-Plains School of Missions before beginning our three weeks of church visits, along with a photo of one of our presentations.  Once the trip is done, we will have added about 5,000 miles on our van!!  The combined offerings from the 17 churches will be split between all six missions.  Lastly, several people signed up to be new prayer partners of Chile Mission.  TYL!!

—Abraham has received word from the Mennonite Mission based out of Columbia that they will be sending a mixed team of three young men and two young women back to Chile early this new month of November to help him in the work of developing Chile Mission’s rural property.  Earlier this year two such teams of young women and men came separately to the property to help, and we’re grateful.

—A family has made a special donation to take care of the cost of repairing the transmission of Chile Mission’s pick-up truck.  In talking with Abraham, his mechanic has set aside the first full week of November to complete the repairs.  Please pray with us that all goes well.

—The Chilean church in Santiago that has come twice this year to help develop the camp also notified Abraham that they will soon be sending another group to help for a week.  What a blessing!

—More individuals and parents have been received and attended to in Santiago at Chile Mission’s houses.

NOVEMBER PRAYER NEEDS

—Abraham let us know that the house of his good neighbor Luis was again robbed.  Thankfully Luis was not home, but increased vigilance is needed.  Please continue to pray with us for God’s protection of all persons and properties in the immediate area.

—Please also continue to pray with us that Carolina will make more headway in her contacts with and visits to hospitals and churches in the Santiago area to increase more awareness of the service the mission provides through our Casa de Acogida in sheltering and otherwise supporting parents of sick children being attended to in Santiago.  Remember that most Chileans do not know anything about Jesus Christ, so the ministry carried out on the Chile Mission site is a perfect opportunity to present Jesus to them in a very real way.

—We continue to wait to receive follow-up information from the attorney in Santiago on our Foundation’s needed legal changes set in motion earlier this year.

—We will soon be participating in this year’s annual ICOM missions conference in Oklahoma City on November 16-18.  We pray for the general blessing and impact upon individuals and churches in attendance and for all contacts and opportunities gained through our Chile Mission booth.  It’s not too late to plan on attending!

—Last, though hardly least :), we again implore and invite our supporting churches and all others to contact us about coming in 2024 to visit us in Chile to help develop the camp property!  This might take the form of a short-term mission trip and/or a special one-time donation.  It’s amazing how God uses mission trips to energize and motivate churches and individuals alike in terms of perspective and Kingdom identity!  Please call or email us at 949-394-8282, chilemission1@gmail.com

Praising, praying, fasting to our OVERWHELMINGLY GIVING Savior & Lord GOD, 

Jack & Janine

“KINGDOM JOY”

HEAVEN JOY:

 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. –Luke 15:7

CHURCH JOY:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in theSpirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  –Phil. 2:1-2

KINGDOM JOY is the theme of what we will be sharing in 17 different Oklahoma Churches this month of October.  How cool it is how CHURCH JOY  feeds directly into HEAVEN JOY!!   Going, sending, praying, teaching, baptizing, extending, inviting, & welcoming are all hallmarks of “Like-minded Jesus Churches”! Thank you all for your prayers and financial support that take us and Chile Mission forward in reaching Chilean children, youth, & adults and families with a real Jesus Savior and Lord—in Santiago and now with so much to do in developing the Mission’s rural property into a Christian children & youth camp and retreat center.

OUR SEPTEMBER KINGDOM JOY

The last two days of September our time in California was capped off with two celebrations:

1. A combined 40^th birthday celebration for both our daughter Jordan and her husband Rob. Most of our family was there and so was Jesus, giving testimony to his role in holding our family together and relationally close.
2. On September 30^th our oldest granddaughter Bella was baptized with us all present to share in her decision. Needless to say, we and heaven rejoiced together!

We are certain that on-going prayer has played a significant role in taking our family forward to this point and regardless of the family reality of each of you reading this, on-going prayer ALWAYS makes a difference!!

3. The Chile team in Santiago was able to provide comfort and prayer in September to parents and adults in differing medical treatments and during recovery. Please pray with us for Carolina’s more organized efforts to make contact with even more area hospitals so that more families can make use of the Mission’s Casa de Acogida “Dulce Refugio”.
4. In Chile on the camp property Catalina’s pregnancy is almost over, with their son Facundo due during the first days of October. Once again, we so appreciate your accompanying prayers in bringing her pregnancy to this point. Through them, we ALL join in their impending joy at Facundo’s arrival, as we look forward to sending you a photo of their new “four person” family.

We especially ask for your prayers as we prepare to participate in this year’s HI-PLAINS SCHOOL OF MISSIONS based near the panhandle of Oklahoma.  It begins on Thursday, October 5^th and ends on Friday, October 27^th.  We will be participating with 5 other missions in circulating between 17 different churches in Oklahoma and Texas to present the work of CHILE MISSION, as well as join two different churches each Sunday for worship on Sunday mornings and sharing in the evenings.  Please pray for our “stamina” 🙂 , as each presentation is in a different town, so we’ll be traveling between them.

While we now spend more time in the States than in Chile, our time is still focused on raising the awareness and importance of Christian camps in Chile.  The work in Chile is definitely God-sized!  (This recent summer, for example, was spent at Round Lake Christian Camp in Ohio teaching about what Chile is all about.)  What a blessing to encourage and broaden the going and sending of missionaries to different cultures, such as to Chile.  This going and sending is just ONE MORE BUILDING BLOCK of “God at work” in Like-minded Jesus Churches.  ALL churches & missions MUST stay the course, and your prayers and other support make a significant difference in the results!!

Meanwhile, we and Abraham & Family are all too glad to have the winter rainy season over and being able to use the sandy roadways to reach their home at the camp—to give them regular access to going and coming on the public road without flood waters to deal with or a 1-1/2 mile walk to their vehicle.  We do have a prayer request for final needed repairs to his pick-up truck’s transmission.  The truck represents their one mode of transportation and vehicle to get needed work done.

We are excited to report that one church, three individuals, and one family have responded so far in being interested in coming to Chile in the first months of 2024 (Chilean summer) to help with land clearing and construction on the Mission’s camp property.  We are VERY grateful, as there is much to be done!  If you are a supporting church or an individual we can also really use your help as well and invite you to contact us about the possibility of your making a trip to Chile as well.  We so appreciate all help.

LOOKING FORWARD TO NOVEMBER….

Have YOU attended the ICOM annual mission’s conference of the Christian Churches in recent years?  Please consider doing so this November and you will not regret it, with its many great workshops, speakers, and mission booths (such as ours!!).  Teens even have their own focus and speakers.  It will be held at the Convention Center in Oklahoma City, November 16-18.  Hope to see you there.

Praising, praying, fasting to GOD, our SOURCE of Church Unity and transformed lives,

Jack & Janine

“TEAM Going & Sending GOD STYLE”

The weapons we fight with are NOT the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have DIVINE power to DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS !!  2 Cor. 10:4

Our September Praise & Prayer Needs update is focused on our gratitude for our Chilean team and for our team relationship with our sending churches.  Every person and every team face battles and challenges, but as Paul writes in Ephesians chapter six, we constantly need to remind ourselves that the real battles that we and our teams face are Satan-driven and Spiritual in nature.  Spiritual battles require Spiritual weapons, making on-going mutual prayer, God’s Word, and oneness with God and with each other fundamental to going forward in the Lord.  It’s important to remember that our battles are both internal and external and that our Spiritual Weapons WILL ALWAYS have DIVINE power to DEMOLISH SATAN’S STRONGHOLDS!!

We just returned from a short visit to Chile and all of the above once again “rose to the top”, highlighting the importance of our walking “hand-in-hand” with God, with each other, and with our supporting churches.  We so appreciate and rely on your on-going prayers as we in turn pray for you in your own spiritual strength and health.  Our mission is to pierce the ever-present darkness in Chile with God’s light!

1. Roughly 50% of Chileans identify as Catholics, but that does not include participation in a Catholic church.  For hundreds of years Chileans have been taught that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is God the Mother.  It is only necessary to find her statue and pray to her for any kind of need or despair.  Jesus, God the Son, has in turn been rendered unnecessary and for many is not Savior and Lord.  In Chile today’s adults remain unconvinced of much and today’s young people aren’t going to run to a statue, but don’t know Jesus either.  This reality creates a tremendous opportunity for us Christians and for the work of Chile Mission.                                                                                                         

2. Many Chileans believe that you can go to the site of the death of any person and pray through that person for prayer petitions. You leave a burning candle and then afterwards return with a plaque or other memento to thank the dead person for answered prayer. Dead people become automatic conduits for prayer.  Pictured above is such a wall located where a thief was shot and killed by police many years ago.  We Christians know that Jesus IS the only mediator between God and man. 1 Tim. 2:5-6

3. Chile boasts a very stable economy and democratic form of government, although its current president is communist. He, along with other past Chilean socialist presidents and socialist/communist members of congress, do not believe in God or Jesus.  This influences a large percentage of Chileans and especially young people!  Roughly 37% of Chileans identify as unbelievers.

4. The importance of Chilean culture and heritage (Sept. 18^th is Chile’s Independence Day) and even professional soccer far outweigh interest in God and religion.  False pride and “macho-ism”, especially among men, are alive and well in Chile.

All of the above realities and characteristics to one extent or another represent Satan’s strongholds that only can be demolished through the use of our DIVINE weapons, and the more unified our Team, the greater the DIVINE impact.

THANK YOU for your on-going prayers for Chile Mission’s work in the country, especially in our current work to transform 90 acres in middle, rural Chile into a Christian children’s and youth camp and retreat center.  Reaching children and young people in Chile matters, as does being the spiritual and other support for children, families, and adults coming to Santiago for needed, serious medical treatment!  Light eliminates darkness.

Moving on to September’s other prayer needs and praises….

IN SANTIAGO

The mission’s Casa de Acogida “Dulce Refugio” continues to receive parents and other adults.  One newborn, Oliver, has just had heart surgery.  His parents, Edwin & Edelsa, appreciate our prayers.

Two men suffering with Parkinson’s Disease arrived from Arica, Chile’s northern-most city.  One of the men, Omar, had a device implanted in his head and is spending roughly three weeks in our mission site recuperating.  Thank you for your prayers and thank you, Lord, for new technologies!

While in Chile we had several meetings with Carolina to be more diligent in contacting more hospitals to boost our occupancy as well as churches to be involved with our residents. Discussing productivity will always be a part of our team effectiveness.  Our idea is to develop a program of “godparents” to accompany our visitors in their hospital procedures and to invite them to participate in their church and socialize a bit.

Sadly, while in Santiago we also received news that Vicente, who as a small boy lived with his two older sisters for a year in the first children’s home that Janine directed, tragically was killed on his motorcycle by a car without license plates that in turn sped off.  He was a fine young man with a very responsible job in the army and always tried to get together with Janine when we were in the country.  He had even messaged her a couple days before he was killed that he was looking forward to seeing her during this most recent trip.  We always talked to him about his faith and had given him the Gospel of John to read.  Janine tried to get together with Vicente’s mother, too, but was unable to program a visit.

Also while in Santiago we were able to sign documents for the attorney helping us with changes to our Foundation’s by-laws.  We should now be all set with those changes, should the document be accepted by the government. Any important changes in our foundation need to be approved in the ministry of justice.  A big help will be getting a certificate of donations, which will allow us to receive donations from companies.  When a business has taxes to pay to the government, they can divert this tax to a non-profit, such as us!!.  Praying….

AT THE CAMP PROPERTY

Heavier than normal rains have continued, and we joined Abraham in walking one and one half miles to reach his pickup, parked at a neighbor’s house beyond where the road floods—up to three feet at some points.  While they are accustomed to the routine, they will be VERY glad to park the truck at their own house once the rains and road water subside. 🙂

WE AGAIN INVITE any of you individuals and church teams to come and help, as the first months of 2024 represent a key opportunity to work outside and construct as well.  Please reach out to us and we can follow-up with you.  Thank you!!

While we were at the camp, we started working on the design for our maintenance building, which will include a second floor living unit.  The idea is to transform the second floor to offices in the future.  Hopefully, we will start building this coming Chilean summer—Jan. thru Apr.

We also brought Abraham a post hole auger from the States (purchased with a special donation) and it will come in VERY handy in digging the many holes that he must dig to install a boundary barbed wire fence line around certain areas of the property. TYL!!

Meanwhile, regarding our Toyota pickup, both Abraham and his excellent mechanic keep making strides fixing mechanic issues.  We can only conclude that in spite of the 2020 truck’s perfect appearance and super clean engine, the person we bought the truck from was dishonest about its past usage.  Still, we are grateful to have it, as Abraham needs a good working vehicle, since transport to the camp is limited at this time. 

WE SO APPRECIATE YOUR ONGOING PRAYERS AND PARTNERSHIP!!

Praising, praying, fasting to GOD, the ETERNAL TEAM GOER AND SENDER AND STRONGHOLDS DEMOLISHER,

Jack & Janine

“The REAL SEED and SEED NOURISHER”

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:  It will not return to me empty, but WILL ACCOMPLISH what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  –ISAIAH 55:10-11

The above passage in Isaiah SO appropriately describes our seven full weeks of interacting with over 2,000 children and teens at Round Lake Christian Camp and also two separate VBSs in two Ohio churches!!  Just think of all the Gospel and Mission seeds that were SOWN AND WATERED in these young lives.  There are several Bible passages and parables that speak of sowing & watering seeds and of the soil they fall on, etc., but a main point of these passages is that GOD is both the SEED and the ONE RESPONSIBLE for its growth.  We love this passage in Isaiah for its message!!  Please think of the difference it would make upon all those in churches throughout the U.S., let alone churches worldwide, to see ourselves as the Lord’s SEED SOWERS in our families and in others.

It was INCREDIBLY satisfying and fun to enlarge the “JESUS worlds” of so many children and teens, and we are also INCREDIBLY grateful for your prayers for our time here!!  Everyone learned a lot about Chile and about the need for a Christian camp there.  Roughly only 20% of Chileans know Jesus as Savior.  We now pray for these young lives as they continue going forward.  This past month we included a photo of some baptisms, a MAJOR FIRST STEP OF RESPONDING TO GOD for each child/teen.  The Holy Spirit moved in many ways during the camps!  For us, it was a challenging time to adjust our time with the children every day—balancing our time between challenging them to be missionaries and making the learning lots of fun. Here are some July photos:

We also taught them songs in Spanish, including “JESUS LOVES ME”, a center post theme of God that supports all the rest.  Click on this link to view the video of the song: https://youtu.be/WfX9sNZdp5Y

Looking ahead, we leave Round Lake on August 5^th and then travel to Chile for just over two weeks on August 10^th, with lots of details to attend to in our short time there.  We are sorry to report that our friend that was due to join us on this Chile trip has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is beginning treatment immediately, thus postponing any plans for a Chile trip.  We pray for both him and his family, that they would be assured of God’s presence and healing touch.

Speaking of CHILE’S FUTURE CAMP, look at Abraham’s homemade bridge, allowing them to leave and enter their property via the higher ground during their days of steady winter rains.  We have a BIG PRAISE to share in that Abraham’s on-going emails and calls into the office of the government official directly responsible for public roads in the area of our camp property paid off and the official finally came out to personally see the totally flooded sections of road by our camp property.  He has promised to re-route those sections of impassable conditions to higher ground once the weather conditions change toward the end of this year.  TYL!!!

During our time with Abraham & Family at the camp property we will mark boundaries for the first building to be constructed to get ready for Chilean summer this coming January through April.  WE WELCOME THE HELP FROM ALL INDIVIDUALS AND CHURCHES that are able to plan a trip to come to Chile during those up-coming months!!  PLEASE CONTACT US if you and/or your church group might be able to make the trip and PLEASE EVERYONE PRAY for this upcoming “construction/building” window of opportunity!!  We plan on being in Chile for the entire Chilean summer and would love to receive you there.  The round-trip airfares are currently below $700 and it will only take some initiative in planning forward.  We can help you think it through.  Thank you again!!

We also give God thanks that Abraham’s mechanic was able to repair the transmission on the Toyota pickup so that the 4-wheel drive works well again.

IN SANTIAGO, Carolina continues to receive adults in need of medical treatments and parents of hospitalized children from other parts of the country.  We shared last month about the passing of baby Matías, who battled a serious virus from birth.  It was a blessing to be able to extend condolences to his parents!  As you know, we are the only “Casa de Acogida” in Santiago that receives both men and women when they accompany their children.  We can do that because we have have one of our four houses on our mission site set aside for women and another house for men.

As we wrote last month, we also appreciate your prayers for being able to sign ALL needed documents to make needed changes to the statutes of our legal foundation “MISIÓN CHILE” while we’re in Chile this month.  Especially included is the ability of the Foundation to receive all types of donations from inside and from outside of the country.

Praising, praying, fasting to GOD, the REAL SEED AND SEED NOURISHER,

Jack & Janine

“TRUE LIBERTY IN JESUS, OUR WAY, TRUTH, AND LIFE”

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  –John 14:6

Boy what a good verse for the nations today, including the United States, as we celebrate our independence as a country—ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!  We also have several things to celebrate and pray for this month as Chile Mission, but let’s not stop praying for our U.S. government leaders.  1 Timothy 2:1-6 is a GREAT reference for that.

As mentioned in last month’s letter, we are writing you from Round Lake Christian Camp, where we’re having an incredibly-rewarding time interacting with grade-schoolers thru high-schoolers.  Sharing videos and interesting facts & information about Chile, we are planting seeds of being him and extending him world-wide.  Below is a “selfie” of all of us after we told the kids that they had all magically graduated from high school and now needed to prepare to be missionaries in Chile.  They were very attentive and seemed surprised at all that does go into preparations for missionary service.

Also pictured are the baptisms of roughly 30 of those same kids!!  TYL!!  As different groups of children rotate weekly through the camp, we will be here through August 5^th.  Thank you for praying for the impact of our message and the teaching of others on each and every child.  Once CAMPO VIVO is ready to receive children and youth in Chile, we and Abraham & staff will be just as committed and excited to introduce each Chilean young person to a Creator, Lord & Savior Jesus!

We have to remind ourselves visiting developed camps such as Round Lake and other similar, large Christian camps in the U.S. addressing children in spacious buildings and surroundings that these camps ALSO had their own beginning vision years ago!  YES we are in stage 1 in the transformation of the land surrounding what will be known as CAMPO VIVO, along with all the construction still to come, but the vision is the same in introducing ALL that come there to our Creator, Lord & Savior Jesus!  THANK YOU for being KEY PRAYER SUPPORT patners of Chile Mission!!  It’s daunting to find ourselves in stage 1 of transforming land and constructing needed buildings on our camp property in Chile and all that this immense project entails, but we are certain that God will get it done!

Speaking of CAMPO VIVO, we have much to share and pray for:

>This year’s rains  We were surprised to see this year’s heavy rains in middle and southern Chile mentioned on David Muir’s World News Tonight program recently.  In speaking with Abraham, he confirms those heavy rains in the area by our camp property, even to the extent that the public access road by us and by our closest neighbors is totally flooded to a depth of almost 4 feet, preventing any vehicle to enter or leave.  They need to walk a long way on higher ground just to retrieve and use the pick-up truck.

The winter rains (June to August) normally do flood our local roads, but this year is worse.  Abraham and neighbors met last year with the mayor of Quillón, the town responsible for upkeep of our section of the public access road and heavy equipment was sent out, but until certain areas of the road are completely redone and raised, no other solution will work.  Please pray for a lowering of the present level of water on the road to allow Abraham’s 4X4 pickup to pass through and also that all parties will be able to work together to finally come to a workable, permanent solution.  Thank you!

Here is the link to view Abraham’s and Catalina’s latest video of CAMPO VIVO.  It’s really good!!  https://youtu.be/w1Ltw7IbAqo

>>The excavator and pickup truck  Abraham is looking for the right person to operate and help maintain our excavator.  In addition, a repair to the 4X4 transmission assembly of the pickup is needed.  While both of these needs will be met, we appreciate your prayers for the ongoing good use of our equipment.  Thank you!

>Catalina’s pregnancy  Catalina’s pregnancy is going well, with her due date still set for the end of October.  She is having a boy and his name is Facundo.  It is a name more popular in Argentina than in Chile and it refers to someone elequent in speak or that speaks alot.  Thanks for your continuing prayers.

>>Come help  In the middle of the current rains we are blessed to receive a group of four young men who are spending a week to help at our camp property.  Their program is called Edge and it is part of the same Mennonite ministry based in Columbia that sent six young women to help Chile Mission earlier this year.  We welcome their help and are praying for their experience and for their travels.  During their week with Abraham they were able to fix a water pump and also replcace the 20 plates that help make up the tractor tread that moves the excavator.  Many thanks guys!!

>>We’d like to use this opportunity to AGAIN INVITE church and mission groups and individuals to contact us about coming to Chile to help!  Perhaps another time of the year would work better for you, but round-trip airfares are typically below $700.00.  We’re excited that one friend is coming to help for just over two weeks this August, and as a reminder, we are ALWAYS looking for a couple or family to come stay and help Abraham & Catalina for a period of time, be it for weeks, a couple months, or longer as teammates of Chile Mission!  Of course, even basic Spanish will be important, but “on sight survival-language training” is provided! 🙂 🙂

 IN SANTIAGO, our prayer needs go on:

>>We are sorry to report that Baby Matías (mentioned in our May letter who contracted a virus known as CMV (Cytomegalovirus) immediately after birth eight months ago) died this evening, July 1st.  We pray  for God’s comfort and presence for his parents, Jordan & Laura, in this very difficult turn of events!

>>When we return to Chile for just over two weeks in August, we and our other Foundation board members should be able to sign the legal documents needed to make immediate changes in our Foundation’s statutes and ready it to move forward from there.  Both Abraham and Julián are due to come on to the Board of   Directors.  We continue to pray for these important legal steps.

>>Meanwhile, Carolina continues to make contacts with hospitals in making known the services we offer via Chile Mission’s Casa de Acogida.  She and Julián have also come up with a new name for the Santiago mission site: “Dulce Refugio” (Sweet Refuge).  It’s easy to remember and well-describes the ministry carried out on the mission site.

>>We have a BIG praise to share in that three of the nine children who lived years ago in our home for children on our Santiago ministry site with Chilean Christian house parents have now contacted Janine this year to thank her for teaching them important life lessons, which they now as adults appreciate very much.  Our home residence for children was closed in October of 2013 due to the lies of one of these three, but now ten years later all three are grateful adults, and Carla also asked for forgiveness for her lies.  Thank you Lord for ALWAYS working, and we will continue to try to get in touch with the others.

In the U.S. thank you for praying with us for Jayme’s recovery from ACL surgery in May.  He’s well on the road to full recovery, which should take another 3 or more months.

Praising, praying, fasting, and celebrating True “Way, Truth, & Life” liberty in Jesus,

Jack & Janine

“AUTHOR OF EVERY PRECIOUS LIFE”

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

The above verses taken from Psalm 139 beautifully describe God’s creation, plans, and intimate knowledge of every one of us.  Not only that, but if God knows the name of every single star (Psalm 147:2) and Jesus, our shepherd, calls each of us, his sheep, by name (John 10:3), what does that say about the value of each and every life he has created?

Every month we write you about lives hanging in the balance and about the work of Chile Mission with people and projects.  We insert photos so that you, too, can know those people—children, youth, and adults.  It’s our way of bringing to life your prayers in the same way that God already intimately knows them and their circumstances.  We SO appreciate your prayers for each person and situation we write about!!

Speaking of special people and opportunities, we ask for your prayers as we prepare for and spend from June 17^th through to August 5^th as the mission work highlighted this summer at Round Lake Christian Camp in northern Ohio.  It’s incredibly satisfying to broaden the “Jesus” worlds of children and bring alive the country of Chile.  The camp boasts a large lake and can host several groups of children and youth at one time.  Schedule-wise we will have daily time with each group 4 days each week.  Round Lake was one of the 16 separate camps that we visited with Abraham, Catalina, & Abril last June and July and, needless to say, we are extremely excited at what the Lord will do and say through us!

Looking ahead, we then travel to Chile for just over two weeks on August 10^th, with lots of details to attend to in our short time there.  We’re very grateful that a friend familiar with large equipment and farming and the care of trees, etc. will be traveling with us there.  We are anticipating his good counsel for future plans and projects at Campo Vivo.  The work at the camp property is right down his alley!

We know that the following dates are WAY AHEAD OF TIME, but toward the end of the year, this year’s International Conference on Missions (ICOM) will be held in Oklahoma City, the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nov. 16-18.  Do you have close relatives or friends in nearby states to Oklahoma?  Why not make plans to go from the conference to spend thanksgiving with them??  The ICOM is totally worth it!

ON AND AROUND THE CAMP PROPERTY IN RURAL CHILE

We have discovered in our 30 years in Chile that we are often called to work on projects that are God-sized, but are way way outside of our experiences.  This has proven true once again with the camp project that we are involved in.  Since we are both suburbanites, this is certainly outside our realm of thinking.  Planning crops for camp consumption, digging a lake, putting up fences, security against thievery, helping out out neighbors, taking care of fruit trees, planting avocado trees, preparing for and financing large future buildings, future personnal needs, levelling the deep ravines, etc., are complicated, necessary steps that we are currently facing.  This, along with everyday concerns, especially for Abraham and his family, is a constant need for ongoing prayer.  Abraham wears many hats—camp director in overseeing all of what transpires in the camp property, construction supervisor and planner, along with his ongoing call as pastor, teacher, and musician and using these gifts in his home, neighborhood and church visits.  He has a lot on his plate.

The photos are of Abraham with Luís and of his completed rebuilt storage building.  The rebuilt building and his restored electrical posts and wires reflect just one more way of God’s restoration of Luís’ life in the “boonies” in Chile, rebuilding his property lost in the terrible recent forest fires.  A US church provided special funding to provide the materials for this project.  It gets Luís back to the place he was in before the fire, so he can return to his daily tasks instead of trying to play catch-up.  He is not a Christian, so this generous gift is great for showing him the love of God.  God extends this kind of help every day through all of us sent out by his churches in the world.  VERY COOL!!

In other news from the camp, there is a small mission group of men based in Columbia interested in coming to the camp property for 1-2 weeks in June to help Abraham in his work.  We’re giving thanks and praying for their trip to come to pass.  God is again bringing Christians together to help each other.  Abraham is continuing to evaluate the best combination of security lights and cameras to install and also ready to replace 20 of the plates that make up the bottom treads that move the excavator.  Lastly, thanks for joining us in praying Catalina’s pregnancy forward.  All is well as she heads forward in her October delivery.

IN SANTIAGO

If you’re familiar with our “Casa de Acogida” (Christian Refuge House) ministry carried out on our Santiago Chile Mission site, you know that we’ve seen our fair share of infants and little children with complicated medical situations and treatments come to Santiago with their parents.  These months of May and June are no exception with the arrival of baby Bianca, a 1 ½ year-old severely-burned girl, who came to a Santiago hospital the last week of May with her parents Datin and Lorena. She recently had three skin grafts.  It will be a long-term recovery for her.

We all know families facing serious medical situations.  They ALL need prayer and, when possible, calls or visits to their hospitals.  God is a master at touching those precious lives through ALL of us!!

Also in Santiago we have had another fruitful zoom meeting with the attorney helping our MISIÓN CHILE Foundation with important steps relating to both the board of our Chilean Mission Foundation and our certification to receive donations from all sources.  The procedures in Chile are quite different in relation to what we are familiar with the US.  We, Jack & Janine, are needing to rely more and more on our Chilean teammates to navigate the legal procedures involved with the foundation.  We are happy to have competent legal “pro bono” help to move ahead.  Thanks for praying with us for these steps.

In the U.S.

Our son, Jayme, injured his ACL of his right knee early in May playing soccer. The surgery was a success and Jack will be spending one week (May 31 to June 7) with Jayme, Malia, and their three kids helping where needed.  They live in Boulder, CO.  Thanks for praying for his good healing and for Jack’s trip.

Thanks again, too, for your prayers for the preparation and sale of our Indiana house.  We have made good progress in several needed areas, but will fall short of having the house ready to sell.  Instead we will rent it out for one year, planning to work on the sale when we are back from our three months in Chile.  All is well and TYL!!  As mentioned last month, we spend weekends visiting churches and friends and are SO grateful for the relationship we have with you all.

Praising, praying, fasting to GOD, the AUTHOR OF PRECIOUS LIVES,

Jack & Janine

“LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!!”

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!   –Eph. 3:2021

HAPPY PENTECOST SUNDAY MONTH, everyone!!  Just before he was taken up into heaven Jesus told his disciples (Acts 1:5) to wait in Jerusalem where in a few days they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit”.  That is exactly what happened on Pentecost Sunday, 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, on the 50^th day beginning with Easter Sunday.  May we always remember that the same power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead and that baptized the disciples is the same Holy Spirit power that empowers us today!

He helps us pray (Eph. 6:18 and Rom. 8:26), his sword is God’s Word (Eph. 6:17) and his power is immeasurable.  We’re told to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions” and we give you thanks for your prayers of us and for Chile Mission, as we also pray for you!!

ON AND AROUND THE CAMP PROPERTY IN RURAL CHILE

As seen here, the rebuilding of Luís’ storage building for grains and equipment is beginning to take shape.  Planks and metal roofing purchased with a special donation from a U.S. church will soon cover the Eucalyptus poles serving as the framing.  Luís is also now fully recovered from being attacked by robbers in his home last month.  He is not a Christian, but Abraham continues to minister to him, epecially with the fire losses and his injuries.  Thank you for your prayers for him!

With the help from men from his main church in nearby Cabrero Abraham has now completed the welding and installation of the new metal entrance gates for the two main entrances to our camp property.  Pictured above is one of the two entrances—much better than the barbed wire fencing that they replaced.  Other entrances have been blocked by tree trunks on the ground, as well as the open areas on the borders of our property. A security specialist is evaluating the placement of security cameras and motion lights.  Your prayers for all of these steps are MUCH appreciated.

In addition, Abraham will be concentrating in May on getting our excavator in full operating condition, as well as improving the fencing in certain parts of the camp property.

IN SANTIAGO

Amongst the families currently staying on our ministry site in Santiago are Jordan & Laura, with their little boy Matías.  You may remember seeing his name in our January 2023 Prayer letter.  Matías is back in Santiago for further exams and possible treatment.  He had a virus known as CMV (Cytomegalovirus) and is now 6 months old, but he continues to maintain the size and weight of a two-month old baby and still cannot hold his head up.  The virus is caught from the mother either before birth or afterwards and as you can imagine, his parents are greatly troubled.  It’s possible that the disease can cause various disabilities.  We appreciate your prayers on their behalf!

Regarding our MISIÓN CHILE Foundation we continue to be in contact with the attorneys helping us with important steps relating to both the board of our Chilean Mission Foundation and our certification to receive donations from all sources.  Thanks for praying with us.

IN THE STATES

Thanks again for your prayers for the preparation and sale of our Indiana house.  It is no small task as we first sort and prepare items to be either sent to California, be sold, donated, or be thrown out.  Taping, painting, and otherwise re-arranging aren’t far behind.

We spend weekends visiting churches and friends and are SO grateful for the relationship we have with you all.

Praising, praying, fasting to OUR ONE & ONLY “LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION” GOD,

Jack & Janine

“ALL GLORY TO GOD through JESUS SAVIOR AND LORD”

But even if you should suffer for doing right, you are blessed.  “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect…  –1 Peter 3:14-15

The above verses serve to SO encourage us Christians to ALWAYS let Jesus’ truth and light live in us, that one more person will also come to know, love, and follow him!  Who else has the power to heal broken relationships and heal sickness of every kind and restore lives with purpose and truth except our Self-Sacrificed Savior and Risen, Resurrection Sunday Lord??  It’s because of him that we GIVE YOU THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS for us and for Chile Mission, as we also continue to pray for all of you.

Much has happened since our March letter and your prayers are important and much appreciated.

ON AND AROUND THE CAMP PROPERTY IN RURAL CHILE

>>We have been blessed to receive two special donations to help Abraham purchase needed tools in rebuilding fencing and small buildings destroyed by the February forest fires.  The church in Santiago that sent 20 young people to help on our camp property just before the fires hit are now sending a small group of men in this rebuilding process.  Seen here, Abraham helped his good neighbor Luís restore his electricity with the purchase of a tall pole for his power line and they are ready to rebuild his tool and supplies building lost to the flames.

>>Tragically, just recently Luís was also attacked and robbed in his house.  As neighbors’ houses are separated by much distance from each other, when Abraham heard Luís’ yells and all the commotion it took ten minutes to arrive near the house about a half mile from our property.  Abraham arrived with two other men to Luís’ aid but the robbers got away, bashing in the side and rear of our pick-up truck in their escape.  Luís was badly beaten, but is slowly improving and Abraham will be purchasing and installing solid gates on the camp’s two main entrances, along with security lights and cameras.  He and Luís and our other close neighbors are also cooperating to increase communication measures between their houses.  We have for a long time prayed for the security of all nearby properties and for the safety of both Abraham & family and of our other neighbors and we greatly appreciate your prayers for the same!  As in many other countries, stealing is quite common in Chile in cities and in rural areas, and this last incident even more highlights the need for God’s light to shine through the development of the camp & retreat center.

Needless to say, Abraham & Catalina were pretty shaken by what happened to Luís, although Abraham’s strong faith and spiritual leadership of his family are helping in their recovery.  We and our other Santiago teammates have been in regular communication with them as well, praying with and comforting them.  In the middle of all of this we share with you that Catalina is newly pregnant, due in late October.  What a joy for them and for their little girl Abril, due to turn 4 years old in June!  Please join us in praying for her pregnancy and in giving thanks for this new life that God is adding to their family.

>>We also continue to pray for Abraham’s success in re-contacting Rodolfo, who remains incommunicado.  Whether he returns to work for us or not, we pray for his good going forward and for the health of his sick 3-year-old son Dylan.  In the meantime, Abraham’s good mechanic will do all needed maintenance on the excavator.

IN SANTIAGO

Casa de Acogida (Refuge House) has seen several new persons come and go during the past month.  This in-house ministry continues to minister to peoples’ spiritual needs whenever possible.  One big praise we have is that the little boy Dominíc continues to grow and is almost one-year-old, in spite of the doctors’ expectation that he would not live nearly this long.  In light of Jesus’ own resurrection celebrated this month of April, we give God thanks for Dominíc’s life and we pray that his parents, Victor & Isabel, would be touched by God and drawn to him during this Easter season.  Dominíc is quite a handsome little boy!

In the U.S.

We recently returned from Chile and find ourselves in northwest Indiana at what has been our furlough house for almost 31 years.  We will work on selling it by the first part of June, at which time we will be heading to Round Lake Christian Camp not far from Canton, Ohio, where we are excited to be their missionaries “on campus” through to early August.  It’s always a thrill to interact with young children and teens in enlarging their worlds with the Lord, giving them the desire to learn about what God is doing in other countries to spread his love and relationship to children and teens.

Our Cedar Lake Indiana house is located on a Christian Conference Grounds and has truly been a blessing for us and our children as we periodically returned to the States on furlough.  They were able to study in English and have friends here too, but now we want to live near to some of our kids’ families when we aren’t in Chile, which is why we bought a house in California.  When in the Midwest to visit churches and friends we will make other living arrangements when the time comes.  Thanks much in advance for your prayers for God’s blessing the preparation and sale of our Indiana house!  It’s no small task. 🙂 🙂

Meanwhile, Janine’s wrist is healed but not fully functional.  She’s in no pain and is beginning occupational therapy exercises as she awaits possible surgery once we return to California.  Thank you for your on-going prayers for the complete healing of her wrist.

We wish you all a meaningful, special Holy Week and triumphant Easter celebration!

Praising, praying, fasting in CHRIST JESUS, the Reason for ALL HOPE in the world,

Jack & Janine

“ALL GLORY TO GOD”

²⁰ Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. ²¹ Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.  –Eph. 3:20,21

There are many instances in the gospels where Jesus refers to things happening (including his own words and actions) to the glory of his Father.  What would give God more glory than to have one more child, youth, or adult in real relationship with him through his son Jesus??!!  As the above verses say, we must remember that we DO have the mighty power of God’s Holy Spirit at work within and through us and also that we ARE Jesus’ body, the Church.  THANK YOU, churches and individuals, for helping send us as missionaries to countries including Chile and THANK YOU for continuing to pray for us and for God’s working here to HIS glory!!  It’s a matter of life or death for every person!

THE CAMP LAND

Our Chile summer (Dec. 21 to March 21 🙂 has been hot and dry.  Much like California, this means the much higher possibility of forest fires in areas surrounded by woods and grassland, such as the area our land is located in.  The very end of January and most of February have seen many forest and grasslands burned and devastated by fire.  Much of our surrounding area was included, with five families losing their homes and many more losing their other outer buildings and feed for their animals, along with many, many acres of trees and land lost in general.  In our case, we lost the upper third of our land to fire, and thank you Lord this did not include the bottom two-thirds of our property being developed into the camp, which includes Abraham’s and Catalina’s home!  All of the above hit our specific area on February 3^rd, the same day that Jack left in bus back to Santiago earlier that morning.

Abraham & family, along with the group of 20 young people from the church in Santiago that were sent to help us on our land for a week, all had to evacuate to the nearest town 30 minutes away for one night.  Abraham then went home to our land and he and our closest neighbors kept close track of the nearest fires, while at the same time began helping others clean up.  Pictured above, the very next week three men from the same Santiago church returned to help Abraham with area needs. TYL!! that the fires have since left our area entirely and have ceased to be a wide spread threat in that part of the country. Our property measures a bit more than 300 yards by 1200 yards, with a road dividing it near the middle.  The pine plantation to the east of us with about 1,000 acres totally burned, but the eucalyptus plantation to the west did not burn at all.

During that same time, the six young women (mentioned in last month’s letter) participating in the six-month-long “Ultra” mission program based in Columbia arrived to Santiago to help for eight full days.  Janine, in the meantime was still stuck in the public hospital for 10 days with her arm in a cast awaiting surgery, which never happened.  We’ll update her story later in this letter.  The girls helped with several tasks here on our Santiago mission site for 4 days, and then they and Jack went south for another 4 full days to the camp property to help Abraham with those in need.  Here below is a photo of the women with the newly liberated Janine right before the women returned to Columbia and also a photo of them helping to gather materials to rebuild the burned down storehouse and corral of Abraham’s closest neighbor Luís.  It was so good to help him, as he and Abraham are extremely good neighbors for each other!

Another specific prayer need this month has to do with Rodolfo, with whom we have been involved in purchasing our excavator last month.  His 3-year-old son Dylan contracted a type of virus in February and although he is slowly improving he lost his ability to walk for a time.  Rodolfo and his live-in partner & mother of Dylan are quite concerned and we have been praying for their family.  At the same time, Rodolfo is not returning Abraham’s calls or messages.  We both are traveling to the camp land this Wednesday, March 1^st to hopefully also meet with Rodolfo, together with Abraham.  We have agreed with him that we can employ him fulltime to maintain and operate the excavator, which would be a financial blessing for his family as well. Please pray with us for all of these prayer points mentioned, giving God thanks for his touch and presence in it all. 

THE WORK IN SANTIAGO

—We had another very productive zoom video call with the lawyers associated with ProBono.  They are concentrating first on:

• Registering our Fundación Misión Chile statutes with the Chilean national government.
• Obtaining our Certificate to receive donations from within and from outside of Chile.
• Facilitating the naming of two new directors for our board.

Now that the summer month of February is over, almost all lawyers and doctors are back to work.  Thank you for continuing to pray with us about these legal steps.

—Our Santiago Casa de Acogida  (Refuge House) for men and women (mostly parents of sick children) has seen several changes in guests in February.

• Dina was released by her hip replacement doctor to go home—after 2 months of waiting for the replacement part to arrive and 40 days of post-surgery.
• 2-year-old Roberto was released to a hospital near his home to continue the treatment of his burns.
• The mother of a child being evaluated for muscular dystrophy was with us for one week.
• Three persons from northern-most Arica, Chile were here for two days with one companion each to be evaluated for and scheduled for stomach by-pass surgery. They are due back in May.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us about the current condition of children that are no longer in Santiago hospitals.  In all cases of those staying here, our team looks for opportunities to pray with and talk with our guests even after they have returned home.

—One special blessing here in Santiago was to get back together with Nallely, who was living here on our mission site together with her brother Jorshua (yes it’s spelled right) with seven other wards of the State children for over a year, ending in 2013.  Then she was 12-years-old and now she’s 22.  Her training is in being a chef and she is without work at the present time.  She also lives with her boyfriend’s family.  It was good to encourage her and spend time together.  Here’s a picture of all of us together for lunch. She’s on the left between Carolina and Jack.  We continue to pray for the circumstances and relationship with God of all nine of the children that spent time with us in 2012 and 2013.

Janine is also reviewing reports, good record-keeping technics, and inventory control with Carolina.  It’s so important to end up with workable solutions Carolina will be willing and able to use.  Carolina will also continue to contact and meet with Santiago area hospital social workers to make sure that they know about our Casa de Acogida .

JANINE’S WRIST  Regarding her mending broken left wrist, Janine is in position to move into final decisions that she will be making in the States with her doctor in California.  In mid-February she was released from the public hospital after her 10-day stay with no progress toward the surgery they suggested.  She knows God had a reason for her stay—definitely an interesting time interacting with other patients and staff!  They finally released her to be at home to await her surgery, which the surgeon promised would be on February 10^th at the latest.  Needless to say, no surgery was scheduled and it became a continual waiting game.  At home in the meantime she made an appointment at a private clinic she’s used in the past and they took another x-ray and gave her a new shorter, less heavy cast and recommended not having surgery at this time.  She now will get that cast removed on March 13^th, one day before we fly to California.  Supposedly also, casts aren’t allowed on international flights to prevent people from hiding drugs inside of them. 🙂

Praising, praying, fasting and GIVING ALL GLORY to OUR ONE, TRUE GOD,

Jack & Janine

“CELEBRATING GOD’S MOVING HIS PLANS & HIS PURPOSES FORWARD”

Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him.  For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.  The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.  –Psalms 33: 8-11

Entering February we have special reasons to celebrate God’s moving HIS PLANS and HIS PURPOSES forward!

IN RURAL CHILE we’ve been praying for an opportunity to purchase our own excavator instead of having to rent one at a very high cost.  We had mentioned a rental cost of $5,000 for two machines for two weeks in December, but that cost was for each machine.  Thus we paid $10,000 for both machines, including the operators, fuel, oil, and transport.  Rodolfo was the operator of one of the two machines, and Abraham was quite pleased not only with the way he worked, but also with his humble character.  Rodolfo has grown up learning to operate and maintain excavators from his father, who has much experience in this line of work.

GIVING GOD THANKS!!  In mid-January we started pursuing the purchase of our own excavator, trying to use the Chevy 4×4 pickup that we’ve been trying to sell as a trade-in.  We know zilch about excavators, so Abraham and Rodolfo hit the countryside to find a good machine. We finally have succeeded and are giving God our thanks!  We will also now employ Rodolfo beginning this month of February and he will service and ready the machine for use.  We will be able to rent out the excavator to others, who will pay rental costs as we did.  This will help us cover our own costs for the large amount of work needing to be completed on our own property.  Above is a photo of part of the land we cleared in December, along with a photo of our new, used excavator.  From left to right we are Abraham, Rodolfo, and Jack.

We firstly thank God for his faithfulness in continuing the transformation of our land into a camp & retreat center!!  We secondly thank you as well for your faithful prayers!    We are looking for individual donors to help offset our recent and upcoming larger costs, and we would invite them to contact us through our email chilemission1@gmail.com and also become more familiar with our ministry via our website www.chilemission.org

3-year-old Abril in the picture below is welcoming the 2020 Toyota pickup to its new home in “the campo”.  For those of you who are thinking Beverly Hillbillies, we don’t blame you. J  Also below is a photo of Mark from AZ who came to Chile for 2 ½ weeks in January to help clear trees and do other things.  He is standing with Catalina, Abraham, and Abril.  To prepare for his trip he studied Spanish prior to coming and we were blessed with his help.  As we mentioned in our January letter, we are inviting individuals and churches to come and “lend a hand” anytime.  Our Chilean rainy winter is from the end of May to early Sept., so perhaps the end of the year or the beginning of next year will be better.  Start planning!

GIVING GOD MORE THANKS!!  A group of 20 young adults and others arrived from a Chilean Santiago church to the camp property on Jan. 30 to spend one week helping on the land in different ways.  Seen here, they arrived with much enthusiasm!  They mark our very first church to arrive for a one-week helping/spiritual retreat!  TYL!!  This marks another significant reason to celebrate God’s faithful provision and answer to prayer.  Abraham has finished the new bedroom complete with a bunk bed and second bathroom, and even though the group of 20 will be camping in tents, the added bathroom and space will be very helpful for workers and visitors.  There is a private entrance so Abraham’s family don’t have constant visitors traipsing through their house!  Thank you so much for praying for these matters with us!

In the meantime the surveyor continues working on his final drawing of the northern lots of our land.

In Santiago we have MORE REASONS TO GIVE GOD THANKS!!

One of our main goals while here these few months was to make contact with Pro Bono, a Chilean Foundation of lawyers who help Foundations such as ours with legal matters, to see how they might help us get registered with the national government and also obtain our certificate to receive donations from both within and outside of Chile.  We, Abraham, & Julián had a Zoom visual meeting with them and we just received word that they will help us.  That was great news, and we hope to be able to sign any needed documents before mid-March when we return to the States.  TYL!! and thank you for your prayers!

 Regarding those that have stayed and are staying at our Santiago Casa de Acogida  (Refuge House) for medical treatments in their families:

• we have not received an update on Dominíc this month.
• Baby Matías was moved to a hospital near his home in Rancagua. The good news is that he continues to gain weight as he puts his CMV virus behind him.
• Dina is in rehab and is doing great after her hip replacement. We’re not sure how much longer she’ll be with us before going home—she has been here about three months.
• Rocio also continues to recuperate at home after surgery here to correct her scoliosis.
• A new small child, Roberto (almost 2-years-old) is here in Santiago to treat severe burns caused by his reaching and pulling down boiling water on himself, burning the whole left side of his body.  His progress is slow but sure and his mother, Valeria, stays with him in the hospital, while his father, Roberto, stays in one of our houses. The three of them are pictured here below in Roberto’s hospital room.  What a blessing to be a support for them, both in prayer and otherwise!

WE ALSO GIVE GOD THANKS FOR THE UPCOMING ONE-WEEK VISIT OF A GROUP OF SIX YOUNG WOMEN IN FEBRUARY!!  They are from the States and are participating in a Latin American ministry summer program for women known as “Ultra”.  During this South American summer they are visiting and helping ministries such as ours in several Latin countries and we’re excited to be able to host them!  They’re due to arrive on Feb. 9^th and leave on Feb. 18^th and their time will be split between our work in Santiago and on the rural camp property.  Please pray for their coming and going and time with us.

Lastly we have one more prayer request for you….

Janine was walking on an uneven cement sidewalk in La Cisterna yesterday, January 30^th, and she fell, breaking her left wrist.  It was casted yesterday but the scan of the break showed bone fragments and incomplete alignment after manhandling her bone back into place.  She is due to go back to the hospital this Thursday, February 2^nd, for surgery and is expecting to stay in the hospital for one or two nights.  The doctors aren’t entirely sure if they’ll operate on Thursday or on Friday—you never know for sure in Chilean public hospitals. 🙂 In spite of everything, she is in good spirits and is not experiencing much pain, even though her temporary plaster cast is pretty heavy.  Thank you Lord for always being with her and with all your children!

Praising, praying, and fasting in our “ETERNAL PLANS and PURPOSES” ONE, TRUE GOD,

Jack & Janine