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North American Team Members

Chilean Team Team Members

¿Jack and Janine Swanson

Jack & Janine Swanson are independent Christian Church/Church of Christ missionaries sent out under the authority and structure of Deer Creek Christian Church, in University Park, Illinois, to Santiago, Chile, South America. Leaving the Chicago area, they spent one year studying the Spanish language in Costa Rica, along with their four children, arriving in Chile in November, 1993. They were new, “mid-career” missionaries. Their oldest son, Jonathan (1978), is now living near Los Angeles with his wife, Christina and son, Joshua (2004). Their daughter, Jordan (1983) and son, Julian (1986), are studying at Azusa Pacific University (APU) near Los Angeles, with Jordan due to graduate in May, 2006. Youngest son, Jayme, (1990) lives at home in Santiago.
In addition to being mission team leader and participating in ministry outreaches, Jack teaches at a local live-in drug rehab center for men and helps guide and teach in the Chilean Team Christian Church/Church of Christ Bible Training Institute dedicated to the raising up of additional pastors, teachers, missionaries and leaders in Chile. He also pastors the team’s church plant, Iglesia Cristiana “Jesús es El Camino”, with help from teammate Humberto Riveras (see below). In 2005 Jack helped Humberto start up the church’s men's group. Janine is overall supervisor of construction design and progress, along with being involved in various ministries and also being responsible for weekday lunch planning for workers. In 2005, she helped Maritza (see below) start up and guide the church’s women's group and she also helped start and lead the church’s new youth group for twelve to sixteen year-olds, with Luis and Katie - a role that she now will be able to back out of in 2006.

Janine: My heart lies with children - especially children with little or no hope. Thus for me, it has been very rewarding to see what God has done in the lives of the kids who participate with us. The same holds true for the impact we are beginning to have in the lives of teens. Jayme, Nichol and Samuel (Humberto's son) are our three teen leaders.

Our Thursday night English Club at the ministry site is attracting more and more people of all ages. Many aren't Christians and what they don't realize yet is that God wants them to know Him personally and call Him Lord and Savior. It's very satisfying for me to see this part of our ministry take root and grow.

It's also been very interesting to me to be a part of a team of both Chilean Teams and "Gringos" looking at the cultural issues. This includes the reality of how our teammates and others see us - we are educated, have cars and live in a real house, instead of a room with a shared bathroom. We think and act differently and sometimes I can't help but ask myself what they really think about us or wonder about us.

Jack: My year has had many highlights. I saw six team members, both Chilean Team and North American, develop three new ministry outreaches, while continuing to work at forming themselves into a unified team. We have also seen continued construction progress at the ministry site. We have seen ministry identity and purpose taking place, especially within the outreaches and ministries of the new church. Adults, youth and children are participating in groups and in the new church. We received two college students in 2005 as part of the two-month internship we offer every year. Three of our supporting churches came to Chile in 2005, as well.

We are working on the submission of our corporate by-laws to the government to gain official recognition as a church. I appreciate the positive, inviting, Christian atmosphere of love, teaching, growth and care that exists at the ministry site and within the ministry team. Nothing of what we do is taken for granted, as our work is extremely challenging and intense at times, but so rewarding and satisfying at the same time. Our emphasis is on evangelism, new and renewed commitments to Jesus and on discipleship. God is responsible for the results!

¿Luis and Katie Almonacid

Luis Almonacid and Katie were married in March of 2007. Luis is Chilean, born in Southern Chile, and has been actively involved in Christian service for around ten years with music ministry, drama ministry and youth groups. He has been part of this current ministry around four years. His main work involves the youth of the church--discipling teen boys and leading others who work with them. He and Katie are over-all coordinators of the youth group. He also shares preaching duties once a month, takes part in the leadership of the young adults’ group and participates in men’s group. He devotes one and a half weekdays to the work of the church and three days per week to the construction part of the ministry.

Katie grew up in a Christian home in Oswego, Kansas, and graduated from Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri in 2003. Her first real mission experience came in 1999, when she made a trip to Thailand and Laos, leading her to commit her life to the Lord as a missionary. Katie’s main responsibilities in the “Jesus is the Way” Church revolve around the discipleship of teen girls and young women. She also helps co-ordinate the children’s ministry and internship program and participates in the young adults’ group. As members of the mission team, she and Luis find themselves busy with other tasks and work as well.

Katie: After spending an entire semester in Chile with the Swansons in 2001, God laid it on my heart to return for at least two years. Since my arrival in October, 2004, I have seen first-hand that He is definitely moving in this place. I am awed watching kids and teens learn about God and grow in their faith. For many of them, this is a new experience.

¿Richard and Paula Castillo

Richard works for a large Santiago-based bank, helping coordinate their internet sites and Paula also currently works for the same bank. A dynamic, young Chilean Team couple, they began with the team in September, 2003, helping with the "Kids' Corner" outreach - an interactive type of Sunday School with neighborhood children on Saturday afternoons. That initial commitment deepened when Paula took over as the overall coordinator of that ministry and Richard began a Saturday night outreach to older youth and young adults, with the help of others on the team.

Richard has been helping guide and teach adult Sunday School classes, leading others in learning Pacto de Paz (Peace Treaty), an evangelistic tool written by John Hendee. In addition to helping in this area, Richard is also the coordinator of the church praise band. The Young Adults group meets on the last Saturday of the month.

Richard: I am sad that, for now, the young adults will not be regularly meeting, but all the same, I am very satisfied with what I am able to contribute to the work of the church. The church has a good future and is the right place for my wife and myself. In fact, it is a church in which we have found something special and we are committed to continuing. (paraphrased)

Paula: I give God thanks for this past year in which I learned much of the love and promises of God. I've received much joy in seeing all of the changes (in some cases, significant changes) that have taken place in the children that participate in the Saturday "Kid's Corner". It brings me joy to see children that before didn't know anything about God today knowing who it is that loves and cares for them more than anyone. In addition, they've learned much from the Bible. I've come to learn that without God, we are nothing, for it is Him that fills our lives and it is Him who has brought each and every child to Kid's Corner, setting them on a path to become a child of His. I give infinite thanks to God for his wisdom, blessings and accompaniment and I give Him thanks for the others in our ministry that have helped me do this and for making Kids' Corner possible. Thank you, Lord. (paraphrased)