We have much to share about all of the ways that God continues to lead and bless His work through us and our team here in La Cisterna—almost even too much, it seems, as it’s been a long four months since last sending out to our supporters two News Notes in the month of January. When Solomon wrote about “seasons of life” he surely wasn’t kidding, as we are in the middle of what have been some of the very fullest four months since coming to Chile. We do give the Lord thanks as His Spirit continues to accomplish more than we could possibly hope or expect, just as Jesus promised.

Ministry Developments

Perhaps the best way to begin to describe the past several months would be:

·        formation of our identity as a church plant

·        Chilean team building and development

·        working through the statutes of the corporate papers we are submitting to the government

·        steady continued growth of the children’s outreach

·        the arrival of more and more new people to our ministry site by way of mid-week Bible study, English Club and Young Adult Group

·        healing of past and present personal hurts and damage of many around us

·        reaching out to mothers and families

·        an active internship program (we currently have seven, including Joel and Jennifer Searby, who are leading this year’s two-month experience, have recently arrived)

·        helping teach English in a local school

·        Jack teaching in and helping coordinate the Bible/Leadership Institute for the Chilean Christian Churches

·        ongoing construction

·        our renting and moving into a different house

·        preparing for Paul’s move to the house he is buying

·        moving our office space to still another house 

Let’s see….”Where did we misplace that day off again?”  ha ha 

All of these things have taken time, effort, thought and prayer and in spite of the challenge of several of them, all of them are worthwhile and important. Our home is constantly full of people and new  “family” members, but these same persons are the ones who at the same time are the substance and presence of God’s leading and touching and ministry support in different ways. If lunch is any indication, sixteen to twenty people working with us eat in our home every weekday.

First, a little about the ministry team and direction- We started working last July with neighborhood children every week in a “Saturday Sunday School” setting in our home. The First Christian Church in Tuscola, IL was here at that time, helping with construction, with our children’s outreach and with helping teach English in two local schools. As God blessed the new going forward with those fifteen or so children, he also began opening up a door to their mothers. Several of those families continue to struggle with problems of addictions, alcoholism and abuse (mostly on the part of the men that live there) and we actively still work with the mothers and children. Our intent, as outlined in past News Notes, was never to just work with children, but rather to have children become the basis for broader ministry outreach and growth and for providing a base for the planting of a new church.

We are presently a core leadership team of eight persons: Jack and Janine, Paul, Humberto, Richard and Paula, Claudia and Fernanda. Humberto is one of our two, key Chilean construction supervisors/workers (along with Juan) and he is responsible for coordinating the Wednesday night Bible study (with ten persons normally attending). Richard and Paula have helped since mid last year, first with children and now with Paula coordinating our Saturday children’s outreach and Richard spearheading a Saturday night young adults group begun in March of this year. Roughly thirty children between the ages of three and fifteen come on Saturdays and ten or so young adults regularly participate Saturday nights.

Claudia, the single mother of Ariel and Ghisleine (who lived with us for one year prior to our first furlough in July 1996) visits on Saturday mornings with area mothers, who need encouragement and guidance. She has made a definite difference in the lives of those mothers, even to the point of giving one of them specific suggestions of how to make some money to help put food on the table. That mother, who before had become extremely desperate, is doing much better and credits Claudia’s advice as the reason. Claudia completed her “GED” diploma early this year and is now enrolled in a college level program to be certified as a social worker assistant. Fernanda, another single Christian mother of one, is the newest addition to our team. She is presently living with us (she will stay in our home during our time in the U.S.) and is helping work with younger children on Saturdays. Her daughter, Camila, is five years old.

Paul continues to help with construction, Jack helps with the Bible study and takes overall responsibility for the coordination of the team and Janine coordinates all English teaching activities. Our English Club on Thursday nights is now up to twenty-five participants, with new persons arriving regularly through word of mouth. Paul’s daughter, Sandra, arrived just over one month ago with hopes of adapting and living here. She presently is concentrating on language and culture learning and on forming friendships. Fernanda has been one of those significant new relationships and they do a lot together.

On a personal level, we ask for your continued prayers for both Claudia and Fernanda. Claudia has many difficulties with her two children, who are home together every weekday afternoon alone until roughly 8:00 p.m., when she returns home from her own studies. On top of that, she has quite a bit of homework to fit in. Fernanda’s mother has been very controlling and negative toward her, while at the same time expressing concern and interest in Fernanda’s daughter. We see many wonderful qualities in both young women.

All activities are held at the ministry site, including a once-per-quarter clothing bazaar to help people who can’t afford to buy clothes for their children. Instead, they bring in clothes and exchange them for other types and sizes. All of this significantly adds to the type of church we will be together—one naturally and necessarily based in meeting needs and in meeting people where they are at with the provision and Good News of a God who loves them profusely and wants to see them reconciled and healed, through grace, truth and love. At this point we are almost finished with adjustments needed to the corporate statutes we are filing to be officially recognized as a church. The name we are submitting under is Iglesia Cristiana “Jesús Es EL CAMINO” ("Jesus Is THE WAY" Christian Church) . The application process can take from four months to almost a year and a Christian attorney experienced in this area of law is helping us. We hope to begin Sunday services by March of next year, if not before on some kind of basis. God has used and drawn on every part of our experiences and development as missionaries in Chile to bring us to this point. It is very exciting, to say the least, to see what’s possible when the Lord combines people, prayers and resources!

Perhaps this is a good point to fill you all in on the ministry site construction. You know that we have been using the two-story multi-purpose Salón at the rear of the property since just before the end of last year. Taken from a comprehensive monthly listing of construction site-related expenses, we now know that we are spending approximately $2,700 per month on continued site development and building. For us, this is a significant amount of money and just now we are beginning to put up the brick walls of our first two-story duplex unit. We made an appeal for additional financial help last year and two churches did respond. At this point we need to again bring this need before you.

The construction of our two story multi-use building is almost finished and we have started on the construction of two duplex units (four houses) intended for the housing of some combination of abandoned children (living on the site with Christian foster parents) and of single mothers in need, all in a Christian atmosphere. It may be that you can help with a one-time gift or it may be that you can raise your level of monthly giving. Either way, God’s kingdom work will be furthered. We very carefully oversee the spending of all funds and need $1,000 of additional monthly income to maintain current progress.

Please help - it is a several year project representing a significant investment. An estate gift originally made possible the purchase of the property and much of the progress made to date.

We now also often have Christian young people arriving who wish to experience cross-cultural ministry. Their contributions and presence is most definitely a blessing to both us and to the work. We asked Bryce, a student at APU, who recently spent three months with us to describe his experience:

“I have spent three months in Chile - a country that I knew little about before I arrived, except of course that it was in South America, it was long and thin and that people here spoke Spanish. Jack and Janine and their team have taken me on a journey of a lifetime that has allowed me to learn more about people, of what missionary life is about and a lot of Spanish!  But above all, I have learned what people need most: LOVE. It’s the love that God offers his children and anyone else who is “empty” and searching.

I participated in many things, both fun and challenging: construction, the adult Bible study, English Club, kids activities, the young adult group and teaching English in a nearby school. Those were the scheduled things, but there were all of the random conversations on the street and “divine appointments” that only God can schedule. I had the privilege of being a part of and seeing people grow closer as family and closer to Christ. This time has changed my life in many ways. It has added to my perspective and has given me a new understanding of what I can do in my personal life and in the lives of people around me.”

California Joy

On Monday, June 7, we three (Jack, Janine and Jayme) will be flying to Los Angeles to attend Julian’s high school graduation. He decided to complete high school in California to both accustom himself to studying in English again and to best poSition himself for scholarships in entering Azusa Pacific U. this September.

Jordan finished her sophomore year at APU and is now enjoying her summer time off prior to living and studying in APU’s overseas program in the Dominican Republic beginning in September. The second semester of her junior year will be spent living with an inner city family in Los Angeles. Her two majors are sociology and Christian Ministries.

We are all also excited for Jonathan and his wife, Christina, who are expecting their first baby, a boy, in mid July. All reports on both mother and child are good. Janine will be spending extra time in California to be there for both the birth and to help cook, clean and coddle, as well as to get Julian settled into college. (As this will be our first grandchild, please forgive us, as we are just starting to learn the “lingo” that comes with the turf. Ha ha)  Meanwhile, Jack and Jayme will return to Chile Jack on July 8.

During our U.S. time, we will be able to be reached through our Email account and through Jonathan’s, Jordan’s and Julian’s phone numbers, which are 714-590-8950, 626-864-4554 and 714-932-3432, respectively. We will also be attending and hosting a “Chile” booth at the up-coming NACC in Phoenix, AZ, July 5 through 8. Come by and see us!!

Also, the Bible Institute that Jack participates in can really use a laser printer.

Should anyone be able to donate one or donate funds to buy one in California, please contact us very soon either by one of the above phone numbers or through this Email address. We would be able to bring it back with us in July.

God bless you all, with much appreciation and love in an unstoppable Jesus,

Jack and Janine and the Chile Mission Team

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