Chile And Easter

Just about everyone can look at certain significant events and developments in their life that have had a major impact on them. They cause us to grow and change - sometimes drastically - in the way we think and act and determine basic values. One such significant development (in addition to beginning to regularly look to God’s Word for direction, instruction and as a way actually know Him) in our Christianity and spiritual growth came in realizing that "internals" (or what is inside of a person) are much more important than "externals" (outward appearances and practices). Jesus strongly rebuked the Pharisees for teaching and following many technical and superficial practices - many of them having to do with giving the proper outward appearance. You are now probably wondering what this has to do with Chile and Easter.

Our family celebrated our second "Holy Week" in Chile in 1995. We were attending and serving at the Metropolitana Church of Christ (where we spent approximately one and one half years before our first furlough). Good friends invited us to go with them to a nature reserve to have a barbecue on Good Friday, as it was a holiday. They had also invited another friend and her two children to go along and, since there were ten of us and one dog, we decided to take our van to accommodate all of us in one vehicle.

It was a great day with beautiful weather and we enjoyed the natural setting and also getting to know each other better. Their friend was a new Christian and her husband did not attend any church, although he considered himself Catholic. Sometime during the next few days, the missionary/senior pastor at Metropolitana approached me and told me that the women's husband called, totally upset and angry, with me of all people - I didn’t even know him!  Why?  Because I drove the van in which we went on our outing and because "I" had served his wife and children meat on Good Friday. The pastor said that he calmed him down on the phone and, in the end, a few months later after Alvaro and his wife participated in a "Marriage Encounter" sponsored by the Metropolitana church, Alvaro became a Christian.

What would make someone, basically not knowing anything about God, nor having anything to do with him, get so angry?  A total focus on "externals". If we had eaten fish that day, everything would have been fine.

Perhaps our biggest challenge in Chile, as we have said before, is not in getting people to believe that God exists, but rather in transforming the approach to God taken by an entire country of people. The externals are all there - from not eating any meat during Holy Week, to the worship of images and statues, putting "religious protections" in one’s home and wearing them around one’s neck and to placing candles at shrines of dead persons. We have determined to be a church that doesn’t make arguing against the "externals" its way of approaching others and winning new followers of Jesus, but instead, a church that does spend lots of energy teaching, modeling and valuing what God teaches, models and values - that is, what’s inside of a person and what’s real and alive. Light illuminates darkness. It’s interesting that embedded in all of the externals in Chile, many people use the long weekend to go to the beach, as Good Friday is a holiday. It is also usually one of the last "nice" weekends going into the fall of the year.

Thus, we have our transforming ministry work cut out for us, but oh what a joy when we see perspectives change!  The light of a risen Jesus is bright to be sure, once a person sees it for what it is. An active, real, alive God is the focus of all of our weekly outreaches and activities, from our regular Monday morning devotions with all of our construction workers to Sunday mornings, with its Sunday School time and church service. We know, too, that we can’t be a church that "waits" for people to somehow find us, but rather a church that finds and connects to people outside of our ministry site. After all, the way we and you "do" church is a reflection of our true hunger for following Jesus and for having others come to know him.

OUR GOD IS A GOD THAT FOCUSES ON AND LIVES IN THE INSIDE OF A PERSON!!

Special Easter Week

We had two special services this week - one on Good Friday and the other on Easter Sunday (including a breakfast - YUM!). On each day we did a drama featuring monologues of three people, Jesus (Humberto), Peter (Luis) and Mary Magdalene (Nicole). It went extremely well, with almost forty people attending on both days - very effective presentations, all toward revealing and reinforcing a true Jesus that wants me to know and follow him.

Good Friday Photos: (a) Jesus tells Peter that he will deny Him, (b) Jesus in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane

Easter Photos: (a) Mary Magdalene reflecting on her encounters with Jesus, (b) Mary Magdalene with the resurrected Jesus

Easter Photos: (a) Easter Breakfast, (b) The "Gonzalo and Company" Set Construction Team

New Ministry Outreach

Saturday, April 2nd, marked the initiation of a new group for adolescents between the ages of twelve and sixteen. We are excited because this group corresponds to Jayme’s age. There are about 1,000 kids in our neighborhood that fit in this age group and as far as we know, there are no visible outreaches being made to them!

The new group will be held each Saturday afternoon after Kids' Club. Janine, Katie, Luis and Gonzalo are the adult leaders. The group started out with eight youths. The full leadership team currently consists of these four adults, Jayme, Sammy (Humberto's son) and Nicole (Richard's youngest sister). They have spent time planning activities and outreaches that will attract and impact kids in this age group. Our first goal is to reach them as friends and to develop one-on-one relationships. Some might call this the "pre-evangelism" stage. We already know that this is a crucial age for influencing present decisions that could heavily impact their futures. The first day was spent visiting some of the kids in our neighborhood that have participated with us in previous activities and also in going to our local plaza to play games and have fun. We finished with a campfire to get know each other, to talk about the "vision" for the group and talk with them about one thing each one likes about themselves -- for many, that was pretty tough. Many of the kids are so accustomed to hearing about how stupid or ugly they are that it is hard to find something good about themselves. We also encouraged them to bring friends to next meeting.

Other News

James, Katie and Sandra (Paul Overmyer’s daughter) just returned from Argentina. Since they do not yet have permanent residence status in Chile, they must leave the country every 90 days to renew their tourist visas. They stayed in Bariloche, a favorite tourist spot known for its chocolate factories. It has a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains. In Bariloche, James, Katie and Sandra spent a few days with our friends, Bob and Joan, who live there. Bob and Joan were the couple that we helped last month getting their goods and motorcycle out of customs at Chile’s port in San Antonio.

Our children, Jordan and Julian, were part of a one-week mission trip to Mexico, while on spring break last week at Azusa Pacific U. Both said that the trip, in which people participate from all across the U.S., was well worth it and rewarding. Specifically, Jordan coordinated a team of twelve students, who worked with roughly fifty "problem" kids - those that might steal and harass others - and that live in one of the towns where the mission trip took place. This was Julian’s first Mexicali trip. He was part of a medical-type team, helping paramedics, etc. He even went out ambulance teams.

Prayer Requests

• For the continued transformation of children, youth and adults toward a real Jesus.

• For that transformation to lead to decisions and baptisms and new life.

• Pray for the Adolescent Group, that it will grow and bring them to Christ.

• For us as a full U.S./Chilean team and church to take hold of our common work.

• For our full team to have a true hunger to reach the lost and the misdirected.

• Against "externals" and Satan’s use of them against achieving real relationship with God.

• For good preparations, safe travel and good experiences for the individuals, interns, churches and youth groups due to visit us during these next several months.

In closing, we wish you all a productive, good, blessed spring!!

With much love, in an "inside" Jesus,

Jack and Janine and the Chile Mission Team

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