September is the month in which Chile’s Independence Day is celebrated on the 18^th. We did quite a "write up" last September on the significance and the happenings of the days and weeks surrounding this important day in Chile’s past. Perhaps the bottom line is that while Chile has been an independent country now for 194 years, it in other ways continues as a "captive" people, not knowing that true freedom comes from a real relationship with God through an alive Jesus. Please make no mistake--that is expressly why we are here, that so many more would come to know our good Savior and Lord and follow him, beginning with the children, who are so open. God is making a difference, as Chile continues to shift toward Him and that’s why we, too, so look forward to the events of this month.

You may not be aware, but Chile won some gold medals in the recent Olympic Games - specifically in the sport of tennis. The number of people in the street was incredible - on foot, on bicycles and motorcycles and in cars and trucks alike - waving the Chilean flag and jumping up and down. An NBA Championship/Super Bowl-size celebration in every way and tremendous boost of self esteem and value for the country as a whole and to children and youth in particular. The particular tennis players on this year’s team are not only good at tennis - they are committed to work hard and are humble and of good character as well. What a powerful combination! 

Sometimes we in the United States forget the power inherent in having and in being good, dedicated role models. Why?  We are surrounded by them. We know that we have value and purpose and we look at the possible instead of the history of the not-possible (The Chicago Cubs might be the best example of this kind of die-hard hope and optimism in spite of their history. ha ha). We can overcome anything, as seen time and time again in tragedies that overcome us in the U.S. How much more important, then, to realize what God can do through each of us, filled with the victory He has already won for all time. If Jesus truly is the one and only way, truth and life, He should be seen in each and every Christian in a real way and we must be ready with a testimony and answer. You never know when a "Chilean" might be standing, living, or working next to you!

Of course, we here have one more reason to celebrate September. Janine just returned from three months in the States (Yeah!!), having been at Julian’s high school graduation with the whole family and at the birth of our first grandchild (Joshua Aslan, born to Jonathan and Christina), sent off our daughter, Jordan, for one semester of living, studying and serving in the Dominican Republic and traveled with and got Julian settled in his first year at Azusa Pacific U. We are so glad to have her back and she has wasted no time in re-connecting herself to needs and work alike!

For any of you who might want to call, Email, or send a letter or package to our kids in the coming months, their information is as follows (Jordan’s information will be good through November):

Jonathan & Christina: 10371 Garden Grove Blvd. Unit 7  Garden Grove, CA 92843 

Ph # 1-714-590-8950 jeswanson@hotmail.com

Jordan: Universidad Nacional Evangelica   Aptdo. 636   Santiago, Republica Dominicana

Ph # 011-1809-241-7083 jordanita1@hotmail.com

Julian: C/O APU   P.O. Box 9521,  Unit 1019    Azusa, CA 91702

Cell Ph # 1-714-932-3432 julianosw@hotmail.com

Jordan arrived in the Dominican Republic roughly four weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from one of her recent Emails:

We stopped at a couple shacks next to a little canal that looked like a swamp (apparently that is where the sewage goes also). There was a little naked 2 year old playing with a stick in a little can full of burning hot coals. A couple other boys (about 5 or 6) that were just building little castles with the weeds, sticks and dirt they had around them looked up and gave us huge smiles. After all the commotion, a mother came out of each shack, looking relieved to see the pastor that sometimes brings them a little bread to eat. This time, we didn't have any with us. One of the mothers looked hopeless and defeated. She has been sick for 2 months with lungs full of liquid. I felt so helpless. Kendar (the pastor) took the prescription she has had for several weeks and told her we would get the medicine. (I sure don't know where he'll get the money though because at his own house they don't even have food for the next day.)  Before we left, we prayed... that was about all we could do... You can only imagine how I was feeling after that... very confused with many different feelings. Day after day God has been teaching me so much and I know perhaps there are many things I will never understand. It's been hard, but so great to be here.

The past and leading toward the future

In taking a look back at this past year and then a look forward to the future, what gives us more appreciation than anything else is God’s faithfulness in taking us forward as a team, in terms of both His guidance and your support of us through prayers and finances. There are so many here (none of them with us by chance) that make what we do possible, from our newest  worker to our longest Chilean construction worker, Juan (who has now worked with us for over four years).

The ministry has evolved from one focused in years 2000 through 2002 in an outreach to damaged children and to men in recovery from drug and alcohol addictions to one now concentrated in the reaching out to children, youth, adults and families and the planting of a new church in the same neighborhood as the children’s home is located (and the same neighborhood in which we live). There are many facets of the work that continue to fall into place:

DRUG REHAB CENTER: Jack and a ministry friend, Daniela, were able to recently enter a neighborhood youth, Marcelo, in a new, local, Christian, live-in drug rehabilitation center. The center represents another connection in the community, La Cisterna, in which we live and work. Jack’s past teaching experience (which ended in July, 2002, with the beginning of our last furlough) in the Christian drug rehab center in Calera de Tango has well-prepared Jack to encourage and connect with Marcelo and the other fifteen men in the center. The center is named "Plenitud", which means "full" or "plentiful" and refers to the completeness and fullness of life only available through Christ. Unlike Jack’s affiliation in Calera de Tango, his role in Plenitud will be limited to teaching and occasional preaching. The treatment program at the center lasts a full year.

As we have said many times, drug and alcohol abuse in Chile are quite serious problems. Not only have these men wrecked and stolen from their already-poor families, but it is not the first time for many of them to be in such a center. What a great blessing to be able to teach and preach Jesus and build up a relationship with them!  We are praying that many baptisms will result as time goes on, representing just the beginning of real growth for the men and for members of their families, just as it did for the first Christians told about in the book of Acts.

CONSTRUCTION: We brought you up-to-date about our ministry site construction in June’s News Note, but neglected to include specific goals. We do use the two-story Salón regularly every day for lunch (with operating kitchen) and most days for weekly activities. We hope to have the first two-story duplex (situated directly in front of the Salón) under roof by the end of October, with one of those two houses inhabitable before year-end. At that point, Humberto (our construction foreman and site guard) and his family will move into that house as the other half of the duplex is finished. Then, the small adobe house on the front of our site where Humberto’s family has been living will be demolished so that the second duplex can be started. Any and all special one-time offerings or increased giving toward the construction would be greatly appreciated, as costs are out-pacing incoming support by approximately $1,000 per month.

The site has become our center of operations, with the Salón in regular weekly use (please refer again to June’s News Note). The 19^th of September will be a special afternoon of games, food and folk dancing with the children (with family members invited) who participate on Saturdays. On Saturday, September the 25^th, we will hold one of our periodic clothing bazaars for people of the neighborhood to find and/or trade for clothes that they need.

CHURCH PLANT: We began in 2003 to recognize our variety of community outreaches (see our June 2004 News Note) as seeds of the birth of a new church. One goal we have for this year is to meet for the first time in a worship setting, hopefully in the month of November. The goal for this coming year is to shift to weekly services beginning in March (which corresponds to September in the U.S.). There are many details that God will put in place by that time, including the formation of a music praise team. In the meantime, we continue to form new neighborhood relationships with Christians and non-Christians alike. Several non-Christian neighbors and friends, for example, attend the Thursday night English Club at the site. The Wednesday night Bible Study, also held at the site, is beginning to grow as well.

MINISTRY TEAM: Paul’s daughter, Sandra, has connected in a real way to our work through helping teach English in both a local school and in our regular Thursday night English Club at the ministry site. She arrived over six months ago and we are glad that she is here helping.

We are also pleased to announce the addition of Katie Hayden, of Oswego, Kansas to our ministry team. Katie, a 2003 graduate of Ozark Christian College, is due to arrive on October 12 to help for an extended period of time. She has a heart for teen and adult woman discipleship and will train other young Chilean women in this important area of ministry as well. There are so many teen girls and single moms here needing and open to the influence of a young Christian woman in their life. Katie will be joining Claudia, already a member of the team actively making good connections with area mothers in need. Doing a better job of reaching and lifting up those mothers was a specific goal for 2003 and 2004. We have seen much of that goal realized through Claudia’s contacts, but there are still several connections to be made and strengthened.

Another area in which we have sought additional help is the area of administration and communication via the internet. It’s been harder and harder, for example, to stop long enough to get our normally regular News Notes sent out to you. We have been specifically asking the Lord to provide someone who can commit to working with us for several months to one year or longer and who can also teach computer to neighborhood older children. We have two older computers that we can dedicate to such an outreach. Recently, James Coons, a friend from Sterling Heights, MI, made his third trip here in the last four years and is now making arrangements to be that person, hoping to arrive by the end of 2004.

Another current ministry team goal is to also have our official application as a corporation signed and filed with the government during or before the month of January 2005. Toward that end, we are currently working as a team of eight on the wording of the corporate statutes that best define who we are (including requirements of membership) and what we will do as a church.

BIBLE TRAINING INSTITUTE: The Bible training institute, Betania, that Jack helps direct, continues to grow in effectiveness with the participation of more churches in other parts of Chile. Currently hosting classes are three Christian Churches/Churches of Christ: in Calama and Antofagasta (both in the far north) and in Puerto Varas in the far south. The institute school year will end in November, with roughly sixteen students completing their second year of study. Now added to the curriculum is a year of practice in which the student is connected to a special new or on-going outreach in the local church, which the pastor of that church supervises. In addition, these current graduates will now help teach first level institute classes in their churches.

There are at this time two additional churches that have made commitments to join the Institute’s program beginning next March: Puerto Octay (roughly one hour north east of Puerto Varas) and Osorno, a major city forty minutes directly north of Puerto Varas. Each location will have roughly twelve students entering level one. The amazing blessing with regard to the participation of the Puerto Octay church is that, while it has approximately seventy members and is several years old, it has never undertaken or sent its people for any type of training at all. The church in Osorno has almost one hundred members and did participate at one time four or five years ago. It’s good to have them back on board.

There are four immediate goals of the Institute:

• To get as many graduated students as possible connected to teaching lower level students in their areas of the country

• To initiate and have in place a new intern initiative beginning in March 2005, where Churches of Christ will receive one Institute second year student per year from a different church to help in a ministry area of need

• To keep broadening the participation in the Institute of Churches of Christ in other parts of Chile, adding at least one to two new sites each calendar year

• To work at encouraging the many churches of Christ in the Santiago metropolitan area to re-commit and reconnect the Institute by to helping teach and by receiving Institute interns.

At this point, no Santiago-area churches participate in any way in the Institute’s program.

VISITS TO CHILE: We were pleased and excited to host Bob Grove, minister of the Christian Church of Manteno, IL for ten days recently, along with his daughter, Jennifer. Their visit was a blessing to us, as well as rich for them in experiencing the Chile mission first-hand. We now await a return work team visit from their church in the next one to two years.

Also a group of twelve from the Macomb Christian Church of Sterling Heights, MI, arrived this past Sunday, October 19. The mixed group of eight men, two women and two teenage girls have been helping with construction and with the English Club of the local Chilean school that our son, Jayme, attends, visiting and doing great! They have made presentations at some local children's homes and have connected themselves to our other regular neighborhood outreaches. This is their second trip to Chile and their time here has been an absolute tremendous blessing and help to us!!

Lastly, a group of eight from Deer Creek Christian Church is due to arrive on October 30, for two weeks. This will be DCCC’s first time in Chile as a short term mission trip and we are excited about that, as we are any time that one of our supporting churches is able to come, experience and help. Deer Creek’s youth group is planning a similar trip next July or August. Other supporting churches, such as the Church of Christ of St. Joseph, IL and Grove Park Christian Church in Lakeland, FL., one of Paul Overmyer’s main supporting churches, are also planning work trips to Chile in the near future. God’s ministry here is diverse and real. Please give us serious consideration as the site for your church’s next cross-cultural mission trip, especially to gain a true appreciation of and feel for what you are helping to support.

NMC: Jack will be at this year’s NMC in Peoria, IL beginning Thursday, September 30 and ending Sunday, October 3. Spending time at our booth with Jack will be our son, Julian, as well as many of our special friends of the Chile ministry, including Katie Hayden and James Coons. Please stop by and talk with us.

Jack will be giving a workshop on "going from being a church member to full time mission worker". Both he and Joel Searby will be participating in an excellent panel presentation moderated by Joel, entitled "SPRINGBOARDS: Connecting  in the Kingdom". The panel will include missionaries, Bible College representatives, missions organization representatives and church pastors. It will  focus on how to better share resources and connect to kingdom work in the world. Jack’s workshop will be held on Friday at 9:00 a.m. and the panel workshop on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Jack also has a room reserved on Friday between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. to meet with any and all supporters and friends to discuss the ministry here and answer questions, etc. Specific further information will be available at our booth. Please don’t miss this opportunity to dialog and share. The encouragement, workshops, information, inspirational presentations and speakers and atmosphere of the NMC truly make it a blessing to attend and the program for youth is dynamite!  It will never be closer or more convenient to our many IL supporting churches than it is this year in Peoria. If you haven’t attended in recent years, you may not really know what you are missing.

In closing, we want to say again how much we appreciate your regular prayers and financial support. You need to know that your connection to our ministry matters and that what God is doing through us matters, as well. We are serious about and dedicated to what we do and will never let you down. We have found, especially as time has gone on and the ministry has developed into one directly connected to the real needs of real people around us, that effective ministry is never without risk. We are, at present, helping a single mother, Fernanda and her daughter, Camila, by housing, discipling and encouraging them and by helping (alongside of other Chilean friends) protect them from her domineering mother, who cares nothing for her. Instead, she is angry that she is separated from her granddaughter. For the mother, love means control. It is a delicate situation to be sure that needs prayer for discernment and for God’s will for them to be clearly seen.

God bless you all—we appreciate and love you!!

Jack & Janine and Paul & Sandra       

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