MID-SEPTEMBER PRAISE & PRAYER REPORT

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.  –Deut. 7: 9

We have two real praises to share!

1. Jack was able to be a part of a team in northern Chile constructing a much-needed addition to help finish the replacement house for a Christian woman, Domitila, who lost her home in the heavy rains a couple months ago. In the desert area of northern Chile the mountains consist of rocks and boulders—rain of any kind is also extremely rare.  Many homes in the region hardest hit were destroyed by flood waters, while Domitila lost her home when part of the lower portion of the mountain next to her house gave way, sending stone, sludge, and boulders down to where she lived.  Two boulders crashed through her house.  If it had occurred at night when they were sleeping, they would have been dead.

The government determined that those living in that area could not rebuild there, due to the possibility of future rain and the instability of the mountain.  They gave her a small plot of ground and a basic 20’ X 20’ replacement house, but one without interior walls, doors, or fixtures.  It’s difficult to imagine a family of four adults living in such a small space.  The Christian ministry Filadelfia in Vallenar, roughly one hour twenty minutes away, became aware of her plight and decided to help by constructing an additional space onto the basic government home to give her two needed extra bedrooms and an extra bathroom.

The above photos show Domitila & her nephew (who is one of the adults that live with her), the mountain next to their home showing the section that gave way, the bedroom with a boulder still inside, her replacement basic house with the addition begun, and finally, after three days of work, the addition under rood and taking shape. 

Two Chilean churches had made donations to help cover the cost of construction and our ministry, along with donations from two U.S. churches and our own Chilean church were able to cover the remainder of the cost.  Jack spent three full days helping and the construction should be completed by this Friday (Chile’s Independence Day), Sept. 18.

2. At the same time, we received a call from the attorney working to complete our new Foundation for our work with abandoned children. When he called (as this process has taken over two years) all Jack could say at first was “NO—don’t tell me!!”  but yes, our papers had just been completed.  He and Janine signed the papers on Friday, Sept. 11.  Praise the Lord to be sure!!  Notice will now be published in a Chilean paper, and the remainder of the process should be completed in roughly three to four weeks time.

              Jack & Janine signing the Foundation papers.  We can hardly believe it, we’re so happy and grateful to the Lord!!

One couple is now moving into one of our ministry property’s four houses and another couple is set to move into another of the houses the first week of Nov.  One or both of these couples might be involved in one way or another in the care of children sent to us in the future.

TIMING-WISE, we will be in the States the last week of Oct. to participate in the annual Missions Conference (ICOM) of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ and to report to supporting churches and then finally spend Christmas with our children and grand-children.  We will then be back in Chile in the first days of 2016 to be involved in January and February in some initial “day” camps at the new property in middle Chile that we have been reporting about.  Here in Santiago our goal is to be able to have at least one house parent couple in place before March so that we can start receiving children in the houses shortly thereafter.  The laws governing the care and placement of “wards of the government” children are seemingly constantly changing.  We thus are not sure at this point how those laws might affect us in this important ministry.  At the same time we will be in the best position possible with the Foundation and board both in place to take the work forward.

Thank you again so much for your valued prayer support!  God is so faithful!

Love and blessings in our “Covenant of love to a thousand generations”  God,

Jack & Janine