Missionaries to Latin America
Verbo Ministries/Guatemala City
James
and Lynn Jankowiak
Dear Friends,
Earthquakes, landslides, erupting volcanoes, torrential rains,
journeys over dangerous and potholed roads, strange sicknesses...sometimes
being a missionary in Central America seems a world away from what we might
call ordinary reality. But other times it’s traffic jams, waiting in lines,
paying bills, going to the supermarket in Guatemala City...just like in
the States.
When the first of two very destructive earthquakes that killed
hundreds of people and leveled thousands of houses several weeks ago in
El Salvador rolled through Guatemala, we had just finished a teaching meeting
and were standing with friends on a patio. Lynn and several others just
thought they were getting dizzy. Then we noticed that the water in the
bottled water cooler was sloshing around. Instead of the usual sharp shocks,
this earthquake oscillated under us like a ship in the rolling ocean.
None of Verbo’s people or buildings suffered damage, but the
loss of life and the property devastation in El Salvador was tremendous.
We’re working with friends in the capital city of San Salvador to distribute
food and other necessities, and are helping them start a medical clinic
in a rural pueblo. Later we’ll help our Salvadorian churches initiate long
term outreaches to earthquake victims.
In all of Central America when disaster strikes, it takes the
people years to recover because these nations are so poor. In Guatemala,
a bridge over a major highway near our house was washed out by rain eight
months ago. Reconstruction is super slow.
Honduras is barely emerging from Hurricane Mitch’s ruin. We were
passing through the country on the main international highway to Nicaragua
when suddenly I saw several old tires held down by rocks in the middle
of my lane. As I swerved to avoid them I saw there was a hole
in the road big enough to swallow a Volkswagen bug. At night...who knows
what would have happened? The highway has been that way since the hurricane
more than two years ago.
The answer to all the poverty and hopelessness is Jesus, of course.
But just getting people saved, though it assures their eternal destiny,
won’t change their human condition. The message we preach is the ACTIVE
church. The primary emphasis of Christian life always has to be loving
God and doing His will—serving our Heavenly Father and our fellow men as
a true priesthood of believers. All the good works, all the social changes,
all the extension of the Kingdom of God, must stem from a life rooted in
a passion for Jesus.
That’s why I’m particularly happy about the thousands of kids
who go to our schools and about our new, accredited, university. The students
are learning to use the Bible as touchstone of their life experience. They
learn that the Scriptures are a road map to heaven and also the basic manual
for the stewardship and transformation of planet earth.
As we minister throughout Latin America in person and through
radio and TV (Yes! Verbo is now part owner of a Christian TV station and
owner of two FM stations!) we hope this message of union with Christ and
care for his people will transform these nations into showplaces of God’s
love.
Speaking of love divine brings me to our family’s biggest news:
Our oldest son, Nathanael, married Amy McMillan in San Francisco, Mexico,
just north of Puerto Vallarta, in November. I officiated at the sunset
oceanside ceremony and Scott and Ellie Snedeker prayed the blessing over
the newlyweds. The Snedekers were Lynn’s pastors when she first joined
Gospel Outreach at the Lighthouse Ranch about 28 years ago; and Scott was
the one who suggested that Nathanael work in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. That’s
where he met Amy.
Over 40 friends and family spent the wedding week vacationing
together in tranquil and tropical San Francisco. We thought it apt that
Nata and Amy married South of the Border. Both had lived there, and Nata—though
he wasn’t born there—was conceived in Mexico. They spent their honeymoon
getting various scuba diving accreditations as they worked toward instructor
status. They then returned to live and work on Unalaska Island in whose
freezing waters scuba diving is not a recreational sport.
Our youngest son, James Tomás, is in his last months of
high school. He plans to study computer systems engineering at a university
here in Guatemala after spending the summer in Brazil honing his
Portuguese. Lynn (hopefully) and I will join him for a couple of weeks
of ministry in the church we founded in Rio de Janeiro and its daughter
congregation in São Paulo.
Our two girls, Angeline and Aurora, are both living and working
in Palm Beach County, Florida. They’re trying to juggle their jobs with
college courses, and hoping to live again one day in Latin America.
“Finally, brothers,” as the Apostle Paul said in the Second Epistle
to the Thessalonians, “Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread
rapidly, and be honored, just as it was with you.”
Fall 2001 Newsletter
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