2013 JENKINS FAMILY TOP 10 HIGHLIGHTS:

1.       Early in 2013 we noticed how much America was in need of church planting missionaries.   When Jana and I asked the kids, “If we church plant what type of church should we plant?”    They responded, “Multi-cultural.”    When we Googled, “Chicago’s most diverse neighborhoods” we found them to be on Chicago’s north side where Sophia had lived from September to December 2012 (http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/question-answered-who-settles-refugees-chicagos-north-side-104781,  http://www.examiner.com/article/study-discovers-chicago-s-five-most-diverse-neighborhoods, http://loyolastudentdispatch.com/2011/01/15/census-shows-rogers-park-most-diverse-neighborhood-in-chicago/, http://www.tenthousandripples.com/tenthousandripples.com/crp.html.)  Once again, Sophia led the way.

2.         A few of us who had been blessed by Rwanda realized that no Genocide Commemoration was planned for the Chicago area.  Thus we began organizing one.    A Genocide Commemoration was held at the Misseo Dei Church in Chicago on Saturday, April 13.     The grieving were comforted.  Some of those unaware of Rwanda’s Genocide were informed. (For more info http://en.igihe.com/news/rwanda-community-in-chicago-marks-19th.html)

3.       Caleb chose to instead of spending his high school senior year in a new high school to take a GED and enroll at the College of DuPage (a local community college.)   

He did tremendously well.    He played in the band.   He served with The Crew (Campus Crusade.)   He became part of a new church plant, The Church at DuPage.    He was accepted at Wheaton College, plays in the band, and like Sophia is in Work Out (Theater group)  We are very proud of Caleb's resilience. (To read more http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/05/caleb-jenkins-definition-of-mk.html) 

 

4.       During the summer we were homeless without either a place to stay or the resources to pay rent.    We used this season to visit family and friends and explain the vision( http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/09/were-expecting.html.)  In August Dave and Ethan came back to Chicago to try to start.    Rwandan friend, Alba Kamary found an available apartment in our budget.   Our upstairs neighbor is Lewie Clark, a fellow church planter among the Jewish community.   Jana’s prayers for good neighbors were answered (http://jana-joyinthejourney.blogspot.com/2013/09/homeless-no-more.html.)

5.       All of our kids had been home schooled at some point in our missionary journey except for Ruth.   As we considered the complexities of navigating Chicago Public Schools as an 8^th grader we decided it was the whisper of God to home school Ruth her 8^th grade year.   We’ve greatly enjoyed her daily presence in our home.    She is blossoming as a photographic artist. 

6.       We registered Timothy for a fall soccer season before we had enrolled him in school.     At his first game other parents asked, “Where is he going to school?”   Dave responded, “We have not figured that out yet.”    Other parents made some phone calls.   Three days later he started school at Waters Elementary, a fine arts magnet school.   It was the timing of God as Timothy got their 1 remaining 5^th grade opening during the last day they accepted new students.

7.       Ethan began the school year at Chicago Hope Academy – Chicago’s only non-denominational preparatory   high school.    He played soccer, was chosen as one of the team captains, and made Second Team All Conference.   We’re thankful for how African soccer nurtured both Ethan and Timothy’s success and adaptation (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/10/soccer-is-life-or-everything-i-needed.html.)

8.       We spent Christmas Eve with Jacob and Mona Zikusooka’s family, old friends from Uganda and Kenya.   We had done their pre-marital counseling many years earlier.    When Gabriel Mugisha Jacobs was having seizures we stayed with them in Nairobi as we sought medical care.    After 18 months away from Africa it was very good to have old friends near during the holidays.    They gave us an African map and blessed us with having it colored in with Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda nations we had served.   They blessed us with a belief that our influence would grow in Chicago by serving Diaspora from nations different than our African locations.   They asked for us to record each time we served a new nation on the map.

9.       In 2012 Dave had preached at a Liberian church in Chicago.   In 2013 Dave preached at a Tanzanian fellowship and a South Sudanese church.    We colored in those nations on Jacob’s map, and trusted Jacob’s blessing for our future.

10.   In 2014 Ignite Church Planting plans to join our partnership ( http://www.ignitechurchplanting.com/.)  Also, Abilene Christian University plans to begin a Chicago cohort for their masters in Global Service degreehttp://www.acu.edu/academics/gst/prospective/degrees/global-service/ ) and has asked for Dave to be a supervisor of a one year ministry internship..   Thus we face 2014 with hope in what God will continue to do through our dream of shepherding East Africans as church planters (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/08/10-point-vision-of-shepherding-africa.html.)

Our ministry is only possible due to the generous support of people like you.   Some of our historic partners were unable to continue their financial support of our family’s ministry in 2013 and our funding was very low.    Yet generous surprise donations helped us make it.   December is usually one of our key months in fund discovery.    Can you make a year end gift?   

You can give via the following methods:

·    Monthly bank draft (email us for form)

·    On line Credit Card 1-time or monthly (https://rocfoundation.worldsecuresystems.com/Donation-Form)

·    Check: use following address: 

              ROC Partners
              3007 NW 63rd, Ste 205
              Oklahoma City, OK 73116-3605
              Memo: Jenkins

Thank you for making the past year possible through your prayers, encouragement, and financial gifts.


Mungu akubariki (May God bless you),

Dave and Jana

SOCCER IS LIFE (OR EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT CULTURAL ADJUSTMENT I LEARNED AT KAMPALA KIDS’ LEAGUE)

Ethan, Toto KKL

Adaptation back to life in the USA is overwhelming.    Yet we know we’ve been called to return to the United States as missionaries.    The best old missionaries always taught and lived that family comes first.    The best old African wise men and women always taught and lived to make many friends.   In those seasons of mystery as one starts afresh old habits create a new.    Old virtues bring new opportunities.    Some of the best pragmatic lessons we learned at Kampala Kids’ League (KKL) in Uganda.

The Lord gave us delightful years to be in Uganda from 1993 to 2004.   Peace had come to Uganda.   The Diaspora scattered by refugee living were returning.    The media was privatized.    Business was booming.     The international community was growing.    Yet there was an

Caleb KKL

unscratched itch for youth sports and social interaction.    KKL came at just the right time.

For our family it was a grace from God for our kids to have a weekly practice and a Saturday game.   With three kids playing many of our Saturdays were spent together at games.   For some reason, I seemed to have somewhat of a gift to bring out the best in kids and resolve parental conflict.   I found myself volunteering in roles from coaching to twice being the basketball commissioner.

We may have offered something to the community, but it was the community who gave so much more back to us.    We discovered wonderful friendships.   Many of these friendships nurtured our ability to adapt.

Sopha's magic bat

In July 2013 we decided it was time to take the biggest risk of our lives.   We would move to the north side of Chicago – near to the largest cluster we could find of East African Diaspora and attempt to launch a multi-cultural church plant.    The first steps would be to settle the kids well.    The pragmatic meant soccer.  After all, growing up in Uganda we knew that soccer is life.  

Before we enrolled Timothy in school and navigated the complicated Chicago Public Schools (CPS) we found an American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) league in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago.    On a Sunday in June we drove from Wheaton to Rogers Park to enroll Timothy.   We moved into Rogers Park in September.   Timothy played his first game.   After the game parents asked me the embarrassing question, “Where is Timothy going to school?”

I admitted, “I have not figured that out yet.   Do you have any suggestions?”

Timothy, Victory Sports Camp

The parents gave me a pretty quick course in navigating the education landscape.    Then they offered to show the way.   (One lesson of adjustment is to follow.)    The next day one parent found that there was one remaining opening for a fifth grade spot at Waters Elementary School (A fine arts magnet school.)   We made a call and registered Timothy.     It has been a God send.    We’re thankful that when we couldn’t find our way soccer families opened a door.

to ask around

The lessons of KKL helped us find our way for Timothy’s school.   Soccer is life.

KICS Soccer Team

Ethan kept playing soccer when we moved to Rwanda.    When we moved to Wheaton he played on the Wheaton North sophomore team and for the Glen Ellyn Lakers club team.  

As we moved to Chicago we looked at several educational options for Ethan.  Chicago Hope Academy (CHA) seemed the best.    CHA is the only non-denominational Christian College Preparatory School in Chicago.    CHA founder, Bob Muzikowski reminds me of many of the older men who have brought out the best in me.    CHA is about the size of Kigali International Community School (KICS) and felt as much like “home” as any place we have found since returning to the USA.    The three stated objectives of CHA are spiritual, academic, and athletic.  

   Ethan tried out for the soccer team.   He made the team and played often.   He was chosen to be

Ethan at Caleb's Harambee

one of the co-captains.    Last week he was selected to the All-Conference Second team as a junior.    We are very thankful.

Again, though adaptation is overwhelming God is taking good care of us.    Time after time something happens to tell us we are just where God desires.     All we needed to know about cultural adaption we learned at KKL.   Soccer is life.   

Thank you all who have shared the soccer journey with us:  KKL – coaches, sponsors, administrators, and friends; KICS – teachers, coaches, board members, and administrators; Wheaton – coaches, teachers, friends, and Missionary Furlough Home board members; Kopion Junior Academy – administrators and coaches; AYSO – coaches, administrators, and friends; CHA – coaches, teachers, administrators, and friends.

Safari salaama (Travel well.) Mungu akubariki (May God bless all of you.)

OCTOBER 2013 PRAYER BULLETIN

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement that sustain our family and ministry.   Last month we gathered the courage to announce that we sensed God was calling us to again church plant.   We’re now pregnant with a dream (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/09/were-expecting.html.)   Missionary friends and mentors and most importantly our own parents affirm the vision of shepherding Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes to become missionaries to America (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/08/10-point-vision-of-shepherding-africa.html) as “needed and innovative.”     Now the journey begins.   This month please keep in your prayers:

1.      Our adjustment to Chicago.   This season feels so much like our first days in

Uganda and Rwanda.   More things go wrong than is realistically possible.   Yet, at the same time we have one divine appointment after another (   http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/09/you-know-lord-called-you-to-church.html.)  This is a God thing.  We trust His providence.   May His glory be seen through the season of foundation laying. 

2.     Our Kids adjustment.  Sophia and Caleb are doing well at Wheaton College, and we are thankful to be about an hour’s drive away.   Ethan is at Chicago Hope Academy, and we are thankful that he was chosen to captain their soccer team, and that Ethan made the All-Conference team.   Ruth is homeschooling through 8^th grade as we survey options for next year.    One of our divine appointments was that a family on Timothy’s soccer team found out that there was one remaining 5^th grade opening at Water’s Elementary Magnet School.   We are thankful for God’s gracious care of our kids. 

3.     Kenya and Missionary Responsibility.   From Saturday, September 21 to

Tuesday, September 24 we were glued to news from Kenya concerning the Westgate Mall tragedy.    Kenya is Jana’s childhood home, and the place we went to rest, shop, and heal during our 19 years in Uganda and Rwanda.   Westgate Mall was one of the places we frequented.    We could have easily been in the Westgate Mall.   Also, our friends could have easily been in the mall.   Thankfully, no one we knew was killed.   Yet another matter troubles us.   It seems a portion of the terrorists spent their youth in Minnesota and Illinois.   They could have been our neighbors (http://jenkinsinrwanda.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-is-westgate-tragedy-so-troubling.html.)      May God heal the wounds of our friends in Kenya.   May God use us to bring peace to Diaspora youth in America.  

4.     On Saturday, October 19 we will take our first corporate step in the vision of shepherding Diaspora from Africa’s Great Lakes.   We will host the first Steering Team meeting for Great Lakes Fellowship in our home.   May the Lord gather those He is calling.   May we be filled with wisdom.    May plans be made that shepherd our people well.

Thank you again for your prayers, support, and encouragement.

Mungu akubariki (God bless you),

Dave and Jana