2018 Year End Newsletter

Dear Family and friends,

Can you believe 2018 is coming to a close? This has been a year of transitions for our family and ministry. We got our first granddaughter, Peniel Angelica Cardillo who has been such a joy.

Jana enjoying a visit with Penny in the fall

Caleb and his wife Sarah moved into the apartment building next door. Love having family as neighbors. Ethan is finishing his last classes at Wheaton college and applying to grad school. Ruth just finished her first semester at Judson University and Timothy, although it has been a rough fall for him with his health, was named to the 2018 U.S. Paralympics Track & Field High School All-American team.

Timothy with his first place medal at Junior Nationals 

Dave and I went from working 4 different jobs down to focusing on two ministries. We are still serving as houseparents for homeless mom’s and their children here at Jubilee Villiage. Secondly, for those that are following us on FaceBook and in our past newsletters we have shared about us starting a non-profit, Diaspora Outreach Community (DOC). We have been serving in these roles as missionaries to the East African Diaspora here in Chicagoland since we returned from Rwanda 6 years ago. Now we are able to put our full focus on this. This has been a leap of faith and we are counting on your support and prayers to carry us through.

Some of the highlights this year in our ministry has been helping to host an East African summer cookout. Coming alongside the Tanzanian community to reach out to other East Africans and we were thrilled with the over 300 attendees.

Tanzanian East African Summer Cookout 

New friends were formed and connections were made. Networking with some credit unions to find help for our East African Community in the future with low-interest loans and financial advice. Celebrating with those in our community over becoming U.S. citizens. Grieving with those who have lost loved ones and helping our community grief from afar.

Last night we had a young man who graduated from KICS( the Christian International school we helped to start in Rwanda) and has just finished his college degree from Trinity and is now living close by. It was nice to hear about what is happening in his life, help him brainstorm about his future, and we are hoping and praying he finds a fulltime employment as he was recently laid off.

Dave receiving an award for service at the Ugandan Christmas Party

We love going to parties and hosting gatherings in our home. We find that God is using us in these times to encourage others and speak His words to those who are struggling. Please continue to pray for us as He uses us to bless and disciple others living in diaspora here in Chicagoland.

We would love for you to prayerfully consider giving a yearend one-time gift. We are also looking for more monthly contributors. We have limited funds at the moment so we were only able to send this newsletter out to our short list. Congratulations you were on it!⇁😃 (Now we are sharing this in Jana's blog)

Some of you are already giving to us and we want to say thank you so much. Your support really means a lot to us.

If you would like to contribute to our ministry send a check to Cornerstone Christian Church, 312 Geneva Road, Glen Ellyn IL 60137 and put Diaspora Outreach Community in the memo. Thank you very much (Asante sana. Webale nyo. Murakoze cyane.)

We hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a joy-filled New Year!

Blessings,

Dave & Jana Jenkins

I Have Heard the Levitical Call

Looking for 20 new partners in our new call to serve the Diaspora of EastAfrica in Chicago. Please join us in praying for this!

I often get ask ," Now what are you all doing in Chicago? What is your job?" It is funny because this is a question that people have asked us through the years as we have served as missionaries.

I think before vocation was a buzz word ( or now it seems it is out of fashion) this is the word that described the calling on my life that is played out day by day.   The term Vocation , I would define as a calling to do and be something that becomes comprehensive....a passion that one can not walk away from---a knowing that what you are doing has eternity effects.

I have always wanted to do what God asked of me...be what He wants me to be... I do not know if my holistic view of life came from my up-bring as a TCK ( Third Culture Kid) with East African world view influences but I have always viewed my job more as who and whose I am than just what I do for a living.

Even as I went through my educational training I knew that it was not going to be traditional 9-5 job for me. As I write this ,  I know there are others that have been called to a vocation that looks more "traditional" and that is where God has placed you...but I have heard the Levitical call. " The Levitical priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance." (Deuteronomy 18:1 NIV)

I believe that as a church we all have to answer the great commission...some are called to go and some are called to send but all are called to the commission of God : "Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' " (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)

  Levitical call is a term that I have been chewing on lately.  As we have transitioned back to the U.S. I feel more like Dave and I are in our early 20's more than where are age-mates are. What I mean is that we are renting as apposed to owning a home...we are starting over gathering household items not having so much stuff that we are renting storage units....we are starting something anew rather than being settled in our careers. I must admit that I have struggled some with jealousy, envy, and wondering what have we acquired ?????

In one of my quiet times I felt God gently nudge me that one I should not compare but more importantly that He has called us to a different path. I had been reading through the Bible ( actually listening on line to daily readings) and was struck by the different standard and requirement of the Levies who were in full time service to God. He reminded me of the cost of saying yes to Him so many years ago...I was saying no to using my gifts and talents to acquire wealth and although we have not and do not buy into the thought that missionaries should "Suffer" and we have certainly not taken an oath of poverty, we have lived on less and used most to serve others.

But just as the Levites needed Israel to also follow God's calling by providing offerings to sustain them...missionaries today need the church to answer God's calling to give so that those of us who have answered the Levitical call can put our full energy into serving others. 

Now back to the question of "What are you doing in Chicago?" We are still missionaries. Even though we have relocated ,we are still serving the same people we have served over the last 20 years: East Africans that are now living in major cities in the U.S. --Chicago being one of them. Our hope is to Shepherd, Equip, Evangelize and Discipleship the Diaspora and out of this plant a multi-cultural church reaching the un-churched or De-churched of Chicago.

What does this practically look like? We are following relationship lines--30+ relatives of our last church plant --CCR ( Christ Church in Rwanda) and relatives of our friends in Uganda live here in Chicago.  We have also gone to several functions of different East African Communities and have met new people and are beginning to build relationships. It is amazing how much credibility our time living in East Africa and also my childhood experiences in Kenya has given us as we met new folks. Often times we know someone who knows someone who is related to someone and a connection is formed! We have so many God stories ---way to big for coincidences! He has used this to open many doors.

We have had several of these new friends over to our home on Saturdays for shared meal and fellowship. We have visit many in their homes, places of work, schools and visit a few in hospitals. From this we have gathered a group that are leaders in their different communities and have formed a steering committee for Great Lakes Fellowship ( which is going to be a monthly fellowship for the Diaspora--folks from East Africa that are living in the States now). We had our first steering committee meeting last Saturday night. We had a great group with representatives from Rwanda,Uganda,Kenya and Tanzania!

Our first GLF Steering meeting

I hope this explains some of what we are up to and again I want to say that this can not be possible with out your prayers and support. Please if you are not one of our monthly partners and would like to be one of the 20 new partners we are praying for , you can find more information on
Rwanda Outreach and Community Partners (ROC): http://www.rocpartners.org

Contributions may be sent to:
ROC Partners

- Jenkins Memo

3007 NW 63rd Ste 205

Oklahoma City, OK 73116-3605