“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” —Mt. 21:42
“He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.” –Job 33 :15
Standing on a very high bluff above a great river, I could see a tremendously long way. Downstream, the river’s outfall disappeared at the extremity of vision to my left. Turning my head to the right, I could somehow see half a continent upstream to the headwaters of this vast watershed. Focusing on any of the river’s tributaries, I could follow its streams to each wellspring pouring out its clear and pure contribution from deep underground. All the while, I was in the midst of a slow and silent conversation with someone wise and powerful, ageless and awesome, incarnate for the moment of the dream in the body of an old man. Ancient he seemed, but lean and tall, standing straight with his face to the wind. He stood to my left unmoving, looking across the river a thousand feet below us and across the continent before us to where the sun was setting behind a veil of clouds.
We did not speak aloud in words of sound, but in the speech framed by words of thought. For my part, I would not have presumed to speak in His presence. It seemed a sacrilege even to trouble the sound of the wind. While we stood there, He answered my few questions completely with clear words I could hear in my mind. I wondered about how I could see the water flowing from the springs, even when they were in hidden places, but I couldn’t see what force impelled them. He answered my unspoken question of “how so?” with a statement of “who.” “I have many manantiales,” he said. And then he said, “I know them.” The emphasis somehow was not that there were many, but that they were His, each known to Him.
El manantial is one of several Spanish words for a fountainhead of a stream. Why He spoke partly in English and partly in Spanish I couldn’t say. Perhaps because “manantial” was just the right word for what He meant. It comes from the present participle of the Latin verb to flow. So it most literally means “the flowing.” As I watched one stream flowing, I could see it came from a thousand sources, a thousand flowings pouring out of the darkening earth. I knew that particular stream, small but strong, was Loma de Luz, contributing its part to this great river, as if it had its name written on it as a river’s tributary in some great map. While we watched, He let me see the whole of the hydrologic cycle with the sea warmed by a tropical sun evaporating into clouds which blew up to the headwaters where it cooled and rained, soaked into the earth and collected in silent reservoirs beneath the surface, then flowed from countless manantiales to form the streams which combined into this great river flowing far below our feet down again to the waiting sea.
That was it. That was the whole dream. I wouldn’t have taken that much notice to mention it to anyone. And, I surely wouldn’t have written it down and sent it out as if anyone should be interested in my dream–except for the fact that I have had the same dream now for three nights in a row. And each time I had the sense that it carried some truth my Master wanted me to share, a ‘thank you’ to each of God’s givers who might read it, an acknowledgement that God knows His givers by name, and He calls them “my manantiales.” Over the years I have become accustomed to God nudging me to do something personally embarrassing. I think He finds some humor in giving me something I would never do on my own as an assignment. The layers to His motives are beyond dissection.
I have always been touched by the letters we receive and have done my best to say so. I have always been deeply appreciative of the vital part played by donors to the work. It is, of course, self-evident that, without donations, an ongoing work of charity would not last long. And, I know that a lot of our donors give sacrificially. For many years I wrote a thank you letter to each at the end of each year. But a little more than a year ago, I came to believe that that wasn’t enough. I committed to write a thank you note, every time, to every donor, for every donation. I have written and we have sent these little thank you letters out weekly ever since. It’s a bit of an ongoing undertaking. But it is actually one of the high points of the week for me. I think most donors probably suppose the letter was mass generated junk mail. I know it’s not much, but I do stop and think of and say a prayer for each donor every time. Some I know well, some I recognize from some time in the past, some I don’t know personally. But in the process, it has become all the more clear how much the donors and the prayer warriors are an integral part of the whole work.
Here is where they flow from all over this great and generous nation.
Maybe just one more facet of the fact that our donors are God’s headwaters of the work will suffice to illustrate that this statement is not mere blandishment. If you try to find an authoritative answer to the question, “what is the average length of service on one field for long-term-commitment evangelical missionaries?”
Prepare yourself to be frustrated. The question is more complicated than it seems, dependent upon definitions, assumptions, self-interest on the part of researchers, turf defense on the part of agencies, and respondent psychology. The answers offered by “experts” range from just under 1.5 years, to just over 12 years. But the average commitment of our donors is longer than any of these estimates… by a lot. Many of our donors have been giving, monthly, quarterly, or annually for more than 25 years. There are little churches I may have spoken in once 30 years ago that have supported the work faithfully ever since. Widows I’ve never met tithe on the proceeds of their little farm and pray on their porch for the work for an hour while the sun comes up. Students in debt budget from their living expenses, and pensioners from their pensions. Teachers and truck drivers, medical professionals and ranchers, young couples and retirees, businessmen and servicemen (& women) get up and go to work, fix dinner, clean the house, put the kids to bed or call up the grandchildren, support their church and pay their taxes, but, sometime in their routine, they faithfully sacrifice something to God’s work among the poor somewhere else in some place most never expect to see.
It is a humbling responsibility to be entrusted with that kind of faithful sacrifice. It is my job and my privilege this morning to try to say our God knows you by name and sees you as His faithful wellsprings, His manantiales.
So, thank you.
In Christ Jesus,
~Jefferson McKenney, M.D.
We thought that for this Christmas letter, we'd share just a few snapshots from 2025 of the people and ministry you've supported, served, and prayed for.
Newest member of the Loma de Luz community: Pien (Carolien van Mourick Acosta) & Marlon’s new baby, Mateo, was born @ Loma de Luz, 20 October 2025. Here he is (right), accompanied by his big sister, Mia.
News & Needs
Election results: General elections were held in Honduras on 30 November 2025 to elect the President, members of the National Congress, 20 members of the Central American Parliament, mayors, and down to municipal aldermen and village representatives, At the time of this writing, more than a week after the general election, the final outcome is still unknown. The incumbent party (LIBRE) has proven to be very unpopular, garnering only 19% of the vote. The outcome of the race between the other two candidates (each with about 40% of the vote) has been very close and contested. The LIBRE party (the party with 19% of the vote) is now threatening to initiate widespread disruptions unless the election is annulled and they stay in power for another two years in preparation for new elections. So, at this point, only God knows how it all turns out. Your ongoing prayer for this important election would be very much appreciated.
Kelsey– Many of you have prayed for Kelsey McKenzie. Recently, just when it seemed he was getting out of the woods completely, Kelsey suffered a mild stroke, cause unknown, so please remember his health and his family in prayer.
Kevin Rideout– Drew Rideout is an exceptional Pediatric Surgeon and faithful friend of the work, volunteering part of each year at Loma de Luz for many years. Drew’s brother Kevin, a long-term missionary pilot based in war-torn Niger, was kidnapped from his home on the night of 21 October, apparently by agents of an Islamic Jihadist group operating in the Lake Chad Basin. US government officials are working to locate Kevin and negotiate his release. Please pray for the Lord’s sustenance and rescue for Kevin, and for his family.
In Christ Jesus,
~Sally Mahoney for the Cornerstone Foundation
