A Turn of events in the life of Jack Henderson
January 2009

Dear Friends,

All of you know that I have said that I have been blessed in so many special ways by answering the call of my life to go as a missionary to Mexico. I have said too that I would have married the same girl and gone to the same places and done the same ministry. I have had no regrets.

Apart from my salvation, the life that I shared with Pat Henderson was the greatest single thing that has ever happened to me. God used her in so many ways to mold me and make me into the person that I am today. Together we served the Lord faithfully for forty-one years. Last year the Lord saw fit to call her home to rest and receive the rewards that she so deserved. As most of you know, the last five years were filled with many valleys of sickness, but as we walked hand in hand through these, there were many more mountain top experiences of a love that grew even deeper then I can express with pen and ink. I am so glad that I was able to be there for her and care for her during her last days. I only wish I could have done more to show her that I was so thankful to her and the Lord for all the good years that she had stood by me. I will never forget.

This year of ‘09 is once again changing my life forever.

A little background:

Forty five years ago in college, I dated a girl named Iva Dean Clark. She quickly brought our relationship to a close by telling me that I was too dangerous and that all I wanted to do was party. She wanted more than anything else to honor the Lord with her life and, if the Lord would open the doors, she would go as a missionary. That ended that and I moved on with life. Little did I know then that three years later I would surrender my life to the Lord and He would call me to serve Him in Mexico where I have been for over forty years.

Iva Dean Clark:

Born in the mountains of East Tennessee, fifth child of Gray and Cora Clark, Iva Dean is a “country gal” through and through. The life changing experience of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, just before her 13th birthday, altered the course of her life forever. Who would have dreamed that God would take a farm girl and send her down on some islands just off the coast of South America in 1964 to serve for many years as a missionary, sharing the love of 003_3Christ to those special people. Then, during her term as a missionary on the island of St. Vincent, she received word that her father was very ill. Being the only single girl of five sisters, she returned to her home in Tennessee to help her mother care for the daddy she loved so dearly. She continued to care for her daddy and serve the Lord in home missions in not only her church, but also in many of the small mountain churches that needed someone to help with the children’s programs during the summers and other times. Where ever she went, she continued to touch the lives of thousands of boys and girls as she taught them with stories from the Bible and the lives of missionaries who had faithfully served God. After the death of her father, she spent the following fifteen years with her mother gathering most of the information she would use to write a book called Her Price? Above Rubies! She has written about the life of her dear parents in the form she knows best—that of a story. This story takes place in the mountains of Tenn. in the early 1900’s. It is a story of two people who more then anything in the world wanted to honor their Lord by having a Christian mate. Both boy and girl prayed to this end. God heard their prayers and gave them the desire of their hearts. They were married and continued to live in the Tennessee hills and honor the Lord with their lives and the Lord blessed them with a family. They taught their family to honor the Lord and let Him direct their paths. Iva Dean wrote this book because having seen the failures of so many young people who did not seek and wait on God to provide the Christian mate that
He had for them. She desired to write the story of her parents who trusted God to provide the right mate. It is her desire that as singles read this
book, they will be encouraged to trust God and wait for Him to provide the right one or accept His perfect will for their lives—even if that did not include a mate. God’s will is the most important.

My story:

In the summer of ‘08, I was in Washington, D.C. visiting churches On one particular Sunday I had spoken at a church and returned to spend the
night with some dear friends of mine, Hal and Marie Howard. About midnight, I was lying in my bed reading a magazine with the door open. Hal came out of his office and down the hallway with two books in his hand and ask me if I wanted to read a little. The one book was about 1½ inches thick and the other was only ½ inch thick. Not caring to read a long book at midnight, I chose the thin one. It was the love story by Iva Dean Clark. I began reading the story and it reminded me so much of my own life and the marriage that I had. My interest in the story was so intense that I stayed up into the night to finish. As I read, I could see that all the love flowing from the story was from Iva Dean’s heart. It was easy to see that she was a person with deep compassion, a love for the Lord, and a caring person.

When I completed the book, I felt that I needed to share with the author just how much I was touched by the story. When I looked in the front for a phone number to call, I realized that this was the same Iva Dean Clark that I dated some 45 years ago. There was no number, just an
e-mail. The next morning, I mentioned to Hal that I wanted to share with her how much the book meant to me and that there was no phone number, just an e-mail. I do not know how or where he obtained the number, but before I left there, he had it in my hands. (I did not really know that he had been praying for a mate for me). That day I called her and she brought me up to date on what had been going on in her life for these 45 years. I did not tell her about much in my life, but did share that I had gone to Mexico as a Missionary. The next day I sent her a number of e-mails telling about the ministry and about the fact that Pat had been sick with cancer for five years. I also shared that the Lord had called her home and that I was visiting churches and making plans to return to Mexico to continue the work that the Lord had for me.

Well in order not to make the story any longer, let me say that from that first call there was in my hear the desire to call back and I did every night. On the other end of the line, the Lord had placed in her heart the desire to answer the phone each time and talk to me. We have now talked
hundreds of hours. In September I was in Indiana and decided to go down for a visit. The visit went very well and we could see how the Lord was working out so many obstacles that needed to be taken care of. When I left there to return to Michigan, I knew in my heart that there was a new chapter planned for my life and it would include Iva Dean Clark. She made it clear to me that she would go where ever the Lord would lead me and that my people would be her people. I then asked her to marry me. She said, “YES! YES! YES!”

More News From Jack:

So now I find myself on my way to Tennessee to marry Iva Dean on the 17th of January 2009. The wedding will be a very simple one at her home church, Calvary Baptist Tabernacle in Newport, Tenn. The ceremony will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday the 17th, 2009. (No invitations will be sent, but all friends are welcome.)

Following a short honeymoon in the mountains, we will return to Mexico and continue serving the Lord one day at a time.

Unbeknown to Iva Dean and me, our life verse is the same = Proverbs 3:5,6: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on thy own
understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He WILL direct thy path.
More than ever we know He does and is working out all things in our lives.

My only question is: Maybe that book was really written for Iva Dean? What do you think?

Your Partner in the ministry,

Jack Henderson

P.S. - For those that would like to attend the wedding, I would love to have you. For those that would like to send a gift, we feel that because of the distance and the freight costs, etc., it would be wiser to send money. I am still working on a place to live, so, things of this nature would be more important.

Update on Jack Henderson,

Missionary to Mexico

Aug. 2008 News Letter

Dear Partners in the ministry,

I thank the Lord each day for His mercies and great goodness to me. Sometimes when we have so much rain, we forget that above all the clouds the sun is shining brightly. I start counting my blessings and I see how truly good the Lord has been to me.

Most of April was spent tying up loose ends that involved my leaving for a three month furlough. It has been almost twenty five years since I have taken a furlough and there is so much to do to cover all the bases of my being gone.

I had to take care of many legal things concerning Pat and then leave the ministry with someone to carry on all the different activities. My house had to be taken care of too. I did not get it finished, but the work teams sure did a lot. I still do not have a kitchen or bathroom, but knowing that I would not be there, I did not think that it would be important to spend the money on it. One of the special times I had just before I left, was to share the gospel with two of Pat’s lady friends, and see them come to know the Lord. There were others, but this was a special time.

I left Mexico and headed north through Texas traveling along with another missionary couple up through Texas. Since we both had trailers, it was nice to travel and camp with them along the way. South of Houston we parted ways, and I continued on to Louisiana where I spent a few days with a former roommate from school. Lester Hawkins had helped me several times with the donation of pews for the different ministries. We have talked by phone many times, but it had been many years since we had visited each other. He and his wife took me to eat crawfish for the first time and also jambalaya. I can not believe that I have been through Louisiana so many times and had not tried that food. It was great. I then met with others there to share the ministry in Mexico .

As I traveled further north I got my favorite foods, Pinto beans, cornbread and tomatoes. Oh yes, I can not forget the oatmeal and biscuits with apple butter. I also picked cherries and blackberries. I had not done either one since I was a kid.

From there I have been on the East Coast in many churches and visiting many old friends and making many new ones. I have traveled about 5000 miles and still have many more to go. Please keep me in your prayers that I will have safety, direction in where to share the ministry and the ability to share the burden of reaching Mexico with the Gospel. I am looking forward to seeing many of you soon. While I have been traveling, I have gotten many new ideas for the ministry. There are so many new things to learn. I got a GPS to help me get around, my cell phone broke and I got a new one, my laptop died and I replaced it with a new one and it has a new language (vista), and for music I have an MP-3, and a DVD player in place of VHS. This electronic age is making my head spin. Pat always handled all of the electronics, and files and literature. I am lost in it and having to work hard to catch up to the twenty-first century. The good old days are past and we have to stay up with the fast life of today. Life is not simple any more.

My head spins some days with so much information to process.

However, it is a great time and I am moving on in a positive direction. July 23th was my anniversary and that was a sad day, the nights are the longest but I am doing ok. Keep me in your prayers. I just feel like that there is so much to do and more doors are open now than ever before.

Thanks to all of you that are partners with me. Don’t forget that our life is not about us, but about Him and that the sun always shines after the storm.

I remain your missionary to Mexico and partner .

In Christ,

Jack Henderson

Pray for:

• meetings for Aug.
• Safety as I travel
• $500.00 /month support needed
• Solution to insurance problems
• Transportation for equipment needed in Mexico
• 200 stack chairs needed for camp, ( can be bought for 1.50 each)
• Riding lawn tractor
• $200. for printing tracts.
• Ten burner stove for camp
• Kitchen cabinets for my house and gas kitchen stove

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We go on by the grace of God... Matt. 6:33

Web: www.haciendahenderson.org

Phone: 956-592-1884