(July 22, 2014 - by Harold Goerzen)  It was 1943, a year when the U.S. was embroiled in World War II, and not too many 21-year-olds were thinking about launching a career in foreign missions. But such was the case for Janice Terwilliger (also known as Jan Terry), who would spend nearly 45 years as a single missionary in Ecuador with Reach Beyond (formerly HCJB Global) before retiring in 1988.

She became known as Jan Terry (or Señorita Juanita) shortly after arriving in Quito as the Ecuadorians had trouble pronouncing the “W” in her surname. Jan had a rich ministry that continued nearly to her death at Community Parkview Care Center in her hometown of Elwood, Ind. She went to be with the Lord on Thursday, July 10, at the age of 92 following a brief illness.

Born on March 10, 1922, Jan was the daughter of Harve and Sofrona (Schlater) Terwilliger. After graduating from Tipton High School in 1940, she studied at Chicago Evangelistic Institute (later known as Vennard College) in University Park, Iowa. Years later she attended Marion College in Virginia, completing a bachelor’s degree in education in 1958.

Before joining Reach Beyond, Jan worked at Anderson Gospel Tabernacle in Anderson, Ind., helping with two daily radio programs, a monthly publication, church services, youth work, mission outreaches, street meetings and music.

Arrival in Ecuador

This background prepared her well for the work in Ecuador that she began despite the tensions of the war and the uncertainties of living in South America. Yet she never thought in terms of barriers. “I prefer the positive to the negative,” she said in an interview in 1988. “The Lord is great and does such wonderful things for each of us.”

Jan was initially assigned to answer letters from listeners to the shortwave broadcasts and play the organ that her church had donated to the mission. Because of the war and censorship, batches of 100 letters or more would come at a time. “Most were from servicemen, and I felt obligated to respond immediately,” she said.

“And, of course, there were other assignments,” Jan continued. “On my first day in Quito I had to fill in for a sick piano teacher.” That “temporary” assignment turned into decades of teaching music. She taught piano and accordion to hundreds of Ecuadorians and children of missionaries throughout the years, giving some 80 lessons a week. The year she retired, a music practice building on Radio Station HCJB’s campus in Quito was dedicated in her honor.

Jan also had many other jobs, helping in accounting, the record library, Hospital Vozandes-Quito, the Bible Institute of the Air, the Alliance Academy and the guesthouse, among others.

After hours, Jan was equally busy, assisting with children’s Bible clubs, distributing Bibles and tracts across Ecuador, teaching Sunday school, following up with new believers and transporting people to church. Most importantly, she played an instrumental role in helping start four Ecuadorian churches: Iñaquito, Divino Redentor, Quito Norte and La Floresta.

Planting Churches

Recounting the history of Iglesia Quito Norte (North Quito Church), Jan shared how she had received two unexpected checks in the mail in the same month in 1954. One was a small inheritance from her father, and the other was a gift from the family of supporting friends in memory of their son, a young Christian pilot. The latter came with a note attached, “For the work of the Lord in Ecuador.”

Five years went by and Jan still hadn’t decided where to put the money. Finally she prayed in earnest, “I can’t hold this money any longer. I have to put it to work!” The answer came in 1959 when she felt led to help the tiny Ecuadorian church she was attending with 60 people crammed into a 13-by-13-foot room of a rented house. She had been reading the Bible when a verse jumped off the page, “For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field” (Job 5:23).

She stopped and questioned the Lord, “What does that mean?” She sensed God’s reply, “Don’t you remember how you’ve prayed for a new church building? Use these checks to build a church for my people.”

The money enabled the church to buy a property in an isolated area north of Quito. The Lord encouraged her with a promise, “You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth” (Job 5:25). Today the church continues to thrive with more than 200 members, and the congregation has planted at least one daughter church.

“Jan had the greatest heart for the Ecuadorian people of anyone I have known,” shared pastor-at-large Jim Allen. “I recall one time of learning that she was going out in the middle of the night to deliver pain medicine to hurting people in some of the most dangerous parts of Quito.

“When I told her that she should never do this alone, she said, ‘I can’t call anyone in the middle of the night to join me,’ so I told her to call me, and she did! I had the incredible privilege of going with her in the early-morning hours to unspeakably poor areas where she took the love of God and her warm heart to minister to people.”

Active in Retirement

Even after retiring and returning to Indiana to live with her sister, Blythe, Jan continued to keep in close contact with her Ecuadorian friends.

“The last time we visited Jan, she produced a box of letters,” related retiree Ruth Shalanko Erdel. “These were from Ecuadorians who continued to write to her. She also told us that many of them phoned her regularly. They would call and ask her to pray for them. Some would even ask her for advice concerning problems they were having. The Ecuadorians loved her.”

Jan and Blythe served in music in their small church, one playing the organ and the other, piano. The two sisters were always ready and willing to help wherever needed, whether it was leading vacation Bible school, teaching Sunday school or visiting housebound people. They prayed for the sick and helped them with special needs such as housecleaning, grocery shopping, giving rides to appointments and bathing.

Jan also continued to keep in touch with her many friends and supporters in the U.S., mailing countless handwritten letters. “Her faithful correspondence was so dearly appreciated by us,” explained retirees Joe and Ruth Baxter. “We always looked forward to a letter from dear Jan and we always had a tract inside the envelope, and we were able to share it with our friends.”

Doug and Darlene Peters agreed, saying, “We often called Jan on the phone and kept letters going back and forth for a number of years. Contacts with her were a source of encouragement and thanksgiving to God.”

“She was a great lady,” Erdel concluded. “If she had died in Quito, there would have been a thousand people at her funeral. Everyone loved Señorita Juanita.”

Funeral services were held on Monday, July 14, at Copher-Fesler-May Funeral Home in Elwood with Rev. Bill Abresch officiating. Representing Reach beyond was Charlie Jacobson from the HCJB Global Technology Center in Elkhart, Ind. Contributions in Jan’s memory may be made to Reach Beyond.

Source: Reach Beyond