Serving as administrative chaplain at the Yakima County Jail.

Country of service: Yakima, WA, US

Serving with: Sent to Serve

Mailing address:
P O Box 2591
Yakima WA 98907
E-mail

    Marvin and Delores Cole spent 33 years as missionaries with New Tribes from 1954 to 1987 ministering to the Maka Indians in Paraguay. Marv recalls, “There were no bells, no flaming swords, but a deep conviction that I have to do this.” They made this decision both from exposure to missionaries in their church in Tacoma as young marrieds and later meeting some missionaries who had been working with the Indians in Brazil while Marv was doing post-graduate work in Los Angeles. In Paraguay they lived in the Maka village and later in Asuncion, working and ministering to the Indians there. The villagers were in and out of their house, built by Marv, at all times of the day. The Coles and their children lived the Indian life among the hardship and poverty of the people.
   In 1987 Marvin and Delores made the difficult decision to come back to the United States. Their children were grown and attending college in the US and the strain of the work in Paraguay was taking its toll. They moved to the Yakima Valley and have been here ever since. Marv worked and still works as Administrative Chaplain at the Yakima County Jail. His office serves as the nerve center to coordinate and meet requests for the men’s and women’s God pods, the chaplains, the jail classrooms (school programs required by the state), Spanish and English church services, Bible classes, and Bible correspondence classes. Just a small example of Marv’s work was recently arranging an emergency furlough for an inmate to attend a funeral, going through all of the hoops and requirements to make it possible. Delores works in the ESL program at EPIC, sponsored by YVCC. She also reads and corrects over 25,000 Bible lessons a year completed by inmates. Marv says, 'It is the best outreach program we have as it reaches inmates who cannot leave their cells.”
   Marv and Delores have played a behind the scenes role at West Side’s ESL classes three to four years ago. He has worked with Pastor Elias Garcia in the New Life Church, filling the pulpit for him on occasion. The Coles have six children and their spouses: Gene, Carol Cole Hart, Marva Cole DenBleyker, and West Side members Jerry and Leanne Cole, Loren and Tricia Cole, and Lisa Cole.