Dear Friends and Family,
Have you ever ridden on a bus for over 100 hours on curvy gravel mountain roads, staying just ahead of washed out bridges and mud slides? I don’t necessarily recommend it. The scenery is beautiful, but the curves begin to get to you after a while.
I (Danny) just returned from an overland trip to Lima, Peru where I went to consult on a project for a SAM (South American Mission) missionary couple beginning a new ministry in Puerto Supe. Cesar and Grace Cubas were missionaries in Santa Cruz for over twenty years, but recently felt called to ministry in Cesar’s home town of Puerto Supe, which is a economically depressed fishing village on the desert coast of Peru, about four hours north of Lima. The Cubas’ feel called to begin a holistic ministry focusing on spiritual as well as physical needs. World Concern will be working closely with them as they develop their own small enterprise development and business training project.
On the way back through Lima, I picked up Vanessa’s grandparents, Julio and Elva (who live in Lima), and we took buses back to La Paz where we visited with Victor (Vanessa’s uncle and Elva’s son), who Elva had not seen in over 12 years. And then it was on to Santa Cruz on another overnight bus. Vanessa is super excited that her grandparens will spend about a month here with us.
Be praying for our plans to expand World Concern projects into new areas of Peru in the coming months. I will be taking another trip to Peru the first two weeks of December. Matthew Zoller, a World Concern collegue, and I will visit a World Concern project in Puno, Peru that helps llama and alpaca herders improve their production and market their products (hides and meat). Then we will be traveling through Cusco, and further north to Abancay, a small highland Peruvian town where we will meet with David and Heidi Coombs, who are Wycliff missionaries, and an association of quechua evangelical churches which is interested in partnering on some economic development projects.
We are also excited about a visit of several friends from our home church in Kentucky, Crossroads Christian, who are flying in tomorrow morning. We look forward to sharing out life and minsitry with them and hope that a larger mission team will be soon to follow.
Vanessa has begun a Bible study with several Bolivian ladies who are working their way through the “Purpose Driven Life” study. Pray that they will all make a commitment to follow Christ. As well, continue to pray for her puppet ministry and her involvement with several orphanages.
Are you asking yourself why I (or anyone in their right mind) would ride on a bus half way across a continent and back for 100 hours when I could have taken a plane from Santa Cruz to Lima in 2 ½ hours? It is because we are really strapped for cash. We are behind in our budget and do not have any funds for ministry expenses. We love you all and appreciate every prayer and every dime that you invest in our ministry. As the Christmas season (the giving season) approaches this year, prayerfully consider giving a special gift to the people of Bolivia and Peru through this ministry. Through World Concern projects, we are ministering to people in both “word and deed,” sharing the gospel message of Christ and attempting to relieve the physical suffering of poverty.
P.S. Those of you who know me well, know that a big reason I took a bus was because I love the adventure of travel and seeing new places and people. You also know that I love photography. I put up quite a few new pictures of La Paz and Puerto Supe on our website at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan.
In His Grace,Danny
Mailing address:
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
World Concern
Parapeti #146 -- Casilla 3681
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Office Telephone: 011 591 3336 3664
Home Telephone: 011 591 3352 9156
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com, danielb@worldconcern.org.bo
Website: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com
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