Out There with the Beams – November 2009

Dear Friends and family,

Note from Vanessa: Thank you so much for responding to our letter last month. I love to read your emails and hear the latest news. It is so uplifting to know that you are praying for us. December is here and it has been crazy already. Fernando, an Agua:Yaku employee, got married and Danny and I were in the wedding as the padrinos. It was a lot of fun. I am so humbled they chose us and I pray we will be a good example. The best part was that Danny and I got to dance the waltz! I absolutely loved it! And also this month we celebrated our 12^th anniversary. How generous, forgiving, and loving is God. He has kept his promises in my life through His Son, through his Spirit and has been a loving and protective Father by giving me Danny. Danny's simple and strong faith has carried me through moments of terrible worry and pain. And his arms have been God's arms to me when I have needed comfort. I am so grateful and pray that the Lord will continue to bless my husband and will give him many more years of life.

This month also, Luciana will turn 15 – FIFTEEN!!!! Where do the years go? She is growing into a beautiful, thoughtful and loving young lady. Please pray for extra blessings for her as she starts to deal with new challenges in her life that she will continue to make Jesus her priority and that it will be God who designs her destiny and not her herself.

The boys are also doing great. It is such a blessing to have Nathaniel here with us; he is such a huge help with Isaiah and is such an encouragement to him. Isaiah loves the our new house (we now live in a gated community) and he looks for any excuse to walk around the street. Please pray for him, as his best friend Daniel leaves and then Nathaniel goes to college, that the Lord will hold him through this difficult time.

We have a new intern working with us, her name is Sara Stanford, she is a dear friend that first came here on a team from our home church (Crossroads in Kentucky). She just got here and is getting acquainted with the currency, transportation, food, etc. Her Spanish is wonderful already! She will be working at the transition house with the girls, teaching them cooking and freezing, and developing crafts that the girls can make and sell. I am sure she will also be a blessing as she shares her testimony and listens to them. Please pray that she will be safe during her time here and that the Lord will use this time to strengthen their relationship even more and will show her His amazing love.

Thank you for supporting us financially and with your prayers. God is blessing us and the people we minister to through you. You are a huge part of what happens around here. And sometimes ministry just happens any day, at any time of the day!

Note from Danny: I just wanted update you on Agua:Yaku, our water well drilling project. Our team just got back from Cochabamba where we participated in a training workshop at a local university on how to measure water quality and evaluate community water systems. The knowledge we gained will be invaluable as we continue to expand the services we offer families and communities throughout Bolivia. Water wells are a great way to bring clean water to people right in their homes, but unfortunately it's not possible to drill wells in every part of Bolivia. In the mountains we run into impenetrable rock and in other places the water it too deep to reach with our drilling rig. Alternatives to water wells include capturing spring water, rain water, or treating surface water from rivers or lakes so that it will be clean enough to drink.

We are excited about a new partnership in 2010 with a Canadian Christian NGO called The Water School (http://www.thewaterschool.org/). The Water School promotes a solar disinfection technology called sodis—a simple way to disinfect water using 2-liter plastic drink bottles, and the sun. Instead of boiling water, scientists have recently discovered that heat and UV rays from the sun are more than sufficient to kill any disease or sickness causing pathogens in water—including bacteria, parasites, viruses, etc. Water stored in plastic bottles is safe to drink after it has been exposed to the sun for one day (or two days if it is cloudy). In 2010 Agua:Yaku will begin teaching the sodis technique along with hygiene and sanitation in communities where clean water is not yet available through wells or sanitary distribution systems. Did you know that over 5 million people die from waterborne diseases each year and that the majority of preventable deaths are a result of the water they drink? Something as simple as teaching people how and why to drink clean water will save many lives in Bolivia. The task of teaching sodis will afford our Agua:Yaku team a wonderful opportunity to travel to many new communities in Bolivia where we can work with local pastors and teachers, sharing the love of Christ as well as providing clean water. Of course we will continue to drill new water wells wherever we can. I have no doubt that our work teaching sodis will reveal many needs and new opportunities for drilling wells. Pray for Agua:Yaku as we venture into this new form of ministry and sharing God's love.

Thank you to everyone who is already partnering with us financially and in prayer. I have no doubt that God is blessing your commitment to missions and ministry around the world. (Have you read a book called "The Hole in Our Gospel" by Richard Stearns? If not, pick it up for yourself this Christmas.) If you are thinking about supporting our ministry—just go ahead and do it. You probably won't even miss a couple of dollars a day from your family budget. Even a donation of $30 or $50 a month could make a lifetime impact on a family here in Bolivia who benefits from clean water and who hears about the love of Christ for the first time.

Blessings,
Vanessa and Danny Beams

Out There with the Beams -- October 2009

Queridos amigos y familia,

Hello again, it is a beautiful cool morning here in Santa Cruz. We are very grateful for all our Christian family who continually lifts us in prayer and we want to thank you for that. Truly the Lord protects us here in ways that we may not see at first but that are obvious later.

We've had lots of fun with teams recently, the last team who visited was a team from our home church Crossroads Christian, in Kentucky. Danny took most of them to drill wells in the jungle and the rest of team stayed with me in the city to work with the girls from the transition house. Although we had a lot of fun, little went according to plan, but all along I could feel the Lord's provision in that team to show me and my kids His awesome love and support. We were able to have an orientation night for the girls from Talita Cumi who will be coming to live at the house next February. During the orientation, team members shared their testimonies. I am thankful to the Lord that He is who He is everywhere and not just here in Bolivia, and I am thankful that my girls from Santa Cruz were able to see that even though there is incredible pain in other parts of the world, God's amazing healing never fails! We of course also had a fun night with all the girls—a night filled with music, yummy food, movies, photo shoots and laughter!

The jungle team successfully drilled three wells in a community called "Laguna Corazon Sur" as you can imagine the wells are a huge blessing to these families who had to walk up to an hour to get water, and who had to drink from this slimy dark swamp. God is so good! Especially for making it possible that there was water to be found in the first place.

We also had the privilege to host our Crossroads pastor, Glen Schneiders who came with our dear friend John Kelly to see what the Lord is doing in Bolivia. They visited all our projects (EFCCM) and of course couldn't leave without going on one of Danny's epic hikes, those of you who know Danny know exactly what I am talking about. We are so impressed that both John and Glen jumped from a very tall waterfall! And both are still alive!

I think my favorite thing about teams coming to Bolivia is that I get to see Bolivia for the first time again through their eyes. And even though we have to answer lots of questions, it is so interesting to see what areas of this beautiful land most strike people's eyes and hearts.

Another good bit of news is that we have moved to a gated community. I (Vanessa) am very grateful to the Lord for helping us find this house. And I do feel much safer, especially when Danny is traveling. Isaiah loves being able to walk to his friend Daniel's house all by himself, Please pray for new friends for him since Daniel and his family are soon moving back to England.

Luciana and Nathaniel are both doing great, Luciana will turn 15 this December, which in the Latin culture is a big deal! I don't think we will have the huge ball though, but we will for sure do something fun. Nathaniel is taller and handsomer than ever and he has had lots of fun working alongside his dad out in the jungle, and also spending lots of time with Isaiah. Pray for Nathaniel as he goes off to college that the Lord will provide a good, fun, loving church for him and He will protect Nathaniel in all His ways. And pray that Luciana will continue to make Jesus the center of her live as she steps into this new year of her life.

At the end of November we will all be going to Cochabamba. Danny is taking his water project team to a training on water purification and the kids and I are joining since they will be out of school.

Again thank you for all your support, for taking time to read our letters, and for your invaluable prayers for our family. We love you very much, and we would love to hear from you and see you, so please come and visit!

Con mucho amor,
Vanessa

Out There with the Beams – September 2009

Dear friends and family,

News from the field: We just finished up a great week with a mission team from Brazos Pointe Fellowship in Lake Jackson, Texas. If you would like to see more pictures, visit our photo blog at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/bpf_2009. The team, along with the Agua:Yaku staff, took a river trip down the Rio Ichilo in Cochabamba to drill a water well for a new boarding school for indigenous children who live in isolated communities along the river. The school is located in Nueva Capernaum, about a four hour boat ride from the nearest road. Sixty kids (1^st through 8^th grade) and six teachers study and live at the school during the school year. How would you like to send your 1^st grader off to boarding school for nine months a year? It is hard on these parents and children as well, but this is one of the few options to these families who live difficult lives hunting, fishing, and selling timber along these inaccessible rivers. If the parents dream of a better life for their children, they need an education so they can find work outside of the traditional subsistence lifestyle. The kids come from a mix of Yuracare, Yuqui, and Trinitario communities where they speak distinct indigenous languages in the home. They learn Spanish at school and also learn about Bolivia and the world outside of their isolated river communities.

The kids and teachers are responsible for carrying out all the daily chores; which includes carrying water, collecting firewood, cooking on a wood fire, washing clothes, sweeping, etc. Every morning they have to carry water up from the river to drink and to cook with and in the evening they bathe and wash their own clothes in the river. The government provides basic food supplies for the children, but it is not enough. The teachers still have to look for food donations from NGO's and they even hunt and fish to bring meat into their diets. Until now they have been drinking dirty untreated water from the river. Along with help from the community, our team drilled a well 160 feet deep in search of clean water. When we left we were still not able to get much water out of the well, but if the water flow does not improve over the next couple of weeks we will go back and drill another well, placing the filter in a different aquifer. If we cannot get a good well in this area, we will help them construct a rainwater capture system and then filter the water for drinking.

While we are certainly concerned with the physical well being of these kids, we are even more concerned about their spiritual development. The children are in classes from 8:30 to 12:30 Monday through Friday. The remainder of their time is taken up with daily chores, homework, soccer, and free time. Because they do not have electricity, the kids finish up dinner by six in the evening and are in their bunks going to sleep by seven (since we are near the equator it gets dark around 6:00 PM year round). This is a government school, so the teachers do not train the students in moral or spiritual disciplines. It would be so great if we could find a national missionary couple who could live near the school and lead Bible studies, teach music, provide recreational activities, and be a Christian light for these kids so far away from home. Please be praying for this great need.

I want to thank everyone for their interest in the Agua:Yaku water well drilling project. We are scheduling a number of mission teams to help us drill wells in the coming year. While we certainly appreciate volunteers, we also need monthly support to pay salaries for our growing staff, travel expenses, and material costs for our ongoing well drilling program. We are expanding our program into four of the nine departments in Bolivia—Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, and Beni. It seems like for every well we drill, we hear of ten more families who need water. We now have two teams out drilling full time. Two new Agua:Yaku employees, Irai and Netino, are both from Brazil and have been trained as missionaries with YWAM. They are both quick to share their faith with everyone they meet and are a great addition to our team. It would be such a blessing if you would consider making a monthly commitment to our ministry, or if you would like to sponsor individual wells—they cost about $500 each.

Agua:Yaku is also excited to announce a new partnership with a Canadian Christian NGO called The Water School in 2010. Warren McCaig (my EFCCM partner in Agua:Yaku) and I will begin implementing a water disinfection program called SODIS in many communities around Bolivia. SODIS is a simple method developed by a Swiss NGO to disinfect contaminated water using two liter plastic bottles and the sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection). This is an inexpensive way to treat contaminated water in places where we cannot drill wells—where the water is too deep, or the soil is too rocky to drill. People can get water from surface sources such as ponds, rivers, springs, or rain runoff and can disinfect it before drinking. This is much simpler and safer than boiling, filtering, or chemically treating water. If the water is turbid we will also teach families how to make inexpensive bio-sand filters out of two five-gallon buckets. The water school will provide the funding to implement this new program. Our goal is to see 25,000 people using SODIS by the end of 2010. This will also give us a great opportunity to survey the water needs of Bolivia and begin mapping out where it would be appropriate to expand our well drilling program.

I know this is a long newsletter this month, but I also want to update you on the progress of the girls transition house, now officially called the Ruth and Noemi Support House. The house currently has two girls, Betty and Paula. Please pray for them as well as for the live-in coordinator, Marizabel. A team coming from Kentucky next month will work on some landscaping, interior decorating, and will throw a dinner for girls in Talita Cumi who will be coming to the home next year. Also remember in pray, Rudy Friesen, our missionary colleague with the EFCCM who had a heart attack yesterday and will be in the hospital for the next five or six days.

Blessings,
Danny

Our Kids Having Fun

Out There with the Beams - August 2009

Dear friends and family,

Hi to all! I cannot believe the summer has come and gone and we have been back in Bolivia for three weeks. We had a super fun time in the US seeing some of you and being with our families. I would like to say that I am humbled by the Lord when I see the way people have helped us in so many ways! Either by lending us vehicles, hosting us, or giving us haircuts. Even surprising us by paying for our supper!! We have felt loved and well taken care of and I am so happy to belong to a community of believers who live like Christ. I think for me the highlight of the summer was of course to spend time with my dear friends and to be near water a bunch!!! I even got to drive a jet ski for the first time!!

Luciana and Isaiah are again attending school at the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center (SCCLC) and Nathaniel is doing school at home and working with his dad. It is such a blessing to see our three kids playing and sharing life together again! The other day as I did a little gardening, Isaiah and Nathaniel just laid on the grass laughing at something and I just loved it. Thank you Jesus. Luciana is back to playing soccer and as a ninth grader (I know, I still can’t believe it!) she has a lot of homework every day.

Being back in Bolivia is both great and sad. It has been sad because we really miss all our friends and family back in the States and I really miss the beautiful dustless and organized roads!

Living as a missionary family can be very weird sometimes, as people we love come and go and we have to say good bye to our friends all the time. So I would like to ask for your prayers for our family in that area as both Luciana and Isaiah had to say good bye to some really good friends lately and for all of us as we learn to live this way.

The transition home is going well. We had three girls until last weekend but now we are back to two. It seems like our place is not for everyone but for those who really care about their future and want to let Jesus rebuild their lives. The two that are with us now are doing great, their names are Betty and Paula, they are both attending college at the moment. Betty is studying tourism and hotel management. This is her first year and she has a scholarship for half of her tuition costs. She is attending counselling at the Centro de Vida, and she is applying for a job at a grocery store. Please pray about this. Paula is in her third year of college. She is studying environmental engineering at the public university here in Santa Cruz and works weekends for a company that does survey work. Both girls have come a long way emotionally and both now know the Lord Jesus Christ. We needed a lot of prayer for both of them to win the spiritual battle they both are in right now as they try to follow Jesus and not look back as well as for their physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Please help us pray for individual supporters for each girl so that we will be able to help them with their studies and medical costs; as well as supporters for the Casa de Apoyo Ruth y Noemi ( that is what we have named the transition house). We welcome financial and prayer supporters as well as visitors!

Danny is out of town today looking at a community near Pailon (a town close by) that needs a well. He has been busy trying to meet with everyone on his well drilling team and is excited that Nathaniel is here to help him. We really appreciate your continual prayers for his safety and good results with his work.

Please know that we think of you often, we miss you and you are in our heart. And thank you for sharing life with us just by reading our letters!

May Jesus bless you in a huge way today!

Vanessa (for all the Beams)

Out There with the Beams - June 2009

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Houston. As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we are spending the summer in the U.S. catching up with family and partners of our work in Bolivia. We will be in Texas until the end of June and then in Kentucky until August 7th. We would love to spend time with as many of you as possible. Our U.S. phone number during our U.S. visit is 859-492-9294. Please give us a call or send us an email so we can find a time to get together.

We have left our projects in capable hands while we are gone, but please continue to pray for the Girls Transition Home and the Agua Yaku water project this summer. The Girls Transition Home is now furnished and we have several girls living in the home with the director, Marizabel. These girls have already lived such a hard and uncertain life by the time they are eighteen. We hope this home will be a refuge from past hurts and disappointments, and a springboard to a new life in Christ. During this transition time we hope to teach these girls life skills and Biblical values that will empower them to make good decisions about their future and succeed in living independently.

Agua Yaku is continuing to have an impact on the lives of many people who need clean water in Bolivia. Just before returning to the U.S. we made a trip to drill a well for a national missionary family working with the Guarani Indians in Iguembe, a community in the mountains in the department of Chuquisaca, Bolivia, about 8 hours drive from Santa Cruz. The well was a success and we hope to return again soon to the region to drill more wells in remote communities in this arid region. We have recently expanded our Agua Yaku team. Warren McCaig, a fellow EFCCM missionary from Canada, is working with us almost full time, as well as Irai, a Brazilian pastor who wants to work in rural social and evangelical ministries. Both he and Warren will be focusing on bringing the gospel to the people of the communities where we are drilling water wells. Also pray for the training that we do with other organizations. Many other groups have shown an interest in learning our drilling techniques, but it will take a much larger budget before we can travel to other areas and countries to train others in these techniques.

We want to especially thank all of you who have been faithfully supporting our ministries through these difficult economic times. We know you are making a sacrifice to support this work in Bolivia. If you have thought about supporting our work but haven’t done so yet, this would be a great time to get started. Giving has been down in the last six months. We want to continue investing in these projects, but we cannot do so without the financial support of our partners. At the end of this letter you will find the directions on how to make donations. Please pray about God would want you to partner in this ministry. If you would like us to personally come share with you or your group more about our work, contact us quickly so we can fit you into our summer schedule.

Blessings,
Danny

Out There with the Beams - April 2009

Dear friends and family,

Thank you so much for reading this letter and continually pray for us. I (Vanessa) am very happy to say that we will see you soon! We will be leaving Bolivia on May 24 and will be in the U.S. until August 7th. We are excited to see you all and to be in your beautiful country again. Please pray for our trip, especially for our flights since I don’t really enjoy flying.

It is also exciting for me to tell you that the girls transition house is already in place. We found an affordable house which needed only a few repairs and we have opened it to girls in need. This house will be used as a safe transition place for girls from the Talita Cumi orphanage who are too old to continue living there but who would like to continue to study and work. Also, it will be a refuge for women who are pregnant but have no place to go to, so that they will make a decision to give birth to their babies. We have three bedrooms, so we hope to be able to host between 6 to 9 girls. The Lord has shown me that even when one is sick, tired and unsure, He can accomplish the things that seem impossible to us. I was recently very sick and thought this house wasn’t going to happen before we left on home assignment! Also, God led us to someone who will live permanently with the girls and help disciple and mentor them. Her name is Marizabel and she is a wonderful single Christian lady who is willing to serve the Lord in any way she can. Please also pray for her as she starts this new stage in her life and pray for the Lord’s provision and protection both for her and for the girls.

Another very important prayer request would be for the girls themselves. They are going through an incredible time deciding whether or not they want to live in the transition home (although they had said yes to me before). All I can say is that the devil can seem very smart at times. We can clearly see the Lord’s hand in this and His plan for these girls but sadly a lot of them don’t see it! I know there is an invisible battle going on. Please pray the Lord will win their hearts all over again and that they will yield to Him so that their lives will be healed and restored.

Danny has recently been in several trips out of town drilling wells with his team of workers and I praise the Lord every time he comes back home safe and sound! You all know I am the worrier. I am learning to trust God and as I go I feel so honored that He would let me serve Him. Thank you all who pray for Danny’s protection, the Lord is listening!

Our children are doing great! Isaiah just turned 7 two days ago. I can’t believe it! He is so big! He has gone from being this very cautious, talkative little guy to being a very active—climbing roofs and cabinets, mixing toothpaste and hand sanitizer tornado! He is fun and keeps us in shape! Luciana is just beautiful. She is my right hand at home! She is also very excited to see all her friends and cousins in Texas and Kentucky.
Nathaniel is doing really well with his racing, as most of you know he is a cyclist just like his dad. He has won a couple of races this spring and trains incredible lengths of time and distance everyday! We are praying for him right now as he decides whether or not he will come here for his senior year. Please help us pray the Lord will show him what the best decision for his life will be.

Again thank you for being our partner in ministry. All the successes in ministry here are yours too! We love you and appreciate all you have done for us and all you have given to Jesus by giving to our work.

Love Vanessa (for the Beams)

Out There with the Beams - February 2009

Dear Prayer Partners,

Fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, sore back, skin rash, stomach problems – these are all symptoms of Dengue Fever, a illness that is running rampant through Santa Cruz right now. As many of you found out through Vanessa’s postings on Facebook, I too suffered through this for about two weeks. Thanks for your prayers and notes. They say about 50,000 people have contracted the disease in Santa Cruz over the past couple of months. Thankfully I had a wonderful wife to look after me and a nice bed to lay in. Please remember in prayer the many people who live on the streets and don’t have anyone to look after them when they fall ill.

All considered, we are doing well and charging ahead with our projects. Vanessa is still working to get the Girls Transition Home up and functioning. We are waiting on just the right house to become available. Last month, I helped facilitate getting three little Yuqui girls out of their village in Bia Recuate (where we have been drilling water wells) and into the Talita Cumi home here in Santa Cruz. They were living in extreme poverty and in abusive situations in their village so it was encouraging to know that in Talita Cumi they would be well fed, educated, and taught God’s Word. They have been in Santa Cruz for several weeks now and are adapting well. Unfortunately, family members back in the village have called recently and said they want the girls to come back to Bia Recuate. I’m not sure of the motivation behind this request. Please be in prayer for Sonja, Mirian, and Katarin. You can see pictures of their village at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan/yuqui.

We are really looking forward to the arrival of a team from Crossroads Christian at the end of March. They will be going with us to drill a water well in Vida Nueva, a community on the Chapare River in Cochabamba. We will be drilling a well for a missionary intern school where kids from 19 different Indian communities go to live and attend school about six months out of each year. Right now they drink rain water, or when that isn’t available, they drink directly from the muddy river. Because the school is only accessible by river, they have never been able to bring in a big truck to drill a water well. We will bring in our manual drilling rig and tools by boat and drill a 150 foot well that will provide clean drinking water year round. We look forward to getting to know the local Yuracare community leaders as well on this trip so we can set up future well drilling projects in many more of the isolated communities of this region. We still need supporters for AguaYaku (our well drilling project), so if you or your group would like to sponsor a well, installation costs about $300 for each one. We also need our own boat to drill bring tools and materials into these river communities. So if you have $10,000 sitting somewhere not being used… we can put it to good use here in Bolivia.

We are excited about our visit to the States this summer. We will be in Kentucky and Texas mostly, but are willing to travel elsewhere as well. We would love to visit as many friends and churches as we can over the summer vacation so we can share with you our work, and to just hang out with friends. If you would like us to come by, please let us know so we can begin arranging our schedule.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We would not be serving in Bolivia if not for the support of our precious friends and family back home.

Blessings,
Danny

Three Yuqui Children in Talita Cumi

Today we helped get three Yuqui indian girls into Talita Cumi. Sonia (10), Miriam (9), and Katarin (6), came from Bia Recuate to live at Talita Cumi. Sonia's mother died several years ago, and her father doesn't have the means to take care of his children. Pray also for Sonia's sister Miriam (14), and brother Isaias (6). Miriam and Katarin are sisters. Both of their parents are living, but the father cannot work after a machete injury. They have five kids, but cannot take care of all of them. So, now that they are being cared for at Talita Cumi they will go to school and get three meals a day.

Water Well in Tres Islas

Click on the title above to see a gallery of pictures from our recent water well drilling trip to Tres Islas, a community of Yuracara on the Chimore River in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Yuqui Girl from Bia Recuate

Out There with the Beams -- January 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

This is Vanessa writing this month. It is a beautiful day here in Bolivia. It is cloudy and windy and we haven’t turned our air conditioning on because it is finally cool enough!! We pray that you too are enjoying a nice day and that you are blessed with loving and healthy family and friends. The Lord is faithful and good. Despite the somewhat complicated political circumstances, we have been able to continue to work and have a very normal life here in Santa Cruz. We would like to ask you to pray for Bolivia and its new Socialist Constitution. We are concerned about the effects this may have in our work as Christian missionaries and in our personal lives; for example, we don’t yet know exactly how the new Constitution will impact the school that our children attend.

We do have a lot to praise the Lord for. The water well project continues to progress and more and more people continue to benefit from the project. Last week, Danny and his “Agua Yaku” team, our Bolivian pastor, and a team from YWAM (Youth with a Mission) went to a Yuracare Indian community in the jungle called Tres Islas and successfully drilled a well for them. The only access to these communities is by river. Danny takes the drilling equipment in on dugout canoes. Because it is impossible to even get the larger truck drilling rigs into these parts of the jungle, these are the first water wells these communities have ever had. The pictures Danny took are absolutely beautiful and you will soon be able to see them on our web page www.pbase.com/beamsclan.

Danny and I have been attending a marriage course. I love it! It is difficult sometimes but it is good stuff and I thank the Lord for providing an opportunity to refresh our relationship, heal our wounds and strengthen our bond together. We have been married for 11 years! And I want to make it public (since Valentine’s is coming) that I love my husband with all my heart! He truly is the man the Lord had for me, and through him God has showed me what it means to love unconditionally and patiently.

Luciana went to Junior High camp last week too. The Lord protected her. When I picked her up she sat next to me in the car, with her little sunburnt face and she talked and talked nonstop until she sat on the floor and I sat on the couch and then all of the sudden she stopped! When I looked I realized she was fast asleep and remained like that for two days!

During Danny’s and Luciana’s trip, Isaiah and I had a lot of fun. We went swimming and had a sleep over, we read a lot together and as a special treat we went to Burger King together with some friends.


Plans for the Transition/Refuge House are still going despite few setbacks. We had a meeting with seven Bolivian friends who are considering being part of the board, so please pray for them as they make a decision. And I would like to thank (I would hug you if I could) to all of those who have already been donating money towards this new project. You guys are part of the confirmation that the Lord has given us to do this. Please continue praying for the girls: Gaby, Teresa, Viviana, Julia, and Betty (pictured above lt. to rt.) to remain in Jesus, for the Lord to protect their bodies and minds, and to show them clearly that He does have a plan for their lives.
We are now looking for a house (that we can afford) where we can begin for the first year. We also need a name for the ministry, so if you think of that perfect name, please let me know.
I praise the Lord that in Him, despite circumstances all around us, we are not hopeless!

As special prayer requests please pray for Danny’s dear uncle Alan who is battling illness and also for my beloved aunt Jacinta who is in the same situation.

Thank you for always being there for us. Thank you for not just being our financial partners but our true and faithful friends and prayer warriors. You mean a lot to us. We love you.

Vanessa for all the Beams