Dear Family and
Friends,
Greetings from way down south. Thanks for all of your notes, prayers, and support of our ministries in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. As we mentioned in our last update, we were planning on traveling to the U.S. for the summer break. The key word is “were.” Sadly, the paperwork for our Bolivian residency visas is progressing more slowly than expected. If we attempt to travel in June, we would have to abandon our current application and would lose thousands of dollars in the process. So for the time being we will have to stay in Bolivia at least through June. Pray for our Bolivian papers, as well as Vanessa’s application for citizenship in the U.S. After so many years of immigration problems in the U.S., Bolivia, and Peru, we feel a bit like a family without a country.
Greetings from way down south. Thanks for all of your notes, prayers, and support of our ministries in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. As we mentioned in our last update, we were planning on traveling to the U.S. for the summer break. The key word is “were.” Sadly, the paperwork for our Bolivian residency visas is progressing more slowly than expected. If we attempt to travel in June, we would have to abandon our current application and would lose thousands of dollars in the process. So for the time being we will have to stay in Bolivia at least through June. Pray for our Bolivian papers, as well as Vanessa’s application for citizenship in the U.S. After so many years of immigration problems in the U.S., Bolivia, and Peru, we feel a bit like a family without a country.
Agua Yaku Update: We are
gearing up for several volunteer teams who will be helping us drill water wells
in several Guarani communities in the Isosog area of Santa Cruz. A Canadian church team will be drilling with
us next week, and then a team from Texas will arrive mid-June. We have already drilled approximately 25
wells in three communities in the Isosog area and have at least that many more
lined up in neighboring communities. We
are so thankful to have found a local Baptist pastor, Victor, who speaks Guarani
and Spanish and is helping us spread the word about our project and set up the
work. We drilled a well for Victor and
his family with a team from Kentucky last fall.
Since then he has become an expert well driller and indispensible
partner to Agua Yaku in this area. There
has been a tremendous response to the Christian films we have been showing in
the communities. We often set up a
laptop and projector (powered by a small gasoline generator) in the evenings
and project movies on the side of churches or schools. There is no electricity in these communities
so a movie is quite an attraction with sometimes hundreds of people turning out
to watch. These gatherings are a great
evangelistic opportunity to share the gospel.
Agua Yaku is also
recently beginning to partner with a fellow missionary in Cochabamba, with whom
we will soon begin a well drilling project deep in the jungles of Beni and
Cochabamba. We will be working in
villages that would normally require days and days of travel overland and by
river boat; however, via a small airplane we can arrive within an hour or so
from Cochabamba. We will try to cut down
the size and weight of our drilling equipment and pipes so they will fit in the
airplane. We hope that this experiment
works out so we can bring fresh clean water to people in places that a big
truck drilling rig could never travel.
Ruth and Noemi Transition House Update: Continue pray for Loly, the previous director
of the transition house, who is having triplets! She will have to remain in the hospital until
the babies are born at the end of May. Also,
please keep praying for decision making; we think we have found a new person to
replace Loly. This time we have hired a
person full time since now we have five resident girls—with three babies and
one more on the way—and we are soon expecting the arrival of one more girl from
Tarija ( a city in the mountains). Our
jewelry business is still progressing. The new girls are now learning to make
things from the girls that were previously here. God continues to teach us that the only way
to receive healing for those who have been abused is to draw near to God and be
repentant, to receive a spirit of courage, and leave behind the spirit of
victims. This is all only possible
through the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts.
Please pray that as our girls learn basic life skills they will also
learn who God is and who they are in His eyes.
It is so encouraging
to know that you all are back home praying for us and supporting our ministries
here in Bolivia. We could not be here
doing this work without partners like you.
If you have been reading our updates for a while and have been
considering sending in some support, please click on the donate button and
follow the links to the appropriate information. Join us in our calling to share Christ’s love
with the people of Bolivia.
Sincerely,
Danny
