An Exploratory well drilling trip to San Lorenzo de Moxos

Agua Yaku has a volunteer team coming from Brazos Pointe Fellowship in Lake Jackson, Texas on June 12^th. Warren and I went out this week on a survey trip to set up a place for the team to drill. Our local Agua Yaku team, Neto and Fernando, are out drilling a number of wells in a farming community near Pailon, only about four hours from Santa Cruz. We could take the team out there. Certainly a good project and well worth participating in, but I fear that might be a bit boring. Pailon is flat, dry, hot scrubby country where the wind blows our tents apart on a regular basis. Seeking an alternative location that might be a bit more fun for the team, we contacted a national missionary, Natividad Ichu, living in an isolated river community, San Lorenzo de Moxos, in the department of Beni, east of Santa Cruz. We have been wanting to expand Agua Yaku into the Beni region for some time. Beni is primarily flat and from what we have heard our drilling technique will work practically anywhere. Unlike the Chaco and areas south where there is little rainfall, Beni receives an abundance of rainfall and courses with numerous streams and rivers. Water availability is usually not a problem; however, finding clean water is a problem. Most larger communities with road access already have a descent water system, for example San Lorenzo de Moxos, with about 1,500 residents has a deep well, a water tower and a distribution system that pipes water to each home. However, many communities are only accessible via rivers. These communities are almost always small hamlets of a dozen or so indigenous or mestizo families. They sometimes have an elementary school and a teacher paid by the State. Larger communities may have a church and/or a health post. The economy is organized around small plot subsistence agriculture (usually corn, rice, bananas, yuca, etc). They may earn some cash from selling bananas, citrus, and cacao or from selling lumber. Because everything has to be brought in or taken out by river, the cost of bringing necessities in or products out to market can be prohibitive. Very few of these small communities have deep wells because it is impossible to get the big heavy truck drilling rigs back into the roadless communities. Our manual drilling technique is ideal for these areas because we can easily transport the tools and equipment we drill with in the dugout canoes and wooden barges so commonly used on these rivers. Agua Yaku has already successfully drilled a number of wells on the Chimore, Chapare, and Ichilo rivers in the eastern part of Cochabamba. Now we will be entering through Trinidad and traveling up the rivers back towards the Andes.

Even as we set out on our exploratory journey, Warren and I weren't sure where exactly we were going or how long it would take to get there. The first day we drove eight hours to Trinidad, the capital city of Beni. Trinidad is a dirty bustling city where the streets are overrun with cheap Chinese motorcycles and honking taxis. It definitely feels like a frontier town, a jumping off point on the edge of the Amazon wilderness. The Momore river, passing nearby, is the largest tributary of the Amazon River. That night we met with some local church leaders and business men. Over the best steak dinner of my life, we discussed our water project, and their Christian radio project and new church plants. I literally kept stuffing steak in my mouth until I could not squeeze in another bite. I wobbled away from the table and slept uncomfortably in the spare bedroom in the home of some generous church members. After learning that it was still another six hour drive to San Lorenzo de Moxos over rough dirt roads, we decided to leave super early before the city even woke up. By 6:00 AM we were out of town and crossing the Momore River on a ferry—really just a simple barge built out of rough hewn wooden planks and powered by a small boat with an outboard motor tied along the side.

We passed quickly through the beautiful colonial town of San Ignacio de Moxos and made our way on back roads to San Lorenzo, arriving around noon. Luckily, being the dry season, it was possible to drive overland all the way to San Lorenzo. For many months each year both San Ignacio and San Lorenzo are completely cut off from the rest of Bolivia. The only way in or out is by air or by boat. We didn't have exact directions to Natividad's house, but were told to simply mention his name to anyone on the street and they would direct us. We did and they did. Natividad lives in a humble home next to the evangelical church. Natividad pastors the local congregation and as well works as a missionary, planting churches in many smaller communities along the rivers. He set us up for lunch and a room in the home of a church member—there are no restaurants, hotels or even humble guest houses in San Lorenzo—and then went out searching for the connections that would make a community visit up river possible. Because it is the dry season, many of the rivers are too low to travel on even by canoe.

The first community he knew of that needed a well would take too many portages on the river or would be a six to eight hour hike. Ouch! When we were about to admit defeat, thinking this area would be too inaccessible for our intrepid Texas team, when Natividad met Limber, a friend and local leader from the Yuracare community of Villa Hermosa, on the plaza of San Lorenzo. Limber was in town collecting half a ton food rations being donated to his community by the WFP (World Food Program). Earlier this year Villa Hermosa and every other community along these rivers were flooded and the residents completely lost their crops for the year. Disaster relief in the form of food aid from the WFP is being distributed in these communities as a way to insure the residents do not starve until their next crop can be planted and harvested. It just so happened that Villa Hermosa needed a water well and Limber was traveling back home that same evening. We could come along in the canoe if we liked to see if a well drilling trip would be possible. We helped load the donated food into the back of our Land Cruiser and drove it down to the river "port." I say "port" but it was really just a river bank along a canal that fed from the river into a shallow lagoon about five kilometers from town. As we were loading the ten meter long dugout canoe, we met the owner, Teofilo. Teofilo said the canoe can carry about 2500 kilos of cargo. He was already headed upriver to his own farm and agreed to take Limber and the food supplies back to Villa Hermosa. We offered to contribute the 60 liters of gasoline necessary for the 120 km trip to Villa Hermosa and back. While we were loading the boat we met a group of Chimani Indians from Asunta, a village five days travel upriver. The Chimani were also collecting WFP food rations. Ten days on the river seems like a long way to travel for a half dozen bags of rice and flour. The Chimani women and children did not seem to speak a word of Spanish and acted quite fearful of the white foreigners (us). The Chimani still live primarily has hunters and gatherers. There were a number of long bows and spear-like arrows sitting round their camp. The women were roasting piranha and monkey over a campfire.

After the boat was loaded with rice, flour, beans, and cooking oil, we reloaded the Land Cruiser with the Chimani's green bananas (which they were taking into town to sell), and drove back into town to leave the vehicle parked safely in Natividad's yard. Limber and several others from Villa Hermosa said they would be traveling back home seven hours by horseback and would meet us the following morning to unload the boat. After a five kilometer hike back to the river through dark woods, we were finally on our way upriver by 7:00 PM. Teofilo had a fairly powerful 40 hp outboard, but he was afraid to give it much gas because the bearings were worn out and he could not find replacement parts. He assured us it would only be a four hour journey upriver to Villa Hermosa. We settled uncomfortably on top of the cargo and began shining our flashlights out into the underbrush. After only a few minutes of searching we had already spotted dozens of pairs of glowing eyes—caimans and crocodiles along the water's edge. Warren drifted off to sleep by nine, but I couldn't find a comfortable enough position to relax, so I listened to the hum of motor and scanned the moonlit shore for faunal movement. The hours passed slowly. Finally around 1:00 AM, after six hours on the water Teofilo pulled ashore and announced that there was too much brush in the river to continue on in the dark. We would camp along the shore for the night and continue on to Villa Hermosa the following morning. Warren and I scrambled up the muddy bank with our tent and personal gear and hastily set up camp. Teofilo, his two young sons and Felix a nephew disappeared into the woods. Only later in the night did I reflect on the fact that we might have set up our tent on the same bank that some large crocodile called home.

At day break we heard some rustling outside the tent. Teofilo was ready to get back on the river. Turns out we had camped at Teofilo's farm. Felix and the boys were going to stay behind to pick oranges while Warren, Teofilo and I continued on to Villa Hermosa. After another hour on the river we arrived at the village where we scrambled up the muddy bank and hiked the half kilometer to the village. Villa Hermosa is built on the highest ground in the area. Even so, the community floods almost every year. Earlier this year the community was flooded for weeks and they lost all of their crops. They showed me the water mark on the houses. There had been about two feet of water in the houses for weeks on end and no dry ground anywhere in sight. I asked Limber what they did during the flood. "What could we do?" he asked. "We had nowhere to go. We sat and slept on top of our furniture in our houses, ate bananas, and waited for the water to go down."

As we walked into the village a dozen dogs began barking letting everyone know of our arrival. Every member of the community came out to see who the visitors were. They knew Teofilo of course, but they didn't know what to make of a pair of tall white gringos. Limber still had not shown up on horseback so they hadn't been expecting us. We saw a half dozen stick and thatch houses loosely organized around a bare dirt plaza. The school was a thatched roof structure with open walls, a couple of benches, a chalk board, and a Bolivian flag. We met the teacher, a dozen men and women, and about as many kids. They said that nine families now live in the community, about fifty people altogether. The community walked in mass down to the river and we began unloading the heavy bags of food. The men threw the 120 lb bags of flour and rice onto their shoulders and confidently climbed the muddy bank. After everything was on shore the men shouldered the heavy bags for the ten minute hike back to the community. The kids and women carried smaller boxes and bottles of cooking oil. Ashamedly, I walked back empty-handed, mumbling something about a chronic back condition. The bulk of the food was wheat flour. About the only thing you can make with flour is bread. I didn't see an oven in the community so I asked one of the women how they would eat the flour? She said they would eat it just like it is. I didn't really understand but she demonstrated by pretending to scoop some into her mouth. I asked if they might build an adobe brick oven so they could make bread, or perhaps make fry bread in oil. She said they might.

Even though the community lost all of their crops for the year, they still have an abundance of meat and fish. Teofilo said the river and the forest provide all that they can eat. While the Yuracare are not simply nomadic hunters and gatherers like the Chimani. They do rely heavily on fish and wild animals hunted from the forest for a large portion of their diet. They eat a variety of fish as well as wild pig, jochi (a large rodent), wild turkeys, armadillo, monkey, tapir, anteater—practically any animal they can kill. They do not hunt with bows and arrows like the Chimani, but rather with ancient looking 22 caliber rifles and shotguns. They also have a few domesticated animals. I saw two cows and several dozen chickens, ducks, and pigs running around.

The school provides classes only through fifth grade. The closest high school would be in San Lorenzo. The teacher in Villa Hermosa, Juan Marcelo, is a young guy in his mid-twenties from Trinidad. He said he has been teaching in the community for three years. He said they did have seventeen students but now they only have twelve. I noticed the school has a kitchen. Sometimes the government provides food to insure that each student eats a good breakfast at school. Marcelo said they were not providing breakfast this year. Because of some confusion or miscommunication, Villa Hermosa had been left off of the list and has not been receiving food from the government for the breakfast program. Limber, the Corregidor (local authority) we met the day before still had not arrived on horseback. His wife, Regina, welcomed us into their home and quickly cooked up a heaping plate of masaco, green bananas fried in oil and mashed with a good bit of salt. We did not have supper the evening before or breakfast, so the masaco
was a welcome gift. She served it with hot chocolate made from locally grown cacao beans.

After breakfast, we met briefly with the teacher and all the adults of the community to explain the reason for our visit and the possibility of returning with a volunteer team to drill a well. They all seemed excited about the possibility of a well with a hand pump and promised to help with the labor. They are currently drinking water directly from the river, or from pools of stagnant water left over from the flooding. Now that it is the dry season, the pools have been drying up. They also showed us a shallow hand dug well about two meters deep where they draw out water with a rope tied to a bucket. The Yuracare in this community have been drinking dirty water their whole lives. I'm sure they live with endemic water-related diseases. Water from the river, from stagnant pools, or from such shallow wells is definitely contaminated with parasites, viruses and with fecal coliform bacteria from the livestock, wild animals and even their own fecal waste. A deep well with clean water will without a doubt improve the health and quality of life. If they will combine the use of clean water with proper hygiene (hand washing) and sanitation (use of latrines), they will quickly see even further improvements in health.

We left Villa Hermosa a little before noon with the promise of returning in two weeks time with the volunteer team. Back on the river with Teofilo and traveling with the current, we began making good time back to San Lorenzo. Along the way, we picked up Felix, the boys and a load of oranges and lumber at Teofilo's farm. The number of birds and other wildlife along the river was simply staggering. As the sun came out we saw more and more crocodiles along the banks for the river—literally hundreds of them. We saw half a dozen monster crocs that must have been at least twelve feet or longer. Interestingly, the Yuracare said they never, ever get in the river to swim or bathe. They only take bucket baths. I will follow their advice.

You can see a complete photo gallery of our trip at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/sanlorenzomoxo.

An Agua Yaku well drilling trip to an Ayoreo village near San Jose de Chiquitos

Warren and I just returned from an exploratory well drilling trip to a small Ayoreo community near San Jose de Chiquitos in the Chiquitano region of Santa Cruz called Familia Unida Ayorea, or FUA for short. In English the name means United Ayoreo Family. The community is also called Nueva Jerusalen (New Jerusalem) by the local mestizo population. SAM (South American Mission) missionaries have been working with the Ayoreo for several decades in Bolivia. Ken Massey, a SAM missionary working in FUA, shared with us the problem of water scarcity in the area. This part of the Chiquitania is in dry forest ecoregion. The area is covered in short scrubby trees and it does not rain much at all compared to the nearby Amazon rain forest. Even worse there is almost no surface water such as rivers, lakes, or springs. Any useable water in this area will come from either wells or rainwater catchment. Most of the Chiquitania region is covered by an escarpment of granite called the Brazilian shield. Simply put, it is impossible for us to drill through the Brazilian shield with our drilling method. The only practical way to drill through the rock is with a large cable-tool drill rig. A local driller in San Jose charges $90 a meter to drill in the area and estimates that a well in this community would need to be at least 130 meters deep. A quick calculation yields a cost of $12,000—well beyond the budget or Agua Yaku or the community. We have had some success in the Chiquitania drilling shallow wells, say 15 to 25 meters that sit on top of the Brazilian shield and collect water in an aquifer on top of the rock. We didn't know what we would find in FUA, but it was our hope that we could drill an inexpensive shallow well that would produce enough water with a hand pump to supply the community.

FUA is a community of about 50 people that recently broke off from Santa Teresita, a neighboring Ayoreo community. The Bolivian government has given land concessions to all indigenous people groups in Bolivia. Unfortunately, most concessions are in marginally productive or isolated regions of the country, making it difficult and to scratch out a living. Santa Teresita, located in a 22,000 hectare Ayoreo reserve, was originally set up by the Catholic church. I have not visited Santa Teresita so I do not know anything about the history of the community. The SAM missionaries said that in order to avoid further conflict, the evangelical Christians who were living in Santa Teresita decided to leave and begin their own community. They chose to settle on top of a hill, seven kilometers up an old logging road from the highway. They chose the site because the forest wasn't too thick, making clearing the land for farming a bit easier. One critical need they did not consider was water. Maybe 500 meters from the community a small arroyo channels water during heavy rains, but it does not run even intermittently most of the year. The community attempted to dig a collecting pool in one of the depressions. They were able to collect a bit of muddy water, but it soon became the gathering place for local wild pigs and was too impossibly filthy to even consider drinking. The only other ways they have been able to get water into the community is by paying to have it trucked it in from other communities, or by collecting rainwater from the couple of tin roofs in the village. When water is trucked in they can store it in a 1000 liter plastic tank they have on the ground. The SAM mission is helping build a church and the local government is building small brick school. The family dwellings are made of local materials—sticks, rough timber slabs, palm thatch roofs, etc. When we visited the community the plastic tank was empty and there appeared to be almost no water in the community. Leading health organizations estimate that people need a minimum of 25 liters of clean water per day. Anything below this is considered water poverty. Surviving on the minimum standards, FUA should be consuming more than 1250 liters (more than one tank) per day. Now, they are doing well if they can fill the tank once a week. Just to put this in perspective, the average person in the U.S. consumes 600 liters of water each day. If FUA were populated by Americans, we would need 30 tanks of water a day.

Agua Yaku traveled to FUA with our manual drilling rig on the slim hope that we could drill a shallow well and install a hand pump that would at least increase water availability for this community. We set up the drilling rig on an embankment just above where the community had dung the water pit in the arroyo. Several dozen adults and children from the community, Agua Yaku, and SAM enthusiastically carried equipment, tools, and water down to the site. After several hours of hard work drilling through clay and thin layers of sand we hit hard rock at about five meters. Sadly, five meters is not deep enough to install a hand pump and the layers of sand where too thin to collect water through the filter. On the surface it may have seemed like a failed attempt at drilling a well, but we actually gained valuable knowledge about the geology of the area and now the community can proceed with plans for a deeper well, confident in the knowledge that a less expensive practical alternative for subterranean water does not exist. The alcaldea, local government, has promised to drill a deep well in FUA. The only question is whether this is an empty promise, or if it will actually be completed in the near future. It would not be a wise use of resources for missionaries to invest $12,000 in a privately drilled well if the government already has funds designated for the same project. We recommended that SAM invest a smaller amount in the construction of tin roofs and rainwater catchment systems for the church, the school, and each family dwelling in the community. This could supply a good portion of the communities water needs, and could be supplemented with water brought in by truck during the drier months. Perhaps in the coming months or years the alcaldea will come through with the promised deep well.

We returned to FUA the following day to clean up the drilling site and collect our equipment. First we met with the school teacher, the kids, and as many adults as were around to train them on how to disinfect their drinking water using the SODIS method. SODIS (which stands for SOlar DISinfection) is a simple way to insure safe drinking water using two liter plastic soda bottles and the sun. We explained that by simply filling two liter bottles with water and setting them in the sun for one day, ultraviolet radiation and heat will kill 100% of the organisms (bacteria, viruses, and parasites) that can make you sick. It is essentially the same as boiling water, but does not require fuel for the fire and is safer and easier than boiling water. As long as the bottles are sealed after they have been in the sun for a day, the water will remain safe until it is consumed. SODIS gives people who do not have access to safe drinking water an inexpensive and convenient way to improve their water quality. Even if they collect surface water from rivers, streams, ponds, etc., SODIS can assure them they are drinking clean water. If the water is turbid (muddy), they can pour it through a simple bio-sand filter and then treat it with SODIS. Even though rainwater may be clean when it falls from the sky, it can become contaminated as it sits in open barrels and is transferred with dirty containers and utensils. If people with suspect water sources learn to rigorously use SODIS to treat their drinking water they can greatly reduce the number of water-borne illnesses. To help put unsafe drinking water in global perspective, unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all diseases and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Worldwide, 42,000 deaths occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions. Children are the most vulnerable—90% of water-related deaths occur among children under five years old. Encouragingly, most of these deaths are preventable. Studies have shown that clean water alone can reduce water-related deaths by 21%, sanitation (proper disposal of excrement) alone can reduce water-related deaths by 37%, and hand washing alone can reduce water-related deaths by 45%. While Agua Yaku is committed to improving access to water for families and communities through drilling wells or other systems of surface water collection, we also emphasize the importance of ensuring that water sources are safe to drink, and that proper sanitation and hygiene is taught in schools, churches, and homes. SODIS is one component that we will be adding to all of our Agua Yaku training.

The Ayoreo students and parents all confirmed the importance of clean water and promised to begin treating their drinking water using the SODIS method. The teacher said she would follow up with the training and begin to promote it daily among the students. We left several dozen empty bottles and two SODIS tables with the teacher. Before the crowd disbursed we asked for a hand in dismantling the drilling rig and carrying the equipment back up to the community where we could load it on our truck. All of the adults wandered back to their homes and only a handful of small children followed us back down to the well site. We eventually got everything loaded and were soon back on the road for the six hour trip back to Santa Cruz.

To see a complete photo gallery from our trip visit: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/fua.

Update on Nathaniel's trip to Europe

Nathaniel has had some tough luck since arriving in Europe to compete with the US Junior National Cyling Team in several stage races. His first race was last Saturday, a Kermesse in Belgium. Borrowed some wheels from the team that had a worn cassette. It didn't align correctly with his new chain. When he stood up to sprint and test the cassette the chain skipped cogs and jammed, sending him immediately over the handlebars and into the pavement. He got some serious road rash on the back of his hands and several other places. Needless to say he didn't get to start the race that day. Now he and the team are in the Czech Republic competing in a big junior stage race called Course de la Paiz. It is five road stages and one time trial over five days. Nathaniel's hand has been hurting him considerably. The cuts were quite deep and he cannot make a fist or hang onto the handlebars without a good deal of pain. Yesterday he was training with the team on the course and fell again on a slick oily patch on a roundabout. More road rash. Then today was the start of the stage race. Not even 5 k into the race he was involved in a crash at the base of a big climb. After getting back on his bike he tried to get back up to the peleton but never made it back to the main group. He finished in a group of about 15 other riders 10 minutes behind the main bunch. Tomorrow's a new race! Keep trying Nathaniel. Your luck will turn.

Nathaniel headed to Belgium on the US Junior National Team

Nathaniel was selected for the US Junior National Team for road cycling. He is one of six 17-18 year olds who will represent the U.S. in a couple of international stage races in Europe. Today he is flying to Izegem, Belgium where he will be based in the USA Cycling guest house. He will compete in a Kermesse race on Saturday in Belgium. Next week he will travel with the team to a stage race in the Czech Republic called the Course de la Paix. In English it is called the Peace Race. It is a five day stage race contested by 20 national teams from all over the world. Some people call this the "Tour de France" for juniors. It is definitely one of the most important races on the international calendar. After that race he will be participating in a three day stage race in Germany. Then he will be heading back to the States on May 17th. We are proud of his drive and dedication to being the best athlete he can be. And we are even more proud of the his maturity and his dedication to his Christian faith.

Out There with the Beams – April 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

A few Fun Facts about Bolivia:

1. Bolivia has the highest navigable lake in the world Lago Titicaca, on the border with Peru sits at 3810 meters (that's 12,382 feet above sea level). Santa Cruz is only at about 1000 feet, but we rode motorcycles up to 17,800 ft on the side of a volcano.
2. The largest deposit of salt on the planet is also found in Bolivia. The Salar de Uyuni contains over 64 million tons of salt! The Salar de Uyuni is also the world's largest deposit of lithium and Bolivia could soon become a strategic player in the world market to supply battery manufacturers.
   
3. Bolivia is located within one of the wettest zones on the planet. We get over 8000 millimeters (8 meters!) of rainfall per year.
   
4. Bolivia has 23 major eco-regions, and is one of the most biologically diverse countries on the planet—containing 40% of all known plant and animal species.
   
5. Bolivia has over 30 different native indigenous groups and is one of only three countries in Latin America to have a majority indigenous population.
   
6. 59% of Bolivians are Catholic, 15% Andean spiritualists, 12% not religious, and 11% Protestant or Evangelical Christians.
   

While most Bolivians have been exposed to the Bible through Catholic traditions, and may say they believe in God, the vast majority mix these beliefs with other cultural traditions and do not have a personal relationship with their creator as is modeled for us in the New Testament. Bolivia is a beautiful and diverse country with a rich history and many economic and cultural resources. Missionaries, pastors, Christian leaders are sharing the gospel throughout the country, but we cannot reach everyone with the Good News unless we are backed in prayer and financial support from other Christians around the world. Please pray for Bolivia and consider what your part should be in reaching Bolivia for Christ.

We are having a good Spring (actually, it's Fall here). Many folks are visiting from our EFCC home mission office and churches in Canada. We also recently hosted a group from our home church, Crossroads Christian Church in Kentucky. They brought a team of youth and adults who worked hard building furniture and painting at two orphanages in town, Talita Cumi (http://www.talitacumi.org/index.php) and Judah Quy (http://judahquyhome.blogspot.com/) a new home for babies with special needs. Lindsey, our intern from Crossroads, was adjusting well and working hard, but unfortunately right after the Crossroads team left she found out that her grandmother passed away so she quickly returned home for the funeral before your scheduled time with us was up. We miss you Lindsey!

Ruth and Noemi Transition Home for Girls: We moved the girls to their new apartment about a month ago. We still have three girls, Juanita, Marina, and Fernanda. Pray for each of these girls specifically. Each one is struggling with finding their place in the world and understanding that they are truly daughters of a loving God.

Agua Yaku: We have been retooling this month, rebuilding our motorized drilling rig so we can drill more quickly and efficiently in the hard clay soil in the area around Pailon. We have had to drill up to about 60 meters through extremely hard clay and with our light rig it takes almost two weeks to complete one well. We hope that with our recent modifications we can reduce the time to drill each well and thus punch a few more holes in the ground.

Regrettably, the funding we thought we would be receiving in 2010 to move forward with our SODIS water disinfection program will not be forthcoming. This puts our project in a real financial bind because we have been hiring extra staff, training, and purchasing equipment with the expectation of this promised donation. We would love to continue with our plans to implement SODIS but we will need some new donors to come onboard quickly so we can continue our project. If you have been thinking about making a donation and would like to encourage us, this would be a great time to do so! We are also gearing up for a number of well drilling mission trips this summer. There is still time to put one together with your church or other group, or if you don't have your own group let us know and we can attach you to another group already planned. Just let us know.

I want to give a special thanks to all our long time supporters who have stuck with us through these hard financial times. We could not be here your prayer support and backing. It is wonderful knowing we have such a great team behind us.

Blessings,
Danny

Out There with the Beams—February 2010

Dear Friends and Family,

These last couple of months I have been feeling the weight of being away from family and friends. I want to ask you to please pray for us. Pray for our marriage and pray for our children.

I (Vanessa) have been struggling with depression and have felt powerless before the pain and suffering I see here. It is easier to just go into this self made cocoon and try to find refuge there than to work through issues with God. Although I know (in my head at least) that power to change and freedom and trust come only from Him and that I have no power to help anyone or even myself, I still get into little arguments with God and struggle for control.

Update on the kids: Nathaniel just left for Lexington, Kentucky where he will finish out his senior year of home schooling with his mom and will be racing bicycles before he goes to college. He has been accepted at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado (which as a great cycling team); he hopes to become a professional cyclist and a missionary specialized in sustainable agriculture. We are very proud of Nathaniel and miss him a lot. It is amazing to me how time goes by and how our little boy is now a man! He is handsome and smart and has a heart for God. We are very grateful for this. Luciana is doing great and school—she herself has grown and changed a lot. She is quite involved in school activities and seems to really enjoy it. She will be performing in a Shakespeare play in April. Lucy has been missing her best friend Sierra who recently moved back to the US. Please pray for her as she herself and not just us the adults, learns to deal with the realities of being in an ever changing community! I am proud of her for being such a faithful friend, she has been there for her friend Sierra in hard times and even after she left, Lucy has made it a priority to stay in touch, something I am not very good at myself and for which I apologize to all my dear friends! Isaiah is growing up fast, he is sweet and funny and smart too, but has been struggling in school quite a bit this year and last. Last year he had four different teachers because our school did not receive a first grade teacher. Please pray next year he will have the right teacher or just a good year school wise, even if that means we home school him. If this does have to happen please pray the Lord will help us figure out what will need to happen during that year with the transition house for girls!! One possibility would be to hire a temporary director to take my place until Isaiah can go back to school for grade 4^th. This is still unknown to us, only God knows the answers but what I do know is that I love that little skinny, freckled face seven year old too much and he is a priority.

Ministry Update: Again, thank you for praying with us and being there for us. It is very rewarding and touching when we are in the US and friends thank us for our newsletter and tell us they enjoy reading it! It makes me feel important and loved! The Agua Yaku guys have had a couple of hard weeks because of the rain. But they gearing up to start drilling again and have several projects already planned. As for the "Ruth and Noemi" Transition House for Girls, we signed a new rental contract for a new apartment yesterday, thank you for your prayers on this! The new place is right next door to the Centro de Vida (crisis pregnancy center) and we will be moving in this weekend. Last week I went to interview a girl at Centro de Vida who is pregnant and needed a place to live, we had a good time talking and she seemed ready to move and understood what we were about but when the coordinator came to pick her up she had disappeared. Please pray for her and her baby. Also please pray for protection for our three girls, two of them are being harassed by the same parents that abused and abandoned them years ago. One mom has been threatening to beat one of my girls because now that she is working she is not giving her money and the other one's dad who abused her for years has been tracking her down to the point he even called my cell phone one night! Don't worry I let him have it! Please pray that these two people and their spouses will meet Jesus Christ and that they will stay away from my girls so that the girls can forgive, heal, and move on. Please pray that the girls' eyes and mine will be opened so they can see and accept truth about their own lives and about God and that soon they and I will be able to trust and live free of fear.

Tomorrow, and I am very excited about this, we will be picking up our friend Lindsay from our home church - Crossroads Christian in KY and she will be working with us until May! Please pray for her, for protection and for the Lord to show her how much He really loves her while she is here. Also at the end of this month we will be hosting a team from Crossroads and we will together serve Talita Cumi, the Transition House and a new home for babies with physical disabilities that missionary friends of ours are starting. Please remember to pray for this team too.

Thank you for being here with us through prayer and support. Thank you for allowing us to open our minds and hearts to you and for being faithful just like Christ is in our lives. We love you and would love to see you and/or hear from you.

Blessings,
Vanessa

Out There with the Beams – December 2009

Dear Friends and family,

I know it's no longer December or even 2009, but we are way behind in our correspondence, so I will just go with it. We had a great holiday season visiting with Vanessa's mom who came down from Kansas and with her brother and his family who traveled from Peru. We also had a great 15^th birthday celebration (called a quinceanos and an important rite of passage in Latin culture) for Luciana on the 28^th. But I'm glad the holidays are behind us, the kids are back in school, so we can get on with the work we are here to do. We have a lot of interest from church teams who would like to come down in 2010 to join us in working with the girls transition home or with Agua:Yaku drilling water wells. Please contact us soon so we can get your teams on our calendar.

Many of you have ask about the political situation in Bolivia, so I will give you a bit of an update. In December Bolivia re-elected Evo Morales as president. Earlier last year his party also passed a new constitution. Bolivia continues to be run by his socialist government, tightly controlling the oil and gas industry. The majority of Bolivia's indigenous population supports Morales in hopes that he will help revert the great social and ethnic inequalities that have marked Bolivia since the days of the Spanish conquest. While we don't agree with everything that Morales stands for or is doing, his landslide victory in the election has given him a political mandate that has somewhat pacified the opposition parties. The Santa Cruz opposition that has been crying for autonomy the last couple of years has quieted down and daily life has been pretty calm. We do not see nearly as many road blocks, protests, or fuel shortages as in years past. In some ways it is harder for NGO's to do relief and development work in Bolivia because of new regulations, but as of now missionaries are continuing to work as they always have.

Ruth and Noemi Transition House update: We have three new girls in the transition house this year. Juana, Fernanda, and Marina have come to us from Talita Cumi. Each have turned 18 and need to leave the orphanage. Bety recently decided to leave the transition house, so we now have four girls (including Paula, who has been with us for a number of months). Marizabel, the house mother, and Sara, our volunteer from Australia continue to work closely with the girls. We have had to move the transition house out of our formal rental property because of some legal issues with the property. Thankfully, we have found a new apartment that is in an ideal location next to the Centro de Vida crisis pregnancy center we work closely with. We have temporarily moved the girls into our old house, which is now the Agua:Yaku office and a mission guest house, until the new apartment is ready on February 1^st. Please continue to pray for all of these girls, but especially for Bety as she tries to make a life on her own.

Agua:Yaku Water Well Drilling update: Warren McCaig, my missionary partner in this project, is back from a long fund raising trip to Canada. We also have a new short-term volunteer from the U.S., Greg, who will be working with us for a while. As I described in the last newsletter, we are gearing up for a new program to promote the use of a solar water disinfection method called SODIS. We will continue to drill wells where we can, but if wells are not possible because of geological constraints, we will promote the disinfection of contaminated water sources through the SODIS method.

Family News: Nathaniel will be heading back to the U.S. the first week of February where he will continue racing bicycles with his Ohio based team and will prepare to college in the Fall. He is planning on going to Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado where he wants to major in sustainable agriculture. And of course he wants to go there for the cycling. Fort Lewis has one of the top collegiate teams in the country.

Thanks so much for supporting us financially and in prayer. Please feel free to contact us if you would like further info on our ministries. We would love for any and all of you to come down for a visit if you want a front row seat to see how God is changing lives in Bolivia.

Blessings,
Danny

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)