Sunday, October 26, 2008
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Out There with the Beams – September 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
I think it has been a tough month for everyone in North and South America. We are closely watching the news about hurricanes and financial crises up north and are praying for all of you that are affected in one way or another. If you have watched the international news lately you may also be aware that Bolivia, and specifically Santa Cruz, has been suffering through a good bit of political tension and turmoil over the past month.
I don’t want to delve too deeply into the details, but for a number of years now the department of Santa Cruz and three other eastern departments have wanted greater autonomy from the central government in La Paz. Since the election of Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, many non-indigenous Bolivians in eastern Bolivia have rebelled against MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo – Socialist Movement) government reforms and attempts to redistribute wealth in Bolivia through agrarian reforms and nationalization of the oil and gas industry. The politics are not at all transparent, nor is there much honestly or good will on either side. Add to that, strained relations with the U.S. government, and it all adds up to daily tension, turmoil and occasional violence in the streets of Santa Cruz. Several weeks ago the Autonomista provincial government in Santa Cruz took control over several dozen federal institutions in the city of Santa Cruz. A number offices and pro-indigenous institutions were looted and burned. We certainly did not venture down town from a couple of weeks, but from what we saw on the local news it looked like a regular war zone. Pro-government indigenous supporters came down from Cochabamba and La Paz and surrounded the city for several weeks. As many as 20,000 people blocked off all the highways leading into and out of Santa Cruz. They threatened to march on the city if the government offices were not returned. Food prices soared and fuel cars and buses became scarce. Several dozen people were killed in clashes between opposing groups.
To shorten the story, the occupied offices were returned to the government, the blockades have been lifted and life has returned pretty much to normal. The MAS government and the eastern provinces seeking autonomy are now in talks, and are trying to make compromises in the new constitution that will be agreeable to all parties. The president wants to bring the new constitution before the people for a national vote on December 7th. In the mist of all this, Evo Morales accused the U.S. Ambassador of collaborating with the opposition in an attempt to overthrow the government, so he kicked him out of the country. During all of this turmoil, the U.S. embassy and consulates were closed, and international flights cancelled.
While life in Santa Cruz is a bit stressful, and a few mission organizations have decided to pull out their missionaries, we are staying for now and hoping that everyone calms down and thinks about the true devastation that civil war could bring to Bolivia. Our water well drilling project was pretty much shut down during the blockades and protests, but now that the highways are clear again, we are leaving tomorrow morning (Oct 2nd) on a mission trip with our local church, Trinity International, to drill water wells in a Yuqui Indian village on the Chimore River. Please pray for our success and safety on this trip. Pray also for a mission team from Crossroads Christian, our home church in Kentucky, scheduled to come down on a well drilling trip at the end of October. I think everyone involved would be awfully disappointed if we had to cancel this trip. But above all, pray for peace and unity in Bolivia. The racial tension between the indigenous western half (the Collas) and “white” eastern half of Bolivia (the Cambas) is centuries old and deeply entrenched, thus making political conflict extremely difficult to resolve.
Thank you for your continued support of our ministry here in Bolivia. It is so exciting to see how God is working in our lives and in the lives of Bolivians around us. I don’t think spiritual transformation happens to a country overnight, but rather it happens in individuals lives one at a time. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to transform people here from the inside out and that we can be a part of that.
As you may have noticed, we are changing how we collect support for our ministry. If you are still sending support through Owingsville Baptist in Kentucky, we are now asking you to please send your support either through the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) or directly through the EFCCM (Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission). The details of this transition are outlined below. If you would like your gift to go specifically to the water well drilling project or the girl’s halfway house, please let us know.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
I think it has been a tough month for everyone in North and South America. We are closely watching the news about hurricanes and financial crises up north and are praying for all of you that are affected in one way or another. If you have watched the international news lately you may also be aware that Bolivia, and specifically Santa Cruz, has been suffering through a good bit of political tension and turmoil over the past month.
I don’t want to delve too deeply into the details, but for a number of years now the department of Santa Cruz and three other eastern departments have wanted greater autonomy from the central government in La Paz. Since the election of Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, many non-indigenous Bolivians in eastern Bolivia have rebelled against MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo – Socialist Movement) government reforms and attempts to redistribute wealth in Bolivia through agrarian reforms and nationalization of the oil and gas industry. The politics are not at all transparent, nor is there much honestly or good will on either side. Add to that, strained relations with the U.S. government, and it all adds up to daily tension, turmoil and occasional violence in the streets of Santa Cruz. Several weeks ago the Autonomista provincial government in Santa Cruz took control over several dozen federal institutions in the city of Santa Cruz. A number offices and pro-indigenous institutions were looted and burned. We certainly did not venture down town from a couple of weeks, but from what we saw on the local news it looked like a regular war zone. Pro-government indigenous supporters came down from Cochabamba and La Paz and surrounded the city for several weeks. As many as 20,000 people blocked off all the highways leading into and out of Santa Cruz. They threatened to march on the city if the government offices were not returned. Food prices soared and fuel cars and buses became scarce. Several dozen people were killed in clashes between opposing groups.
To shorten the story, the occupied offices were returned to the government, the blockades have been lifted and life has returned pretty much to normal. The MAS government and the eastern provinces seeking autonomy are now in talks, and are trying to make compromises in the new constitution that will be agreeable to all parties. The president wants to bring the new constitution before the people for a national vote on December 7th. In the mist of all this, Evo Morales accused the U.S. Ambassador of collaborating with the opposition in an attempt to overthrow the government, so he kicked him out of the country. During all of this turmoil, the U.S. embassy and consulates were closed, and international flights cancelled.
While life in Santa Cruz is a bit stressful, and a few mission organizations have decided to pull out their missionaries, we are staying for now and hoping that everyone calms down and thinks about the true devastation that civil war could bring to Bolivia. Our water well drilling project was pretty much shut down during the blockades and protests, but now that the highways are clear again, we are leaving tomorrow morning (Oct 2nd) on a mission trip with our local church, Trinity International, to drill water wells in a Yuqui Indian village on the Chimore River. Please pray for our success and safety on this trip. Pray also for a mission team from Crossroads Christian, our home church in Kentucky, scheduled to come down on a well drilling trip at the end of October. I think everyone involved would be awfully disappointed if we had to cancel this trip. But above all, pray for peace and unity in Bolivia. The racial tension between the indigenous western half (the Collas) and “white” eastern half of Bolivia (the Cambas) is centuries old and deeply entrenched, thus making political conflict extremely difficult to resolve.
Thank you for your continued support of our ministry here in Bolivia. It is so exciting to see how God is working in our lives and in the lives of Bolivians around us. I don’t think spiritual transformation happens to a country overnight, but rather it happens in individuals lives one at a time. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to transform people here from the inside out and that we can be a part of that.
As you may have noticed, we are changing how we collect support for our ministry. If you are still sending support through Owingsville Baptist in Kentucky, we are now asking you to please send your support either through the EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America) or directly through the EFCCM (Evangelical Free Church of Canada Mission). The details of this transition are outlined below. If you would like your gift to go specifically to the water well drilling project or the girl’s halfway house, please let us know.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Monday, September 01, 2008
Out There with the Beams – August 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Hi! This is Vanessa writing this month and I want to share with you about our family and kids. Nathaniel is back in KY and he is being homeschooling this year for grade 11th (first time ever!). He is working at a bicycle shop and has been riding his bicycle for at least forty miles a day!! Isn’t that incredible?? I don’t know what that kid is made out of! But I am really proud of him and miss him lots.
Luciana, my baby girl, is now in grade 8! Can you believe it? I keep on thinking and saying she is in 6th or 7th! She also doing wonderful already. She is also more serious about playing soccer and she scored her first goal last week! It was beautiful! And both Danny and I were there to scream and jump up and cry! Lucy is also going to start guitar lessons with a friend from our mission. Isaiah (a.k.a. Ishi) is loving first grade and doing homework. He is getting along much better with all his friends and loves to read and be read to everyday. He has started the year with lots of energy. This is the first time he has to go to school from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. and when he gets home he doesn’t even want to take a nap. Thank you for praying for our kids! That alone is worth so much for us. If you have been praying for them, for the protection of their bodies and souls, please keep doing so. It does make a huge difference.
Danny and I are doing great. He is really busy getting a work team ready to go back to the Yuqui village next week. A lot of men from our church are going. They are going to drill a well for the national missionary family that lives out there. Our goal is to strengthen them and encourage them, so that they can provide a good example of agricultural and spiritual development. Later, they will also drill wells for the Yuqui.
The team will be gone from Sept. 8th to the 13th. Please pray for good weather and also for protection on the road and while at the camp. Also please pray the cars will be safe. Since they will have to park the vehicles and do the last hour of the trip by boat. The boats are these huge dugout canoes! So now that I think about it, please also pray for safety during the river trip.
I know I always get attacked by this terrible fear every time the Lord calls us to something outside our comfort zone! But He has been so good in helping with that by providing me with a husband who looks at everything as a wonderful opportunity for adventure! And I can tell you honestly I have never been let down by Jesus even when circumstances have been overwhelming and scary. He has always given us a way out!
I need prayer for my foot. I am laughing as I write this because it sounds funny! But really I think I have broken a little bone in my foot and it hurts a lot! I think if the doctor says I can’t do aerobics or wear high heels I will be a little depressed but I will find a way to continue to exercise and stay in shape. Other than that I feel great physically. Not so much emotionally. I have recently found out that three really close friends of mine were also sexually abused when they were young. News like that send me back into a dark pit sometimes. Please pray for my old wounds to continue to heal. Pray for the Lord to do a huge miracle and give me amazing grace, courage and forgiveness and please pray for my friends. Although you do not know who they are, God does, right? All three are amazing Christian women, who lead other women to follow Jesus daily. Pray for strength and healing! I have been really busy organizing the children’s ministry at our church here in Bolivia. Also translating our mission’s Child Protection Policies into Spanish so we can train our workers. But guess what, a virus attacked our computer last week! Frustrating!
Danny and I have decided to start the girls half-way house ministry by renting a house so that the girls who need to move in there will have a place soon. But of course it sounds easy to do but is not really that easy in practice. I need your help to pray that the Lord will show us a group of people who could become the board of directors for this new project. That way when we are no longer here the half-way house/coffee house will continue without us! After that, we will need to find a Christian couple who would be willing to live with the girls and just monitor the activity around the house. And as always, please pray for the Holy Spirit to just take over these girl’s hearts! Pray for healing and an unbreakable faith to believe in Jesus when He tells them that He loves them! Abuse can be so tricky, although it could have taken place many years ago, it holds us prisoner at crucial times in our lives, even after we know Jesus. Pray for Jesus to break the cycle in our girls’ lives and in mine! If you have ever gone through something similar. And if you are ready I would love to know, just so I can pray for you and in a weird way be closer to you in Jesus!
Really good news—Fernando (one of our Water project’s workers) received Jesus today! Please pray for him and his new life. Danny and Warren (a fellow missionary from our mission) get together with the project’s workers and have a Spanish Bible study every Monday morning. I will give you their names so you can pray for them whenever you can; Danny, Warren, Marcos, Carlos, Fernando, Steve and Rodrigo.
Here are some names of girls that I think would really benefit from a half way house: Estela, Gabriela, Ana Maria, Gaby, Betty, Viviana, Teresa and Teofila. Please pray for these beautiful sweet girls.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our letters every month. You bless us every time you read them and pray for us! Also, thank you for all your contributions that make our life here in Bolivia possible! And remember that if you need to come hang out in South America our doors are wide open for you!
Lots of love from all the Beams,
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Hi! This is Vanessa writing this month and I want to share with you about our family and kids. Nathaniel is back in KY and he is being homeschooling this year for grade 11th (first time ever!). He is working at a bicycle shop and has been riding his bicycle for at least forty miles a day!! Isn’t that incredible?? I don’t know what that kid is made out of! But I am really proud of him and miss him lots.
Luciana, my baby girl, is now in grade 8! Can you believe it? I keep on thinking and saying she is in 6th or 7th! She also doing wonderful already. She is also more serious about playing soccer and she scored her first goal last week! It was beautiful! And both Danny and I were there to scream and jump up and cry! Lucy is also going to start guitar lessons with a friend from our mission. Isaiah (a.k.a. Ishi) is loving first grade and doing homework. He is getting along much better with all his friends and loves to read and be read to everyday. He has started the year with lots of energy. This is the first time he has to go to school from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. and when he gets home he doesn’t even want to take a nap. Thank you for praying for our kids! That alone is worth so much for us. If you have been praying for them, for the protection of their bodies and souls, please keep doing so. It does make a huge difference.
Danny and I are doing great. He is really busy getting a work team ready to go back to the Yuqui village next week. A lot of men from our church are going. They are going to drill a well for the national missionary family that lives out there. Our goal is to strengthen them and encourage them, so that they can provide a good example of agricultural and spiritual development. Later, they will also drill wells for the Yuqui.
The team will be gone from Sept. 8th to the 13th. Please pray for good weather and also for protection on the road and while at the camp. Also please pray the cars will be safe. Since they will have to park the vehicles and do the last hour of the trip by boat. The boats are these huge dugout canoes! So now that I think about it, please also pray for safety during the river trip.
I know I always get attacked by this terrible fear every time the Lord calls us to something outside our comfort zone! But He has been so good in helping with that by providing me with a husband who looks at everything as a wonderful opportunity for adventure! And I can tell you honestly I have never been let down by Jesus even when circumstances have been overwhelming and scary. He has always given us a way out!
I need prayer for my foot. I am laughing as I write this because it sounds funny! But really I think I have broken a little bone in my foot and it hurts a lot! I think if the doctor says I can’t do aerobics or wear high heels I will be a little depressed but I will find a way to continue to exercise and stay in shape. Other than that I feel great physically. Not so much emotionally. I have recently found out that three really close friends of mine were also sexually abused when they were young. News like that send me back into a dark pit sometimes. Please pray for my old wounds to continue to heal. Pray for the Lord to do a huge miracle and give me amazing grace, courage and forgiveness and please pray for my friends. Although you do not know who they are, God does, right? All three are amazing Christian women, who lead other women to follow Jesus daily. Pray for strength and healing! I have been really busy organizing the children’s ministry at our church here in Bolivia. Also translating our mission’s Child Protection Policies into Spanish so we can train our workers. But guess what, a virus attacked our computer last week! Frustrating!
Danny and I have decided to start the girls half-way house ministry by renting a house so that the girls who need to move in there will have a place soon. But of course it sounds easy to do but is not really that easy in practice. I need your help to pray that the Lord will show us a group of people who could become the board of directors for this new project. That way when we are no longer here the half-way house/coffee house will continue without us! After that, we will need to find a Christian couple who would be willing to live with the girls and just monitor the activity around the house. And as always, please pray for the Holy Spirit to just take over these girl’s hearts! Pray for healing and an unbreakable faith to believe in Jesus when He tells them that He loves them! Abuse can be so tricky, although it could have taken place many years ago, it holds us prisoner at crucial times in our lives, even after we know Jesus. Pray for Jesus to break the cycle in our girls’ lives and in mine! If you have ever gone through something similar. And if you are ready I would love to know, just so I can pray for you and in a weird way be closer to you in Jesus!
Really good news—Fernando (one of our Water project’s workers) received Jesus today! Please pray for him and his new life. Danny and Warren (a fellow missionary from our mission) get together with the project’s workers and have a Spanish Bible study every Monday morning. I will give you their names so you can pray for them whenever you can; Danny, Warren, Marcos, Carlos, Fernando, Steve and Rodrigo.
Here are some names of girls that I think would really benefit from a half way house: Estela, Gabriela, Ana Maria, Gaby, Betty, Viviana, Teresa and Teofila. Please pray for these beautiful sweet girls.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our letters every month. You bless us every time you read them and pray for us! Also, thank you for all your contributions that make our life here in Bolivia possible! And remember that if you need to come hang out in South America our doors are wide open for you!
Lots of love from all the Beams,
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Friday, August 15, 2008
Pictures of the Yuqui in Bia Recuate
Here are several images from our recent trip to visit with the Yuqui in Bia Recuate. To see more on my photo gallery click on the above title bar.
Out There with the Beams -- July 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Okay, I know it isn’t July anymore, but this is still our July newsletter. We have been super busy with teams and visitors all summer. Now that our kids have returned to school things are starting to get back to routine. We had a fantastic week with a huge (28 people) Crossroads Christian Church mission team in July. If felt like the whole church had come to help with our ministry here in Bolivia. I just want to thank them again for coming and to thank all of our Crossroads family for supporting us so much in our ministry here. And while I am at it—thanks to everyone who prays for us and supports us. We have been overwhelmed this year with the interest in and support of work by our partners all over North and South America. The Crossroads team worked on three different fronts while they were here. One group finished the interior work on a Bakery/Café at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz, a second group of two doctors and assistants held five days of health clinics in churches and orphanages around Santa Cruz. They attended several hundred patients per day. And finally, a third group built a storage room and some shelving and work benches at our water well drilling workshop here in town. You can see pictures of the team’s visit at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan/ccc0708.
During the medical clinic we met a New Tribes missionary from Santa Cruz, Steve Parker, who came to Bolivia in 1982 to share Christ with the Yuquí, a group of indigenous hunters and gatherers who lived in the tropical forests of eastern Bolivia and who had had very little contact with the outside world. He shared with us that in 1985 he and two other missionaries attempted to befriend a group of previously uncontacted Yuquí on the Rio Víbora. He thought things were going well. They spent the night near their jungle camp and where invited to go on a hunting excursion early the next morning. While on the trail, the Yuquí shot a six foot arrow through his back, which punctured his lung and came out the front of his chest. I don’t have the space to recount the whole story, but he did survive the attack and went on to work with the Yuquí Indians for many years afterwards. The man who shot him also came to know the Lord before he died of tuberculosis several years later. Through our conversations with Steve, I found out that all the Yuquí now live in a community founded by the New Tribes mission called Bía Recuaté.
In Bía Recuaté, they do not have any clean drinking water. They drink from the river, collect rain water, or drink from a contaminated shallow well. Since we are in the business of drilling wells, I and three friends traveled to Bía Recuaté to meet, Mariano and Leonarda, Bolivian national missionaries living and working among the Yuquí, and to see if we could drill a well or two. It would be an understatement to say we were shocked to see the conditions in which the Yuquí are living in Bía Recuaté. The poverty and their social and political context within larger Bolivia is complicated and difficult to sort out. As well as sharing the Gospel, New Tribes and other Christian and secular organizations have tried for decades to help the Yuquí adjust to living as citizens within a connected Bolivia—to protect them as a culture and people group, to educate them, to address health issues, and to help them earn a living within economic reality of Bolivia today. If you take a look at my photos from the trip (http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/yuqui), you may question the effectiveness of any contact or intervention over the past 40 years. Many of them live in houses without walls, or just under plastic tarps. They cook fish or an occasionally monkey over wood fires. Their yards are littered with discarded tattered clothes and toys that have been given to them by many well meaning mission teams. With the money they earn from selling bows and arrows, or hand woven bags to tourists, they buy cookies and soda for their kids.
The Yuquis may be on the verge of extinction. In the last two years the number of families has fallen from 70 to 52. There are currently only about 215 people who still speak their language, a dialect of Guarani. In the last year alone 20 people have died from pulmonary mycosis, a fungal lung infection. 115 people are currently receiving treatment for this disease.
We are going back in September to drill a well with a mission team from our Bolivian church, Trinity Union. We hope to establish a working relationship with the local missionaries and with the Yuqui people that will share God’s love and help them overcome their social and economic struggles.
We also visited two other indigenous communities of Yuracaré on the Chimoré River who need clean drinking water as well. So pray for us as we strive to bring clean water and share Christ with these people.
On a technical note, we are changing how our partners make donations to our ministry. My Dad retired as pastor of Owingsville Baptist, so now we are asking that supporters send contributions to the EFCCM through our sister organization in the U.S., the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). This will insure that our U.S. supporters receive tax receipt. The lower portion of this email has the new address and details. We will also continue receiving donations made through Owingsville Baptist through the end of the year.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouraging words.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Okay, I know it isn’t July anymore, but this is still our July newsletter. We have been super busy with teams and visitors all summer. Now that our kids have returned to school things are starting to get back to routine. We had a fantastic week with a huge (28 people) Crossroads Christian Church mission team in July. If felt like the whole church had come to help with our ministry here in Bolivia. I just want to thank them again for coming and to thank all of our Crossroads family for supporting us so much in our ministry here. And while I am at it—thanks to everyone who prays for us and supports us. We have been overwhelmed this year with the interest in and support of work by our partners all over North and South America. The Crossroads team worked on three different fronts while they were here. One group finished the interior work on a Bakery/Café at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz, a second group of two doctors and assistants held five days of health clinics in churches and orphanages around Santa Cruz. They attended several hundred patients per day. And finally, a third group built a storage room and some shelving and work benches at our water well drilling workshop here in town. You can see pictures of the team’s visit at: www.pbase.com/beamsclan/ccc0708.
During the medical clinic we met a New Tribes missionary from Santa Cruz, Steve Parker, who came to Bolivia in 1982 to share Christ with the Yuquí, a group of indigenous hunters and gatherers who lived in the tropical forests of eastern Bolivia and who had had very little contact with the outside world. He shared with us that in 1985 he and two other missionaries attempted to befriend a group of previously uncontacted Yuquí on the Rio Víbora. He thought things were going well. They spent the night near their jungle camp and where invited to go on a hunting excursion early the next morning. While on the trail, the Yuquí shot a six foot arrow through his back, which punctured his lung and came out the front of his chest. I don’t have the space to recount the whole story, but he did survive the attack and went on to work with the Yuquí Indians for many years afterwards. The man who shot him also came to know the Lord before he died of tuberculosis several years later. Through our conversations with Steve, I found out that all the Yuquí now live in a community founded by the New Tribes mission called Bía Recuaté.
In Bía Recuaté, they do not have any clean drinking water. They drink from the river, collect rain water, or drink from a contaminated shallow well. Since we are in the business of drilling wells, I and three friends traveled to Bía Recuaté to meet, Mariano and Leonarda, Bolivian national missionaries living and working among the Yuquí, and to see if we could drill a well or two. It would be an understatement to say we were shocked to see the conditions in which the Yuquí are living in Bía Recuaté. The poverty and their social and political context within larger Bolivia is complicated and difficult to sort out. As well as sharing the Gospel, New Tribes and other Christian and secular organizations have tried for decades to help the Yuquí adjust to living as citizens within a connected Bolivia—to protect them as a culture and people group, to educate them, to address health issues, and to help them earn a living within economic reality of Bolivia today. If you take a look at my photos from the trip (http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/yuqui), you may question the effectiveness of any contact or intervention over the past 40 years. Many of them live in houses without walls, or just under plastic tarps. They cook fish or an occasionally monkey over wood fires. Their yards are littered with discarded tattered clothes and toys that have been given to them by many well meaning mission teams. With the money they earn from selling bows and arrows, or hand woven bags to tourists, they buy cookies and soda for their kids.
The Yuquis may be on the verge of extinction. In the last two years the number of families has fallen from 70 to 52. There are currently only about 215 people who still speak their language, a dialect of Guarani. In the last year alone 20 people have died from pulmonary mycosis, a fungal lung infection. 115 people are currently receiving treatment for this disease.
We are going back in September to drill a well with a mission team from our Bolivian church, Trinity Union. We hope to establish a working relationship with the local missionaries and with the Yuqui people that will share God’s love and help them overcome their social and economic struggles.
We also visited two other indigenous communities of Yuracaré on the Chimoré River who need clean drinking water as well. So pray for us as we strive to bring clean water and share Christ with these people.
On a technical note, we are changing how our partners make donations to our ministry. My Dad retired as pastor of Owingsville Baptist, so now we are asking that supporters send contributions to the EFCCM through our sister organization in the U.S., the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). This will insure that our U.S. supporters receive tax receipt. The lower portion of this email has the new address and details. We will also continue receiving donations made through Owingsville Baptist through the end of the year.
Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouraging words.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- June 2008
Hi Folks, Do higher gas prices have you down this summer? Well you can still buy a gallon of gasoline for about $2 here in Bolivia. Just thought you would like to know.
We trust you are having a wonderful summer. We have had a great time hosting teams and visitors from back home over the past month or so. A team from Brazos Pointe, my brother’s church in Lake Jackson, TX, came down and helped drill water wells in several rural communities near Yapacani. We had a great week and completed three wells. The team even stayed up and worked almost all night to complete the last one. On our return trip to Santa Cruz we were caught behind a political road block that prevented us from driving back to Santa Cruz. At first we attempted to drive “the long way around” through Cochabamba, but all the gas stations were out of gasoline and we could not have made it around the 20 hour detour. We spent an extra night in Buena Vista and the following day we tried to drive our rented bus over some slippery mountain roads that went around the road block. On each climb everyone had to get off the bus and help push it up the slick clay. After about 6 hours of pushing and pulling the bus the 40 miles to Santa Cruz, we finally made to back to civilization. That was one trip we will not soon forget.
At the end of this week we will be hosting a team from our home church, Crossroads Christian, in Lexington, KY. Pray for this team as 28 people are coming to work on three different projects. One group will complete construction and decorating of a bakery/coffee shop at the Cristo Viene girls home here in Santa Cruz. The older girls in this home have learned how to make bagels and other baked goods and will soon be opening this coffee shop to the public. A second team of doctors will host several medical clinics in neighbourhoods around the city. Each clinic will be hosted and assisted by a local church. Church members will invite neighbors to the clinic and it will be a great opportunity to share Christ with those who participate. Finally, a third group will help with several construction projects at our water well drilling workshop and training center.
So pray that this team has a great impact on the people they are serving this next week and that each member of the team carries home with them a greater appreciation for mission and for what God is doing around the world.
Also continue to pray for a number of the older girls who have recently left Talita Cumi and Cristo Viene. Especially for Vilma, Shirley, and Lily. Vanessa is excited about her vision for a halfway house and coffee shop where a number of the older girls can live and work after they leave the orphanages. We are starting to raise funds for this project so if you would like to contribute to this or want to know more about it, please let us know.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support of our work here in Bolivia. We have been here over four years now and we love being the hands and feet of Jesus here in Santa Cruz. We could not do it without you all at home supporting us as well. If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a monthly pledge to support our efforts. I know there are many pressing financial needs at home, but sacrificially giving to God’s work will pay a higher return than any earthly investment.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Friday, May 23, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- May 2008
Dear Family and Friends, It is so much fun to be able to communicate with all of you. Especially because I know that you guys are always reading our letters and praying for us. We have started a very busy but at the same time very fun time of the year. So far it looks like we will be hosting four missionary teams and several friends are also coming to visit!!! We are all excited and can’t wait to see you, hug you, and take you out for some good Bolivian food! I hope each one of you all is doing great and enjoying the beautiful season! We love hearing from you and praying for you. I always feel like we are covering each other’s backs when you guys let us know how we can pray for you all. As I write this letter, Danny is frantically trying to pack for a mountain trip he and Nathaniel are taking together as a special time before Nathaniel has to go back to the US for a whole school year. Please pray for them, for safety and fun. Also pray for all five of us as we again have to say good bye. Today was also Nathaniel’s and Luciana’s last day of school. Isaiah has officially graduated from Kindergarten. He is not very excited about first grade, instead he wishes to go back to KY. I think this is due to some comment about the new principal being really mean (not true). Thank you so much for praying for our kids. We are very proud of them, we are proud of the people they are in and outside the school. Nathaniel is now a Junior, Luciana is an 8th grader and Isaiah a 1st grader. Wow! Time flies! During the time that Nathaniel and Danny are gone. I will be working as an interpreter for a wonderful lady called Bernadette Todd. She has a very touching testimony about the healing power of God. She is from Jamaica. We will be going to the local jail (men’s and women’s), also to a factory, a couple schools, three churches and several ladies meetings. My two other kids will be home with a sitter. So please pray for them and for me as we pull through this coming ten days. Right after Nathaniel leaves we will be getting our first team and heading for the jungle to drill some wells. I will be cooking because I still don’t know how to drill wells and to be honest with you I don’t really enjoy playing in the mud! My dear friend Erna Friesen and I have a dream. We have felt and seen a huge need for a half way house for girls who are too old to stay in the orphanages but not totally ready to get out into the world on their own. This is the dream: To somehow purchase or rent a building in a good central location where we could use the first floor as a coffee house and a big apartment on the second floor where about three to six girls could live with a couple of house parents. Erna is a wonderful chef. So she would train the girls in culinary arts while I would in managing and dealing with clients. The girls would have to attend a technical school and work at the coffee shop, pay rent and pay for their own food while they have a safe place to come home to. Through this project the Lord would also be providing a really cool and safe place where both Christian and non Christian youth could hang out without having smoke blown in their faces (hard to find here in Santa Cruz). We would have games, books, ping pong, yummy foods and snacks…I even thought of some dancing classes with Christian music of course. And of course we would link all the people who came here to our church that will be by then bilingual. As you can tell I am really excited! That’s it so far. I am sure there is a lot more to it. Erna is going to Canada on furlough for six months so we (us and all of you) have that time to pray, plan and pray again! Two other ladies from our mission have a very successful coffee house in Tarija, another city in Bolivia, that would serve as a model for ours. So the first step would be to visit Tarija as soon as Erna gets back. I better let her know! I know that I can always count on your prayers so here are some requests:Please pray for the safety and protection of all the people who are coming here to work with us.Please pray for Danny and Nathaniel on their trip.Lift up Nathaniel as he readjusts to the USLift Luciana and Isaiah when the miss their big brother.Pray for Lily, Fernanda and Shirley. All three of them have recently made really poor choices which the Lord has used to show me the huge need of a half way house!Pray for Bernadette and I as we share her testimony. And for the Lord to open the hearts of those who are not safe yet who will hear her message.Pray for protection for our family in general ( traffic, robberies, etc)Pray for our friends Lucy and Pedro who are going through really tough times in their lives right now.Pray for the coffee house dream to come true! Thank you so much for your faithful support of our ministry. We could not be hear without you all backing us up. We are still a somewhat short of meeting our budget each month. If you would like to make a monthly pledge or send a one time gift to help support our ministry, please print out the appropriate attachment and send a check to our mission office. Blessings,Vanessa Daniel and Vanessa Beams EFCCM -- Casilla 3740 -- Santa Cruz, BoliviaEmail: beamsclan@yahoo.comBolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- April 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
I would like to relate an experience I had while out drilling a water well yesterday in a community of Ayoreo Indians a couple of hours from Santa Cruz. This tale is a bit longer that what I usually share, but please take the time to read this. We want our supporters and ministry partners to understand the reality of life in Bolivia so they will know how to pray for the people of Bolivia.
This week we are working alongside, Charles and Hannah, friends and fellow missionaries from SAM (South American Mission) who have a ministry with the Ayoreo Indians in the community of Pozo Verde. We are drilling a water well for a national missionary couple, Cesar and Myrtha, who live in the village and who and pastor the local evangelical church. This was my first time in an Ayore village. While I was at first shocked by the humble and filthy living conditions (mud and stick huts with tin roofs and dirt yards full of trash), what truly disturbed me was the story of cultural bankruptcy—I don’t know what else to call it— that Hannah shared with me later.
Although not many tourists end up in Pozo Verde, which is quite a ways down a dusty bumpy dirt road, the local women and girls quickly find any visitors and offer to sell them hand woven bags made from the fiber of cactus plants. Although they all dress in Western style clothes, the Ayore have distinct facial features that set them apart from their Quechua and German Mennonite neighbors. The children are extremely cute with big round faces and sparkling eyes. They chat excitedly among each other in their own language, of which I do not understand a word. The kids practically mobbed Hannah as she taught them a Bible story and let them color a hand-out depicting the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Because of the hard life in the hot scrub country where they live, the adults, especially the women, age quickly. Women in their thirties and forties are already grandmothers, and they look like they are in their fifties and sixties. I noticed that several of the community elders had fingers twisted and curled with arthritis. One of the older men in the community, and an elder in the church, was permanently crippled from a jaguar attack. Yes, there are jaguars here in the bushes.
There used to be about thirty-five families living in the Pozo Verde, but now there are only twenty-two. Yesterday most of the men were absent from the village because they were out cutting sugar cane on the large plantations several hours to the east. They will probably be gone several weeks, just long enough to get a little money in their pocket. The women and older men stay at home in the village to take care of the kids.
I read that there are currently about five thousand Ayore Indians in Bolivia. They have traditionally occupied the Gran Chaco area of southern Bolivia and Paraguay. This is a hot dry scrub brush country that is sparsely uninhabited because of its inaccessibility. The best lands of the Ayore have been settled Bolivian and German immigrants over the past fifty years. Large tracts of Ayore land have been designated for German Mennonite farmers and as well for highland Quechua Indians who are leaving poor soils of the Altiplano and coming to Eastern Bolivia to start a new life. Before these settlement schemes began, the traditional territory of the Ayoreo in this area covered hundreds of thousands of acres. Now the Ayore of Pozo Verde are confined to an reserve of only about 3000 acres. They have been living in Pozo Verde for about forty years now. Traditionally the Ayore were nomadic hunters and gatherers who moved their villages depending on the seasons and the abundance of game. Evangelical missionaries first attempted to contact the Ayore in the early 1940s when a group of five missionary men went deep into their territory near Robore, Bolivia. They attempted to befriend the Indians by leaving gifts for them in their camps. The missionaries never came back out of the forest. Their families finally learned in 1950 that all the men had been murdered because one particular Ayore didn’t like his gift.
Over the past fifty years the Ayore have either come to live in settlements on the periphery of Bolivian society or they have moved deeper into the bush to avoid all contact with the outside world. As recently as 2004 a group of seventeen previously uncontacted Ayore came out of the bush. They said they could no longer survive in their traditional way because ranchers have encroached on their territory and taken control of all of the water sources for their cattle. It is probably a safe assumption that these were the last of the “wild and free” Ayore Indians.
Although the Ayore in Pozo Verde appear “poor but happy” on the surface, a darker sadder reality surfaces as you begin to understand more about their culture. The men continue to hunt and fish—this is a big part of their identity. They also raise some livestock and farm a bit. Although farming is not an activity they particularly excel at or put much effort into. Most men only work enough to earn a little money to buy food for the day or week and do not think about a better or more secure future. As Hannah explains it, the women are the dominant leaders in the family. They control the men, the children, and the finances. Women sit around for many hours each day weaving the rough fiber hand bags they sell at the tourist shops in Santa Cruz. After sending a month working on one bag, they might be able to sell it for about 50 bolivianos (equivalent to $7.00 US). Because this is not enough to live on, the women have begun going into the regional town of Pailon to sell their services as prostitutes. Hannah estimates that 90% of the women in Pozo Verde work as prostitutes. Mothers even take their daughters to town when they are 13 or 14 and introduce them to the business. Women continue in the sex trade well into their fifties. Working as prostitutes, women can earn as much in one hour as they might earn in a month or more weaving baskets. I assume the men tolerate this practice because the women bring home a fist full of cash. Hannah said that if the husbands complained the women would abandon them. Although the practice is not discussed in the village, everyone knows what is going on. It is like the big white elephant standing in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. Hannah said the girls will often get their clients drunk and then steal their wallets. Several weeks ago a Mennonite boy came into the village looking for his wallet. The men and boys of the village came out of their houses and beat the living-day-lights out of him. He went home empty handed.
Needless to say, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and child abuse are all rampant in the community. So is drug and alcohol abuse. On my walk around the community I saw discarded plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol and cans of rubber cement. Yes, they drink rubbing alcohol and sniff glue.
So now I think you understand why I used the term “cultural bankruptcy” to describe the Ayoreo Indians. It is hard to point a finger at any one thing and say “this caused their problems.” Certainly the loss of their traditional lands and the loss of their cultural identity has a lot to do with who they are today. But they have to take some of the blame well. If you don’t count the emotional scaring across generations, prostitution is certainly an easy way out of a bad situation. Then again, you cannot blame children who are forced into prostitution by their parents. The cycle of abuse and depravation perpetuates itself. The only hope I see is though grace and truth of Christ. Although there is an evangelical church in Pozo Verde and many Ayore claim to believe in the truth of the Bible, they continue in the same patterns of sinful behavior.
Pray for true spiritual transformation in the lives of the Ayore in this community. Pray that Cesar and Myrtha can lead the church towards renewal and spiritual growth.
We hope to continue drilling water wells and sharing our faith in this community. After we finish the well at the missionaries home we plan on drilling some other wells with several of the Ayore men who have shown an interest in putting in some wells for their livestock and garden plots. Pray that we can make a positive spiritual, social and material impact in Pozo Verde.
Thanks so much for your partnership with our ministry in Bolivia. We appreciate your faithfulness in praying for and supporting this work. We love hearing from you, so please write when you get a chance.
Blessings,
Danny
P.S. If you would like to see some pictures of Pozo Verde, please visit our photo gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/sanjulian. I have a couple of pictures up already, and I will have a few more in the coming days.
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
I would like to relate an experience I had while out drilling a water well yesterday in a community of Ayoreo Indians a couple of hours from Santa Cruz. This tale is a bit longer that what I usually share, but please take the time to read this. We want our supporters and ministry partners to understand the reality of life in Bolivia so they will know how to pray for the people of Bolivia.
This week we are working alongside, Charles and Hannah, friends and fellow missionaries from SAM (South American Mission) who have a ministry with the Ayoreo Indians in the community of Pozo Verde. We are drilling a water well for a national missionary couple, Cesar and Myrtha, who live in the village and who and pastor the local evangelical church. This was my first time in an Ayore village. While I was at first shocked by the humble and filthy living conditions (mud and stick huts with tin roofs and dirt yards full of trash), what truly disturbed me was the story of cultural bankruptcy—I don’t know what else to call it— that Hannah shared with me later.
Although not many tourists end up in Pozo Verde, which is quite a ways down a dusty bumpy dirt road, the local women and girls quickly find any visitors and offer to sell them hand woven bags made from the fiber of cactus plants. Although they all dress in Western style clothes, the Ayore have distinct facial features that set them apart from their Quechua and German Mennonite neighbors. The children are extremely cute with big round faces and sparkling eyes. They chat excitedly among each other in their own language, of which I do not understand a word. The kids practically mobbed Hannah as she taught them a Bible story and let them color a hand-out depicting the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den. Because of the hard life in the hot scrub country where they live, the adults, especially the women, age quickly. Women in their thirties and forties are already grandmothers, and they look like they are in their fifties and sixties. I noticed that several of the community elders had fingers twisted and curled with arthritis. One of the older men in the community, and an elder in the church, was permanently crippled from a jaguar attack. Yes, there are jaguars here in the bushes.
There used to be about thirty-five families living in the Pozo Verde, but now there are only twenty-two. Yesterday most of the men were absent from the village because they were out cutting sugar cane on the large plantations several hours to the east. They will probably be gone several weeks, just long enough to get a little money in their pocket. The women and older men stay at home in the village to take care of the kids.
I read that there are currently about five thousand Ayore Indians in Bolivia. They have traditionally occupied the Gran Chaco area of southern Bolivia and Paraguay. This is a hot dry scrub brush country that is sparsely uninhabited because of its inaccessibility. The best lands of the Ayore have been settled Bolivian and German immigrants over the past fifty years. Large tracts of Ayore land have been designated for German Mennonite farmers and as well for highland Quechua Indians who are leaving poor soils of the Altiplano and coming to Eastern Bolivia to start a new life. Before these settlement schemes began, the traditional territory of the Ayoreo in this area covered hundreds of thousands of acres. Now the Ayore of Pozo Verde are confined to an reserve of only about 3000 acres. They have been living in Pozo Verde for about forty years now. Traditionally the Ayore were nomadic hunters and gatherers who moved their villages depending on the seasons and the abundance of game. Evangelical missionaries first attempted to contact the Ayore in the early 1940s when a group of five missionary men went deep into their territory near Robore, Bolivia. They attempted to befriend the Indians by leaving gifts for them in their camps. The missionaries never came back out of the forest. Their families finally learned in 1950 that all the men had been murdered because one particular Ayore didn’t like his gift.
Over the past fifty years the Ayore have either come to live in settlements on the periphery of Bolivian society or they have moved deeper into the bush to avoid all contact with the outside world. As recently as 2004 a group of seventeen previously uncontacted Ayore came out of the bush. They said they could no longer survive in their traditional way because ranchers have encroached on their territory and taken control of all of the water sources for their cattle. It is probably a safe assumption that these were the last of the “wild and free” Ayore Indians.
Although the Ayore in Pozo Verde appear “poor but happy” on the surface, a darker sadder reality surfaces as you begin to understand more about their culture. The men continue to hunt and fish—this is a big part of their identity. They also raise some livestock and farm a bit. Although farming is not an activity they particularly excel at or put much effort into. Most men only work enough to earn a little money to buy food for the day or week and do not think about a better or more secure future. As Hannah explains it, the women are the dominant leaders in the family. They control the men, the children, and the finances. Women sit around for many hours each day weaving the rough fiber hand bags they sell at the tourist shops in Santa Cruz. After sending a month working on one bag, they might be able to sell it for about 50 bolivianos (equivalent to $7.00 US). Because this is not enough to live on, the women have begun going into the regional town of Pailon to sell their services as prostitutes. Hannah estimates that 90% of the women in Pozo Verde work as prostitutes. Mothers even take their daughters to town when they are 13 or 14 and introduce them to the business. Women continue in the sex trade well into their fifties. Working as prostitutes, women can earn as much in one hour as they might earn in a month or more weaving baskets. I assume the men tolerate this practice because the women bring home a fist full of cash. Hannah said that if the husbands complained the women would abandon them. Although the practice is not discussed in the village, everyone knows what is going on. It is like the big white elephant standing in the middle of the room that no one wants to talk about. Hannah said the girls will often get their clients drunk and then steal their wallets. Several weeks ago a Mennonite boy came into the village looking for his wallet. The men and boys of the village came out of their houses and beat the living-day-lights out of him. He went home empty handed.
Needless to say, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, abortion, and child abuse are all rampant in the community. So is drug and alcohol abuse. On my walk around the community I saw discarded plastic bottles of rubbing alcohol and cans of rubber cement. Yes, they drink rubbing alcohol and sniff glue.
So now I think you understand why I used the term “cultural bankruptcy” to describe the Ayoreo Indians. It is hard to point a finger at any one thing and say “this caused their problems.” Certainly the loss of their traditional lands and the loss of their cultural identity has a lot to do with who they are today. But they have to take some of the blame well. If you don’t count the emotional scaring across generations, prostitution is certainly an easy way out of a bad situation. Then again, you cannot blame children who are forced into prostitution by their parents. The cycle of abuse and depravation perpetuates itself. The only hope I see is though grace and truth of Christ. Although there is an evangelical church in Pozo Verde and many Ayore claim to believe in the truth of the Bible, they continue in the same patterns of sinful behavior.
Pray for true spiritual transformation in the lives of the Ayore in this community. Pray that Cesar and Myrtha can lead the church towards renewal and spiritual growth.
We hope to continue drilling water wells and sharing our faith in this community. After we finish the well at the missionaries home we plan on drilling some other wells with several of the Ayore men who have shown an interest in putting in some wells for their livestock and garden plots. Pray that we can make a positive spiritual, social and material impact in Pozo Verde.
Thanks so much for your partnership with our ministry in Bolivia. We appreciate your faithfulness in praying for and supporting this work. We love hearing from you, so please write when you get a chance.
Blessings,
Danny
P.S. If you would like to see some pictures of Pozo Verde, please visit our photo gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/sanjulian. I have a couple of pictures up already, and I will have a few more in the coming days.
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Barrio Nueva Esperanza
Click on this link -- Barrio Nueva Esperanza -- to see a gallery of pictures from our recent work in this refugee community near the town of Cuatro Canadas, about 3 hours from Santa Cruz.
Mennonites in the Market
I went out with Rudy Friessen yesterday to take picture of Mennonites in the Los Pozos market here in Santa Cruz. Click on the title to see a few more pics. Rudy and Erna wanted some pictures of the Mennonites in the market to take back with them on furlough to Canada. I was a little concerned that they might get upset with me taking candid pictures. But I didn't have any trouble and we had some good conversations with several of them.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- March 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from Santa Cruz-Bolivia. This is a special letter because Danny is dictating to Vanessa due to a broken hand which happened last Thursday at a well site. Praise the Lord he is fine and does not need surgery at the moment although he is not able to type, drive, write, ride his bike, tie his shoes, button his shirts or spank our kids for the next six weeks. He needs me and I love it!
We have enjoyed working in the community of Nueva Esperanza this last month where we have drilled three water wells and are helping get a church started. Nueva Esperanza is a community of about 120 families of flood victims from flooding in 2006. They all come from nine different rural communities along the Rio Grande River where they were all peasant farmers. The flood waters took away their homes, animals, crops, schools and churches. The town of Cuartro Canadas gave them some land to build a new community, but these are only small lots so they cannot continue to farm for a living. Each family has been given a small garden plot, but these are not nearly big enough to support a family. Several have tried to return to their flooded farms to begin planting again but the old communities flooded again this year. Most men are now having to spend weeks or months away from their families looking for wage labor jobs on big farms or in the cities. They first lived in tents but soon built one room wooden structures. Now through the help of a Spanish charity they are building small brick homes. They hope to soon have electricity and water in each house. Nueva Esperanza is now overflowing with kids. The new elementary school has 180 students. They do have a nice health post (where the nurse took care of my broken hand). And now an older gentleman named Juan, is meeting with a group of believers in his house. They will soon begin construction on a church on the plot of land we bought with a donation from a Bible study group of some faithful supporters in Texas. We were also able to pay for the wells with several designated gifts from supporters in Canada. This is truly a team effort. If you would like to see some pictures from the community and the work please visit our photo galleries at http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/nueva_esperanza. I will continue to add to the gallery as the work continues.
Prayer Concerns
Our EFCCM mission family is meeting this week in a conference (April 9-12) with a team of directors and staff from the home office in Canada. Pray for a great time of sharing, planning and spiritual renewal.
Two volunteers are in Santa Cruz this month learning to drill water wells using the manual percussion method. Jake is well driller from Canada, and Mario is a mission volunteer from Sonora, Mexico. Pray that these men can use these skills to provide water and spiritual enlightenment for thirsty people around the world.
Continue to pray for the girls that Vanessa is working closely with, especially Fernanda, Shirley, and Lily who are all leaving the shelter of the Cristo Viene home and beginning to live on their own and to make critical decisions about the direction of their future.
Danny’s grandmother, Margaret Beams, passed away last week in Texas. Pray for his family as they grieve this lose. His grandfather, Blackie, passed away a little over a year ago. Both Margaret and Blackie were wonderful grandparents and were such an encouragement to me through their examples of Christian commitment, love, and courage. I am so glad they have now been reunited in heaven, but I will miss them dearly here on this planet.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Hello from Santa Cruz-Bolivia. This is a special letter because Danny is dictating to Vanessa due to a broken hand which happened last Thursday at a well site. Praise the Lord he is fine and does not need surgery at the moment although he is not able to type, drive, write, ride his bike, tie his shoes, button his shirts or spank our kids for the next six weeks. He needs me and I love it!
We have enjoyed working in the community of Nueva Esperanza this last month where we have drilled three water wells and are helping get a church started. Nueva Esperanza is a community of about 120 families of flood victims from flooding in 2006. They all come from nine different rural communities along the Rio Grande River where they were all peasant farmers. The flood waters took away their homes, animals, crops, schools and churches. The town of Cuartro Canadas gave them some land to build a new community, but these are only small lots so they cannot continue to farm for a living. Each family has been given a small garden plot, but these are not nearly big enough to support a family. Several have tried to return to their flooded farms to begin planting again but the old communities flooded again this year. Most men are now having to spend weeks or months away from their families looking for wage labor jobs on big farms or in the cities. They first lived in tents but soon built one room wooden structures. Now through the help of a Spanish charity they are building small brick homes. They hope to soon have electricity and water in each house. Nueva Esperanza is now overflowing with kids. The new elementary school has 180 students. They do have a nice health post (where the nurse took care of my broken hand). And now an older gentleman named Juan, is meeting with a group of believers in his house. They will soon begin construction on a church on the plot of land we bought with a donation from a Bible study group of some faithful supporters in Texas. We were also able to pay for the wells with several designated gifts from supporters in Canada. This is truly a team effort. If you would like to see some pictures from the community and the work please visit our photo galleries at http://www.pbase.com/beamsclan/nueva_esperanza. I will continue to add to the gallery as the work continues.
Prayer Concerns
Our EFCCM mission family is meeting this week in a conference (April 9-12) with a team of directors and staff from the home office in Canada. Pray for a great time of sharing, planning and spiritual renewal.
Two volunteers are in Santa Cruz this month learning to drill water wells using the manual percussion method. Jake is well driller from Canada, and Mario is a mission volunteer from Sonora, Mexico. Pray that these men can use these skills to provide water and spiritual enlightenment for thirsty people around the world.
Continue to pray for the girls that Vanessa is working closely with, especially Fernanda, Shirley, and Lily who are all leaving the shelter of the Cristo Viene home and beginning to live on their own and to make critical decisions about the direction of their future.
Danny’s grandmother, Margaret Beams, passed away last week in Texas. Pray for his family as they grieve this lose. His grandfather, Blackie, passed away a little over a year ago. Both Margaret and Blackie were wonderful grandparents and were such an encouragement to me through their examples of Christian commitment, love, and courage. I am so glad they have now been reunited in heaven, but I will miss them dearly here on this planet.
Blessings,
Danny
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.com
Photo Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Out There with the Beams -- February 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
How is everybody? This is Vanessa writing this month. We miss you a lot! I want to start this letter by thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for his awesome faithfulness and love. And also by thanking you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for letting God use you by helping us.
We have been really busy lately. Our water well project is growing very fast. Please pray for Danny and his team (Carlos and now Pedro) as they will be traveling to a community called Cuatro Canadas to drill wells. It is about three hours away (not very far) but our roads do tend to get in really bad condition due to rain and sometimes even disappear! As I just mentioned, Pedro, is the new member of our water team. He is a 19 year old boy who used to be a little boy when we met him. He is making his transition out of the Talita Cumi Home. So please pray for this transition to be smooth and successful.
Something else that is super exciting and recent is the Monday morning Spanish Bible study for men that Danny and friends from our mission have started. These are the names of the men attending so you can lift them up in prayer: Pedro, Marcos, Carlos, Warren, Rudy, and Danny.
As for me, I will be doing something new and fun this time. I will be helping at the Centro de Vida (the Life Center) to create (painting, organizing and decorating) a boutique for moms! I know it sounds very superficial but it is not! Moms who seek help at the center will be given points for attending church, reading their Bible, going to Bible studies, etc… those points will then allow them to purchase baby items as well as mommy items and clothes! As you can tell I am very excited and ready to start. The Centro de Vida is a wonderful ministry and I love working with them.
Our kids are doing great both at home and at school. Isaiah will be starting Tae Kwon Do classes. We attended one and he did great. He is very excited about the white suit!
Luciana has the lead role in a school. This is huge! So please pray for her.
And Nathaniel is getting very tall and handsome! At 6’2” he is taller than Danny now. He and his daddy are racing bicycles on a local Bolivian team. Praise the Lord for our children. I am grateful to have such wonderful kids and plan on enjoying them every minute we have them at home.
We will be having lots of teams this spring and summer. If you are planning on coming here please know that the Beams are praying for you. And also that we are ready to work and have fun together! We are already discussing all the possibilities and there are so many!
Another praise is that we have started the process of sending two of the oldest girls from Cristo Viene Home to technical school thanks to a gift we received from one of you! Here are the names three ladies with whom I have been sharing Jesus and could really use some prayer:
Lucy, Angie and Susi.
Please know that we love you and cherish every moment we have spent together. Our prayer for you and your family is that the Lord will give you ten times more for every blessing you give us and that his Spirit will go with you wherever you go!
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
How is everybody? This is Vanessa writing this month. We miss you a lot! I want to start this letter by thanking the Lord Jesus Christ for his awesome faithfulness and love. And also by thanking you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for letting God use you by helping us.
We have been really busy lately. Our water well project is growing very fast. Please pray for Danny and his team (Carlos and now Pedro) as they will be traveling to a community called Cuatro Canadas to drill wells. It is about three hours away (not very far) but our roads do tend to get in really bad condition due to rain and sometimes even disappear! As I just mentioned, Pedro, is the new member of our water team. He is a 19 year old boy who used to be a little boy when we met him. He is making his transition out of the Talita Cumi Home. So please pray for this transition to be smooth and successful.
Something else that is super exciting and recent is the Monday morning Spanish Bible study for men that Danny and friends from our mission have started. These are the names of the men attending so you can lift them up in prayer: Pedro, Marcos, Carlos, Warren, Rudy, and Danny.
As for me, I will be doing something new and fun this time. I will be helping at the Centro de Vida (the Life Center) to create (painting, organizing and decorating) a boutique for moms! I know it sounds very superficial but it is not! Moms who seek help at the center will be given points for attending church, reading their Bible, going to Bible studies, etc… those points will then allow them to purchase baby items as well as mommy items and clothes! As you can tell I am very excited and ready to start. The Centro de Vida is a wonderful ministry and I love working with them.
Our kids are doing great both at home and at school. Isaiah will be starting Tae Kwon Do classes. We attended one and he did great. He is very excited about the white suit!
Luciana has the lead role in a school. This is huge! So please pray for her.
And Nathaniel is getting very tall and handsome! At 6’2” he is taller than Danny now. He and his daddy are racing bicycles on a local Bolivian team. Praise the Lord for our children. I am grateful to have such wonderful kids and plan on enjoying them every minute we have them at home.
We will be having lots of teams this spring and summer. If you are planning on coming here please know that the Beams are praying for you. And also that we are ready to work and have fun together! We are already discussing all the possibilities and there are so many!
Another praise is that we have started the process of sending two of the oldest girls from Cristo Viene Home to technical school thanks to a gift we received from one of you! Here are the names three ladies with whom I have been sharing Jesus and could really use some prayer:
Lucy, Angie and Susi.
Please know that we love you and cherish every moment we have spent together. Our prayer for you and your family is that the Lord will give you ten times more for every blessing you give us and that his Spirit will go with you wherever you go!
Vanessa
Daniel and Vanessa Beams
EFCCM
Casilla 3740
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Email: beamsclan@yahoo.com
Bolivia Telephone: 011-591-3351-1087
Blogs: www.beamsclan.blogspot.com, www.simplewatersolutions.blogspot.comPhoto Gallery: www.pbase.com/beamsclan
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Carnival in Santa Cruz -- Deadly Fun
We just finished the week of Carnival here in Santa Cruz. This is a holiday much like Marti Gras in New Orleans. This is the first year we have actually stayed in Santa Cruz. The majority of Bolivians love this holiday, but most ex-pats have advised us to either get out of town or stay locked up in our house for the four-day-long party. The festivities started out mildly enough with a parade on Saturday, and people throwing water balloons, buckets of water, shooting squirt guns, etc. But the party degenerates fast, with the majority of people getting stumbling drunk on Sunday through Tuesday. They say Tuesday is the day that God leaves earth and forgets about his people, so we (they) are free to do whatever they want. On Ash Wednesday, Catholics go to church to confession. I don't want to stereotype Catholics, but I think this is really their holiday. The Evangelical Christians I spoke with said they do not participate in any aspect of Carnival. As the days progress, people begin throwing mud, oil and paint. Many of the taxis and busses actually smear their entire vehicles with mud so that the other nasty stuff that people throw will not mess up their paint.
To escape the madness on Monday, we rented a cabin near the Lomas de Arena (sand dunes), half an hour out of town. It was a great time of hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and (for me) photography—truly a relaxing couple of days. I didn't try to get any pictures of the maddness that is Carnival, but here are couple of pictures from our tranquil little get-away.
To escape the madness on Monday, we rented a cabin near the Lomas de Arena (sand dunes), half an hour out of town. It was a great time of hiking, swimming, horseback riding, and (for me) photography—truly a relaxing couple of days. I didn't try to get any pictures of the maddness that is Carnival, but here are couple of pictures from our tranquil little get-away.
As we drove back into town on Tuesday evening, the roads were full of drunk drivers swerving from side to side, and drunk people stumbling down the middle of the road. I have never in my life seen such a large percentage of the population drunk in the street like that. At the time I thought that it must be an extremely dangerous time to be out and about, but I didn’t know exactly how dangerous until I heard the next day that 30 people had been killed on the streets of Santa Cruz over the holiday weekend (and that was just in our city).When I talked to Carlos the next day I found out that one of our neighbors out at the workshop had become a statistic as well. The son of the neighbor lady who washes Carlos’ clothes was killed on the highway on Tuesday night. Coming home drunk at 10:00 that evening, he stepped out in front of a car as he tried to cross the highway. The car sped away without stopping, leaving him dead on the side of the road. He was only 22 years old.
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