Hello All,

Sorry for the little confusion. I have openned a new account called: childrenofhope. This name is the new name of a children sponsorship foundation that is being set up in Canada to help sponser kids from orphanages in Mexico like Pan de Vida. Can you please subscribe to that site. I try to update that site about twice a month.

Jeremy Van Beelen,

I am an uncle!!

It is February 12th and I just heard that I became an uncle on Friday the 10th!! Wow that is great. Everything is great with Vince, Melissa and Kaydon. I will post a picture of the new addition to the Van Beelen family soon

Another year has come and gone with Gods blessings showering the work that is going on here at Pan de Vida. Some of these blessings have been the building of a new kitchen, the workshop building that has a second floor with dorm rooms for visitors, a security fence around the parameter of the property and a snack shack for the kids to buy candy. This doesn’t include the blessings we received that were needed in operating this children’s home: food, cloths, shoes, shelter, school supplies and all the money that was donated to help in the general expenses of this home. It is a real blessing to see the children growing both physically and spiritually.  It always takes me by surprise at how fast the children grow. The biggest blessing is to see the children overcoming their abuse through the teaching of the bible and learning that Jesus Christ loves them and what he did for them on the cross.

This year I was blessed to be married to Ana, my beautiful Mexican wife on December 22nd. Most of my family was able to come to witness our exchanging of vows. It was a huge blessing to have them here in Mexico as well because it gave them the opportunity to witness the mission work at Pan de Vida and so see what the culture was like here in Mexico. Ana and I traveled around the south of Mexico for our honeymoon for two weeks and then we went to visit Marcella who runs the orphanage called Dulce Refugio in Aguas Calientes for two weeks. We had the privilege to witness the start of the building project there. The foundation for the kitchen was dug. Marcella sends her regards to all those that have helped them get to this point in their children’s ministry. The amazing blessing that Ana and I witnessed there was that they received so many donations of bakery products and cloths that they had to give these things away. So Dulce Refugio is helping a local woman’s shelter, a soup kitchen and a mission outreach ministry for people in the community. Wow God is good! Dulce Refugio currently has 41 children with the youngest being 7 months old. We are currently at Pan de Vida taking up our regular jobs and we are living in a suite on site.

The children were blessed with Samaritan Purse gift boxes, gifts from Wal-Mart and other local department stores, delicious meals and a mountain of candy for Christmas. Even though this is a very happy time for most people, it usually is over shadow by a feeling of loneliness and abandonment for some of the children here. I have always had my family close by during Christmas and remember all the happy memories that I had growing up. However, some of the children here do not have that blessing. Some children want the holidays to be finished because they feel lonely or they want to be with their other brothers and sisters that may be at another children’s home or with relatives. So this festive time is over shadowed with some feelings of sadness. Please keep the children in your prays so that they may receive all the love and attention that they need from the people that God has placed here at Pan de Vida.

Currently there is a group of twenty five adults from Southern Manitoba that are helping in the construction work for two weeks. Some of these adults have been here up to five times on different mission’s trips. It is always a blessing to see them again and see the smiles on their faces when they see the children again and the progress in the building. This group is currently laying the gyproc on the second floor of the work shop building. As well they are involved in laying patio bricks and building retaining walls. It is such a blessing to have these people take time out of their busy lives to help here and give their skills, time and money to help the children here in Mexico. This means that a lot of work can be completed in two weeks, work that otherwise I and a few other volunteers have to do. So it takes a great load off my shoulders having groups here since it now gives me time to focus on other work projects. This does mean that when there are groups I am very busy making sure that the different projects are done correctly. For the next three months groups will be coming from churches from different parts of Canada and the United States.

In the beginning of January Claude Favron had to leave back to Canada. This means that we have lost a very valuable helper who had done so much for Pan de Vida. I know I will greatly miss his friendship and his expertise in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting and some many other jobs. I learned a lot of things from him. However, it was his time to go back to Canada but I know that God will provide other people to fill the void. The adventure is to see how God will do that because so often he works in ways that we do not expect.

Please pray for the children here so that they will receive the love that they so need, both the love of the Lord and the physical affection that all children need. Please pray that God will continue to provide for the monetary needs for running Pan de Vida. Please pray for the work of Marcella and her husband and Duane as they start the over welling job of building the new children’s home in Aguas Calientes. Duane is in need of construction workers, so please pray that God will provide the necessary people needed to help him with the work there. Ana and I would like to give a special thank you to all those people that gave best wishes, cards and monetary gifts when we got married. We greatly appreciate the support we received. Special thanks go to my friends in Langley church who pooled their resources together and bought Ana and I a digital camera. You will all now be able to benefit from that gift by seeing regular pictures of the construction process and events that happen here at Pan de Vida. God bless you all