Happenings at the Home - Winter 2021/22
Springtime is in full swing! So many exciting things are happening at Andrea's Home of Hope and Joy. Let's look back at this past winter and see what the Lord is doing in the ministry.
December Happenings
Thank you to everyone who gave to help provide a Christmas celebration for the children and staff!
January Happenings
Our plans for a January trip to the Home were pushed up to February 2nd when four of us—Gary, Jerri, Fred Nolt, and Jim Beckenbaugh were able to go. Because of lingering concerns about Covid 19, we still had to show a PCR negative result on a test taken 72 hours before flying. Everyone but Jerri turned up negative but, in the end, a test result taken at Walgreens showed up on Gary’s phone which said Jerri’s test was negative when she had previously been told it was positive. Praise be to God alone for what we consider a miracle, we were all able to fly.
We were supposed to meet Jim and Fred in Panama City and fly from there to Santa Cruz and on to Guayaramerín but Gary and I were delayed six hours in Charleston; causing us to miss our flight from Houston to Panama. Consequently, we arrived in Santa Cruz at 5:30 a.m. a day late but God gave strength to begin the day for the main purpose we had come—to buy equipment for the bakery and café/store.
We praise God for all who gave to these projects in order for us to equip the bakery and café/store. We are trusting that we can open both this summer and begin to bring in income to help meet the monthly needs of Andrea’s Home. You can view our most recent video on our webpage to see the success of our trip. An added note of praise…all four of us had negative test results 24 hours before returning to the States!
The children, staff, and our friends in Bolivia are well and were excited to see us. We have missed each other for two years now as we have always had several teams going every year. We have missed our Bolivian family and they have missed their U.S. family but, thank the Lord, this year will be different.
A special event took place this month for Saul and Matilde when their daughter, Janeth was married. She and her husband are both university graduates and reside in Cochabamba where they attended the university. Congratulations to all!
February Happenings
The recent news at Andrea’s Home is that two more of our young people—Tahis and Jimmy, have graduated from high school and one more of our young men—Aribaldi, has served his year in the military and will now complete his senior year of high school. Two of our young men—Juan Daniel and Jimmy, that had already completed their year of military and graduated from high school are now attending a university in Guayaramerin. Juan Daniel is studying to be a CPA and Jimmy is working toward a degree in Agriculture.
We are planning and working diligently to get Juan Bernardo and Paulo to Shriners this year. They are well but both in wheelchairs now and we urgently need to get Juan back to Shriners and Paulo, for the first time. We will be taking them to Shriner’s Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina this time as it is more convenient for us to drive the three hours back and forth from Summerville. We had hoped that Paulo would receive help from out of country visiting doctors in Cochabamba but it didn’t happen because of the Pandemic. Thank you to all who have contributed to Juan and Paulo’s trip to the States. God willing, they will be operated on and able to live a normal life soon.
Every winter the children at Andrea's Home are able to attend a Christian Camp. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to refocus and enjoy some time together learning more about God's Word.
March Happenings
School is continuing in person, as normal on our campus, but there has been some virtual learning at times for the middle and high school youth in the public schools. Because of our faithful monthly supporters and the end-of-the-year giving, all needs—school, salaries, and overhead expenses, have been met thus far this year. We are so very grateful to all who give faithfully to care for these precious children that have been rescued and are being loved and cared for in a Christ-following family.
Another special event for Saul and Matilde was the wedding of their youngest son, Daniel this month. Daniel and his wife are also university graduates and reside in Cochabamba where they attended school. Congratulations once again to all! Saul and Matilde’s third and eldest, Saul (Saulito) has proposed and will be married next year. He has been the CPA at Andrea’s Home since he graduated from the university in Santa Cruz several years ago.
Our next trip to Bolivia will be the first of May with a second small team from members of a church in Missouri. This is a new church that has become partners with us in the ministry for which we are very grateful. Other trips now being planned for this year are in June and July. The June trip will be members from Gary and Jerri’s church in Summerville, South Carolina. The July teams will be mainly from New Jersey and Colorado with possibly other team members, from other states, joining these teams. Please check out the team dates on our website:
https://www.liaim.com/short-term-mission-trips
join us this year—we guarantee…you will be blessed!
Once again, we send our sincere appreciation to all our donors who give so faithfully to support the children. At the same time, we pray for others to join us as partners in our orphanage ministry that will allow us to be able to meet all the needs on a monthly basis at the first of Andrea’s Homes and to allow us to be able to begin construction on a second and third Home in the near future.
Gary & Jerri Zimmerman