Jeremy and Ana Vanbeelen
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Read along as Jeremy blogs about life at Dulce Refugio.
Jeremy and Ana are currently serving at the Dulce Refugio orphanage in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
Jeremy's testimony
I am 28 years old and I have two brothers and two sisters. My one brother is my twin. I was raised in a Christian home and I went to a private Christian school for my schooling. When I was 18 I professed my faith and I made the commitment to follow the Lord in all that I would do. By his grace he will help me in this. I am a member of the Canadian Reformed Church in Langley, BC. Since then there has been many ups and downs in my life story but the Lord was continually by my side through it all. In 2000 I met Duane Visscher who talked about a ministry in Mexico with children that I thought was very important and the Lord put it in my heart to want to go there. I have been involved in mission work with the natives near my old home in Smithers BC. I think this was how the Lord was opening me to this ministry in Mexico. I didn't go to Mexico until January 2004 because I was studying at the University of British Columbia for a degree in Forest Operations and I wanted to finish this degree before I went down. I thought it wouldn't be responsible if I didn't.
While on the plane to Mexico, with Duane and another friend, I prayed that the Lord would use me however he saw fit. It was a huge shock to suddenly be in a culture where you couldn't communicate with people, but the love of the Lord has no boundaries! My initial plan was to volunteer in the construction for two months at the Pan de Vida orphanage in Queretaro. I learned how to tile and Duane and I tiled almost all of the bottom floor of the girl's dorm at Pan de Vida. In these two months I met a girl that I was interested in and so extended my stay for two more months. This girls name was Ana. After the four months, January to May 2004, I returned to Canada to work in Forestry to save funds. I needed to return to Canada also to have a time away from the ministry at Pan de Vida so I could clear my mind of all the culture and feelings so that I could pray about what the Lords will was for me in my life. After much prayer and bible reading I decided to return to Pan de Vida, Mexico on December 2004. I knew that when I returned to Mexico that it would be for what ever time the Lord wanted me to stay. I continued in the construction work and I taught English for a few months and Ana and I took up our relationship to a new level. We were engaged in April 2005 and we were married on December 22, 2005. There have been many changes in our live since. In June 2006 we moved to Aguascalientes to help in the Dulce Refugio (DR) orphanage. The reasons we moved were that the DR Directors were in need of someone who could organize teams since they had just started to host them. At the same time they were also in need of someone who could set up a school and help with the Christian teaching of some of the children. Since I had gained experience and was trained dealing with teams that helped at Pan de Vida, and Ana had taught for four years at the school there, we thought we both were qualified for these volunteer positions at DR. This July Dulce hosted its first team from Samaritan's Purse, Canada which was a great blessing, and on August 21st Ana started teaching twelve children from the orphanage. God has been with us every step of the way in your lives and he has a plan for us. We are trying to live in his path and let him lead us for his purpose that he has set out for us from the creation of the world.
Ana's testimony
I am 24 years old and I am the oldest of
six siblings. I was born in Queretaro
Mexico. I lived
at the Pan de Vida orphanage for about 11 years. I am currently living in Aguascalientes serving
at the Dulce Refugio orphanage with my husband.
The reason why I am lived at Pan de Vida was
because my family did not stay together. My father was an alcoholic and my
mother was a victim of my father's abuse. Before my father became an alcoholic
he used to be a very good jeweler. We used to have what we wanted. We talked a
lot about material things because it was a very good paying job for my dad. But
then my father started having economic problems. He could not pay some of our
expenses. My dad was getting really desperate about it. The problem got worse
and my dad found the only answers to those problems in alcohol. He started drinking
very often and every time he got drunk he would beat my mother up. He started
getting drunk every weekend and then he would be drunk for a month at a time.
Sometimes my dad had some money, which with we would by food, but my dad spent
a lot of it on alcohol. My mother couldn't handle my dad's beatings and his negligence
towards us. My mother decided to leave my father. She took my two little
brothers and my little sister and left us to be with our dad. I was 10 years
old.
A year later my dad stopped drinking and
took back my brothers and sister from my mom. My dad was happy having the other
half of the family with him. He was doing really great for six months. He got a
job, not a good one in fact. A job that didn't give us enough for food, but at
least we were taken care of. It was good. The big load of feeding 6 kids,
clothing them, schooling them was not easy for my dad. I could see my dad
getting frustrated and feeling as if life was the worst thing that could have
happened to him. Well, I went through that situation with him before so it
seemed familiar to me. I knew what was next. My dad started drinking again but
this time for five months straight. This time my mom was not there to take care
of the situation so I had to. I was just 10 years old and I had to take care of
my brothers and sisters, with my little brother being 2 years old. I had to go
out and ask people for something to do like cleaning or other things so we
could have some money for food. Sometimes my brother and sister would help me
to clean up houses and collect newspapers to sell so that we could have some
money to get through the day. It never bothered me to take care of my brothers
and sisters. I really love them. Anyways, I didn't know anything different.
My dad's return to alcohol kept happening for the next 3 years. My dad could not have a stable job or own a house. We had to jump from place to place. I stopped going to school because the responsibility that I had did not let me do things that I really wished to do. It was okay until one day when I was 13, I found my dad in one of the rooms in the house inhaling some sort of glue. It really scared me. My little brother was inside the room as well. I took my brothers and sisters and I went to ask for help from one of my neighbours. I asked my neighbour to take me to the government social services office so I could talk to them about our situation so that they could take us to a place where we could be safe. I asked her that because somebody told me about those offices before. The next day she took us and I told the officials about our lives. It was really hard for me to leave my dad. I didn't want to do what my mom did to him but I felt that I had to. I took my brothers and sisters with me and I was not going to let anybody separate us. Because of my persistence in this the social services officials took us to Pan de Vida, an orphanage that promotes the family structure and accepts families into its home. This happened to be a Christian orphanage as well. It has been a different story ever since.
When we arrived at Pan de Vida I thought
everyone was crazy. Everyone was smiling and doing things that I never saw
people do before in my life. Some people were playing tambourines with very
weird Christian music. Some were doing dramas for the kids that talked about
somebody that gave his life to rescue us from our sins. All that stuff was
really new to my life. I thought,"oh man! I don't know where I ended up now!"
Then I got the opportunity to be in one of the praise and worship services. I
really liked the singing because I felt peace in my heart. I wanted more of
this. I wanted this for the rest of my life. After that service the director of
Pan de Vida asked me if he could talk with me. We sat down and started talking
about my life and how it could change with the knowledge of Jesus Christ and
his love for us. We talked for an hour or more. I really wanted what the
director was talking about. I asked him why so many people do not know about
all that he was saying. He just told me that it was our mission in life to go
and tell people about the Lord and that he loves us more than we can even
imagine.
From that day on my life has changed.
Before my heart was full of frustration and anger but now God was showed me his
great love. That made me see life as a gift that we should be thankful for. He
never left me along. I thought I was the one taking care of my brothers and
sisters. I know now that it was not me but it was God with his great and
awesome love guiding us to where he wanted us to go.
I do not have anything against my parents
because I understand that nobody is perfect and that God gave me the parents I
have for a reason. Everything I have been through in this life was a reason and
every reason for God's glory.
Now I just want to serve the Lord with my
life because it is the only thing that is real and the only thing that makes me
feel complete. I want to tell people about his love, about Jesus' love. I want to
become a teacher and use it for his glory. God is the only one that deserves
our love and glory. Without him we are nothing. He is gracious and loving and
the desire of my heart is to live for his glory.
This is a testimony of what the Christian children's ministry in Mexico has done to me and we pray will do too many more children that walk through the doors of the Christian orphanages that are being built in Mexico. I am working at Dulce Refugio because of my personal testimony to how the Lord works in our lives and how he will work through the new orphanage that is being built as we speak. The Lord will work through this ministry to bring more children and people to him. God bless you all.
