Beauty in our midst....

"A crown of Beauty instead of Ashes...
the oil of Gladness instead of Mourning...
a garment of Praise intead of a spirit of Despair..." Isaiah 61:3



It's been such a busy season....and yet so sweet! This week I have been working diligently on a Plan for Protection for our organaization. Casa Bernabe recently linked arms with the Viva Network - Red Viva here in Guatemala. Viva is an organization dedicated to training, networking and protecting children in crisis across the globe. As our involvement with Red Viva increases so do our oportunities to train our staff.
My section of training has to do with specific ways that we as an organization can be protecting the children that God entrusts to our care. It's been such a fun project. The information is amazing and will take us beyond evaluation and into action. While I am nervous about presenting in Spanish I'm so grateful for the oportunity to continue encouraging our staff, learning alongside one another and working hard together to create a healthy environment where we can grow kids God's way!

The boys at Nueva Esperanza continue to be so fun for me! There are 13 of them from 7 years old to 11 years old. I have one word for them...ENERGY! They are like a Monster Drink out of the can...ALWAYS! My goal in June was to get to know each child by name and I am so grateful to the Lord as he allows me each day really get to know each kid...beyond just their name.

Last week I spent a good deal of time just talking with different girls. It's been so good to hear their hearts, to sort of separate them from the rest and discover what makes them unique and then of course look for ways to help them live their dreams.

This week we've been so busy with all kinds of activities! We are getting ready to celebrate our 25th anniversary in November and so rehersals have begun for that. On Tuesday we spent time thanking a special group who have been here this week installing a really cool communication system. This will be so helpful especially at night!
Yesterday the psychologists had a really neat program to end their year with our kids...an art contest! At the end of the contest everyone stayed to watch a movie and have popcorn....it was raining and cloudy making it the perfect afternoon for a movie. Luky and Karla do such a great job with our kids....
Today we are celebrating the end of the scholastic year. There will be a special program to honor those completing the 6th grade as well as junior high. (I'll post pics a bit later...)

Thanks for your prayers as we continue to serve these children!!!

New experiences, New hope....

This past weekend Stefan and I had such a great time! We were asked to housesit in Nueva Esperanza, our home for boys 8-11 years old. At first I was a bit intimidated at the thought of 14 boys and only one of me but it turned out great! There were folks who helped on and off but God was so good to keep a steady flow of energy, creativity and strength for each challenge. Stefan somehow managed a day of homeschool in the midst of madness and Sam survived a weekend alone.

Saturday we took family pics, played a two hour game of baseball....that was interesting seeing as baseball is not a much played sport here, we made dozens of cookies, homemade carmel popcorn and then settled in for Swiss Family Robinson...which the boys LOVED!

Thank you for continuing to keep us and our CB family in your prayers! There are so many activities coming up as well as staff vacations which happen once a year. These vacations leave us with less staff and so our energy, creativity and ability to handle challenges have to be steadfast and constant.

I will write a more detailed update soon......

"I Love You, O Lord, my strength."

"I LOVE you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whome I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." Psalm 18:1 & 2

Fifteen years ago I began a journey and much like the journey that I took into the city the other day, this journey has been long and full of joys and sorrows. And much like the journey into the city I had no idea what the road would look like along the way, I only knew the destination. As Marlon drove I observed the road, it's many curves, hills and valleys. There were so many stops along the way and I thought about this journey I've been on for the last fifteen years with my Savior. I thought about what it truly means to allow the Holy Spririt to guide the ebb and flow of my life - often I find myself wanting to make extra stops on the journey, I get distracted and in doing so I put myself in the driver's seat. When I surrendered my life, future and dreams to Christ, I also surrendered the driver's seat!

That day last week as Marlon and I drove into the city, God allowed for me to see a very clear picture of what this journey should look like. Not many words were spoken, I did not know the plan, all the stops we would make along the way and even more I didn't even know the road - I had to trust Marlon completely. AND daily I must completely trust God with every aspect of our lives. God is so merciful to prepare us in advance and to overwhelm us with His presence when this journey becomes more than we think we can bear.

When God sent me to Botswana, Africa 15 years ago I heard His voice very clearly...my heart was broken for the helpless situations that I saw, for the suffering of precious children and for the sick. Now as God strengthens us to work with the 167 children at Casa Bernabe I find myself going back to that "call" and even further to the day when HOPE invaded my heart. And more than anything in this world my desire is that our children be invaded HOPE through Jesus Christ and that they never again experience that pain of hopelessness.

This week that desire has turned into a passion through the death of a very young man that I was so honored to know through the ministry of Casa Bernabe. Osvin Loescher had a smile that was contagious and heart that was genuine. He often accompanied me into the city and I loved talking to him about his future, his passions and his siblings. They were five and from the beginning their unity was clear. Osvin had a dream to be a pilot, to be successful and be able to care for his younger siblings. While my mind struggles to understand the death of this young man with such immense potential, my heart feels drawn passionately toward others who find themselves in what seems to be hopeless. My prayer is that God would open my eyes even more to those who hurt, to those who suffer in the profound places of their heart and that God would empower me to effectively communicate HOPE in Christ. Who is in your path that needs a glimmer of HOPE?


A night out...

About two months ago God opened the doors for David McCormick and I to begin working with the young people at Casa Bernabe who are 15 years old or older. There are about 16 youth that fall into this age range and we've been able to meet with them twice. Our initial meeting was held in August and we explained our plan/purpose and then just chatted about events that impact our walk with Christ, questions about doctrine, manifestations of the Spirit and then what future meetings would look like. This past month we were so blessed to be able to take the kids out to a nice restaurant!

Our plan with this group of students is very well defined. The environment at Casa Bernabe is very closed, our school is here, our church is here, our garden is here....so the opportunity for the older kids to be out functioning in society or at the very least observing how society functions is very limited. We realize that these particular students will quickly arrive at their 18th birthday and our desire is that they be prepared for what that means. Over the next two months - the kids are out of school for vacation - David and I will meet with the students six times. I will meet four times with the girls separately to discuss various issues that impact a woman's life....from friendships, to leadership, to hygiene and more. Then we will regroup and give opportunity to discuss various ethical issues that we face in society.

We are so excited about this opportunity!!! And we covet your prayers:

• Pray that God would give us favor as we build relationships with each one in the group.


• Pray that God would reveal Himself to each one. (Phil. 3: 12-16)


• Pray that God would mold their hearts, create strong, godly convictions in their hearts and that He Himself would establish them. (I Peter 5:10)

A quick testimony about our night out....

The kids had NO idea where we were going....we just asked them to dress nice and be ready at 5:45p.m. It took a while for us to get to the restuarant and they were so surprised when we finally arrived! While we waited for our meal we asked them to write down five goals that they have for themselves that they would like to accomplish in the next 2 years. We asked them to write down some qualities that they look for in a true friend and then to go a step further and to write down some qualities that they would look for in a spouse. We then shared our goals...

Many of the girls were so transparent with their hearts and it was obvious that the pain they've suffered is still so very real in their lives and really affects the way that they look at their future.

They all enjoyed our trip out!!! The food was amazing and the fellowship GREAT! They have all be dying to know when our next meeting will be and what we'll be doing! So please be praying! The girls and I will learn how to bake a common/easy dessert and well be talking about friendships and how good/bad friendships affect our attitudes, our studies and our behavior in general. We will have five special women joining us who have grown up at CB and now serve on staff. Thank you in advance for your prayers!!!

Gratefulness.....

Stefan and I have chosen this picture to express our gratefulness to you this week! The past months have been so challenging but as we said good-bye to September we realized how truly blessed we are and how grateful to the Lord we are for his constant presence, provision and protection!

About a week ago the lights went out at 10:00a.m. and did not come back on until noon the next day. Not a big deal right? Right! It was an adventure to say the least, clothes could not be dried for school the next day, toilets could not be flushed and darkness covered our mountainside....that was until Tony hooked up the generator for the houses and we all carried water up to our bathrooms so that they could function....it was actually kind of fun and most of all a great moment to recognize how truly blessed we are here! Much of society outside our walls has to wash clothes in the pila, bath in the pila, many have no electricity or running water in their homes....we here at Casa Bernabe have been so blessed by the provision of the Almighty!

And we the Steere Family have been so blessed to have all of our needs met each month!!!! THANK YOU!!!! We continue to trust the Lord in this area and are just so grateful for each of you and your willingness to be a part of this vital ministry in Guatemala.

Til next time...

Lessons on Suffering....

"Permit the children to come to Me, do not hinder
them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as
these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."
Mark 10:14–15 (NAS)

"Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

As each morning dawns we have the incredible responsiblity of providing holistic care to the 150 children here at Casa Bernabe. As the months have passed, the responsibility and reality of it becomes ever heavier. The more I observe the children that surround us the more I see the sadness in their eyes, the suffering in the most profound places and the yearning for peace. For weeks now each day has been such an intense battle. The temptation has been to ask..."Did I make the right choice, did I hear the voice of Jesus really asking me to come to this place." "Am I capable of doing the work that is set before me daily?"

I read this statement last night:"As a culture we are allergic to suffering...."

And as I read it I was pierced at my core. Much of my questioning has come at the hand of suffering. There is great suffering on this mountain side. While we are so grateful for the provision of houses, beautiful houses at that, for food, for safety on our campus, the reality is that many of our children, while they have been brought out of such severe darkness, they are still captive to their past experiences.

We covet your prayers....

• Please pray for our children, that they will be drawn to the cross through the Kindness of King Jesus who rescued them out of darkness.
• Please pray for the grief process in each one of their lives. Pray that God will mercifully begin to heal the broken places and that freedom will abound instead of captivity.
• Please pray for rest, strength, passion and creativity for our staff as they care for each child.

Stefan and I are doing well as a family! We've been here for 3 full months now....so we spent the day in immigration attempting to get new visas. It was a crazy process but in the end my new visa is in process and Stefan is a duel citizen and can now travel on his Guatemalan passport with no hassell! Thank you Jesus!

We started the homeschooling process about 10 days ago. It's been rough but Stefan is adjusting well and is so determined to finish his work daily! He's memorized Hebrews 11:7-10.....it's so exciting to watch him grow and explore his faith. Stefan's made good friends in Casa Lamar (the 3-6 year old's house). They play daily and have so much fun together! He's even teaching some of them baseball....

Over the last few months I've been on a crazy learning journey! I've discovered that my spanish is horrible so that has been a work in progress. In addition I've been busy learning about processes that we use here at CB in the social work area. Learning lingo, reading up on the reasons that our kids are here as well as organizing our office. Thanks to FUMC - Niceville, FL we now have a nice lateral filing cabinet! Our office was painted and we are enjoying that! (Thanks Brian LaDue!)

God has also opened doors for me to help out in the area of Public Relations. I am now responsible for sending a monthly thank you letter/email to our local donors and once a month I help to compile inforamtion that we use for a newsletter here within Guatemala. This is an area that I find to be so difficult in Spanish...please pray for a supernatural experience in this area. If I could write fluently that would be so fantastic!

As I get to know each child my heart breaks more and more! Thank you for joining us on this journey! We are in the process of writting a very thorough newsletter....so be looking for that soon! Thanks for praying.....for standing with us believing for healing in the lives of our children and for supporting us financially so that we can be here doing what we do!!!!

Just a quick update....

We are so blessed to be serving an ALMIGHTY God here in Guatemala!!! So blessed to love on children every day and to search for solutions, creative solutions to the challenges that life presents....

July passed by us so quickly....It seems it was only 24 hours long! We were so blessed to have AWESOME teams here during JULY, working, blessing and sharing JESUS in every action....each hug, each encouraging word, each prayer lifted!

Stefan and I continue to adapt to our new home.....We are definately past the "honeymoon" and into reality! Stefan has missed his family in such a profound way in these days! He's had the flu twice and now has an upper respitory thing going on but each day we determine together to put one foot in front of the other knowing that God has brought us this far....

Stefan spends the morning playing with the toddlers....it's so fun to watch him love on them....pushing them on the swings, huging them.....wiping their tears....being a true friend....BEAUTIFUL! We are studying Individuality this month...."Discovering who you are meant to be so YOU can make a difference." Each day brings new opportunity to put our daily devos to work.....(Thanks PAULANN for the tools to keep developing Character in my little one!)

I have been working on projects....LOOKING forward to completing some this week. Newsletters, July thank you letters, weekly occupancy reports (God truly has a since of humor! I ran from this exact project in Texas....THANKS ASU for the skills to do this!) and all kinds of other little projects.....Definately keep busy 10 hours a day!

Prayer requests:

1. PROTECTION: Please pray for our protection as we leave the safe walls of CB and drive in and out of the city.
2. WISDOM: The Bible says that he who asks for it will receive it....WE NEED IT and WE ARE ASKING! Each day brings so many challenges and we need wisdom....
3. DISCERNMENT: Please pray that we will respond well to each situation and that we will be able to discern what lies in the hearts of each of our precious children and therefore guide them through this life more effectively.
4. PRODUCTIVITY: I have so many projects started on my desk. Please pray that I can complete these projects WELL and be able to more to the next step.

THANK YOU! We are so blessed to be here....continuing the FIGHT - Tonilynn and Stefan

FINALLY a blog entry...

Our time here is flying by! Each day bringing new challenges, adventures and opportunities to share Christ with those we serve.

Since arriving in Guatemala Stefan and I have moved into our new home, Stefan's been busy re-learning Spanish as have I (!), and we've been exploring our new responsibilities and of course enjoying Casa Beranbe!

This is a pic of our little kitchen area in our room. While our new home is small - - it's PERFECT for us! We feel so blessed to have everything we need! A place to sleep, eat....a wonderful escape! Through the PaulAnn team that came down last week we received much needed lamps and more curtains to cover our large windows.....THANKS PAULANN!!!!! (Bill and Celeste!)

Stefan's Adventures....

Our first week here, Casa Bernabe was so good to give us time to get settled and get re-aquainted. We got here just in time to go with ALL the kids to a local water park - about an hour away! CRAZY times!!! You've never been to a water park until you've been with 170 kiddos! Then we visited Escalas....it's a small commercial area that has a zip-line, petting zoo, slides, tree houses, etc. It was SOOO much fun!

Stefan, his buddy Mario and I went on the Zip-line....such a physical experience that mirrored the steps of FAITH we've just taken as a family! Stefan and I were both so nervous....as I stepped off into nothing, I could feel the strong ropes, holding me up.....As Stefan stepped off he felt the same, nervous....very nervous but as we both arrived at the first platform we agreed that it was WAY fun and we'd continue to the end of the course.

As we've stepped off the edge so to speak we both agree that we were nervous about this move but we've felt the strong arm of our wonderful LORD sustaining us the whole way!

Some updates about our areas of ministry!

I now serve in the Social work office at Casa Bernabe. I'm getting to know the office, office procedures and vocabulary! Last week I sent out my first Donor appreication letter for the ministry and I'll be serving alongside Verbo's 20-30 group as we work together on a quarterly newsletter~ Should be exciting!

I'm getting to know house-parents as well as children. My goal is to know each child by name in the next month.....

Our precious little Juanito who is 4 had two heart operations this week. Please continue to pray for his healing and restoration! It was so fun chatting with him! He's such a cute little guy.... We are so grateful for the surgeons who came to Guatemala.....the donors who have provided for the surgeries and most of all for GOD's faithfulness.....

Prayer Requests:

1. Continued adaptation....for Stefan and I.

2. For a vehicle just for Social Work....

3. For more vehicles for Casa Bernabe as we are down to 1 van and 1 truck.....

4. For continued wisdom and discernment as our family serves the children/staff of Casa Bernabe.

THANK YOU for praying for us, supporting us and journeying with us!

Hearts of service....

Each week the women who serve the children of Casa Bernabe take a moment to share in worship, prayer and the breaking of God's word. As I sat in the corner watching these precious women, I was astounded and amazed by their strength, their hearts of service and their love for oneanother. As a part of this weeks moment together we had the opportunity to wash eachother's feet. As we washed we prayed over eachother, wept over eachother and we left that place changed. Refreshed, renewed and recharged to serve the children with passion, with hope and with energy!

We have several amazing teams here right now....and they too have been so amazing! Our family enjoyed a moment of worship last night with one of the teams and I was greatly impacted by the lyrics of one of the songs that they sang...Take me in...I am going to write the lyrics below and pray that as they challenged my heart that they will both encourage you in your times of personal worship and challege you as you serve those in your community.

Take me past the outer courts
and through the Holy Place
Past the brazen alar
Lord I wanna see your face
Pass me by the crowds of people
And the Priests who sing their praise
I hunger and thirst for your righteousness
But it's only found in one place

take me into the Holy of Holies
Take me in by the blood of the Lamb
Take me into the Holy of Holies
Take the coal, cleanse my lips, here I am. (Kutless - StrongTower)

When our children look to us may they see imperfect servants of a Holy God in constanst pursuit of purity, holiness and more of Him! More of His presence!!!

Please continue praying for us! We are glad to be here!!!