Guatemalan Missionaries Play Guest

WAITSBURG/DAYTON – Guatemala City missionary David Beam cites "enjoying the wide open spaces and the beauty of the land" as a favorite experience in his recent visit to the Touchet Valley. The valley's rolling hills and waving wheat fields are a stark contrast to the "4 million people and horrible traffic" he and his wife left behind, he said.

In a fun case of role reversal, David and his wife, Damaris, recently spent several days enjoying local landscape, people, events and points of interest. They were hosted by a team of local ladies that visited the Beam's mission last April, when the Beam's played tour guides.

Donnie Henderson, who at age 83 shows no signs of slowing down, has been organizing mission trips since 2003. She has led groups to Africa, Nicaragua and, in recent years, Guatemala. Last April, Deb Seney, Diana Frame, Liz Phillips, Sheila McIlroy, Pam Conover, and Jill Wood joined Henderson in her third trip to The Tracks in Guatemala, where they served through Foundation for Missions.

The Tracks is an extremely impoverished section of Guatemala. Trains no longer run through the area, but the tracks remain and function as the lone sidewalk through the tightly packed, makeshift homes that fill the area.

Each year, Henderson's team provides sewing machines and teaches sewing skills to the women so that they can earn learn to provide for themselves. The team also leads a women's conference and works with children at the private school operated by Foundation for Missions.

David and Damaris Beam coordinate and host the many teams that volunteer through the Foundation. David is originally from Michigan, but has lived in Guatemala for 39 years. "I went and never returned," he said.

With a science major and a coaching minor he'd planned to follow in his parent's footsteps and become a teacher, but those plans changed shortly after he graduated college. David started a small singing group, and while they were on tour, he met a doctor who offered to support someone on the mission field for one year. David accepted that offer and never looked back.

Five years later, he met Damaris, a Guatemalan native who says she had no intention of ever learning English. Today, she is fluent in English and is a talented singer, speaker, and a vital part of the ministry.

David said the mission does whatever they can to improve the lives of the people that live near The Tracks. The Foundation operates a private school and works to get sponsorships for the students. Because the area is so crowded and there is no place for children to play, they recently built a fourth-floor addition which includes a playground area on the roof.

David (who admits to loving a good rhyme) says Foundation for Missions has replaced 34 unsafe shacks with sturdy cinder block homes through their "Shack Attack" program. Their "Plaque Attack" program helps children with braces and dental needs and the "Sight Fight" program helps those who need glasses.

David had never been this far west before and said the trip has been "very refreshing." While here, the Beam's toured farms and the windmill project, visited area businesses, took in historical sites, and even went fishing. They also experienced All Wheel's Weekend and made a trip out to Palouse Falls. Not to mention plenty of picnics and BBQs.

"It has been so nice to admire all the wide, open spaces and take in the good, clean air. I love seeing the deer come out in the evening. I know we will go home very refreshed," David said.