Our Story
God has placed it on our hearts to work with street kids in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
In 2012, Jessica and Lily first ventured to Bolivia knowing very little Spanish. They came back to the States after three months serving at a children’s home outside of La Paz with a passion and excitement for Bolivia that spread to others as they shared what God had done. Shortly after that first trip, Lily returned to spend the next three years serving as a house mom at the children’s home. Jessica returned to Bolivia and attended a Spanish discipleship school. She spent several months of the following three years continuing to serve at the children’s home and investing in the lives of the children there. In 2014, Ellie heard God’s call to serve and bring hope to those in need in Bolivia. Anelise took her first trip to Bolivia in 2015.
Since 2012, God has given each of these women a love for the Bolivian people, language, and culture. When they visited the city of Santa Cruz in October 2015, they had the chance to meet some youth living on the streets, and God placed heavily on their hearts the need to love and serve them in any way possible. They returned to the states with a dream, and in July of 2016, Anchor of Hope was born as an official non-profit. Lily moved to Santa Cruz and began full time ministry on the streets in October of 2017. Soon after, she was joined by Ellie where they both spent over two years developing Anchor’s Street Ministry program. By God’s grace, the team found a house to serve as our Anchor Community Center in 2020. We became a non-profit in Bolivia in September of 2020 which allowed us to begin official programming in the Ancla Center. Lily and Ellie are currently serving on the ground alongside the local staff as they continue to develop the various areas of the ministry.