Be Transformed Ministries

Dear Be Transformed Family,

Well, the stories keep coming – and that’s why we are sending out our quarterly newsletter sooner than we originally intended. It is pretty lengthy, but we hope it will bring you great joy as you read all of the stories, and that you will be as moved and impacted as we have been. Also, that the stories will help you to realize how powerful your prayers, love, and support really are!

We’ll begin with a message from a sweet lady Sharon was able to minister to 20 years ago in the Grover Beach area. You just never know the impact you might have on another life! She writes “Dear Sharon, I am forever grateful for your kindness, gentleness, and love for me when I was at my bottom. My life changed forever! I have learned that our salvation is not just for us to get saved and that’s it. We are to help and share with others, just like you did for me. I have thought about you so much over the years. I can’t thank you enough for that. Also, thank you so much for the engraved Bible you gave me. It’s the one I use in my daily walk with the Lord. I appreciate you so much for giving me a chance, and bringing me to Jesus”. Denise

Here’s a letter from the Chaplain at the Tennessee Youth Detention Center, where we have been sending books for a while now. He writes: “Hello Sharon, We now have room in the new Chapel for bookshelves, and your books will be part of our Faith Library. When I placed your last order of books on the shelf, they were gone immediately! I even saw a guard reading one recently! I am thankful for the ongoing opportunity to share the love of Christ through your discipleship materials. They are bringing our young people to Jesus”! Chaplain Dale

This is from our precious Chaplain friend at the Ventura County Jail. There are two jails that he distributes our books to. We have now sent him over 650 books since last September!! He says “Wow! Your testimony (The Conviction book) is chain-breaking! The inmates absolutely love every single one of your books! They are having group studies using your books. We keep getting kites (written requests) for more.

This is a sweet note from a lady we met at the Cayucos Pier a couple of months ago. We gave her a couple of books and she writes “Your books are now part of a collection of books I have that I cherish. They are truly a blessing”. Sharon has stayed in touch with her since then, and she says she has deepened her relationship with God using our material!

A beautiful gift from the Lord was when Sharon counted up the books we’ve sent individually – directly from our home - one inmate at a time. There were 640 names!! Of course, that doesn’t begin to include the tens of thousands of books we’ve sent through Amazon/KDP to institutions across the U.S. and into other countries! Wow! God has been SO faithful!
would like to receive more books of yours please. Thank you for your testimony”. Richard

This is from an inmate in Illinois who has been in solitary confinement. He writes: “Dear Sharon, The Bible and your New Beginnings book allowed me to give my life to the Lord. Before I read your book, my life was in chaos. I was full of hate, and angry with everyone. I used a lot of drugs outside and inside (prison). I had given 100% to my gang. I was surrounded by a lot of people, but what was crazy is, I felt empty. Anyway, I was put in solitary confinement in November 2025. I never thought that God would use this situation to get my attention. I felt lonely and empty and hopeless because of everything I was going through. As I was alone, I listened to something - a voice that I think it was God - that told me “How long before I'm going to have your attention?”

The days went by and the prison pastor brought me a Bible and your book Fishers of Men. It was then that I gave up and said “OK, you have my attention”. I gave my life to Jesus. It was the best thing I ever did. I started reading your book and the Bible, and I felt an immense peace. And a love I can't explain. Now I trust my Lord, and I know that He never abandoned me. I am learning to forgive those who hurt me all my life. I am asking God to help me grow my love for others. I don't use drugs anymore. Thank God, even though I am surrounded by drugs where I am, I ask the Lord for strength not to return to that path of destruction. Now that I know Jesus, I do not want to turn away from Him, because before I did, everything was chaos.

Thank you for teaching me how to follow Christ and how to use my gifts that the Holy Spirit gave me. God bless you and take care of you and your husband. Oh, and something you told me in your first letter that I will always remember was that ‘I am in a place of repentance and change’ ”. Jose

The pastor of a men’s home in Rosarito Beach, located right near the City Dump wrote: “I give thanks to God for the lives of my brothers who finished the Nuevos Comienzos (New Beginnings) book. Not only did they finish it, but they also applied it to their lives. I am grateful to God to be able to see the change in their lives and how they now serve others. They have been transformed by the Word of God through your book! Now they will share the same book with other new believers. Thank you and God bless you. Pastor Eddie Mijares

As you may remember, we have our Farsi (Persian) books on FOUR different websites, being beamed into Iran and the Middle East on the SAT 7 satellite. The situation in Iran is heartbreaking, but God is using this time to bring thousands of people to Himself. He is also using our books in such a powerful way! One of the Persian websites is Heart4Iran. In the last 6 months, we have had 69 downloads of our books. Even more exciting is the views of my testimony, which was viewed 13,276 times!
Jennifer at Heart4Iran writes: “Your partnership with Mohabat TV is bearing fruit. Through your books and testimonies, lives are being touched across borders, hope is being restored, and the Gospel is continuing to shine into places where access is often difficult.

Thank you, Sharon, for your faithfulness, your heart for ministry, and your continued partnership. We are honored to serve alongside you and look forward with anticipation to the continued impact of your message in the months ahead”. Blessings, Jennifer

Additionally, we have prayed for just the right person to translate "The Conviction" into Farsi. God chose Mehri to do this precious job. We should have the book out soon, which will be added to the Persian websites. We believe that God will use it mightily in Iran, since there is much addiction, suffering, hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts amongst the Iranian people. (Do pray for the Persian people to come to KNOW Jesus🙏).

The Conviction is now complete in Dutch, and will be released in the next couple of months.

God is continuing to use all our books to bring many people to Jesus! Our newsletter is lengthy this time, but there are even more stories of souls being saved through these books! We are totally in AWE!!

Below and on the next page are the pictures of 1) The men at the Rosarito Beach, Mexico Rehab using our Nuevos Comienzos (New Beginnings) books
2) The cases of New Beginnings books being taken to the Juvenile Detention Facility in Tennessee. And 3) The women in Sinaloa, Mexico, using our Pescadores de Hombres (Fishers of Men) books.

We simply cannot express how important you ALL ARE to this ministry that God is using so vitally! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love, prayers, and support.

Blessings and love,

Michael and Sharon

P.S. Faceb00k seems to be limiting the outreach of all of our update posts🥺. Could you please give us a thumbs 👍 up on this post - so we can see it IS getting sent out? Thank you - AGAIN!

To our precious Be Transformed Family! Here is our latest update with MORE exciting news to share! We are flabbergasted at the work that God continues to do through this ministry!

Here is a letter from a Spanish-speaking inmate from Kansas: “I am alone, and I have no family to talk to. But every time I feel sad, I read your words from your books, and it inspires me to keep going. Thank you so much for your gift of the New Beginnings book. It is changing my life! I pray that if I don’t meet you in this life, that we will meet in heaven with our Lord”. Marcos

This is another letter from an inmate in Pennsylvania. “Hello Sharon, I recently received a book called The Conviction. What a season for me to get this book! This book of yours has really opened my eyes and has touched and moved me. I’m now reading my Bible and praying every day. I’m also repeating the (sinners) prayer at the end of your book daily. Thank you for your story – you’ve become a big inspiration to me. Your book has become my new journey. I’ll be keeping this book for the rest of my life, and I’ll share it with my kids when I get out. Thank you again, and Godspeed”. Brian

Another 21 year old Spanish-speaking inmate from Illinois writes “Dear Sharon, I have been away from God, but I am tired of always being on the losing team and I have accepted Christ Jesus as my savior as a result of your book. I am learning little by little to know what it is to be a Christian. I have no one to tell me about him in these moments. But I have a beautiful Bible and your book. I would be grateful if you would send me another one of your books to help me grow in my faith and know more deeply about the promises of God. Thank you for your time and God bless you”. Jose

Following is an awesome email we received from our Kurdish translator in Iraq. If you remember, he contacted us about a year ago after he saw our books on an Iranian website, and wanted to translate our New Beginnings book. He said “My people need this book”. He had 1,000 Sorani books printed in Iran and shipped to Iraq! This email is long, but worth the read!
He writes “Dearest Sharon, In one of my earlier messages, I had shared with you how slowly and with great difficulty things seemed to be moving forward (with the printing and distributing the Sorani books). You kindly responded, saying ‘not to worry, because everything will happen in God’s perfect timing’.
From that day on, I took your words deeply to heart and made them a part of my life. I stopped complaining, and truly — it has been exactly as you said.
“God’s timing is always perfect. Right now, the situation in Iran is heartbreaking and tragic beyond words. All communication lines have been severely disrupted. Because of this, we honestly never expected the books to reach us. Yet, to my complete amazement and joy, I received a call informing me that the books have arrived (in Iraq from Iran) - and they were the very last shipment that managed to cross the border!
All praise and thanks be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is worthy of entrusting all our affairs to.
I have now collected the books. I contacted the Biblica representative, and they will come to pick up a portion of them for distribution through their own channels. The remaining books I will personally place in the hands of churches.
“I am so deeply grateful to you for always standing with me and supporting me through everything.
I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ would pour ever-increasing blessings upon you, so that through you many lost souls may find their way home to Him. With much love and appreciation in Christ”. Hamid
Another inmate writes: “Dear Sharon, I just wanted to thank you for writing me back, and for sending your New Beginnings book. Since I read your Conviction book, I haven’t been able to put my Bible down! You have also encouraged me to write my own story, and I’d like to put your name in the beginning of my book as my inspiration. I will be praying for you and Michael”. Brian

This is an awesome letter from the Rio Grande ICE Detention Center in Texas where we recently sent 160 books:
Chaplain Jimenez writes: “Dear Sharon I am writing to you to share the profound impact your work is having on our population. I personally found your testimony in La Condena (The Conviction) to be deeply moving. Furthermore, it is a joy to witness how the Word of God is taking root through the study of Nuevos Comienzos (New Beginnings).
“We are already seeing effective progress and genuine change in the residents who are engaging with Sea Transformado (Be Transformed). These titles are now circulating within our facility, which houses between 2,000 and 2,300 residents. Your contribution is providing vital spiritual tools for their rehabilitation and growth. We are so grateful for the books you have sent. Thank you”!

Additionally, since our last newsletter in December, we have sent out 1,185 books!

We are SO thankful to all of you for your continued support, love and prayers. We truly would not be able to do this without YOU! You have a partnership - in ALL of what God is doing in and through Be Transformed Ministries!
Blessings
Michael and Sharon Dutra