This update is going to be a little different than usual, and a bit longer. Normally, we share what has happened over the past month, but this time we want to share what the future of the ministry is going to look like.
You may remember me mentioning that we have been praying about and considering some changes for quite a while now. Well, the time has finally come to bring you all up to date. Those changes are no longer just ideas—they are beginning to take shape.
And these aren’t small adjustments. They are significant shifts that will impact the direction of our ministry moving forward.
To be honest, parts of this update are raw, vulnerable, and difficult to write. But we hope you’ll stay with us through it all and allow us to share our hearts. Thank you for walking this journey with us.
Feeding Program
For the past seven years, we have been serving lunch three days a week to the community in Aceituno. Our doors have always been open to anyone who wanted to come, and it has truly been a joy to share meals with so many people over the years. But over the past few months, God has been stirring something in our hearts. As we continued serving meals, we couldn’t help but notice a pattern. Because the children are still in school when we begin serving, many of the first people in line are adults. By the time the children arrive, they are often eating whatever is left. That reality broke our hearts.
When we first came to Aceituno, one of our primary goals was to address the nutritional needs of the children. As we prayed, we began to wonder if it was time to return to that original calling by serving lunches exclusively to the children. As we wrestled with this decision, we shared what God was putting on our hearts with several friends and supporters. To my surprise, every one of them agreed that focusing on the children seemed to be the right direction. Then one dear friend offered a suggestion that I immediately loved. She proposed that once a month we hold a “Family Day,” where everyone in the community is invited to join us for lunch. We loved this idea because it allows us to continue showing the families that we love them and care deeply about them, even as our regular lunch program changes.
Once we felt confident this was the direction God was leading us, we began praying about the timing. The sugarcane harvest—which provides one of the main sources of income for many families—ended in May. During the six months without harvest, many of the families struggle more financially, and our lunch attendance grows significantly. Because of this, we decided to announce the change now but wait until November, when the harvest begins again, to implement it. This gives everyone five months to prepare for the transition.
This was not an easy decision. I found myself praying, “God, how can I do this? These people have been eating with us for seven years.” In that moment, I felt the Lord gently remind me of the significance of the number seven in Scripture. Throughout the Bible, seven often represents completeness, perfection, and divine fulfillment. It felt as though He was quietly saying, “This season has been completed. Now it is time to step into the next one.” That reminder brought such peace to my heart. While this transition is difficult, we truly believe this is where God is leading us.
Please pray for the community as they prepare for this change, and pray for us as we seek to walk faithfully in the direction God is calling us.
Water Project
The changes to our water project are just as significant.
God has been stirring these changes in our hearts for a long time. If we’re honest, what delayed us was fear. Fear that the finances wouldn’t be there. Fear that we wouldn’t be able to provide for our team. Fear of stepping away from something that had become such a large part of our lives and ministry. But the decision has now been made, and we truly believe this is where God is leading us.
When we first started the water project, our goal was simple: to make clean drinking water more accessible for the people of Aceituno. That mission has never changed. But somewhere along the way, we realized we had become so focused on making the project financially sustainable that we slowly lost sight of the bigger picture.
Instead of asking, “How can we best serve this community?” we often found ourselves asking, “How can we sell enough water to cover expenses and pay our team?” Twelve-hour workdays became normal. The stress of production and distribution consumed so much of our time and energy that it left less room for what God originally called us here to do—invest in people, especially the children. Our team has also carried the weight of those long hours, and we knew something needed to change.
Another burden we’ve carried since the very beginning has been the amount of plastic waste created by the individual water bags. From day one, we hated seeing them scattered throughout the streets. We even organized cleanup efforts, encouraging children to collect discarded bags by offering them two quetzales for every full sack they brought back. It helped for a while, but it wasn’t a lasting solution. We’ve continued teaching about caring for God’s creation and keeping the community clean, but changing deeply rooted habits takes time. Even now, it hurts to walk through town and see our own logo—“Aliento”—printed on bags lying in the streets. We never wanted our ministry to contribute to that problem.
On top of that, as the cost of supplies has continued to rise, the price we had to charge for the water bags ended up being only slightly lower than businesses selling water for profit. We started this project to serve people, but over time it began to feel like we had simply become another place to buy water.
As we stepped back and prayed, we realized something important. God has been faithfully providing for every other area of the ministry, allowing us to focus on the work He has called us to do. Yet the water project has largely depended on selling enough product to sustain itself. We began to sense that perhaps we had been relying more on our own efforts than on God’s provision.
So, after much prayer, we have decided to stop producing the individual water bags and focus entirely on providing water in five-gallon refillable jugs. These jugs have always been the better option. We are able to offer these jugs for less than half the price charged by others, and because they are returned, washed, refilled, and used again, they produce virtually no waste. This model is better for the environment, better for our community, and far more sustainable for our team.
Perhaps most importantly, this change will allow us to reduce the long hours spent producing and delivering water and devote far more time to investing in the lives of the children of Aceituno. We truly believe God is bringing us back to the vision He first gave us, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
As we make this transition, we would love to invite you to become part of the monthly support team for the water project. This would allow us to continue providing a salary for our whole team, do our part in keeping the streets clean of trash, and also free us to spend more of our time where we believe God has called us most: pouring into the lives of the children.
Our Vision
Since I’ve mentioned several times that we’re “getting back to our vision,” let me share what that vision actually is.
It’s the children. Our heart has always been to invest deeply in the next generation. We want to have the time and energy to truly pour into their lives—not just by meeting physical needs, but by helping them grow academically, spiritually, and personally.
We dream of offering after-school homework help, teaching English, encouraging reading, studying the Bible together, and creating a safe place where children know they are loved and valued. We have so many ideas that have been on our hearts, but we’ve simply haven’t had the time or energy to bring them to life. With the changes we’re making to the water project, we finally believe we’ll have the opportunity to do just that.
We also hope to start soccer teams and organize other recreational activities. This past Friday, we walked with a group of children to the soccer field to play. Before the game began, we all picked up trash around the field together. It was a simple activity, but it represented something much bigger. We want to teach these children that caring for God’s creation matters and that each of us has a responsibility to care for the place where we live. More importantly, we want to lead by example and show them that real change begins with ordinary people choosing to act.
We truly believe that intentionally investing in the next generation is one of the greatest ways to bring lasting change to Aceituno. If we teach children today to care for their community, tomorrow they will be the adults who keep their streets clean. If we teach them to read today, tomorrow there will be more teachers, nurses, business owners, and professionals. If we open God’s Word with them today, tomorrow there will be more men and women who know, love, and faithfully follow Christ.
Children are the future. Our desire is to invest in them now so that, by God’s grace, the generations that follow will experience a brighter future than the one before them.
That is our vision. And we are more excited about it than ever.
Construction
Construction has been moving along steadily, and God has been blessing us in some unexpected ways. The highway that runs in front of Aceituno is currently being completely redone. Construction crews have been tearing up the old asphalt and hauling it away in dump trucks. Seeing an opportunity, some of the community leaders asked the crew if they would bring that old asphalt into town instead so it could be used to improve some of the dirt roads. It was a fantastic idea—but it also meant a lot of hard work. Long days in the hot sun were spent shoveling, spreading, and leveling the asphalt. It was such a blessing to watch the community come together to improve their own town. We were able to join in for a couple of those days and also provide lunch for many of the volunteers.
The project ended up blessing us as well. We were able to receive a couple of dump truck loads of the recycled asphalt to help raise the back portion of our property. Because of flooding, we need to raise the ground level by about one meter (just over three feet) before we can continue developing that area. The truck couldn’t drive onto our property, so it dumped the asphalt in the road outside our gate. From there, it was all moved by hand—wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and bucket after bucket—until it reached the back of the property. It was exhausting work, but once again, our friends and neighbors showed up to help. Their willingness to jump in and serve alongside us was such an encouragement. It reminded us that we are not doing this ministry alone. God has surrounded us with people who believe in what He is doing here, and that is an incredible gift.
Construction on the dining room is also making exciting progress! Little by little, it is beginning to look like a real building. The support columns are finished, and we are now preparing to pour the concrete roof. We can hardly wait for the day we can begin serving meals in this new space. It is going to completely transform our feeding program.
On top of that, we recently received several generous donations that should allow us not only to finish the dining room but also to start the office and library that will be built on the second floor. This has been an enormous answer to prayer and has relieved so much of the financial stress surrounding the project.
And there’s even more to look forward to! In just two weeks, a construction team will be arriving to serve alongside us. We are incredibly excited to have them here, and we can’t wait to share all that God accomplishes through their time with us in next month’s update.
Personal Update
To be honest, things have felt a little heavy lately.
When we were able to take a vacation at the beginning of March, it was exactly what we needed. We came home rested, refreshed, and ready to jump back into ministry. But as these past few months have filled with big decisions, long days, and constant change, we’re beginning to feel the weight of it all again—especially Maudilio.
Both of us have been feeling physically and emotionally exhausted. Some mornings, it feels like we wake up tired, and by the end of the day, we have very little left to give. And with the ministry entering such a significant season of transition, this isn’t an ideal time to be feeling this way. We know the months ahead will require wisdom, endurance, and a lot of dependence on the Lord.
Would you pray for us? Please pray that God would renew our strength, give us restful sleep, and provide the physical, emotional, and spiritual endurance we need for this next season. We are confident that He has led us to these changes, and we want to walk through them faithfully.
Recently, during a really difficult moment when I was struggling, I looked up and saw this view. In that instant, God’s presence felt so near, and He filled my heart with peace. I’m so grateful for moments like these—little reminders that even in the hardest seasons, He is with us. I wanted to share this one with all of you.
One area where God has been incredibly kind to us is through the people He has placed in our lives. While we don’t often have much to share about our personal lives—because ministry is such a big part of our everyday routine—we have been blessed with wonderful opportunities to spend time with close friends and other couples from our church. Those relationships have been a tremendous encouragement and reminder that we don’t have to carry life’s burdens alone. We are deeply grateful for the church family and friends God has surrounded us with. They have been such a gift during this season, and we thank God for them.
We know this was a long update, and we’re so grateful you stayed with us through it. Thank you for walking alongside us—not only through the joyful moments, but also through the difficult ones. Your prayers, encouragement, and support mean more to us than we can express. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we move forward. We’re so thankful to have you on this journey with us.
