Another month has come and gone, and things certainly haven’t slowed down. If anything, it feels like the challenges have just kept coming. And yet, even in the middle of all the hard, God’s faithfulness has been so evident. He has sustained us through the difficult days, provided encouragement when we’ve needed it most, and continued to remind us that He is working, even when things feel overwhelming. There have been challenges, yes, but there have also been some really exciting victories this month!
Feeding Program
We are officially using our new dining room!
This has been such an exciting milestone for us! After all the work that has gone into this building, it is incredibly rewarding to finally see it being used. We are so thankful to have a beautiful, clean, and comfortable space to serve meals to the people in our community. And the dining room has certainly been getting plenty of use! Attendance continues to be high, and we have been packed nearly every day.
We were also blessed to receive a couple of really neat partitioned desks for free from a school that was closing down. We are excited about the possibilities for using these in the future, especially as we continue developing our educational programs. For now, though, we’re still trying to figure out where to put them! Space is definitely becoming a challenge as the ministry continues to grow.
Unfortunately, we are also facing some uncertainty in the community. It seems that the rainy season has mostly come to an end, but the sugar cane fields still don’t appear ready for harvest. Because of the severe drought we experienced this year, much of the sugar cane hasn’t even flowered yet. We aren’t sure what this will mean for the upcoming harvest season. This is a serious concern because so many families in our community depend on the sugar cane harvest for their income. After months of very little work, families are anxiously waiting for the harvest to begin.
Please be praying for the harvest and for the families who depend on it.
We would also appreciate prayer for wisdom as we navigate what this means for the feeding program. For months, our plan has been to transition to feeding only children once the harvest began and families had a more reliable source of income. But now, with so much uncertainty surrounding the harvest, we’re not sure when or how that transition should happen.
We also have a special prayer request for our two cooks and their family.
About two weeks ago, the mother of our head cook, Sucely, passed away very suddenly. She was also the sister of our other cook, Luz. This has understandably been an incredibly difficult time for their family. Please join us in praying that God would surround them with His peace, comfort, and strength as they grieve this unexpected loss.
Water Project
The water project has been one of our more challenging areas of ministry for several months now. One of the biggest struggles is finding the balance between operating sustainably and keeping our original purpose at the center of everything we do. The water project was never started to be a business. It was created to serve the community by making clean drinking water more accessible and affordable. However, we still have employees to pay, electricity bills to cover, equipment to maintain, and other operating expenses. We want to keep the water as affordable as possible for families, but we also need to bring in enough money to keep the project running. With the rising cost of nearly everything, finding that balance has become increasingly difficult.
September was an especially discouraging month, with low sales and the ongoing struggle to cover expenses. But we are finally beginning to see some really encouraging changes! First, we made some staffing adjustments that have helped the project operate much more efficiently. And second, as of Monday, our three-wheeled delivery motorcycle is finally back up and running! This has been a long time coming!
What we originally thought would be a fairly simple repair turned into a much bigger project. The entire engine had to be taken apart, and numerous parts needed to be replaced. It was frustrating, expensive, and took much longer than we anticipated. While it was out of commission, we had been delivering water using a regular two-wheeled motorcycle with a homemade metal basket welded onto the back. It worked, but it certainly wasn’t ideal! The smaller motorcycle could only carry five water jugs at a time, which meant our delivery driver was constantly having to return to refill. So much time was being lost just going back and forth.
But on Monday, our larger motorcycle finally went back into service, and something amazing happened. We broke our record for water sales, delivering 142 jugs in a single day! What an encouragement! We are praising God that things are beginning to run smoothly again and that sales are increasing.
And while stronger sales certainly help us cover expenses, they also represent something much more important: families are receiving clean drinking water. Every jug sold is another reminder that this project is meeting a real need in our community. We are so thankful to see it moving in a positive direction again!
Setback
This month, the ministry property was broken into…for the third time. Thankfully, only one power tool was stolen this time. But honestly, the emotional toll has been far greater than the physical loss. It’s difficult to continually pour your heart, time, and resources into a community, only to have people break in and steal from the very place that exists to serve them.
There have been moments when we’ve felt deeply discouraged. Moments when it has been hard to keep going with the same excitement and energy.
But in the midst of all this discouragement, something truly beautiful has come out of it. Many of you who have visited us here in Guatemala have had the joy of meeting Doña Chepita. She is an elderly lady who has been coming to eat with us for many years. During lunchtime, you can often find her talking to others about God, praying over people, or even singing praises to the Lord. She has such a beautiful heart, and knowing her is truly a blessing.
When Doña Chepita heard about the three robberies we have experienced over the past month and a half, she told us that she wanted to come with her anointing oil and pray over the ministry property. And sure enough, this past Friday morning, she showed up. Doña Chepita cannot read or write, but she arrived carrying her Bible, a possession that is precious to her. She asked Maudilio to read a Psalm aloud, and then she pulled out her little bottle of anointing oil. She poured some into her hand and began walking around the entire property, touching the walls as she went and praying for God’s blessing and protection over the property and everything inside it.
It was such a beautiful and humbling moment to witness. Here was this sweet elderly woman, who has so little herself, faithfully lifting up our ministry in prayer and asking God to protect the work being done here. It was an encouragement that both Maudilio and I desperately needed. In a season when it has been easy to feel discouraged by the actions of a few, God used Doña Chepita to remind us of the love and faithfulness of so many others. And it was also such a sweet reminder that we are not doing this work alone. From a little elderly woman walking the walls of our ministry property in Guatemala to friends and supporters praying for us all around the world, we are surrounded by people who faithfully lift us up before the Lord.
What a beautiful gift that is, and what a faithful God we serve!
Soccer
For several months now, we’ve been gathering at the town soccer field on Fridays to play with the kids and teens in our community. It has been such a fun way to spend time together, build relationships, and connect with young people outside of our regular ministry programs. But from the beginning, we’ve had a bigger vision for this!
Our hope has been to build proper soccer goals, purchase equipment, and eventually organize things into a more structured soccer program. It has taken a while to get everything together, and rain delayed our plans for a couple of weeks, but this past Friday, we finally had our first official soccer day with the new equipment! And we had an absolute blast! Was everything perfectly organized? Absolutely not! There was plenty of chaos as we figured out how to manage everything, organize the kids, and make the games run smoothly. But everyone had a wonderful time, and we learned a lot about what worked and what we need to change moving forward. We are so excited to watch this program develop!
A huge thank-you to everyone who donated to help make this possible. We are incredibly grateful for your generosity and for believing in this vision. We are still hoping to raise additional funds to purchase more equipment, provide cleats for the kids who need them, and eventually get jerseys for everyone!
But more than anything, our heart behind this program is to build relationships. Soccer is something these kids already love. By creating a fun, consistent, and welcoming environment, we hope to draw in more children and teenagers, including some who may never attend one of our regular ministry activities. As we spend time together, relationships grow. As relationships grow, trust develops. And through that trust, doors open for us to share the love and truth of Jesus with them. We are excited about the potential of this program and can’t wait to see how God uses something as simple as soccer to impact lives!
Personal Update
On a more personal note, these past couple of months have been difficult. It feels like we’ve been getting hit from every direction, and at times, the discouragement has been hard to fight off. One of the biggest challenges we’re currently facing is that we have to move. Our rental contract ended in October, and our landlord informed us that they would like their house back. Thankfully, they have graciously given us until the end of December to move out. However, we are hoping to find somewhere and move during November so that we aren’t trying to manage everything in the middle of Christmas and New Year’s. While we are thankful to have some time, the thought of finding a new house, packing everything up, and moving has felt pretty overwhelming with everything else going on.
And beyond the logistics, there is the financial side of it. The house we’ve lived in for the past four years has truly been an incredible blessing from God. When we first moved in, we were able to rent it for an unbelievably good price, and we have been so grateful for the opportunity to call it home. But we know that finding another house for anything close to what we’re currently paying is going to be difficult. Our rent will almost certainly increase, and we have no idea by how much. Honestly, that uncertainty has probably been the most stressful part of this whole situation. We are trusting God to provide, just as He did four years ago, but we would really appreciate your prayers as we search for a new home.
About two weeks ago, we were finally able to take a few days away to visit some close friends in Jutiapa, Guatemala. This was a trip we’d been trying to make happen for several months, and we were really looking forward to having a little break. Unfortunately, the day after we arrived, we received the heartbreaking news that our cook’s mother had passed away. It was completely unexpected, and it was difficult to be away during such a painful time for their family. After talking things through, we ultimately decided that we needed to stay with our friends and take the break we had planned.
But even our time away didn’t go quite as expected! While we were there, Maudilio got sick, which is pretty unusual for him. Then, shortly after we returned home, I started coming down with something as well. What started as one illness has now turned into multiple health issues, requiring several rounds of medication and treatment. Thankfully it is nothing serious, mostly just inconveniences. Neither of us gets sick very often, so dealing with all of this on top of everything else has been another source of frustration and discouragement. And, of course, the unexpected medical expenses have added to the financial stress we’re already feeling. Sometimes it just feels like we can’t quite catch a break.
But even in the middle of all these challenges, God has continued to provide exactly what we’ve needed. One of the biggest blessings this month has been having some dear friends here visiting us for five weeks. I don’t think I can adequately express what an encouragement they have been! Not only have they been a help with the workload at Aliento, but they have also brought so much joy, friendship, and encouragement into a season when we have desperately needed it.
Having people here to share the work, the laughter, and even the difficult moments has been such a gift. The timing of their visit could not have been more perfect, and we truly don’t believe that was a coincidence. We believe God knew exactly what these weeks would hold and graciously provided people to walk alongside us through them.
As I look back over October, I see a month filled with both discouragement and blessing. There have been break-ins, financial pressures, unexpected losses, sickness, and so many unanswered questions. But there has also been a beautiful new dining room filled with people receiving meals. A water project beginning to thrive again. Kids laughing and playing soccer together. Friends showing up at just the right time. And countless reminders that God has not left us to navigate any of this alone.
We don’t know exactly what the coming months will look like. There are still many things we are trying to figure out, and some days the weight of it all feels pretty heavy. But we know that God has been faithful, and we trust that He will continue to be. Please continue praying for us, for wisdom in the decisions ahead, for provision in the areas where we are facing uncertainty, and for renewed strength and encouragement as we continue serving.
As always, thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support. Please keep them coming!
