Can you believe a whole month of 2026 has already passed? We hope your year is off to a great and blessed start. Ours certainly has been, and we’re excited to share an update with you!
Feeding Program
The feeding program started back up on January 12th and has been running relatively smoothly since then. The cobblestone project is nearly complete, and it looks wonderful! It has significantly reduced the dirt and mud issues we were dealing with—and as a bonus, it’s beautiful as well.
Since we resumed serving food, our space has been very full of people. On the days we serve meals, the tables are packed and we quickly run out of stools. We’ve started using old wooden boards and cinder blocks to create extra table space, and many days we also run out of cups, bowls, and spoons.
While it’s a joy to see so many people coming, it can also feel overwhelming at times. We had hoped to wait to purchase additional tables, stools, and dining supplies until our dining area is completed, but it’s becoming clear that this need may be more immediate than we anticipated.
We’re also likely facing some significant changes in the near future. The next couple of months may be challenging, but we are confident that God will carry us through the uncertainties and the challenges ahead.
Water Project
The water project has been going much better over the past couple of weeks. The guys have put improved systems in place to stay organized and work more efficiently, which has helped increase our daily numbers. We’re very encouraged by this, as we are once again breaking even at the end of each week.
Please continue to pray for wisdom in this area. This is not an easy operation to run, especially while Maudilio is also overseeing other projects. We also ask for prayer that strong, healthy relationships would be built with the workers—that we would be a positive influence in their lives, and in the lives of all who see our team working together.
Construction Update
This area has been a bit discouraging, as the bathroom project is still not finished. Because we are so close to the coast, the groundwater level is very high during the rainy season. As the team began digging the foundation, they weren’t able to go as deep as planned. As a result, the foundation now needs to be reinforced to ensure there are no issues in the future.
This has turned into a much larger project and a significant setback for our team, but they have handled it incredibly well. Just yesterday, they were able to pour the reinforced foundation. We’re hopeful that, from here on out, the rest of the work will move much more quickly, and that we’ll soon have functioning bathrooms for everyone who visits and shares meals with us.
We know we’ve been saying this for some time now, but we truly are hopeful that we can begin work on the dining room very soon. We had started digging for that foundation when the need to reinforce the bathrooms became clear, so we paused progress on the dining room in order to focus on finishing the bathrooms first. Our goal is to make sure every step is done carefully and correctly so we don’t face preventable problems down the road.
Personal Update
In our last few updates, we shared quite a bit about the discouragement we had been facing. I’m grateful to say that this month we’ve come through that very hard season. It’s not that things have suddenly become easier or that challenges have disappeared—we’re simply in a healthier headspace to face them now. We are so thankful for your prayers, which truly helped carry us through that time.
Many of you know that we have been working to obtain a visa for Maudilio to live in the United States. Our plan was to move there for a season once that visa was approved and get all of his paperwork in order so that, in the future, not only could he travel back and forth with me, but any future children we may have could as well. This has been our plan for quite some time.
However, the United States has now placed an indefinite pause on all immigration visas from 75 countries, including Guatemala. Overnight, our entire plan came to a halt. Receiving that news has been confusing and discouraging. From the beginning, we truly felt that this was what God was calling us to do, and we said that if the visa didn’t come through, we would trust that as God closing the door and leading us to stay in Guatemala. But living that out is much harder than saying it.
Letting go of the dream of taking Maudilio to the United States—to introduce him to my friends and family—has been deeply painful. It’s heartbreaking to think that he may never fulfill a childhood dream he’s had ever since watching his very first movie, Spider-Man: visiting New York City.
Of course, things could change someday, and it’s possible that a visa may become available in the future. But we can’t hold our breath or put our lives on pause waiting for something that may never change.
So please pray for us as we have difficult conversations and seek wisdom for decisions about the future. We trust God in the midst of this—it’s simply a process of working through very real, very human emotions and expectations.
Prayer Requests
- That God would grant us wisdom and clear direction as we seek His guidance for our future.
- For continued financial provision for all of these projects, as it takes a great deal to keep everything running smoothly.
- For each of us and for all of the workers involved in the feeding program, water project, and construction projects—that each person would come to know God personally and intimately.
It’s been a wonderful start to 2026, and we’re looking forward to what the rest of the year holds. Even with many unknowns ahead, we trust that God will sustain us through it all.
Thank you for your messages, encouragement, and faithful support, which make it possible for us and these projects to continue. We are deeply grateful for each and every one of you.
