We are selling our South Dakota home and moving to Guatemala to support missionaries who are directly caring for the needs of the local population. Eight years ago we had the opportunity to live in Guatemala for a year and quickly fell in love with the people, culture and landscape.
Life and family responsibilities pulled us in a different direction for a while, but we have continued to feel strongly about returning. This year, after much prayer and consideration we have decided to sell our home in South Dakota so that we could move our family back to Guatemala and assist missionaries working in the Lake Atitlan region.
We hope to move there in November 2021 and plan to primarily support our dear friends, the Deeds family, who will also be returning this Fall.
The Deeds family is returning to Guatemala to work with La Casa de la Paz, an organization supporting women/children living in domestic abuse or neglect.
We also hope to volunteer with the two more organizations:
Porch de Salomon (home construction and humanitarian aid to Guatemala’s indigenous population)
Cultiva International (providing garden education & square foot gardening boxes)
Guatemala is located in Central America, immediately south of Mexico and is the location of much of the Mayan civilization. According to the World Bank “Guatemala has the fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world with Indigenous and rural populations disproportionately affected. Chronic childhood malnutrition (and stunting) affects 47 % of all children under the age of five, 58 % of indigenous children, and 66 % of children in the lowest income quintile. In 2019, Guatemala ranked 68th in food security out of 113 countries, with only 40 % of Guatemalan families enjoying food security.”
Although we expect to support ourselves off the proceeds from our home sale, we could use help with the transportation costs of getting our family of four to Guatamala. We expect flights, ground transportation and covid testing costs to come to about $3,000 total. If you are interested in partnering with us financially, please visit https://gofund.me/1879a422