09/26/2026
Please pray for our team’s safety as we travel to the villages 3 days a week. Each trip takes an average 6 hours of driving round trip—and sometimes as many as 7 hours in a single day—often in heavy traffic and on top of our work hours. Jeff is also on the road many days each week, handling ministry errands and other responsibilities in different directions.
We’re in the rainy season, and the rain has been nonstop lately. My heart sank when I saw these pictures of rocks that had fallen onto the VAS in Villa Nueva. We sometimes travel on this road, so we’re thankful we haven’t needed to use it lately.
The dangers along our routes aren’t always hidden. We can see the steep, bare mountainsides, but we don’t know when heavy rain might cause a landslide or rockfall—or when flooding might make a road dangerous. Many of the slopes have loose soil and rock, little vegetation to hold the ground in place, and no barriers along the roads. Whenever we drive through those areas during the rainy season, I worry about what could happen after heavy rain.
These long trips also bring significant expenses. We know many of our friends in the States are struggling with high gas prices. Gas in Guatemala has always been much more expensive than in the States, even before the war. We’ve been paying almost $7 a gallon for quite a while. Because of how far and how often we drive for our ministry, we spend at least $1,000 a month on gas alone—and our truck is constantly taking a beating.
This Monday, the road to our clinic was so narrow that even Jeff, who is an excellent and very experienced driver, couldn’t avoid backing into a ditch. That isn’t uncommon in the villages we serve, where the roads are often narrow and unpaved. Somehow, one of the tires was punctured.
With the rough roads we travel so often, Jeff has mentioned that it’s time to replace all four tires with good-quality tires that can handle those conditions and help keep our team safe. We expect them to cost around US$1,500, and we hope it won’t be more. Vehicle maintenance has always been expensive for us, and we’ve already had to replace the brakes twice this year.
We would be so grateful if you would continue praying for God’s provision and for our team’s safety as we continue our ministry here. Thank you so much! 🙏🙏🙏
www.godsaidgo.org
