- Covered In His Dust
- Posts
- We don't have any food.
First things first—if you’ve donated, thank you! We’ll be reaching out soon to personally express our gratitude.
We’re so thankful for you—your generosity, your emails, and your love for what the Lord is doing in Guatemala.
Tonight will be a little different. We want to take you higher—up to cruising altitude, 30,000 or 40,000 feet.
From that height, you’ll see the bigger picture. What we do, day to day and you'll be able to see the impact you’re making. It's wide reaching.
Fundraiser Update
Our goal: $135,000 for operating costs.
Since last night, another $5,480 has come in! And with the match, that brings us to $62,470 in just four days!
That’s incredible. Thank you!
But here’s the deal—$13,765 in matching funds is still on the table. I don’t want that to go unused. If we can raise that, we’ll hit $90,000.
If you’ve been waiting to jump in—this is the 4th quarter.
This is the moment where you say, “Put me in, Coach!”
👉🏽 The foundation of our ministry is the Middle School Boys Academy. Every morning, eighteen boys start their day with Bible study.
Most Guatemalan middle schools run for five hours a day. Our boys are on campus for seven hours, with a 30-minute lunch break.
👉🏽 We also have three grades of elementary school, teaching 16 students.
👉🏽 Once a week, we invite about 20 6th graders from the local elementary school to come after class for Bible study, a little English, homework help, and soccer. We do this to identify boys who are curious about the Bible and dedicated to their studies.
Kind of like a baseball farm league. Haha.
👉🏽 We also have four students in daily speech therapy, including our daughter Bella. Once a week, they work with a certified therapist. The other four days, a college student—training to be a speech therapist—reinforces what they’ve learned.
👉🏽 We encourage and support nine Cuban pastors and missionaries. This might be my greatest passion.
When I think about the work they’re doing—sharing the gospel in a place where resources are scarce, where the church operates under pressure, where faith comes at a cost—I can’t help but be in awe.
They’re not just preaching. They’re discipling, planting churches, meeting needs, and bringing the hope of Jesus into some of the hardest places.
And we get to stand with them. To pray for them. To support them. To make sure they don’t stand alone.
👉🏽 Through the help of community leaders and pastors, we’ve identified widows and single moms who have no one standing with them. Right now, we walk alongside seven widows and single mothers, all of them in crisis situations.
One of them is Olga. She’s blind, raising four children alone. Her alcoholic husband left her for another woman.
This is her story.
There was a knock at the gate.
A woman stood there holding hands with her young son and daughter. I didn’t recognize them.
“Are you the missionaries?” she asked. “My name is Olga. I heard you might be able to help with food.”
“Of course. Come in.”
They sat on the wooden bench outside. Olga explained that they had walked from a neighboring village.
“We don’t have any food,” she said.
I nodded. “Are you married?”
She hesitated. “My husband is with another woman. He drinks. He used to come home and hit me, but now... he doesn’t come home at all.”
As she spoke, I noticed something was off about her vision. She wasn’t looking directly at me, but just past me.
Then she said something that made my stomach drop.
“Our house caught fire. We lost everything.”
What?
“What do you mean? What happened?”
“We don’t have electricity. We use candles. One night, I forgot to put them out. The bed caught fire. Everything burned.”
“I’m so sorry.” My heart collapsed. “Is everyone okay? When did this happen?”
“Three months ago. We weren’t home. But we lost all our clothes, our beds, our kitchen table... everything.”
I had to ask. “Can you tell me about your eyes?”
She pointed to one. “I went blind in this eye 15 years ago.” Then she touched the other. “And now... I can’t see out of this one either.”
As she spoke, tears began rolling down her cheeks. Then she struggled to catch her breath.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. “My kids ask for something to eat, but I don’t know what to say. I have nothing.”
I reached for her hand. “It’s okay. We have food for you. Don’t worry.”
👉🏽 We always keep our food pantry stocked. Our staff knows that if someone comes to our gate hungry, we send them off with a huge bag of food. No questions asked.
👉🏽 We help people in medical crises. Martín, who you met a few nights ago, needed to see multiple doctors before undergoing eye surgery. He had no money. We covered everything.
Estefana, a widow, came to our gate staring death in the face. She has Type 2 diabetes and needs daily insulin and monthly doctor visits. Without them, she wouldn’t survive. We drive her to the hospital every month and pay for everything.
👉🏽 We’ve had multiple kids live with us for months.
One young girl was being sexually abused in her home. She stayed with us while the courts sorted it out, eventually relocating to another district with a family member.
A young boy was beaten so badly by his brother that he couldn’t walk. He was in bed for days when we found him, barely eating, barely surviving. I’m not exaggerating—he was dying. He lived with us for nine months.
👉🏽 Outside of the Guatemalan ministry, I write a weekly Bible study—1600-2,000 words that reaches 850 subscribers in 15 countries and 21 states. I spend 10-15 hours a week watching sermons, reading commentaries, and writing.
The thing is, I don’t have that kind of time. So I get up at 4:30 a.m. It’s my favorite time of day.
👉🏽 Our most important ministry has always been our kids. When we came to Guatemala, we had three little ones, ages 9, 11, and 12. We were determined to be present for them.
But those little ones grew up. So we reloaded and adopted five more!
It’s
not
easy.
But man, it’s worth it.
A sibling group of four or five almost never gets adopted. They grow up in an orphanage and then age out. That’s just how it works.
But that’s an update for tomorrow night.
Tomorrow, we’ll give you a family update—and share a landslide of photos!
So when you give, it's not just to a middle school boys academy. Not even close.
Most days it doesn't feel like there are enough hours to get it all done, but I promise you, we're giving it everything we've got. And just when we think we don't have any more to give, the Lord fills us up again.
He strengthens us, provides for us, and reminds us why we’re here.
We see it in the faces of the kids, in the prayers of the families we serve, and in the doors He keeps opening.
If you’ve prayed that the Lord would give you the opportunity to make a difference for the Kingdom… maybe this is it.
Maybe this is the door He’s opening. Maybe the nudge you feel right now isn’t random—it’s an invitation.
An invitation to step in. To stand WITH us. To be part of something that reaches beyond today and into eternity.
If you’ve been waiting for a sign—this is it.
Here are the ways you can partner with us:
*** DO NOT PUT 'CUBA' in the memo for online giving. It will flag and delay the donation. ***
Credit card via Pushpay: https://pushpay.com/g/ordinarymissionaries Paypal: [email protected]
Venmo: send to George-Sisneros
Zelle: send to [email protected]
Write a check to Ordinary Missionaries
Send checks to Greg Dix (President) 6021 Wild View Drive Fort Collins, Colorado 80528 Add "2024 fundraiser" in the memo (reply to let us know - we'll add it to the total.)
If you would like to pledge a gift for a later date, reply to this email, and we'll work out the details.
If you would like to donate monthly, let us know, and we'll work out the details. $100 a month = $1200 towards our goal!
If you would like to increase your monthly donation, reply to this email so we can count it towards our goal.
See you tomorrow night!
We super love you,
George and Vonda
George Sisneros is a full-time missionary in Guatemala and the founder of Ordinary Missionaries and the El Rosario Christian Academy for Boys.
He’s been married to his wife, Vonda, for 26 years. He’s a father to nine children, five adopted.
In 2024, George and his wife expanded to Cuba, joining forces with nine pastors committed to transforming lives through the gospel.