Special Edition of Covered in His Dust

If there’s anything I’ve learned over the past 14 years as a missionary it’s this…

He does not reveal the entire staircase at once.
And I’m grateful for that. 

When He called us to be missionaries, we had no idea what that meant. Not really. We just said, “Yes.”

When He led us to adopt, it didn’t start as five. It was two. And then two more. And three years later, a fifth. 

The Lord isn’t looking for the qualified, He’s looking for obedience.

When we visited Cuba for the first time my wife and I agreed that we needed to pray for Cuba. Havana was (is) dark. It’s soaked in Santería, a mix of African spiritual practices and Catholic tradition, where people worship spiritual beings called orishas.

We prayed God would send missionaries.

Someone once asked us, “Is there anywhere you wouldn’t visit again?”

In unison, my wife and I said, “Cuba.” 

And now, we’re madly in love with Cuba, the pastors and interns and every little thing about being there.

Another step of obedience. 

If we'd seen the entire staircase, I don’t think we would have even taken the first step. 

Welcome to the final night of our 2026 fundraiser.

$108,040.

That's what you've done in four nights.

After last night, $980 was all that was left in the match pool. That's it. We nearly drained it. And then someone else stepped up with $10,000 to be matched.

Which means there's now a fresh $10,980 sitting there, waiting to be matched dollar for dollar. If that gets matched, we hit $130,000.

Our goal is $151,500.

We're not there.

But I can see a path.
It's a thin path but a path just the same.

So if you've been watching from the sidelines, this is it. Wave at the coach. Tell him you're ready. Because that $10,980 doubles whatever you give, and I'm not leaving it on the table.

We are so grateful for every single one of you. Every name. Every gift. Every act of obedience.

Let's finish this.

Tonight’s update isn’t about Guatemala or Cuba.

Tonight, we’re bringing you in close.
We’re bringing you into our home.

Our four adult children are all living in the US.

We miss them SO MUCH.

Honestly. It’s the hardest part about missions in another country. 

In December, we visited our sons in Minnesota for Christmas. Our daughter Cecilia flew from North Carolina as well.

And our five Littles got to experience snow and snowball fights and snowmen and snow angels and frozen fingers.

It was magical.

For the last seven years we’ve been calling our 5 adopted children our “Littles.”

And in our hearts they’ll always be our “Littles.” 

But.

Our oldest, Joseph, turns 15 in a few days. FIFTEEN! He is not little anymore. We adopted him when he was just 7 years old. He’d never been to school, and my wife worked hard to get him caught up to grade level. This year he’s in the 8th grade at our academy and is thriving.

And he’s not the only teen.

Isabella is 13 and was born completely deaf. By God’s grace she now has two Cochlear implants. She has class every day with a speech coach. She has speech therapy in Spanish once a week and speech therapy in English twice a month. She works so hard and she has come SO FAR. I think she’s had the most noticeable growth. 

When she came home she could only communicate with points and grunts to say words that only she understood. Today she can speak clearly. In English and Spanish!  She talks fast because she has so much to say. She had some VERY difficult years but today, she’s wildly happy. 

She LOVES to read.
She LOVES to write.
She LOVES to learn new words. 

When we adopted her, we only dreamed this for her. I don’t know if we even believed it was possible. 

Timothy is 12 and is a lot like our older son Samuel. He’s a prayer warrior and loves reading and studying the Bible. He’s consistent like Samuel. When we pray at night, his prayers are deep and full of love and hope and faith. He's also Vonda’s biggest helper in the kitchen, he loves to cook and loves learning about food and how to make it.  He wants to be a chef someday.

Timothy’s roommate is Israel.

Israel is 9 years old and he’s all boy. He loves to ride his bike, make homemade slingshots, build Lego ships, Lego guns and Lego swords. Israel is in 4th grade and LOVES to pick on his siblings. He got a joke book for Christmas, he loves telling the silly knock knock jokes, he loves to laugh and make others laugh. 

I’m just gonna say it. Our littlest, Eliza (Eleesa) is spoiled.

She’s five years old and just learned to ride her bike. She is SO SWEET. She’s pretty sure we’re all on this earth for her pleasure. “Mommmmm. No one wants to play with me.”

Vonda’s a superhero.

She takes care of our five.
Takes care of me.

And she has a black belt in cooking healthy meals.

Unfortunately cancer runs through her family.

One grandma died of ovarian cancer. Another had breast cancer.
An uncle passed from cancer. Another uncle and her dad both had prostate cancer.

It’s been a battle in her family line.

Vonda turns 54 this year, so I scheduled a comprehensive checkup. Multiple doctors. A long list of tests.

Everything came back clear… except the one test.

They found a polyp. Removed it. Sent it off for a biopsy.
It came back pre-cancerous.

No one loves to hear the C-word.

But the doctors explained this is exactly why they do these exams. They caught it early. The exam did what it was supposed to do.

We have another appointment next week to put together a screening plan moving forward.

Thank God for her results.

Please pray for my wife.
She makes everything here possible.

I'm busy writing most days. 

A typical week is preparing for Bible class at the academy.  The theological rigor can be a lot, but I love it.

I then practice these lessons in Spanish.  Yes I am bilingual and can carry on a conversation with anyone in Spanish, but there are always new words to learn, and the biblical texts are full of tenses not used in everyday language. 

And then I teach Bible everyday at 8am.

My guilty pleasure is writing Covered in His Dust.

It's brings energy to the rest of my world, writing what I learn in scripture for others.  

A humble prayer request.

I’ve been dealing with neck and back pain for the last three months. It’s nerve-related. It's not really shooting pain… more like a constant electric shock feeling in my shoulder, upper back, and left arm.

I saw a physical therapist on Monday and I’ll see her again twice next week.

Honestly, it’s mostly frustrating.

I can write for about 20–25 minutes, then I have to lay down on a heat pad. It's made this week... fun. 😆

Before the nerve pain I was running 3-4 days a week and lifting weights. Now, my goal is to get in 10,000 steps. That's all I can ask of my body.

But I’m grateful… because when I lay down with a heat pad, I feel about 95% better.

When I step back… this is what I know.

It's all good news.
Vonda doesn’t have cancer.
I can still walk, still move, even if running is off the table right now.

And through all of it… we trust our Lord.

And right now, trusting Him means finishing what He started this week.

First things first. Let's get the $10,980 matched.

That will get us to $130,000. And then... pray for a miracle that we'll reach our goal of $151,500.

♥️ I'm just throwing this out there. If someone contributes another donation to be matched, I'll keep this thing going.

Here's how you can give tonight.

Credit card via Pushpay: https://pushpay.com/g/ordinarymissionaries
PayPal: [email protected]
Venmo: George-Sisneros
Zelle: [email protected]

Check: payable to Ordinary Missionaries
Sent to: Greg Dix, 
6021 Wild View Drive, 
Fort Collins, CO 80528 
"2026 fundraiser" in the memo

If you send a check, let us know so we can add it to the total.

If you want to pledge for a later date or increase a monthly gift? Just reply to this email.

All our love,
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 27 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.

You can get George’s newest digital book, Uncovering Scripture: The Gospel of Luke HERE.