Happy New Year & Welcome to 2026!
- valerieedwards
- 5 days ago
- 10 min read
I have finally gotten settled back in from our VERY BUSY December! Thanks to EVERYONE who supported FTLOM and our missions of love once again, our For the Love of Mateo team was able to do soooo much on our December mission trip! We were also able to accomplish SOOOOO much in 2025!!!!
I started writing this blog update last week but as usual, it has taken me a few days to finish it up and now I find myself in 2026 and feeling just an unbelievable about of gratitude to have been honored to have FTLOM & our missions of love be apart of the calling God has placed upon it. I am filled to the bring with so much love and gratitude towards our FTLOM family, because without every single one of them...what we have been able to do these past 14 years wouldn't be possible. I plan to write an official year end update for everyone later this week so for now, I will just focus on sharing EVERYTHING we did to make our December mission trip so successful!
We had a team of 20 that traveled to Guatemala with us and each of us bring between 1-2 bags filled up with donations to give to our projects. Each suitcase is about 50lbs, so imagine what we were able to do for so many we serve while there!!!???
Back in August two of our FTLOM supporters, Connie Fenton & Pam Smith traveled to Kansas City to help me pack 5 boxes FULL of donations they had been collecting since the beginning of the year. It took us about 8 hours to get them all packed up as we were very strategic with packing them so we could maximize the space in each box. Primarily their goals was to raise enough funds to pay for 300 backpacks that would be filled with school supplies to distribute to all of the kids we serve. Although as Pam and Connie are known to do, they exceeded that and in addition to collecting donations for the backpacks, they also collected clothing, personal care, games, toys, and SOOOOO much more which we were able to then distribute to ALL of our missions of love in Guatemala! After packing 5 boxes which were each about 500lbs a piece, another two boxes were shipped to Guatemala which were filled and donated by another long time FTLOM supporters, Mayte Rodriguez! She has been absolutely amazing over the years collecting and donating donations to FTLOM for us to ship to all of our projects! We were able to gift the donations in those boxes to School the World, who then distributes them throughout the year when they visit the families in Quiche. Once we arrived in Guatemala, we were able to spend about 7-8 hours unpacking and organizing all the donations we had preplanned to give to each project we would be serving while we were there.
So i wanted to make sure i gave a BIG THANK YOU to Connie & Pam Fenton who made all of that possible! You are both servant-hearts and we are so grateful to get to serve alongside you both!
Our December mission team was able to paint & present 2 new homes to families living in San Antonio; Homes # 48 & # 49 ! The cost of these two homes were donated by two FTLOM supporters; One from a family that traveled with FTLOM in August on a mission trip they traveled on with their children's youth program and were so moved they decided they wanted to one themselves & the funds to pay for the other home build was donated by Helping Hands Global Inc who heard about what we do through one of their board members that traveled with us on our December mission trip. Our December mission team painted the homes, set up the bunk bed, water filter and the stove for the family & then presented a family care tub full of supplies for the family. Each family also received personal gifts with items each family member could use & would want. Everytime we present a home to a family, its emotional for them as well as us. I will never take my home, my stove, my bed or the ability to have clean water for granted.
Our December mission team was also able to provide Christmas gifts to 85 kids that we served at Esperanza Juvenil in Guatemala City. We organized a day of Christmas activities & made sure each of the 85 kids received a Christmas gift bag filled with gifts such as clothing, personal care, toys, art supplies, etc. Each child that attends Esperanza Juvenil also received a back pack filled with school supplies, we made sure to leave backpacks for the kids that were not able to be with us that day too. We were able to get a few kids sponsored that didnt have sponsors yet, thanks to some of our new mission team members and now new FTLOM sponsors/supporters! A BIG THANK YOU to Kevin Weatherspoon, Shelly Miles, David Jones, Jana Metcalf, Vicki-Lynne Noiles, Elaine Quinn, Kelli Wilson, Scott & Jannelli Roper & Teri Gochenour for helping us make this possible! Please look at some of these heart warming pictures below!
I wanted to share some of our December mission team's favorite moments with you all below that were special moments we will all hold close to our hearts and never forget.
Getting to meet meet a new resident who lives at a nursing home in Antigua, Guatemala where FTLOM serves on each mission trip and also one we support throughout the year was probably one of the BIGGEST highlights of our trip! His name is Julio. He spoke English very well and so he naturally started up a conversation with us. We found out he had lived in Las Vegas for many years and was a performer where he sang and played the guitar. He even spent some time singing with some of our team members. A highlight for me was getting to hear Steve Wendling, one of our team members sing alongside him because apparently Steve has been a singer himself for many years but due to some health challenges he went through years prior he hadnt really tried to sing again. His voice touched all of our hearts. Julio told us he wished he still had an acoustic guitar so he could practice singing and playing. So of course, when I hear things like that from the people we serve, I always feel the tug to jump and make a wish like that happen.
I knew there was a guitar shop on the main central square in Antigua and could just go buy him one on behalf of For the Love of Mateo. But, as always....I am surrounded by servant-hearted team members and of course, immediately I had offers to contribute money to purchase the guitar for him. My dad immediately whispered to me he would donate money to help purchase it. Then right after that, Steve & Sherry Wendling, who were part of our December mission team said that one of their friends wanted to donate money to For the Love of Mateo for whatever we needed and they would love it if we could use some of those funds to help pay for the guitar. So, after we got back to the hotel for the day, I went to go purchase it so it was ready to go when we were able to stop back by the nursing home. The following afternoon, Steve, Sherry, Dad & I were able to go back to the nursing home to present him the guitar. He was so happy to see us and to receive it. I think he was surprised we actually came back like we said we would.
Picture of Julio at nursing home in Antigua we support 
Julio with Steve & Sherry Wendling after receiving his new guitar! 
Picture of Julio, Dad and I aftering giving Julio his new guitar! He tried to give me a Shadow Buddy doll another team member, Michelle King gave to him while we were visiting the day before. He said he wanted me to have it to remember him by. ( As if i will ever forget him.) I told him that we wanted him to have that doll so he could remember us. The doll had green eyes like I do and I told him I wanted him to have it so he could remember me and my green eyes. :) Michelle actually ended up coming in his room as well while we gifted him the guitar and he remembered her name, how special was that?! Michelle King was also with us on our December mission trip and is also a FTLOM supporter & advisory board member who has traveled to Guatemala with FTLOM many times. She has played a big part in our fundraising events as well as any of the outreach projects we serve that support the elderly in Guatemala. She was a BIG part of Shadow Buddies adding their Busy Buddy Dolls to give to the elderly, especially those affected by Alzheimer's/ Dementia. Thank you Michelle for being a big part of so much that we are able to do!
We have been able to gift Shadow Buddy dolls on a few of our mission trips and young or old, it doesn't matter, they ALL love getting one! 
Michelle with some of the kids she sponsors to receive groceries each month and of course she gave them a Shadow Buddy too! I wanted to share some of the photos we took while at the nursing home in Antigua as i absolutely LOVE seeing our team members serving the residents that live there. One of them told me, " I am so glad you came, no one has come to visit us in a long time." Its just another reminder how big of a deal it is for us to show up and just give our time to them. One day we will all be older and hope that someone comes to visit us.
Carlee, an adoptee who was born in Guatemala and continues to come back and serve her country. She is showing the lady how to blow on her fingernails so the nail polish will dry 
We always try to bring some fun activities to do with them. They love painting and coloring with us! They also love making bead bracelets and some of the ladies like us to paint their fingernails. 
One of the other outreach projects we serve in Guatemala City is a day program for men and women who live with Alzheimer's /Dementia. We had some of our team members spend the whole time we were there dancing with some of the residents. It touched all of our hearts! Each resident received a Christmas gift & also got a few crafts and activities to do while we were visiting with them.
We were also able to spend time with the kids at Ninos Con Bendicion. This is an afterschool program FTLOM supports throughout the year. We have 6 kids that are sponsored by some of our FTLOM supporters. For the past few years we were able to gift the kids who are all in the Ninos program with a brand new pair of school shoes. This year was extra special because we also were able to gift them with a backpack and school supplies as well! A big thank you to Jack & Cathy Williams who donated the majority of the funds needed to purchase the shoes as well as Gilda & Ernie Banta, Linda & Mike GIbson, Scott & Jannelli Roper & Maurice Clark. I love how we always have supporters jump right in anytime we are needing help making something happen for our missions of love!
Another project we were able to serve on our trip was the community of La Colorado. We partnered with Sin Limites to be able to provide activities for the kids, school supplies & backpacks as well as clothing. Our team members were also able to serve lunch that was paid for by one of our mission team members. We provided a tamale lunch which is a special treat that they typically would only have for the holidays.
We also spent some time serving moms and their kids at a clinic we support in San Raphael, Guatemala. They have a free clinic and serve this community all year long. Primarily they see moms who are pregnant and when we are there we alway organize activities to do with the moms and the kids as well as provide all of them with a gift they can use in their homes or for their new babies. Check out our photos below!
We were also able to visit the kids at an orphanage we support in Antigua. I love how excited the kids get when we visit! We were able to gift them all with backpacks and school supplies as well as PJs for the kids to wear on Christmas Eve!
So to sum up this long post, our December Mission Trip was PRICELESS! We all left with full hearts and a fire in our bellies to DO MORE where we can; in Guatemala as well as in our own communities! We are already planning the next trip in June and deposits are due January 15th, if you are able to travel with us, we would LOVE to have you join us! You can sign up for one of our mission trips in 2026 on our FTLOM website under the mission trip tab. xoxo
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