Mentor | Disciple | Equip

Casa de Gracia

A transition home and program for young people in Guatemala aging out of systems of protection (orphanages) at age 18.

Learn about us!

A moment for some random candids of this amazing Casa de Gracia team✨

These days, the work load is heavy and the context of our work is even heavier.

So we praise God for the team He has put together and for the way He lightens our load with laughter, love and unity!

Big jobs feel lighter with a great team pulling together day by day in the hundreds of details needed to make it all happen!

Thank you, Team, for your love for the Lord and your dedication to this work.

This was a visit full of laughter, listening and lots of life-giving chats!
Thank you, Trey and Whitney, for coming down to spend time getting to know our staff, our campus, our program, our stories and our hearts!

And thank you @followeastside for sending them down here! We appreciate your heart for God’s heart for the orphans, the vulnerable and invisible in our communities!

Thank you for seeing what God is doing here. We can’t wait to see you again soon!

Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

Partnerships that provide a platform to share the Gospel plus create jobs for our young people plus provide clean water for our entire campus…We are All for it!

Our recent visit from the staff and board of directors of @livingwaterworldmissionsgt was so exciting and encouraging as we heard their heart to impact communities!

It was a great afternoon of time together getting to know each other better, touring the site and talking through all kinds of technical and logistical matters.

@livingwaterworldmissionsgt thank you for your visit! It’s an honor to be able to work together to serve our community and each young person that will be part of our program on our campus. We are beyond excited about this opportunity to partner with you all!

The importance of the local church and its support of foreign missions ⛪️
Recently, Casa de Gracia Founder and CFO for Global Action, Rich Smith had the privilege to sit down with Jon McDugle, lead pastor of West Bridge Church in Danville, Indiana.
They talked through some of the ways, the why and how the local church in Indiana has been a big part of the work being done in Guatemala.
You can listen to the full conversation plus other podcast we’ve recorded on our Spotify channel!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1jDRH5YivVyTyuztVlP4bV?si=dW1PltA8Q6G9uH6vLBc2AQ&pi=Hm3dK7kkRR2jz&t=39

We Finished 🙌🏼 🎓🙌🏼
Our team is all smiles after completing 3 months of classes equipping ourselves with @tbri.espanol (trauma based relational intervention), Training in Trauma and its effects on the brain and behaviors.

It’s critically important to us to increase our understanding in working with young people that have experienced various types of trauma in their lives.
We are so grateful for the excellent program, materials and instructors (shown here with our instructor of our final session) that we received through this course.

We trust that the Lord will put it to much use as we continue in our preparation to begin receiving girls soon! 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Feel free to celebrate this progress on the Transition Home with us ✨🏠 We sure are!

The exterior finishes are going up, roofing tiles being installed, flooring tiles being laid, walls being finished…so much progress on this beautiful home!

It is, in fact, it’s two separate and equal homes, one up and one down. There is a common entrance and gathering space off to the right in between the two homes.
They are beautiful homes and we can’t wait to fill them!
Still on schedule to be completed by July🙌🏼

We loved welcoming Airport Christian Fellowship to Casa de Gracia! 🤍

Thank you for taking the time to come learn about our ministry, hear the heart behind what we do, and encourage our staff. Your visit was such a blessing to us.

We are also so thankful for the generous donation of books for our discipleship curriculum. Thank you to the Maxon family and to ACF for this thoughtful gift, and for bringing these resources all the way to Guatemala. These books will be a valuable tool for the young people who will come to Casa de Gracia.

We’re always grateful for opportunities to share what God is doing here. If your church is interested in visiting Casa de Gracia, we’d love to connect and host you, too!

Wish List Items are Arriving!! And we are loving it! Every item we receive brings us to think about…
1)each person who has been so generous and so thoughtful in their donations! We thank God every day for each of you!

2) each girl that will be blessed by each item! As we pray daily for each girl, we are filled with joy and excitement as we think of them receiving their own new set of towels or sheets in the color they choose. Or being able to choose new undergarments, or the books they will have available to them. Or opening their welcome kit filled with a new Bible, journal, pen, highlighter, etc! 🙌🏼🙌🏼

All of these items have been purchased with love and we trust and pray that each girl will
feel that love as they receive each item!

Thank you so very much to each of you that have participated in our Wish List so far! There are still items out there if you’re interested in helping. ¡Muchas Gracias!

We Love when Partners come for site visits ☕️ Especially when our hearts are aligned in our desire to help and serve vulnerable young women in our communities!

It was a pleasure and privilege to host @villagecollectiveroasters founders @lagringadani & @thecompadre and family on site!
We thank God for them and this common mission we share that makes this partnership is that much stronger 👊🏼

Hard things to figure out are made much simpler when God brings His people alongside to help! Especially when those people are so well equipped and knowledgeable!

Our team honestly could not be more grateful for these engineers helping us navigate solar and/or electric options.

Prayers for our team as we continue to work to figure out the best and most cost effective ways to have electricity on our Casa de Gracia campus 🙏🏼💥

💥We are So Excited to Announce a 25K matching challenge that has generously been offered to help us cover current operating costs Plus help us get off to a strong start with the funding we need and are praying for in 2026💥
This a great blessing to us during this exciting and demanding time we are in!

We invite you to join us and help us spread the word about this opportunity to get where we need to this year.
Invest in these young people alongside us!

The @redeemedsteel Trade School progressing along beautifully!!
And we could not be more excited about it!

Just wanted to share this impressive progress with you and ask that you please pray with us for these things related to this;

1) for each young person who will learn, grow and be impacted by this place

2)for each worker as they weld and work in difficult conditions

3) for the Redeemed Steel ministry as they continue sharing the Gospel while forging, welding and teaching valuable skills

4) for the funds still needed to fully equip this amazing workshop and the logistics of getting it all down here 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Books 📚
Did you know we are collecting books and resources to create a library for our young people to learn & enjoy at Casa de Gracia?
This is actually a big priority for our team!

So we want to take this opportunity to Thank those that have already helped so much. And we know that more books are coming 🙌🏼

These donations of these great resources in Spanish are a powerful gift that will keep on giving to our residents as well as our staff!

We are collecting everything from bibles, christian classics to classic literature, etc.

Huge thank you to @treeministries, who not only gifted our staff with a much needed retreat full of learning, worship and rest, but also a wonderful donation of needed Bibles and books! What a blessing!
Thank you also to Pastor Claudio of @iglesia.unioncristiana and many other individuals who have contributed 📚

This generosity will bless and strengthen many in their faith and their futures for years to come!
If you would like to donate books that have impacted your faith or that we have on our wishlist, please contact us or visit our Amazon wishlist in our Bio! ¡Gracias!

A quick and well deserved Shout Out to the best Crew!
These hardworking guys put all they’ve got into every detail, every single day!
Join us in praying for their health, their safety and their hearts 🙏🏼

Open House ~ Afternoon Session for personnel within the System of Protection.

For the atternoon session, we invited personnel from the system of protection for children from around the country.

Our goals with the orphanages and refuges:

1. Communicate in-depth who we are, why we exist, and what we plan to accomplish with our residential and day programs.
2. Create connections and relationships to begin creating a streamlined process for receiving young people from homes as they turn 18 and age out.
3. Begin praying and planning for young people in the system who are currently 16 years old and up who will need a safe and gospel-centered place to transition to after leaving the orphanage.

Please pray for much fruit to come from this event.
Please also pray with us as we work to set up further meetings with those within the system of protection here and work to create strong relationships.

Open House ~ Morning Session for Pastors, Church and Ministry Leaders!

As our invited guests began arriving and filling the house, our hearts also began filling with so much joy!

For the morning session, we invited pastors and staff from local churches that we have identified as churches we hope our young people will choose to get involved with.

We also invited directors and leaders from local ministries that work in the context of orphan care, trauma informed care, mentorship for young people, and serving vulnerable and at-risk populations.

Our goals for these groups included:

Goals with churches:
1. Create strong relationships and
alliances with local churches.
One of our program’s primary
objectives is to connect young
people with the local church.
The local church is God’s plan for
reaching and impacting lives with the Gospel. Therefore, it is mission
critical for us to make sure each young person finds healthy community within a church with solid doctrine.

2. Clearly communicate Casa de Gracia’s mission and vision with pastors and church leaders. We want to begin encouraging them to be watching for our young people in their congregations and to welcome them with lots of love.

3. Ask churches to prayerfully consider people within their congregations that would be good mentors to walk alongside our young people during their time in our program and hopefully long after they graduate from Casa de Gracia. We want to launch each young person with as much strong biblical community surrounding them as possible!

Goals with the Ministries:
1. Create strong relationships with others serving in this same context.
As our leader, Rich Smith, says,
‘This problem is bigger than all of us, we all need to work together for these young people!’
2. Clearly communicate our mission and vision so that these ministries can refer potential participants to our program as we work together for the kingdom and for the Gospel.

Please pray with us for better than expected outcomes from these relationships.

Welcome {Bienvenidos} to our first ever Open House at Casa de Gracia ✨🎉

After many weeks of planning, preparation and much on-site set up, we welcomed our invited guests 🙌🏼

Our team worked tirelessly on all kinds of details and logistics, all the way to making coffee for 50 people over an open fire since we had no electricity!

We had a full day of presentations with several goals in mind. We purposefully had two different sessions; one in the morning and the 2nd in the afternoon, in order to be as intentional as possible with each group.

There was so much joy and excitement as we welcomed each guest!
Stay tuned to coming publications for more details about the goals we had for each session and the celebration it was to see the house filled!!!

We Continue Equipping Ourselves!
As we look forward to all that this year will bring, we know that construction, community connection and team preparation are all equally important.

Over the next few months, our team will be completing a training called “Trust Based Relational Intervention” in order to connect with, empower, and teach discernment to the young ladies that we’ll be serving.

This training takes us back through the biology of trauma, effects that it has on brain development, behavior, and independent thinking skills and leads us to learn new strategies to best help prepare those at House of Grace face their future with courage and resilience!

Please pray for our team as we continue equipping ourselves 🙏🏼

Retreat.
Such a needed thing in our lives! And as a team, we really needed it!

The invitation from @treeministries to join their yearly retreat for preferred partners was a timely, amazing and much needed gift to our team! A few team members were not able to join and were very much missed!

We spent time together in God’s Word, worship through music, prayer and lots of helpful learning through the workshops offered each day! We are still processing and praising God for all we learned as well as time away in a beautiful part of the country to enjoy God’s beauty and rest a bit!

This is going to be a huge year for us at Casa de Gracia and it’s already off to a great but crazy start! Our hearts couldn’t be more grateful to @treeministries for this gift!

A thousand details a day keep moving us forward!
These images were captured in just a few hours on just ONE day of the work being done ONLY on the Transition Home.
This doesn’t even include the work that goes on every day on the Trade School and the Infrastructure!
So when we say that we are in awe of the hundreds and hundreds of details that we observe each of these workers doing every time we are on site (which is often!), we are not exaggerating…at all!
Please join us in continued prayer for our amazing crew that is working hard every day to make this dream take shape! We Thank God for them!
And a Big Thank You to @jasmine.casady of @casadeenfoque for coming and spending time with us and capture so many details so beautifully! ¡Muchas Gracias, Chica!

Celebrating our recent guests
at Casa de Gracia!

Thank you so much, for spending time with us
and for catching the vision of what God has planned
for this place.

@bethelnwi @treeministries
May God bless you!

One of the things that blesses us and encourages us so much is having those who have come to visit and see what God is doing here RETURN! And bring new friends!

And our Casa de Gracia family grows!!

Thank you Bethel Church of Northwest Indiana @bethelnwi for your love, support And return visits!

It was truly such a joy to finish our week of serving together by spending time with you all at Casa de Gracia!
Thank you for your attentive hearts to hear our hearts in this mission. Thank you for your intentional comments and questions!

Thank you for bringing needed items (towel sets and books in Spanish) to bless the girls who will live here within this calendar year!
Thank you for praying for those girls and their hearts!
Thank you for praying for each of our team members as we prepare for them.
Thank you for your prayers for protection for each of us.
Thank you for praying with us for provision that is still needed!

Just a really big Thank You!!
We feel loved, supported and prayed for!
COME BACK SOON!

“I thank my God every time I remember you… I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3–5

We are constantly amazed by the work the Lord is doing here at Casa de Gracia. We often pause to reflect on the fact that it is the Lord who is building this house, and He is doing it THROUGH YOU! Your faithful support—whether through financial giving, prayer, in-person visits, or donations—is making a tremendous difference. We are blessed because you chose to say yes to being active participants in the plan God has for this transition home and for the young adults who will pass through our doors.
THANK YOU! We look forward to continuing to partner together to advance the gospel in Guatemala.
#CasaDeGracia
#CasaDeGraciaGuatemala
#PartnersInTheGospel
#FaithInAction
#WorkOfGod
#Guatemala

“Doy gracias a mi Dios siempre que me acuerdo de ustedes… Pido siempre con gozo en cada una de mis oraciones por todos ustedes, por su participación en el evangelio desde el primer día hasta ahora” Filipenses 1:3-5

Estamos constantemente asombrados por la obra que el Señor está realizando aquí en Casa de Gracia. A menudo hacemos una pausa para reflexionar sobre el hecho de que es el Señor quien está edificando esta casa, y Él lo está haciendo a través de ustedes. Su fiel apoyo—ya sea por medio de ofrendas económicas, oración, visitas en persona o donaciones—está marcando una gran diferencia. Somos bendecidos porque ustedes eligieron decir sí a ser participantes activos en el plan que Dios tiene para este hogar de transición y para los jóvenes adultos que pasarán por nuestras puertas. Gracias, y esperamos con gozo seguir colaborando juntos para avanzar el evangelio en Guatemala.
#ObraDelSeñor
#JuntosEnMisión
#FeEnAcción
#CasaDeGracia
#Guatemala
#CasaDeGraciaGuatemala

Sharing the Vision!
Thank You @treeministries for taking time to come visit us!

It was a joy to have you with us and to enjoy your excitement over the beauty of this place and the plans God has for it!

Thank you @maggiealyssa08 & @melaniecontreras829 and team! We appreciate your hearts to come and see what God is doing and hear the vision for what is to come!

Thank you @jasmine.casady @casadeenfoque for these beautiful fotos!

2026 has officially been kicked off!
Our Casa de Gracia team enjoyed an excellent All-Day Retreat to kick off our new year together!
It was a day full of planning, praying, and preparing our hearts and minds for the year ahead of us.
And we needed it, it’s gonna be a huge year!

We spent time talking about books we want to read together on Godly wisdom, Gospel based leadership principles and other ways to keep our hearts and minds focused on our Lord and Redeemer as the year progresses and life gets crazier!

There was much updating, project planning plus brainstorming and troubleshooting sessions that will keep us busy in our weekly meetings for some time to come as we work through topics to create protocols and employee handbook, etc.
But first and foremost, we praise God for the work He has given us and the team He has given us to do it with 🙌🏼 2025 was truly amazing and 2026 is already looking great!

“Many hands make light work”
This saying is so old and yet still so true! And @athurber1125 and her team from @southtulsabaptist really brought this to life for us with their recent visit as they came alongside us to help us in our efforts to make our campus beautiful again, bit by bit!
At our Casa de Gracia site, we have made so much progress but there is still an overwhelming amount of work to be done.

So our team would like to say a special Thank You to each one on this team that worked so hard toiling in the dirt and sweating in order to help us! They helped us clean, maintain and weed around trees and flowers that others have helped us plant and even helped plant some new trees plus put much needed water on all of them (cause dry season is real and rough 😅).

Thank You for joining us in our efforts to steward well this beautiful property God has provided us. And in making this a place of beauty and healing for each young person that will be part of our program.
It’s worth all the toiling!

What an amazing way to start the New Year! We were blessed with an all day visit from @athurber1125 and her team from @southtulsabaptist and our first ever opportunity to worship together with music and encouragement from God’s word!
Along with all that, we talked, we shared testimonies of God’s goodness and grace in our lives, we toured the site and we toiled together!! (More about the toiling coming Soon 😉)
Thank you again for spending your day with us, listening, sharing, worshipping, sweating in the dirt and most of all, praying over us! It was a beautiful and blessed day!
📸 @ea.fotografo 🫶

¡Gracias Jose Salazar!
On behalf of our LDAVC Board of Directors and our Casa de Gracia Team, we would like to say a really big thank you to Jose Salazar of @iglesiareforma for joining us as our special guest in our December 2025 meeting. Thank you for the encouraging and challenging message you prepared for us!

From Luke 24 we were able to see some comforting and convicting truths.
1) Jesus is WITH us even when we are struggling, tired, angry…He is alongside us in this journey not just waiting for us at the finish line!
2) Jesus joins us as we walk and work together in Unity~Unity through His Spirit!
3) Jesus teaches us to re-center our heart by spending time with the Father, in His Word!

Thank you for leading us through this beautiful passage of Scripture.
Thank you for asking us good and sometimes hard questions.
Thank you for your intentionality in all your preparation even in the current sleep deprived season you are in 😉
We pray God will bless you just a you blessed us!

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The Cliff after 18…

Why is turning 18 a cliff for kids growing up within the system of protection in Guatemala? For those growing up within the system here, when you turn 18, you must leave the group home (or orphanage) you are currently in as you are now considered ‘an adult’ and therefore can no longer continue to live with the younger kids. Whether you have somewhere to go or not. And these kids are terrified of this cliff out ahead of them. While most of us look forward with excitement to tu

14 hours ago

CASA DE GRACIA

Mentor | Disciple | Equip

Casa de Gracia

A transition home and program for young people in Guatemala aging out of systems of protection (orphanages) at age 18.

Follow us on Instagram

Great Coffee. Real Impact.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read about what we're doing.

The Cliff after 18…

CONTACT US
We'd love to hear from you!

Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

casadegracia.love.gt@gmail.com

+502 3071-5024 Direct Guatemala number
(317) 704-4584 U.S.-based MagicJack number

Mentor | Disciple | Equip​

Casa de Gracia

A transition home and program for young people in Guatemala aging out of systems of protection (orphanages) at age 18.

​

Follow us on Instagram

Great Coffee. Real Impact.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read about what we're doing.

The Cliff after 18…

CONTACT US We'd love to hear from you!

Ciudad Vieja, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

casadegracia.love.gt@gmail.com

+502 3071-5024 Direct Guatemala number (317) 704-4584 U.S.-based MagicJack number

Mentor | Disciple | Equip

CONTACT US
We'd love to hear from you!

+502 3071-5024 Direct Guatemala number
(317) 704-4584 U.S.-based MagicJack number