TRANSITION HOME & INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM

When a young woman leaves the child protection system at 18, her first steps into adulthood should not be taken alone.

Casa de Gracia is building a Christ-centered transition home and independence program designed for 6-12 young women at a time. In a safe, home-like setting, they will build practical skills, form meaningful mentoring relationships, and experience supportive community as they move toward stable independence.

A future day program on the campus will also serve young men, mentoring them and equipping them with trade skills to earn a stable living.

Help Us Build

Explore Our Mission

A Safe Place to Live

Safe, stable housing in a supportive Christ-centered community.

Mentorship and Discipleship

Trusted adults walking with young people as they grow in character, wisdom, and purpose.

Equipping for Life

Practical training and education to prepare young adults for independent living.

Training in a Trade

Training in metal working, welding, and other high-demand trade skills.

Ciudad Vieja, Guatemala

Pre-launch phase

Young adults 18 and up

Rooted in the love
of Jesus Christ

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established:
by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3-4
These verses have been a great guide and example for our team for years now!

This home has been built with so much love, prayer and counsel. Four years already of seeking wisdom so that all we do will be established by knowledge and fill lives with precious and pleasant riches from the Lord.

And now, as we are preparing the home by filling it with the necessary furnishings, Bibles and more, our hearts are focused on the riches of God’s steadfast love and life-saving wisdom that will fill the hearts and minds of each one who will reside here 🙏🏼

What began as a dream has become a reality! Almost 5 years ago, the Smith family began praying and planning for a transition home for young women aging out of children's homes, which makes this Moving Day truly momentous.

The Smith family’s move into the lower-level home marks the first step toward the vision of living on-site as a family and serving alongside the live-in caregivers who will walk with the young women of Casa de Gracia on their path toward independence.

The hard work of moving and putting everything in order is worth it, knowing that the next step is preparing the upper house for its residents to move in next month!

It’s hard to find the words to express how incredible it is to be on-site and moved into this home! We are praising God for His faithfulness throughout this process! We are rejoicing in His provision and are humbled by His goodness and grace.

These are exciting days, marking the end of a chapter of waiting and the beginning of a whole new chapter of preparing to welcome young women into Casa de Gracia. 🙌🏼🙌🏼

For many children in Guatemala, protective care begins after unsafe housing, missed years of school, abuse, or exploitation have placed them at serious risk. But when they age out at 18, many are left with few safe options and may return to the very circumstances they were removed from.

This is why Casa de Gracia matters.

Please pray for the young people who will come through our doors—that they would find safety, healing, belonging, and lasting hope in Christ. Pray for wisdom and strength for our team, and share this post so more people understand the need.

What does it look like for the Church to care for the orphan?

Pastor Robbie Willard from @fcclife recently brought a group from his church to serve alongside Casa de Gracia here in Guatemala. After seeing the mission up close, he shared a powerful reminder from James 1:27: God calls His people to care for the vulnerable in their distress.

Young people aging out of the system of protection need more than social programs — they need the Church to show up with prayer, generosity, and willing hands.

As Pastor Robbie shared, ministries do not replace the Church’s responsibility to pray, give, and go. They help create pathways for the Church to live out the Gospel with courage and compassion.

Will you join us?

#CasaDeGracia #FaithInAction #James127 #ProtectTheVulnerable #ChurchOnMission

Praising God for this great day at Casa de Gracia! We are so grateful to @athurber1125 for bringing this amazing team to spend the day with us and help us in such a real and tangible way!!

It was a great day getting to catch up with those who returned to visit (We love when friends come back to visit!!) and getting to know those who were new from @pottsvillefirstbaptistchurch in Arkansas.
Their help in getting all the appliances for both houses on site was invaluable! What a blessing! We can’t thank you enough and we can’t wait for you to come back and see us again soon! ¡Muchas Gracias!

Generational cycles.This is a huge topic for us as a team!
This critically important topic is at the forefront of our thoughts as we prepare and develop our program.
We can all see generational cycles in our own lives and families.
Some are good, wonderful and beautiful.
And some are harmful and detrimental and need to be broken.
At the heart of all of this is the Gospel.
The redeeming power of Jesus that saves us from our sins and frees us from the lies that we have been told and often believe and the enslaving cycles that trap us!

We are designing our program with multiple ways of speaking to this every day. We’d like to share with you one of those ways.
The Book of Proverbs.
We love the straightforward way that lessons are taught in this book packed with wisdom. The way it so clearly speaks to how to live a life that honors God and one that doesn’t. We see the two paths in front of us each day to choose right or wrong. And we
We love the straightforward way that lessons are taught in this book packed with wisdom. The way it so clearly speaks to how to live a life that honors God and one that doesn’t. We see the two paths in front of us each day to choose right or wrong. And we clearly see the results of those 2 paths that lead to fruit, blessings and eternal life OR to consequences of foolishness in this life and the life to come.
All too often, the young people growing up in the system of protection are direct victims of those who have chosen foolish or sinful behavior. Unfortunately, these poor or sometimes unthinkable choices and behaviors are not only damaging to these young people, they are also the only example these young people have seen.

This typically all serves to trap them in a cycle that is harmful or even dangerous.
And the cycle continues to repeat itself.

The great news in all of this is that God is bigger and more powerful.
These cycles can be broken!
It is not easy or quick work but we praise the Lord that He has the power to save us from our sinful selves.
And He also has the power to save us from those that bring us harm.
In a world full of sin and foolishness, we can live wisely! Cycles can be Broken!

For youth growing up in Guatemala’s child protection system, turning 18 often brings uncertainty instead of stability. Many leave care without safe housing, family support, job experience, or the practical tools needed to navigate adulthood on their own. This transition can leave them vulnerable to exploitation, unsafe relationships, homelessness, and ongoing cycles of instability.

Swipe through to learn what “aging out” means and why Casa de Gracia exists to help young women step into adulthood with refuge, mentorship, discipleship, and practical support. Pray with us, share this post, and follow along as we work to help break cycles and build new futures.

Virtual Tour of the Trade School coming your way!
The @redeemedsteel trade school is progressing more every day and we are praising God for it.
The cement flooring will soon be poured in the upstairs classrooms as well as the large space on the main level. Windows and doors will go in after this.

We know that God has big plans for this big building! We thank each one in the @redeemedsteel family for your support and partnership in this.
Not only will critically needed skills be taught here, more importantly, the Gospel will be heard and taught here every day!
This will be a place of great impact.

Please join us in celebrating this progress and praying for each detail that is still needed.

Day 2 — Phase 1 of Moving has Begun!!
And it feels great and a little surreal 📦 🌴🚚

Our second day with @fcclife team and @jensenly was full of big help and big blessings!
The first boxes and tubs were moved into a temporary storage area and the remaining trees were brought over! This may not seem like much but it was a huge help for us. These trees and other items have been waiting a very long time (years!)for this day.

Next, the team went to work helping plant trees in different areas of the property. Mango, citrus, avocado and much more are finally in the ground at the perfect moment because rainy season began this same week 🌦️⛈️

They then took time to pray for the young people that will fill the homes and trade school and for our Casa de Gracia staff. Such a special time!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼
We finished our time together talking more in depth about our mission, our vision and our program curriculum. Lots of questions and discussion revealed hearts aligned in this effort to love and support vulnerable and fatherless young people in our communities.
Thank you, again, Fellowship Community Church for everything! Your visit and help have truly blessed us at Casa de Gracia!

If you or your church would like to schedule a visit, please contact us 🤍

There is so much to share about this team from @fcclife and these days they spent with our Casa de Gracia staff in various settings, doing so many different things!

Day 1- We started the day gathering over coffee,taking time to really get to know each other and each one’s heart for the vulnerable and fatherless in our own communities. This was a beautiful time of hearing each other’s stories and how God is at work in and through us.

Next, we began loading everything from trees & plants to books & swing machines that have been bought for or donated to Casa de Gracia and patiently waiting for this day FOR YEARS!! It was so exciting to see this process finally starting!

Upon arrival, we took time to tour the site and share the mission and vision for Casa de Gracia. So much good discussion and questions came from all the listening and engagement from each one on this team.

We had our lunch break (on the floor 😅) of the transition home! It’s always fun seeing the home full and sharing of meals happening in this space!

Then the work began! Unloading trees and trying to figure out the best place for each one! Plus unloading shelving to be able to load and store items until the big move in July!
We will share more about all of this in our Day 2 post coming up soon! Stay tuned 🤍

It’s Done 🙌🏼 The Match has been Met!!!

We can’t say thank you enough to each one of you who helped us meet this goal!!
We are so very grateful for your generosity that has not only helped us meet the $50K goal but even go beyond it!!
This is hugely helpful and important for us because the intention of this matching grant was to help us meet our 2026 operating expense needs. So we praise God for this great provision.

Our ultimate goal is to find ways to be self sustaining in our year to year operating expenses. But until we achieve that, this is a blessing beyond words to our staff!

Our hearts rejoice with each heart that has come alongside us in meeting these needs.
We pray God’s blessings for each of you 💛

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 🙏🏼

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Moving In and Moving On!

The Dream has become Reality 🙌🏼 Almost 5 years ago, the Smith family began praying and planning for a transition home for young women aging out of children's homes, which makes this Moving Day truly momentous. The Smith family's move into the lower-level home marks the first step toward the vision of living on-site as a family and serving alongside the live-in caregivers who will walk with the young women of Casa de Gracia on their path toward independence. The hard work of

2 days ago

CASA DE GRACIA

MENTOR · DISCIPLE · EQUIP

TRANSITION HOME & INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM

When a young woman leaves the child protection system at 18, her first steps into adulthood should not be taken alone.

Follow us on Instagram

Great Coffee. Real Impact.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read about what we're doing.

Moving In and Moving On!

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

CASA DE GRACIA

MENTOR · DISCIPLE · EQUIP

TRANSITION HOME & INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM

When a young woman leaves the child protection system at 18, her first steps into adulthood should not be taken alone.

​

Follow us on Instagram

Great Coffee. Real Impact.

Sign up for our newsletter!

Read about what we're doing.

Moving In and Moving On!

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

CONTACT US
We'd love to hear from you!

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