This context we work in can be pretty heavy most days. The reality of the young people that we are creating this program and constructing these buildings for is pretty brutal to be honest. Their stories are hard to hear. Their wounds are deep. The generational cycles of abuse and neglect that continue damaging hearts and minds need to be broken. It’s heavy and heartbreaking work many days. It is also beautiful and necessary. It is the Gospel in action, the hope and healing th

After many weeks of planning and on-site preparation, we opened our doors to welcome special guests to our very first open house at Casa de Gracia! Our goals for this event were very specific - to showcase our 'work in progress' campus and to invite our visitors to pray about partnering with us in a variety of ways. 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 still do not have electric

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! We are also truly encouraged by first time guests that come and see with new eyes and hearts. And our Casa de Gracia family grows!! Thank you Bethel Church of Northwest Indiana and Tree Ministries for your recent visits! Thank you for coming and listening! Thank you for praying for the girls and that will live here.

At our Casa de Gracia site, we have made so much progress in all the construction and infrastructure work but there is still an overwhelming amount of work to be done. Especially in the area of making it beautiful again with strategically placed plants, trees and flowers! During the very first week of 2026, friend and ministry partner, Annie Thurber, brought a team from her sending church, South Tulsa Baptist Church. They spent the entire day on site with us and our Casa de G

Our Casa de Gracia team enjoyed our 2nd annual 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 and Gospel based leadership principles and other ways to keep our hearts and minds focused on our Lord and His plan as the year progresses and life gets crazier

With much joy we want to share a few special moments from our 2025 year-end Board Meeting for Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo (LDAVC) board of directors. It was a beautiful time of gathering together and celebrating alongside our Casa de Gracia Team! We talked about and rejoiced over all that God has done this year at the Casa de Gracia site and with the development of our LDAVC program that the young people on site will be a part of! For a bit of clarification, the physical site

It’s crazy to see how much progress has happened since March of this year, 2025! And now we are realizing how fast these next 6 months will fly past us and suddenly it will be June and time for the Smith Family to move into the lower home and get everything ready to begin receiving girls in the months that follow. So while we have all been working hard as a team to get the program ready, make needed connections within the systems of protection around the country, equip oursel

A new partnership has been established and we are so excited to share all about it with you! Village Collective Roasters has chosen Casa de Gracia to be the recipient of 100% of their profits. Not only is this an amazing blessing but also, this coffee is DELICIOUS!! And we are pretty picky about coffee here cause we can be 😉 So it’s truly a win-win in every sense! The creators of this coffee roasterery in Guatemala are missional minded and Gospel focused. They created this b

We have a saying that others have used to encourage us and we continue to use to when we need a shot of encouragement or maybe just a dose of reality. “When God invites you to coffee, He plans to pay” In other words, this idea, this dream, is not ours. It was and still is God’s. He is the one who invited us into it. He is the One with the plan. The plan for each young person He will bring to be part of the program. The plan for each staff member , mentor and volunteer. The p

One of the biggest and most unexpected blessings we received this year at Casa de Gracia has been those who visited and helped us plant and tear out in order to bring beauty! These groups came from various places but with the same heart…to serve those of us currently serving at Casa de Gracia as well as those who will be served here in the future! We have beautiful conversations about the importance of cultivating and maintaining the natural beauty around us. We know it will

The Redeemed Steel Trade School construction is on schedule and looking great! Our Casa de Gracia on-site crew has been hard at work preparing all of the infrastructure that includes massive amounts of rebar and concrete deep underground for the strength needed to withstand all the seismic activity we have here. They are also building the block walls and the concrete posts that the metal structure will sit on. This very large structure of metal beams and panels is being const

This team is hard at work every week in every possible way. We love seeing and showing others the construction progress at the Casa de Gracia site. But what goes on behind the scenes each and every day is also worth mentioning! Honestly, it is an impressive amount of work with trainings, design meetings, program development and so on! For Example; We are intentionally equipping ourselves in areas of trauma based care, mentoring and discipling. In 2025 our team completed the B

The Transition Homes are looking more beautiful every week! Construction is moving along right on schedule and we are loving watching this dream come to life more everyday ! We thought you might enjoy seeing an update on the progress that has happened over the last few months…all of this just since last March! And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here you go! This one building you see here is actually two separate 4 bedroom homes, one on top of the other. They are

Recently, during our weekly team meetings we have been working through this question. We realized that putting this to pen and paper, so to speak, will not only be a good exercise for us in this current stage we are in but will also serve as guide rails for us each month and year going forward. So here is a what we came up with! Spiritual Disciplship • Share the Gospel clearly and frequently. • Teach that their identity is in Christ • Actively demonstrate how to be a follower

We are beyond excited to announce that the well drilling crew has found water…LOTS OF WATER! This crew preserved through all kinds of obstacles and setbacks. The process took about twice as long as expected and was more expensive due to the challenges but in the end, so worth it all! At almost 200 meters deep they hit AN ABUNDANT SUPPLY OF WONDERFUL CLEAN WATER!  Obviously this is such a critical step to opening our doors to those we are anxious to serve here. This also means

Recently, our staff successfully completed the Competent Caregiver in Trauma (CCT) course, delivered by Iniciativas de Alcance, a comprehensive training that spanned over several months and represented a valuable opportunity for both personal and professional growth. This process was marked by profound learning about the impact of trauma in the lives of very vulnerable groups, providing us with compassion-focused companionship strategies and practical tools to respond effect

Recently, construction began on the 2nd level of the Transition Home…which is actually the Second Home! It is so amazing to be up there and realize how far we have come. From up in this second home, now well underway, you can really see all that is going on at the Casa de Gracia site…and believe us, there’s a lot going on! This all leads us to the big question… How did this happen? How did we go from a 3 acre farm field full of coffee trees and sweet potatoes to all that is

There are conversations that transcend languages, and there are friendships that inspire beyond words. In one of the most heartfelt and heartwarming episodes of our podcast, our director, Edwin Smith, shared an intimate chat with a close friend. Although it was recorded in Spanish, this episode is full of reflections, learnings and moments that touch the heart. Because when two friends meet to talk honestly, there is always something valuable to take away. The story told in t

Did you know that our Casa de Gracia team records Podcasts that you can listen to on Spotify? The themes vary from current construction status to the critical importance of breaking generational cycles in the context we are living and working in. Coming soon, we will be focusing on the impact and importance of mentoring in light of this topic of breaking cycles and serving these young people well. We are incredibly grateful for the team that God has created for us and all

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us-yes, establish the work of our hands—Psalm 90:17 At a recent all-team meeting, Edwin led us through Psalm 90, a powerful prayer. It was a good reminder of all we have to be humbly thanking God for... We thank God for the literally countless hours of planning that Byron and his talented wife, Julia have put into every detail that will be Casa de Gracia. And we thank God for each person working