Mission Trips
For the Love of Mateo led another amazing mission trip to Guatemala in June of this year and were able to serve quite a few of the outreach projects we support throughout the year. We were able to have two more homes built for families in San Antonio ( House #38 & #39. ) One home was donated by Jack & Cathy Williams & their family, who have actually donated quite a few homes through FTLOM to families in need over the years. The other was donated by Danielle Taylor & Jessica Swierczek who worked hard fundraising to cover the funds needed to have the home built. They did this to honor their brother TJ Braden who passed away in 2016 while Danielle ( his twin sister) was in Guatemala on a mission trip with FTLOM.
Each home is built to have two bedrooms and a bathroom with a shower. The price also includes a bunk bed with all the bedding & pillows, a stove, a water filter, and a welcome home tub filled with food & supplies for their new home. Then our team will also bring toys, personal care items & clothing for each family member.
One of the requirements to be selected to receive one of the homebuilds is that the family must own the land where the home will be built. They are also required to pay for any fee or permits needed to build. ( This helps them have some skin in the game as well.) Often times family members will want to participate in building their home.)
Since our mission teams are only in Guatemala for 6 nights, we typically send the funds needed to build the home ahead of time so the house can be built before we arrive. Then, on the day we plan to go to San Antonio, our mission team arrives early in the morning to paint the outside of each home and then help set up & make the bunk bed, put together the water filter and show the family how to use it, while other team members put the stove together and help install it in the kitchen area of their home. ( The homes typically have an open area outside or even inside their old homes we have seen there be an assigned area that may have a few walls around it where they have a makeshift kitchen. Often times we see them share a living space with other family members whose homes are right next to theirs.)
Danielle & Jessica with the family after presenting them their new home.
The Williams family with the family receiving their new home. Most of the times the mother or grandmother will make the team member or team members who funded the home for them, a beautiful weaved piece with their name on it.
This is one of the homes donated by The Williams family.
On each home a plaque is hung up on the outside of the home with the families name on it, the name of the donors and For the Love of Mateo's name.
One of the little boys living in the homes helping to paint the outside of the house.
In July another mission team leader, Anita Cape led a team through FTLOM and they were also able to donate another home build for family in San Antonio in need. This was House #40 in San Antonio. Anita and her team members are ALWAYS amazing and did some pretty amazing things for our outreach projects while they were there.
Anita and her mission team always do lots of fundraisers before they travel to Guatemala to raise funds needed to cover all of the things they want to do for our outreach projects while in Guatemala. The money for this home build was fundraised for by the whole team and also donated by friends and family members of the whole team. ( So this home build was definitely a team effort.)
So many families have been blessed to receive a home through For the Love of Mateo...
In addition to the 40 homes in San Antonio that FTLOM has paid to have built, FTLOM has also raised funds for 4 other homes to be built in Yalu. ( One of the four was actually built double the size of a normal homes we build so it could accomodate a larger family living there.) FTLOM also raised funds years ago to have a home built in Haiti back when they were rebuilding after the earthquake.
So in total FTLOM has raised funds to build a total of 45 homes!!!
A new project that For the Love of Mateo recently started to support....
While we were in Guatemala in June we were able to spend time with a new outreach project recently added to the organizations we serve in Guatemala. This one is called Grupo Erimta Alzheimers Center. Its a day program for men & women living with Alzheimer's or Dementia. We are very grateful to one of our long time supporters and mission team members, Michelle Garrard, who found this program in Guatemala City for us as she too is extremely dedicated and passionate about serving those who are living with dementia and alzheimers.
Becky Williams dancing with one of the residents at the day program.
This day program is pretty amazing as it not only provides respite for the caregivers & family members for the day, it also allows for those in the program to have some organized activities throughout the day that are specifically designed for those who have dementia or alzheimer's. This kind of a program is close to my family's heart, as both of my in-laws have passed away due to complications associated with dementia/alzheimers. ( My sister-in-law Louise was also diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's when she was just 54 years old. She is now 60 and it has progressed quite a bit.). It is so hard to see people you love go through this and to be honest, almost just as hard knowing how hard it is for the family members and caregivers who take care of them. This may be hard to hear but its like a slow death. My husband told me after his mom died that he felt like she had actually passed away a long time ago because it had been so long since he had seen his mom how she used to be.
In honor of my mother-in-law Kaye Edwards, who passed away the beginning of this year; my husband chose to donate the money that was sent to FTLOM in memory of his mom, to purchase specific items and repair projects requested by Grupo Erimta Alzheimers Center. The money was used to purchase an outdoor popup tent which provides shade for the residents in the courtyard, and to pay to repair & recover the leather on a large therapy bed they use in addition to some other leather chairs the residents to sit in. We were also able to use additional funds to purchase toys that will help stimulate their minds & keep them busy throughout the day. The highlight of our time serving this program was being able to have our team members dance with the residents. Most of them love dancing and although some of our team members had to get out of their comfort zones a bit, towards the end , they all said they too enjoyed it!
And, just to make our June trip extra special....
For the Love of Mateo had five teens/adults who were all adopted from Guatemala themselves, travel back to their home country to serve alongside their family. It was a pretty eye opening experience for all of them and was an honor for our team members to get to experience seeing Guatemala through their eye, hearing their personal stories and perspectives and experiencing a trip like this alongside them.
A picture of the five Guat kids adopted from Guatemala along with another team member who was also adopted but from the USA.
One of my now friends who I had met through my Arbonne business who was our corporate photographer & videographer at all of the big events our company would host, accepted by request to come to Guatemala with us so he could film what all we do in Guatemala so we could have some beautiful videos and photos to use throughout the year when sharing about our mission of love. His name is Robert Miller and he was amazing!!! Our team members just loved him and all of the kids in the communities we would serve thought he and his camera equipment was so cool! He definitely got alot of attention at one of the schools our mission team painted as you can see in this picture below!
FYI...
We post lots of pictures from each of our mission trips on our mission trip album and on our FTLOM FB & Instagram page if you would like to check our all that we did! If you want to view the album from our most recent trip, you can view that here!!
This June trip was definitely jam packed with service work & some amazing experiences! We hosted a carnival at each project we served; El Amor Patricia ( a home for children living in Guatemala who have been sent their by the courts, some have families involved and some do not), Esperanza Juvenil ( a boarding school & home for children 3rd grade through university age who come from impoverished homes and choose to be apart of this program to receive a quality education because they want to have a better future with more opportunities), Hogar Madre Anna Vitiello ( a home for children living with HIV who also have a school on the property as well. This school also opens their doors to impoverished children in their local community so they too can get a quality education.)
We also visited the sweet residents living in the nursing home we serve in Antigua and brought activities we could do with them as well as donations they need and like to receive. We also were able to serve at Anita's Clinic, a medical clinic in the rural village of San Rafael El Arado that belongs to Sumpango, Chimaltanango, Guatemala. This clinic survives completely off of donations. Their mission and goal is to serve the very poor rural indigenous, providing healthcare and pre-natal care to patients that visit them. The clinic also provides basic health teaching, nutrition programs, emotional care groups and more.
We organized an activity with the pregnant moms that go to this clinic, where they made tie blankets for their babies and then provided each of them with a bag of rice, beans and additional clothing and items for their babies. Since the clinic is pretty small and our mission team was pretty large, half of our mission team members went to a school in this community to paint the inside of the school. I don't think they actually realized just how much work it was going to be or how big the space was but I know they all were grateful they got to serve them by doing that. ( That is one thing about Guatemala, you just have to be willing to go with the flow! Things dont always go the way you expect them to so you just have to learn to pivot and change your plans or adjust your expectations to whatever works in that moment!)
Becky Williams playing with one of the littles during the carnival activity we did with the kids at El Amor
Sean & Mateo painting the inside of the school
Some of the moms making tie blankets for their babies
Our upcoming mission trip in December.....
In December of this year, I will be leading another mission team to Guatemala where we will be presenting homes to two other families!!! ( SO this will be 47 homes that FTLOM will have built for families in need with 46 of them being in Guatemala!) We have already raised & sent over the funds to have them built ahead of us traveling there.
One of the homes donated will actually be built and presented beforehand by our in-country assistant, on behalf of the donors prior to to our December team arriving. The donors of this home are friends and local business owners of a restaurant in the town where Anita Cape lives. (They were so moved by what her July mission team did, they decided to donate the money to have another home built for a family in need!)
One of our mom/daughter duos ( Connie & Carlee Fenton) who will be with us on our December trip, are traveling back together to Guatemala, for the first time since Carlee came home after being adopted from Guatemala. Together with family and friends they have collected & raised the funds to have one of the homes built that our mission team will be painting together when we visit San Antonio that day.
Another NEW outreach project we are adding to organizations we serve in Guatemala...
In addition to sending the money over to have the two new homes built, we were also able go ahead and send over funds for playground equipment to be built which will be set up & installed in a local community supported by School the World. ( Our in-country assistant's daughter, Tish Zamora works for them and thankfully connected us to this amazing organization!)
One of the outings our mission team will be going on in December will be to officially present the playground equipment to a local community in Chichicastenango. ( The majority of the money donated for the playground equipment was covered by Jack & Cathy Williams & family ; with the difference donated by For the Love of Mateo. ) This will be For the Love of Mateo's first time visiting this area so I have organized some time that day for our team to sight see a bit, have lunch and experience shopping in the famous Chichicastenango Market.
Did you know that For the Love of Mateo also does local Community Outreach?!?
One of the ways FTLOM has been serving right here in the US is through our Community Outreach Program. The community outreach component of our mission, allows us to do things like purchase monetary items needed for children going back to school who come from impoverished backgrounds or whose families are going through a hard time. We purchase things such as school supplies, school uniforms, and school clothes for them. Through recommendations and referrals we are able to identify families who are in need of support like this. (It was always a goal of mine to do something like this when I first started For the Love of Mateo, although primarily most of the service work we do is in Guatemala.)
Growing up, my family was one of the families who received donations of school supplies, scholarships and clothing like this. from a young ago ,I knew I wanted to find a way to be able to give back to families in communities where I live who could use a hand up like we were blessed with many times.
Over the years FTLOM has also been able to purchase classroom supplies for teachers using their Classroom Amazon Wish List they created to help them out to set up their classrooms to begin the school year. My mother, Karen Loar passed away in September of 2021 and was a teacher for many years. ( I know how much time and money she put in out of her own pocket to purchase things for her classroom as well as items she knew she needed to have for her students in case they didn't come to school with things they needed due to their families financial situation.) My mom was very passionate about education, reading, and she had a deep love for children. Through FTLOM; my family and some of our friends have been able to make contributions through a memorial we started in memory of our mom and to honor her, which has allowed us the means to be able to help do things like this. We have also continued to have books donated in her memory on behalf of her love of reading to various outreach programs we serve in Guatemala and the US.
Over the years FTLOM has been able to provide financial donations to medical fundraisers for children and families who struggle to cover medical and basic needs due to an illness or a sickness. We have done this for people in the US, Canada, and Guatemala. The amount of children and families who have been blessed by donations like this over the years are really too many to count. Just last month, my husband Doug heard about of a young man who is only 45 years old and was recently given a terminal cancer diagnosis. He was his family's primary financial supporter. He is married with a few children and was just recently sent home for end of life care, as his cancer was too progressed to be able to treat. FTLOM was able to make a donation to his wife to help cover expenses they have come up. I could share story after story of children who need to have a test or medical treatment done that isn't covered by their insurance, that FTLOM has been able to help out, even if its just by a small donation. Although the support we are able to give them is not going to necessarily change their medical situation, we know it can help provide some temporary relief for their family.
Growing up, my parents always taught my siblings and I the importance of sharing what you have with others, give back to those in need & to never judge someone who is in a situation different than our own; because we don't know the whole story and what brought them to the place where they are now. Keeping that in mind, as an adult, I tend to jump and follow my tug when I see or hear about someone in need of some help. This year FTLOM has provided support to a homeless organization in the KC area by donating items that were made to FTLOM that we werent able to bring to Guatemala or items requested by the project and collected by myself or other team members. We have purchased groceries & gas for single moms and families we can see who are struggling to make ends meet. We have unanimously paid for a few meals for people who look like they could use a blessing, a hand up or just a simple act of kindness given to them on that particular day.
We were able to pay for one months rent for a young man without any friends or family to support him who had chose to turn his life around and was accepted to move into a sober living facility/home. He needed help with the first month rent/deposit required by the sober living home since he hadn't started his new job yet. I don't always know the full background and story of every person we are able to help but I believe that everyone deserves a second chance and if they are willing to put themselves out there and are willing to turn their lives around for the better; and if we have the ability to help them out, we should follow that tug.
Recently FTLOM was introduced to a local shelter in KC for women with children who have been victims of domestically violence. FTLOM was able to make a contribution to their organization and purchased some of the items they were in need of ; such as bedding for beds in their facility, snacks and clothing & under garments for kids living in the shelter with their moms.
The Person Who Inspired For the Love of Mateo
I cant believe home fast time has flown by since I started For the Love of Mateo. We celebrated 12 years of service as a nonprofit this year. ( Our first mission trip to Guatemala with a team was in June of 2012 but we didn't get official 5013C approval until May of 2013.) My son Mateo, whose international adoption inspired me to start FTLOM, is actually going to be graduating high school this December! I remember the day I flew home with him when he was just 3.5 years old after 3.5 years of navigating through Guatemala's international adoption shut down just to bring him home.
He turns 18 in March of next year and recently was able to travel back to Guatemala in June with my husband and I. He has actually been back to Guatemala with me multiple times since he was adopted, but this trip was very special. He has been through alot over the years as many children who have been adopted do, that mixed in with all of the 'fun' teenage boy stuff. So to be here today & able to celebrate just how far he has come , it's really a miracle! From the beginning, I have always told Mateo that God had big plans for his life! Just sitting here listing all of the things that FTLOM has done this year alone, is a small example of the impact his life and adoption journey had on thousands of people across the globe.
Once again i am reminded that although it's hard for us to understand WHY we have to go through some of the challenges and adversities we do in life, once we get through them; most of the time we can look back and see GROWTH & BEAUTY amid our hard. Growth within ourselves because we can see that we were able to survive through some really hard things. And, beauty. We can definitely find beauty amid ash, by realizing beautiful moments that were indeed sprinkled in throughout the challenging times by the many 'angels' whom blessed us in some way through acts of kindness; a phone call, a letter, a card, comforting words, their physical presence, groceries or just their reassurance that they have our backs and we are not alone.
Mateo has one of the biggest hearts I know. I am so lucky to get to call him my son. He wants to become a welder. Last week he was accepted into a college program that works with the local high school where kids in the program will learn hands on welding skills every morning. He will go to the college welding program each morning first thing until about 11:30 AM, Monday-Friday and then head back to the high school where he will finish up his core classes. He hopes to be able to get into a welding apprenticeship program in the spring after he turns 18 and eventually become a welder with a local union. Doug & I think this is a great plan.
After adopting Mateo, I know I was looking forward to being able to pay for him to go to college because I know most kids born in Guatemala will never have the opportunity to go, much less graduate. A few years ago Mateo told us he didn't want to go to college but he was very interested in becoming a welder. I had to learn to let go of what I thought I wanted for him and what he should do, and instead given him my unconditional love & support of what it is he wants to do for his future. I know not everyone is meant to go to college and that we can each make our own imprint on this this world, in our own unique way.
I have no doubt Mateo will do exactly that!
Years ago Mateo expressed interest in leading mission trips to Guatemala and I do hope that is something he is still interested in doing in the future. It would be amazing to see him lead teams that have other children & adults who were also adopted from Guatemala! Being an adoptee himself, I really think he would be able to provide unique insight and take on the mission trip team leader role very well!
I am beyond grateful for the miracle of him coming home and into our lives permanently on August 28th, 2010. Although not getting to be with him for the first 3.5 years of his life was very hard on us, I now know that everything we have been able to do through FTLOM over the years wouldn't be possible if we would have had a perfect adoption journey. If our adoption process was a perfect one and he would have come home within the first year, I know I wouldn't have had the opportunity to develop such a strong connection with Guatemala on my many visits to see Mateo over those 3.5 years. I probably wouldn't have felt the BIG TUG I did to 'do something more' to help and give back to the other children in Guatemala who were struggling, and who many were living in orphanages and who I knew would never have the same opportunity to be with a forever family like Mateo was going to get to have. God's plan is always better than our own! So in this instance, I do have to thank God for unanswered prayers because what I took as unanswered prayers back then, i now realize was actually God doing alot of work in me and around me, behind the scenes making ALL THINGS GOOD!!
A little about how "it all gets done".........
My family moved from Kansas to Missouri in September of last year to kind of simplify and downsize our life a bit. This allowed us to take what the past few really hard years taught us; to keep our focus & priority on our physical/emotional/& mental health, our faith, family & friends, the passions and callings that are near and dear to our hearts, and not to stress the small stuff because God has got us!
So, most of the day to day work I do with FTLOM is done from my home in Missouri. I try to keep up with the marketing, the organizational stuff, fundraising, mission trip planning and just the basic daily 'to do's' I need to do to run FTLOM. Although there are definitely days and even weeks when Im not always able to accomplish everything I wanted to get done in the timing it needed to be done by. It definitely always gets done eventually, but it would be so nice to have an extra 10 hours in my day! I also run a home business that I have been apart of for 22 years on top of watching my granddaughter Stella quite a bit to help her mom out while she goes to school & work full-time .
So although the word 'busy' for me is an understatement, I am thankful that I have A LOT of helpers and everything always ends up coming together in the end!
Claudia & Bernardo
The hands & feet work on the ground that is done on a monthly basis in Guatemala is made possible because of our extremely loyal and hardworking in-country assistant Claudia Flores and her husband Bernardo who typically is the one who drives her around. She is the one who purchases all of the groceries we deliver monthly to the 45+ families enrolled in our grocery program who receive monthly grocery deliveries on behalf of our AMAZING FTLOM grocery sponsors. She also is in charge of getting all of the picture updates to our LOYAL and AMAZING FTLOM sponsors who sponsor children apart of some of the outreach programs we support in Guatemala. She allows me to ship boxes of donations that I receive from various supporters here in the US that are too heavy or too much for me to bring in my bags on the place on my mission trips, and then she keeps them at her home so she can organize and distribute the donations to some of the children and families in the projects we serve throughout the year. Her husband Bernardo is currently fighting his own cancer battle and manages to support Claudia and all she does even around his treatment schedule. He also serves as one of the board members for our Guatemalan nonprofit, El Amor de Mateo. ( Please keep him and his family in your prayers, as I know he can use them!)
Gaby Matute
Gaby is one of FTLOM's Advisory Committee members and FTLOM mission team members and is one of those people who does sooo many things behind the scenes to serve and give back to people and never expects or desires recognition or credit for all that she does. She is originally from Venezuela and has organized, purchased, & collected donations to send shipments filled with donations to Venezuela to orphanages, children and families who are currently living in extreme poverty. She has done this for years on her own but for awhile now she has been partnering with FTLOM to do this. (We do have a few sponsors who donate monthly to help offset the cost of these shipments, but she could definitely use more and would love to be able to send more if she had the money to do it.) If you have a tug to help contribute towards donation boxes being sent to Venezuela by Gaby, you can donate via the Outreach Project tab on our FTLOM website and scroll down to where is says Venezuela Food Boxes or click on this link here- https://www.fortheloveofmateo.com/venezuela
Gaby is also in charge of our monthly sponsorship programs and does all of the reporting we have to send on a monthly basis to our bookkeeper & accountant. I know its a lot of work and she does it out of the kindness of her heart! Often times Gaby comes with us to Guatemala and is a HUGE asset to our mission team as she is one of our main translators for our team members when we are there and want to communicate with those we are serving in our projects. Thank you again Gaby for ALL you do for us!! We are so grateful for you! You definitely make this world a better place!
Last but not least, a BIG THANK YOU to all of our loyal supporters....
There is absolutely no way I could do what I do with FTLOM if it wasn't for the MANY loving, selfless, giving, servant-hearted supporters that make what we do possible. We really are a family. It would take me all day to type the names of each person here who has supported FTLOM in one way or another over the years but you know who you are, and PLEASE know how grateful we are for all of you!!! I want to give a BIG SHOUTOUT to our loyal donors & sponsors who make what we are able to do in Guatemala on a monthly basis possible. Thank you to our board & advisory committee members who have been an amazing support system when it comes to providing their expertise and ideas of what we can do to make FTLOM better or run more efficiently. I know each one of them are always more than willing to jump in and help anytime I need it! ( One of the things I am really working on right now is to get better at asking for help and delegating. Our advisory committee is great at gently reminding me of that.)
A goal for myself this year regarding FTLOM is to get better at updating you all on ALL that we do throughout the year via this blog and on our social media pages. We currently have 5 mission trips planned for 2025 that will be lead by myself, Anita Cape and a new team leader who has travelled many times to Guatemala with FTLOM along with her family and recently reached out wanting to lead a team! Some of those dates are already posted on our Mission Trip tab on the website and the others will be added within the next month or so as dates are finalized. If you want to take a peek at what dates we have planned for 2025 already , you can do that here on this link-
Thank you for taking the time to read 7 months worth of updates at once and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer !!
Bless you and your families and thank you again for ALL you do!!!
With love & blessings,
Val Edwards
President & Founder of For the Love of Mateo
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill
“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”
Albert Einstein
“If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.”
Buddha
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