ministry background

Casa De Mi Padre (My Father’s House) children’s home, founded in 2010, is located in Santa Cruz del Quiché, Guatemala, Central America. Although the country of Guatemala is ecologically beautiful, poverty is particularly widespread throughout the countryside and large intercity areas. Illiteracy, infant mortality, and malnutrition are among the highest in the region, while life expectancy is the lowest. The Quiché people are an indigenous group who have limited education and resources. The population of the city of Santa Cruz is between 45 and 55 thousand people. The opportunity for ministry is vast and the need for orphan care in Santa Cruz, the district of Quiché, and the surrounding region is real. Casa De Mi Padre has been established to meet this need by providing a place where children receive hope, stability, food, clothing, shelter, family, schooling, solid Biblical instruction, and living examples of God’s love. Our prayer is that the children we care for will come to know the love of God, accept salvation through Christ, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit with a strong Christian witness to others.

How Cole became a part of this ministry

In 2014, Cole went on a week-long mission trip with the BSU group from MWSU to Casa de Mi Padre. He felt God touching his heart about the possibility of serving here on a long-term basis. Later, he went to Casa again for a 3 month stay to seek confirmation from the Lord if this was truly His will. Some of the older boys at Casa would soon be turning 18 and would have to move out and become independent. Cole felt this transitional time in the boys’ lives was something he could help facilitate, based on previous work experience. He was also eager to assist with the child care duties involved in raising 23 kids! After determining that it was indeed God’s will that he should serve at Casa de Mi Padre, Cole made the necessary preparations and moved to Guatemala in January 2016, where he has served full-time ever since.


How Sarah got involved in the ministry

In 2017, Cole and Sarah met when he was sharing about his ministry at First Baptist Church in St. Joseph, where Sarah was playing the piano. Sarah had been working with kids for many years as an orchestra director and violin lesson teacher but had become interested in being able to incorporate more Christian teaching into her interactions with her students. She also had a heart for missions. That summer, Sarah went to Casa for a month to help out around the children’s home and in the office as well as play some music in local churches. Cole and Sarah’s relationship developed, and in January 2018, they were married.

current roles

Cole is now the assistant director of Casa de Mi Padre. His main responsibilities center on managing the staff at Casa, supervising discipline and discipleship of the kids, and being in charge of the children’s home when our director is away. He is also the leader of the transitional ministry to help our 18 year old’s move out and successfully become independent instead of falling back into the cycle of poverty from which they came. This involves finding Guatemalan Christian families for them to live with as they finish their education. Cole is responsible for raising the funds for their education and meeting regularly with the families to monitor the young people’s progress. Occasionally, Cole also leads missions groups who come to help at Casa. 


Sarah assists with administrative work and financial record keeping for Cole’s ministry as well as the general ministry of Casa de Mi Padre. As she learns more Spanish, she is excited to be able to reach out in meaningful ways to the children at Casa. She also teaches music lessons to some of the kids.


When Cole and Sarah visit the USA for occasional support raising trips, they enjoy sharing with others about the transformational work God is doing in the lives of the children they serve, not to mention the life-changing testimonies of their own conversions to faith in Him. They would be happy to visit you or your church when we are in the USA sometime and tell about what God is doing in Guatemala!

contact

Email the McCauleys

Follow Cole and Sarah's ministry on the McCauley Facebook page

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You can become a part of the mission!

Anyone, no matter your age or where you live, is invited to join our team as we serve these precious young people.


• PRAYING. We are in daily need of the prayers of fellow believers to petition the Lord for wisdom and strength to carry out the work He has prepared for us to do. Sign up for our monthly prayer letter! Let us know if you would prefer to receive it by email or US mail. Contact us by email or the address below to sign up. We also post our prayer letters on our Facebook page.


• GIVING. We raise all of our own support to be able to live and minister in Guatemala. This includes education expenses for the young adults in the transitional program, staff wages for some of the workers in the children’s home, personal living expenses, and other ministry related costs. 


if you would like to personally invest in our ministry financially, you may give to the church and mark your donation "For Cole McCauley ministry" and the church will forward your gift.


• GOING. We would love for you to come visit Casa de Mi Padre on a week-long mission trip! More details.