Maranatha is digging deeper to provide clean water in Kenya.
OREGON, UNITED STATES
Nancy Davis (right), from Washington, delivers snacks to volunteers Haldalyn Larvanie and Naima Nziacharo. These snack breaks are a favorite part of Maranatha’s North America projects, providing a rest from work along with a tasty reward.
All three were part of a 75-volunteer team who helped with various renovation projects at Milo Adventist Academy in Days Creek, Oregon, in June. Participants helped at multiple sites, including the gym, market, lodge, camp, classrooms, and other auxiliary buildings. Work included carpentry, painting, staining, plumbing, landscaping, pouring concrete, and more!
While most of the volunteers were retirees from all over the country, a little over a dozen participants–including Haldalyn
and Naima–were from the youth group of Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Portland, Oregon. They traveled to the school with their youth leader to spend a few days in service.
But it wasn’t all work. The volunteers squeezed in a field trip to Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The younger volunteers even engaged in water fight pranks to cool off during the warm summer days.
Founded in 1955, Milo is a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school, serving students in grades 9 to 12, on a sprawling, 400-acre campus. Since 1989, Milo has invited Maranatha volunteers to help with construction and renovation efforts on campus. Most recently, Maranatha has had at least one project a year at Milo since 2018.
Julie Z. Lee Editor
Naggiar Designer
Comm Writer Sidney Needles Writer
UNITED STATES HEADQUARTERS:
Maranatha Volunteers International 990 Reserve Drive Suite 100
Roseville, CA 95678
Phone: (916) 774 7700
Website: www.maranatha.org
Email: info@maranatha.org
IN CANADA:
Maranatha Volunteers International Association c/o V06494C
PO Box 6494, Station Terminal Vancouver, BC V6B 6R3 CANADA
All notices of change of address should be sent to the Maranatha Volunteers International United States address.
MISSION STATEMENT:
Maranatha spreads the gospel throughout the world as it builds people through the construction of urgently needed buildings.
About the Cover:
A woman washes her hands at the new Maranatha well in Kyangunga, Kenya. It’s the only freshwater well in the village and has replaced long walks to the nearest river.
Photo by Sidney
Needles
Photo by Ed Jensen
Many days I find myself whistling, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!”
This past summer Maranatha joined several thousand Seventhday Adventists gathered in St. Louis, Missouri, for the General Conference Session–a Church business session that takes place once every five years. At our booth in the exhibit hall of ministries, we had the joy of connecting with new faces and those from the past, hearing how God is working in their lives.
We met hundreds, telling us of churches, schools, or wells our volunteers built. How joyful and fascinating to see God acting through the generosity of donors, volunteers, and those who received the projects!
Young, energetic Pastor Daniel from Veracruz, Mexico, came to say “Thank you!” Also, “Could you help again?” His churches have grown from three to thirty congregations. As he explained, the members are a direct result of your work—the Maranatha volunteers of many decades ago.
Leaders came by from the Dominican Republic, where the buildings you constructed have catalyzed growth from a few thousand members in the ’90s to nearly 400,000 members today. We found joy dedicating Ciudad del Cielo, the
GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS SHARING THE Mission
newest Adventist school in the country; it will meet educational needs for the community and 80 congregations nearby.
How do these miracles happen? God faithfully blesses the prayers, sacrifices, and efforts of the members, volunteers, and donors. The cumulative effect of every project is impossible to calculate. It is humbling to think of nearly 100,000 Maranatha supporters generously investing their time and funds to help. Every week finds thousands of children learning about Jesus at schools you built and millions singing in Maranatha churches.
Our buildings are symbols of expectation, optimism, hope, and God’s answered prayers—worthy places to meet Him.
“Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!”
Pastor Oscar from Colombia pleaded for churches, not just for his members but for hundreds of Venezuelan refugees fleeing persecution and seeking a Savior. He repeatedly came to our booth, until we said we needed to speak with his conference president. Oscar brought his president and took a photo, sending it to me with the caption, “See, he is now there; now we can get some help.”
We heard many examples of desperate opportunity–young pastors
from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and other places with hundreds of congregations worshiping under trees. These conversations echoed over and over and over again, with leaders and members representing over 100 countries!
This eager anticipation–a hopeful desperation at times–was the toughest part of the meetings. Requests came for churches, schools, clinics, orphanages, wells, hospitals, offices, housing, and camps–thousands of buildings worth millions of dollars. This is where most of us simply shut down our thinking because, how could we possibly tackle that large of a challenge for God’s people?
“All I have needed Thy hand hath provided…”
God, using your efforts and generosity, has constructed more than 10,000 churches, almost 3,000 classrooms, and nearly 4,000 wells.
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father!”
What will your answer be to these requests? God’s faithfulness is the promise that pushes the mission forward and fills us with expectation and hope. Maranatha!
–Kenneth Weiss is the chief operating officer of Maranatha
AROUND THE World
A snapshot of volunteers and projects in the mission field.
PARAGUAY
Volunteers from the College View Church in Nebraska built a new sanctuary for the Arco Iris Seventh-day Adventist congregation.
UNITED STATES
25 volunteers served at Camp Cherokee in New York, painting roughly 15 of the camp’s buildings.
INDIA
Members of the Ongole Seventh-day Adventist Church pose next to the electrical pump of their new Maranatha well.
Teen volunteers on Ultimate Workout 35 take a break from building the Kilometer 40 church.
ZAMBIA
The Sichibule congregation rejoices at the completion of their new One-Day Church.
INDIA
Pine Hill Adventist Academy students are excited for clean, accessible water.
Volunteers from Brazil helped to build up the church walls of the Barrero Guasu Seventh-day Adventist Church.
UNITED STATES
62 volunteers remodeled Upper Columbia Academy’s home economics classroom, reroofed a staff house, painted, and reinforced a footbridge.
ZAMBIA
Maranatha’s well maintenance team makes a repair on a well at the Ndeke Seventh-day Adventist Church.
KENYA
The Ndooni Church and community are thankful for clean, pure water at the new Maranatha well.
PARAGUAY
PARAGUAY
Don Noble, president of Maranatha, and his wife Laura, donor relations, receive a special recognition on behalf of Maranatha’s work with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
MARANATHA HONORED AT GC SESSION
The 2025 General Conference session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church came to a close on July 12 in St. Louis, Missouri, but not before Church leaders expressed gratitude for Maranatha’s impact. During the ten-day event’s closing ceremony on Sabbath afternoon, Maranatha President Don Noble and his wife, Laura, took the stage to receive recognition for Maranatha’s contribution to missions around the world. “We’re only here for one reason, and that is to say thank you to you and to Maranatha for … the work you do all around the world,” said newly-elected Secretary of the General Conference Richard McEdward to the Nobles.
McEdward presented them with a commemorative plaque, “in recognition of outstanding service in supporting global missions and fulfilling the gospel commission.” He also gave them a tool belt. “We have a little tool belt that represents the work of Maranatha around the world,” explained McEdward. “And we just want to give you this symbolic gift and say thank you for your outstanding service. We give thanks to God.”
Maranatha was the only independent ministry featured during the General Conference session in this way. The ceremony commemorated not only Don’s leadership, but those of every single Maranatha volunteer, donor, and
staff member who’ve helped transform the Adventist World Church.
Prior to this display of gratitude, the audience watched a special video feature on Maranatha’s work in Cuba. It described the organization’s first visit to the island in 1994 and the need there, which compelled them to help. The resulting “Christ for Cuba” initiative saw the construction or renovation of more than 200 church buildings and nearly doubled Adventist Church membership in Cuba before 1998. The video outlined Maranatha’s continued work in Cuba to the present, providing a prime example of its collaboration with and impact on the World Church.
PROGRESS AT KIMOGORO, KENYA
Maranatha’s work at the Kimogoro Adventist Boarding Primary School in Bomet County, Kenya, is showing incredible results. Since breaking ground on the campus renovation and expansion project in February 2023, Maranatha’s local construction crews and volunteer groups have completed several key structures. Two classrooms, a kitchen and dining hall, girls and boys dormitories, a large church building, and three bathroom blocks now stand as a far cry from the rickety shacks they replaced. Maranatha has also installed a well and submersible pump, which supply the campus with clean water.
“We still need more classrooms,” said Anu Kedas, Maranatha’s country director for Kenya. “But at least they have something that they can use, and be thankful that things are changing for them.”
Before Maranatha got involved, the
scene at Kimogoro was dismal. “When I first came to Kimogoro to see the school, I saw the students sitting on the grass and eating food,” recalled Kedas. “I saw their classrooms; they didn’t have proper desks or chairs … the classrooms had holes in them. There were three or four girls sleeping in one bed. The boys were under the same condition. My heart went out to them … they deserve better. They deserve something better in life.”
Prior to Maranatha’s involvement, Kimogoro served 150 students. After Maranatha began renovations in 2023, the school’s enrollment jumped to 230. This year, the school welcomed 384 students and employs 22 teachers and staff members. This growth may be partly attributed to Maranatha’s investment. Kimogoro’s new buildings are unmatched by those of any other schools in the area and drawing widespread attention. But the school
VOLUNTEERS TRANSFORM GLACIER VIEW RANCH
In June, 32 volunteers gathered in Ward, Colorado, for a Maranatha project at Glacier View Ranch, a Seventh-day Adventist camp and retreat center located 40 minutes outside of Boulder, Colorado. While there, the team completed multiple tasks on campus facilities, including painting, new construction, debris removal, and general clean up. Additionally, some went above and beyond their participation on the mission trip by donating to purchase urgently needed equipment, such as vacuums and even a generator, for the camp.
“The volunteers from Maranatha went above and beyond! Not only did
they construct some much-needed improvements to our facilities, but they did it with a positive attitude and left behind an indelible impression at our camp,” commented Brandon Westgate, Rocky Mountain Conference Youth director. “We are incredibly grateful and well blessed with their support.”
Each year, Maranatha works with organizations in the United States and Canada to provide volunteer labor for various construction or renovation projects at summer camps and retreat centers, schools, and churches.
Work ranges from renovations of existing buildings to new construction, and saves thousands of dollars in labor costs.
also attracts students with a wellearned reputation for discipline and quality academics.
Kimogoro’s metamorphosis is not yet complete. Maranatha is currently constructing three more classrooms for the school and is seeking funds to add six additional classrooms, an administrative block, and landscaping. Since 2016, Maranatha has responded to numerous requests from the Adventist Church in Kenya for improved infrastructure. Volunteer teams and our in-country crews have built One-Day Churches, schools, and drilled water wells. More than 1,500 structures have been completed so far.
UNTAPPED Hope
A brown puddle in a dry riverbed–their source of life and last hope.
By Sidney Needles
There are many things we can learn about Georgina Kitenge through observation. Hearing her converse in fluent Swahili hints at her East African heritage. Her practical wardrobe speaks to frequent physical activity. And a quick, easy smile belies the friendliness that’s common in her village. But appearances rarely tell the whole story. Georgina may have goals, habits, and responsibilities that are common to humanity at large, but she differs from many in at least one important way. In Georgina’s case, appearances do little to represent an integral aspect of her everyday life.
“Without water, [Georgina’s] plants and chickens would die off, along with her income and sustenance.”
The Pits
One wouldn’t know by looking at her that Georgina collects drinking water from a brown puddle in the ground. The residents of her southern Kenya village, located in Kitui county, call them “sand scoops.” From the air they look like large bites taken from dry riverbeds. Some are surrounded by brush and others have shiny pools at their center. When the rainy season ends and rivers disappear, these pits are what stands between Georgina and acute water scarcity.
“The county government has a borehole in the river,” says Georgina. “But … you must [pay] five [shillings]. Five per jerry can. So if you don’t have five, you can’t draw water. So instead … you go to the river to draw water. And far away we go and dig a well.”
Usually entire villages work together. They shovel down into the sand, piling excavations in a ring around the crater that forms. They dig until
a puddle of water forms in the pit’s center, then pile thorny acacia branches around its perimeter. These keep out animals that would otherwise contaminate the sand scoop with deadly bacteria. This boundary wall, and the sand that acts as a natural filter, help keep the water source relatively clean. And it’s available for anyone with the time and strength to haul it back home.
Like many of her friends and neighbors, Georgina visits the sand scoop nearly every day. She has done so for the past 20 years. “We use donkeys and then go to the river and fetch [water] with the jugs or jerrycans,” Georgina explains. The beasts carry the water, but she must fill her jerrycans, scoop-by-scoop and unload them back home. Georgina uses the sand scoop’s water for drinking and household chores like laundry and cooking. She also has chickens and an expansive garden that produces the food she eats and sells. Without the sandscoop’s water, her plants and chickens would die off, along with her income and sustenance.
An Imperfect Solution
Although her local sand scoop is keeping her alive, it’s not an ideal water source for Georgina. Her donkeys do most of the heavy lifting, but she must walk more than two kilometers with them. Her leg muscles are currently up for the task, but this won’t always be the case. Other community members haul their jerrycans with wheelbarrows or by hand, risking long-term damage to their backs and arms.
“It takes a lot of time and effort for them,” says Maranatha’s country director for Kenya, Anu Kedas. “The mothers have to come early in the morning to collect water so that they can go home and take care of their kids and send them to school on time. Sometimes some families can’t afford to send their children to school because
they have to send their children to fetch water. And that happens twice during the day, [in the] morning and evening.”
In addition to the effort required to collect sand scoop water, Georgina also grapples with its unreliability. During times of severe drought, her village may not be able to dig deep enough to reach water in nearby riverbeds. Overuse may also deplete their reserves. To survive these instances, Georgina has rigged a rainwater collection system to the roof of her house. During the rainy season, she fills large storage tanks as much as she can. But even this method isn’t foolproof because rainfall is unpredictable and dry spells are lengthy.
Seasonal Setbacks
“There is a need for water in almost every place, but especially in the Kitui area,” says Anu. “The place is very dry. They don’t have rains. They are mostly dependent on seasonal rivers. And when those seasonal rivers are dry, they have to sand scoop on the river beds.” Georgina and the many other inhabitants of Kitui County are at the mercy of this harsh environment. Technically, Kitui has rainy seasons from mid-March to May and November through December. It’s a semi-arid climate that’s unideal for the cultivation of crops. Frequent droughts make matters worse. When multiple rainy seasons fail in a row, people struggle to maintain an adequate standard of living.
“They need water for everything. For washing,
for cleaning, for bathing. I’m sure sometimes if there is a scarcity of water, they are not able to even take a bath,” explains Anu. “As humans we have certain hygiene habits that we follow. We like to take a bath in the morning, sometimes in the evening after we finish work. So my heart reaches out to the people who are not even able to drink water. I wonder how they face challenges every day without taking a bath, without even washing their, you know, face or hands.”
Untapped
Kitui’s hope is pooled underground. Below a layer of rust-colored dust. Down into the parched earth. Deeper than the desperate roots of withering plants can be found caches of groundwater. Those large enough to collect from are called aquifers, and hundreds of people can survive on just one of these reserves. But many remain untapped.
Acquiring groundwater is an investment that few in Kitui can afford. A hydrological survey, while expensive, offers the best chance at picking the right place to strike water. Skipping this step means drilling blindly and likely receiving nothing but dust to show for it. In most cases, a gas-powered drill rig is necessary to reach the appropriate depths. Lots of water is also required to cool the drill bit and stabilize the borehole (a painfully ironic reality given the circumstances that prompted drilling in the first place). Even if a community could scrape together the
This brown puddle is called a sand scoop. It’s Georgina’s water source during the dry season.
PHOTO BY NICK EVENSON
CRISIS CRATER:
funds to drill, they’d still need to purchase the well’s hardware. Whether powered by hand or electricity, well pumps aren’t cheap and need new parts every year or so.
“The transformative effect of Maranatha’s water wells is already apparent in Kitui.”
The economic implications of water scarcity have created a circular problem in Kitui. Many people earn a living through agricultural endeavors. They care for smallscale gardens or farms, in the hopes of growing enough to feed their families. If they’re lucky, a harvest will yield a little extra produce to sell at market. The proceeds go towards the purchase of daily necessities like soap, clothes, cooking oil, or firewood. The issue isn’t that the expense of well drilling surpasses what Kitui residents’ disposable income can cover. If this were the case, it would only be a matter of time before savings grew large enough to break the cycle. The issue is that in most households a disposable income of any amount is simply unheard of, and a lack of water for crops perpetuates this deficit.
Digging Deeper
But generous Maranatha donors are picking up the bill so people like Georgina can have plenty of clean water, perhaps for the first time in
their lives. Maranatha’s water program has been active in Kitui, Kenya, since 2021. The initiative is a response to requests from the Seventh-day Adventist Church there. Crew members arrive at each site with a drill rig, the necessary parts, and know-how, and leave hand-pumped water wells in their wake. But a gift that isn’t sustainable is no more than a Band-Aid solution, so Maranatha also provides routine maintenance visits and a phone number to call if the wells break. Both offerings are vital to an indefinite water source and often overlooked by both government and private agencies that drill here.
The transformative effect of Maranatha’s water wells is already apparent in Kitui. Successful harvests no longer hinge on adequate rainfall. Households can earn more than the bare minimum. Children can attend school instead of hauling water from the nearest sand scoop. Living spaces are cleaner. Families are healthier and happier. Entire communities are experiencing the sacrificial love of strangers across the globe.
The Miracle Well
Dorcas Kassii Stephen lives in Kitui’s Kyangunga village. Dorcas used to collect water like Georgina, from the sand scoop nearest her home. She hauled water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning, and to water her garden, chickens, and goats. In addition to her personal needs, Dorcas fetched
water for the Kyangunga Adventist Church, which she and her husband started. She used it to clean the rented room they worshiped in and cook a meal for those who attended each Sabbath. It was an incredibly precious gift, in light of the backbreaking work involved in collecting even a small amount of water.
Many Kyangunga residents were forced to get water from their local sand scoop just like Dorcas–but not all. The village has a government well, but it is nearly dry and only produces a very small amount of water. There are also five privately owned wells in Kyangunga. Some are available only to those who can afford to pay a fee, and the rest belong to churches that only allow members to collect from them. Dorcas and the other Adventists in Kyangunga don’t belong to either category.
Maranatha completed the miracle well in Kyangunga in March 2025. It has replaced tedious treks to the sandscoop outside the village and produces a steady stream with the crank of its handle. But these things, while certainly lifechanging, aren’t what make it a miracle.
The groundwater underneath Kyangunga is salty–this is what everyone believed. Every single well in the village produced salty water. The liquid was still extremely valuable, but the salt in it was detrimental. It saved lives at the cost of optimal health. Some people got sick from it, and everyone risked long-term effects like
hypertension and kidney damage. None of these pricetags accompany the use of Maranatha’s well because, against all odds, its water is fresh.
Water for All
You may not be able to tell by her appearance that Dorcas no longer collects water from a brown puddle in the ground. But you can identify her as the recipient of a selfless gift by the way she is passing it on to others. The miracle well rests on the Kyangunga Adventist Church’s property, right next to the new church structure Maranatha built for them in June 2025. But worshippers don’t treat the well like a possession. They know it’s a gift from God. Instead of restricting its use, they welcome anyone to draw from its precious supply, even those who didn’t do the same for them.
Therein lies the true miracle of Maranatha water wells. They’re life-saving and lovespreading. They are the physical manifestation of something much more refreshing than a drink of water. The unexpected kindness of strangers is setting people apart. It’s inspiring them to pass it on, giving the world no other option but to notice the most beautiful parts of humanity.
LIFESAVING:
1 From the air, sand scoops look like bites taken from dry riverbeds.
2 Many residents in Kitui, Kenya, use donkeys to haul water back to their homes.
3 In addition to her garden, Dorcas needs enough water to sustain her chickens and goats.
4 Maranatha drilled a water well in Kyangunga in March 2025.
5 Its water is fresh and available to the entire village.
6 In addition to water, Maranatha provided a One-Day Church for the Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Kyangunga.
PHOTOS BY NICK EVENSON, SIDNEY NEEDLES, AND FRANCIS BIRENGE
CELEBRATING IN THE City of Heaven
After nearly three years of work, Maranatha dedicates a church and school campus in the Dominican Republic.
By Dustin Comm
HEAVENLY CELEBRATION:
The church sanctuary on the Ciudad del Cielo campus is dedicated with a packed house of more than 400 people.
On July 26, 2025, Maranatha leaders, donors, and volunteers gathered to dedicate the Ciudad del Cielo Seventh-day Adventist Church and School in the Dominican Republic. The stunning project is dedicated to the memory of Maranatha’s late vice president of construction, Darrell Hardy. Nearly three years in the making, the Sabbath ceremony was also attended by Adventist Church leadership, including the presidents of the Adventist Church in Inter-America, the Dominican Republic, and Southeast Dominican Republic, as well as local government leaders.
“First and foremost, this is a day of joy, gratitude, and worship to God,” said Abner De los Santos, president of the Inter-American Division. “Everything that you may do in this place has to be for God’s glory and honor.” He went on to say that everyone should allow God to reveal His grace, mercy, and power in us, so we may become a blessing to all those around us, like Maranatha has been to so many.
In 2022, Adventist leadership requested Maranatha’s help in building a campus in Ciudad del Cielo, a suburb of northern Santo Domingo, to meet a need for Christian education. The area boasts 80 Adventist churches but not a single Adventist school. After confirming a site–a long effort that took months and the acquisition of 13 contiguous properties, Maranatha finally broke ground on the campus in May 2023. Since then, more than 300 volunteers and local crews have helped to build an Education and Evangelism Center with eight classrooms and an assembly space, an early education building with five classrooms, and a large church to seat 400 people.
“I’ve been to many, many dedications in the past, but I’ve never been to one where we had a church and a school on the same campus,” said Maranatha President Don Noble. “It’s a wonderful project, and for me it’s very satisfying.”
The campus’ exterior includes a kindergarten playground, parking space, a sports court, and beautiful landscaping. The structure itself has roof reinforcements that can withstand hurricanes–up to 180-mile winds.
Also on campus is a large plaque in memory of Darrell. The Ciudad del Cielo school was one of the last major projects he worked on before passing away, unexpectedly, in November 2022. It now honors his dedication to stellar construction and the love he poured into each project he worked on. Said Gabriela Hardy, Darrell’s wife of 35 years who was at the dedication, “If Darrell could see this building, he would be very proud of the results.”
“For 35 years, Darrell was our vice president for construction and he built many churches and schools all over the world, but primarily here in the Inter-American Division,” said Noble. “He actually started laying out this campus before he unexpectedly passed away. His family
is here to celebrate today, and personally, he was a good friend of mine and I’m very happy that it can be dedicated to his memory.”
With families lining up to send their kids to the new school, and 11 baptisms on the first Sabbath after the dedication, the campus in the “City of Heaven” (English for “Ciudad del Cielo”) is already making a Kingdom impact. “Just remember one thing: this is not yet heaven,” De los Santos said. “But [this place] has to become a gate into heaven.”
“The campus in the ‘City of Heaven’ is already making a Kingdom impact.”
Maranatha has a long history of working in the Dominican Republic. In 1980, after the destruction of Hurricane David, Maranatha constructed 160 houses here. In 1992, the Dominican Republic was the site of a watershed moment of growth for Maranatha, when the organization coordinated the construction of 25 churches over 70 days. Dubbed “Santo Domingo ’92,” it was the first time Maranatha concentrated on one place for multiple volunteer projects. Later efforts occurred in 2003 and 2013, and in 2022, Maranatha returned once more and has been working there since. While most projects have been taking place in and around Santo Domingo, this year Maranatha has started church projects in the northeastern, northern, central, and eastern regions of the country.
ETERNAL EDUCATION:
1 Long-time Maranatha crew members pose with the family of Darrell Hardy, in whose memory the campus is named.
2 Gabriela Hardy, widow of Darrell Hardy, Maranatha’s late vice president of construction, takes in a large plaque in his memory.
3 Prospective students try out one of the new classrooms.
4 Bright classrooms will soon open in a secure early education center area on the campus.
5 A colorful playground for early education students will soon be full of energetic youngsters.
6 The facade of the new church on campus is a proud symbol of the commitment to the gospel in this community.
7 Representatives from the Seventh-day Adventist Church and Maranatha prepare to cut the ribbon on the new campus.
PHOTOS BY DUSTIN COMM, ED JENSEN, AND LEO MACIAS
Paraguay's UNSHAKABLE FAITH
How Adventists in Paraguay continue to will the Church forward, despite inadequate meeting spaces.
By Dustin Comm
In the heart of South America lies Paraguay, a country often overlooked on the global stage. With a population of just seven million, the nation averages only 18 people per square kilometer. Cities like Asunción and Ciudad del Este are more populated, humming with the daily bustle of busy metro areas. But Paraguay is mostly a land of quiet countryside, rolling green hills, farmland, and deeply rooted traditions. And it’s in smaller communities, where life is lived at a slower pace, that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been kept alive for decades, despite a serious lack of infrastructure. This movement is sustained by members whose unwavering commitment is turning faith into action.
Take the story of Juan Manuel Añazco in the neighborhood of Compañia 7, a humble community on the outskirts of the country’s capital city of Asunción. By profession, Juan is an auto parts salesman. By trade, he’s a sculptor, creating life-size metal frame artworks which he plasters and paints, like crocodiles, dinosaurs, or his current project, a muscular bull. But his true calling is soulwinning. When a young couple he previously led to baptism asked him to help them start a new congregation in Compañia 7, he didn’t hesitate.
The three started meeting on land right next to a busy road with lots of visibility, but no church building. “We came here and found that there was practically nothing, only three trees,” Juan recalls. “We would gather here, bring the little table, bring the sound system. We studied the Bible.”
From that simple beginning under the shade of a tree, Compañia 7’s Adventist church was born. No walls, no roof, no stained glass. Just three believers with a passion for the gospel. Rain or scorching heat could have halted their meetings, and sometimes it did. One Sabbath, after cancelling worship due to bad weather, Juan received a call from the congregation’s oldest member. “Why aren’t we meeting?” she asked incredulously.
“It struck a chord with me because the sister—with her age–how was it possible for her to attend?” says Juan. “I had cut the activity during those
dates on Sabbaths; I suspended it. I blamed myself, and said, ‘From now on, this won’t be suspended.’ And by the blessed grace of God, from then on if it rained, whatever happened, rain or heat, we continued standing firm through all those things.”
Determined, the group strung together sticks and a 150-meter rope to create a crude tarp tent. The environment was far from ideal. Heat radiated from the plastic cover, giving children headaches and nausea. When it became unbearable, they returned to the tree for respite. There was also a rundown house at the back of the property, so they used it on particularly hot or rainy days. But it too wasn’t a great structure to meet in. Termites and years of exposure left it falling apart. Despite these conditions, the church slowly grew, adding members one at a time. Recently a donor made it possible to build a small building, but it’s too small to allow the group to grow further. It seems there is always a limitation.
District pastor Antonio Funes, who oversees nine congregations in the area, says this struggle is widespread in Paraguay. “The biggest challenge we face is having places for the congregation to gather,” he explains. “Meeting in a member’s house can be difficult. Children may misbehave and break something there. Then the homeowner gets upset. So because of that, many families do not come.”
The Adventist Church leadership in Paraguay saw these challenges at Compañia 7 and asked Maranatha, who has been working Paraguay to provide churches since 2024, for help. Maranatha’s in-country crew arrived to erect a strong metal structure, and later, volunteers laid the block walls of Compañia 7’s permanent church home. For Juan, it is a gift he’s eternally grateful to donors for.
“It is a tremendous amount of work and a great deed because I could not do what they do,” says Juan. “The most I can do is come and do what they expect me to do, to bring souls to the feet of Christ. But a physical structure, what they are donating … only in that eternal embrace of heaven will I be able to say thank you.”
small group is also praying for a church. In the neighborhood of Mariscal López, Magno Parra Baez and his wife host weekly Bible studies in their home, crammed into their front room that can really only fit 10 people. They dream of a day when they’ll have a sanctuary to call their own.
Magno is a relatively new Adventist. He and his wife started Bible studies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and made two big life decisions shortly thereafter, getting baptized and married in two consecutive days. In contrast to the pure joy of marriage and baptism, 2020 also delivered one of Magno’s lowest moments, when he contracted COVID-19 and fell gravely ill. He was hospitalized for two months, intubated in intensive care. He considers it a miracle that he survived. Coming out of the pandemic, the couple settled into their new marriage and began hosting the now regular Bible studies with community members. They wished they could have their own church in Mariscal López, but without the financial means to build one, it was only a dream. Then one night, Magno had an actual dream that puzzled him.
MEMBERS IN ACTION:
1 Juan Manuel Añazco is a sculptor, but his true calling is soul-winning.
2 Magno Parra Baez has been praying for a real church in his neighborhood for years.
3 Baez visits the job site often and works alongside Maranatha’s crew and volunteers.
On the other side of the country, a short drive outside the city of Ciudad del Este near the world-renowned Iguazu Falls, another
“I dreamt we were gathering things from here and there—riches, so many riches,” he says. He woke up and told his wife. What did it mean? Days later, their pastor gave them news: Maranatha was coming to build a sanctuary. “It was wonderful,” Magno says through tears. “Thanks to God. Thanks to the Lord.” It was a dream come true, literally. Mariscal López would have its own Adventist church. Not long after, Maranatha workers arrived to
PHOTOS BY DUSTIN COMM
“I want to tell everyone that we received a donation as wonderful as this gift Maranatha has given us.”
unload riches like construction equipment and building materials. Maranatha volunteers followed and raised the block walls of the sanctuary. Magno believes all of this was a direct answer to prayer.
“Nothing more, nothing less, than us praying to God,” states Magno. “We have asked God. We have always prayed, and I would always ask for prayer for a church in the Mariscal López neighborhood. And suddenly one sees this, and you can’t believe it. One cannot believe it, honestly. It doesn’t fit in my mind, I don’t know. I’m on cloud nine. And I want to tell everyone that we received a donation as wonderful as this gift Maranatha has given us.”
Farther south in the rural town of Mayor Otaño, another story of perseverance unfolds. Here lives Florentina Mereles, a woman who has waited more than 30 years for a church. In the late 1990s, she and one other Adventist traveled 28 kilometers each Sabbath to the nearest church. “We didn’t have a road until recently,” says Florentina. “One road with mud, dust all the time. And another thing is the expenses of transportation, the costs involved.” Eventually she opened her home for worship instead of traveling the significant distance each week. The group grew, then moved outdoors under trees to accommodate more people.
Inspired, they began constructing their own church. Bricks were laid, walls started to rise— until the money ran out. The site was abandoned. “I cried a lot,” Florentina admits. “I could even cry right now, because it’s sad. It’s very sad to know that suddenly the doors had opened, and they say that when God opens the door, no one closes it. But then why did it close? So that’s why we cry up to this day.”
The congregation scattered. Some now travel 26 kilometers to attend another church. Others have stopped going altogether. But Florentina never gave up hope.
The Adventist Church in Paraguay asked Maranatha to help bring a permanent sanctuary to Mayor Otaño, and Maranatha agreed. When the “Maranatha Mission Stories” television crew visited the congregation in mid-2025, they realized Florentina had not yet heard the good news. They decided to tell her during her on-camera interview. The moment the translator relayed the message, Floretina’s face scrunched into tearful joyousness. Her gaze lifted off camera to lock eyes with a fellow church member. She raised two fists in triumph before declaring, “If you’d allow me I would jump and shout because, my God, maybe the test is over.”
These stories, and dozens more across the country of Paraguay are not really about buildings. They are stories of faith. Stories of sacrifice. Of how God is meeting people in their deepest longings and responding with
miracles. For Adventist believers in Paraguay, church is not just a weekly appointment. It’s the center of their lives, a beacon for their communities, and the platform from which they reach others with the gospel. Through support of Maranatha donors, we’re stepping in to give them more than a meeting place— new Maranatha churches are permanent homes for everlasting Kingdom impact across Paraguay.
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PERSISTANCE IN PARAGUAY:
1 Magno Parra Baez and his fellow church members make plans with their district pastor on the future church site.
2 Florentina Mereles has been praying for a church in her town of Mayor Otaño for decades.
Maranatha Mission Stories
PHOTOS BY DUSTIN COMM
SUMMER Bucket List
The 18 kids on the Family Project in Paraguay checked off a bunch of items that made their summer unforgettable.
Serving as a Family
Maranatha’s Family Projects are offered twice a year, typically in June and another in December during the Christmas holiday. These projects are designed with all age groups in mind, from 2 to 82! For this year’s summer Family Project, 138 volunteers headed to Paraguay, where they laid block walls for the San Alfredo and Mariscal Lopez Church buildings, painted the Presidente Franco Church, and operated medical and dental clinics for the local community. Kids ages 12 and under had the option to attend a special day camp for their age group. They spent time on the construction and painting sites, participated in cultural activities, and helped with community outreach like Vacation Bible School programs.
“The day camp far exceeded all of the educational, spiritual, and cultural experiences we were seeking for our children when we joined,” says Family Project volunteer and mother Melissa Merritt. “Our girls came home inspired to continue serving and planning their next Maranatha mission trip!”
Look for upcoming Family Projects at maranatha.org
Build a church
Don’t let their size fool you. These kids worked right alongside adults, laying the block walls of two Adventist church buildings.
Make new friends
Helping to lead Vacation Bible School programs at a local school gave volunteer children the opportunity to share Jesus’ love and have lots of fun with students.
PHOTOS BY EDSEL ADAP AND AUDRA GRELLMAN
Visit the “Triple Frontier”
This is the spot where Paraguay’s border meets that of Brazil and Argentina to form a tripoint.
Try a new food
Chipa is a traditional Paraguayan cheese bread. Not only did kids get to try it, they learned how to make it!
Go to church in a different country
On the last Sabbath of the project, kids worshipped in one of the churches they helped build. Parts of the service may have looked different, but praising Jesus is a practice that transcends borders.
Paint a church
The Presidente Franco Adventist Church needed a facelift, so kids grabbed paint brushes and rollers, and got to work.
Visit a hydroelectric dam
The Itaipu Dam is the third largest dam in the world that uses the flow of water to create electricity. And children got to watch the process in action.
See Iguazu Falls
This is one of the largest waterfall systems in the world. Kids saw, heard, and felt this natural wonder on the border of Argentina and Brazil.
City on a Hill
Maranatha’s biggest school project in the Dominican Republic is ready to make an impact.
Photo by Leo Macias
Thanks to the generosity of volunteers and donors, the Ciudad del Cielo Adventist School, located in a suburb of northern Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is finally complete. It was dedicated on July 26, 2025, and started instruction in late August. This is the only Seventh-day Adventist school in an area that has more than 80 Adventist congregations.
HOW YOU’VE Helped
BEFORE This cramped building is where members of the Calapuja congregation in Peru met each week. It was way too small for everyone.
A look at how your support is making a real difference for communities around the world.
LEAVING YOUR Legacy
The West County Kids’ Well Fund
The Primary Sabbath school students at the West County Seventh-day Adventist Church, in St. Louis, Missouri, knew they wanted to raise money for clean water. So they set a fundraising goal of $100 to donate to Maranatha’s well-drilling efforts. Each Sabbath they brought offerings to class, watching their well fund grow. But after several months, they hadn’t raised $100–they raised $140!
Choosing which country to help was tricky because the need for water is so widespread. But a story from Maranatha’s magazine, The Volunteer, helped the class decide. It was about a young girl in Zambia who was attacked by a crocodile while trying to collect water from a river. Thankfully she survived, but had to keep collecting the same dirty river water afterwards. “The
story students heard convinced them that Zambia would be their best choice,” said their teacher, Darlene Moore. “They were impressed that water can be difficult to obtain and even dangerous for some people.”
Moore believes that participation in this offering project helped introduce her students to a valuable habit. “I think it’s a lifelong goal for us to be able to share out of what God has entrusted to us,” she said. “It’s always important to realize that we have a larger responsibility than to look after ourselves.”
AFTER Now your donations have provided them with a strong, spacious frame, which they’ll build walls for with local materials.
PROJECTS THAT NEED YOUR HELP
Currently, Maranatha’s biggest area of need is churches. We are in urgent need of more funding for these projects. If you are able to help, please make a donation for churches today! Call (916) 774-7700 for more information.
THE $10 CHURCH
This simple program is critical to helping build churches around the world! For more than three decades, The $10 Church has funded nearly 500 churches. But as the cost of construction has gone up, we need more $10 donors to increase the impact of this program. If you can give just $10 a month, the combined $10 donations of thousands of donors go towards the completion of urgently needed churches. If you aren’t already, please start giving to the $10 Church!
CHURCHES
This year, we’ve committed to building churches in eight countries. You can give any amount to churches in a specific country or give a general donation to churches and we will allocate it to where needed most. The following are the places that need the most funding right now.
India
$30,000 for a fully completed church that includes floor, walls, doors, window, roof, portico, and stucco.
Dominican Republic
$100,000 for a fully completed church, depending on size.
Peru & Paraguay
Fully completed churches are about $70,000. If we provide just the steel frame, roof, and grade beam, they are $30,000 with individual sponsorships starting at $15,000.
Countries IN 2025
Here’s where Maranatha is working this year.
BRAZIL
CUBA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
INDIA
KENYA
PARAGUAY
PERU
UNITED STATES
ZAMBIA
CHURCHES
SCHOOLS WATER WELLS CAMPS
PROJECT Calendar
Anyone can join a Maranatha mission trip! Check out our upcoming opportunities here or go to maranatha.org for the most updated list. DATE
Oct. 2-14, 2025 Brazil Project
Oct. 28-Nov. 6, 2025 Zambia Project
Dec. 19, 2025-Jan. 1, 2026 Family Project
Mar. 1-12, 2026 Nosoca Pines Ranch Project
Mar. 12-22, 2026 Multiple Group Project
Mar. 20-31, 2026 Peru Project
Jun. 17-30, 2026 Southern Adventist University Alumni Trip
Jun. 18-28, 2026 Family Project
Jun. 21-Jul. 3, 2026 Upper Columbia Academy Washington
Jul. 3-13, 2026 Catalyst: Collegiate & Young Adult Mission Trip PERU Corbin Weiss, Ashton Weiss Church construction
July 7-21, 2026 Walla Walla University Campus Renovation
Jul. 16-26, 2026
Go to maranatha.org to see all the volunteer opportunities being offered, including full projects and mission trips being coordinated by church or school groups.
Thank You FOR SERVING
The following Group Project Teams served during the months of July through September.
PARAGUAY
The Place SDA Church Team | California
Igreja Adventista Central de Blumenau | Brazil
One Big Family Team | California PERU
Monticello & Wilkesboro SDA Churches Team | Arkansas, North Carolina
OBLIGADO, PARAGUAY
Ten-year-old Isabella Lloyd sorts items for care packages to be shared in the community surrounding the Obligado Seventh-day Adventist Church in Paraguay. She was one of 36 volunteers on the One Big Family Mission Trip, a team from northern California. The main goal was to construct a new place of worship for the Obligado congregation. But the experience, modeled after Maranatha’s family project, also included a day camp that took the younger volunteers on unforgettable cultural and service experiences, such as helping to make traditional
bread at a local bakery and learning the craft of Paraguayan beadwork. The care package outreach had the children shopping for food to be given to 50 families, identified by the local pastor. Each bucket was filled with rice, pasta, oil, milk, beans, and other essentials, and included a personal note written by the kids.
The One Big Family team is unusual in that it didn’t originate from a church or school but a group of families living in the same area. Christina Lloyd, director of TV for Maranatha, and her husband Tom, director of information technology
for Maranatha, decided to coordinate a trip after friends expressed an interest in missions. While the Lloyds have led open teams for Maranatha, this was their first time leading a group of their own. “I really wanted to share the mission of Maranatha and the warmth of the Paraguayan people with families in my sphere of influence,” says Christina. “It was amazing to spend time with people I see every week at church and school, and bond with them through service.”
by Christina Lloyd
Photo
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TAKE A ListenDeeper TO THE MISSION!
Travel into the mission field and see how God is leading ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference in communities around the world with our television program, "Maranatha Mission Stories."
HOW TO WATCH
BROADCAST CHANNELS (All times PT)
3ABN Friday, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Hope Channel Saturday, 3:00 p.m.
ON DEMAND
The Maranatha Channel App
Meet the many people of Maranatha in our podcast, “Inside Missions.” Each episode tells the story of a Maranatha person–about their life, their journey to Maranatha, and how missions has impacted their lives.
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Watch current and archived episodes and other videos on demand. Download for Apple, Android, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku.
watch.maranatha.org
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