Guatemala Stove Project 2026

The Impact of First Pres Delegation’s Guatemala Stove Project: A mission beyond a work project

When a delegation (AKA: team) from First Pres goes to Guatemala to install Onil stoves for members of churches in our partner presbytery in Guatemala, it’s more than just another work project.  It’s a time of fellowship and laughter, deepening relationships, and getting insight into the lives of individuals and families in our partner presbytery. The sharing is reciprocal; our partners learn more about the delegates, and our church, too.  This mutual engagement enriches the connections on both sides of the compañerismo.

Over the Martin Luther King Jr.  holiday weekend, 13 members and friends of First Pres worked alongside members of the Executive Committee of the Union Maya Quiché Boca Costa presbytery to install stoves in 36 homes. Each home is unique, so there’s no limit to the modifications needed to make the stoves  fit into the homes and lives of the recipients. The photos show some of the homes where stoves were installed, along with a few of the recipients.

An important component of each stove installation is lighting the first fire to demonstrate that the stove is working.  Within five minutes, the stove is hot enough that water sizzles when splashed on the plancha (cooktop). Each installation culminates with a prayer and words of thanks from the recipients and their families.

The gratitude is heartwarming and reminds us all that the stove, like all good gifts, is a gift from God. The First Pres delegation is grateful for the opportunity to serve God and our partner presbytery though this project, and the Guatemala project leadership team is grateful to the donors for the gifts that purchase the stoves and other supplies necessary to complete the project.  In this, as in all things, to God be the glory.

“…Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”  Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)