Matt and Ellie Heywood News August 2026

This month, we’ve found ourselves going back and forth between our home in Guadalupe and the town of Coron quite a lot more frequently, as we’ve finally received the keys to our new building! However, with rainy season in full swing, we’ve realised we had previously very much taken for granted the protection and convenience of a car in this weather. Now we’re travelling everywhere on moped, we find ourselves much more exposed to the elements. We’ve started praying a very specific prayer: “Lord, please hold the rain until we get there!”

In the Book of Kings, Elijah was a little more eloquent when he prayed about the weather: “As surely as the Lord lives, no rain or dew will fall during the next few years unless I command it.” — 1 Kings 17:1. Meanwhile, our prayer is more along the lines of: “Please Lord… hold the rain, hold the rain, HOLD THE RAIN!”

Also, unfortunately the waterproof coats and trousers we had bought in preparation for this weather have not been as effective as advertised! We would describe them as semi-waterproof, or light-showerproof only. We’ve arrived a couple of times at our activities looking more like we’ve swum than driven!

Thankfully, our motives in prayer are a little more practical than Elijah’s. We’re not trying to bring a drought upon the land—we’d just really like to arrive without being completely soaked before the young people even get there! But joking aside, Elijah’s story has reminded us of something this month: nothing is impossible with God, whatever season we find ourselves in. Elijah prayed boldly in a season of drought, and God provided for him every step of the way. Sometimes our circumstances can make us focus on what seems impossible, but God isn’t limited by the season we’re in.

We’re Open:

It’s been a full-on month, but an exciting one! We've agreed the rent on a building in the town of Coron, which is a big step for us, and one we’ve been praying about over the past year.

We’re now just up the road from two high schools, which has already opened up some fantastic new opportunities. We’ve begun opening the space at lunchtimes throughout the week for high school students to come and eat their lunch, hang out with friends and play games in a friendly space.

This has been very successful… perhaps a little too successful! We’re now discovering that getting them to come in is easy, but getting them to go back to school or go home afterwards is another challenge altogether. We’re learning as we go — apparently, high school schedules can be a little irregular!

Our weekly games night continues to grow, even as we’ve moved to our new location. Each week this is a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with the young people and discuss their questions of faith together.

Also, we have been meeting younger children in the local community and inviting them along to our Saturday morning Kid’s Club. One child enjoyed it so much that he went home and brought his uncle back to join in… who we think was about 20 years old! Not quite the age group we were targeting that day - but it was lovely to meet him!

Looking Ahead:

As we continue to grow into this new project, we’re looking forward to starting a new Craft Night for young people aged 13+. We’re hoping this will help us meet new young people who we haven’t connected with yet. We hope this will provide a space for young people who enjoy being creative, or who might find making friends a little more difficult, to be part of what we’re doing.

Also, we are looking to develop our Bible study group. Some of our young people have recently completed the Youth Alpha programme, and this would be a great next step for those who want to continue exploring their faith and asking questions.

Finally, our goal is to begin a regular church service, inviting many of the people we connect with throughout the week. We’re praying for the right time to do this and are still waiting on a couple of things, but in the meantime, we’re enjoying finding different ways to be a light in the community and building relationships with the people around us.