Meet Julio and Rachel Reyes
Julio and Rachel Reyes have been serving as Next Generation Directors with God Said Go since 2022. In that capacity, they provide training, materials and encouragement for leaders who work with the children in rural Guatemalan villages. They produce teachers’ guides, including vinyl banners and coloring sheets of Bible pictures with text. Julio and Rachel attend every GSG village clinic and help wherever needed. In addition to their primary role, Julio, who loves off-road driving, serves as the main GSG driver and conducts patient registration at each clinic. Rachel, who oversees distributing reading glasses to clinic patients, often helps with clinic registration and works with village children on clinic days.
Julio is Guatemalan; grew up in Santiago and later in San Bartolo near Antigua. Rachel was born and raised in Arbroath, a small fishing town on the east coast of Scotland. While she was attending Bible college her attention was drawn to Guatemala on several fronts. During her senior year of college she spent part of her practical placement working with street children in Guatemala.
After graduation, that ministry director called Rachel and asked if she would come to Guatemala and work with them. Rachel was unsure so she sought the Lord’s direction. As she read the Bible story of Esther, she was personally challenged by the huge decision that Esther faced of entering the King’s presence without permission. Would she take the opportunity God presented believing He would save her people, or not do so because she feared the consequences? Rachel says it was at that moment she realized that she too faced a huge decision. She followed the Lord’s calling and left her home across the ocean to serve the poor and needy street children of Guatemala.
In her early career, Rachel was a primary school teacher for seven years before attending Bible college in southern England. After arriving in Guatemala, Rachel worked first for the Street Children’s Ministry and then for a large church in Guatemala City where she was responsible for children’s outreach in two rural villages. She served for 17 years in these positions.
A multi-talented guy, Julio held several service positions prior to joining GSG Missions. For a time, he served as Administrator of the San Lucas market, after which he was self-employed as a butcher in Santiago. Then, he worked for eight years in a Christian orphanage as manager of the farm that supported the orphanage.
A short time before joining GSG, Julio and Rachel had taken the step of leaving their respective jobs, believing that God had something new for them to do together in service to Him. Soon they were contacted by GSG staff member, Mark Valliancourt, with whom Julio had previously worked at the orphanage. Mark invited them for coffee and subsequently asked them to join God Said Go Missions full-time. Rachel said, “we were so excited and we haven’t looked back.”
Rachel’s first love is working with the village children. She has felt privileged to give them backpacks full of school supplies without which they would be unable to attend school. In January 2026, GSG distributed these to 303 children in seven rural villages. She also enjoys giving food supplies to the rural churches so that the children can have nutritious snacks during their weekly Bible Club meetings.
Because of Julio’s love of off-road driving, he has the “perfect” job as lead driver for GSG. On clinic days, he thoroughly enjoys talking with and advising the villagers. He shared a fond memory of one day with the children of El Brazil. After the school backpacks were distributed, the village children invited Julio and Rachel to swim in the river with them. They all jumped in and the children were thrilled that they joined in the swim day.
Julio and Rachel believe that God’s call on their lives is to help those in need. They have learned to see the needs of others in a more profound way since serving with GSG Missions
