El Ayudante has made lasting impacts on hundreds, soon to be thousands of people from both Honduras and the teams that have come to minister. It’s amazing to be a part of watching lives be impacted in a lasting way! God is changing lives!
These are just a few of the many testimonies out of there of lives that have been changed through what God is doing at El Ayudante.
Laurel – Team Member for 4 years, Jackson TN
El Ayudante Honduras – This place in and of itself has changed my entire life. The first year I went, there was nothing there but a small foundation and lots of land. Our team prayed hard over that foundation and the land, we prayed that through it people would be changed in Christ’s name. It has been an awesome experience to see the buildings going up on this property, knowing that through very giving people and these buildings lots of Honduran people can be helped with sickness. Also that they may come to know the Lord. The property itself is an abundant blessing to the people of Honduras. The services that are provided are a miracle to the people of Honduras. When I am there, I feel safe, comfortable, and at home. It has been such an awesome experience for me to see the changes from year to year on the property of El Ayudante and to see just what an awesome Christ-altering, life-changing experience El Ayudante freely gives to the people of Honduras as well as to the teams that come to work there!
Laurel
ANA RIVERA – an El Ayudante scholarship student, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
I thank God for El Ayudante and I thank God for every single one of you that supports the ministry.
I was in 5th grade when El Ayudante came into my family´s life and turned our world upside down. My dad is a pastor and my mom works for the administrative department in the Honduran Institute of Social Security. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch destroyed our church building and many members of our church had lost everything. The whole country was going through a very difficult financial situation. My parents were going to transfer me and my sister to a different school because they could no longer afford the school we were attending. But they never stopped praying for God´s provision. My dad went to El Ayudante in search of help for our church, but what El Ayudante gave him was a bigger blessing than he expected. Not only was El Ayudante the first ministry to help our church, they also started a sponsorship program so that Sarah (my sister) and I could keep on attending our school. El Ayudante is an undeserved blessing for us but it is also an answer to a prayer.
I am blessed to know that God called tender-hearted people to start this ministry, people that followed God´s calling, because through them God used the ministry to change my life. Education is scarce in a third world country like Honduras. A Christianbilingual education can´t be afforded that easily. Many don´t even think of going to college. For them it´s a foreign and unattainable dream, yet God blessed me with both.
When a team traveled to Honduras to start construction on the site in Comayagua, Honduras I went with them as a translator. During that time some talked with me about the possibility of going to America for college since I was about to graduate from high school. When I heard that, I didn´t know how to take it. I was in awe, in my head that was a very “long, far away, unattainable dream.” Nothing could ever prepare me for what God had in store for me.
After a few bumps in the road (from Union University not being able to provide enough scholarships which God later on opened doors and I was offered almost a full scholarship to the American Embassy denying my Student Visa). I was finally able to attend Union University in Jackson, TN. And 4 years later here I am, little Honduran girl with a Bachelor´s of Social Work college degree. Praise be to God!
These last 4 years in America changed my life in ways I never thought possible. God has changed my life. Even in an unknown place, where I knew no one, He held my hand tight and gave me the strength to keep going on. He showed me his love in every beautiful Jackson sunrise and sunset, He showed me his mercy and protection the night of February 5, 2008 when a tornado destroyed Union´s campus and no one should have survived yet no one died. He showed me his care by providing sponsors-donors to fulfill every need I had from grocery´s, computers, clothing, to flights home every Christmas break. He provided me with friends that I will keep in my heart forever. Friends that took me in, and loved me. They became my family, my home away from home. God indeed is good and his love and mercy are everlasting!
God shaped my life like clay and his word challenged me to become a woman of change in my country. Micah 6:8 says “He has told you, O man, What is good; and what does the Lord require from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” God spoke to my heart and gave me a burning desire to work in Honduras, help my people, love on them, and make God´s word known. I want to be a helping hand the way God through you and El Ayudante have helped me. I am scared as I walk into this new stage of my life but I am also excited to see what He has in store for me.
Know that I praise and I thank the Lord for you, your life, your support to El Ayudante, and your faith and trust in God so that He can use the ministry to change people’s lives. Thank you so much! Thank you for allowing me to dream and achieve my goals, my accomplishments wouldn´t have happened if it wasn´t for El Ayudante. Know that you´ve made a significant difference in my life, in my family´s life, and know what the bible says in Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust as to overlook your work and the love that you showed for his sake…” Nothing that you will ever do for Him and in His name will go unnoticed. El Ayudante has started a wonderful ministry in Honduras and I know that God will change my country through this ministry. I encourage you to keep on supporting El Ayudante so that through them God can keep on changing lives, so that you can remain an agent of change for His Kingdom.
Finally, I would like to thank Melvin Cox and Mark Harwell and their families, for they have been with me every step of the way and I wouldn´t have accomplished what I did without their support and love. Thank you very much! Words aren´t enough to describe how grateful I am. I will always remain in debt. Thank you! Thank you so much!
God bless El Ayudante and each sponsor that keeps this beautiful ministry moving forward. Thank you! Thank you!
Love and Blessings, your sister in Christ,
Ana Rivera