Young, Abandoned, & Homeless
She searched for small jobs to provide food for herself and her infant daughter. Y usually found work washing clothes and often used the laundry soap to wash her baby, too. Living on the streets of La Ceiba, Honduras, was hard and dirty. Y was 15 years old, alone, and angry. She felt abandoned. In fact, Y had been abandoned. Her mother had left her with her grandmother when she was just a baby. Her baby’s father left her while she was still pregnant. Shortly after Y’s daughter was born, her grandmother died, and her grandfather left to live with a new woman. Y had nowhere to go. No family to lean on and a young baby to care for. She tried to make the odd jobs enough, but they weren’t. She realized she needed help. Y arrived at a missions hospital with her malnourished 15-month-old daughter, who weighed just 15 pounds. Then, almost two years ago, God provided Y the opportunity to live at MTW’s Puerta de Esperanza (Door of Hope). 

Puerta de Esperanza (PDE) was started in 2011 by MTW missionaries as a way to break the cycle of single motherhood, poverty, and abuse prevalent in Honduras. In Honduras, 50 percent of children are born to single mothers and 80 percent of those do not even have a father listed on their birth certificate. The average age for a first-time mother is just 15 years. Poverty is rampant and many of these young girls end up in abusive situations just to provide for their children. 

New Life, New Heart
Y’s life was changed immediately when she arrived at PDE. In fact, her arrival at PDE was just the first step. With feelings of abandonment and guilt weighing heavily on her, she struggled to be part of the family at the home. Over the last two years, Y has shown increasing responsibility and achievement, graduating from beauty school and holding a job at a hair salon. 

But it is the changes in Y’s heart that make her story so compelling. Y has truly struggled to see how she is loved by God and others. She is slowly seeing God’s grace working in her life. Y says now, “God truly loves me and my daughter. He loves me just as I am. I have also learned to forgive from my heart.” Y’s understanding of grace is helping her to break the cycle of poverty and abandonment. She is healing from her wounds and repairing relationships, including with her estranged mother. God’s grace is softening Y’s heart to bring small changes in her behavior and attitude each day, bringing hope for the future. 

Learning Independence
Puerta de Esperanza is already filled to capacity with four young women and their children. The young women are cared for by two housemothers and the house is managed by MTW missionary Shannon Ordoñez. As the girls live in the home, they are also being prepared to leave. They are involved in a local church, learning to rely on the fellowship of the church body. They go to school, work, budget, contribute to the financial needs of their children, cook, clean, and take care of the home. Our vision is that they would graduate in two to three years and independently support their families and raise their children to know more of Jesus. 

Transforming Community
Puerta de Esperanza and the families that live there are part of MTW’s larger work in Honduras to plant churches and transform the La Ceiba community. We are praying that with the community’s support, these girls will break free of the cycle of bondage that has held their families for generations. Often this cycle includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, poverty, a lack of forgiveness, shame, and bitterness-and we know that the only hope of healing is Jesus Christ. We are privileged to offer that hope to these girls and to see their lives and the lives of their children transformed as they begin to grasp the truth of God’s grace.