Crossing the threshold to hope

By Elsa Hein
Paraguay

Note: Elsa and Bertram Hein have served as directors of Alto Refugio for 15-plus years. This ministry to people dealing with HIV/AIDS in Asunción, Paraguay, has welcomed and ministered to hundreds of individuals and families through the years. Begun by EMC missionaries David and Judy Schmidt, the EMC continues to support Alto Refugio through Project Builders and other special projects. Elsa has been compiling short stories and testimonies of many of these dear people. Enjoy reading the following story of God’s transformative work in Angel’s life.

Elsa Hein inside Alto Refugio. (Photo supplied)

At Alto Refugio, the first visit is much more than a formality; it is the moment when masks are allowed to fall. When a young man named Angel stepped through our door for the first time, he looked like someone carrying the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. Our coworker Cinthia—petite and delicately built but blessed with an inner strength that leaves no room for doubt—welcomed him. She invited him into the counselling room, but Angel stood rooted to the spot in the doorway. His gaze fixated on the book on the table. “I don’t want to be in this room,” he said with a hoarse voice. “Not with a Bible on the table. This book only shows me that I have burdened myself with a lot of guilt.”

At this moment, the story could have ended. However, Cinthia did not respond with accusations, but with a calmness that filled the room. She promised him that the Bible was not a book of accusation, but a guide to freedom. She explained to him that forgiveness is an offer to everyone—a door that is open, but through which one must walk themselves.

The ice broke. Angel sat down and began to talk. He spoke of the dark years he had spent working in a brothel. A life on the edge, characterized by coldness and loneliness. The end came abruptly: His boss ordered HIV tests for all employees. Angel’s result was positive. With the diagnosis came dismissal. He stood before nothing—marked by a disease and haunted by his past, he was devastated.

Cinthia listened without judging. She helped him change his perspective: sometimes God leads us down paths that we initially do not understand. What feels like the end can be protection from an even deeper abyss. She showed him that God has a plan that goes beyond a medical diagnosis.

What happened next touched us deeply. Angel confessed with tears in his eyes: “I have been searching for God for so long. But I never knew where and how to find him.” The supposed “accusation” he had feared in the Bible turned into an invitation. He asked Cinthia to write down the Bible verses she had read to him. He didn’t want to say a prayer immediately in front of others—he wanted to go home, read the words in silence, and make his beginning with Christ all alone, without an audience.

Angel left, but he is no longer alone. He now carries words of hope in his pocket. We at Alto Refugio now accompany him in the most important way possible for us: in prayer. We trust that the Holy Spirit will continue the work that began in this small counseling room.