The Christian Evangelical Church, Pastor Huerta, has always been a social outreach-oriented church. I have known this church for over 18 years, as it was the first church that we partnered with in Uruguay. The church doctrine and practices are similar to the Southern Baptists.
Over the last two years, they have created a drug rehabilitation program. This has been a vision of the Pastor for a long time. Asado Ministries has bought the church two completely gutted and restored 53’ “containers” (connex boxes) that they use as dormitories for the twenty men in the program. The church has added six bathrooms and a porch/deck that connects the two “dormitories” to make the atmosphere feel more like home.
The dorm area is located on fifteen acres of land that is two miles from the church. In 2017, Pablo and Marienella Pedrosa approached us with a presentation for this land to be genuinely turned into agricultural production with the purpose of giving the drug rehab residents an opportunity to do hard work that is both satisfying and productive for the program and for the church.
Pablo and Marinella have attended a vocational training in horticulture and agriculture and have created a huge irrigation system and greenhouse, also with funds donated by Asado Ministries.
When we visited the farm in March, 2018, things were really coming together. Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, all kinds of fruits and vegetables were in fine form and were being produced in abundance. The food that was being produced on the farm was used to feed its residence, with the excess being sold to local markets after many donations to the local church. There were also enough farm animals to keep the residents fed.
We hope to sponsor Pablo on a trip to Cumming, Georgia to spend a week with No Longer Bound, a twenty-year successful drug rehabilitation program in this area. Please see their website at https://nolongerbound.com.
As you can see by the pictures below, this program is nearly self-sustaining. However, they need more dormitories as they get calls daily from potential applicants that they turn must away for lack of space.
Asado Ministries truly enjoys encouraging the vision of Pastor Huerta and his church and assisting in this much-needed program. The key to the program is incorporating the word of God into the souls of the participants. No rehab program, however successful on the surface, will ultimately remain successful without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Pastor has given this program special guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit, and this program is working well. It is exciting to be involved in this ministry that we know has the potential to grow exceedingly.
