Adolfo Tries Again
God sends the right people into a man’s life when he battles discouragement.
Adolfo Durón was born into a poor but hard-working Catholic family in San Juan Pueblo. Being the youngest of seven children, he was expected to work hard like the rest of his family. At the age of seven, he sold bread, tamales, and pastries that his mother baked in her own kitchen, and vegetables from his family’s garden. To increase his sales, he sold the items at bus stops—until one day an accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. After taking time off to heal, he went back to work while attending school.
Then he met Marta Lidia Martínez. She came from an Adventist family. Adolfo didn’t know much about Adventists; he just knew that he liked Marta. They eventually married and moved to the district of Copan. During the early years of their marriage, Adolfo began to read his Bible and felt convicted about the Sabbath truth. This is when Satan began his attack on Adolfo.
Adolfo started to exhibit rebellious behaviors that Marta had never seen before. His poor choices multiplied to such an extent that he fell into a life of crime, which eventually landed him in prison for six years. Marta and their children were then forced to move in with her parents. Unfortunately, she felt so discouraged that she stopped attending church.
While Adolfo was in prison, he met an Adventist evangelist who invited him to attend a Bible study group for prisoners. Adolfo turned to the Bible once again and studied the Adventist message in depth. Adolfo fell in love with the living Word of God.
But when Adolfo was released, he felt discouraged by his past. He went back to San Juan Pueblo to reunite with his wife and children, but he honestly believed that God had rejected him because of his former life of sin and vice. I’m forever lost, he thought. But God had not cast him away.
God sent the right person into his life at that time. Brother Ángel Alberto, a local Seventh-day Adventist elder, befriended him and encouraged him to trust in God. He reassured him that God would help him make a complete change in his life. Marta also encouraged Adolfo to try again. She wanted him to attend church with her.
Finally the perseverance of Ángel and Marta bore fruit. The conviction to keep the Sabbath holy grew in his heart until working on Saturdays was painful to him. Adolfo started to attend the Seventh-day Adventist church with his family. A Bible worker assigned to the San Juan church started Bible studies with Adolfo and Marta, and in an evangelistic campaign, the couple decided to give their lives to Jesus through baptism.
Adolfo and Marta are active in their local church today. They feel a sincere desire to serve God and know that He has a purpose for their lives. They see that God was there for them during the most difficult moments of their journey, and they thank Him for sending encouragement at just the right time.
Location
Honduras
Author
Marcos Mendoza is a district pastor in La Ceiba, Honduras.
How You Can Help
Pray for Adolfo and Marta to continue the work that God has for them in their church and especially outside the church.
Pray for the radio and television programs in Honduras to continue reaching people who otherwise might never hear the truth!
Give to help preach God’s last warning message to this predominately Catholic country by sending your donation marked “Honduras” to:
Mission Projects International
PO Box 151
Inchelium, WA 99138
To give securely online, visit:
www.missionspro.org/donate