Amy and Adbeel DeYoung-Alvarez
Amy took her first overseas mission trip to Guatemala in 1999 where she heard God’s call to serve Him overseas for life. She went to Guatemala full-time in September 2001 where she served with New Life School in Santa Maria de Jesus using her skills as an occupational therapist. Amy did therapy in the children’s homes to learn more about the culture and develop close relationships with a core group of mothers. Over the years her role shifted from therapist to Biblical teaching/counseling/mentoring.
Adbeel is from Guatemala City and has a degree in marketing. He began itinerant ministry in 2001 working alongside various churches in teaching, prophetic and prayer ministry. In 2010 the Lord gave Him the vision of raising a place of worship and prayer before His Throne.
Adbeel and Amy met while serving together and planning a prayer conference in Guatemala City. They married in September 2012 and continue in ministry together. Their ministry focus is raising and training true Biblical disciples who realize the dignity of work and live out the ethics of Christ on a daily basis. They raised a Prayer Room in Guatemala City and also began a House of Prayer and church in the home they rent. Their vision is to disciple and train a new generation of disciples, missionaries, and ministers true to God’s Word to serve Him wherever He calls. They believe God desires to prepare Guatemalans and other Latin Americans to be sent overseas as missionaries in the future.
Adbeel develops aquaponics technologies and trains people in organic farming practices. He partners with other ministries in Guatemala and in Aguachapan, El Salvador where he trains members of the community in building and caring for aquaponics systems as a means of food sustainability.
Guatemala is very mountainous so land is limited and expensive. Adbeel and Amy searched for more than 3 years to find a piece of land to build their ministry center. In August 2018 they found and purchased a rustic 2.3-acre piece of land near Alotenango, Sacatepequez. They drilled a 595 footwell on the property in 2019 and began building the retreat center in 2020. The property is completely off-grid regarding energy. They rely solely upon solar and wind power with the exception of the well pump which currently runs by a generator. They plan to transition the well pump to solar/wind in the future, but the water depth makes it a more costly endeavor.
Adbeel and Amy continue raising funds to finish the first phase of the retreat center development. The property also serves as an experimental organic farm to teach farmers good farming practices which will help them obtain better overall results and also help to sustain the retreat center. It has a small aquaponics training facility as well. The next thing they plan to build is a library for pastors and other individuals looking for uncommon yet sound theological writings dating back to the first century after Christ. They desire the retreat center to be a place of prayer before the Throne of God where His disciples discover the lost art and discipline of prayer and are instilled with the values of daily devotion, listening to God’s voice, communing with Him, and the dignity of work.
Adbeel is also helping to develop micro-businesses for some of the youth in Santa Maria de Jesus who graduated from the school Amy started serving alongside in 2001.
Amy homeschools Krista (born June 2013), Noah (April 2015), and Hannah (May 2017).