Women with a Mission

In the city of Poptun, Guatemala, approximately 70 percent of girls between the ages of 10 and 19 have been molested by a friend or family member. Many of these girls are forced to live on the streets, some of them pregnant due to the molestation by family members. All of these girls were abandoned by those who should care for them. Seeing this travesty happening in their community, an amazing couple from a Pentecostal Church of God named Cony and Luis Paredes accepted their mission and opened their hearts and small home to these young girls. The mission became known as the Ahikam Girl’s Home.


In June of 2011 the Women of the Pentecostal Church of God accepted their mission to partner with Ahikam Girls Home by building a facility to house these young girls whose lives had known only abuse and abandonment. By August of 2012 we had raised close to $50,000 to complete that Mission! Ahikam has now expanded its reach to all children regardless of gender due to the tremendous need in the area. Children are now being sent to Ahikam from the Guatemalan Court System with absolutely NO FUNDING from the government.


The building project has faced several delays and set-backs, but under the leadership of our missionaries, Les and Charlene Melton, we are hopeful that the Ahikam Children’s Home will be officially occupied in the near future. We will complete the mission!


On August of 2012 our mission brought a team of women and a few brave men from across the United States to Poptun and were met by missionaries Les and Charlene Melton and daughter Rosalie. While there, we worked at the construction site and ministered to the children in their current rented facility. We ministered to Momma Cony and Papa Luis, giving them some much deserved time off; for Momma Cony, a day at the beauty shop. While in Guatemala we conducted workshops to teach the children various crafts, and we purchased much needed appliances, food, and supplies to care for their physical needs. We shared the love of Christ with each precious child and ministered to them both physically and spiritually. Our time in Guatemala concluded with a powerful communitywide dedication service at the construction site of the new Ahikam Children’s Home. At the end of the service, the children displayed a table of the items they had made. Many items were purchased by those in attendance. I wish you could have seen their faces as people began to purchase these items!


Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to provide your love, prayers, and continued financial support for these precious children of Ahikam. Join the mission; get connected to Empowered Women’s Ministries.