Remembering Arnoldo Alvarez

​Dear friends of the Alvarez Family,

This past spring, while Honduras battled the COVID-19 pandemic and national shutdown this spring, Arnoldo was diagnosed with gastric cancer. In September, his condition worsened rapidly and after pursuing several treatment avenues, he entered palliative care in late October. Arnoldo passed away in the early morning of November 3, 2020.

Arnoldo's ministry took shape in a fairly chance encounter over 30 years ago. In 1986, Arnoldo was working at a Honduran humanitarian organization when a petition came across his desk from a group of Wheaton College students searching for a local partner who would facilitate a clean water initiative in Honduras. Arnoldo agreed to engineer this project, and hosted the team of students in the spring of 1987. After that first trip, a partnership was born and Arnoldo began the full-time work of engineering water projects in rural mountain villages, spanning several Honduran states. 

Arnoldo liked to joke that his work advertises itself. Over his career, it has not been uncommon for him to be approached (or chased down!) by  local leaders who, upon seeing his work, sought to make similar requests on behalf of their own villages. The petitions on his desk have only accumulated.

In 1992, Arnoldo married Maria Elena, and together they and their family have brought clean water to over 300 communities in partnership with Wheaton College, Impact*Honduras, Opportunity International, LAMP, Louder Than Words, Rotary International and several other groups. 

The Alvarez’ ministry is one of transformative community development and capacity building through loving relationships, empowerment and placing decisions in the hands of local community members. This model - based in the gospel conviction of Arnoldo and Maria Elena - has impacted the health & flourishing of over a hundred thousand lives in Honduras whose homes, schools, and churches now enjoy clean water. Over the years, they have hosted countless students and friends in their home, often for months at a time, folding so many of us into their lives year after year. 

​Arnoldo & Maria Elena’s lives have been an outpouring of hospitality & love to all who have known them, and we give thanks for the abundant fruit of their many steps of faith & obedience to God. If you are interested in giving to the Alvarez', please feel free to donate monetarily and/or to share a few words of thanks. Short video messages are being collected for the Alvarez family and can be sent to [email redacted] (dot)com through November 15th.

Arnoldo has led thousands of people in the memorization of Psalm 23, and it serves as an appropriate reminder for all of us today: "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."