Meeting Mary Faith

The announcement has been made and the word is out that Mary Faith Yoder will be joining Sowers4Pastors as a full-time staff member–serving in an administrative capacity. Today we get to actually “meet” Mary Faith. Without further ado… Everyone, this is Mary Faith!

Mary Faith is mom to three grown sons, and grew up in a family with many siblings. She first felt called into missions as a teenager. However, she married at the age of twenty-one and got busy starting a family. She thought she would have to give up her dream of becoming a missionary. 

She said, “My original dream was to be a missionary schoolteacher. That never happened. But I did teach school for two years before homeschooling my three boys. My oldest was in the 4th grade and my middle son was in 1st grade when I started. I continued until my youngest son, who is now twenty-one, was through high school. So that’s something like eighteen years of homeschooling.”

Life doesn’t always work out as planned and Mary Faith didn’t plan on becoming a single mom when her sons were five, ten, and twelve years old. She and her sons share an incredibly close bond, and they are very supportive of her decision to move to Honduras. They probably aren’t completely surprised. She went on her first mission trip to Africa with her youngest son when he was just sixteen. It was a four-week trip! After that she went on multiple other mission trips, including another one to Africa. She talked to her boys about the possibility of moving to Honduras before making any serious decisions. 

How did she find out about the position? Mary Faith has been Facebook friends with Trish since shortly after the kidnapping. So back in April or May when Trish put out a request on Facebook for someone who would like to join S4P to primarily work in the office, Mary Faith felt the urge to reach out to her. She visited Honduras for three and a half weeks in August and got a feel for it. 

Her entire family is behind her decision to go for it! Mary Faith and her sons moved from North Carolina to Phoenix seven years ago, primarily to be closer to her parents. Her father passed away from COVID in 2020 and she was a little concerned about moving away from her mom at this time. However, her mom is healthy, active, and retired. And Mary Faith’s younger sisters are close by. It was her mom who said, “Look, if you ever want to do something like this, now is the time to do it.” 

Mary Faith with her sons and daughter-in-law.
From left to right: Adrian, Shannon, Mary Faith, Travis, Karaline

Travel to and from Honduras won’t take that much longer than when she lived in North Carolina. Mary Faith knows that the work is flexible enough that she will be able to go home for a visit when needed. 

When asked what she is most looking forward to, she said, “That’s a good question. I feel like it’s being able to make a difference. Especially since my boys are grown, it’s been my passion to do something and go somewhere I can make a difference. We all have different callings and I know there are people called to make a difference in America. But this has been a dream of mine for many years and I feel like it’s an opportunity.”

In case you’re wondering, Mary Faith is currently trying to learn Spanish. She said, “From my teenage years, I wanted to go somewhere that spoke Spanish. I wish I could have learned when I was younger and it would have been easier. But I’m excited about learning. I’ve been doing Duolingo for quite a while. I think the plan is to send me to Spanish school for a month or so when I move there.”

Trish, ready for some reinforcements in the office

Even though she is currently still raising support to be able to move to Honduras full-time, she is planning on going down in March for two weeks to help with updating the profiles of kids in the sponsorship program. Her plan is to get training and then bring a bunch of the work home to do it from there. 

Please pray for Mary Faith as she gets things in order. The timeframe of her move is dependent upon how long it takes to raise financial support. Pray also for her sons. Yes, they are grown men now but she’s still a mom! She currently works in the business of one of her sons. Pray that he will find someone to replace her in her role, as well. And, of course, pray for her upcoming trip for training.

If you want to help Mary Faith out with her fundraising, you can donate here.

-posted by Christi.