Changed Lives

It is truly a blessing to witness God at work in transforming hearts and changing lives.  Below are testimonies and stories of our recovery residents and graduates.  We invite you to pause and pray for each one when you complete reading their story.  Prepare yourself to be inspired!

From a Mess to a Message
Kyonda and her two brothers and sister were raised by their single mother and were in and out of shelters most of their young lives. “I had a rough childhood and always felt the cards I was dealt weren’t fair,” she recalls. At 23, she struggled to hold a job because of her poor work ethic, so she couldn’t afford an apartment of her own.
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This Isn't How It Should Be
Raimundo grew up in a broken home, deprived of the love, attention and acceptance every child needs. At age 16, he found what he longed for on the streets. “I was in a gang because they showed me family love,” he told counselors at our Bethel Mission men’s emergency shelter.
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A Bold Vision for a Bright Future
It was an accident. Johnny had no plans to end up in an emergency room. In fact, he had no plans at all when he came to Iowa from Texas with a friend. They were both using alcohol and drugs and simply took a road trip. Not long after they arrived, Johnny was driving his friend’s truck when he swerved to miss a deer.
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Come As You Are
No words can describe the pain of losing a child. When Jessica’s little girl passed away five years ago, her doctor prescribed medication to help her cope. But she grew dependent on the pills and turned to harder substances like cocaine and meth.
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Michael's Story
Michael was born on the south side of Chicago and “growing up was pretty normal,” he says. Sadly, “normal” as Michael describes it meant being smacked around a lot by his parents, skipping school, run-ins with the police and fighting in bars.
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My Story Has A New Beginning
Katie was in a long-term relationship with a man who shared her substance-abuse issues. He was also the father of her two young sons. And he was mentally and physically abusive.
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Learning Her Life Matters
“I tried killing myself in the past, but obviously God had a different plan for me,” says 24-year-old Liz, a resident of our Hope Family Center. We became her “last hope” after a five-year battle with mental health issues including depressing, anxiety, bulimia and self-injury. Her struggles led to several periods of hospitalization and being asked to leave college. Continue reading...

Extreme Makeover: Hope Edition
“I’ve been an alcoholic all my life,” says 55-year-old Charlie. For the past seven years, his alcohol was shared and encouraged by a girlfriend who was an addict too. “We were both working, but barely scraping by. We lost her house in foreclosure. We stayed with my mom for a couple of years and moved out when my girlfriend received an inheritance.” But sadly, that only exacerbated the problem. Now the couple didn’t have to hold jobs, and they continued their heavy drinking. Continue reading...

Open for Hope - 365 Days a Year!
The stress of being homeless doesn’t end at 5 p.m. You can’t set aside your worries at bedtime and pick them up in the morning. Homelessness is a constant pressure from which there is no relief, squeezing every ounce of hope from its victims.

“I was alone on the Raccoon River, homeless and living in a tent, drinking and using drugs. I’d become so helpless. It was either take my life or get help,” says 35-year-old Jamie, now a resident of our Hope Family Center.. Continue reading...

Kindness Speaks Volumes in any Language
The power of the Gospel can transcend any language barrier … and the depth of compassion can extend beyond words. We saw evidence of these truths during 40-year-old Hector’s stay at our men’s emergency shelter.
Hector, who speaks limited English, came to our Bethel Mission facility looking for a place to sleep, food to eat... and someone, anyone, who cared. “I was alone. I asked God for people to help me,” he said through a translator. Continue reading...

How can I move forward, if I can’t shake my past?!
“When I went to prison, I had every intention of doing my time and then continuing my drug use,” says 51-year-old John Hall, who had been in and out of treatment centers his entire adult life and was finally incarcerated for drug charges. Throughout his 30-year battle with substance abuse, he just couldn’t seem to shake his past.

“Now I believe with all my heart God had other ideas for me.” Continue reading ...

I Believe I Can Do Anything... I See a Light!
Angela and her two children—12-year-old Michael and 14-year-old LaTasha—came to Hope Family Center just before Christmas last year. They moved here from Chicago to make a new start, but Angela's battle with drug and alcohol abuse finally left them homeless. Continue reading ...

Hope Ministries Opened My Heart
Only now does 34-year-old Tracy comprehend the full magnitude of the gift she received at Hope Ministries. When she first came to our Hope Family Center in July 2009, she was seeking nothing more than a place that would help her overcome her drug addiction. Continue reading ...

Hope Ministries graduate John Hall awarded PCHC Inspiration & Achievement Award
John Hall, 51, came to Hope Ministries in October 2007. In fact, he was paroled to us from the Newton prison. He told our staff he had struggled with addiction issues for the past 30 years and had been in and out of treatment centers for his entire adult life. His routine, he explained, was to complete treatment by "going through the motions" until his time was up and then returning to his old ways. His longest stretch clean and sober before coming to Hope Ministries? Sixty days. Continue reading ...

The Difference for Trey
After years of struggling with drugs—and serving his third prison term—29-year-old Trey, a Texas native, knew he needed to find a Christ-centered long-term recovery program. “There’s a hole in me. I’ve been dealing with life on my own terms. I can’t do it on my own. I know I need God.” He was excited to find what he was seeking—at Hope Ministries—here in Iowa. Continue reading ...

Feed the Body, Nourish the Soul
At 53, Danny has battled alcohol abuse since he was 17. Earlier this year, he came to our Bethel Mission emergency shelter for men in crisis because he had no other place to go. After a few weeks, he transitioned to our Journey of Hope recovery program at our Door of Faith facility and even had a work assignment there. “But the alcohol bit me again,” he says. “So I knew I had to pack my stuff and leave.” Continue reading ...

I Am No Longer Called ... An Addict
Som began drinking heavily in the 80s . . . and as his addiction escalated, his life disintegrated. “During that time, I didn’t care about anything. I only thought of myself,” he recalls. His self-centeredness led to divorce, and his irresponsibility got him fired from the company where he’d worked for 16 years. He found another job, but lost that, too. He began a new relationship, but it went nowhere. Continue reading ...

The Power of U, Lives Are Changed!
Because of you, 26-year-old Johnna is clean and sober . . . she has a growing relationship with her children . . . and she’s discovered a true family in God who offers unconditional acceptance and love, two things she never believed were possible until she walked through our doors. Your compassion and generosity are extensions of God’s grace and mercy—and that gives you the power to change lives like Johnna’s through Hope Ministries’ programs and services. Continue reading ...

A Chance to Change
Charnissa's mother was an alcoholic. Her father wasn't around. She did poorly in class—when she was there at all. Many nights, she and her mom had no safe place to sleep. And sadly, while she was still a child herself, Charnissa got pregnant at 13 and never finished high school. Continue reading ...

When you’re homeless, it doesn’t matter what you used to do
Brian was addicted, lost and broken—a perfect fit for Hope Ministries. Brian is "homeless." Sadly, this label often comes with certain assumptions: "He's lazy . . . he wants a free ride." It doesn't seem to matter that Brian is the father of four daughters and a professional house painter. Continue reading ...

There Are No Failures Here
Randy was a struggling alcoholic when he came to Hope Ministries two years ago. He’d started drinking heavily in his early 20s—after his mother passed away—and for the next 25 years, life became simply a struggle for survival. “Work here, go there, do this, do that—it was never easy,” Randy recalls. He was several months into the recovery program at our Door of Faith facility when he just walked out. Continue reading ...

Johnnie Traded His Cold Hands for a Warm Heart
“Plant a seed, and it might grow,” says Johnnie, referring to his encounters with Hope Ministries’ Hope on the Streets team. Led by Cole Lindholm, director of men’s ministries, this group of volunteers takes to the streets of downtown Des Moines every Saturday, sharing information about Hope Ministries with homeless people like Johnnie and inviting them to come in out of the cold.

And that’s just what Johnnie did . . . eventually. Read the rest of Johnnie's story...

“I Came for a Meal . . . and Got So Much More!”
Rodney had been through 11 treatment centers in 20 years before he came to Hope Ministries’ Bethel Mission facility six years ago—homeless, hungry and hopeless. But that day, he surrendered his life to Christ, and never looked back.

“I was drinking by the time I was 16,” Rodney recalls. “Alcohol was my drug.” His drinking continued throughout his service in the military. While stationed in Germany, he got married and had a son. Rodney’s wife refused to return to the states with their little boy, because of Rodney’s alcohol abuse. But that didn’t damper his addiction.

Read the rest of Rodney's story...

The Best Christmas Ever ... An Even Better One to Come!
Rosario says this will be the best Christmas ever for her children, ages 7, 5 and 3. The young family moved into Hope Family Center earlier this year and was welcomed into a loving, extended family.

“It's not going to be just me and my kids at Christmas,” Rosario says, excited. “We’re around people we know. We share a house with other women and kids . . . we cook together and sit at the table together. We are all learning about Jesus and trying to change our behavior and choices."

Read the rest of Rosario's story...

I’d turned my back on God for 20 years.
Within the first week at Hope Ministries’ Bethel Mission emergency shelter, 39-year-old Bradford turned his life over to God. Just maybe, he thought, this was the answer he’d been seeking for so long!

His drinking grew heavier when he graduated and went away to school—and he fell away from God, too. "I decided to live life my way," Bradford explains.

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Reborn in Christ
"It's as if I've been this mom their entire lives!" exclaims 25-year-old Desireay, referring to her new relationship with her three children, ages 7, 5 and 3.

Her calm demeanor, patience and ability to express her love for them is how Desireay's kids know her now. But that's a far cry from the “mother” she was before coming to Hope Family Center, October 2008.

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Try Walking a Mile in My Shoes
Rock was born in 1959 in Wisconsin. His father, who died when Rock was 12, left Rock's mother when she was pregnant with Rock. Rock never met him.

"My mother didn't beat me because she was drunk. She beat me because I looked like my father," Rock observes. It was the early 60s and as Rock says, "people had a tendency to mind their own business. I'd go to school black and blue, all scratched up. Today somebody would've stepped in sooner."

Finally, when he was 11 years old, someone did. Social services. And that began his roller coaster ride of life as a child in foster care.

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Together, Shining the Light
At first, it might seem tragic or a cruel twist of fate for two men from the same family to wind up at a shelter for the homeless. But for 27-year-old Josh and his father Tom, 52, coming to know the Lord—together—at Hope Ministries has been a miracle few fathers and sons have a chance to experience, and it enables them to shine the light of hope for one another.

Josh's story ... "I was involved with marijuana and drugs, selling and toting guns around, doing a bunch of stuff that was immoral," Josh says, "and getting by by the skin of my teeth. God was giving me chance after chance, but I didn't see it at the time. So I prayed to God for help."

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I'm Forgiven
Paula thought she'd never be able to forgive herself for what had happened to her six-month-old son—for not believing her husband could be the abuser that fractured his tiny skull. But after little Jonathan was rushed to the hospital a second time for the same injury while in his dad's care, Paula's worst fears were realized.

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Were You the One Who. . .
Jesus gives us a beautifully clear picture of how we are to serve Him: Serve the least of our brothers. You and many others are the ones who reach out to feed, shelter, clothe, love and disciple our guests at Hope Ministries every day.

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Aldo Goes Home
We first told you about Aldo in our September/October 2008 Stories of Hope newsletter. We told you about his past and his reputation among homeless tent camp residents in Des Moines. We told you about an attack that resulted in his hospitalization and led him to our Bethel Mission facility to recuperate.

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Is This a Gift I Really Want?
It took only one night to change Tina's life forever. An adventurous 13-year-old, she headed to a party where she experimented with alcohol, drugs and sex for the first time. Weeks later, she learned she was pregnant.

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Through it All, God Made a Way
Becca is not addicted to drugs or alcohol. She has never shunned work and her life goal is to get her law degree. Transplanted from the streets of Bogota, Columbia, to the United States when she was a toddler, she’s faced many forms of adversity and has become stronger for it. Becoming homeless has been just one more trial to overcome. >> Continue reading

God's Love is Special Out Here
On a crisp October morning, a Hope Ministries Service and Mission Team (SAM) makes its way through the woods to a homeless tent camp where Don, aka Cowboy (pictured here), stops his work to greet them and chat for a moment.

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A Gift of Dignity
Tubes and an oxygen tank follow Bill Batty everywhere he goes at Hope Ministries’ Bethel Mission facility. But the first thing you notice about Bill is his smile—a smile that encourages you to smile, too!

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Gather 'Round Our Family Table
Lauri had punched buttons for hours trying to find shelter after being evicted from her apartment. A month earlier, her husband had been arrested. Then, Lauri’s family called social services and had her three children removed from her custody. It was the drugs—they’d stepped in to steal away her home, her children ... her very life. >> Continue reading

A Chance to Be a Kid
Austin and Gavin are energetic guys who’ve seen a lot in their short lives. Just 18 months ago, the two boys came with their mother, Kelley, to Hope Ministries’ Hope Family Center where she began working diligently to complete the H.E.A.R.T. Recovery Program. But the months before had been harrowing at times. >> Continue reading

God's Love in You
Fred Lehman, a counselor at Hope Ministries, feels a God-given, gut-level love for the men he works with in the STAR recovery program. “I was a shy and fearful person until I was 19,” Fred recalls. “But God gave me an experience one day when I was raking leaves in the yard; it was a bottomless love for Him. Now I have this overwhelming sense of God’s love and His value of the people around me.” >> Continue reading

One Man's Journey of Hope
Today Jeff Sullivan has hope. Despite his past struggles with drugs and alcohol. Despite the spinal cord injuries that limit his movement and his ability to work. Despite homelessness. >> Continue reading

God Wants Me Just As I Am
Men and women come to Hope Ministries with broken hearts, broken bodies and broken lives. There’s no need to fake a smile or pretend everything is okay when you walk through our doors—we’ll take you just as you are because that’s how God takes each and every one of His children. Here, Jenni, a resident at Hope Family Center, shares how she’s gone from brokenness to blessing. >> Continue reading

Welcome, Pardon, Cleanse, Relieve
“Each time I’ve moved an inch toward God, He’s moved 10 feet toward me,” Dirk observes. But his journey hasn’t been easy. “My brothers were real party animals and I idolized them. I was the golden child who got great grades. I decided that wasn’t very cool. I wanted to get great grades and be a party animal, too.” >> Continue reading

A Story of Restitution

A Story of Restitution Recently, Bill Primrose, a staff chaplain at Hope Ministries, related the following story to Cole Lindholm, our program director. About a year ago, a resident at Bethel Mission tipped the candy machine and took out the quarters—around $7. We did not know who did it until today! >> Continue reading

Sig Gunderson
“Sig was a small man with a Goliath personality,” says Fred Lehman, a longtime counselor at Hope Ministries’ Bethel Mission. “He backed many a staff member into the corner with his instructive finger, warning us to always love the men God sent us.” >> Continue reading

The Ministry of Valentino

At the recent wake for Valentino, a once-homeless man who often depended on Hope Ministries for support, there was standing room only. “Much of his life was made up of bad choices and hard knocks,” says David Burrier, chief development officer at Hope Ministries. “But he spent the last three years of his life evangelizing; he loved Jesus.” >> Continue reading

Randy's Story
After Randy graduated from Hope Ministries’ STAR program in June 2006, he moved to Hope Transitional Housing and began saving for the day he could move out on his own. Two months later he was picked up for driving drunk. >> Continue reading

Allan's Story
Allan joined Hope Ministries’ recovery program last year, but his heart just wasn’t in it. Soon, he was asked to leave. “So I camped in the woods near Gray’s Lake,” Allan says. “My campsite turned into a community of 15-20. We even had a church that preached on Sundays. But after three months, the weather turned cold and my health turned bad.” >> Continue reading

From Tragic to Tremendous: Amy's testimony, complete and unedited!
Twenty years into knowing Christ as my savior, I found myself at an amazing and all too familiar place -- an extreme rollercoaster of the mind, with killer nosebleed highs and crash rash lows.  How in the world did I end up on this ride?  >> Continue reading

God Wants Me Just As I Am
Men and women come to Hope Ministries with broken hearts, broken bodies and broken lives. There’s no need to fake a smile or pretend everything is okay when you walk through our doors—we’ll take you just as you are because that’s how God takes each and every one of His children. Here, Jenni, a resident at Hope Family Center, shares how she’s gone from brokenness to blessing.  >> Continue reading

I've Found a Safe and Loving Family Here
My name is Aliscia. I am 29 years old and the youngest of five sisters. My mother was an alcoholic and all my sisters became drug addicts by the time they were 17. I took my first line of meth at 16. >> Continue reading

A Christmas Like No Other
Since childhood, Gerome Crayton had battled insecurity and doubts.  “My real father wasn’t there and my stepfather was an alcoholic.  I had my first drink at 11, then started smoking pot.  It was peer pressure, and I wanted to be accepted.” >> Continue reading

Food for Thought
Jeff Johnson was no stranger to success before coming to Hope Ministries. A graduate of the Culinary School of America in Albany, New York, he had a good career as a chef in some major hotel chains. But when he moved to Des Moines with his girlfriend, the relationship just fell apart. “I had an alcohol problem. Finally, my girlfriend asked me to go to Hope Ministries. I felt hurt, shame and loneliness,” he says. >> Continue reading

Healing for Kelley's Family
Kelley came with her sons, Gavin, 7, and Austin, 8, to Hope Family Center December 9, 2005. “I wanted to change my life,” she says. “I’d been in trouble, and in and out of treatment while my boys stayed with my older daughter. I knew if nothing changed, I’d end up in prison.” >> Continue reading

Hope on the Streets
But shortly after he moved into his own apartment, Gary succumbed to the temptation of the bottle. “I waited long enough to make sure Pastor Fred Lehman (a Hope Ministries chaplain) wasn’t around,” he admits. >> Continue reading

A Family Reconciled Through Hope
It came out of nowhere — a meth-induced seizure that left John Routh dazed and confused. But somehow through the mist, John realized one important thing: he was screwed up and his life needed to change. >> Continue reading

Hope's Bright Promise
Currently, 17 mothers and children representing five families make their temporary home at Hope Family Center. Through our H.E.A.R.T. Recovery Program, mothers attend life-skills and Bible classes, and become more stable parents. >> Continue reading

The Welcome Mat is Out, The Table is Set

>> the Welcome Mat Story
>> Wallace helps Hope Ministries

God has been my lifesaver here at Hope Ministries

When Gerome looks back on his childhood, he doesn’t remember many happy times.  He had a congenital problem that forced him to wear diapers until he was 12.  The other kids teased him unmercifully, and he had few friends.  Things weren’t much better at home.  His alcoholic stepfather beat his mother. >> Continue reading

Veterans Find Forgiveness at Hope

Each night, a veteran sleeps in one of every four beds at Bethel Mission and The Door. Some fought in the Persian Gulf War and Korea while others simply served during peacetimes; almost half served during the Vietnam War. >> Continue reading

Cora
In God We Trust

Cora felt battered by life and by love. For 10 years she had struggled to hold her family together despite abusive relationships and her own addiction to alcohol. >> Continue reading

Jesse Souder
The Road to Success

When Jesse Souder’s attorney dropped him at Hope Ministries’ Bethel Mission, Jesse thought it would be one more stop in a long line of institutional settings he’d experienced in his brief life. >> Continue reading

Tim Graff
The Emblem of Suffering and Shame

Tim Graff masked the shame stemming from his alcohol and drug addiction with selfishness and apathy. “When I was drinking and drugging, I couldn’t have cared less about how anybody — my family included — felt about what I was doing,” he says, looking back. >> Continue reading

Earl's Story
Bread of Life

The contrast between the “old Earl” who walked into Bethel Mission two years ago and the “new Earl” preparing for a Bible study today is so radical, he says, “I don’t feel like Earl anymore!” >> Continue reading

Joey Brown
God Opens Doors for Guys Like Me

Joey Brown dragged himself out of a thick alcohol-induced stupor one morning last spring and immediately realized he was covered with urine. As his mind registered the smell, the feeling and the shame, he said to himself, “This has got to stop. >> Continue reading

Brian McFadden
A New Way of Thinking

As Warren McElvaney, a chaplain at Hope Ministries, walked the familiar campus of his alma mater, Trinity Bible College in Ellendale, North Dakota, he felt a rush of nostalgia and a deep sense of gratitude to God.  Beside him, maneuvering the paths with the aid of a cane, was Brian McFadden, 44, a student in The Door's STAR (Spiritual Training and Recovery) program. >> Continue reading

Ron Keifer
No Other Way but Surrender

It was bad enough living in an orphanage without a family to love.  But when Ron Keifer suffered the advances of the resident staff, it was more than the child could take.  "It took all the life out of me, " Ron says today.  Drugs became a way to escape the abuse, the loneliness, and the lack of love. >> Continue reading

Chuck Malloy
Image of Hope

Chuck Malloy holds up his little finger. “My patience is about the size of my pinkie,” he says. The self-ascribed “stubborn old goat” and biker has completed Hope Ministries’ Men’s Resident Program at Door of Faith and waits for an opening in public housing and for disability payments to begin. >> Continue reading

Jack Lamont
Touched by a Loving Heart

Jack Lamont began wandering Chicago’s inner-city streets when he was 12. As an adult, he married, had children, worked as a carpenter, divorced — and drank when he was looking for a good time. Soon, he was drinking all the time. >> Continue reading

Jim Renwick
Testimony of Transformation

Jim was released from prison in 2007 after a four-year sentence and found work with a trucking service. “But I got laid off a year later, and with my record I just couldn’t find another job.” He also has a past of alcohol and drug abuse he didn’t want to return to. “My goal was to get to Hope Ministries and get some good help with life skills and a career change.” >> Continue reading