Drugs, violence, crime and participation in the occult were all part of Pastor Efraín Cabrera’s life before God rescued him and radically changed his life! He knows firsthand the vulnerabilities of the youth and adolescents in Paraguay. He also knows the rejection they often experience from religious people and society at large.

In response to the way God transformed his life, Pastor Efraín opened the Youth Recreation Center in Asunción, Paraguay, to help kids avoid the same lifestyle and give them hope for a better future. The center is a sanctuary for the youth, a safe place to gather, enjoy, learn and receive spiritual guidance. The center’s primary goal is to offer God’s love daily and create a place of acceptance and belonging for at-risk youth.

Currently, in phase one, the center offers soccer, volleyball, ping-pong and boxing programs. They plan to expand to include computers kids can use for homework or job applications and a projector for movie screenings. The vision for the future is to add an addiction rehabilitation center and a shelter for abused women and victims of human trafficking or violence.

Through various activities, the center aims to keep young people off the streets and guide them toward personal restoration so their adult lives will be based upon the principles of the Word of God.

The center has already made a difference in the life of Gabriel León. He and a friend found the center to be a place of refuge from their neighborhood — an area plagued by drugs, violence and crime. Their lives have been transformed. Both young men attend the local church, and Gabriel is training for leadership under the center’s director, Martín Ferreira. Gabrial invites others from his neighborhood to the center to experience God’s goodness and love. He dreams of one day becoming a missionary or a pastor.

The Youth Recreation Center is an outreach of the local Free Methodist Church, “Encuentro con Jesús” (Encounter with Jesus). Please keep this center in your prayers as they expand their ministry to participate with God in the restoration of Asunción, Paraguay. Also, pray for Gabriel and others like him as they experience God’s transformation in their lives and futures!

*The information for this article was obtained from Pastor Efraín Cabrera and Martín Ferreira