The Argaw & Rachel Ayeles Family

I was born and raised in a home where we did believe that Jesus existed and that He was our Savior. However, we weren’t consistent with going to church, and we didn’t really live our lives like we were saved. One Sunday, my whole family went to a church and there was a Youth Mime ministry doing a pantomime about Mary Magdalene and her washing Jesus’ feet with her hair. The Lord touched each of my family members’ hearts that day and we started going to church, reading our Bibles, and living for Christ. I went on a few mission trips during high school and knew that someday I would be a missionary. I had such a desire for Ethiopia , specifically for “some” reason. I never really pursued it, though. I just thought it was a dream that would probably never get fulfilled. Well, then I went to Hungary to go to Bible college and found Argaw there. That’s where we met, where God showed me who my husband was going to be, and that my dream for Ethiopia was going to be a reality. That’s my story!

I was born and grew up without any sort of religion in our home up until someone put our house on fire. At some point my family started to practice Coptic orthodoxy, the national religion of Ethiopia . In the Orthodox church, there is nothing to do with a personal relationship with Jesus. As a result of that I did not grow up being taught the Bible, only tradition. I had a friend who grew up in a Christian family. He was a good Christian and a good friend to me. He always would tell me about Christianity and about Christ. But I would make fun of him and mock him sometimes. However, he would never give up and would tell me more and more about his relationship with Jesus. One day he begged me to go to his church with him and I said yes. But, I didn’t go sincerely; I wanted to see something in order to make fun of him, and I also just wanted to make him happy. It was a Friday evening program we went to. When I went into the church, I saw people worshiping the Lord in such a way that I had never seen before, and the glory of the Lord was there. I found myself different from that congregation; I felt like I was lost. So at this point I decided to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior in my heart and started a new life. After having this new life for awhile, I backslid because I loved this present world. I left the Lord and even the country. But the Lord has never left me; He actually took me to a place where I needed Him even more. He led me to a foreign country which I had never heard of ( Hungary ) to mold me and shape me. He made me to see Him and obey in the middle of nowhere. Praise the Lord! While in Hungary , I sought asylum as a refugee. In the refugee camp, there was a missionary from Oregon who ministered to the refugees there and taught them the book of Romans and gave his testimony. I went to this Bible study and soon started to have a separate Bible study with him. That was the turning point of my life. I was actually planning on going to England from Hungary , but as a result of the Bible study with Josh Yoder, I stayed in Hungary . I gave my life completely to Jesus Christ and God changed me. From that point, I stopped striving by myself and started waiting on the Lord. After wrestling with God for so long, He won, like He did with Jacob. After a while, Josh took me to his church, Calvary Chapel Budapest, and the pastor offered me the opportunity to go to Bible college in Vajta on a scholarship. I finished 2 years of Bible college and 1 year of internship at the college. Before my internship was over, the Lord called me back to Ethiopia and I denied. I didn’t want to return to my country. But, over time, I realized that I would not be happy unless I did the Lord’s will. It was after I submitted to the Lord in this area that He brought me my wife, Rachel, and confirmed that this was for sure His will.