Las Aguas Verdes or “the green waters” is the on-line store for the students of Ranch Oasis for Youth’s trade school - Taller CDP (Conocimiento, Desarollo y Prosperidad).

Nestled in the mountains of Honduras, the ministry of Rancho Oasis for Youth (RO4Y) has sought a holistic approach to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with their community: touching not only the spiritual, but also mind and body, since February of 2010.

Taller CDP or “Workshop of Knowledge, Growth and Prosperity” was an answer to prayer for the directors of RO4Y.

“At that point of our ministry’s journey, we were focused on students in the elementary school range,” says RO4Y’s director, Jonathan Beard. “We were seeing youth graduate sixth-grade and then do nothing. Many had no desire to continue their education and those who did were limited by their resources. We began to ask God how to minister to these graduates and to the older youth. Taller CDP was His answer!”

Taller CDP’s focus became young people from the ages of 13 – 25. Six students enrolled the first year. Enrollment nearly tripled in size its second year with seventeen students! We have both young men and women, some of whom are single-mothers.

The school focuses on teaching the students skills in creating and selling artisan crafts that have a “redemptive” theme.

“For the most part, we use materials that have no purpose or are ready to be disposed of,” says the school’s director, Marillyn Beard. “We take those discarded magazines, pairs of jeans or t-shirts and make art! The student’s work is symbolic to the “spiritual change” that is happening in their lives. Not only are they learning skills, such as perseverance and a strong work ethic, but they are realizing hope and wholeness in God’s plan for their lives.”

Our store’s name, Las Aguas Verdes, originates from the meaning of the name of our small town, Ojojona. With its foundation dating back to the original Spanish conquistadors, Ojojona means “the place of the green water.”

This metaphor is applied at the Ranch in their approach to ministry, which includes Taller CDP, by offering the community the “living water” found in the sacred scriptures, hoping that its students will discover “life and life more abundantly.” Even beyond the metaphor, Rancho Oasis for Youth’s property sits on a water aquifer that supplies the town with its water supply. Nothing is coincidence!

We know you will enjoy the student’s work and be blessed to learn that 100% of the proceeds return to Taller CDP and the artists. Each student earns a minimum of 60% of the sale and the balance is used for supplies and expenses for the school! Therefore, sustaining the school and honoring the students with new/fair financial resources!

Blessings / Bendiciones