Mana grew up in Newburgh, New York—a city just 60 miles north of the Big Apple. While much of his mother’s family remained in Honduras (where both of his parents were born) his father’s family had moved to New York and lived close by all throughout his childhood. When it came time for college, Mana first attended a local community college before transferring north to the University at Albany (SUNY Albany) where he graduated in December 2019 with a degree in history and a minor in biology.

Many of Mana’s memories from his younger school years feature his family members. His family always lived in smaller places, typically with one bedroom. Mana’s parents would take the bedroom while Mana and his 3 siblings would all pile into another room together to sleep—but being an extrovert who loves his family deeply, Mana enjoyed getting to be close to his siblings. He was overjoyed at becoming an uncle for the first time at 11 years old when his much older sister gave birth to her first daughter.

Mana’s extended family also used to gather for asados (barbecues or cookouts) which would sometimes last for 5 hours. Adults talked, kids played games like Capeador (a game which Mana describes as a mix between dodgeball and monkey in the middle), and they all shared home cooked food. This close dynamic shifted a bit when the matriarch of his family (his paternal grandmother) passed away in 2009, but he did continue to see them often and enjoyed their company at the church which his father pastored and they all attended for worship. Mana’s love of family didn't just consist of his blood relations: “Family to me surpassed the DNA association and included those who grew close to me through the love and grace of the Lord.” One of these family members which Mana gained is Juan: Mana’s best friend whom he met at their church when they were just 10 years old.

As Mana went through elementary, middle, and high school, his family and church family recognized that he was continually doing well not only spiritually, but also academically. They were excited and began encouraging him to pursue a future career as a doctor. He began “breaking a sweat” in high school as he tried to continue to live into the narrative of “earning favor” by performing well, but persisted in it because he loved his family. Mana had always had a heart for working with and serving others—a favorite Scripture passage of his is Philippians 2 (he explains: “I just love how Christ, the Son of the God Most High, came down to serve us. what else should I do in life, right?”). Mana served in his church growing up, and once he attended college he loved serving as a part of Cru staff and on several mission trips they went on to different states and countries. He completed the pre-med track at SUNY Albany, but while he realized that a career as a doctor would involve serving people, he finally came to the conclusion that being a doctor wasn’t what he wanted in life.

During his last semester of college in the fall of 2019, Mana was on a fall retreat with Cru at one of New York’s beautiful lakes. The speaker at their retreat was Tim Henderson, the director of the Blue Ridge Fellows in Roanoke, Virginia, who had previously been on staff with Cru for 20 years. This was the first time Mana had heard about a Fellows Program, and he was drawn in. After Mana applied, Tim decided to forward Mana’s application to the Greensboro Fellows. Like many people, Mana hadn’t heard of Greensboro before, and so didn’t know where it was. Upon finding out it was in North Carolina, he was overjoyed—he remembered that when he was just 14 years old he’d been drawn to the state and asked the Lord if he could live there some day. This was an answer to a request which he’d made nearly 8 years before!

As a part of the Greensboro Fellows class of 2020-2021, Mana has been experiencing both great joys and hardships. “The culture shock for me has been my biggest challenge. I am so used to diversity, that I did not know the term ‘minority’ could actually exist.” He realized several months in that this was a bigger challenge than he’d anticipated it would be at first. “I was getting burnout from not experiencing my Latino culture in-person and I was also trying to suppress my diversity. It was really unhealthy.” While this is still a truly difficult difference from where Mana has lived previously, he is thankful to have realized it so he can process through it and acknowledge it with others. “Despite the hardships, I would say that these difficulties are stirring up the depths of my soul and bringing out all the good and bad associated with me. In bringing it to light, Christ embraces me; warts and all. The learning and enjoyment in my growth has fueled inside of me a growing fire of love and abundance of life that gives me a radiant heart towards the Lord and those around me!”

In addition to the joy which Mana has experienced in this growth and in time spent with new Fellows friends, he has also enjoyed being on staff at Hope Academy as his Fellows internship. While he sometimes carries out tasks like the cleaning of classrooms, he typically is with the students for recesses and lunch, and also substitute teaches for many classes. “I enjoy working at Hope Academy so much because the school has a great testimony and continues to pour so much into the lives of its students. I see a lot of my younger self in the lives of some of my students, as I was a first generation student living on meager means.” The student body is also made up of around 40% Latino students, which has been a great joy for Mana. “My heart language is being used often, which is very exciting to me because I love speaking Spanish. I have sparked many conversations in Spanish with them; even the other students join in on talks!”

Mana has always wanted to pursue a profession which involves working with people, just as he’s doing now at Hope Academy. Additionally, he has considered (“on the back burner of his mind”) getting to use his pre-med and biology schooling as a professor of medicinal history. Mana enjoys listening to music from all over the world, and hopes to get to do more international travel—especially to the Latin American world. This year he has been such a blessing to everyone in the Fellows Program in being a good friend, in joyfully sharing aspects of his culture, in helping out by lending a hand, a hug, or a joke—and in simply being himself. We are so thankful to the Lord for the person that Mana is and that we get to know him!