August 4th, 2025, 5:30pm MDT
While working at El Salvador Santa Ana Mission, Sister Cathy Hancock visited a family where the baby was drinking coffee. After asking her peers about it, her peers replied that their family shouldn’t be able to afford the formula.
After returning to Arizona in 2019, Hancock looked at the prevalence of malnutrition for her mission and studied it. She then returned to El Salvador in 2020 with the launch of her new mission, the Matherna Foundation.
Since Hancock de Afane, whom he married over the past five years, he has been able to rely on his faith in Jesus Christ to find the families who need the support of the Matana Foundation most, and ultimately helping over 5,000 mothers. Through this effort, she met Adriana Tadeo and Ninfa Pagoada. The loyal women use mission connections to serve at home and in Central America.
Hancock de Afane said of his support:
“Women of Faith”
After Hancock returned to El Salvador, members of the church there heard about her efforts and recommended places to visit and people who could help.
“All the connections we made were inspired,” Hancock de Afane said of how the foundation grew. “Every time we expanded, it was through church members.”
Pagoada, co-director of the Matana Foundation in Honduras, added: “As women of faith, we know how important God’s children are all around the world and we care about supporting newborns and parents.”
“The Lord will consecrate our efforts.”
With every trip to Central America since 2020, Hancock Darefan prayed that God would “take us to the right places, have the right resources and the right people there who need us.” With faith, she and her team traveled to an unfamiliar village led by the spirit.
Hancock de Afan shared an instance where despite their best efforts, they had to leave some families. “But a year later, we were reviewing the case and somehow it was understood. That’s a great testimony to me that the Lord is consecrating our efforts.”
“Miracles occur between doubt and faith.”
For Tadeo, the Lord consecrated his efforts to help her village in Nabizarco, El Salvador. She taught herself in her youth, as 90% of her village is illiterate. In 2012, she tried to teach the village, but the adults had not received it.
That same year she met a missionary. The missionary answered all her questions. Tadeo was able to help teach the gospel to all her family, as she could read. She worked at the Chilean Santiago South Mission from 2014 to 2015, urging all her brothers to serve the mission as well.
After returning home, Tadeo is committed to helping her village and focuses on teaching the children. Sister Hancock served in her area at the time. They reconnected when Hancock de Afarn visited the mother’s supplies, and Tadeo helped distribute supplies and classes to his mother.
“Whether doubt or faith, there is a miracle,” Tadeo said of working with the Matherna Foundation. She and Hancock de Afane launched separate programs and helped send their children from the village of Tadeo to high school and college.
“My faith is strengthened.”
“Through faith, we can see that miracles have not stopped every day,” Pagoda said of the role of faith. Before partnering with her old mission companion, Hancock Darefan, and the Matana Foundation, Pagoda worked for local clinics and national organizations of maternal care in Honduras.
Since 2020, Pagoda has witnessed many miracles, bringing supplies and aid to her country. One particular example included an inflamed lung and a malnourished 1-year-old boy whose parents were seeking help. Pagoada remembered her heart was shaking, but she believed that the baby could be saved.
Each month, the little baby grew out of nourishment and eventually walked and spoke. “My faith is strengthened with every time I can provide a service with love,” Pagoada said.
Community vs. Overseas
Hancock de Afane was invited to a May 2025 prayer on an invitation from Relief Society President Kamille N. Johnson, who said community service is just as important as overseas efforts.
As more volunteers join the Matherna Foundation, most are missionaries using Mission Connection to expand their efforts to Mexico and Guatemala.
However, the beginning of the Matana Foundation began in both El Salvador and Arizona in the United States.
Hancock de Afan highlighted the benefits of serving abroad for perspectives. But she believes that community services can help volunteers answer calls from basics like Materna.
