WHO WE ARE
Hola,
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Welcome to Yucatan Helping Hands (YHH).
We’re Byron and Inez Ahina. While we are natives of Hawaii and long-time residents of Seattle, WA., God blessed us with Kawika, our Yucatecan son born during our first year in ministry in Mexico.
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We first came to Yucatan as youth chaperones for a mission trip back in 2001. Little did we know how the Lord would use this trip to change our lives. In a short amount of time, we were moved by the love, genuineness and graciousness of the people we met.
After Hurricane Isidore struck the Yucatan Peninsula in 2002, we answered a challenge to start a ministry to rebuild and repair homes still needed after the hurricane destruction.
Inspired by Isaiah 58 to help those who are without, we began by connecting teams from the U.S. to serve and work alongside rural churches outside the capital of Mérida. Since then, YHH's focus has extended to promote a combination of overall health and evangelistic growth to those we serve.
For over 15 years, we have had the awesome privilege of seeing Christ growing his kingdom, uniting people of faith, whether from Yucatan or Hawaii, or from the U.S. west coast to the east coast, or from Peru or South Korea. And in working with rural churches, we’ve come to admire the Yucatecans’ love for Jesus, patience in affliction and wisdom in ministry.
We also have a daughter, Malia, who resides in Washington state with our son-in-law and our two grandchildren.
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