When Elisson first arrived at Mission Lazarus, no one could have imagined the man he would become. His family had very little material resources, but what they lacked in wealth, they made up for with determination and a quiet hope that life could be different.

In the quiet mountain town of San Marcos de Colón, Honduras, a small bootmaking shop once stood—humble in size, but rich in craftsmanship.

Juan Herrera didn’t own a pair of shoes until he was 12. By then, he had already spent years waking up before dawn to load 1,000 bricks into his father’s kiln then returning in the afternoon to unload them. That was life in his remote Honduran village: relentless, rugged, and without options.