Sara Eberhard
Sara gew up on a farm in Ohio. She lived in a Christian home and was saved in the fifth grade. Her interest in missions began as she listened to missions stories in Sunday School. Sara graduated from Bluffton College with a degree in elementary education. She taught public school in Ohio for three years before applying to WGM. In 1967, she was assigned as a missionary to Honduras.
On her way to language school, Sara met Mel and Wanda, who, since their marriage, had served at El Sembrador and started a lay-training program in Juticalpa. They had most recently been planting churches and doing evangelism in La Esperanza. Sara and Wanda became close friends, corresponding and sometimes visiting with one another. A few months later, Wanda became ill with cancer and the Eberhards returned to the United States to seek medical care. Sadly, Wanda passed away in 1969.
Mel returned to Honduras with his three sons, Dan, David, and Paul, and he and Sara soon sensed that it was God’s will for them to work together. In September 1970, after Sara finished her second year teaching at Tegucigalpa Bible Institute, she and Mel were married. They would later have four children together: Rachel, Steve, Tim, and Rebecca.
In 1978, the Eberhards left Nicaragua due to the unstable political situation. Back in Honduras, Mel and Sara lived in La Paz, where Mel worked for the national church and traveled to visit different congregations. Sara enjoyed this time because they were able to be part of a local church, through which they worked with the children and did village evangelism.
Mel and Sara retired in 1989, and Sara now lives in Findlay, Ohio. She worked as a church secretary for 13 years. Before his health limited some activities, Mel was very active, playing tennis and doing yard work. Mel passed away on January 3, 2012. Sara enjoys the times when their six children and 15 grandchildren come home and they can all be together again.