MAY SWOM: GRADUAMOS - GRADUATED

With our teachers

Our teachers praying over us graduates

What's next?

Well we did it, with your help and God's...we graduated from one year of Spanish language school! Thank you for your support and encouragement. Surely it has been one of the most difficult times in our lives, but our deepest journey of faith as well. God is good!

And we even have some next steps planned, God willing:

We leave Costa Rica May 28th to travel back to the States to complete interviews with a potential new mission agency, attend a training to help equip us in working with Muslims and to raise additional support to go to the field in Latin America.

We have investigated ministries in Costa Rica, Mexico City and in Panama and we are pretty sure we know where God wants us to serve. We will wait for a few more things to line up and hopefully by next month we should be able to tell you with certainty our next ministry home!

Needless to say, it has been a long wait for us, but we continue to walk trusting God to lead us in His faithfulness.

Please pray for us:

• Praise, that we made it through language school, we can't wait to be working alongside a local church in Spanish everyday!
• Patience for us in this upcoming transition: leaving Costa Rica, getting all our belongings into 4 suitcases and 2 carryons for the trip back to the States, saying goodbyes well and raising additional support.
• For God to provide us with clarity in the upcoming meetings and trainings. 

Additionally, Hellenic Ministries will continue to process our monthly donations until we have formalized a new mission agency.

JAN SWOM: ESPERANZA - HOPE

Feliz Año Nuevo, Happy New Year!

What a season of hope it has been. The birth of a Savior, the holidays with our loved ones, a new year, and the promise of the end of the journey in sight!
 
We returned to Costa Rica just days ago from a time of spending the holidays with our families. First a trip to Wheaton to see our extended families, lifelong friends and a meeting with our home church mission board then to Colorado where we spent time at each of our kids' houses. 

It was cold, but so great to be able to reconnect with everyone. Now we are back and the rainy season has ended here, gracias a Dios, and we are beginning our LAST trimester of Spanish language school!
 
We have so many things to be hopeful about in 2016. Finally after a long season in the desert of  school, we are looking forward to graduating at the end of April. Of course, we know that we won't be perfectly fluent by then, but we are looking forward to getting out of the classroom and being able to practice speaking Spanish more out on the street.

We also have a trip planned to look at a ministry in Mexico City in February and are also praying about another ministry opportunity in Panama.

We continue to trust that God is the One leading us on this journey and that He will reveal just where He wants us to be in His perfect timing.
 

Please pray for us:

• Continued language learning capabilities. 
• Wisdom and discernment about future ministry options. We continue to pray and to investigate opportunities. 

Additionally, Hellenic Ministries will continue to process our monthly donations until we have formalized a new mission agency.