{"id":28160,"date":"2025-05-06T10:23:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?p=28160"},"modified":"2025-05-06T10:23:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:23:38","slug":"sward-family-may-2025-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/news\/sward-family-may-2025-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"Sward Family | May 2025 Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Spring is upon us, and once again, I revel in the change of seasons and rhythms that our world displays so consistently.\u00a0The world turns on its course in daily following of its Master\u2019s footsteps, and I hope to apply the same lessons in my own life!!<\/p>\n

When we last wrote you, God had miraculously led our family through a maze of medical mysteries, and we had emerged in one piece at the other end\u00a0J.\u00a0By the beginning of March, my own health felt so completely restored that I began to once again engage in activities I had laid aside for the previous four months.\u00a0My energy has been good, my strength is returning, and my activity levels are resuming.\u00a0Zachary and Samuel have thrived in their school settings, and we are catching up with family, friends, and supporters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>March and April were full of visits to church communities and sharing about God\u2019s work in Cambodia.<\/p>\n

One particular highlight in April occurred on a Sunday morning visit to Gateway Friends Church.\u00a0We anticipated seeing our old teammate, Elise Lature (n\u00e9e Paty), and her husband Evan, who are now on staff there.\u00a0Imagine our shock to be visiting Evan and Elise in the church parking lot, and look up to see our really old teammates (not in age! But in length of time serving in Cambodia together\u00a0J), Fede and Diane Hernandez, with two of their kids!!\u00a0They were in the area and decided to worship at Gateway that Sunday.\u00a0What a joy and special gift to have an impromptu team reunion with our old friends!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now we find ourselves on the cusp of May.\u00a0We have two big prayer requests this month for you, our faithful prayer warriors.\u00a0We long more than anything to get home by the first week of June.\u00a0\u00a0In order for that to happen, we need two things:<\/p>\n

Despite feeling great, I had one more doctor appointment at the very end of April with a vascular surgeon.\u00a0Due to ongoing \u2018too-high\u2019 blood pressure, he has ordered another MRI.\u00a0I have a nuclear medicine test next week to evaluate the actual function of my right kidney.\u00a0He wants to look at these two results and decide on the next steps.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Please pray that I am able to get an MRI scheduled ASAP.<\/li>\n
  2. Please pray that the results of these two tests show that my kidney is either 1)\u00a0fully\u00a0<\/strong>restored or 2)\u00a0fully <\/strong>dead. It is possible that my not-totally-dead kidney is triggering my high blood pressure. This is not good for my body in the long term. So, we need it to make a decision.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/a>Please pray with us for spiritual protection, which encompasses bodies, minds, and hearts.\u00a0Our small missionary community in Stung Treng has experienced one trial after another in the last two to three years.\u00a0Please pray that Jesus will be victorious in Stung Treng, and that his Church will remain strong in the face of so many challenges.\u00a0Please pray with us for our boys as we go home.\u00a0They will face many changes in their community upon their return, and this brings additional emotions to process.<\/p>\n

    You know we could not, we would not, be here without you.\u00a0Thank you for your incredible generosity to keep us financially supported on the field, thank you for your encouragement to lift up our hearts, and for your ongoing faithfulness in prayer for us to keep us protected in Jesus.\u00a0We are so grateful for you!!<\/p>\n

    Much love,<\/p>\n

    Andrea and Scott Sward<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Spring is upon us, and once again, I revel in the change of seasons and rhythms that our world displays so consistently.\u00a0The world turns on its course in daily following of its Master\u2019s footsteps, and I hope to apply the same lessons in my own life!! When we last wrote you, God had miraculously led […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"full","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[470,368,201,367],"class_list":{"0":"post-28160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"tag-470","8":"tag-cambodia","9":"tag-deputation","10":"tag-sward","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28164,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28160\/revisions\/28164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}