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Greetings!

Graduation is in the air...at least around here. There is a lot to celebrate...the successful completion of studies for some and of ministry roles for others. We will take you through them in the order that they happened.

April 30 - May 3 | near Buenos Aires, Argentina

During the annual meeting / family camp of the Argentina mission district, we celebrated many "graduations" of sorts.

The talent show demonstrated the successful completion of several projects...not just songs and dances, but artistic acrobatics, knitting, painting and baking were also on display for our enjoyment. (The picture on top shows the cutest - and youngest contestant.)

Then Bishop Keith Cowart led the ordination ceremony of Pastor Orlando Ortiz, celebrating his successful completion of the ministerial formation requirements.

Finally, we saw the passing of the baton from one leader to the next as Pastor Rodrigo Rosado (he's sitting front and center in the picture above) completed his role as Mission District Leader. We ask that you pray for Pastora Silvia Paiva (being prayed for at left) as she picks up where he left off, leading a much healthier district than the one Rodrigo inherited 4 years ago.

(Checkout this article in May's Heartbeat to learn about other leadership transitions in the area.)

May 9 | Wilmore, Kentucky

We had the pleasure of returning to Kentucky and hosting Cris Flores and Pastora Jazmin Angulo for their graduation weekend festivities at Asbury Theological Seminary. They, along with 23 other members of the Latin American cohort, have "almost" successfully completed their MA in Leadership, lacking just two summer classes. Cris and Jazmin, along with Pastor Roberto Gomez, all from Mexico, represented the whole cohort here.

They are pictured here with the Asbury President, David Watson, and Ricardo above and with John Wesley in the photo below. They will be more fully celebrated as a group during the graduation ceremony in Colombia this coming August.

May 11 | Lexington, Kentucky

It was then our great joy to celebrate Juliana's graduation from Bluegrass Community and Technical College on Monday night! As you can see, she was featured on the jumbo-tron at Rupp Arena!!!

Juliana completed an Associates Degree in Psychology and has applied to both Asbury University and the University of Kentucky to complete her Bachelor's degree. We appreciate your prayers for her future.

She will continue working for the YMCA throughout the summer.

In other news, I successfully completed another year of life and felt well celebrated by family and friends. (The candles may be switched around but...who's counting?)

Jonathan successfully applied and was accepted for a summer job. He is excited to travel to Auburn, Washington on June 8th to work as a counselor at Black Diamond Camp (a Free Methodist Camp)! If you are in the area, feel free to stop by and say "Hi"!

We all look forward to enjoying a bit of vacation time with him and Juliana before he leaves!

And so, you see, graduation as been in the air. It is exciting to see where each of these people have been and to see where they will be going in the future. I took this symbolic picture of our three graduates in the starting gate for their next chapter while touring them around Kentucky this week.

As always, we are grateful for your partnership in the Gospel with us!

Many blessings,

Ricardo and Beth Gomez

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