Friends and Family – God has been preparing our family for this moment for the past two decades, connecting dots that we didn’t even know existed. Each season in my life felt very disjointed – the education didn’t fit, the job history was all over the place, and it just didn’t make sense. An undergrad in Parks and Recreation, a Masters in Sustainable Systems looking at community development, and doctoral coursework in geography looking at international development. A job history of student and sports ministry, poverty education, non-profits, growing businesses, and more. Every experience, every skill, every degree is converging. This path wasn’t wandering. He was preparing us. 

The St. Esprit Family is going to be moving full-time to Panama, where we’ve been faithfully serving for the past 8 years alongside Palabra de Vida (Word of Life). God kept stirring in our hearts “what if we gave everything to this work?” This ministry partners with the local church to develop youth ministries, equip leaders to go into various parts of Latin America and around the world to share the Gospel, and provides high energy camp experiences in both English and Spanish to children and teenagers from across not only Panama, but the world. About a year ago, we began to feel that God was calling us to something more in Panama and, at the same time, we were approached about an opportunity to do just that. We will be joining the Palabra de Vida team as the Director of Operations, where we’ll be overseeing HR, finances, and capital projects at the growing camp property (currently over 100 acres!) and facilities in Panama City as the ministry expands throughout the other provinces of this country that sits as the Crossroads of the World thanks to the Panama Canal. Additionally, we will be working to develop an on-camp farm that will help feed the campers and be used as outreach into communities from right around the camp and into the jungle with the indigenous tribes we work with and a horse-ministry program similar to the work we’ve been doing at Ready Yourselves Youth Ranch for the past 7 years. We will also be working alongside the team to expand facilities by developing a Spanish-English Language School, where Spanish speakers can learn English and English speakers can learn Spanish, as well as a K-12 English-speaking Christian school, of which there is currently none within a few hours of our area in Chame, Panama. But this isn’t about buildings and projects – it’s all to reach Panama for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Our Timeline: So what does this look like for our family? We’ve been preparing for this for the past year by selling off most of our Subway portfolio and we’ll be training up one of our key people as a business partner to oversee the remaining restaurants. We’ve been streamlining a lot of other pieces of our businesses and life to make it possible to move to Panama full-time in January 2027. We will volunteer with camp as we normally do each season and then we will jump into Spanish-language school in Panama in March 2027 for 6-8 months of intensive language training – a mixture of in-house tutors and classes, online training with various teachers, and engrossing our family in Spanish speaking churches, friends, and more. 

We need your prayers and support to make this happen. We believe effective ministry happens when a team of prayer warriors and supporters gather around us and ensure we’re not doing it alone. We want to build a team that can pray for us, hold us accountable, and also help support us financially. While we will still have some businesses in the United States that will provide some support to us, we are challenged and required to raise monthly ongoing prayer and financial support to aid in this work. When a teen accepts Christ at camp, when a new Bible Club launches at a new church, when a struggling family gets a meal from the farm, when a young disciple enters ministry training – you can be a part of that. Would you consider partnering with us as we make the move to Latin America? We’ll be scheduling some various meetings over the next few months as we gear up to go and would love for to meet with as many of you as possible to discuss more in depth what we feel God has called us to. 

Ways You Can Pray For Us Now:

• We will be renting out our house in western Pennsylvania for now. Prayers for a family who can move in and enjoy the house and property as much as we do. 
• We need to raise a certain level of financial support. Pray for us as we go to meet with people, churches, and businesses to share our family’s calling. 
• We need our kids to be surrounded in prayer. They’re excited for this adventure – they love Panama, love our home and our church there, and have a ton of friends, but it’s still a big change for them. Prayer for their hearts, their emotions, and their steadfastness to grow in the upcoming months. 
• We want our new ministry to be covered in prayer. We are taking the skills and lessons learned over the past 20 years and trying to use it to bless the Lord in this calling we have felt, yet we know the work will be tough. Different culture, different language, new job, and juggling the many various pieces as we wind down some of our responsibilities in the United States and ramp them up in Panama. 

This is our God ask – join us — in prayer, in partnership, in reaching Panama’s next generation for Christ. 

For the Kingdom,

Cory, Abbey, and Family

P.S. You can learn more at https://give.wol.org/location/panama | Facebook.com/pvpanama | Contact 724-816-6781 or cstesprit@gmail.com. Interested in supporting us financially? You can do that at https://missions.wol.org/missionaries/902853/