Mission Field Now Stories | Elena & Marta
We’ve already been introduced to Karen Swift and her ministry among Spanish-speaking families in San Diego—her discipleship groups and her work through Priscila Ministries, where she patiently opens Scripture in homes and churches, trusting the Word of God to do its work.
At Hope Lutheran Church in Linda Vista, one of those stories has been unfolding right next door.
Elena and Marta are sisters who live in an apartment complex just a short walk from the church. Close enough that the building is part of their daily scenery—visible, familiar, and for a long time, spiritually unconnected.
Elena noticed it first.
She began attending services, then the Sunday Bible study after worship, where Karen Swift gathers Spanish speakers each week to explore God’s Word in depth. She was bilingual, curious, and—by her own account—not someone who believed in missing opportunities to learn about God. Eventually, when she moved farther away and could no longer walk over, unable to drive, she didn’t really ask Marta for rides.
She assigned them.
And somehow, Marta accepted the assignment.
At first, Marta came only as the driver. She would drop Elena off, sit in the Spanish service, and wait—half present, half counting the minutes.
But something shifted in the rhythm of Sundays. After worship, people would gather around tables for Karen Swift’s Bible study. Karen led with a quiet patience—opening Scripture carefully, inviting conversation, listening deeply, never rushing people’s questions or stories. There was no pressure and no performance. Just the Word of God taught with Law and Gospel properly distinguished and discussed honestly.
And Marta noticed.
Later, Marta would say that through those Sundays—through Karen’s Bible study and the welcome of the small congregation—this became the first church where she did not feel condemned, only received. Not evaluated, just welcomed.
That changed everything.
She started staying for Bible study. Then reading Scripture in the Spanish service. Then joining confirmation classes with Pastor Ochoa. The driver slowly became a disciple.
Elena still tells it with a slight smile: she says she was just making sure her sister got to church. Marta tends to disagree with that version of events.
The irony is hard to miss: the sister who came to help someone else is the one who ended up being changed most.
And it all began with a church next door, a faithful missionary opening the Scriptures week after week, and a neighborhood apartment complex close enough for grace to simply walk across the street.
