Yesterday afternoon, during a celebration at St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Center in Detroit Michigan, four brothers made their lifelong commitments to the Servants of the Word. Malaquias Garcia is from Mexico, Miguel Vargas from Costa Rica, Rodrigo Sett from Guatemala, and Tadhg Lynch from Ireland. Each of them followed a process of formation which lasted about seven years, including two years in the International Formation House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Two years ago they each made an initial full commitment and yesterday was the culmination of that journey. The fathers of each of the men, plus some of their brothers, were also in attendance.

It is always a very joyous occasion for the brotherhood when the Lord adds men to our numbers, and the Ibero-American region is particularly happy to now have three new lifelong brothers. Let us keep these men in our prayers as they return to their local communities where more celebrations with family and community members will take place.

What follows are the biographies of these four men.

Malaquias Garcia

Malaquias was born in Mexicali, México in 1985. His father is from Tijuana, his mother from Mexicali. He has one younger brother. People say they look alike… he is not so sure.

He studied nursing at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, one of the main universities in Mexicali. He likes sports and plays football, basketball, American football, volleyball, and is also a runner.

One turning point in his life came at the age of 21 (February 2007) when he was diagnosed with cancer, just before finishing university. He had to drop his studies for one year in order to go through chemotherapy and recovery. He has been in good health since 2008—the Lord is faithful!

Since his time at university, Malaquias has been serving in university outreaches. Upon graduation he moved to Monterrey to start training with the brotherhood and continued serving in MCU. Currently he serves as the director for one of the university outreach chapters, and also as steward for our house in Monterrey.

Miguel Vargas Arroyo

Miguel was born in San José, Costa Rica, on 26 January 1987. He is the youngest of three, his father is Carlos A. Vargas and his mother, Dora Arroyo. They married right before the community in Costa Rica (Arbol de Vida) was founded. His sister María is married to Ricardo and has two boys; his brother Gabriel is married to Veronica and has two girls. They are all active members of the local Sword of the Spirit community.

He went to a Methodist School, just a hundred meters away from his house and studied Classical Philology at the Universidad de Costa Rica, thus learning Greek and Latin—very useful languages to study the Bible. He is currently getting a Licentiate’s Degree in Education at the UNED in Costa Rica.

Miguel has been serving as a translator for the Sword of Spirit for the last eight years and has thus been able to participate in many international leaders’ meetings around the world.

Since graduating from high-school his main ministry has been working with teenagers. He has served in youth groups in Costa Rica, Monterrey (Mexico), and Ann Arbor (Michigan). Currently he is developing the outreach to high-school students in Costa Rica and is teaching at Saint Clare’s High-School. He also does some pastoral work in the local university outreach.

Rodrigo Sett

Rodrigo was born in Guatemala City on 7 July 1986. His parents are Eduardo Sett and Jeanneth Barillas; he has one sister, Diana. All of them are members of the Sword of the Spirit Community in Guatemala.

He obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering from Monterrey Tech (Mexico). He is a very good at test-taker, so he did very well. He is a big sports fan and enjoys soccer, basketball, and Formula 1.

His last name, Sett, is Chinese and very rare in Guatemala. So every person with that last name is a relative of Rodrigo. Since coming to the Lord he has served in many ways: music and worship, administration, youth summer programs, and evangelism. Currently he is in charge of the local University Outreach (Cristianos en Marcha) in Costa Rica. While at the same time manages the finances of the brotherhood there. He also leads the Sword of the Spirit Youth Summer Program in Central America.

Tadhg Lynch

Tadhg Lynch was born on 10 October 1983. He is 32 years old. Tadhg grew up and served in the Community of Nazareth in Dublin where he lived the first 21 years of his life. He is from a family of seven children. Tadhg graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in English and History in 2006. In 2008 he graduated from University College Dublin with a Masters degree in Modern English. He has been a member of the Servants of the Word since 2007.

Tadhg has served the Sword of the Spirit in a number of roles and capacities for many years. He has lived in our SOS communities in Glasgow, London, Belfast and Dublin for extended periods and has undertaken mission work in many other areas around the European and Middle East region of Sword of the Spirit. Tadhg has also lived and served the Sword of the Spirit in the United States—spending three years in our houses in Michigan. Tadhg is currently the Mission Director for UCO in Belfast and the Kairos director responsible for Mission in the European region.

Tadhg enjoys playing football, tennis and reading.