2024 | Quarter 4

Spotlight: Missions

By Jana Inglehart

Lutherans from mission churches across the Dominican Republic came together for a Reformation service this morning. Following the service, everyone enjoyed lunch together. As is the custom in Palmar Arriba, it rained, but not the typical deluge. It was just enough to be a welcome respite from the heat. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day for the celebration or more beautiful people to celebrate with. On second thought, we could have asked for a cooler day. Even with the rain, the heat was on the oppressive side.

Spotlight: Education

The Rev. David Mommens, pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Melrose, MN, left Santiago at the end of October with a new nickname: “penguin” (due to his disdain for the DR’s tropical climate). He also left with the first four sermons for the Spanish-language worship service he intends to begin in December written. Mommens pioneered LCMS International’s new immersive Spanish experience for pastors and seminary students, having spent five weeks studying not only language but selected Pastoral Care Companion rites and the theological underpinnings of Latin America to boot. He won’t soon forget getting to help officiate FOUR (!) services or busing 2 1/2 hours to and from Santo Domingo with seminary students from Guatemala and Cuba, respectively. Outside the classroom, Mommens enjoyed the hospitality of the DR-based missionary team. Pray that God would work mightily through this humble servant to reach His people in Melrose and beyond.

Spotlight: Mercy

Connecting people to Christ occurs in so many different settings, as people’s physical, mental, and emotional needs are met concurrently with opportunities to hear the Word preached in truth and purity. Iglesia Luterana Pueblo Nuevo recently took on such an endeavor thanks to members Victor & Arelys. The couple coaches a volleyball league at a park in a sector of Santiago not currently served by a Lutheran church. Practices happen multiple times per week, but Fridays are unique in that a cadre of pastors and students from Pueblo Nuevo is invited to come and lead a devotion and prayer for the players. The church’s presence is already bearing fruit. In mid-October, the Rev. Ross Shaver connected with an expat couple who had come to play; at his invitation, they turned up at the joint Reformation service highlighted above!

Spotlight: Daily Life

The parade of new faces in Cerro Alto, the Santiago-based missionary and married seminary student neighborhood, continued with the Logston family’s arrival on Monday, October 7. If Justin, Jordan, and Malachi look familiar, you might recognize them from their GEO term in Belize! This ain’t their first rodeo in Santiago, either, having come for on-field orientation before deploying to Belize per the region’s practice for all new missionaries. This time around they’re here for good, though: Jordan will serve alongside Stan Stigdon in the regional business office. The family has already acquired a vehicle and is praying there are no obstacles in the paperwork for the apartment they plan to rent. October also saw the seminary community grow with the arrival of Francisco (Chile) with his wife and three young children.

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