LCMS World Mission Blog

“‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds,’ (James 1:2). How difficult it is in our flesh to put these words into practice! Yet we have had opportunities to do just that in the last month. We thank God even for these trials as they are opportunities for us to develop [...]

“Dennis made his first trip to Papua New Guinea (PNG). In many ways PNG is quite an underdeveloped country, yet it has an abundance of natural resources. Most of the people are very poor, but the cost of living is quite high. Dennis was able to spend time with the head bishop of the Gutnius [...]

“James was educated at Concordia Lutheran School in Hong Kong and went on to university, including a year at Concordia University Chicago, River Forest, Ill. He taught and served as principal in Lutheran Church-Hong Kong Synod schools for 10 years before going to work for McDonald’s in 1974. He rose through the ranks in the [...]

“The year was 1975 when I met Janis for the first time through my then-husband’s job. We became fast friends. Her mom had been Jewish and her dad was Catholic. Throughout the years of marriage, kids, moving, divorce, and other changes, I would periodically send her Christian materials. She said nothing to me about them [...]

“‘It’s a beautiful thing,’ remarked Gladys Hamann, one of the deaconess delegates from Paraguay, ‘to be able to meet sisters in Christ from a different part of Latin America who are working hard somewhere else for the same thing that you are. It’s reinforcing us and preparing us for more fervent prayer for one another [...]

“Recently, Joyce and I [David] spend an evening with one of our Master of Christian Outreach (MACO) students. He shared how he prayed that God would increase his passion for telling one other person, just one other person, about the Savior. Then, while walking down the street, our student selected a random ‘street person.’ He [...]

“One of my students and her family recently invited me and another missionary teacher, Beka, over to dinner because we teach their children. Her younger brother is in Beka’s E3 class. Recently, my students and I have been talking about following God and what holds them back from believing in Him. My student’s family has [...]

“One of my great pleasures in teaching is Monday mornings at the preschool. Every Monday, I arrive at 9:30 a.m. and dearly love being with these young children. Every week we learn a song or some new words (in categories such as colors, pets, clothes, etc.), and afterward I give the children each a page [...]

“Last year, Mark worked with Rev. Artis Eglitis, the chief administrative officer of the Latvian Lutheran Church, to design a pastor salary plan for the church. The plan provided funding so that 115 pastors in Latvia could serve as full-time pastors. The plan organized the selling of property in Latvia so that the proceeds could [...]

“In Madrid, God’s work continues to produce fruit. One of them is Tomas Rubio, who contacted Lutheran missionaries via Internet to find out more about the Lutheran Church. Beginning in January, he began to attend worship services regularly. He now has Bible materials and pastoral support through our missionary, Gustavo Lavia, so that his faith [...]