A day in the life of an immersive Spanish student

The Rev. Ross Davis, Lourdes Quesada, Deaconess Sarah Longmire, Ilse Arias, Jacqueline Llenas and the Rev. Adam Gless are pictured in the LCMS International Mission office in Santiago, Dominican Republic, on Aug. 29, 2025. (Abby Young, missionary in the Dominican Republic)

Sarah Longmire is a deaconess and the director of family life at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Lee’s Summit, Mo. She has had the opportunity to attend several FOROs in the Dominican Republic and lead a few mission trips there as well. Previously, she was a missionary in Bangkok, Thailand.

By Deaconess Sarah Longmire

Imagine that you are just waking up. You are in a nice, temperature-controlled bedroom. You slept well, but … did you dream about roosters? Why was there so much crowing in the night? You get up, leave the bedroom and … wham! The heat hits you in the face like an oven. Wait. Where are you again? Oh, yes, you are in Santiago, Dominican Republic (DR). You have been blessed with an air conditioner in your bedroom, but the rest of the apartment is just like it is outside: hot and humid.

It’s time to make some breakfast, so you light the gas stove, cook some eggs and maybe fry some cheese. You cut open a huge avocado, eating only part of it. You cut open the best mango of your life and enjoy that as well. Perhaps you have a cup of the delicious coffee that was grown and produced on the island.

It’s time to walk to the International Mission office of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). That is where your Spanish classes are held. It might only be a few blocks, but you are sweating by the time you get there. You embrace the heat because this is life in Santiago, and everyone experiences it.

As you enter the LCMS office, you go to your classroom, affectionately called the “fishbowl” because everyone can see you as you study with your teacher. But you don’t mind — it is air-conditioned and has everything you need to learn.

Ahora, todo está en español. For the next four hours, everything is in Spanish. You love your teacher, and you love that, as you struggle through your thoughts and ideas, she is patient and helpful. Your brain might be a bit overwhelmed, but poco a poco, you are learning.

Somehow, it’s already time for lunch. You are enjoying a lot of local Dominican food: rice, chicken, plantains, avocado and mango. You eat with your fellow Spanish learners and with some of the missionaries who live and work in the DR. Their love for Jesus and for our Dominican neighbors is apparent in all they say and do.

After lunch, there may be a small break for a tiny siesta — but don’t forget, you have tarea (homework), and the day is far from over. You will get to experience church work firsthand with pastors, deaconesses and other missionaries. You will visit people’s homes; you will see that suffering exists here just as it does at home. Yet, you will hear the Good News of Jesus proclaimed to those who are being visited — and to you. You will worship with fellow believers, receiving Jesus’ body and blood. You will hear the Gospel, sing God’s Word and share la paz (the peace) with those around you.

You will spend each night with a different missionary family, learning that family’s story and sharing parts of your own. You will rejoice in the ways in which God is using them and will remember them in your prayers.

This is a snapshot of my experience during a weeklong Spanish intensive mission trip I recently took to the Dominican Republic. If I could do it all again, I would — and I would invite you to come too!

Visit lcms.org/servenow to find your opportunity to serve the Lord and His people internationally through the LCMS.