20th Missionary Dinner

On Monday, May 20, we celebrated our 20th Missionary Dinner with the Lutheran Mission Society San Diego—a milestone that feels less like a number and more like a story still unfolding.

We were graciously hosted by University Lutheran Church La Jolla. We give thanks to the leadership and congregation for opening their doors with such warmth, hospitality, and genuine love. Sharing a meal together in their space allowed us not only to be served, but to experience the heart of their community in a deeper way.

A special word of gratitude to Pastor Peter Alexander for sharing pastoral and missional insights that encouraged, challenged, and strengthened all of us gathered. His words helped frame our conversations around calling, perseverance, and the joy of being sent together.

Around 25 missionaries connected to the Lutheran Mission Society, along with a few friends, gathered as a growing family. What made the evening especially meaningful was the rhythm of shared life: we celebrated together—graduations, new ministries taking shape, stories of people being blessed and communities being reached. And we also shared openly about needs and prayer requests, holding one another’s burdens with care and seriousness.

True to the spirit of collaboration that has marked these gatherings since August 2023, the group didn’t stop at prayer—we leaned into it together, thinking about practical ways to support one another and respond as a mission community. This has become one of the quiet strengths of these dinners: no one is sent alone.

With Pentecost approaching, we also tasted something of that first outpouring of the Spirit. We read John 3:16 together in many languages represented in the room—English, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Taiwanese, Oromo, French, and Arabic. In that simple act, we were reminded that the gospel is always larger than any one tongue, yet personal enough to be spoken in every tongue.

Twenty dinners in, the same conviction remains, but it has grown stronger: we believe in missionaries being sent, and we believe even more deeply that they are sent together. These gatherings continue to form friendship, fight isolation, and nurture a shared life of mission rooted in Christ.

Grateful for what God is doing—and for what is still ahead.