And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”Matthew 28:18–20a

The Igreja Evangelica Luterana do Brasil (IELB) and the LCMS have been connected for over 120 years. Once a mission plant of the LCMS, IELB is an independent confessional Lutheran church body that continues to share the love of Christ in Brazil and beyond. The LCMS works especially closely with IELB on mission work in Latin America and Africa. Recently, LCMS worked with IELB to have eight Alliance missionaries from Brazil serve as church planters and theological educators in the mission field. Four of those Alliance missionaries serve in different regions in Africa, including Republic of Congo Brazzaville, Pretoria, South Africa, and Uganda! Alliance missionaries are rostered and called by their own church body to serve with LCMS in the mission field. This practice is not new, but deploying eight at one time is an exciting endeavor! We are especially grateful to have two new colleagues at the Lutheran Theological College Uganda who will walk with the LCU to train men for pastoral ministry.

We have been anticipating the arrival of the new Alliance missionaries and preparing in different ways. Megan flew to the Dominican Republic for their initial training to help welcome them alongside the LCMS missionary team in Latin America and share cultural experiences for east Africa. Mark continues to work with the Africa Region business manager and other LCMS missionaries to finalize all the logistics for onboarding the new missionaries, including housing, cars and financial information. Both of us served as hosts as the Africa region on-field orientation was in Uganda. We coordinated with the Lutheran Church of Uganda to share cultural and ministry-related information with the new missionaries.

Most of our recent work has centered on helping the new Alliance missionaries acclimate to life and ministry on the mission field. There is a lot of preparation for both LCMS and IELB when onboarding Alliance missionaries. It includes language work, whether it is learning French or English (since in Brazil Portuguese is the primary language), gaining cultural knowledge and understanding of the areas where they will serve, setting up housing, transportation, etc. The IELB missionaries have prepared for many of these changes in the past four to five months. Since LCMS and IELB walk together in this endeavor, many hands are involved with onboarding and assisting our new colleagues. We are grateful we could welcome and prepare our new teammates alongside the other LCMS missionaries in both the Dominican Republic and east Africa.

Please continue to keep these families in your prayers as they work towards language acquisition and learning new life and ministry roles.

Throughout the onboarding of new missionaries, life and ministry for the LCU continue strongly. The second semester of the 2020–2021 school year comes to an end in late June. Currently, the faculty is finishing their classes, as review and final exams are the last two weeks in June.

Megan’s classes focus more on the practical side of ministry, as she teaches counseling and education courses. Her students are currently applying knowledge from the semester for final projects in conflict resolution, counseling, and teaching the Small Catechism in Lutheran schools. It is always amazing to see the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the semester in these courses.

Mark and Megan Mantey serve the Lord through The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod as career missionaries in Uganda. Mark serves as the project manager for the seminary, and Megan is the seminary’s instructor of Christian education and counseling. You can follow their work at www.facebook.com/MissionMindedManteys.