For the third year in a row, Legacy’s seniors carried forward what is becoming a meaningful school tradition, the Senior Mission Trip to Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic. This trip is intentionally built into the Legacy experience and is designed to help students broaden their worldview, develop empathy, build leadership, and strengthen their faith.
Legacy partnered once again with Students International, an organization dedicated to connecting short-term mission teams with missionaries who are already serving full-time in the international mission field. During the week, all of our students were divided into small groups and mentored by missionaries in unique occupational areas, including:
Dentistry | Physical Therapy | Health Care | Women’s Social Work | Education | Special Education | Media & Communications | Baseball | Volleyball | Microfinance
This year, one theme rose above the rest: connection. Class of 2026 seniors connected deeply with one another, with Legacy teachers and chaperones, with the community, and with the work God is doing in Jarabacoa. As they stepped into service, they lived out the call to be the hands and feet of Jesus—and in giving of themselves, they were unexpectedly and abundantly blessed. From worship nights to home visits, from shared meals to shared stories, the week strengthened their connections through relational service, spiritual growth, and moments with God they will carry for a lifetime.
Click on the video below to watch the recap of the week!
Throughout the week, families received daily messages capturing these moments—stories of service, personal growth, laughter, worship, and the many ways our students saw God at work. Each recap was beautifully written by Erin Slye, High School Spanish Teacher, who accompanied the seniors and chronicled their experiences with great care.
Below is the full collection of those daily recaps, gathered here so you can experience the journey alongside them.
SUNDAY, DAY 1
We’ve arrived at the Students International Base in Jarabacoa—a long awaited moment!
Today has gone incredibly smoothly—from the perfect amount of time to get breakfast and load the plane to Miami, to the time together during lunch at the airport, a perfect layover time, and a bus ride to the base, which most students called their favorite moment of the day. “I loved driving through and seeing the sunset and beauty of nature,” one student mused. Others answered: “connecting on the plane,” “bunking with friends,” “the gorgeous bus ride,” “hanging out together and talking to each other,” “seeing the country,” and “meeting the awesome interns helping us this week.” One thing sticks out to me: connection. Praise God for what He is already doing in our seniors!
As I sit here, I hear beautiful sounds of nature and belly laughs and unforced fellowship. Seniors are currently enjoying time with each other after a delicious spaghetti dinner. As crickets chirp, they’re playing basketball under the lights of the court, laughing at very competitive games of Spicy Uno and Apples to Apples, and exploring the stunning base. What is most stunning, though, is the connection already blooming in our group of students while these activities are happening. There is a light in their eyes as they interact with those they don’t usually spend time with. Among these small things, God is ALREADY moving in big ways—even along the course of a seemingly mundane travel day in moments sitting next to each other on the bus to Jarabacoa.
It is well with our souls tonight, as it is with our minds and bodies. They are ready and excited to serve tomorrow, and I cannot imagine how God will use these seniors this week. Please continue to pray for our collective health and the few technical difficulties in sending out this communication, which we hope to have fixed by tomorrow.
MONDAY, DAY 2
Relational Serving.
Today was a day of beginnings. Students met their site leaders and spent their first day serving alongside the long-term missionaries who work daily with the community. They pushed children on swings, learned to take blood pressure, read children books (in Spanish!), gathered supplies to build a water filtration system, played volleyball and baseball with kids, and spent time talking and listening to the people in the community here. One student shared, “We were just going to eat lunch with her for twenty minutes, but we spent time with her for hours!” This is the relational aspect that Hector (the Student Life Coordinator) talked about this morning with our students: that financial service is of some value, but there’s another kind of help that is more important. He challenged our seniors to lean into the Dominican missional vision of relational service—that we don’t need to build something or DO something. What we need to do is spend time with people, listen to them, and share with them in turn. I saw fruit of that today.
Tonight we experienced the hospitality of the community of Jarabacoa. It is safe to say that the radical hospitality the Dominicans showed us was life-changing to some of our students. A student called it “some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life.” Another shared, “At home, it’s an honor to eat at someone’s house. Here, they consider it an honor to invite us into their home. They eat after us, they share everything they have, and they continue to offer more. It’s inspiring.” It makes my heart swell to see students owning their experiences, diving into service, and opening their hearts to learning what God has to show them. It overflows and inspires ME to see our seniors flourishing in this way.
Tonight, students are joyfully playing games back at the base. They’re tired, but their hearts are awake. May we awaken our hearts to God in this way today!
TUESDAY, DAY 3
A heart like Jesus.
Our second day at our sites and already it is starting to feel like home. I’ve heard this from multiple students—statements like, “I feel like I was made to do this.” This sentiment is so prevalent after spending days doing what they were created to do: following Jesus’ example of relationship, service, sacrifice, and connection. It is incredible to see what God is doing not just over a year, but day by day and moment by moment. God works so fast sometimes!
Our students come back from their sites buzzing about all the things they did, whom they met, how they served, and the ways they’re growing. If you were here, they would run up and tell you about how they spoke Spanish with a child or noticed something distinct about the culture or community. Our students are so observant. They notice things that I would think would take until the end of the week to notice. It means a lot to them to experience Dominican hospitality, and they can tell you exactly what that looks like: “Stopping and talking while walking in the neighborhood.” “Sharing coffee with an elderly woman on her front porch.” “Helping a community member go shopping or move her furniture.” During free time, some students were talking with the young elementary students of the baseball site who practice in the baseball cages. One was teaching a young boy to play guitar and, after a while, played a worship song for him in Spanish, and we all started singing. I teared up as the young boy looked down at the sheet and started singing along. It was a holy moment—so beautiful and precious.
Tonight a vision team visited the Students International base with the directors of the ministry. The vision team goes around the Dominican Republic to all the SI sites and learns about what they do here. At dinner tonight, these vision team adults ADORED our seniors. While they ate sancocho (a typical Dominican dish that the students ate seconds and thirds of), they sat with various youth pastors and other adults interested in the ministry and openly and willingly talked about their experience here over the last two days. Every person I met and talked to was amazed and shocked at our seniors. They were incredibly impressed with how talkative and engaging the Legacy students were and how they washed all their dishes with smiles on their faces—while dancing. I admit I was beaming with pride as well. Our students really are something special.
After dinner we went up to the chapel to learn more about the Dominican culture, language, and two typical dances they do here. Students started off a bit skeptical but were almost immediately laughing and dancing with each other. They were having a ball. Amidst the music, laughter, and dancing, more connection was formed tonight. The students were raved about so much all evening from all of the Students International staff, the vision tour, the director of all of the SI sites, and us. We decided your kids deserved ice cream. 🙂 They finished off the night with more dancing, games, basketball, and a sweet treat. They’re off to bed and excited for tomorrow. Praise God for what He is doing!
WEDNESDAY, DAY 4
Treasures in Heaven
“A place where we are relationally loved is a rich place to be.”
This was a drop of wisdom spoken to our students by the director tonight during a time of discussion and group reflection after our poverty simulation experience. Our students spent about an hour making decisions based on issues they faced as family units. They experienced (simulations of) scarcity, hard work, time restrictions, transportation issues, sickness and diseases, desperation, family values through hardship, economics, hard choices, and relationship issues. They had some very poignant reflections about the experience afterward.
The director described poverty as less of a lack of money and more relational: feelings of shame, hopelessness, embarrassment, and broken relationships.
He helped students understand that if we misunderstand poverty, we will offer the wrong solution. If poverty is broken relationships, then the solution must also be relational. We experience a broken relationship with God that is seen in how we treat others and how we utilize His creation. Wealth and material things don’t protect us from broken relationships.
Students were asked what they noticed about poverty and what they would take away from the experience. One responded, “They’re not rich in material wealth, so they’re forced to lean on each other and lean on God. They’re more rich in relationships and love than I’m used to, and I think our community needs more of that.”
They were also asked about the hope the gospel offers the impoverished. Students said it offered: “Deliverance from shame,” “Without the gospel, death is the end, but with the gospel there is something more—hope beyond our circumstances,” “A sense of peace that someone is with you and cares for you even though the world may not,” and “Your materials stay on earth—storing up treasures in heaven is of more worth.” These understandings of a complex topic are helping them love people relationally in their sites more and more. They were also challenged with this quote: “You can say what you believe and what your values are, but what you do is what you actually believe.” We saw this during difficult decisions the poverty simulation forced them to make.
Today was a day of going deeper.
Deeper with one another—placed in random families, making decisions together.
Deeper with the community—now students know people’s names, stories, and communities. They greet people with a shout and a smile when they see them.
Deeper in understanding—they see perspectives now that they couldn’t see without their experiences. They’ll tell you this!
And deeper in their growing faith in Jesus—they’ve been inspired, challenged, and strengthened. They’re ready to bring hope to the world.
Today we are tired, but growing every minute! Pray for our energy levels, sleep, and continued health for our students and team! Your prayers are making a felt impact over here!
THURSDAY, DAY 5
“My life is an altar to you”
These lyrics (a favorite worship song of our students) played in the background tonight as students worshipped for hours—journaling, singing, drawing, hands raised, heads bowed, standing, crying together, and praying together. Their hearts are hungry, and even through the difficult things shared this week, the Holy Spirit has been moving and stirring hearts here. There is beauty through pain as well as through breakthrough.
Earlier today, as students arrived back from their sites in the afternoon, Mr. Manske noticed that our students truly are excited to listen to what others did at their site just as much as they like to share about what they themselves did. This attitude of selflessness has been so prevalent this week through interactions between students. They do each other’s dishes, share snacks, take each other’s photos, borrow whatever they need, and since the first day, that connection seed that was growing has continued to be watered and flourish. The connection we’ve been praying for is happening!
Students continue to be impacted and inspired by the culture of service here. One student said, “Oftentimes we think of what God tells us not to do, but here I’ve learned to focus more on what God tells us to do—to serve and love other people—because that’s what God tells us to do.” Jesus is connecting things through experience that don’t always connect in other ways. It’s so fun to see. Also, our baseball guys got their famous Dominican fades today—those are fun to see too!
Tomorrow is our last day at our sites. Please pray for our students as they say goodbye to new friends, community members, and little buddies who have attached to them for the week. They will be full of beautiful and hard emotions tomorrow.
FRIDAY, DAY 6
Better than you found it.
Wow. What a week. Today I spent a lot of time asking various students the question, “What has God been doing in your life?” and asking leaders and chaperones the question, “What have you seen God doing in our students today?” I’m going to share just a fraction of the things I heard today.
“The kids on the swings here have more joy than I do on a rollercoaster!”
“I was impacted by the phrase Hector told us (‘Leave it better than you found it’). It means not only picking up around the base, but that by what I’m doing in the community, I am leaving this place and these people better than I found them.”
“He (a 5-year-old) won’t remember me in twenty years, but I’ll remember him.”
“God has really taught me to speak up.”
“Profe, I really love speaking Spanish with people! (Why?) Because I like connecting with people that I love. They love me unconditionally without asking anything of me.”
“That boy I taught guitar who worshiped with us that one day—he was playing it again today, and today he was teaching another boy the chords I taught him! You know, when he was singing with me in Spanish and others were singing in English, it was just a little taste of what heaven will be like—all worshiping God together.”
“I’m seeing our students take initiative to serve without waiting to be told. They’re spotting things to help with instead of standing and waiting to be told what to do.”
“I’m seeing a lot of emotion at our site today as students say goodbye to the people they’ve been serving all week. I’ve seen gratefulness for what is being done here as well as a lot of reflection on what they learned this week. All of them were really insightful.”
“God is always working in people more than we think He is.”
Students were sad today to leave their sites, their leaders, and their new friends. They spent time worshiping together, sharing about the week, watching the media team’s video, and praying for the missionaries they worked with at the banquet tonight. As we closed out the service, we surrounded our missionary friends and prayed blessings over them, then students said adios. It was hard and some were teary-eyed, but I think it’s fair to say all were impacted by the incredible hearts of the missionaries they served with and were served by this week. The church really is a body. Every part is placed in a different spot to bless the whole.
A chaperone and I mused how there’s not a single student who did not fully immerse themselves in the experience this week and dive in fully. Our students make us proud.
Also, your students would want you to know:
The SI staff have been waiting for this night for a long time. After the banquet is the long-awaited staff vs. student basketball game. This time the staff reached out to some friends and brought in two of the best basketball players in town to help them against our students! It was best 2/3. The first game was tight, but students won. The second game was close and came down to the last point…
Students won again! A hard-fought victory—our staff did not go easy on them! They’re going to bed sweaty and tired, but full of joy.
SATURDAY, DAY 7
What an impactful week!
Students adventured today, going river rafting and on a waterfall hike. They had time to play games together and rest at the base, and then went into town for some shopping, smoothies, and ice cream. Students loved having a fun day at the end of the week!
They’re ready to tell their stories. When they come home, be patient as they share, but ask them about their trip.
Many of them may feel overwhelmed with the amount of things to share, and it may take time to sort their thoughts. For others, you may not be able to get them to stop talking! In any case, each student has a story to share, so be ready to hear amazing things (maybe after a night of sleep first)!
