Wow, what an experience! I just returned from my first medical mission trip to Honduras, and it was such a blessing. Even though I’ve traveled to over 30 countries and spent a year doing non-medical Christian mission trips before medical school, my time in Honduras was special and unique.
I’ll start with the team- we had around 8 medical students and 25 dental students, plus a handful of dentists, physicians, pharmacy techs, optometry techs, and our translators. The team came together quickly and rallied around the common goal of seeing the gospel spread through medicine/dentistry. The devos and testimonies that were shared by team members throughout the week provided daily “fuel on the fire”.
The clinic itself was a handful of makeshift patient rooms inside a school. We saw patients in 4 different rooms and also had a room with an ultrasound. It didn’t take long to me to realize how much of a platform medicine is (patients lined up well before we arrived to make sure they were seen) and also how limited the care is that we could ultimately provide. We definitely helped people medically, but it felt like we were unsuccessfully trying to rebuild a dam that was gushing water...and we were using pebbles. However the platform of medicine created a fantastic opportunity to preach the gospel, and many came to know the Lord/renewed their commitment to God.
As I said, I’ve participated in a lot of mission trips, and I am a firm believer in the importance of sustainability. Hand-outs are not the answer. A group of people will only be helped if their is follow up and growth that can last much longer than the length of the mission trip. This was the most encouraging part of the trip--the fact that GHO did such an amazing job with follow up, both medically and spiritually. Patients that needed further medical care were referred to the appropriate places, and for spiritual follow up we had local pastors at the clinic that could talk with patients and get them involved in the church. Knowing this, we made a concerted effort to remember that while medicine is of value, the patient’s spiritual health is the ultimate priority. It was a blessing to pray with patients and talk to them about Jesus.
I am so thankful for this trip and am certain that it will be the first of many medical mission trips to come. My goal is to see people healed physically and spiritually, and God is leading me one step at a time!
I’ll start with the team- we had around 8 medical students and 25 dental students, plus a handful of dentists, physicians, pharmacy techs, optometry techs, and our translators. The team came together quickly and rallied around the common goal of seeing the gospel spread through medicine/dentistry. The devos and testimonies that were shared by team members throughout the week provided daily “fuel on the fire”.
The clinic itself was a handful of makeshift patient rooms inside a school. We saw patients in 4 different rooms and also had a room with an ultrasound. It didn’t take long to me to realize how much of a platform medicine is (patients lined up well before we arrived to make sure they were seen) and also how limited the care is that we could ultimately provide. We definitely helped people medically, but it felt like we were unsuccessfully trying to rebuild a dam that was gushing water...and we were using pebbles. However the platform of medicine created a fantastic opportunity to preach the gospel, and many came to know the Lord/renewed their commitment to God.
As I said, I’ve participated in a lot of mission trips, and I am a firm believer in the importance of sustainability. Hand-outs are not the answer. A group of people will only be helped if their is follow up and growth that can last much longer than the length of the mission trip. This was the most encouraging part of the trip--the fact that GHO did such an amazing job with follow up, both medically and spiritually. Patients that needed further medical care were referred to the appropriate places, and for spiritual follow up we had local pastors at the clinic that could talk with patients and get them involved in the church. Knowing this, we made a concerted effort to remember that while medicine is of value, the patient’s spiritual health is the ultimate priority. It was a blessing to pray with patients and talk to them about Jesus.
I am so thankful for this trip and am certain that it will be the first of many medical mission trips to come. My goal is to see people healed physically and spiritually, and God is leading me one step at a time!
