Heeding His Call: Called To Go

“The Lord gave us the following order: ‘I have made you a light for the nations so that you would save people all over the world.’ ” ~Acts 13:47

The pregnant woman arrived at the South Asian mission hospital bleeding heavily and in need of emergency medical care. Sadly, there was no female healthcare provider available and, due to cultural constraints, her husband would not let her be seen by a male doctor.

“I remember watching her leave the hospital without the care she desperately needed, likely to go home and die,” recalls Gloria Lang*, RN. “It was at that moment that I felt a tremendous opportunity as a female to care for these vulnerable women.”

God was clarifying a call Gloria had felt since she was a second grader praying for persecuted Christians – the “red” countries – on the map in her parents’ bedroom. When she met and married John Lang*, MD, the couple shared such a strong commitment to healthcare missions that they combined their honeymoon with a two-month mission trip to restricted countries in South Asia. In fact, they volunteered at the mission hospital where the pregnant woman went home untreated.

Today Gloria and John are members of MedSend’s 2015 Fall Class, and once their MedSend grants are funded, they will return to that very mission hospital. John will serve as a physician, and Gloria, now an experienced nurse-midwife, will care for vulnerable women.

“We are excited to go back to where our married life began to live out our calling as a husband and wife,” John says.

We’re pleased to introduce you to the Langs and all 23 members of MedSend’s 2015 Fall Class, whom you can meet HERE. We think you will be inspired as we share some of the exciting ways that God has called these committed professionals into career healthcare missions. We hope you will prayerfully consider whether God is calling you to help us raise the $774,800 needed to fund their MedSend grants. It’s a big job, but we rejoice in knowing that He who has called us is faithful to do it! (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

Michelle Kiprop with children served by Hope Matters International

Michelle Kiprop, FNP, was just 14 and preparing for a summer mission trip to Brazil when she felt it.

“I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that God was calling me to work overseas to spread His gospel and touch others with His love,” she recalls. “There were friends and family members who shook their heads and waited for me to ‘outgrow’ this phase. The funny thing is that you cannot outgrow God’s call on your life.”

Today, Michelle is co-founder and executive director of Hope Matters International, a medical ministry in Kenya that sees hundreds of patients each month – and she was just approved for a second MedSend renewal grant.

“My MedSend grant has empowered me to be here serving in Kenya. Without the load of my student loans to carry, I am more free to focus on the work I have been called to do.”

Arise Haiti Clinic: “Hundreds come each week for healthcare…”

“We feel called to establish a ‘city on a hill’ that will brightly shine forth the gospel and advance the Kingdom,” physical therapist James Courter wrote on his MedSend grant application in 2007.

“We plan to establish a medical clinic to provide for physical and spiritual needs in Haiti,” he continued. Seven years later, James has just been approved for his second MedSend renewal grant and says, “We could never have imagined what God had in store…”

Today the clinic he and his wife Rachael, a physician assistant, founded in a once squalid beachside town employs a staff of 12 nationals who treat 500 patients per month. In addition, the Courters’ Arise Haiti ministry trains and disciples pastors and children and plants churches.

“Before, our community was known as a place of sin and shame,” says local resident Charly G. “Today hundreds of people come each week for healthcare, to the Bible school, and for the children’s programs. This changes our image.”

James says MedSend support made it possible for him to answer God’s call.

“For seven years in Haiti, we have had the freedom to be able to live and serve here without student loan debt
holding us back,” he says. “It has truly been a key to allowing us to participate in what God is doing in this region
of the world.”

Dr. Kelley in Kenya

For Aaron Kelley, DO, and his wife Stephanie,the call came on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic.

“In the U.S., it is so easy to ignore the plight of the poor and the suffering,” Aaron says. “But as we drove to where we worked, we saw the shacks that many called home. We saw the tattered clothes that barely covered children. We saw what poverty truly looked like. We knew we were being called to foreign missions.”

In response to that call, the Kelleys and their four children moved to Kenya so Aaron could serve in a residency program at Tenwek mission hospital. Six weeks later, they encountered the unthinkable: their 14-month-old daughter Hannah was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died.

Despite this tragedy, the Kelley family finished their term in Kenya. And now, thanks to their MedSend grant, they are planning to return.

“We live in a world that is full of suffering,” Aaron says. “Our time in Kenya, as well as the death of our daughter, has only served to heighten our awareness of this painful reality. But we have been called to serve, despite our pain and despite the hardships that we may face, in order to bring physical and spiritual healing to those we serve. After seeing the enormity of the need in Kenya, that calling has been strengthened. It is an honor to be the hands and feet of Christ, bringing hope and healing to a suffering world.”

Your tax-deductible gift to MedSend will make it possible for Dr. Kelley and the rest of MedSend’s 2015 Fall Class to get to the places God has called them. Click HERE or on the Donate Now button below to give securely using your credit card.