I felt called to missions as a child but I also felt called to healthcare. I didn’t know how those would intertwine until I was much older.
I thought maybe I would just do short-term trips sporadically with my church. However, my husband and I both felt called into full-time mission work about 6 years ago. He was a sheet metal fabricator/mechanic. We couldn’t understand how God would use us. Then, we met our mentor Bryan Webb who asked if we would be willing to use our unique ministry gifts to open doors to the hard-to-reach areas of the islands of the South Pacific that have been resistant to the Gospel.
Suddenly it all made sense.
In these areas of the world, not only do they severely lack medical care and access to sanitation and clean water- the things that my husband and I can physically help them with- but they have been known to kill missionaries who have tried to come in and just preach to them. Coming in and doing ministry the way Jesus often did, ministering to their physical needs before ministering to their spiritual needs, opens the door to allow for the gospel message to be presented where it had been rejected for so long.
We are now headed to Papua New Guinea where we plan to serve the rest of our career in this fashion.
The goal for me and my family is that we will be able to set up a network of aid posts, as well as an aid post training center, to minister to the remote areas of Papua New Guinea that have been unreached or under-reached with the Gospel.
Many areas of Papua New Guinea are completely isolated and have no access to medical care. Many also have very little knowledge about basic health and hygiene practices. We would like to be able to go into these communities and set up these aid posts, or mini-clinics, hopefully staffed by me but also by local healthcare workers who are strong Christian believers. We would do ministry the way Jesus many times did.
Oftentimes, we see that Jesus ministered to people physically before he ministered to them spiritually. It is a way to open the door into the hard-to-reach areas of this very difficult, animistic, part of the world and allow us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We can care for their illnesses and teach them how they can improve their health, while sharing about the Great Physician.
The ultimate goal is to use these aid posts/clinics as the building block to then be able to start churches where no churches are currently.
The top three outcomes we hope to see are:
1) Souls will be saved among the tribes of Papua New Guinea that are currently opposed to the Gospel.
2) The church will be planted where it currently is not.
3) The health of those in the secluded communities will improve because of our efforts with the clinic.