Love and Medicine

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:9-11

So far, I've written about the who, where, and why of this summer. Now it's time for me to share a bit more about the what! What exactly will I be doing on this short-term medical mission?

One of the motivations for me to go abroad on a mission this summer is to learn how God uses medicine to further his kingdom here on earth. Since I came to college, I have worked to pursue medicine in my academics by taking all of the pre-med course requirements and completing the MCAT. I am currently applying to medical schools, which has reminded me of my original purpose for wanting to go to medical school. In addition to being interested in science and problem-solving, I want to care for people and help to improve their lives. This desire to help people is not only limited to healing their physical bodies. As a Christian, I pray that they would put their faith in Jesus Christ and have eternal life through Him. By going on this medical mission, I hope to see how diagnosing and treating physical ailments can open the doors for people to see how Jesus is the loving physician of our souls. He knows the sin that plagues us and lovingly gives us life through the Holy Spirit.

For the eight weeks that I am on this medical mission, I will spend the morning from 8 AM to 1 PM working in the village clinic. Sue and another Kenyan nurse will provide language translation for me when I need it. I will be involved in any medical procedures that I'm allowed to and hope to help out whenever and however I can. The clinic is the only one in the village and Sue hopes that it would be self-sustaining very soon. Currently, many of the supplies and medications are bought in Nairobi or brought in when a plane can be chartered to D. The clinic has many simple needs, such as multi-vitamins and a drug book, so if you are in the medical field (or even if you're not!) and would like to contribute to the clinic, please let me know. I'm sure I'll be able to share more about the needs of the clinic when I return too. I hope that I can continue to support the clinic even if I am not physically there. In the afternoons, I will be making house visits with Sue. This is a time when she is able to spend more time with the people in their homes and build lasting relationships with them. Sue never really knows how the daily schedule might suddenly change but she's always prepared to do the Lord's work. I'm looking forward to working in the clinic with her and learning how she follows God's calling to bring physical healing to people.

Please be praying over the clinic work that I will be participating in this summer. I'm really excited to see how my passion for medicine will grow through this medical mission. I continue to pray that the clinic would be able to get all the resources and supplies that it needs to be providing the best care to its patients. I hope that a partnership between the churches here and the clinic can be formed in the future. Again, if you have any medical supplies that you would like to donate, please let me know. Currently, they have a need for multi-vitamins, a nurse's drug book, blood pressure cuffs, and otoscope. Please also be praying for my medical school applications at this time. I'm a little nervous and feel a bit rushed that I have to send in my applications before I leave for Kenya. I want to have greater trust that God has a good plan for my future. Thank you!!