In August 2014, I retired from the US Air Force. I prayed to God for direction in my life and I got an answer loud and clear; enter the mission fields and spread the love of Jesus Christ. I attended a medical missionary conference in October for Samaritan’s Purse World Medical Missions where God placed me right where He wanted me! I met a World Medical Missions Program Coordinator who said she could use me right away, so after a bit of email and phone calls, we nailed down the specifics. In March 2015, I will be leaving to serve at Sons of Thunder ministry in Zambia for 6 weeks then immediately up to Pioneer Christian Hospital in the Republic of Congo for 2 months. I know in my heart this is my calling from God. I will follow His instructions to “go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the entire creation.” Mark 16:15
Sons of Thunder (SOT) provides agriculture, church and mission outreach, schools, training in micro sustainable enterprises, orphan and widow care and also, my niche, medical care. SOT medical ministries now extend from the original farm clinic to 5 major outreach areas in the bush. Many of the patients walk from long distances to receive care. They are able to keep some of the more serious patients in over-night facility at the farm clinic. Treatment is given for a variety of needs, from common every day illnesses to testing and initial and extended care for burns (a serious problem in Zambia bush areas), AIDS, malaria, etc. Every effort is made for preventive care, placing wells in villages for clean water, education for HIV prevention, teaching healthy lifestyles, prenatal care, infant and children immunizations and more. They also deliver many babies, some at the clinic, and often in little mud huts out in the bush area. SOT medical ministry still makes house calls. The second ministry location is Pioneer Christian Hospital, a 60-bed general mission hospital in the heart of the Congo River Basin Rainforest serving an estimated population of 300,000 people, including local residents, villagers, and vulnerable people groups including indigenous peoples, refugees, the poor, elderly, chronically ill, and AIDS orphans and widows. Conditions commonly treated include malaria, sexually-transmitted diseases, motorcycle accidents, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, HIV/AIDS, leprosy, meningitis, monkey pox and other infectious diseases. Less exotic conditions including pregnancy, hernia, hypertension, gastritis, diabetes, and other diagnoses are also commonplace. The hospital aims to offer healing to the whole person, integrating physical, social, and spiritual treatment as needed. I may be the person with boots on the ground, but you are an integral piece of the missionary life. Thank you your support and prayers
Blessings
