My name is Jordan and I am the chapter director for the Harrisburg-PA FaithCare Chapter. So far, I’ve had the privilege of serving on two FaithCare medical mission trips to Nigeria.
The focus of our trips is on the needy and hurting people we serve, but, on my previous trip, I experienced something which really emphasized how much we, as volunteers, are impacted and changed too.
I’ve always been interested in medical mission trips because I’m a paramedic by profession and the idea of getting to do medicine in a third-world environment, surrounded by the unknown, has always seemed like an adventure to me. Well, there were plenty of adventures! The first one was that, before my first trip, I decided to fully embrace the faith element of the outreach and I signed up to be part of the spiritual counseling team instead of a medical volunteer. This might seem like a strange choice, but I decided that I get the opportunity to serve people through medicine every day here in the States and I wanted to take this chance to focus on making a difference by sharing the Truth and Love of God with people.
From day one I immediately fell in love with the work! Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard work and the days are long – everyone who comes to the outreach has the opportunity to see the spiritual counseling team. On our second trip, to Mangu, we saw over 2,500 patients in five days! That’s an adventure all of its own!
I have had the opportunity to counsel and pray with people from all walks of life. I have shared laughs, hugs, and tears with many people who have so much less than I do. These interactions have put an entirely new perspective in my heart about what we are afforded here in the US. There are so many stories and life changing things that I’ve seen and heard that I would love to share, but I’ll focus on one of my most profound interactions.
One day during our trip to Mangu, a woman came to my spiritual counseling area. She sat down across from me, looking calm and composed. After introductions, where she said that she was doing ‘very well’, she told me that she had come to have her eyes looked at. Apparently, she had been having trouble with her vision for the past few years, but didn’t have the money to go to a doctor to get evaluated and treated.
I then asked her the same question I ask many who come to my station, “If you were to die tomorrow, where would you go?” This question brings all sorts of answers like “I don’t know,” “Heaven, I hope,” or even, “Probably hell,”. Some people just remain quiet, but her answer was a resounding, “To be with my Jesus.” As we continued chatting, it was clear that she really loved Jesus and had a strong relationship with Him.
I finished by asking another question I ask everyone who comes to my station, if I can pray for them about anything. Her answer seemed simple at first: “That I could see my child.” When I inquired about specifics, she told me an astounding story. Earlier that year, her village had been attacked by a group of radical Islamists who had destroyed all her personal belongings, burnt down her home, and forced her to flee to Mangu with her husband and her child. Also, around this time, she was the victim of a truly horrific assault. When she arrived in Mangu, her husband disowned her because of the assault and left for another corner of the country, taking their child with him. She told me she has not heard from them since and is now living here with no home or family.
I don’t share this story to horrify you or make you feel guilty about how good your life is in comparison. The reason her story impacted me so greatly is simply because of the faith she holds. She knows that if you pray big enough, and if you pray hard enough, God can do anything. She has the kind of faith that I dream of having one day. How many of us could experience all these things in such a short amount of time, and not let our faith be shaken? Let alone use it as an opportunity to grow our faith! To be able to respond honestly that we are ‘very well’? In a country where we have so much impatience for the many comforts available to us within arm’s reach, we could learn a lot from this woman.
A pastor on my last trip said to me, “One of the greatest secrets that God has hidden from the devil is that our struggles in life only strengthen our faith in God. If the devil knew this, he would give us everything we want exactly when we want it.”
It’s a secret I’m striving to remember.
