Thanks to my parents, I grew up with a lot of volunteer
opportunities. When I was 15, I got the opportunity to do my first foreign
mission trip. I absolutely loved the experience, but I didn’t feel very useful.
I could see how the missionaries who were there full time were able to really
be a part of that community. Out of the people who were on my 10-day trip, I
saw a nurse who was able to help people (including me) who were sick and
injured on the trip. This propelled me into choosing nursing once I discovered
I couldn’t major in “helping people” in college.
How I first got to Thailand was a little unexpected. I tried
to find opportunities to study abroad in college. Turns out that is very hard
to do with a nursing major since our classes are so specific. I then decided to
go on a mission trip instead. My mom worked with a woman who said there was a
nurse from her church who went to Thailand every year and did the medical team
with her church. I thought that would be good experience to go with a nurse and
use my medical skills, so I signed up. That nurse wasn’t able to go that year
so I WAS the medical team!
I am very thankful for this experience and my introduction
to “The Land of Smiles.” I was also happy that I had learned a skill that could
be made useful on just a 2 week trip. But at the same time, I didn’t want to
continue to have just this kind of relationship with the Thai people, where
they pass by me in lines for medical care but I cannot communicate and don’t
have the opportunity to get to know them. I felt like I might have been helping
people in a medical sense, but I knew I wasn’t forming relationships. I would
“meet” a hundred people in a day and never see them again or remember any
names. I am extremely thankful for these trips and experiences but I couldn’t
help feeling like something was missing when I returned home.
I walked away from these trips feeling like this wasn’t how
I was supposed to fulfill the Great Commission in my life. I wanted a deeper
level of involvement with these people. I also wanted them to know me, not just
as the nurse doing check-ups. Even though I care a lot about people’s physical
health and wellness, I find spiritual health more important. Helping people
know that there is a God who loves them, who has conquered death, who is more
powerful than any other spirits, who has the power to forgive us, who wants us to
spend the rest of eternity in paradise with Him is the most important message
we can give. This is good news! And we are blessed with the opportunity to tell
this good news to people who have never heard!
Great Commission: Matthew 28: 19-20
“Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age.” -Jesus
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| My First Trip to Thailand, 2012 |
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| My 2nd trip to Thailand, 2013 |
