Future Medical Student Learns from Sierra Leone Doctor

An aspiring medical student, Heidi O'Dell, was a member of a North Carolina Conference team to Rotifunk, Sierra Leone, in May.  She shares her experience learning from a local doctor who exemplifies what it means to be in ministry: 

I’m not sure that I could ever find the words to accurately describe how much this experience meant to me. The people of Rotifunk taught me more about faith, humility, endurance, and love than I could’ve ever imagined possible in such a short amount of time. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect before going on this mission trip, but it definitely exceeded any expectation I could’ve had. 

One of the most impactful experiences for me were the Outreach Clinics. It was special to get to actually interact with the people in the villages and see their need and be able to help them and give them more information about the hospital.  I also got to practice some medical techniques of my own which will be beneficial to me in my future. We had a lot of success with the clinics and I feel that, with time, they could be even more successful. 

Playing with the kids was also a highlight of the trip for me. I wasn’t sure how well playing limbo or with the rubber ball would go over given that we weren’t really able to explain what they were supposed to do, but the kids caught on quickly and seemed to really enjoy it. 

Another thing that stood out to me was how hardworking Dr. Asante, Lumeh and Arthur were. You can tell they really appreciate their jobs and want the absolute best for their patients. They all knew off the top of their heads each patient's’ status and that was impressive to me, as I don’t know if that would be the case in American hospitals. I also appreciated how Dr. Asante and Arthur allowed us to watch a surgery, and explained what he was doing throughout. I learned a lot about the kind of doctor I want to be from them. 

No matter how big of an impact we may have made on the people of Rotifunk and the surrounding villages, they made an even bigger impact on me. The happiness and love they exude is unparalleled. I hope that I am able to take what I learned from them and apply it in my life back here in the States. I also hope that I can one day be even half the source of Jesus’ light and love that they are. I am forever grateful for and humbled by this experience, and I pray that I am able to return someday. 

I’m not sure that I could ever find the words to accurately describe how much this experience meant to me.

One of the most impactful experiences for me were the Outreach Clinics. It was special to get to actually interact with the people in the villages and see their need and be able to help them and give them more information about the hospital.  I also got to practice some medical techniques of my own which will be beneficial to me in my future. We had a lot of success with the clinics and I feel that, with time, they could be even more successful. 

Playing with the kids was also a highlight of the trip for me. I wasn’t sure how well playing limbo or with the rubber ball would go over given that we weren’t really able to explain what they were supposed to do, but the kids caught on quickly and seemed to really enjoy it. 

Another thing that stood out to me was how hardworking Dr. Asante, Lumeh and Arthur were. You can tell they really appreciate their jobs and want the absolute best for their patients. They all knew off the top of their heads each patient's’ status and that was impressive to me, as I don’t know if that would be the case in American hospitals. I also appreciated how Dr. Asante and Arthur allowed us to watch a surgery, and explained what he was doing throughout. I learned a lot about the kind of doctor I want to be from them. 

No matter how big of an impact we may have made on the people of Rotifunk and the surrounding villages, they made an even bigger impact on me. The happiness and love they exude is unparalleled. I hope that I am able to take what I learned from them and apply it in my life back here in the States. I also hope that I can one day be even half the source of Jesus’ light and love that they are. I am forever grateful for and humbled by this experience, and I pray that I am able to return someday. 

Should We Stop Taking Mission Trips?

Mission Voluntourism: Yes, it is Still Worth Going.

Rev. Matt Lacey
UMVIM, SEJ Executive Director

Voluntourism is a word that has been getting some buzz in the last several years. If you haven’t heard it before, type it into your favorite search engine. Some use it as a pejorative to describe Christians who go on “mission” trips as an excuse to add another stamp in their passport.

I have been guilty of that, as well as thinking that travel makes you a more interesting person. Critics of the term—and some critics of mission trips in general—have rightly pointed out that sometimes the most economically effective way to help a community in need would be to take all that money you pour into a plane ticket, visas, travel adapters, etc. and instead use it to make a long term impact: pay for community based medical staff, make a donation to an already established and trusted NGO, or designate it for training for community members. Economically speaking, they are correct. Most of the time the expense of getting on a plane, getting a visa, and making a mission trip t-shirt with your church’s logo on it pales in comparison to the cost of community-based sustainable aid.

I have led mission teams that seemed more interested in taking photos than serving with those they came to visit. I’ve seen team members rushed to foreign clinics and given treatment for dehydration while a pregnant woman who was afraid she would lose her baby continue to wait in line. We should never prioritize our experience at the expense of another person. All of us do need to ask: why are we going and what do we hope to get out of it?

My very first international mission trip was when I was 20. My primary motivators were the romanticism of a foreign country, the great photos I would take, and the cute girls on the team I wanted to talk to. Oh, and because I wanted to evangelize. I went for almost all the wrong reasons.

God took my flawed and arrogant motivations and turned them into something else: a life-changing experience. Some of us go on mission trips expecting to “save souls,” and in reality the only soul that gets saved is our own. I know from experience.

God really messed up my life because of that trip. I started understanding a little more of what it meant to serve (I still haven’t fully figured it out). After returning home, I started noticing needs and opportunities all around me that I hadn’t seen—or that I ignored—before. I started reading scripture in a different way, and I started to feel God calling me to do more. Mission trips may not be economically effective, but it was effective in how I started understanding the message of Jesus. Much like farm land that has to be scorched in order to set the stage for future growth, God sees right through our misguided intentions and completely destroys them in order to make way for growth in one’s faith journey.

Yes, mission trips are still worth going on, because no matter where we go or why we go, we will eventually see God in a new way, and learn that the trip really isn’t about us but instead about how we see and interact with the rest of God’s children. However, we should not learn that lesson at the expense of those we are serving with.
To all the friends I have met all over the world during a mission journey: thank you for putting up with my arrogant intentions and expectations in order to let God work in my life.

May we all go forth and serve one another by listening more than we talk, learning more than we teach, and seeing God in each and every person we meet.

-Matt

Rev. Matt Lacey, Exec. Director, UMVIM, SEJ