The culture shock of my initial (solo) mission to Bolivia, South America was tremendous. I had seen so much poverty, exploitation, and darkness in the communities. The livestock work was slow, inefficient, and lacked the expected potential of a highly trained American veterinarian. After one 17 hour day I returned to the hotel and I wept and prayed that God would help me to understand what I experienced that day. The people had such a hard existence. Many beautiful children- too many born into poverty- too many very young mothers. It was becoming very hard for me to follow through on my plan to project God’s love to people through the look of joy on my face. I asked God why He would send me here to Bolivia to witness this poverty and darkness. I was only one and I was older. I did not have the ability to change the life situation for these people I was serving among. I asked Him to give me peace and answers concerning how I should proceed. Miraculously, when I awoke the next morning God’s answer was immediately in my thoughts. “Do not go alone! Mobilize others to go with you.”
Since that first short term mission trip I have never gone alone again for over three decades. I have taken others with me, mostly young veterinary students, to allow the Holy Spirit to build a heart for service in them. I have been so blessed by the presence of these young Christians in my life! I saw many of them take the lead in the missions and expand them beyond what I had thought possible. These young missionaries had time and energy to give to the mission field and with God’s help had the ability to affect change in the lives of people they served. I thank God for giving me peace and answering my prayers! The following video is an example of the young Christians God has allowed me to mentor.