I’ve spent the last month in Peru and Bolivia with the organization Water for People, working my way east in a line from Lima towards the Amazon basin. But when I volunteer at HOH next week, Vinto will not be the end of the line. Rather, I will be coming full circle to a place where God deeply touched me seven years ago, when I volunteered there before. He used those three weeks and the example of the people I met to make me think about how I could serve him with my whole life.
I was 16 at the time, and truthfully wasn’t very interested in the clinic or other ministries. HOH was just a convenient, parent-approved way to improve my Spanish and have an adventure, then return to my high school routine. I did get my Spanish and adventure, but to my surprise, God had more to show me as well. Returning to the same routine was not part of it.
He started tugging at my gut as soon as the plane topped the starkly beautiful mountains around Cochabamba. He kept on tugging from the patients who walk or wait for hours to receive care. He tugged from the persistence of the staff to do their best for the patients, and from the charismatic church service one of the dentists took me to. He tugged from the smiles of the attention-hungry girls in an orphanage. He tugged from the bathrooms I cleaned, from the files I alphabetized, from the breaths and heartbeats I counted. On the last day, he tugged from the Third Day CD in the truck stereo: “I know I'll never be the same.” He whispered, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. Take care of my sheep,” like HOH is doing. A few days later, back in Kansas, I was sure I wanted to spend my life doing what I felt God pulling me towards: to be part of his hands and feet overseas.
I haven't made it there yet. God has had many more lessons to teach me first. For example, a big one was about pride and motivation, as I floundered in pre-med classes in college trying to become a doctor like the HOH staff. It became clear I'm not a vessel intended for that noble use. Instead I've ended up a humble environmental/civil engineer, but am much happier. I still hope to serve overseas full time eventually, but in the mean time, it is a blessing to just visit HOH again – to see the example set by the staff, and to remember and give thanks for how God leads us and for the opportunities we have to take care of those around us, wherever we are. I’m eagerly looking forward to what God will teach me this time around too.
In February, I abandoned my comfortable existence as a fourth year medical student in North Carolina, and traveled to Bolivia, South America for a short term mission trip.
