Meeting an Urgent Need
While Sharing the Gospel
Dr. Dan Stephens
Having grown up on the mission field and then served for 30 years as a full time missionary, I have had lots of contact with short term missionaries. We always hope that the short term mission trip will be a stepping stone to full time missions but have found that this is rarely the case. However, we have been blessed by help and support from numerous short termers and look forward to the return of many. They have been a great resource in providing help, filling in vacancies, doing much needed projects, training the staff and long term missionaries, and providing immediate and often long term support. We praise God for short termers and especially those who return for second and third trips, men and women who are committed to our ministry and feel a part of it even though they can only commit to short term trips.
My most recent trip to Zimbabwe and Karanda Mission Hospital was rewarding, fulfilling and also, in some respects, heartbreaking as I saw the tremendous need that exists and the lack of adequate resources to meet the needs. I have been told that “you can’t do it all,” “you can’t help everyone,” “you can’t stay forever.” My father was so grateful that I went back to Karanda and he desperately wanted one of my sons to follow in my footsteps to carry on the work at the hospital. We need to do our part. We need to say yes to God but we need to trust that He will make a way for the work to continue. We need to help where we can. But I can let you know that there is an untold amount of help you can do. It is not easy to meet all the regulations and to jump through all the hoops, but in the end it is worth it. People appreciate all you do for them and even when the outcomes are not perfect, they understand and are grateful for what you did for them.
As medical short termers there is a tremendous amount that you can give. People are coming to you, the hospital staff is waiting for you, and there is no limit to the amount of work you can do. You have a choice: you can go or not go, you can do what you feel you are able to do or what you should do, often realizing that you are the last resort for many. You can share the Gospel and extend that hope you gave here on Earth to many that will last for Eternity.
One brief story: I was called to see a man who was stridorous and having difficulty breathing. The patient’s doctor wanted to know what was the problem. I scheduled a bronchoscopy and found a large laryngeal cancer essentially filling his larynx. I attempted a biopsy with the bronchoscope but our forceps were inadequate so I chose to use the upper endoscope and was able to get a good biopsy. As I was writing up my note I got an urgent call from across the room that the patient was no longer able to breathe and his sats were in the 40s. I grabbed a scalpel and opened up his trachea and was able to push in a tracheostomy tube. The patient recovered well. Unfortunately there is no radiotherapy available in Zimbabwe and very costly chemotherapy which most patients cannot afford. After talking at length with a patient who could not talk – only write – fortunately in English, I offered a laryngeal exploration with probable total laryngectomy (he had no gross adenopathy). He accepted and underwent the procedure. He recovered well and I have rarely had a more grateful patient. What his future holds I do not know. He was anxious to get back to work. I was anxious that he receive the Gospel and be able to talk with me again in Eternity. As short-term medical missionaries, we have this opportunity – to meet an urgent need and to share the Gospel to have Eternal outcomes.