I spent my Spring Break this year in Haiti. I can describe this trip as nothing less than life changing. I have been following the Lord now for about two years and never have I been able to share the gospel so confidently and clearly. On this trip, we treated many patients; but, there was not a single one that did not get asked by a triage nurse, a doctor and by the pharmacist whether they knew who Jesus is and what He has done. It was the priority of our treatment to treat them spiritually more than anything else. I work in a hospital now, where I can talk about my faith. But I would estimate that I pray with one of my patients or talk about Jesus only about once a month. The spiritual aspect of treatment falls to the wayside often. I could blame working in a level 1 trauma center and the fact that we have patients waiting fifteen hours plus in the waiting room; so, I am pressured to treat and street as fast as I can, but honestly it would be a lie. I focus solely on treating them physically because the more I can get done, the better I look to my bosses and frankly these conversations can be awkward to start.
Going on this mission trip, I had no idea what to expect. I was incredibly nervous and so many different things came up the few weeks before that I honestly considering not going altogether. However, the Lord by His mighty hand, was able to prepare me to go so I had no reason not to. I embarked on this journey and was terrified mostly of what my other teammates would think of me, for no other reason except I have struggled with this my whole life. But I pressed on and began to make friends and began to seek the Lord to guide me that week and help me to serve someone. My first day, I was in pharmacy and the pharmacist constantly was monitoring to see who had heard about Jesus that day. The first woman who admitted she had not, the pharmacist encouraged me to go share the Good News with her. From there, the Lord took over and His news was spread to one more soul. It was beyond what I could have ever expected. From there, it became second nature to ask every patient if they knew the Good News and when they did not, to share it with them. As we processed the week at the end, I found my prayer to be that I would not forget this. That I would take into my own practice the importance of assessing and treating my patients spiritually and that I would boldly share the Good News with anyone I came across who was willing to listen.
