Dear Volunteers in Medical Missions,
Every time I receive your newsletter, I keep thinking to myself, “I need to write VIMM and tell them my story.” I finally put it on my “to-do” list, and here I am writing this letter. I think it is a Thank You letter, but you can be the judge.
I had the happy opportunity to participate in VIMM trips while I was a resident in Greenwood, South Carolina – [don’t tell anyone, but the opportunities to participate in these trips were a major factor in my decision to go to Greenwood in the first place!] As a medical student I worked in a mission hospital in Kenya for two months and from this experience thought that maybe one day I might end up on the mission field. I knew that residency would be very busy and challenging and I wanted to make sure that the pressures didn’t crowd out my exposure and involvement to missions.
Well, needless to say, I participated in 4 VIMM trips as a resident – the last two as “co-leader”. Each trip was a learning experience. Flexibility, preparedness, flexibility, patience, flexibility, teamwork and flexibility were many of the lessons I learned (you can guess which lesson I learned the most!)
I also learned that God uses short term missions to change people’s hearts – both the people receiving the help and those providing the help. I experienced how God uses short term trips to soften our hearts, keep us dependent on him, and give us His perspective. I have seen how He has uses the physical touch of medicine to bring a spiritual healing. I have often thought that the trips blessed me more than I was able to be a blessing.
Finally, I wanted to share how these VIMM trips have helped me to realize the call God has for my life in regards to full time missions. I am certain that the continued exposure to missions as a busy resident prepared my heart to accept a call into long term missions. Over the past two years, my wife and I have been preparing to go back to Kenya as medical missionaries.
We have shared many times during the past several months how vital short term missions have been to us. We have encouraged and exhorted other medical students, residents, doctors, and nurses to avail themselves to go on a short term trip. We have also warned them that these “short” term trips may have “long” term consequences.
Thank you so much for the impact that your organization has made in the lives of people in third world settings. I am certain that there will be literally thousands in heaven who will give testimony of how a medical mission group came in and shared Christ with them. And thank you for influencing the direction of my life as well.
In Christ,
Tim Hutchison, MD
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