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Student Short-term Missions Scholarships Available!
A generous donor has established the Naomi Kim Medical Missions Scholarship Fund, and opportunities are available! This scholarship is for students who are participating in their first Global Health Outreach
short-term missions trip. For more details and application instructions,
click here.
Travel
While it is difficult to keep up with all the price increases we are seeing with airlines, we are taking steps to minimize the impact these increases have on your GHO travel costs. We are working with a new travel agency and are bringing more of these agency
functions into our office. As we implement more and more of the benefits from this new relationship, we expect to see a few initial cost reductions. With time, based on our high volume, we will be able to negotiate with airlines for a few more benefits, like
no-cost baggage for our humanitarian supplies. The international travel portions of our trips are the main source of our “crazy makers,” and we are taking all the action we can to make this less stressful for all of you!
Serving Across Cultures
Once you get to your destination country and begin your healthcare missions work, how do you interact with all of the nationals you see? How do you get the information you need from a person to care for their
medical or dental needs? What is the difference between providing someone with free care versus having them pay for their care or medications? Are they likely to understand your instructions and your treatment recommendations? Are they going to take the medications
you give them the way you tell them? What are their views on exercise, sun, shade and the wind? What is the difference if the vitamin pill you give them is red, or brown or white? What do they believe about spirits?
Do the answers to any of these questions matter to you? You are probably seeing many people from other cultures every day here in the United States, so you already know how important these areas can be! Your
effectiveness in providing care for physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs is dramatically affected by how well you understand and navigate these issues. It can take many years of working in another cultural setting to begin to understand some
of these challenges, and most short-term workers just do not have the time to gain the experience necessary to have effective, long-term impacts. Fortunately, your Global Health Outreach team leaders are committed to learning more and more about providing
physical and spiritual care across cultures with our national partners. We are developing additional tools to help short-term workers with cultural navigation, and you
will benefit, as will those you go to serve!
Updates - Website and ServiceReef.com
The new CMDA website is up and running! Check it out, and browse through the wealth of outreaches, resources and more that are available to you through CMDA. The new online GHO application is still a month or two away, and we are actively using the ServiceReef.com
online application system. We use ServiceReef more and more every day, and even the few people who are computer illiterate are able to stumble through the application process! Please take advantage of its strong fundraising and communication tools. We plan
to continue to use it long-term, even when the CMDA online application is up and running. Go online, create a profile and start using it!
What I'm Reading
 We are thrilled at the evangelism and disciple-making that
takes place on our Global Health Outreach teams, and the evangelism and disciple-making that you do when you return home. I just finished reading a great book that can help you in answering many of the questions that you get when you are sharing. Sometimes
these questions from others indicate that the Holy Spirit is softening their heart, and the right words from you can really open doors. The book is called
Tactics by Greg Koukl, and he goes through a number of tactics and techniques you can use. Spoiler alert! His tactics often consist of asking questions in return when you get a question or hear
a statement from someone. One of his main techniques is called the Columbo Tactic. For those of you who are not old enough to remember Columbo, he was a bumbling (or so it seemed) homicide detective who always had, “Just one more question.” Get the book, and
be better prepared! Greg Koukl has an organization called Stand To Reason, and has many more resources (and podcasts) available at
www.str.org.
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Upcoming Events
It’s time to register for the 2014 Global Missions Health Conference! The conference gets better every year, and this year will be no exception! As usual, it will be in Louisville, Kentucky from November 6-8, 2014.
Learn more and register here.
Urgent Needs
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Thanks for praying about these needs as you read this list! We receive many inquiries from people who were considering a trip and it was the reading of this Urgent Needs list that the Holy Spirit used to
spur them to action! Is He spurring you?
General Surgical team This team need surgeons, anesthesia providers, OR and PACU nurses and technicians, logistics personnel and a pastor.
Primary care teams: Many of these teams need primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dermatologists, nurses,
dentists, dental hygienists and assistants, pharmacists, physical therapists and logistics personnel. Click
here for specific urgent needs for each trip.
- Nicaragua, June 21-29, 2014
- Nicaragua, July 5-13, 2014
- Ghana, July 28-August 10, 2014
- Kenya, August 1-16, 2014
- Indonesia, August 15-30, 2014
- Nicaragua, August 9-17, 2014
- Lebanon, September 19-October 3, 2014
- Moldova, September 19-28, 2014
- Nicaragua, September 27-October 5, 2014
- China, October 10-24, 2014
- Ecuador, October 18-26, 2014
- Ethiopia, October 16-November 1, 2014
- Nepal, October 28-November 8, 2014
Transformational Testimonies from the Front Lines
- El Salvador, Counselor: “God is inviting me to let go and let Him run
this show. He has big plans for me and will do more than I could ever ask or imagine. I'm most at peace when I'm helping others and not trying to prove myself, my worth or earn favor with others. When I'm listening to others in their place of pain, love them
and experience His love, I am most at peace.”
- Guatamala, Physical Therapist: “I was reminded that it is selfish of
me to not share the Good News because I'm afraid of rejection – it’s not about me. That being said, the greatest blessing of this trip for me was being reminded that God can work through me and IS working through me if I get out of the way and pay attention.”
- Haiti, Dental Student: “I learned how much God loves the world that
He gave His one and only Son! Yet the world does not know His love, and it is clear to me that my mission is to witness His love to the world.”
- Dominican Republic, Logistics: “I think the most important thought I
came home with was this: In my world, we have God plus. God plus work. God plus a boat. God plus hunting. In my case - God plus my books. In the place we were working, I think in many cases it was God. That's all they had. And that makes their faith different.”
- Moldova, Nurse: “I was very moved by one man whose vision I tested,
then found the right distance glasses for him. He came back 10 minutes later. He was on his way to his mother's funeral. He gave me two pairs of her glasses, saying he wanted to help others. We walked out to the well together. I held his hand and prayed for
him as the translator translated. We both cried.”
- Guatemala, Physician: “I realized that, as a physician, I rarely have
time or courage to pray or share with patients. During this trip, God showed me how important His calling of making disciples was to His ultimate plan.”
Looking for more information about GHO and CMDA?
Click on the images below or scan them with your smartphone to learn more!
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