Tyler Ramsey – Artist and Medical Missions Volunteer
God turned a couple of rotten teeth in the ghetto of Panama into spiritual grenades. Yep, Spiritual Grenades! My wife Jacqueline and I were recently blessed to be included on a medical mission trip to Panama with Hand of Hope. The team of Dr.s and nurses inspired my wife and I with their hearts and their faith. Together, we created a temporary clinic within a ghetto torn apart by gang violence and daily murders. Ka-Boom! An older Panamanian woman came to the clinic with a couple of rotting teeth and a beautiful smile appeared when she found out we could help. She even smiled as our world-class dentist expertly and painlessly extracted the cause of her suffering. Still smiling with a mouth full of gauze, the old woman sat next to an unhappy mother in our ministry tent as she waited a few minutes for her follow-up medication. The mother’s view of the world was dark, cynical, and violent. She refused to pray with my wife until the old woman pointed to her missing teeth and said we were ok. Together, we all prayed with the mother, who simply wanted her children to love her. The mother cried when my wife opened her heart to an unlimited source of love and even accepted Jesus that day thanks to a couple of teeth that brought an old woman to a clinic so she could help a desperate mother feel comfortable enough to allow a stranger to pray over her. God turned a couple of rotten teeth into spiritual grenades. KA-BOOM!
On a selfish note, there is no better way to travel. When you are on a mission trip, you see places and experience things you would never see on a typical vacation. Spending time in that slum was one of the coolest things I’ve experienced, and the Indian village we went to next gave me a new and radically different perspective. We feel like we packed several trips into one. My wife and I are both seasoned world-travelers, but our trip to Panama is the most amazing experience we’ve ever had. Our faith and our marriage are stronger than ever. The friends we made have inspired us both to become better Christians. Ashley, our coordinator, handled all of the details, which freed us up to simply experience the glory of the adventure. The stories we returned with make our other trips sound dull by comparison my wife was a contestant on Survivor so that’s saying a lot! Our trip to Panama has changed our life. We will be forever grateful.
Click here for information on how you can go on a medical missions trip.
Hand of Hope is the missions arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Our goal is simply to help as many hurting people as we possibly can, to alleviate human suffering and to help Christians grow in their faith.
