Mary and David Stewart were among the 120 Americans who volunteered for the 2011 Zambia Medical Mission. This was their third trip with the group. bMedical mission trip helps thousands of people oth physically and spiritually


By David Stewart Administrator at Good Samaritan Society – Lovington in Lovington, N.M.


M


y wife and I recently returned from Zambia, Africa. We joined


a group of about 120 Americans and 120 Zambians to work in the annual Zambia Medical Mission. In six clinic days, more than 16,000 people were seen and treated. This was our third trip, and I am thankful to work for an organization that encourages its staff members to be involved in this type of work. The joy and amazement on the faces of the people continue to uplift me. Many of them expressed their gratitude by saying, “Why did these people cross the waters to help someone they did not know?” The answer is simple. We do it to show the love of Jesus.


To get to Zambia, it took 25 hours


in the air, not counting layovers in airports. We worked from sunrise to sunset in four different villages. Since we were in the African bush, there was no electricity. At the end of each clinic day, we loaded up our tents and drove back down to the mission area to reload supplies before going on to the next set of villages. It could take eight hours to drive 30 or 40 miles. But this was nothing compared to the many Zambians who would walk up to three or four days just to be treated at our clinic. Lives were saved both physically


and spiritually — eyesight was restored, dignity was given to each patient, and


it was all done in the name of Jesus. Zambia is the only country in Africa that has officially declared itself a Christian nation. We were thanked many times for coming, and major government officials encouraged us to found more Christian churches there. In our time at the villages, there were around 80 people baptized, and we praise God for His great work and for using us as His tools. There is no way to explain all that happened and the blessings we received in the nearly three weeks we were in Zambia. Everything we did was because we chose to follow God’s call in Isaiah 6:8: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” V


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