Friends,

Here is a short story of a recent GO medical missions team. Thanks for your time!

One of the busiest times for GO InterNational is summer. Several college students participate in GO's internships and many mission teams are sent out to different countries. One of these trips was taken in July to Peru.

            Dr. Larry Frick, who is the Director of Medical Missions, at GO led a medical team to Peru that was comprised of 11 people, seven of which were medical and dental students from the University of Kentucky. The team was able to work with GO's long term contacts in Peru, Wilkinson Grandez partner of GO for the last 10 years, local pastor Raymundo partner of GO for the past two years, and engineer Eduardo Origgi who has worked on water projects for the past year.

            The medical team was in Peru for a total of 10 days traveling throughout the cities Alianza and Yurimaguas Being a rural country in extreme poverty, Dr. Frick and his team were able to provide medical services that citizens of Peru lacked. While sharing the gospel, the team was able to administer medical exams, minor surgeries and dental care.

            However, the most important thing that the team was able to teach the people of Peru was community health. "While people waited to see the doctor or dentist, our team taught lessons on staying healthy such as hand washing, how to avoid contracting worms, the importance of using clean water, etc," Dr. Frick said.

            The medical team was able to reach several people through their medical sessions, one patient especially was a baby named Percy. Percy was brought to the clinic by his mother because he was malnourished. Percy was having trouble nursing and losing weight. Dr. Frick and his team discussed with the mother ways they could improve the baby's diet. Dr. Frick explains in his blog on GO's website that he wished there was more that they could have done for Percy, but had to be content with what they were able to offer. "Although I felt very limited medically, it reminded me of our dependence on the Lord and also left me with a clear answer to the question of why the Lord had taken us all this way to serve Him," Dr. Frick said.