Imagine your first mission trip. Would you choose a location half way around the world to get your feet wet in missions? That's exactly what the team from Harvest Church of Dothan, Alabama did when they went on a recent mission trip to Owerri, Nigeria.

 

Led by Dr. Larry Frick of GO InterNational and their Pastor Jeff Burnett, the team of mainly Harvest Church members returned with fond memories from their pursuit of obedience to the Great Commission.

 

Joni, a nurse from Dothan, had a chance to work with doctors doing eye surgeries. This was her first mission trip and she plans to do more. She remembers Cody. "He had a tumor on his face. After his surgery, I got to pray with him. It was awesome to also be involved in the church plant there."

Shannon, a medical assistant, on her first medical mission trip, echoed Joni's thoughts about the church plant. "It was a big deal for me. You don't often see the fruit of your labor. I got to see so many turn their lives over to Christ." During their first church service in a small room in a school, 15-20 people accepted Christ.

 

In surgery, Shannon sang Christian songs to a 9-year old boy to help keep him calm. "Afterwards I got to talk with him about God and Jesus. It was a real blessing!"

Katrina, another nurse from Dothan, was also on her first mission trip. She works in a hospital and also at a volunteer clinic. She worked with eye patients when they first started, but was quickly moved into the role of surgical nurse for the rest of the trip.

 "I would like to commend Dr. Frick. He led our quirky personalities, organized meetings with the team, and of course is medically knowledgeable. He never gets rattled. He stays cool, calm, and collected the whole time. I would most certainly do another mission trip with GO."

 

Pastor Jeff enjoyed the opportunity to preach in different settings every day.  "It was so humbling to see people who live on less than $2 per day,take up a collection, not once but twice, and lay it at my feet."

 

The team worked with GO InterNational partner, Sylva Okorienta. They had over 50 Nigerian doctors, optometrists, nurses, pastors, counselors, and other volunteers assisting our team from the US.

"Their culture is not time oriented and their ceremonial introductions are neat. Everyone, everyone is introduced and they are given cola nuts and fruit." The ceremony was done in Igbo, the native language. According to Sylva, we "have to do this in the Ibo's language. The cola nut doesn't speak English."

 

"We were able to provide medical care in the villages of Abajah and Umuagwa including: medical diagnosis, medications, HIV testing and counseling, surgeries, eye exams, glasses, and eye surgeries" states Dr. Frick.

Referring to the GO philosophy of working with indigenous partners and attention to pre-trip details, Pastor Jeff says, "I appreciate GO. Larry is great. I like the idea of working with locals who continue on after we leave."

 

This GO team, made up of Harvest Church volunteers, went to do medical missions, to plant a church, and to serve. According to Katrina, "I went to serve, but I was served."

 

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