Teenagers were learning by serving in Africa
Posted 7/24/03

Teenagers in America aren't accustomed to filling prescriptions, conducting eye exams, and recognizing symptoms of malaria. However, a group from the Milaca Evangelical Free church learned to perform these tasks during a recent trip to Africa. Members of the group learned about more than medicine; they also learned about themselves as well as their faith.

Ten members of the Evangelical Free Church embarked on a missions trip to Sierra Leone in June. The group consisted of three adults, Tony and Laurie Thompson and Jerri Gilbert, as well as seven students, Jordan Gilbert, Gwen Beuoy, Matt Kortus, Cara Owens, Joshua Walz, Erica Ash, and Marshal Anson. The group stayed in Freetown during the first week of the trip and on the island of Lungi the second week.

The trip was both a medical and an evangelical mission, said Erica Ash, 16. Daystar International, a Christian nondenominational organization, and the Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone worked with the missions group. The ten people from Milaca traveled with doctors, nurses, and a midwife to various villages.

People living in or near these villages who wanted to receive services would go through four steps. First, they would register and have their blood pressure and heart rate taken. Next, they would see either the doctors, nurses, or midwife. They would then go to an evangelism session, and, finally, go to a pharmacy to fill their prescriptions.

Ash learned how to diagnose malaria and arrhythmia as well as how to prescribe different amounts of medicine for different age groups. Jerri Gilbert, who works at the Milaca clinic, ran the pharmacy.

"It was pretty different," she said, since her job at the clinic primarily involves scheduling.

Many of the most powerful memories from the trip relate to evangelism. Tony Thompson, the youth pastor of the Evangelical Free Church, primarily worked in the evangelism area along with local pastors. His best memory is of a 29-year-old Muslim man who was part of the bus group that helped the missions team travel from place to place.

This man had bad experiences with both Arabs and people of light-colored skin, Thompson said. The man said that the people of the missions group were the first people with light-colored skin who wanted to know his name. He inquired about Christianity, and Thompson shared with him what being a Christian meant.

The man converted.

It was just absolutely powerful, Thompson said. Marshal Anson, 18, recalls one instance when he was evangelizing to a Muslim man. Anson had a slip of paper that contained various verses and steps to take while evangelizing. However, God kept leading him to different verses that weren't on the paper, he said.

While he was speaking to the Muslim man, his interpreter had to leave. Anson couldn't understand the man, but the man could understand him and ended up accepting Christ.

"You can plan out anything," Anson said. "God could have a different plan, and it's going to happen according to His will."

While people had certain expectations regarding the trip, they had to face unexpected concepts and situations. Ash hadn't come prepared for the concept of African time.

If we were supposed to leave at 8:30, we would leave at 10:00, she said. Also, while many members of the group expected poverty, they hadn't imagined the severity or degree of desperation in the people.

Up until about two years ago, Sierra Leone had been engaged in a civil war that had lasted for about 10 years, Thompson said. When driving down the streets of Freetown, people can see bullet holes and blown-up buildings. Thompson also said that, although the group gave what it could at the makeshift clinics, there were always more people in need.

"It was never enough," he said. There were still hundreds left unseen.

Anson said he quickly became aware of the degree of poverty when people asked him for the clothes off his back.

Joshua Walz, 18, also became aware of the poverty and poor living conditions, experiencing them firsthand. "I ended up sleeping on a flea-infested mat," he said. "I got eaten alive."

Walz said that the biggest thing he learned from the trip was to have gratitude for what he has.

Anson learned how severe the poverty in Africa really is. "Even when we have the least money," he said, "we still have more than they do."

"I think I learned just to appreciate the things that I have," Ash said. Also, she said she has gained a better understanding of what really matters in life. "Where you sleep, and showers," she said, "they donÍt matter. God matters, and family."

The trip gave Thompson a deeper understanding of joy. "It served to humble me and show me that the people there that do have joy are finding their joy in the Lord. HeÍs all that they have," he said. "TheyÍre still finding joy in such tragic circumstances."