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Aaron Goodrich
Pre-Med Major at the
University of Iowa
Member of the
2003 Northwest Africa Team
"I truly did not know what to expect from my trip to
Northwest Africa with Mercy and Truth. All I knew was that I had a
heart for the lost and a desire to experience how helping
people medically could bring glory to God. So I searched the
internet and
found Mercy and Truth.
I prayed big time
about going and God showed me that it was
his will for me to go on this trip. My parents were against
me going on this trip because of the war (on terror) situation but the
day came that I had to make a decision, and God changed
their hearts and they gave me the go ahead. With only a few
weeks to raise funds God showed his power by raising above
and beyond the money that I needed.
I still had a few
reservations about going because I really didn’t know the
people I was going with or truly what the country was like
or what kind of work we would be doing. Again God truly
blessed. I met some of the most amazing people on this trip
and was able to see first hand how the gift of medicine can
be used to set a foundation to bring people to a
relationship with Jesus.
With
only a few weeks to raise funds God showed his power
by raising above and beyond the money that I needed.
We had a team of six
people. Being just an undergraduate student with limited
experience I really did not know what I could bring to the
team or what role I would have. We set up a medical clinic
for three days in a poorer part of town and began treating
patients. Again and again I was amazed by the love and joy
that each of the ladies showed toward their patients. They
always made sure that I was involved and seeing different
medical things.
The one that will
stick in my mind forever was a baby that was seen who had a
condition
know n
as osteogenesis.
This meant that its bones were not very strong and could
break very easily. Well
this baby had two breaks in its legs and it was so bad that
the knee couldn’t even be seen. I have never heard such
cries of pain in my life. The amazing thing to me was that
when Wendy prayed for that baby it was silent and
stopped crying. It gave me peace to know that God desired to
heal these peoples pain.
The hardest
thing for me and the most interesting thing was being in a
completely different culture. I had never been in a Muslim
culture before. Women always covered their heads and nobody
wore shorts. There is no freedom of religion. This was a
struggle for me because I deeply desired to be bold and let
everyone there know that Jesus could heal them and bring
them a much better life than anything we could do for them
medically.
I kept
wondering what it would take to preach the gospel to the
people of Northwest Africa
and now I know that it will come through people like Jason.
My
highlights of the trip came from being able to talk to one
of our translators
about
Jesus and from a relationship that I developed with a young
man named Jason (name changed). He is originally from the
Gambia and he
speaks 7 different
languages. He is the
only convert that the group we worked with has seen in over
4 years of ministry. God is moving in his heart so much
that he desired himself to become a missionary and to be
trained medically. I was able to talk to him and hear
about how he has experienced God in his life and that
amazing thing was that the day that we left Jason was
beginning to share his faith with his brother who is an
Islamic extremist. This is an amazing step of faith because
he could be killed.
 In
one of our nightly Bible Studies we talked about the fact
that the gospel will be preached to all nations and then the
end will come. I kept wondering what it would take to preach
the gospel to the people of Northwest Africa and now I know that
it will come through people like Jason. God has worked
powerfully in his heart.
I have
brought home with me a desire to be more bold in my life
here in the U.S. along with a renewed desire to become a
doctor. I was able to see first hand the opportunities that
are available to share the gospel with people who are truly
desperate.
I have
brought home with me a desire to be more bold in my life
here in the U.S.
Mercy
and Truth is a great organization and the cool thing about
them is that they are real in their mission and have a great
focus and desire to bring God’s glory to the nations."
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