Medical Missions Course X

It has been a busy 3 months around at the hospital as we hosted our tenth annual Medical Mission Course (MMC). This is a program sponsored by OMF and the hospital. It allows young doctors, dentists and for the first time this year a nurse, who have recently graduated to explore and receive training in medical missions. Here in Indonesia doctors who have just graduated must serve at location chosen by the government for a certain amount of time. Almost always, these locations are in rural underserved areas. That can be a hard transition for a young person who has spent most of their recent years in the big cities of Java with access to much more equipment and resources.

When we began, MMC, was a much shorter program and was held with the purpose to encourage these young people to come serve here at hospital. In recent years though with the development of our MedGo program to send and support Indonesian missionary doctors and nurses it has expanded to its current program lasting almost 3 months. Throughout those weeks, these young people spend time with guest speakers sharing about both medical and spiritual topics. These guests come from locations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, and England. They also spend time learning in the hospital with our doctors and the guest doctors. There is also time spent living in nearby villages seeing patients and teaching school kids about health and dental topics. We also mentor each young person on a regular basis, while they are here. In the end the hope is that they will be better equipped for their year of government service, that they will be encouraged to live a missional life as a Christian doctor in the coming years, and that some will be called to serve as missionaries.

This time around I worked with and mentored the nurse we had in the program, Dian. She was from eastern Indonesia but had attended nursing school in Java. She continues to seek God's plan for her life but is exploring serving at a mission hospital in eastern Indonesia or possibly joining MedGo.

The future looks bright for all of these young people... Dr. Tiopan will be serving his year of government service in South Sumatra, amongst an unreached people group. Dr. Nana will be going to North Kalimantan to serve a Dayak tribal group. Dr. Icha will be serving her year in Central Java. Others are continuing their education or returning to their home areas to serve. Please be praying for the Lord's direction in their lives.

MMC X with OMF and Hospital Team 

Praying over the MMC participants before they left