This summer, 28 enthusiastic health students (medical, pharmacy and nursing) developed and applied powerful tools to serve the spiritual needs of patients and their families. Through the Medical Strategic Network (MSN) these students spent four weeks in the Inland Empire of Southern California coming from all over the nation, including Canada and Trinidad, and were united in one purpose to share the love of God. I had the privilege of being a part of this team of Christian missionaries, which met for the first week at Lake Arrowhead for the Medical Evangelism Training and Strategies (METS) Conference. We retreated to an environment conducive to worship, fellowship and effective seminars. Toward the end of that week we went to the hospitals in Loma Linda to meet with in-patients, finding ways to help them reflect on spirituality and to offer them chances to know God more personally. For the following three weeks the mission team moved into a residence hall at University of Redlands, where we built a prayerful community desiring God's work to be done in our lives and all those that we hoped to meet. Several days out of the week our mornings consisted of seminars on various topics meant to edify us in our life missions, and later in the afternoon we job-shadowed Christian physicians. In some of these clinical settings we were given the opportunity to initiate conversations with patients about spirituality, and on Friday afternoons in particular we would disperse ourselves within the VA Hospital visiting and seeking ways to meet spiritual needs.

These experiences, among many social activities, turned us into a family. Each of our testimonies of God's love deepened, and we encouraged each other through every joy and trial. I personally gained clearer vision for my life as God's instrument in the medical field, and witnessed the true power of the Holy Spirit. There were specific moments during the summer project when the Holy Spirit gave me effective words to offer or questions to ask, and He prompted me to be continually prayerful. I became so sensitive to the presence of God in my life. Spiritual care also became so natural to me. As I selflessly pursued the best interest of each person I met, the complexities and distractions of my own life became much more simplified. Serving other people ultimately served my own spiritual needs. So I also became sensitive to how God would use me as a student physician in the immediate future and as a missionary for the rest of my life no matter where I am.

I encourage those who are interested in giving spiritual care in their health professions, or any who would like to commit their lives to being a missionary of God's love, to seek the tools that MSN offers; and I always invite you to approach me, for these words are only a brief summary of the richness of my summer experience.