In the midst of a poverty-stricken squatter settlement in the dusty Peruvian desert, a doctor sat under a makeshift tent.
He listened to a local man complain of excruciating headaches that had begun when his parents were kidnapped by a brutal terrorist organization.
“I can give you medicine for your pain and it will make your headache feel better for awhile, but it will not solve your problem,” said John S. Morris, his voice full of sympathy.
Morris, whose father John B. also participated in the trip, said, “The only One who can give you peace and help your pain go away forever is God.”
The patient wept and prayed the prayer of salvation.
He was invited to join a Bible study at the clinic site as well as a new church, planted in the clinic community.
Burdened with family tragedy, pain and abject poverty, he came to the clinic for headache medicine and left with something he never expected: hope.
This temporary medical clinic was one of two erected during the week of June 11–19 on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, through the joint efforts of Brookwood Baptist Church of Birmingham and Global Missions Fellowship (GMF) of Dallas.
For eight years, Brookwood has organized medical missions trips to impoverished areas of Latin American countries and has worked with other community churches to train new teams of doctors.
On this trip, Brookwood gathered together a group of 39 medical missions volunteers including eight medical doctors, a dentist, nurses and willing workers for the eye team, pharmacy team, evangelism team and children’s ministry team.
The Brookwood group had expertise in setting up free temporary medical clinics and using the clinics to proclaim the gospel to surrounding communities. Its goal in recent years, however, was to expand the evangelism efforts and to include long-term discipleship for the new Christians.
During its week in Peru, the Brookwood group treated more than 2,470 patients, and more than 1,100 people professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
While the patients received medicine that lasted about a week, they received spiritual food that could last an eternity.
To read more articles related to missions experiences among Alabama Baptist churches and members, visit www.thealabamabaptist.org. Also look for the “Heart of Missions” column that appears in the print edition of The Alabama Baptist.
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