Princes and Paupers: Who Are The Poor?

As many medical students can confirm, type A people—you know who you are—like to compartmentalize.  We like to organize: work, time, people.   But in the three weeks that I’ve spent here, I’ve found God skewing my lines and boxes for people. Merriam-Webster defines...

When in our hopelessness we meet the Saviour

I, perhaps like most of the students, began our outreach into the community with excitement and trepidation, hopefulness and uneasiness. It was discouraging to arrive at homes to only find our team loitering in front of a stranger’s home. But when we did reach a home...

Esperanza in Jesus Christ

The more people I talk to and the more houses I walk into, there is less esperanza to be found. Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and is also the name of the medical center that we are associated with. Time after time, people tell me about their lives; their son...

Suffering and Transparency

My time in Philly for SMI has been an exciting and equally challenging time. It has been mixed with struggles and growth. I would like to share an experience I had during the last few weeks to explain what I mean. During one of our community outreaches when we walk...

“My Son Died Last Week”

“My son died last week.” It was the end of our routine health screening, and as me and my partner Natasha had been trained in SMI, we asked our patient if we could pray for anything for her. I remember her upbeat voice, her boisterous personality, her...

Some Take-Aways

It’s common experience in the world of missions for people to come in expecting to give so much to the community, only to leave having received so much more than they could have possibly given. SMI has been no different in that regard. Between the families of Northern...