Growing up in a pastor’s home, I was privileged to get to know missionaries who came to speak at our church. Usually they stayed with our family, and I enjoyed hearing their stories of life in other countries. They were fun to be around, and I especially enjoyed it when their kids could come with them.

My parents also prayed for missionaries regularly. My mom knew all their names and the strange names of places of service in various countries around the world. I guess it is not surprising that I was interested in being a missionary. However, the Lord didn’t place a call upon my heart until I had graduated from nursing school and worked in a hospital for several years. Only then did He let me know that He wanted me to be a career missionary.

My first assignment was in the country of Haiti where I worked in an outpatient clinic and was involved in women’s ministries. There, I found that nurses on the mission field often have to do much more than nursing. I learned how to be something of a midwife/doctor during those four years from 1980 to 1983.

After returning to the States for furlough, I felt God closing the door on service in Haiti. I didn’t understand this change in direction immediately, but God had in mind a new area of service in Honduras. A small village of Garifuna people is located on a small island off the North Coast of Honduras. Project Partners from the Church of God in Anderson, Indiana, had just built an outpatient clinic in Punta Gorda a couple of years before this time. They had asked World Gospel Mission to take over the running of the clinic. I felt God’s leading to take up that challenge.

In 1985 I arrived in Punta Gorda, Roatan, and began ministering in the clinic. I also taught Sunday school to the children, meeting with them in the waiting room of the clinic. From that small beginning a church was started. The spiritual darkness that was very evident during the early years of the work has been defeated as people responded to Christ. Their changed lives show Christ’s power to put a new heart and mind in His children. As people have continued to mature in their faith, a strong indigenous church has been formed.

My greatest joy in serving as a missionary is seeing God transform lives with His love.

I have continued to serve in Roatan for the past twenty years. Recently the clinic was rented to a ministry called Siempre Unidos (Always United). They provide education, testing, and treatment for patients with HIV/AIDS. This is vital service in Roatan where it is estimated that one in ten persons are HIV positive.

I am involved in teaching abstinence to our young people and encouraging faithfulness in marriage for couples. Without this message, the problem of HIV/AIDS will continue to grow, and we will be faced with the possibility of scores of orphans in the future.

I am also very much involved in our local church as I serve on the board, teach Sunday School, and help with the youth. I praise the Lord for the opportunity to use my talents to minister to the people of Roatan.

For the past four years I have had a unique experience of raising a boy from Punta Gorda as my own son. He is an orphan who has special needs and does not have any family member willing to be responsible for him. God has put a deep love for Hendry in my heart and has helped me care for him. Hendry’s nickname is Toroni. He turned 15 years old in January 2006 and started fifth grade in February. Please pray that God will be very real to him and that he will become a man whose heart is completely committed to the Lord.

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