being the hands and feet

As exciting as it has been to watch our faithful Father guide No Longer step by step, gaining more and more support and advocates for "the least of these" daily, I can't contain my personal yearning to actually be the hands and feet of Jesus to the little ones who are continuously breaking our hearts.  For those of you who read Tracy's words in our last post, you can clearly see a common heartbeat among all of us... the desire to GO.  At the same time we are all being constantly humbled by His timing and trusting He knows best.  With that said and hopefully without causing Tracy or anyone else to envy me, the Lord has opened up doors in His perfect timing to send a crew through No Longer to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission trip April 27th through May 3rd!

God is crazy sovereign... emphasis on the crazy part considering he has ME leading this trip!  Seriously, I'm nothing more than a measly 3rd year med student working my way through school when a mentor physician of mine who works with UAB approaches me about No Longer.  Next thing you know, we're getting a UAB-approved course created and immediately start game-planning!  Our medical missions team consists of one physician, one dentist, one pharmacist, eight medical students, one administrator, and one kids' leader.  We are going through SCORE International to provide transportation, housing, food, translators, and other needs.  The plan is to set up several clinics throughout the week in different villages on the outskirts of Santo Domingo with the help of local churches and pastors that SCORE has built relationships with over the years.  Not only will we be able to take care of 50-100 people per day, but we will also be spending much of our time teaching moms, dads, and other adults in the communities about sustainable healthcare issues.  I was fortunate enough to go on a trip through SCORE two years ago and to see lives radically changed in the DR... not from medicine, but by the Great Physician.  I am now as excited as ever to go back to the place where I left pieces of my heart two years ago, and once again to simply be a vessel used to extend the mind-blowing, unconditional, infinitely loving arms of Jesus to those who desperately need Him.

So how does this exciting trip truly involve No Longer and the orphans we so deeply care about??  Like we've said before, we are still patiently waiting for the Lord to finalize certain issues before the orphanage is actually up and running.  Our incredible partnership with GO Project has made some exciting things possible.  They reached out to Pastor Altagracia to let her know about the medical team coming to the DR, and if everything works out according to plan (we'll see what God's timing has to say about all this), our group will actually get to worship with Pastor Altagracia and her congregation, minister to her and her community, and possibly even do healthcare screenings at the kids' school.  This will give us a chance to further our relationship with Altagracia, as well as serve her community in whatever way we're needed.  Regardless of the hectic details of this trip, the uncertainties of what exactly we will be doing, and the insane notion that I'm the numbskull leading it, I am confident in this: Jesus will deliver hope to the hopeless, the blind will see, the oppressed will be set free, and I myself will never be the same.

Much love and peace!

Drew

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

So, what can we do to help Drew and the UAB medical missions team?  They are in need of as much gauze as we can find and also small/simple craft kits, pony beads (plastic with a large hole for yarn to pass through), pipe cleaners, yarn, and stickers to entertain the kids.  We will be collecting these items all week and need your help!  Contact us at info@no-longer.com if you need info on where to drop items or any of the No Longer crew will take it from you.  Thanks so much!