My name is Claudia and I am a dentist with YWAM Ships in Kona. I joined YWAM Ships because they are all about reaching remote and isolated people on islands and in different villages that have no access to healthcare. Serving a vision like this has been deeply rooted in my heart since I was very little.
I grew up as a missionary kid and my parents were serving in the jungle of Peru. One day I was invited to translate for a medical team that was coming to serve the villages down the rivers in the jungle. Through this opportunity I was able to see how far away these people live from any hospital or facility and how they were in pain or even chronic pain. It was a very tough reality for them. I was so blown away by the needs that I was seeing. This is when the Lord showed me his heart for these people.
I desired to go and study something that I could go back and serve and help these people with. I was alongside a medical doctor and noticed that there was a lot of need for a dentist. I asked him why there was no dentist on this trip and he told me how hard it is to get dentists to go that far. I knew then that God was calling me to be a dentist which is why I chose to go to dental school.
If you pass forward in my life and how the Lord has been leading me and opening doors to bring me to YWAM Ships Kona, I have been able to do exactly this now as a missionary. It’s a story that started when I was fifteen years old, when the Lord said “This is the need, what can you do about it?” Now here I am after dental school and with my family and I’ve seen His guidance and Him opening doors and opportunities for us to serve Him and to do exactly what He designed us to do.
I have been blown away by how similar these current situations are to what I saw when I was fifteen, and how this has given me the opportunity to go and serve as a dentist and actually do what the Lord showed me I could do so many years ago. Not only that, but I also get to share what I do with other medical professionals and invite them to go as well. So I’m not just going by myself, but there are people coming with me to reach the isolated through offering healthcare. This is exciting because it was not only a call for my life, but a call for me to share with others so that they can come with me and help fulfill this calling and demonstrate His heart for these people.
Offering dental services helps improve their lives so much because most of these people have never seen a dentist in their life. Or they have lived with a lot of pain for several years. Being able to take that pain away opens up their hearts to really hear what you have to say and helps them understand why you are there. I love that I get to do this when I’m on the ship and I go to these villages. I get to hug people and pray for them, I get to tend to their needs and I can sit down with them and explain to them that there is a God that really loves them. There’s a God that hears their prayers and wants to have a relationship with them and that’s the reason why we’re there.
Medical missions opens up so many doors to go into a village and show them love, to tell them about God, just the way Jesus did. In the book of Luke Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, saying go and heal everyone and tell them about the Kingdom of God. This is at the core of what we do. We go and we heal the sick and then we tell them about the Kingdom of God.
I serve with YWAM Ships Kona because I want to bring healing and restoration to the people that have no access to health care. I want them to be able to see that there’s a God that goes after the one. No matter how far and remote they live, there is a God who is pursuing them and wants a relationship with them and that loves them beyond measure.
Claudia Choy
Click here to watch the full video testimony: https://youtu.be/8XDBlSeGh_8