Serving with Purpose: A Journey of Faith and Compassion

By Carter Keefe 

During our outreaches in Papua New Guinea, a variety of ministries are offered to the local communities — including dental care, water purification, Oral Bible Translation (OBT), community engagement, and medical services. Each of these ministries is staffed by passionate volunteers who come to serve, listen, and respond to the needs of the people. Everyone on the team must remain open to hearing from God and be ready to change plans based on His direction.

One such volunteer is Lauryn Clark, one of the head nurses aboard the Liberty. At the time, she led a small team of nurses to the village of Nagada with the goal of conducting wellness checks at the local primary school. They also planned to distribute toothbrushes, toothpaste, and teach children about dental hygiene.

While visiting the school, Lauryn was approached by one of her local contacts who asked if they had any school supplies. “She told me she needed school supplies and asked if we could help with that,” Lauryn recalled. “The Lord heard her prayer — we had just received a package of school supplies a few days prior!”

The team had recently been sent a box of supplies from Australia. At the time, no one was quite sure what to do with the books and materials, but Lauryn felt prompted to bring them along anyway — even though Nagada hadn’t originally been on the schedule. “It was very last-minute that we decided to go,” she said. “We were actually supposed to be selling items that week. But we had a bunch of supplies they needed — things that seemed random to us, but God knew they were essential.”

God had already prepared the way. Even though Lauryn and her team thought they’d be elsewhere, they ended up in Nagada — delivering not just medical care, but unexpected blessings in the form of school supplies.

As Lauryn beautifully put it:

“Whatever the circumstances may be, or how we feel, it doesn’t interrupt what God is doing… He already has a plan.”

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Hope in Bunabun

After their time in Nagada, Lauryn and her team traveled to Bunabun, a town that hadn’t seen anyone from the Liberty in over two years. Ongoing tribal warfare had made the area too dangerous, and even local Bible translators had been forced into hiding.

When the team arrived, they were met with timidity and fear. The people were understandably hesitant and slow to receive help. “We just had to really encourage them, speak life into them,” Lauryn shared. “And over time, you could see the change in those people.”

As trust began to grow, the community started to open up. One boy came to the medical team with a cyst in his right eye, which had caused him to lose vision. “There was no surgeon available to help,” Lauryn said. “When you come all that way expecting help, it’s hard to leave with nothing.”

Lauryn tried everything — including regular glasses — but nothing seemed to help. Then, she felt a nudge from the Lord: sunglasses. She remembered she had a pair in her bag, ran to grab them, and brought them to the boy. “It wasn’t surgery, or a perfect fix,” Lauryn said. “But we were able to give him something — and we prayed over him and his eye.”

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Thanks to Lauryn and her team’s obedience and sensitivity to God’s leading, many lives were touched in ways no one could have planned — with school supplies for children, sunglasses for a boy’s injured eye, and hope for communities still healing from conflict.

Sometimes, it’s the simple things — done with love and obedience — that make the biggest impact.