My name is Luis and I am a Peruvian dentist serving with YWAM Ships Kona.  There is one story I always like to share from my involvement in medical outreaches in Papua New Guinea. One of the small Islands we went to was called Nissan Island, where around two thousand people live in small huts. There is only one nurse to meet the needs of this island and she was working with us during the medical outreach. One day she came to me crying and asked for me to teach her some basic dentistry. I was able to explain how to pull broken teeth before they get infected. She was very happy to learn and worked alongside me for a week. At the beginning she was afraid to practice any dental work, but by the end of the outreach she was working, helping the people. It is important for us...

My name is Emily West, I’m a Registered Nurse, and I have had the opportunity to serve with YWAM Ships Kona as both a nurse on our ship as well as the Medical Coordinator.  From the moment I became a nurse, I knew that I wanted to use nursing for medical missions. I knew that where I came from there were plenty of nurses and doctors, and that there were places in the world that had very few medical professionals. However, when I first thought about giving my life to mercy ministry, I really didn’t know the fullness of what God had in store. When my husband and I joined YWAM Ships Kona, we started with our Discipleship Training School. In the middle of the school, I can remember one day specifically standing before a map and  looking at all the countries. I had always seen the large and more...

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...

My name is Ashely Myers, and I have served as the Medical Coordinator on board the YWAM Liberty in Papua New Guinea.  On one outreach we went to a village that no YWAM team had ever been to before. We had to take an hour-long Zodiac ride to get there. Everyone was so excited as we were setting up for the clinic. I was the Triage Nurse that day so I was registering the patients that came to see us. There was a lady who came over and told me that her daughter was at home and could not get to the clinic. She asked me if someone could come and see her, so I took a friend with me and we went to this lady’s house.  The daughter’s name was Edith. She was twenty-two years old and had been treated for Tuberculosis about six months ago. She had also...