Students for International Mission Service (SIMS)

Outlook 2002
missions interest group
.........................Margaret Dally
.........................junior
.........................School of Medicine

Many of us at Loma Linda University dream of going outside America after completing our education to work in areas where both health care and knowledge of God are scarce. Sometimes the energy and effort of studying required makes that goal seem very intangible. The Mission Interest Group (MIG) was begun by School of Medicine students Amy Sell and Jonathan Casurella to change that. MIG is a new student- led portion of SIMS. What does MIG do? Our purpose is to build relationships with each other of both current and future value for networking, encouraging fulfillment of God’s calling, and learning from each other’s mission experiences. Each of our monthly meetings concentrates on a specific area related to missions. Among our upcoming topics are the multiple roles of a medical missionary, evangelism, and contextualization. Students who have gone on mission trips through SIMS or other organizations share their experiences at meetings as well; we have also had the opportunity to have several long-term missionaries as speakers.

We are currently working on the compilation of a missions resource list for fourth-year School of Medicine rotation options, residencies, and summer projects. Future projects include the organization of a mission track for School of Medicine students that would bring together different resources to emphasize missions throughout the four years through religion electives and other activities.

Are you interested? LLU’s annual mission emphasis week began in early January and ended in a two-day conference January 18 to 19. The conference was a wonderful way to get practical training and renew excitement for your goals. Bruce Moyer (from the Mission Institute at Andrews University), Gerald Whitehouse (expert on sharing Christianity with Muslims), and Dr. Richard Hart (chancellor of LLU) were among the speakers. LLU also sponsored a perspectives course from January 8 to April 23, 2002. Perspectives was a 15-week study program on missions developed by the U.S. Center for World Missions and given by guest lecturers. The course has been held at many locations worldwide.

Please contact Jonathan Casurella at (909) 478-0737 for more information on these events and MIG meetings. We welcome students from all schools and would love to have you join us!

What do people in the developing world have to teach us? “People in the developing world teach us that we are all not that different from each other. We all have the need to be loved, understood, and acknowledged.” A. Tui Srisawat sophomore School of Medicine “To be simple, humble Christians and thank God for what we have in the States.” Baraka Muganda, World youth director, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists “I do not see it as them teaching us or us teaching them. I see that interaction as sharing with one another according to the measure of grace we have received. While we are sharing with them temporary blessings, we will learn from them many things, such as patience in tribulation that is very important for every believer.” Emmanuel Rudatsikira, MD, MPH assistant professor School of Public Health “People in the developing world teach us that we have so much more to learn. We get caught up thinking we have everything and that we are entitled to it all, but the joy of living, the love of family, the inner peace drawn from faith in their Creator, those things are their life blood. They teach us: that which sustains us cannot be purchased.” Lorna Bell graduate School of Public Health “I have always been challenged to recognize that there is so much to be learned from those I go to help. The peoples of developing countries are rich in experiences of life—how to live it, how to be content with little or a lot, how to make due in good and bad times, how to love, how to share, how to sacrifice, and how to persevere despite overwhelming odds. Most of all, our brothers and sisters in developing countries always remind me that there is much benefit in a lifestyle of simplicity, devoid of the stress that our fast-paced, highly demanding, and complex society offers.” Audley Williams Graduate School

[Outlook 2002]

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