Mission Updates from Latin America

As many of you know, we have a team on a mission trip with out ministry partners in a Latin American country that we don't mention by name in written or recorded mediums out of an abundance of caution.

David has sent a few testimonies. Here are two that work well together, plus a bunch of pictures below.

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Testimony from Day 1 (technically before Day 1)

Every time we travel to Latin America, we designate our large checked bags to carry supplies that our in-country leaders request. The last 2 trips, they've conveyed to us the challenge of finding everyday medical supplies such as pain killers, antacids, vitamins, and feminine products. It's hard to imagine that LA is still largely living as an underdeveloped society...but with the knowledge of a developed one.

Imagine knowing the basic medicine needed to help you feel better, but having no idea where to get it.

So, as always, Wellspring donated suitcases full of supplies + gave our team over $2k worth of money to purchase supplies before leaving for the mission trip.

On Sunday afternoon, after all the supplies came in and donations were processed, I went to the only place where Americans go when they have to shop in bulk - Uncle Sam's All American Club.

Walking in the doors, I tried to picture what $2,004--and some change--in medical supplies looked like in a Sam's cart.

Would it even fit? Would I be stopped and accused of being a drug dealer? Would they arrest me?

I started off with the right mindset...estimating the cost of the supplies as I went, but after getting my 20 or 30 items, I quickly realized I didn't have enough math brain left for the day to go the distance.

So, I just filled the entire cart with everything that they could POSSIBLY NEED and hoped it was near $2,000. I could always return or add supplies based on the total.

Off to checkout.

I pulled into an empty lane as cool as a cucumber and watched as the masses at Sam's gave me a wide berth..."Nobody go into that guy's lane for the next 30 minutes...he has to scan 300 items all by himself."

After scanning items so long that I missed Jesus' return, I scanned the last item and looked at the total to see if I needed more items or if I needed to put items back...those were the only options right?

Total = $2,004.07

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If you wonder what $2004.07 worth of meds in a shopping cart looks like, here it is.

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Testimony from Day 5

As we walked into the door of the clinic here in Latin America with suitcases full of medicine that Wellspringers donated, I looked to my right to see 4 small boxes [could maybe hold 2 bottles of water a piece]. These boxes were a third of the way full with small bags containing 20 to 40 pills in each of them. 

N's wife said, "You came right on time. This is all of the medicine that we have left." 

They probably had a TOTAL of ~1,500 individual pills left of various kinds. We probably delivered somewhere in the neighborhood of 50k to 60k pills. 

The clinic leaders told us that people in this country will go to government hospitals to get their condition checked out and walk out with a prescription from a pharmacy. Upon arriving at the pharmacy, they almost always find that the pharmacy doesn't have the medicine they need. In fact, they have very little medicine at all. 

The clinic that the movement runs has developed a reputation as one of the few places in the region that consistently has medicine, so people flock to it, and when they do, they are always told about the spiritual medicine their souls need on their way in. 

Gloria Dios!

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Click here to see more pictures of Latin America Mission 2025