GSMDM Vietnam Trip
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Last summer my wife and I went to Vietnam. I am sure that some of you remember our posts on Facebook. It was an amazing experience! We worked alongside of some of the most selfless people we have ever met. Most of our time was spent wet, dirty and smelly. We worked in heat and humidity that was at times overwhelming. There were insects that bit, stung, and sucked our blood. We slept on plywood that was disguised as a bed and to top it off the last day there I got more sick than I had ever been in my entire life. I praise God that we were part of a medical mission and I was with our family doctor.
Dr. Doan became my doctor when I met my wife Renee in 2007 but she had known him much longer. She knew him for his generosity and kindness. She was a single mother and didn’t have much but he was always willing to work with her and find an affordable way to provide the medical needs of her and Nathan (My Step Son).
In 2009, Renee and I found Sandals Church and we were both baptized along with both of our children Nathan & Kaitlyn. We have been there ever since, week in and week out. We Became members and invested in our new family every way we could. At first we were not able or capable of doing much because of our condition. My condition was unemployable, drunk, and high. Renee’s condition, well she can speak for herself. At Sandals Church we found hope, we found people who were willing to meet us where we were at, we found love in their midst. Most of all we discovered a church that did not expect us to show up all put together. We found no judgment in spite of our brokenness. Sandals Church is a place where we could go shattered from life and our mistakes, a place where God was ready and willing to transform us through the love of His children.
John 13:34-35 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
About 6 months after we were baptized we ran into Dr. Doan at one of the Sunday services. While we were surprised, it kind of made sense. Before we knew Christ, Dr. Doan was reflecting Christ’s love for my wife and our son by his compassion for them, ensuring that their medical needs we more import than their ability to pay. We recognized that there was something special about him but it didn’t make sense until we met at church. Little did we know…
I think it was 2012 when our church partnered up with a ministry, one of many. This ministry was Good Samaritan Medical & Dental Ministry (GSMDM). We heard nothing of this partnering until after a small group of our members including our pastor and his family went to Vietnam. Pastor Matt shared his experience with us during a Sunday service and I remember all of our tears while he described the emotional, spiritual, and physical journey to Vietnam. I couldn’t imagine being used by God like that. At some point during that Sunday it was revealed that the leader of this medical ministry was Dr. Doan! He was a refugee from the last days of the war and barely escaped with his family. After becoming a doctor it was his dream to return and serve the people of Vietnam through the grace and mercy that God extends to him every day. WOW! Again, looking at this amazing man and his compassion for our family I started to see what it truly means to serve God and his children. God was revealing himself through Dr. Doan.
By early 2014, Renee and I were learning how to manage our family and business. God had brought us a long way but it still seemed like our past was right on our heels. A couple of people at church had approached me about going to Vietnam in the summer to help with a construction team. The trip would be in conjunction with Dr. Doan’s GSMDM. I was not sure how to respond at first but eventually Renee and I were on board and we were excited and scared all at the same time. We wrote the checks for the trip, renewed our passports, and started attending the training and planning meetings for the trip.
There were a lot of rules and it was explained to us how important it was to respect the people, culture, and the government of Vietnam. There is a lot that goes into something like this. Right up to the last day GSMDM was scraping together medical equipment, supplies, materials, & medication. We practiced packing and repacking, loading and reloading, gathering points at the three airports, moving through Customs in Vietnam and the US. It was intense. GSMDM had about 100 medical professionals including doctors, dentists & surgeons, (orthopedic, pediatric, cardiologist, OBGYN, plastic surgeons, general practitioners ect.) nurses, lab techs, dental techs, translators, radiologists, pharmacologists, and I am sure I am forgetting some. Sandals Church made up the construction team of about 20 people and funded the materials we would be needing while we were there. Here is the most amazing thing, everyone paid for their own way and other than some fundraising it was the people going that provided all of the equipment and supplies. This was truly a mission that was entirely funded by the efforts and actions of those going. This is literally one charity that will see 95% of the money donated go to the people it was created to serve.
During our trip GSMDM in two weeks visited 14 to 18 rural villages that may have never had a chance to see a real doctor until GSMDM arrived. The people who lived in these villages were beyond any understanding of poor that we could possibly comprehend. In these villages there were over 4000 patients treated. Over 100 people were taken to the hospital in Cao Bang and provided surgical procedures. Most of these procedures were emergency in nature or for life threating conditions. The rest were addressing things afflicting children like cleft palates. Each surgery cost the mission $400 dollars for the use of the surgical theater and was paid by GSMDM. Over 2000 teeth were pulled and over 1000 patients were provided prescription glasses and everyone was provided vitamins and the medication they needed. This was during the day! Each day the medical teams would travel up to 2 hours via bus on dangerous roads to these villages. They would return at night for dinner and sometimes late. We would all eat together and praise God for the work he provided that day. Then they would hold a medical clinic for a couple of hours at the hotel. I would sit outside these evenings as long as I could handle it and watch the people line up. It was overwhelming.
Long before the trip ended Renee and I made up our minds that we wanted to come back next year and we wanted to bring our oldest children with us. When we got home life seemed different. It was uncomfortable going to the mall and watching people spending what we spend on things. I am not judging but for me these thing just didn’t seem important any more. What I spend on a pair of jeans could feed an entire Vietnamese family for a month! I don’t wear expensive jeans. This is one reason we wanted our oldest kids to go. We want them to see how most of the world lives their lives. Not so we could judge or condemn our society but rather gain a true appreciation for how God has blessed us and learn to serve the less fortunate with these blessings. It was not long before the difficulties of life here started to overtake the perspective we gained there. The business was struggling, taxes were overwhelming, and I did the math, we couldn’t afford to go. I trimmed the business back and took a job but money was still going out faster than I could make it. In the last couple of months we have made adjustments and the bleeding was stopped. Then there was a series of events with our cars that ran into the thousands. I had long before informed the team that we wouldn’t be able to go since I wasn’t sure it would be the best use of the $8,000 to $10,000 it would cost for us to commit. The truth is that we were facing some serious financial struggles. So much for being real.
After returning home and everyone was feeling better we had a team debriefing. This was to discuss how we felt things went, what went good, not so good, and what we would do different. One of the things Renee and I considered was how we just bought our tickets and went. We failed to allow our friends and family to partner with us on the experience. Even though we were at the time able to entirely afford the tickets for the 2014 trip we should have asked for the financial help from those who did not have the time or all the resources to get there. We essentially robbed them of the blessing in being a part of the experience. The thing we would have done different was to ask for financial help even though we didn’t need it. It was our intention to do this for 2015 but it never occurred to me that we would have to be asking almost for the entire amount to go. So when I realized that we were in the position we were, I just said we weren’t going. This was devastating for Renee, Kaitlyn, and Nathan.
God has asked me to trust Him! The question I have is what does that mean? Well, whatever it means I need to do my best to stay humble and do whatever I can to support those who are going for sure. I also need to make the effort to secure the funding that it is going to take to get there. This means that we are going to be asking family and friends for money. In the end the money we raise is going to be donated to the trip one way or another. We trust God and his ability to take what is provided and multiply it for His glory. Our hope is that our family can get there and it would be a faith building endeavor that would serve the people of Vietnam. In any case we submit ourselves to God and pray that He and the team would accept us in this capacity and fund us for this journey.
Last summer my wife and I went to Vietnam. I am sure that some of you remember our posts on Facebook. It was an amazing experience! We worked alongside of some of the most selfless people we have ever met. Most of our time was spent wet, dirty and smelly. We worked in heat and humidity that was at times overwhelming. There were insects that bit, stung, and sucked our blood. We slept on plywood that was disguised as a bed and to top it off the last day there I got more sick than I had ever been in my entire life. I praise God that we were part of a medical mission and I was with our family doctor.
Dr. Doan became my doctor when I met my wife Renee in 2007 but she had known him much longer. She knew him for his generosity and kindness. She was a single mother and didn’t have much but he was always willing to work with her and find an affordable way to provide the medical needs of her and Nathan (My Step Son).
In 2009, Renee and I found Sandals Church and we were both baptized along with both of our children Nathan & Kaitlyn. We have been there ever since, week in and week out. We Became members and invested in our new family every way we could. At first we were not able or capable of doing much because of our condition. My condition was unemployable, drunk, and high. Renee’s condition, well she can speak for herself. At Sandals Church we found hope, we found people who were willing to meet us where we were at, we found love in their midst. Most of all we discovered a church that did not expect us to show up all put together. We found no judgment in spite of our brokenness. Sandals Church is a place where we could go shattered from life and our mistakes, a place where God was ready and willing to transform us through the love of His children.
John 13:34-35 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
About 6 months after we were baptized we ran into Dr. Doan at one of the Sunday services. While we were surprised, it kind of made sense. Before we knew Christ, Dr. Doan was reflecting Christ’s love for my wife and our son by his compassion for them, ensuring that their medical needs we more import than their ability to pay. We recognized that there was something special about him but it didn’t make sense until we met at church. Little did we know…
I think it was 2012 when our church partnered up with a ministry, one of many. This ministry was Good Samaritan Medical & Dental Ministry (GSMDM). We heard nothing of this partnering until after a small group of our members including our pastor and his family went to Vietnam. Pastor Matt shared his experience with us during a Sunday service and I remember all of our tears while he described the emotional, spiritual, and physical journey to Vietnam. I couldn’t imagine being used by God like that. At some point during that Sunday it was revealed that the leader of this medical ministry was Dr. Doan! He was a refugee from the last days of the war and barely escaped with his family. After becoming a doctor it was his dream to return and serve the people of Vietnam through the grace and mercy that God extends to him every day. WOW! Again, looking at this amazing man and his compassion for our family I started to see what it truly means to serve God and his children. God was revealing himself through Dr. Doan.
By early 2014, Renee and I were learning how to manage our family and business. God had brought us a long way but it still seemed like our past was right on our heels. A couple of people at church had approached me about going to Vietnam in the summer to help with a construction team. The trip would be in conjunction with Dr. Doan’s GSMDM. I was not sure how to respond at first but eventually Renee and I were on board and we were excited and scared all at the same time. We wrote the checks for the trip, renewed our passports, and started attending the training and planning meetings for the trip.
There were a lot of rules and it was explained to us how important it was to respect the people, culture, and the government of Vietnam. There is a lot that goes into something like this. Right up to the last day GSMDM was scraping together medical equipment, supplies, materials, & medication. We practiced packing and repacking, loading and reloading, gathering points at the three airports, moving through Customs in Vietnam and the US. It was intense. GSMDM had about 100 medical professionals including doctors, dentists & surgeons, (orthopedic, pediatric, cardiologist, OBGYN, plastic surgeons, general practitioners ect.) nurses, lab techs, dental techs, translators, radiologists, pharmacologists, and I am sure I am forgetting some. Sandals Church made up the construction team of about 20 people and funded the materials we would be needing while we were there. Here is the most amazing thing, everyone paid for their own way and other than some fundraising it was the people going that provided all of the equipment and supplies. This was truly a mission that was entirely funded by the efforts and actions of those going. This is literally one charity that will see 95% of the money donated go to the people it was created to serve.
During our trip GSMDM in two weeks visited 14 to 18 rural villages that may have never had a chance to see a real doctor until GSMDM arrived. The people who lived in these villages were beyond any understanding of poor that we could possibly comprehend. In these villages there were over 4000 patients treated. Over 100 people were taken to the hospital in Cao Bang and provided surgical procedures. Most of these procedures were emergency in nature or for life threating conditions. The rest were addressing things afflicting children like cleft palates. Each surgery cost the mission $400 dollars for the use of the surgical theater and was paid by GSMDM. Over 2000 teeth were pulled and over 1000 patients were provided prescription glasses and everyone was provided vitamins and the medication they needed. This was during the day! Each day the medical teams would travel up to 2 hours via bus on dangerous roads to these villages. They would return at night for dinner and sometimes late. We would all eat together and praise God for the work he provided that day. Then they would hold a medical clinic for a couple of hours at the hotel. I would sit outside these evenings as long as I could handle it and watch the people line up. It was overwhelming.
Long before the trip ended Renee and I made up our minds that we wanted to come back next year and we wanted to bring our oldest children with us. When we got home life seemed different. It was uncomfortable going to the mall and watching people spending what we spend on things. I am not judging but for me these thing just didn’t seem important any more. What I spend on a pair of jeans could feed an entire Vietnamese family for a month! I don’t wear expensive jeans. This is one reason we wanted our oldest kids to go. We want them to see how most of the world lives their lives. Not so we could judge or condemn our society but rather gain a true appreciation for how God has blessed us and learn to serve the less fortunate with these blessings. It was not long before the difficulties of life here started to overtake the perspective we gained there. The business was struggling, taxes were overwhelming, and I did the math, we couldn’t afford to go. I trimmed the business back and took a job but money was still going out faster than I could make it. In the last couple of months we have made adjustments and the bleeding was stopped. Then there was a series of events with our cars that ran into the thousands. I had long before informed the team that we wouldn’t be able to go since I wasn’t sure it would be the best use of the $8,000 to $10,000 it would cost for us to commit. The truth is that we were facing some serious financial struggles. So much for being real.
After returning home and everyone was feeling better we had a team debriefing. This was to discuss how we felt things went, what went good, not so good, and what we would do different. One of the things Renee and I considered was how we just bought our tickets and went. We failed to allow our friends and family to partner with us on the experience. Even though we were at the time able to entirely afford the tickets for the 2014 trip we should have asked for the financial help from those who did not have the time or all the resources to get there. We essentially robbed them of the blessing in being a part of the experience. The thing we would have done different was to ask for financial help even though we didn’t need it. It was our intention to do this for 2015 but it never occurred to me that we would have to be asking almost for the entire amount to go. So when I realized that we were in the position we were, I just said we weren’t going. This was devastating for Renee, Kaitlyn, and Nathan.
God has asked me to trust Him! The question I have is what does that mean? Well, whatever it means I need to do my best to stay humble and do whatever I can to support those who are going for sure. I also need to make the effort to secure the funding that it is going to take to get there. This means that we are going to be asking family and friends for money. In the end the money we raise is going to be donated to the trip one way or another. We trust God and his ability to take what is provided and multiply it for His glory. Our hope is that our family can get there and it would be a faith building endeavor that would serve the people of Vietnam. In any case we submit ourselves to God and pray that He and the team would accept us in this capacity and fund us for this journey.
Organizer
Dwayne Wallace
Organizer
Riverside, CA