Seeing the Fruit of Mission Work in South Asia

When Ted and Rachel began mission work in South Asia, there was no hospital. No Christians. Their first patients were seen under a tree.

There was no hospital.

No followers of Jesus.

It was a two-day walk to the nearest road.

Their first patients were seen under a tree.

Ted was in medical school and Rachel was in nursing school when they first knew that the Lord was calling them to pursue missions. So, they prayerfully made a plan to pursue that call. They spent a decade finishing school and getting missions experience before they finally settled in South Asia.

At the time, the country in South Asia they resided in was only .1% Christian. Missionaries had only been allowed in their country for about 40 years. However, the church was growing quickly. Rachel shared, “It’s an amazing story of the multiplication of the Church. It went from 4 believers to 8 to 16 to 32 to 64. Every two years, the church doubled for quite a number of decades.” But there were still many areas of the country where the Gospel was not yet known.

The family spent their first months in the country just learning the language, becoming familiar with the culture, and learning more about the medical issues that were prevalent there. Then they got permission from the government to set up a hospital in a remote village.

“The village was two days from the nearest road and there was a little dirt landing strip where goats were shooed off the path beforehand. Ted literally saw his first patients under a tree.”

Rachel reminisced, “The village was two days from the nearest road and there was a little dirt landing strip where goats were shooed off the path beforehand. Ted literally saw his first patients under a tree.” 

The medical team grew to include several more nurses and a midwife. But the focus wasn’t just on healing people’s bodies. Ted said, “I am not just here to provide compassionate medical care. I am here to give them the truth of the gospel so they can have eternal life.”

As Ted worked at the hospital, Rachel homeschooled their children and started a children’s ministry that consisted of dozens of children, from infants to young teens.

The family stayed at that first hospital for six years before Ted was asked to be the TEAM leader in South Asia. With this switch in roles, the family moved to the capital city. Over the next decade, they had the opportunities to open another hospital, teach English in a refugee camp, and start the first diabetes clinic in the city.

Ted and Rachel stayed doing mission work in South Asia for years before moving back to the United States. Their children started college as the couple settled back into life in the US. But they began to pray about where the Lord would call them next. They knew that their time of serving in missions wasn’t over.

“I am not just here to provide compassionate medical care. I am here to give them the truth of the gospel so they can have eternal life.”

In 2011, the Lord opened doors for them to return to South Asia. They were able to work with another people group who lived in a remote area, founding another much-needed hospital.

Now, Ted and Rachel divide their time between mission work in South Asia and the United States. Rachel explained, “We go back to South Asia every year and alternate between the two hospitals that the Lord called us to establish.”

She expounded, “[One hospital] is now over a 100-bed hospital and it’s being run by local Christians.” She added, “When we asked, they said there are probably over 500 believers and there were zero when we moved into the area. The Holy Spirit just really moved in that valley and worked in people’s hearts.” She finished, “It’s just a delight to see the church still growing.”

On one visit back to the village where she had taught the children’s ministry all those years ago, Rachel had the joy of discovering that three of those children that she had taught are now pastors who are serving their community.

As Rachel looks back over their years spent in South Asia, she is blown away by the faithfulness of the Lord. He called them to the work there all those years ago, and He has blessed them with a glimpse into the fruitfulness of their labors.

Rachel summed up with these words: “I don’t think we always see the answers to prayer and the ways that the Lord works. Maybe in heaven we’ll get some of those answers, but it just was so gracious of the Lord to give that to us and let us see the fruit of years of ministry.”

Where might God use your talents around the world, reaching those with limited access to the Gospel? Explore opportunities to serve overseas, including mission work in South Asia.