This is an unusual letter. Our mission director advised me to write with regard to a need. It
will take more time than usual to explain, so please be patient and read to the end.
For the last 20 years, God has enabled us to help missionaries reach their field of service, stay in the face of challenges, and serve effectively. As you’ve prayed and given, the Lord has answered. Thank you!
Consider the immeasurable value of a missionary on the field. Think of all that is involved for them to be called, to yield, to prepare, to go, to stay, and to become fully effective. Think of the resources that they bring to bear on their field for souls to be saved, for churches to be planted, for nationals to be trained, and for the work to become autonomous and self-replicating as spiritual light replaces spiritual darkness. The spiritual enemy is aware, and missionaries are prime targets.
We invest heavily and thoroughly to prepare and to equip missionaries for the task. But once on the field, missionaries can feel very alone, as “out of sight” becomes “out of mind” and the work of helping them becomes more difficult. Laying aside ministry-related challenges, let’s consider the medical side:
1. Missionaries are subject to both the maladies of their homeland and their field.
2. Local medical resources and treatment are often not available or are not adequate.
3. Attempts to obtain support and resources from “home” face many obstacles.
This is the “gap” where God has called us to stand, ever since He providentially brought us back to the United States from Nicaragua. We owe a great debt to those who have faithfully enabled us to do so.
This is the need. As is the case with all missionaries, by attrition we’ve lost much support. At the same time, expenses to serve effectively have grown. Licensure, continuing medical training, medical resources, and references must be purchased at the rate paid by physicians in practice.
Permit me to illustrate with a current “case in point,” a missionary family in Africa.
1. Local care has been superficial, at best, due to lack of training and resources.
2. Researching their conditions, all available references and internet resources were inadequate.
3. Medical consultants abroad and in the USA were unable to help definitively.
In order to better serve missionaries like these, I’ll be attending a tropical-medicine conference in November, which will cost well over $1,000. This is beyond enrollment in a vital and helpful continuing-medical-education course in non-tropical concerns, which also costs almost $1,000 each year. With this latter course, when missionaries call with concerns, I’m able to find the most up-to-date guidance from the network of lectures in all medical specialties.
So, this is the pattern we believe God would have us to follow as we continue to serve:
1. Spiritual foundation and biblical context, with Great Commission priorities in order
2. Medical foundation of up-to-date knowledge based on refresher training and resources
3. A network of like-minded professionals for consultation
4. Reference network of medical specialists for referrals for definitive care as needed
This is the request. With all being said, we are asking that you would pray for the following:
1. That God would provide the additional financial support that we need–10 new churches
2. That He would also guide us to medical professionals who would be willing to serve as consultants or for definitive care
Yes, by God’s grace we are still fully involved in our regular work as missionaries. He still blesses as we witness for Christ. Two days ago I was able to lead an ATT representative to the Lord. Yes, the Holy Spirit still works as we still disciple young believers. On Saturday I met a group in Harvey, Illinois, for a lesson on victory over sin. Yes, He still grants opportunities to help with church planting and growth. I just returned from Brazil, where the Lord granted the opportunity to serve two churches and four missionary families. Plans are in the works to take a builder to Belize in December to serve a missionary there and to survey an area for a new church plant. Invitations to go and help are in hand from Namibia, Poland, and the Philippines.
That all may hear, everywhere,
Dan and Lana Siemer
