Aug 8, 2022
On my first MMO mission trip, I got to see God work in an especially amazing way.
I had never heard of Medical Missions Outreach in 2020 when my missions director put out an eyeglass recycling box at our church. Even though I didn’t know who this missions agency was, I donated a pair of prescription glasses.
Fast forward a year and Bradley and Marli come to our church for a lunch and learn to recruit medical volunteers for future trips. Even though I’m not medical, I attended the session and fell in love with the ministry. A few months later I applied for a home office position and began working with MMO as Administrative Assistant.
After about 2 months of moving south and working alongside the ministry, I was able to take a trip to the Dominican Republic and was assigned to the optical team. We were partnered up and got a crash course in how to fit people with glasses.
On the first day of clinic, we had 4 stations, and 6 people working at my station. About half way though the day, a patient named Aislin was sent to my station. I began speaking with the patient while my partner went to pull glasses that matched the patient’s prescription. To my surprise, out of the 1,000+ glasses we brought to the DR, and out of the thousands of glasses in our warehouse, my glasses appeared among the 3 pair my partner brought over. Fitting someone with recycled glasses can be more of an art than science, so we tried on all 3 pair. My glasses were the best match. I was overwhelmed with excitement and let her know those were my glasses. A huge smile came across her face and she gave me a hug.
I couldn’t believe it! I donated my glasses more than a year ago, the glasses were not a match for anyone before this trip, the glasses were packed before I even signed up for the trip, I was assigned to optical, I was assigned to the fitting station, the patient was sent to me, and my recycled glasses matched the patient’s prescription. It could only be God.
Being able to see the glasses journey come full circle was such a memorable experience for me. I’m so glad God let me be a part of this story, and I’m thankful I was able to celebrate with Aislin just before she went to hear the Gospel.