Medical Mission Stresses Care for Body and Soul Senior Jim Kennell, a pre-med major from ew Haven, Indiana , spent June of 1992 in the West African country of Ghana learning some important lesson about life and faith. During this month, Jim worked with African Christian Hospitals in an outpatient clinic in Kumasi, where four nurses care for 60 to 80 patient eve1y day. He spent time not only tending people 's bodies, but their souls as well. Jim's prima1ymission was teaching about "basic" hygiene. This included things Americans take for granted, such as hand washing and proper waste disposal. In Ghana and other third-world areas , lack of this knowledge leads to much illness and death. They die of easily preventable diseases , such as malnutrition, anemia and diarrhea. Jim and others like him were there to teach that prevention is essential. While helping the people of Ghana become healthier physically, he also learned how to help them grow spiritually. He learned to use Jesus ' methods to reach people 's hearts. In the Gospels, Jesus healed people 's bodies first , and then some hearts were opened to His Word. Using this method, not every contact was converted, but each person was shown the love of God. He cited a Biblical example. Jesus healed the bodies of 10 lepers and then sent them on their way. Only one came back, which gave Jesus the opportunity to teach him about the Kingdom of God. Jim said that many Christians expect people to listen to what they teach, but don 't work to fulfill their physical and emotional needs. But Jesus and Jim both stress the importance of holistic mission work, which means taking care of a person 's mind, body, spirit and strength. He emphasized Jesus' teaching that whoever feeds (clothes , comforts ... ) the least of these has done the same for the Lord him elf. Jim learned another important lesson as well: that he had a need to develop his own faith . As is common in America, he had faith instilled in him as he was growing up. His beliefs had become heavilymixed with culture and opinion. Because , in Ghana , he taught faith from scratch, Jim's belief system was pulled out from under him. He had to decide for himself what is truth and what is not. He had to learn the difference between culture and the Bible, and this allowed him to put the Gospel ahead of all else. Jim wished for everyone an experience like his. He stressed that people need not be majoring in a medical area to qualify for this mission field. Individuals need only have a knowledge of basic hygiene and a de ire to help bodies and souls. This experience taught him what the love of God is all about. Jim went to Ghana thinking there was so much knowledge he could give to the people there. But they gave him much more than he could ever have given them. He said this experience caused him to grow, in one Senior Jim Kennell stops to sho\\' \\'here hc ,,·ent in Africa. Kennell ca red fo r many Afri cans thi s surnrner. month, more than he had grown during the rest of his life. He encouraged eve1yone to try it for themselves. - Melissa Forrest Amy Harrell - Ray' ill e, LA . Political Scie11ce, Ko Jo Kai, Barristers. Phi Alpha Theia, Pi Sigma Alpha Stacy Harris - Mobile, AL. f;"/e111e11tarr Educatio11, Chi Sigma Alpha , Alpha Psi Omega. Campus ~fini ,try, Campus Player•,, negina Beau , College Republ ican,, ,once11 Choir, Dramatics, St ude nt Impact, Universi ty Choru,, Pied Piper>. Acappela horus. Dee Ann Harsch - Searcy, AR 1\'11rsing. Amy Hawkins - F. Alton. IL. 811, i11ess Hd11catio11 . John Mark Hays - Sardis, MS. Acco11nti11g . Carol Heard - Augusta, AR. S11rsi11g . Beth Heffington - Pine !31uff. AR. Social Wo rk. Kim Heffington - J\Jorrilton. AR ,\1arketi11g. Seniors 203
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