Mission Trip Highlights 2024

In Colombia, nearly one third of the population lives in poverty. The needs are great but recruiting mission teams to serve in Colombia can pose a challenge. So, we are even more grateful for a team of family medicine doctors and assistants who decided to shut down their practice for a whole week and traveled to serve communities in Colombia instead.

Dr. Brittany Marshall and Dr. Grant Marshall who own Mission Family Medicine in Titusville, Florida brought their entire staff on a week-long mission trip to Colombia to provide a medical clinic for those in need and without easy access to medical care. The team consisted of four doctors and four medical assistants. Throughout the week, they provided medical services to nearly 500 patients and more than $2,000 worth of medications. The team also paid for several patients who needed surgery and other treatments at the local hospital.

During the medical clinic, the doctors and medical assistants provided life-changing medical care, while also forming relationships with the adults and children in the community. Three team members who were not involved in the medical clinic organized and directed a children’s ministry to share the Gospel through Bible stories, crafts, and games.  

Multiple members of the team became child sponsors prior to their trip, so they were also able to meet and spend time with their sponsored children. They had the opportunity to visit their homes and even pray with the families. The team also packed and distributed food baskets for all children and families in the sponsorship program. Three team members decided to sponsor children during the trip. Upon their return, the team started sharing their experiences and the need for child sponsors with their friends, family, and clients and additional children were sponsored as a result. 

Those who made an impact through this mission trip extended beyond the selfless team members who traveled to Colombia. More than 45 donors contributed funds to cover every team member’s cost, the cost of all the medications provided, and enough funds to restart the feeding programs in Colombia for both One More Child ministry locations for a full year.  

And this mission trip was only the beginning of visits to Colombia for the Mission Family Medicine team— they will return to Colombia for another medical clinic the first week of October this year, and plan to return to provide clinics three to four times a year. We are so grateful to Mission Family Medicine and their network for their selfless and generous commitment to serve vulnerable children in Colombia. 

An eight-member team — with five people from Chet’s Creek Church in Jacksonville, Florida and three other individuals — traveled to South Asia to provide and establish valuable resources in the community. The team set up two new computer labs and a water well. In addition, this team gifted a scooter to a handicapped young woman who had just graduated from our sponsorship program. Due to a medical condition, she was relying on others for transportation, but this scooter gives her the freedom and independence she desperately longed for. And a generous gift of $1,000 will be applied to meet the greatest need in this ministry area.  

In collaboration with AdventHealth’s Sharing Smiles—an organization that exists to deliver healing and hope to disadvantaged children in selected countries through quality health care, education, and training— One More Child was able to open a brand-new dental clinic in Guatemala in June 2024. AdventHealth and Sharing Smiles provided the necessary funding for the construction of the clinic as well as the expertise to make it fully functional. The new clinic has three separate rooms with dental chairs and essential equipment, a room for preparation and sterilization, and an additional space for a future X-ray machine. 

After the clinic opened, a group of dentists from Sharing Smiles also traveled to Guatemala on a One More Child mission trip to provide critical dental care to children and families. This group of dentists saw eight adults and 59 children and performed 21 extractions, 44 fillings, and one pulpotomy.  

A team of pre-med students from Baylor University traveled to our ministry location in Uganda to provide medical care and treatment to community members. The team saw more than 200 patients at the Holmes Medical Clinic and gifted $485 to meet patients’ needs. These mission trip members cherished interacting with Ugandan people and listening to their stories—and one new child sponsorship resulted from this trip.  

Another group that visited Uganda blessed the community in a different way—with goats and chickens. Members of this mission team, along with their family and friends, raised enough funds to provide 50 goats and 75 chickens this year for children and families struggling in poverty. The team met this need, while also having fun—they created a game where the kids chased down the goats and chickens and took them home as a prize.  

Your sponsorship is more than just a financial gift; it is a lifeline. One More Child’s Child Sponsorship program is hope delivered through meals, education, medical care, and the love of Christ every child deserves. Most importantly, sponsorship lets vulnerable children in developing nations know that God loves them and someone, somewhere, believes in them.

Linden Baptist Church and church member Jeff Couch formed a meaningful relationship with our Dominican Republic ministry locations. Jeff traveled to serve those in need in the DR three years in a row and sponsors four children living there to provide regular nutrition, medical care, and an education. He and the team from Linden Baptist saw many families living in homes made of various scrap pieces with no electricity or running water, and they recognized the need for a safe, secure place to live in for families in these circumstances. As a result, Jeff felt compelled to supply funding for a new home for a family in the community. 

Jeff’s generosity is an important step to break the cycle of poverty and give vulnerable children in the DR hope for a better future.