In 2009 I went to El Peten, Guatemala with my father. We spent ten days there helping families in the villages rebuild their houses. I was also able to play soccer and love the kids, help build the mission building, and was a part of helping teach Sunday school. One day while I was there I remember listening to the missionary tell me about how there is very poor medical supply to the villages. He said how most deaths are preventable but where never taken care of because lack of medical attention. A simple cut could result in the loss of a limb because of bad infections. This is where and when my heart was called. My heart’s desire is to be a medical missionary. My goal is to not only help and reach out in a physical sense, but also in an emotional and spiritual sense as well.
The visit to El Peten, Guatamala was the most meaningful to me. It helped me define what success really is in life. When you look up the word success in the dictionary the definition states, “the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.” What truly measures ones success? It is not only measured by ones wealth, position in their class or even the honors they received during their high school years. It is also measured by their failures. How they were able to fall, dust themselves off, and get back up again, determined to be greater than before. In the same way success is not merely measured by our material positions, it is measured in how much we are willing to give up those material possessions in order to help someone else. With that perspective of success, I believe that I would be successful in my future.
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