My Kathmandu Dream

There is a common saying often attributed to eighteenth-century hymn writer William Cowper: “The Lord works in mysterious [and wonderful] ways.” My mission story fits this description.

When I was 8, my dream was to become a missionary doctor in Kathmandu, although I did not even know where Nepal was. Playing “missionary” was the game of choice with my playmates, even though “missionary” was something unfamiliar to us. My sweet maternal grandmother considered all this wishful thinking, as I was very sickly as a child, sometimes needing hospitalization for two months straight because doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me. Grandmother did not think I would live beyond the age of 12! It was wishful thinking indeed, as I was not even a Seventh-day Adventist at the time!

In God’s perfect time, when I was 21, He showed me the light. There was no escaping it, really, as I became seatmates, cadaver-mates, microscope-mates, laboratory-mates, groupmates, and duty-mates with the son of an Adventist pastor in our alphabetically arranged medical school. Gauzon, my maiden name, was, of course, seated right beside Gayares, Hector’s last name. More interesting is that we actually came from and grew up in the same city of Bacolod, but had never met until we both entered medical school. No, never in 20 years on that small island of Negros in our archipelago country, the Philippines, had we become acquainted. Talk about serendipity and God’s perfect timing.

God’s Calling

Forced to be together with Hector for four years, I could not help becoming curious about his religion—why he did not go with us to parties on Friday nights or why he did not eat pork or crustaceans. During our second year of medical school I developed acute pancreatitis despite not having any of the comorbidities (smoking, drinking alcohol, gallstones). As a precaution I was prescribed an “Adventist diet.” Since I did not want to experience the excruciating abysmal pancreatic pains ever again, Hector and I also became diet-mates.

Then during our third year of medical school my friend, whom Hector was courting, asked me to be their chaperone to Hector’s Christmas musical play at the Adventist Medical Center-Manila Church. That was my first Sabbath experience, and I became so curious that I asked for Bible studies. I was eventually baptized into the faith at the age of 27. But by that time I had already forgotten my Kathmandu dream.

We put God first and still said, “I will go.”

Hector and I graduated from medical school, finished our respective residency training—him in surgery and me in psychiatry with a subspecialty fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry—got married to each other (that’s another story), had three sons, who are Hector’s “mini me’s,” and quietly built our careers in our hometown. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and in 2021, when I was 51, we were called to serve in the 10/40 window mission field of Nepal. Without hesitation I immediately said, “Yes, I will go!” After all, the Lord had prepared me for it from the age of 8.

The Lord had already answered any of my possible objections. My parents had peacefully passed away after their battle with cancer several years before, our three sons were all adults studying nursing at the time (now they are all in medical school), and telehealth was already in place, meaning I could practice from anywhere I had a Wi-Fi connection and make the world my clinic. I will go to Nepal was all I could think of. My siblings were against it—they knew how little a missionary earns, and, culturally speaking, Filipino parents are obligated to support their children’s education all the way through medical school. How would we support our sons’ education? They were worried. My parents-in-law were against our going as well. Hector was the only child, and they were already in their 80s. Understandably, they wanted him to be near them. But we put God first and still said, “I will go.” So we went.

God’s Blessings

Flying to Nepal during the pandemic was, of course, no joke. And for an island girl who loved swimming in the ocean, being in landlocked Nepal felt like being a fish out of water. But with only 92 psychiatrists and only two child and adolescent psychiatrists in a population of 30 million, it was easy for me to find my place in this mission field. Breaking stigma against mental illness, incorporating lifestyle medicine with the practice of psychiatry among my Nepalese patients, going on mental health school caravans, and seeing positive changes in the relationships of workers at the Scheer Memorial Adventist Hospital through the iCARE program (a program that encourages compassion among staff and patients alike) have made all the difficulties in procuring a medical license and a working visa worth it.

As the Nepalese constitution has an anti-conversion clause, proselytizing is punishable with imprisonment of five years for locals and 15 years for foreigners. We are, however, still able to leave Christian storybooks in the play area in our pediatric ward, and children are free to take them. In church the children enjoy the children’s storytime before the sermon, but best of all is the Adventurer Club with activities for children as young as 2.5 years old through 12 years old. Whenever we have the opportunity, we enjoy sharing about Jesus to young and old alike.

Cross-cultural mission work may be challenging, with the need to learn a new language and the need to adapt to a new culture. I know through our Nepal experience, though, that God walks with us in the mission field all day and all the way. The glass is always full (not even half empty). We simply need to keep holding on to Jesus and placing our all in God’s mighty hands. Oh, and even if our salaries are meager, our garden is bountiful, our neighbors generously share their produce with us, and God has made it possible for our three sons to have medical school scholarships. Yes, there is no need to fear.

There are still many places in this world that have not heard of Christ’s love and offer of salvation. Go and heed the call. Be a cross-cultural missionary!