I am deeply grateful for the opportunity I had at the end of my medical school degree to experience healthcare in an alternative setting. Your generous support enabled me to grow tremendously, both professionally and spiritually. My faith in Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of my life, and my desire is to use the skills I have gained through my degree to serve Him. With this mission in mind, I decided to spend my elective period exploring how I could integrate my faith with my medical practice, particularly through cross-cultural missions. Through various connections, I learned about the United Mission Hospital in Tansen, Nepal. This hospital is committed to showing God's love by serving the poorest in Nepal and offering free care for those unable to pay. I was very excited about the opportunity to be a part of this community for seven weeks.

I set several goals for my time in Nepal:
- Spiritual Growth: To deepen my relationship with God and understand His calling for my life.
- Appreciation of Global Health: To gain a deeper understanding of global health challenges and the realities faced by those in developing countries.
- Professional Development: To enhance my medical skills in a resource-poor environment.

Tansen is a small town with a close community of people. The majority of people in Tansen are Hindu or Buddhist, but there is a growing Christian community with four churches in Tansen alone. All the expatriate doctors are Christian, and a growing number of the Nepali doctors are also Christian.

Daily Routine:
- 5 am: I would wake up to have my own devotional time and enjoy a jog in the beautiful woodland area just outside the hospital.
- 7:45 am: We gathered for the doctors' meeting. We began with a Bible reading and prayer, focusing each day on a different area of the hospital and praying specifically for the staff there. Following this, we received a handover from the night doctors, getting updates on all new admissions.
- 8:15 am: Ward rounds. Half of my time was spent on the paediatrics ward, and the other half on the general medicine ward. It was during these rounds that I worked closely with the team to assess and care for the patients as well as update families. In Tansen, there are much fewer resources than I was used to back home, so my clinical skills were tested using the minimal information we had to form a diagnosis and manage with fewer medications.
- 11 am: We took a break for chiyaa, Nepali tea, which was a lovely time to build relationships with the doctors and learn more about Nepali culture and the varying beliefs of the staff.
- 11:30 am: Clinics began. This is when we would see patients, discuss their cases, and I would have opportunities to practice my Nepali language skills.
- 1 pm: Lunch break. During this time, I would continue to foster relationships with hospital staff and others in the community.
- 2 pm to 5 pm: Clinics continued.

Evenings in Tansen were often spent sharing meals with different groups—sometimes with fellow expats, other times with hospital staff, and occasionally with members of the Nepali church. This time was one of the highlights and really gave me insight into what community living in mission environments is like, where you work and live with the same small group of people.

On Saturdays we would visit the Nepali church, and on alternative Saturdays, there would be an afternoon English church service. It was at the Nepali church service where I was awestruck by God. To see Him being worshipped in Nepali made me truly realise how He is the God of all nations, and even though He is that big, He also deeply cares for me as an individual.

The best part of my time away was the relationships I formed. I found that Tansen was such a kind place; the people I met were incredibly generous and inclusive. I feel so blessed that so many people took the time to get to know me and shared parts of their lives with me. Through this, I was able to gain insight into Nepali culture and Hindu culture.

The expatriate team at Tansen was a group of around ten, and they were also so welcoming. It was great to be a part of their community and have the support of people who have a similar goal in serving Jesus. I just loved living in a community in which we would work together, then share meals and meet up to do dancing or go on walks. This amount of quality time with the same people meant that the relationships deepened very quickly. I would love to continue these relationships and meet those people again.

Another highlight for me was being so aware of God's presence. Having Jesus be at the forefront of all we were doing—with the motto of the hospital being ‘We serve, Jesus heals’—and seeing how that was lived out was very impactful. During my time, lots of things did not go according to my plan, but I felt such a deep sense of peace and unshakeable joy, which I had never really experienced before, simply trusting in what God was doing during that time.

I heard many stories of how people had come to faith in Jesus after sacrificing to Hindu gods for healing with no avail, and then afterward being healed in Jesus' name. These stories were many, and each was deeply moving. I also heard of many Christians who were in challenging situations, with not enough to eat and facing persecution, and how Jesus provided for them and was so close. These kinds of things I had never heard of in the UK, as we are so self-sufficient. It was very impactful for me, especially as I experienced firsthand a close sense of God's presence and had many prayers answered during this time.

Another highlight was the day I spent with the pastoral and social care team. The social care team at the hospital evaluates patients to see if they are eligible to have their care completely free or partially subsidized. They do fantastic work, and if a patient cannot pay, they will not be turned away. The team relies heavily on prayer that the funds will be there for the patients. The medical staff also contribute their pay towards this fund, which I found very inspiring.

The pastoral care team visits patients daily to counsel and offer prayer, which is very impactful to the patients, especially those who have very prolonged stays. There were chapel services daily that patients were welcome to attend, and patients expressed how grateful they were to be genuinely loved and cared for.

There were challenges I was expecting before coming, such as the water shortages and how the poverty in the area affects what is available in terms of food and various resources, so I adapted quickly to these. I was also expecting loneliness and homesickness, but because of a lot of prayer and coming with my friend Katie, I didn't find this too difficult.

What I did find the most difficult was the language barrier. We had language lessons weekly, so by the end of the experience I could follow a conversation and say short sentences. However, it did limit me from forming deeper connections and could be quite isolating. I was very reliant on using body language and translators to communicate with patients, which limits the connection and makes expressing empathy more difficult.

Another thing I found challenging was the limitations of what we could provide patients from a medical point of view. Moreover, the difficult decision-making of when to stop treatment as we were aware that patients were likely to die and didn't want to leave the grieving families with a huge bill.

I had to face much more death than I had in the UK as patients presented much later with more severe disease due to their lack of funds creating a reluctance to seek medical help. The huge health inequalities for those of varying socioeconomic backgrounds also made me even more appreciate the NHS, as despite the challenges it faces, no one is stopped from accessing care because of finance.

I have grown deeply over this time—professionally, personally, and spiritually. Professionally: I developed an attitude of appreciation for my work, seeing it as a privilege to be involved in people's lives to serve them and God, and to work in a team supporting others. I saw how some staff would go to other areas of the hospital to support their colleagues, and this is something I would want to take home. There was a great emphasis on clinical reasoning and examination, which I will adopt, using questions such as, “What in this picture doesn’t fit with our provisional diagnosis?” and “If it wasn’t our most likely diagnosis, what else could it be?” Dedication to the patients and showing Jesus’ love to them and their families.

Personally: I gained confidence in myself both in the medical context and outside, talking to people from various backgrounds. I also developed a great sense of peace—trusting God instead of worrying. I feel so much more joy-filled, grateful for all the blessings God has provided for me. I want to be a steward of my resources—both financially and environmentally—after seeing people with a lot less than me being so generous and also seeing the staff being very aware of the environmental impacts of their decisions.

Spiritually: I developed the habit of turning to God in prayer in all circumstances—big or small—rejoicing when things don’t go to my plan, and confidence in my identity as a child of God. I gained a love and appreciation of God as a good father who provides, and awe at the fact that He is the God of all nations, and yet He cares about me personally.

From my time away, my view of mission has changed slightly. I have discovered that as Christians we plant seeds—it is God who does the main work. Mission can be very relational—showing God’s love practically, praying for people, and being honest when questions arise. I have learned that this can be hugely impactful, even though it isn’t overtly sharing the gospel. I also think there is a need in many places, and our mission field is wherever God has called us now, so I don’t need to wait until I reach a certain stage in my career to be a missionary. God is Lord of all nations, but He also cares for the individual—so mission can be on a small scale, and just because you don’t see immediate results or lots of people coming to know Jesus, it doesn’t mean He isn’t working and rejoicing in seeds that grow in just one life.

I definitely want to consider exploring cross-cultural mission. Before coming on this elective, I didn’t think it would be something I would want to do long-term, but now I would definitely be open to it. I would like to pray about when, in what context, and where, and also continue language learning as I do think it is vital. My plans at this current moment would be to do a few more short-term medical missions over the upcoming years in different countries to gain more insight and continue to pray about how I can use my training as I complete it. I would also love to come back to Nepal at some point.

My time at the United Mission Hospital in Tansen, Nepal, was a deeply transformative experience. I have grown in my faith, developed a greater appreciation for global health challenges, and enhanced my professional skills in a resource-poor environment. This elective has influenced my future plans, opening my heart to the possibility of long-term cross-cultural mission work. I am grateful for the relationships formed, the lessons learned, and the ways in which this experience has shaped my perspective on medicine and mission.