I Am Celebrating 80 Trips Around The Sun
January 30, 2025
Greetings from beautiful South Africa! I am celebrating 80 trips around the sun. It has been an amazing journey and life that God has blessed me with. I am from a tiny rural farming community in Southwest Iowa, Clearfield. It was the perfect place for me to grow up. I started letting people know that I would like to be a medical doctor at about age 14. No one in my family had ever attended college, and I had no idea just how difficult achieving that goal would be. I was a regular church and Sunday School attendee, but a superficial Christian. I remember that I would regularly pray and ask God to help me achieve my goal.
It took me a number of years and some major setbacks to finally graduate from medical school. Once I achieved my goal, it took me many more years to find my next passion. I loved being a physician, I experienced a dramatic spiritual conversion through the Promise Keeper movement that swept through America 30 years ago.
I suddenly became an on-fire servant and lover of Christ. My wife and I became fulltime missionaries, and our income went to zero basically overnight. My initial plan was to travel the world and offer free medical care to impoverished people and tell them about Jesus. I did mission work in about 40 countries. After a few years I realized this was extremely surface-level, and Beth and I desired an in-depth approach. I sensed that all our effort was not making a permanent difference in most of the people’s lives we ministered to. thought that rather than traveling the world, we needed to put down roots and stop trying to help everyone around the world and focus on a specific area. That is when God called Beth and I to the country of South Africa. We have now been serving here for just over 20 years and cannot imagine a better way to have lived this season of our lives.
Our son Dustin and his wife Alex have also felt the call of God on their lives and are serving with us. Our ministry started quite small, doing optical care with American short-term missionaries. In the early days we would lead a few short-term optical mission trips each year. We have now had over 1,200 Americans join us in our efforts. Blessman International has grown nearly every year for 20 years. We have planted 3 churches. Our feeding program blesses over 50,000 children 5 days each week with a balanced meal. We have drilled 70 wells and constructed over 300 beautiful brick waterless toilets to replace the dangerous outhouses found throughout Africa. Our Sports 4 Christ program, in partnership with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, provides spiritual growth for hundreds of young people through their participation. Our Celebrate Recovery program is the largest one of its kind for high school youth in the world. I know in my heart that this program alone is preventing some teenage suicides.
I sometimes joke about suffering for Jesus here in Africa but our life here is comfortable and pleasant. Serving these children brings so much joy to our hearts every day. I often say, and I am serious when I say it, “I have the best job in the world.” I am so appreciative and thankful for all the support we have from American and here in Africa that permits our family to live this life.
Update on recent happenings here in Africa:
In January Father Ray McHenry led his 10th annual mission team to South Africa This year we were also blessed by Iowa Bishop Joensen joining the team. It is always a joy to serve with folks who love Jesus just as I do. Lifelong friendships are forged on foreign mission trips.
Many of our American friends who have served with us have been able to visit Ngwana Baby House in Polokwane, and we are frequently asked for updates as to how they are doing. Sandra is the matriarch of this center and does an amazing job of offering excellent care and love to 28 abandoned babies under age 2. She has been faithful in this role for the past 18 years. Blessman International has been a faithful supporter of this shelter for most of these years. The Baby House currently has a significant financial need to pay for government mandated training and certification of 16 of their staff to quality them to care for infants. They are also always in need of funds for food and diapers, which we often assist with. There are so many different needs here in Africa and I am not pushing anyone to donate to this but if you choose you may donate online to our ministry and designate the baby house.
I am looking forward to seeing many of you at our gala on April 28th at the FFA building on the Ankeny DMAAC campus.
If you do not receive an invitation from us and would like to attend, please call our office 515 343 5920 for ticket details. May God richly bless you as we walk this path together!