La Sierra University The La Sierra University Pre-Medical Society under biology professor Dr. Eugene Jospeh (center, back) during the society's 16th annual outreach trip to Guatemala.
Students Step Outside Comfort Zones to Lift up Guatemala’s Poor By Darla Martin Tucker
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he La Sierra University students began planning several months in advance for their 2,720-mile mission trip to Guatemala, collecting dozens of pairs of shoes, hundreds of stuffed toys, and other items for distribution to orphans, seniors, hospital patients, and families in need. Their eight-day trek around the country to aid others through donations, health care assistance, and other outreach activities would require sleeping bags as beds each night and big steps outside of their comfort zones.
On the evening of Dec. 12, 2019, a group of 18 La Sierra students, two biology faculty members, and a faculty member’s spouse departed Los Angeles International Airport for Guatemala City as participants in the Pre-Medical Society’s annual humanitarian outreach to the Central American country. The society, a student club for those studying various health sciences, has been traveling to Guatemala each Christmas break since 2004, led by Eugene Joseph, associate professor of anatomical sciences in La Sierra’s Department of Biology.
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The objective of the mission trips is multi-faceted, Joseph said. It involves offering humanitarian aid to the children and families of Guatemala, including assisting local Adventist doctors, dentists, and heath care providers in the delivery of medical and dental care. It also encompasses “[providing] our pre-medical, predental, and pre-allied health students with the opportunity to serve and appreciate the value of helping others in an altruistic humanitarian context, [and inspiring] our students to return to Guatemala or other mission fields,” he said. Their work in Guatemala also
provides an opportunity to “identify and encourage promising Adventist Guatemalan youth to receive college and professional degrees so that they can help their country to rise above some of the existing situations of poverty,” he said. This year’s student group was the second largest in the 16 years the society has been making aid pilgrimages south of the U.S. border. The students took along 12 suitcases filled with 60 pairs of donated shoes, 100 handmade Christmas cards, candy, and 540 stuffed animal toys, which long-time La Sierra supporter
