Purposefully Pi Phi

A Call to Serve

After a fulfilling 17-year career in marketing for a technology firm, California Epsilon JULIE GOODRUM TOPLIFFE retired and found her true passion in life— as a student of her faith. But it wasn’t until Julie saw a 60-second clip of a local news anchor visiting onboard a Mercy Ship that her life as she knew it would forever change.

“As soon as I learned about Mercy Ships, my attention was grabbed,” Julie said. “I went to my computer to learn more and realized that Mercy Ships was celebrating its 40 th anniversary. Coincidentally, my husband Keith and I would be married 40 years that upcoming summer. I hollered to him, ‘Hey, Keith, do you want to celebrate our 40 th anniversary on a hospital ship in Africa?’ He said, ‘Okay,’ and the rest is history.”

Mercy Ships offers hope and healing through free medical treatments and surgeries to children and adults who otherwise would go without. These large, floating hospitals have transported thousands of volunteer professionals to more than 57 developing nations, performed more than 100,000 medical procedures and have trained over 42,000 local nurses and doctors in modern procedures during the ships’ time at port.

Julie and Keith volunteered for a three-month term onboard the Africa Mercy—giving their time and talent as a ship chaplain and ship carpenter, respectively. Because their experience was so fulfilling, the couple signed up for another term of service—this time for 13 months onboard the ship.

“Within the first month onboard, we knew we weren’t ready to go home. I wanted to be on the ship for the entire experience, from sailing into the port, experiencing the patient selection process and assisting with the field service,” Julie said. “Three months only gave us a taste of it—and I wanted to be part of it all.”

Julie’s job involved working on a team of four chaplains, all who provided emotional and spiritual support for the ship’s crew and medical staff—including church services, Bible studies, worship celebrations and private counseling. And while she acknowledged it could be very challenging to live, work and be around so many people all the time, Julie found the greatest thing about the Africa Mercy was the community. “It was a privilege to be part of such an amazing ministry—the people were amazing, talented and committed, and I was always humbled that somehow I got to be there,” she said.

Julie also found that surgery wasn’t the finish line—it was the beginning. Some of her most memorable moments were not only seeing the children’s happy faces after their surgeries, but witnessing the parents’ faces once their children began their journey toward healing. “When the parent sees the casts on their child’s legs—which are now straight—they begin to cry," she said. "The healing begins in their eyes, with the darkness of despair slowly giving way to light.”

“The healing begins in their eyes, with the darkness of despair slowly giving way to light.”

Julie believes the medical care, ranging from preventative eye care and maxillofacial surgeries healing cleft conditions and facial tumors to straightening bent limbs and releasing burn contractures, performed through Mercy Ships does more than just restore health—it provides new beginnings. She said the patients who come onboard are facing their darkest moments, and through the work and hands of the ship’s crew, the light of hope and healing shines into the patients’ lives. Every patient comes away with physical, emotional and spiritual healing—what happens in their hearts is life-changing. “I loved every day of life on board,” Julie said. “Every day was different, and we all knew we were in a truly blessed place. Everyone worked so hard, and there were so many talented people from all over the world who had been called by God to serve there.”

Julie’s own call to service has been recurrent throughout her life. In college, she began to resonate with Pi Phi’s core value of Philanthropic Service to Others, a value she continues to live. While much of her collegiate time in Pi Phi was spent establishing lifelong friendships, it was during these years that Philanthropic Service to Others began to take root deep within her—so much that it’s now her calling.

After several years teaching and leading Bible studies, coupled with her experience as a ship chaplain, when Julie returned from Africa she decided to go to seminary for formal training. “I knew we had been blessed beyond anything we had ever imagined for ourselves,” she said. “Onboard the Africa Mercy, we experienced the most amazing crew and brave patients that I couldn’t go back to life as usual; it’s hard to go back to the ordinary once you have experienced the extraordinary.”