Concordia Student Makes an Impact in Sierra Leone Medical Mission

Concordia University student, Hayden Rensner, traveled to Sierra Leone earlier this summer with LCMS Mercy Medical team from May 4-14, 2018. The seven-member team visited Sierra Leone to offer physical and spiritual healing. During the week-long clinic, a total of 1,450 individuals were served.

Rensner, a sophomore from Effingham, Illinois, first heard of LCMS Mercy Medical Trips when a missionary from Kenya visited her church. This made a great impression on her. Rensner made the decision to attend the annual Beautiful Feet Conference and decided to apply to Mercy Medical.

The team partnered with Christ’s Evangelical Church from Freetown and held clinics for the week in a very remote village called Yardu. 

“It is one thing to hear about people living in active poverty, and quite another thing to experience it first-hand,” said Rensner.

Rensner is pursuing a double major in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and World and Intercultural Studies. Once she graduates from Concordia she would like to either enter the mission field or work in a refugee center or teach abroad.

“Overall, the trip was amazing, incredible, heartbreaking, and everything in between,” Rensner said. “I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to go to Sierra Leone and to meet thousands of new brothers and sisters in Christ whom I now hold dear to my heard and pray for daily.”

Rensner is currently raising funds to take another trip next summer. She has applied for Africa.