Meet the Lohr Family

Jason, Belen, Michaela, and Joshua

Adventist missionaries at Ile Ife Seventh-day Adventist Hospital,
Nigeria

Our Story

Our story begins in 1995 on the Maasai plains of Tanzania. The brown hills ae covered with small, round mud huts with thatched grass roofs, our home for the next month as we build a medical clinic for the Maasai tribe. There are 80 volunteers from the U.S. on this ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency) project. During the next month we will build a clinic, help with the medical team as they provide healthcare for the surrounding communities, learn some Swahili, and fellowship around the fire late into the evenings. During this month Belen and I (Jason) will meet and become good friends as we find so many things we have in common: pre-med students with a vision for third-world missionary medicine on our first mission trip to Africa, feeling that this is the place God is calling us to.

July 1997: Loma Linda University Medical School

I look around the classroom packed with first-year medical students, nervous but ready to start on this four-year marathon. There are 180 in our class but only two interested enough in medical missions to sign up for six years of service to the Seventh-day Adventist church after medical school: myself and Belen. During medical school our friendship deepens and we make a life-long commitment together as husband and wife, knowing that our relationship that began during a mission trip in Africa was truly God-ordained.

July 2001: Florida Hospital Family Practice Residency, Orlando

As we celebrate our graduation together from medical school, we realize that another large stepping stone is before us: residency. God leads us to Florida Hospital, a mission-oriented, well-balanced Christian program with a focus on whole-person care and evidence-based medicine. Our lives are filled with joy when we welcome little Michaela into the world and again when our Joshua is born 18 months later.

August 2005: Nigeria, West Africa

As we step off the airplane onto this foreign land, far away from our loved ones, we feel excitement and nervousness all at once, mixed with a strange sense of belonging. It has been exactly 10 years since we first came to Africa and here we are again, this time with all our belongings and two little toddlers clinging to us. This is now home. The Lord has led us through so much and we are thankful. He lit the fire in our hearts for medical mission many years ago and has been with us every step of the way to make the dream a reality. We pray that He will continue to lead us as we work for Him.

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