Retirement Living: Preparing for Mission Possible 
by Christina Rukavina
photography by Abby Sands Miller
Throughout their marriage, Mandeville residents Dan and Carole Lund have taken many memorable trips together. Dan, a partner with the local law firm of Montgomery Barnett, and Carole, a recently retired professor of nursing at Southeastern Louisiana University, have vacationed in the Caribbean, toured Eastern Europe and trekked through Israel, including viewing the site of the prophesied Battle of Armageddon. Yet all along, they’ve yearned for something more in their travels. “We’ve had a desire throughout the years to become involved in missionary work,” they explain. And now, at ages 67 and 63, respectively, they are preparing to embark on their biggest adventure to date by joining a team out of Brookwood Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., to do exactly that, in the northeast sector of Peru.
The timing of their foray into mission work has been serendipitous. At a social gathering this past February, the couple met up with Dr. Chris Harmon, a Birmingham physician and longtime friend of Dan’s son Peter since their Tulane Medical School days. Carole recalls, “Chris suggested, ‘Why not come on a mission trip with us to Peru? I’ve been doing this for years and am getting ready to go back in June.’” Harmon was team leader for Brookwood’s trip to the Tarapoto area of Peru last summer.
As members of the First Baptist Church in Mandeville, Dan and Carole support its increasing mission work, both in the United States and globally. Their preacher has traveled to Nigeria, where the congregation adopted a tribal team. But the time and circumstances were right for them to consider taking a hands-on approach by engaging with the church team from Birmingham. After they learned more about the team’s primary goals—to equip, evangelize and establish—as defined by the national organizing agency, e3 Partners Ministry, they decided this was one trip they had to make.
Tall and elegant, yet unassuming (think of an understated Cary Grant), Dan speaks thoughtfully, “On all the trips we’ve taken, we’ve said that we want to be more than tourists. We want to be of benefit to humanity. That’s the goal of our mission trip. We’re not missionaries except in the most generic sense, but we hope to be mission-oriented and to be good messengers.”
While most of the team members get donations to fund their travels or defray expenses, Dan and Carole have paid their own way. They point out that for those who can’t afford to pay full freight, there are always parishioners who are happy to contribute monetarily, thereby also taking part in the overall effort of the congregation.
Displaying her engaging and effervescent personality, Carole enthuses, “I see this all coming together at this point. We’re able to take the time. Doors have opened for us. It’s the first opportunity we’ve had to do a formal mission trip of any kind. This one has medical and lay aspects, so it appealed to us and seemed to be the right thing for us.” She adds that there may have been other opportunities, but they were accompanied by questions about safety. “This one is different,” she notes.
One of the differences is that nothing was left to chance in terms of their health and wellbeing. It was fortuitous that they learned of the trip when they did, so that they could space out what Carole deems “a plethora of vaccinations,” coordinated for them by an infectious disease specialist at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. Over a two-month period, they had TB skin tests and inoculations against tetanus, diphtheria, typhoid, influenza, pertussis, yellow fever and hepatitis. In addition, they are required to take anti-malaria pills before, during and after the trip.
The Lunds, along with the 40 other team members, about half of whom are medical personnel, were also given specific instructions regarding what to pack. One must-have for this exotic clime is DEET-based insect repellent. Advised that Peru’s South American winter is akin to a hot Alabama summer, they must also have clothing that is both protective and breathable. Since the couple is vacationing for several days in Bermuda immediately before heading to Peru, they will become quick-change artists in the Atlanta airport, from where they’ll ship home their more formal attire and don their tropical wear for the flight to Peru’s capital city, Lima.
From there, the team will fly another two hours to Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian jungle, founded in 1747 by Jesuit missionary, José Bahamonde. On the banks of the Amazon River, where the headwaters of the Ucayali, Napo and Maranon Rivers converge, is where the team will eventually set up camp, in a series of cottages, during its mission trips to this jungle region. They will travel downstream daily to many small villages, bringing scripture and medical aid to unreached peoples. In accordance with the ongoing nature of the team’s work, and with its mission base already established, members link up on each trip with local nationals who act as liaisons and interpreters.
“We’re planting the seed,” Dan explains, “for the emergence of new Christian churches.”
“Eventually,” adds Carole, who actually made her first mission trip earlier this summer, assisting a pastor with children’s Bible study in his small rural church in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, “these churches will network together and sustain each other. We want to extend the reach.”
A typical Peruvian day for them will begin with a team meeting over breakfast, when they pray, plan and get organized. They then meet with local nationals and travel down river by boat to perform their specific functions. For Carole, who holds multiple nursing degrees, including a Ph.D. in research, that means helping to set up clinics from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. She will assist in assessment, screening and data keeping. Villagers are given and instructed on the use of all forms of medicine, such as vitamins (including pre-natal), sunscreen, antibiotics and anti-fungal medication.
In addition to lending his business acumen to the church planning leaders, Dan is pairing up with one of the local nationals, assisting with follow-up contacts and going door-to-door to villagers’ homes. During these visits, they will meet with families and distribute bilingual Bibles, clothing and eyeglasses. Dan hopes to put his persuasive powers to good work in this regard, noting that in these regions, “If you can reach a father, there’s an 85 percent chance you can reach the entire family, whereas there is only a 15 percent chance with the mother.”
Villagers are invited to come to the team’s camp meetings, where Bible study is conducted and testimony is given. In this respect, preparation for this trip has a definite spiritual component. Every person on the team is encouraged to supplement Bible teaching by sharing his or her personal testimony. Sharing such stories is considered the best way to spread Christianity, says Carole. “Dan and I have each written our testimony of how our lives have changed, and our stories have been translated into Spanish.”
Another part of their spiritual training, Carole says, is for each of them to select a parable. “We then retell it in our own words and relate its application to our daily lives. Mine is the one about the hidden treasure in the field. Treasure can be found if we’re willing to invest.”
Getting prepared, the couple tells, also involves praying about everything—the trip, the Peruvians, winning souls and establishing churches. “We’re asking people to serve as prayer support for us while we’re gone.”
Have they experienced any anxieties about what they’re getting into? “I’m just excited,” Dan smiles. “I’ve got no apprehensions. This all came together so naturally and timely. I trust that everything—from our safety, to our personal comfort—will be taken care of by God.”
Carole nods in agreement, saying, “I have a peace about this. I’m confident that God’s hand is in the timing. I can’t wait to go.”
After capping off their trip with a several-day escapade in the Andes mountains, the Lunds will return home with just days to unwind before taking on their next outreach activity: teaming up with Habitat for Humanity to build a 2,700-square-foot home in the devastated upper 9th Ward of New Orleans. Dan explains, “Carole and I have thought a lot about whether we’re doing our part for the overall recovery of New Orleans. We want to make sure we’re meeting our obligation to our own community. We’re addressing this, I think, by dividing our time between assisting in New Orleans and outreaching beyond. I intend to be an example to our family and to a lot of people, [encouraging them] to do the same thing. We hope our work will perpetuate.”
