From Mexico
Rogelio Quintero was a medical student in Guadalajara, Mexico when God began speaking to him, through friends and spiritual leaders, about using his training to serve with Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services system. He applied in spring of 2022 and was accepted as a volunteer for the summer months. It was a life-changing experience!
After completing a week-long training course, he began working in Jerusalem alongside the paramedics going on ambulance runs. Despite the demanding pace of their work, “they put all their humanity into treating patients,” Rogelio observed. “They do not let personal feelings guide the way they care for patients, but they apply the same compassion and professionalism no matter who it is.,” a mindset Rogelio now carries with him as he treats his patients.
But more important than the professional lessons he gained in Israel, is the encounter Rogelio had with God while there.
After his shifts, Rogelio often visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. He knew he was far from God but was seeking a closer relationship with Him. One day after the church doors closed, Rogelio was sitting on the church steps when a man dressed in white approached and asked him, in Spanish, “Why are you so distant from God?”
“He didn’t ask my name. He didn’t ask what language I spoke,” Rogelio said. It was clearly a divine appointment and the man’s question hit home. “I was very distant in my relationship with God. My habits and my lifestyle were not in God’s path.”
The two men talked for 20 minutes about God’s mission for Rogelio in Israel both now and in the future. Their conversation often sustained Rogelio when he returned to Mexico and was tempted by his old lifestyle. In 2023, he rededicated His life to Christ and seeks to honor Him through his medical training which may, in fact, take him back to Israel. Whatever the future holds, Rogelio has assured God of this: “I’m following your way. I’m your soldier. I will love my life to serve you, not the world. I will never be separated from God again.”
Rogelio isn’t the only one who followed God’s lead to serve Israel.
In Israel
Yasmeen Mazzawi, is an Arab Christian from Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, who is devoted to serving the people of Israel.
When she was still in high school, she realized she could only truly understand the Jewish people she worked with if she had a better understanding of their history. She knew nothing of the Holocaust, which was observed every year on Holocaust Memorial Day. So, she visited Auschwitz. She was driven by her faith not only to bring a greater understanding and compassion to her work as a volunteer paramedic with Magen David Adom, but “to bridge the gap between us, and help people talk together. What better way to start than with myself and my journey,” Yasmeen said.
As a citizen of Israel, she was impacted by the events of October 7, and as a volunteer paramedic she has rushed to the scene of multiple terrorist missile attacks.
From the United States
Jack Storm, president of WS Energy Services, recently dedicated an ambulance the company donated to Magen David Adom. When he visited Israel in 2011, “I developed a huge caring and love for these great people, the apple of God’s eye,” Jack said. He began providing financial support to Magen David Adom, a mandated emergency medical service manned primarily by volunteers and privately funded.
Even when the oil market bottomed out in 2015, they continued support this cause while they were trying to wash out and reuse gloves to save money, not an easy task when the gloves are covered with oil from the fields. “I let the Lord take cull control,” Jack explained. “I knew the Lord’s voice and I knew what He told me to do. We wanted to be good stewards and help the Jewish people. My accountant probably thought I lost my mind!”
God faithfully provided during those lean years and continues providing abundantly, showing Himself faithful to His faithful servant.
Magen David Adom (Red Shield of David) is a leader in mass-casualty response and EMS services. Although it is not a Christian organization, many Christians opt to support MDA’s work as they transport at least one million people to hospitals annually, respond to disasters worldwide, and also collect, tests and distributes blood to medical facilities. To learn more, visit savinglivesinisrael.org.
Photos used with permission from Magen David Adom.
