Medical Studies

In my previous post, we covered how Dr. Andrew Stenhouse was Called to Be a Doctor by God in a very supernatural way. Now in this segment, we'll cover his medical studies, when he resigned from the his geological studies and began his studies to become a medical doctor in obedience to God's call on his life.

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Following his life-altering call to medicine, Andrew Stenhouse’s transition was swift and absolute. The very Monday after hearing the voice of God in Wellington, he resigned from his geology courses and the geological survey. Even his exit offered a quiet sign of divine alignment: though he had completed a map for the geology department, they tore it up, telling him he had done it too quickly—confirming that his path there was truly over.

He relocated to the South Island, heading to Dunedin to enter the medical school. Stepping into a rigorous medical program without any background in the sciences—having previously focused only on languages, mathematics, and geology—was a daunting challenge. Yet, the Lord's hand was evident from the start. On his very first day, lacking any acquaintances, students were paired up by default. When the professor in charge of the physics department asked his partner's name, the man replied, "David Stenhouse." When she turned to Andrew, he answered, "Andrew Stenhouse." Out of everyone in New Zealand, the only two Stenhouses randomly paired together happened to be side by side.

Throughout his grueling four years of medical studies, Andrew maintained a strict discipline of honoring the Sabbath, refusing to study on Sundays—a commitment he believed the Heavenly Father faithfully honored.

At the end of his fourth year, Andrew earned a research year grant in experimental virology. A newly arrived professor from Cambridge had brought plant cultures and research ideas with him, and Andrew joined him to pursue a separate degree—a Bachelor of Medical Science—taking a dedicated year for research before returning to complete the standard medical exams at the end of his sixth year.

As part of this fifth-year public-health research, Andrew traveled hundreds of miles north to the remote South Pacific island of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands—a tropical paradise of turquoise waters, white-sand beaches, and grass-roofed huts. Reaching the island required boarding a tiny ship docked so low he had to climb down onto it. Propelled by what seemed like an outboard motor at a modest six or seven knots, the vessel miraculously survived a mini-typhoon with massive waves breaking on board to deliver him safely.

During his four or five months in Rarotonga, Andrew assisted the local surgeon. Beyond his virology work—which included discovering that the island children's immunity to diphtheria came from swimming and rubbing against organisms on the local reefs—he delivered babies and performed surgical repairs. This included traveling to Mangia, a wilder neighboring island where local habits led to some unique medical cases: Andrew frequently found himself sewing up the ears of men who arrived with their ears nearly chewed off by women in local altercations. When it came time to leave, the hospital staff threw an elaborate farewell feast, assigning three nurses to each of the researchers: one to keep their glasses filled with orange juice, one to manage their food, and a third to fan them with a giant fan against the tropical ocean heat.

Following his time in the Cook Islands, Andrew was assigned to Hamilton, New Zealand, to complete his fifth-year clinical placement. (He would later complete his sixth year of medical studies in Christchurch, then his first resident house surgeon year back in Hamilton, and subsequently his second resident house surgeon year in Murupara).

 

In Hamilton, he was assigned to work under a surgeon who had served during the wartime London bombings, creating an immediate bond. Almost immediately, the Lord provided another striking confirmation of Andrew's path. The very first patient they evaluated presented with a mysterious, massive groin mass that baffled the local medical staff. Having encountered the exact same presentation in Rarotonga, Andrew recognized it immediately as a giant lymph node mass caused by a specific regional organism. Furthermore, when he spoke to the patient in the Rarotongan language—and the patient replied in kind—the room was stunned.

Though initially unsettled that a student diagnosed a case he couldn't solve, the surgeon soon warmed up. The very next day, as they consulted with a female patient, Andrew answered a question from the surgeon, prompting the patient to look up and say, "Andrew!"

It was Ruth—the very same Christian friend who had invited him to the Wellington church service years earlier, where he had heard the audible voice of God call him to medicine. Now, hundreds of miles away from where that life-changing moment occurred, their paths crossed again. Meeting Ruth and her family served as a deeply personal reassurance from the Lord. As Andrew reflected, God continually provided small, private confirmations along the way—tokens of faithfulness that proved he was walking precisely where he was meant to be.

Author's note: The next chapter in this story is called Residency. See the Home page of this blog for more podcasts on the life of Dr. Stenhouse. You may access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master. Now I'd like to ask a very important question.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.