A team of 27 Adventist Health volunteers partnered with local medical providers to care for 2,366 patients on the Philippine island of Mindoro during a mission trip in late February 2026. By the time the last patient was seen, the impact was measured not only in the number of patients served, but also in the abundance of prayer, joy and thankfulness.
“God really blessed this trip,” said John Schroer, Adventist Health global mission director. “Every individual brought a 2,000% dose of Jesus. The trip was a spiritual high point for all of us.”
The volunteer team saw close to 500 people a day. Services ranged from routine care to complex needs, including more than 600 minor surgeries; more than 1,000 dental procedures; hearing tests with hearing aid fittings; and ear, nose and throat procedures. There were long lines of people waiting to receive care — nearly double the expected number of patients on the final day — but no complaints.
“There were a lot of challenges early on — too many patients, too much need, not enough of us,” Schroer said. “At the end of the week, we were amazed at how much we were able to accomplish. We learned firsthand how God can bless our efforts.”
As patients arrived at the clinic, triage was crucial, along with checks of vital signs and clear patient flow to specific service areas. The Philippines has universal healthcare, but services are limited. In the communities served during the trip, access to healthcare is often nonexistent. For many patients, this clinic represented their only opportunity for care.
A team of 79 medical providers from the Philippines, many of whom work in Manila, joined the effort. The clinic was held at Adventist World Radio headquarters on Mindoro and supported by local Adventist churches and Adventist Church Mission of Mindoro.
Prayer was an important part of the week, and volunteers openly shared their faith. After hearing about the clinic on AWR, a group of local teenagers showed up and offered to pray with each patient before their procedure.
The Adventist Health team took with them more than 2,600 pounds of medical supplies, including dental equipment, surgical tools, an autoclave for sterilization, hearing aids and vision supplies.
“One of the keys to our success, in addition to continual prayer, was authenticity. My experience has been, when you’re real with people, they respond positively,” Schroer said. “Our volunteers were so open about their love for God, and we were wonderfully blessed by the Filipino community. God is working!”
