Scott and Gail Dooley don't have the typical 9 to 5 job. Instead, they are missionaries who live and work in Papua, New Guinea for the Church of the Nazarene. Recently, they paid a visit to the Auburn church to talk about their ministry. Scott is a physician and Gail is a registered nurse. Their assignment is at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, a 100-bed facility that cares for as many as 6,000 patients a month.
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Missionaries Gail and Scott Dooley participate in the service at the Auburn Church of the Nazarene on Sunday. They work and live at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua, New Guinea. Gail Dooley is holding their youngest daughter, Olivia.
Missionaries Gail and Scott Dooley participate in the service at the Auburn Church of the Nazarene on Sunday. They work and live at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua, New Guinea. Gail Dooley is holding their youngest daughter, Olivia.
While the Dooleys are back in the United States, they will visit more than 40 different churches, most of which are in their home states of Missouri and Kansas. But they have a special reason for coming to Auburn. The parent church establishes links, which are relationships between missionaries and churches in a particular area. The Dooleys are linked with the churches in central New York.
“We're meeting the people who have helped to support us for the past two years,” said Scott. Scott received help from an agency called Project MedSend, which takes over the medical school loans of doctors who go to work in mission fields. This blessing allowed the Dooleys to go to New Guinea five years sooner than they expected.
The people of the Auburn Church of the Nazarene felt honored to be visited by the Dooleys. Ellen Laudermilk, who introduced the missionaries to the congregation after a dinner in the church hall, couldn't wait to meet the couple.
“We've been waiting a long time to meet the Dooley family,” Laudermilk said. “They've been about as far away from here as you can get. Almost halfway across the world.”
As Scott spoke, pictures of the people and region of Papua, New Guinea, were projected on the wall behind him. He summarized his ministry in simple terms.
“We're called to serve the people Jesus died for. We're called by God to carry his love to the people around us. God gave me health care to show the people of New Guinea how much he loves them.”
He described the place where he, his wife and their three daughters live.
“The highlands of New Guinea are cut off from the outside world by rugged mountains. We're about a 12-hour drive from Papua on a bad road. Some of the tribes have a stone age mentality,” Scott said. “It's a place of need, with all the problems of a third world country.”
Scott tried to explain the medical care situation, compared to American standards.
“We often run over capacity in the hospital, with people on the floor. Last year we saw 43,000 outpatients, 745 surgeries were performed by one surgeon and there were 825 births. It's a different world of medicine. You run out of supplies. There's only one CT scan in the whole country, and no MRIs. We're very limited in our diagnostic capabilities.”
Scott spoke passionately, and sometimes emotionally, about his love for the people and the miracles and tragedies he has witnessed. One man, whose face was cut nearly in half by a machete during a tribal fight, was saved by emergency surgery. Many of the people have become Christians and want to join in the effort to spread the gospel.
The Nazarene Church has had mission work in New Guinea, the second least technologically-developed nation in the world, for almost 50 years.
Dooley sees his role as a mission from God.
“It's a career,” he said, “until God tells me to do otherwise.”
“We're meeting the people who have helped to support us for the past two years,” said Scott. Scott received help from an agency called Project MedSend, which takes over the medical school loans of doctors who go to work in mission fields. This blessing allowed the Dooleys to go to New Guinea five years sooner than they expected.
The people of the Auburn Church of the Nazarene felt honored to be visited by the Dooleys. Ellen Laudermilk, who introduced the missionaries to the congregation after a dinner in the church hall, couldn't wait to meet the couple.
“We've been waiting a long time to meet the Dooley family,” Laudermilk said. “They've been about as far away from here as you can get. Almost halfway across the world.”
As Scott spoke, pictures of the people and region of Papua, New Guinea, were projected on the wall behind him. He summarized his ministry in simple terms.
“We're called to serve the people Jesus died for. We're called by God to carry his love to the people around us. God gave me health care to show the people of New Guinea how much he loves them.”
He described the place where he, his wife and their three daughters live.
“The highlands of New Guinea are cut off from the outside world by rugged mountains. We're about a 12-hour drive from Papua on a bad road. Some of the tribes have a stone age mentality,” Scott said. “It's a place of need, with all the problems of a third world country.”
Scott tried to explain the medical care situation, compared to American standards.
“We often run over capacity in the hospital, with people on the floor. Last year we saw 43,000 outpatients, 745 surgeries were performed by one surgeon and there were 825 births. It's a different world of medicine. You run out of supplies. There's only one CT scan in the whole country, and no MRIs. We're very limited in our diagnostic capabilities.”
Scott spoke passionately, and sometimes emotionally, about his love for the people and the miracles and tragedies he has witnessed. One man, whose face was cut nearly in half by a machete during a tribal fight, was saved by emergency surgery. Many of the people have become Christians and want to join in the effort to spread the gospel.
The Nazarene Church has had mission work in New Guinea, the second least technologically-developed nation in the world, for almost 50 years.
Dooley sees his role as a mission from God.
“It's a career,” he said, “until God tells me to do otherwise.”
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