future missionary nurse: kelsey beggs
Kelsey Beggs has long had a desire to help people and to make a difference once she completes her degree. But it was a trip to Kenya in summer 2008 through Wayland Baptist University’s Mission Center that began to put all the pieces of her passion together into a clearer picture.
Beggs, a senior business major from Muleshoe, was undecided on her major during the first year, though she had an interest in the medical field and wanted to see the world. Coming to Wayland with twin sister Ashley on the recommendation of her pastor, WBU board member Dr. Stacy Conner, and receiving good scholarship assistance, she soon settled into the School of Business, choosing an emphasis on international management.
While in school, Kelsey has also been taking courses to fulfill requirements for nursing school, thinking she might pursue a nursing license after her undergraduate degree. Still, with all those irons in the fire, she admitted the future was not entirely clear as her senior year loomed.
After a fellow student mentioned his plans to travel to Kenya in the summer with the mission center, Beggs felt led to pay center director Dr. Rick Shaw a visit.
I' 
ve always wanted to travel, and Africa seems like the last frontier,” she said of the decision. “I knew there are people there who need help, and I wanted that experience. I knew we’d be working with AIDS patients in the slums of Africa.”
While Kelsey’s heart was set on the trip, her pocketbook wasn’t quite convinced. Entering the lineup later in the game, her plane ticket cost more than the others who booked early, so the trip came out to around $4,000. Still, Shaw had told her if God called her to Kenya, he’d provide the means to get her there.
Beggs set out with fervor, getting the word out to friends and family back in her hometown, who contributed to her trip fund. She also made a massive batch of chicken spaghetti and sold casseroles in her hometown for additional funds. She worked extra hours while finishing the semester, then pulled 60-70 hours a week at two jobs to earn the needed money.
“The biggest obstacle was the money, and it all came in right at the end,” she recalls with a smile. “I felt like it would be such a good experience all around and would really open my eyes to what goes on around the world.
“I knew it would be worth it because of all the work that went in behind it.”
Beggs and the small group arrived in Kenya on July 5 and spent nearly four weeks there, working primarily in the slums outside Nairobi. They partnered with the Imani Baptist Church doing service projects in the neighborhood and working at the Imani Shade, a ministry to HIV-positive/AIDS patients, and Miracle House, a school for orphans.
Kelsey found her home at the medical clinic, visiting AIDS patients and ministering to their needs both physical and spiritual. She particularly grew close to Alice, an AIDS patient in the final stages,who also had tuberculosis and could not afford the doctor to administer her shots. Though she knew the risks involved, Beggs felt God leading her to provide the service to Alice along with taking her food and blankets.
Something about the work broke through to Beggs’ own soul.
“There is still such a stigma about AIDS there that people keep it very personal,” she said. “You could just feel their sorrow and shame. They’re prisoners in their own bodies.”
Once she reflected on the experience with Shaw, Beggs knew what her future held: medical missions work. She also knew she wanted to go back to Kenya this summer and possibly even end up working there.
But before that can happen, Beggs has more schoolwork ahead. She’s planning to attend graduate school and possibly pursue both a master’s degree in public health and a nurse practitioner license to open her possibilities for future mission work. She’d like to work with a program that travels to various locations for public health issues and ministry.
For now, though, Kelsey is just enjoying her last semester in this home-away-from-home called Wayland.
“I have loved the positive environment where faculty and staff are encouraging to me. I’ve never met a professor with a closed door,” she said. “You have a constant support system here; we’re a little family here.”
While it’s still in its early years, the Mission Center has already taken several trips to overseas locations on mission efforts, and the goals for the future are lofty. Shaw said he’d like to see the day when every undergraduate student is able to attend at least one mission trip during their time at WBU, preferably with financial assistance from an endowment or other funding. He knows the difference the hands-on mission trips can make in students’ lives, whether they are pursuing a career in missions or not. So does Beggs.
“The mission trips give us a chance to get out of the Wayland bubble and really make a difference,” she said. “You can really change someone’s world.”
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