We take seriously our Lord's command to be His witnesses.
Who we are. Mexico Medical Missions team members come from various denominations and religious traditions, yet we are all passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We take seriously our Lord’s command to be His witnesses to the “ends of the earth,” knowing that He showed special compassion for the sick, the crippled and the poor. Once, when asked to identify himself, Jesus simply replied, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk... the deaf hear... and the good news is preached to the poor.” Jesus always integrated preaching the Gospel with acts of love and mercy. As we labor among the people of the Sierra Madre, our prayer is that we would imitate Jesus in both word and deed.
Board of directors
Michael Berkeley, M.D. - Orthopaedic Surgeon, Samachique,Chihuahua, Mexico
Virginia Sadler RN - Montgomery, TX
Tim Schmidt, M.D. - Orthopaedic Surgeon, Scottsville, VA
Tim Arnoult - Businessman - Houston, TX
Terry Deckard - Accountant – Houston, TX
Miriam Berkeley - Hospital Administrator - Samachique, Chihuahua, Mexico
Rafael Jaramillo – Engineer – Miami, FL
Team members - Dedicated, caring, professional.
Mike is an orthopedic surgeon who came to Chihuahua in 1989 to establish a crippled children's clinic. Joined by other U.S. and Mexican health care workers, the clinic expanded into the Sierra Madre Mountains and developed into the comprehensive health care programs we have today. Dr. Berkeley works primarily at the Samachique hospital where Maci helps to administer the staff. They have two sons, Robert and Matthew. Mike serves as president of Mexico Medical Missions. For an informative and interesting article about Doctor Berkeley, click here.
Jacob and Raquel Sotelo and their son Nathan arrived in Samachique in 2010 to become
the full-time directors of our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program as well as chaplain to the hospital staff. Jacob is an ordained Presbyterian minister. Jacob and Raquel are associated with Global CHE Enterprises and continue to provide CHE training throughout Mexico. Please visit www.globalche.org for more information.
Pedro and Rosie Ramirez were the first Mexican doctors to join Dr. Mike when the hospital opened in 2000. They are both from Morelia in the south of Mexico. Dr. Pedro now serves as our Medical Director and Rosie works part time in the hospital.
Tom and Cathy Shank work in the remote community of Santa Rita. They served in the community of Yeposo for 5 years before returning to Arizona where Tom pastored an Anglican Church. They returned to the Sierra in 2003 to begin the work of evangelization and community development in Santa Rita and the surrounding communities. Tom and Cathy have 6 grown children.
Josefa Peña D.D.S. has provided dental services to our hospital as well as to the communities of the Sierra for twenty years. Originally from Veracruz in the south of Mexico, she came north 20 years ago with a desire to serve the people of the Sierra. She now works full time with the Community Health Evangelism team and has a particular love of child evangelism.
Doctors Mario and Rosario Acuña
Dr. Mario Acuña is a general surgeon as well as a Baptist pastor who joined our staff in 2019 as medical director of Hospital Misión Tarahumara. Dr. Rosario is a dentist who also has an interest in Biblical counseling.
Andy and Deb Kramer are linguists who joined Mexico Medical Missions in 2009. They have a special interest in establishing literacy training centers in remote villages as well as translating Bible teaching materials and scripture portions into the tribal language. Deb and Andy have four grown children. They are also gifted teachers and have developed the first comprehensive curriculum for teaching the Tarahumara language.
Johnathan is a Mennonite missionary from Clarkrange, TN who arrived in the Sierra in 2002 and serves as a lay health worker in some of the most remote areas of the region. He met Marta in the isolated Tarahumara village of Coyachique and eventually they were married. Johnathan and Marta have six children and live full time in Coyachique where he operates a clinic and school. Johnathan is fluent in the Tarahumara language and has planted an indigenous church.
Claudia joined out team as administrator in 2009. She has been particularly effective in raising funds and securing medical supplies from Mexican companies and foundations. Mexico does not have a strong tradition of philanthropy, but Claudia has been able to develop fruitful relationships with many Mexican entities which are interested in supporting well-run charitable organizations such as Mexico Medical Missions.
Doctors Willy and Jesse Bustinzas
Dr. Willy is a general surgeon and Dr. Jesse is a pediatrician. They met in Peru and eventually married. They then completed medical school and residency in Oklahoma before joining the staff of Hospital Misión Tarahumara. Willy and Jesse have two girls.
Andrew and Iris Bornman joined us in 2009 to run the agricultural program of our Community Health Evangelism team. The Tarahumara are subsistence farmers and struggle with drought and poor harvests. Andrew works with native communities training them in better agricultural and animal husbandry techniques. Andrew and Iris have four children.
Edwin serves as the U.S. administrator and runs our office in Houston, TX. Edwin works tirelessly to provide administrative services for Mexico Medical Missions. He does the banking, writes the receipts, answers the telephone and donors’ emails, and performs all the other administrative chores necessary to keep a busy medical ministry going.
Walter and Adriana are both registered nurses and bring their skills and experience to assist in both the hospital and the Community Health Evangelism program. They have two children.
Misael is a pastor from Mexico City who works with the Community Health Evangelism and Literacy programs. Jacki is a nurse who helps in the hospital. They have two children.
The Aviation Team
Dave Hardin
Dave Hardin graduated from the Moody Mission Aviation school and came to the Sierra in 2004 to help establish our aviation program where he presently works as the aircraft mechanic. He met his wife Delia in Samachique and they presently have three sons.
Brent Dodd
Brent Dodd was born to missionary parents in Papua New Guinea and served there as a bush pilot for 15 years until joining UIM Aviation. Hollie Mae grew up on the mission field in Indonesia and lived there until marrying Brent 27 years ago. They have three grown children, as well as 9-year old Brielle who lives with them in the aircraft hanger close to the hospital.