Dr. Elma Jocson (2nd from left) is talking a leave of absence after 12 years as an international missionary of the General Board of Global Ministries.

Dr. Elma Jocson, a medical missionary serving with the General Board of Global Ministries, has been granted an extended leave of absence after 12 years of service. She is spending her leave of absence in the Philippines. Currently she is using her surgical skills at the Rizal Medical Center in Marikina City.

Previously Elma served at the United Mission Hospital in Tansen, Nepal. Most recently she was four years in the operating room at Ganta Hospital in Liberia. Elma is a life-long Methodist now an active member and lay servant of a growing congregation in her home.

A large number of local churches in the Michigan Area support Dok Elma's salary. On March 1 the General Board of Global Ministries will no longer recognize donations to her missionary advance number. They ask churches to consider a vital partnership with another GBGM missionary.  

Lester and Deborah Dornon

They suggest consideration of Dr. Lester Dornon (Advance #10919Z) who serves in a ministry similar to Elma's as Senior Physician at Tansen Hospital in Nepal. Click here for his missionary biography.

Of his spiritual journey, Lester says that he “made a personal commitment to serve the Lord when I got to college and saw the lives people around me were living, people with different values, different priorities, and no eternal significance to existence. Once I got out of the driver’s seat of my life, and let God take control, I was able to leave a lot of anxiety and stress behind—to wait on God to do things in my life that were beyond my control.” - See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/explore-our-work/missionaries-in-service/missionary-profiles/Dornon-Lester#sthash.j8t09N8Q.dpuf Elma Jocson is a life-long United Methodist, the daughter of a Bible Woman in the Philippines, who was taken to meetings of church women from an early age. - See more at: http://www.umcmission.org/Explore-Our-Work/Missionaries-in-Service/Missionary-Profiles/Jocson-Elma#sthash.d0MBdsFQ.dpuf

Of his spiritual journey, Lester says that he “made a personal commitment to serve the Lord when I got to college and saw the lives people around me were living, people with different values, different priorities, and no eternal significance to existence. Once I got out of the driver’s seat of my life, and let God take control, I was able to leave a lot of anxiety and stress behind—to wait on God to do things in my life that were beyond my control.”

The United Methodist World Service apportionments cover only about 1/3 of the costs for supporting a missionary. Salary support from congregations plays a key role in keep missionary ministries vital and healthy. As will all Advance Specials, 100% of a donation to salary support will help provide pay and benefits for the missionary.