Missionaries

My name is Pamela Dawn Chevalier.  I was born in Saint Albans Naval Hospital on Long Island, New York.  My dad was in the Air Force, as a result we travelled a great deal and as a matter of fact I have very little recollection of living in the same house or finishing a school year at the same school until I entered the sixth grade. From the sixth grade through high school, we lived in the same town; we did move into several different houses, but remaining in the same school system was a tremendous blessing in my life.

I went on to college with the dream of one day going to medical school, graduating as a doctor. That did not happen. I did earn a full scholarship, but, scholarships at this medical school went into effect after finishing your first semester. With education not being first and foremost in our family, my parents were not willing, or able, to contribute to the cost of my education. Very distraught, I returned to Massachusetts. After a short time of whining and feeling sorry for myself, I went out looking for a job and landed one in the analytical lab of a pharmaceutical company. Less than two months after joining this company I was given the opportunity to go to graduate school. Thrilled, I accepted and began my career, not as a doctor, but as an analytical chemist. After graduating and working my way up the company ladder, I decided to go off on my own. It was a bit unnerving at the time, but after a couple of months I quickly became sought after and every day was like going out to play. I loved it! 

Having weekends free and a graduate school friend very involved in a Christian Evangelical church, I began to attend. Before I knew it, I was teaching Sunday School at the pre-school level. My weekdays were filled with a passion for serving my clients with failing instruments and chemistry problems and my Saturdays were filled with a longing to be with my Sunday School students and in church with my young adult friends and pastor. In my mind, life could not get any better, until the year I was able to participate in a short-term mission trip with other young adults from my church! 

The Lord touched my heart during that 1992 short-term mission trip to San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala. He continued to work in my heart for the next several years, continually putting these words in my mind “I can hear my people crying in the night; who will love them, who will I send?”  August 1, 1998, I arrived at the airport in Guatemala City with the sole purpose of “loving His people”. Truly unable to speak the language and not knowing how to get myself to San Pedro, I had a moment of doubt as I walked from the tarmac to the inside of the airport terminal. How faithful is our God! As I walked into the terminal I looked up to the floor above where people were waiting to receive travelers and there was Pastor Emilio with a hand-written sign:  “Welcome Pamela”.

It is 2023 and the longest I have ever been away from San Pedro La Laguna, Solola, Guatemala is five and a half months, which happened just last year due to the need for shoulder surgery. But, again, how faithful is our God! My shoulder surgery took place in Anchorage, Alaska; the hometown of Proyecto Fe, donated and performed by Dr. Mike, a strong supporter of Proyecto Fe. The entire five and a half months I was surrounded by people who just poured and poured and poured their love on me.

Yes, the Lord God Almighty lead me twenty-five years ago to San Pedro, La Laguna to “love His people” and daily throughout all the years that have past (and I feel certain through all the years yet to come), He has taught me what love is!