Meet Our Missionaries

Isabel Boura

I have been an ecumenical chaplain/ pastoral carer at the PAH since 2007, after spending six years as a volunteer chaplain in a nursing home. The first person I visited in the hospital was a parent whose son had dived into a pool and needed 24-hour care. I had no idea how to offer hope in such a hopeless situation, to help lighten such a heavy burden, to present a loving God in the saddest of places.

My initial sense of inadequacy ignited my desire to continue. It was the feeling I had years earlier when I was sitting at the bedside of a dying lady in the nursing home, the desire to learn more about offering love in the face of death and hopelessness…

Information

Location: PA hospital
Ministry: Chaplaincy
Vision: To offer the light of the world, the Comforter
in a place where there is sadness and pain.

Prayer Needs

  • The doors to remain open for our ministry.
  • New ways of supporting the fragility of humanity with His abounding love.
  • That I may remain humble and willing to offer His love to all I encounter, even if I cannot speak His word.

Testimony

By chance, I met a family in the waiting room, and I was told a parent was dying. The children were making memory boxes. They never thought of calling anyone to support them but seeing me as a chaplain was a relief. There was such sadness in that room, facing life without their loved one. In all this sadness I felt awe struck by God’s orchestration, His timing was impeccable. “Great is my Lord and mighty in power” Ps 147:5. They wouldn’t have called me, but He knew and now I was able to be there, providing support and adding God’s embracing love to their ceremony.