Douglas High School graduate Jennifer Isaaks had no ambitions for college or a specific career until she went on a mission trip to Honduras in 2001. She watched an impoverished pregnant woman be turned away from a hospital and forced to deliver at home with a neighbor's help.
The experience sparked Isaaks' desire to be a midwife, she explained in an e-mail interview.
Now she works in Davao, Philippines, helping women deliver their children safely and comfortably.
"When I received your e-mail, I was sitting in the prenatal room, watching women come in and sit and wait for their visits, asking little kids their names (because they come over and stand next to me and stare at me and what I am doing), and singing along to the worship music that is coming out of the computer's speakers," she said.
Isaaks and her family moved to Topaz Lake when she was 4. She attended the First Baptist Church of Topaz Ranch Estates until shortly after she graduated from Douglas High School.
"I had known since I was 13 years old that I was going to be a missionary, ever since a young woman had come to speak about her missionary work in Africa to the youth group at the small Baptist church my family had attended all my life," she said. "At the end of her presentation, she challenged us to look into our own hearts and see if God was placing a desire there to point people on the other side of the world to him."
Although Isaaks knew that she would be a missionary, she wasn't sure how to "preach the Gospel."
After traveling with groups like Youth with a Mission to Central America and working for the Cottonwood Care Center in the Gardnerville Ranchos, Isaaks thought about becoming a nurse.
"(I) realized how much I loved the medical aspect of things and how nursing would be a really practical thing to show the love of God to other people with," Isaaks said. "I attempted for several years to go to nursing school, and it never really worked out."
Isaaks worked for Cottonwood Care Center until she was 21. She moved to Washington state until age 25.
"It was there that God began to change my ideas about what I thought I wanted to do and began to help me to see who He made me to be and what He made me to do," she said. "I found out about Mercy in Action College of Midwifery in the fall of 2001, and I wasn't so interested in it at first."
Mercy in Action is a nonprofit organization based in Las Cruces, N.M. Students earn accredited college degrees in midwifery through a dual enrollment with the National College of Midwifery, according to the college's Web site.
Issaks traveled to Honduras while living in Washington. Her missionary group went to build a church and visit a housing project that had been struck by Hurricane Mitch. Seeing the poor pregnant woman being turned away was an awakening for Isaaks.
"It was in that moment that I realized the need for skilled birth attendants (especially in the Third World) and my interest for midwifery was sparked," she said. "So I applied to Mercy in Action, and I was accepted."
Isaaks started training in July 2002, learning the basics of midwifery and "book work."
She said her family and friends supported her decision.
"They have never held me back from my dreams," Isaaks said. "My mom has told me time and time again that she has known since I was born that I was just on loan to her from God and that my life has always been in His hands. My stepdad had some reservations about me coming to the Philippines because of the terrorism, but he has been encouraging and loves me more than I deserve."
Precautions like a curfew, a guard and a night curfew have all been implemented at Isaaks' clinic.
Isaaks will be in the Philippines until December. A typical day for Isaaks is a 12-hour shift with three to five births. She's been present at 116 births and "caught" 46 babies.
"I say 'caught' because I didn't deliver the babies; their moms did," she said. "All I did was catch the babies and put them on their moms."
Midwifery is different from being a doctor or nurse, she said.
"Being a midwife is absolutely amazing," Isaaks said. "I get to see miracles everyday. New life is something that is inspirational."
Isaaks is used to people staring at her because of her fair skin. She is called "Joe," a nickname for Americans in the Philippines.
