Sharon MeisenheimerSharon Meisenheimer was a young, recently married woman and new mother when she traveled to live in Ecuador with her husband and baby son. After growing up on a farm in a rural Midwest county, she served as a missionary over a period of thirty-seven ears. Sharon lived as a pioneer among people of two distinct cultures in an isolated jungle village along the Cayapas River, determined to find ways to share the love of Jesus with them. She and her husband studied their languages, listened to their stories and legends, formed churches, and developed various projects to improve the lives of those living in the natural, undeveloped area with no roads or electricity.Up to that time, the One who weaves together things in every life had been working in hers.God had precisely fit together His plan for her: the moves of her family from farm to farm, meeting her high school sweetheart, encountering Jesus, studying nursing, and His call to her for missionary service. God's faithfulness was the constant that brought Sharon through the difficulties and uncertainties she had to face, among them the unplanned birth of her daughter in the remote Ecuadorian village. However, that resulted in a strong bond with the locals.The clinic became her main ministry as she brought Western medicine into a place where witch doctors and herbal healers had reigned for decades. As the only medical source on the river, it required her full energy and ingenuity and the help of local workers to meet the challenges of the common as well as the unknown physical problems that presented. Miracles happened, but not for her daughter's rare illness. She is buried there. Sharon implemented an uncommon way of curing the effects of snake bites and insect stings. The discovery of an unknown disease infecting the majority of the river people led to years of hosting people from around the world as her home and the clinic became centers of activity. The medicine that eventually cured the disease also improved other conditions and ended in better overall health for the river people.Floods, painful lessons, tragic losses, equipment breakdowns, and accidents on muddy roads resulted in exhausting or exhilarating adventures for Sharon. God gave her wisdom and stamina in helping clinic patients, and also attending to the medical needs of family members. She cared for one daughter, and then another daughter, over a period of thirteen years in their spiraling debilities before their deaths from Batten disease. Her mother needed help with her physical complications when she lived with Sharon and her husband in the States for five years before her death. During that same time, her husband was in her care for ten years before he went permanently to a nursing home. On one occasion, Sharon thought both her mother and her husband would possibly die on the same day.Through it all, the Lord gave her joy in victories and strength in adversities. Today, Sharon lives alone on the family farm, five minutes away from Heritage Manor where her husband resided. She is blessed with good health, many friends, and Lester's family nearby. She enjoys gardening, growing flowers, reading, writing, and doing genealogical research on family ancestors. Read More Read Less