Echo Spring 2023 - 11

By Carolina Luciano Burgos ('22 & '23)
R
aised a missionary kid in Santiago,
Chile, Terri (Christian '93 & '94)
Fisher grew up knowing what a
missional calling entailed. When the
time came to take a missional path of
her own, it was revealed in a way she never
suspected.
Fisher enrolled at Lancaster Bible College
with a desire to achieve higher education
and began in LBC's former one-year Bible
program. " I thought I would transfer out to
somewhere else and do something else,
[but] I ended up loving it and staying, "
said Fisher.
She then pursued LBC's missions program,
a field she knew very well. However, in her
first three years at the college, Fisher felt
that the classroom was really the place she
needed to be. Still, teaching was a calling
that was hard for her to accept at first.
" I had been fighting the knowledge that I
was gifted in teaching, " she said. " There's
a bunch of people in my family who are
teachers and I, for a long time, did not want
to be a teacher. "
Despite her initial reluctance, Fisher knew
deep down that God had called her to
teach, and it was up to her to follow Him.
" Finally, " she said, " I stopped fighting the
Lord, and in my junior year I switched [to
elementary education]. "
After graduation, Fisher also served as an
instructor at her alma mater around 1998
at LBC's then-Evening Institute, where she
taught conversational Spanish. She was later
recruited to teach as an adjunct professor
and then became an Assistant Professor
within the Education Department.
Things seemed to be going well for Fisher.
However, where there's a calling, usually
that calling will be put to the test.
" God took it all away, " said Fisher. From
losing housing and jobs to challenges
with meeting basic needs, life became an
everyday trial for Fisher and her family for
nearly three years. But in the midst of it
all, Fisher and her husband, David ('99),
thought, " What is God trying to tell us here? "
That's when missions, once again, entered
the conversation.
" My husband and I had talked about
missions, " Fisher shared, " but we didn't
think God had directly led us there. "
For those three years, the Fishers had prayed
for God's direction. " We told God, 'If you're
going to take it all away [and] if there's
something else You want us to do with
our lives, show us what it is,' " Fisher said.
Suddenly, the light bulb idea of full-time
ministry shone bright.
Fisher reached out to the Association of
Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE), the
same organization her parents had worked
with as missionaries. Fisher remembered
thinking, " If God keeps opening doors, we'll
just keep going in that direction. "
Open to wherever God led them, the
Fishers analyzed different locations where
they could serve: South Africa, Australia
and England, among others. God, however,
kept leading them back to Fisher's adopted
homeland of Chile.
Fisher expressed how faithful God has
been through life's difficulties since she and
David accepted His calling to go to Chile.
" Sometimes when you do missionary work,
you feel like you're there to help other
people [since] you're the one giving, but
God is doing a work, probably more so in
your life than you're doing in other people's
lives, " Fisher said.
As God continued to lead Fisher to
Chile, a brand-new ministry was in the
works-a pregnancy center to assist young
mothers. With her teaching and counseling
experience, Fisher's skills turned out to be a
wonderful fit for this new project.
Since January 2020, Fisher and her family
have served in Iquique, Chile, working with
the Florece Prenatal & Family Counseling
Center. The name is fitting, as Florece
means " bloom " in Spanish, and Florece's
mission is to see new life blooming in the
desert-not only spiritual but physical life.
" There has never been a ministry of this sort
in Chile that we know of, " Fisher shared.
When Fisher grew up in Chile, abortion
wasn't seen as a significant issue because
the country was heavily influenced by
Catholicism at the time and abortion
was illegal. However, research revealed
that Chile actually had one of the highest
abortion rates in all of South America. These
undercover procedures were done illegally-
and in silence.
A heavy burden also existed within the
women of Chile, Christian or not, of having
an abortion and not being able to talk about
it. This is another need the Florece Prenatal
Center fulfills.
Florece assists young Chilean and immigrant
mothers with maternity classes as well as
through a baby boutique, where the women
can " spend " points they earn for attending
classes and completing homework on
free supplies, clothing and more. From the
newborn, toddler and young child phases,
mothers receive constant support from the
Florece Prenatal Center.
To this day, Fisher uses her LBC education
degree as she teaches soon-to-be mothers
the many aspects of motherhood such as
bathing, dressing and helping babies to grow
healthy and strong. At Florece, she serves
alongside a team that includes missionary
colleagues and national volunteers.
Since its 2016 founding, Florece Prenatal
Center has overcome many obstacles,
from being without a physical location to
lacking necessary resources and staff. But
God has been faithful. From 2020 to 2022,
Florece helped 159 total clients, offered
367 maternity classes, hosted 552 Bible
studies and celebrated 31 babies being
born. Chilean mothers are finally free and
comfortable enough to talk about the
difficult yet beautiful endeavor of choosing
life for their babies.
" It started out very slowly, " Fisher said with a
smile, " but God has really blessed it. "
To learn more about Florece Prenatal Center,
visit abwe.org/florece-prenatal-center.
ECHO 11
http://www.abwe.org/florece-prenatal-center
Echo Spring 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Echo Spring 2023
