JEM members from French-speaking Switzerland: What has become of them?

My name is Rahel Omanti, I am 43 years old, I am a nurse, and I have been on mission in Togo with YWAM for 11 years now. Since childhood, I felt called to go to Africa one day as a missionary. I had already made my plan in my head: after nursing school, I would work for a year in Switzerland, then I would go to Africa on mission. But the years passed and I still hadn't received the green light from the Lord to leave. I began to doubt my calling, telling myself that perhaps it was my own desire and not God's calling. It was during this period of doubt that God reawakened in me the desire to do a DTS. As I prayed, I felt that it was right to do it at that time, and I took six months of unpaid leave to do it in Canada. This allowed me to reconnect more deeply with God, and He reassured me about my calling. Even though I still didn't know where, when, or how, I returned home at peace, convinced that God would show me when the time was right.

Over the next two years, I had the opportunity to go to Benin twice with a friend's association, and I wondered if God was calling me there. In 2013, I went to Kona for training with YWAM (Community Health Development) to prepare myself for a possible longer-term commitment in Benin. But God had other plans and led me to do my practical phase in Togo (even though I had already planned to go to Benin) at a YWAM base where there was a health center. It was during these two months of practical training that God called me to return to Togo for the long term. For four years, I served in this health center, I also helped supervise two primary health schools, and I married a Togolese missionary. Since 2018, God has asked me to take care of my children full-time for a season, so that is what I am doing right now.

What has helped me to stand firm in the face of difficulties since I have been in Togo (honestly, it is not always easy!) is the certainty that it is God who called me here!

Rahel Omanti-Stähli