Former Kinetic Edge Team Members Spread Hope Globally | Kinetic Edge Physical Therapy

FORMER KINETIC EDGE TEAM MEMBERS SPREAD HOPE GLOBALLY

At Kinetic Edge Physical Therapy, we’re passionate about making a difference in the world. That’s why it’s our mission to transform lives and restore hope through movement. We strive to do this every day in each one of our seven clinics, and we search for people who resonate with this mission before adding anyone to our team.

One sign we believe indicates our success and intention in this area is that two of our former team members left Kinetic Edge and are now working full time in missions. We thought it’d be fun this month to check in with each of them and provide you with an update of where they’re at in the world and how they’re spreading hope on a global scale.

From Joel Watters, former Physical Therapist at Kinetic Edge now serving in Costa Rica

Two years ago in August, I said a bittersweet goodbye to the Kinetic Edge team toPic 1 serve with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a ministry that serves on University campuses. My wife Rachel and I felt called to partner with a sister ministry overseas and were invited to serve in Costa Rica.

We spent our first year here working on our Spanish and serving alongside established student groups on the universities in the capital city of San Jose. This year in January we moved three hours over the mountain to the southern zone of Costa Rica where our ministry never had a presence before. When we began, we didn’t know anyone, but then we met one student named Mariela. In July, we led Mariela through a five-week discipleship training on how to lead an inductive bible study. She has caught the vision of the university being a strategic and unreached corner for the gospel. Two weeks ago, she led her first bible study and did fantastic! We have seen tremendous growth in her throughout the year as she studies the Bible with us, takes risks in sharing her faith, and begins to invest in other younger Christians. Just this week, we had two different bible studies each with eight people participating! God has been so faithful opening doors onto campus as well moving within the hearts of our students. Our dream is plant ministry and see lives transformed on each college campus in the southern zone of Costa Rica!

God has been so good to our family. There have been wonderful joy-filledPic 2 moments and also very difficult ones, each reminding us of God’s love and faithfulness. Our children are thriving, and it is a joy to serve the Lord as a family. We can also see God preparing the way on the University. We are praying for more people like Mariela to join us in reaching the Universities in Costa Rica for the Kingdom of God. We feel blessed to have been sent and to have the opportunity to do such meaningful work with our lives. Although, I do certainly miss caring for people as a physical therapist with the Kinetic Edge team. We send our blessings to you all from Costa Rica praying that God’s presence and peace would grow in your hearts.

If you feel led to support Joel’s work with a financial gift, please head to https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate#d9792.

From Shelly De Ruiter, former Physical Therapist at Kinetic Edge now serving in Haiti

My husband and I moved to Sylvan, Haiti in October 2018 with Many Hands 4 Haiti.  When asked what we do here, we both smile, because that question doesn’t have a nice neat answer! The reason we smile when asked is because much of our time is spent learning how to live here and communicate with our Haitian staff, program participants, neighbors, and market vendors!  Generally speaking, my husband serves as the Organization Development Manger which means he is here to put systems organization into place in areas like education, agronomy, and leadership.

I serve as the Spiritual Direction Manager which means that I am no longer working as a physical therapist while here. I am pursuing a passion I’ve always had and incorporated in my physical therapy work – soul care and relative rest. I get to invite people into new ways of understanding how God sees them and how we understand God.

So far, my work has been directed toward the American mission trip participants by creating a Path of Life Guide that gives tools of prayer along our path that encircles our campus. I hope to offer mini retreats to fellow non-natives here in our area as well.Pic 4Pic 3

Just this last week, we had a guest on our campus who was here to do consulting work with another organization in Pignon. But I think God had him do some consulting work right here at MH4H! He is a pastor, a lifelong missionary, and trained in “Strengths Finders”. He spent hours with Darryl and me helping us understand beyond our titles and duties how we each are specifically talented for this time in Haiti. The timing was beautiful for both of us due to some loss of focus and longing for the “good old days” when we both knew what our jobs were and what we were supposed to be doing. We are thanking God that Phillip needed a place to stay and that MH4H could provide it!

If you feel led to support Shelly’s work with a financial gift, please head to https://secure.etransfer.com/EFT/BlockCode/donation1.cfm?d2org=MH4H&d2tool=DarrylShellyDeRuiter.