Our Story
Hi, we're Wesley & Jessica,
We’ve always been passionate about missions. Surrounded by family and friends who have spent years serving on the missions field, and spending a season there ourselves, we’re no strangers to the challenges of missionary life.
In 2018 we left our successful careers and comfortable community to pursue missions. Motivated by the example of Jesus and the desire to live out the Great Commission, we uprooted our 2 small children, sold everything, and moved across the globe to serve in Medical Missions.
Dr. Wesley Bedford, BSc Pharm, MD
Jessica Bedford, BA & Graduate Diploma: International Development
What We Saw on the Field
Through our own experience in Medical Missions and stories from other missionaries, we began to see patterns emerge:
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Missionaries sidelined by preventable illness and injury
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Team breakdowns because of intercultural miscommunications.
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Communities left alone to clean up messes created by untrained teams who didn’t understand their impact, leading to poor reputations for mission organizations and damaging local relationships built by local missionaries
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Young people returning home from missions, feeling disillusioned about their faith and their impact on the mission field
We saw that the majority of these could be easily prevented through practical tools & training.
But where was this kind of training available?
Our Purpose
There was a gap in missions training and we knew we had to do something about it.
After serving abroad, we returned to Canada with the desire to pursue further education that would help us to serve in missions ourselves, as well as to help other missionaries. Wesley (previously a pharmacist) trained as a Family Physician and then continued to specialise in Emergency Medicine. Jessica continued her formal education and received a post-Graduate Diploma in International Development, specializing in Risk Mitigation and Safety Strategies for work in the Global South.
The more we learned, the clearer it became that there aren’t many options available for small-to-medium churches and organisations to get the training they need to stay safe, healthy, and leave a positive impact.
Our Passion
That's why we created Before We Go.
A seminar-centered training initiative that equips you with practical tools and techniques to keep you and your missionaries safe, healthy, and effective while serving and loving the lost.
Today, Wesley serves as a full-time Emergency Physician and makes regular trips abroad to serve on medical missions. Jessica continues to work with churches and sending organizations to deliver customized Before We Go training seminars.
Let’s Start with a Conversation
Every mission, team, and destination is different. Sometimes the first step is simply to think things through with someone who understands the realities of the mission field.
If you’re exploring how to better prepare and care for your team before they go, while they’re serving, and when they return home, we’d love to connect and listen.