Recent graduate to put nursing degree to use in Honduras mission
By Reagan Scott
For the Register
When Rachel Ring came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for school, she knew that she wanted to graduate with a degree in nursing, but she had no idea the path that God would lay out for her, or the mission that he would call her to.
Ring will depart Aug. 17 on a 27-month mission to work as a clinic nurse for Finca del Niño (Farm of the Child) in Trujillo, Honduras.
Finca del Niño is home to 22 children who have been orphaned, abandoned or come from other traumatic situations. These children live at the Finca, and join approximately 100 other students from the area who attend Catholic elementary or middle school there. The Finca also has a medical clinic, which serves the students and local community.
In Honduras, Ring will work in the Finca’s clinic during the week, along with another nurse and two doctors. The clinic, which is the only one in the area, is open to the public. Ring said that people will walk up to eight hours to be seen there.
Ring said she’s looking forward to caring for both the children at the Finca, and the town.
In addition to her work at the clinic, Ring will also be available to help wherever she’s needed, whether that means helping with classes or playing soccer with the students.
Originally from Savage, Minn., Ring grew up traveling to Nebraska, where her mom is from, and said the state is like a second home to her.
When it came time to decide where to attend school, Ring said that the decision to attend UNL for school was an easy one. There, she was able to take two years of classes through the university before applying to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s two-year nursing program, from which she graduated in May.
While Ring had originally wanted to be a doctor growing up, she said nursing was what captured her heart.
“It’s such an honor to be in such a vulnerable place with people, and an honor to be trusted with that,” she said.
During her time in school, Ring was involved at the UNL Newman Center where she attended Mass, participated in Bible studies and got involved with FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
“I came into college with a good faith, but I came to know Jesus so intimately though the Newman Center,” Ring said. “We were so blessed with the priests and the Masses and everything there. It brought me back again and again.”
In May 2021, Ring had the opportunity to participate in a mission trip organized by FOCUS. It was during this trip to Comayagua, Honduras, that Ring had a powerful encounter with the Lord while praying in the basilica there.
“I was so tearful, so full of joy and contentment and trust. I just knew, the Lord wants me back here,” Ring said.
While Ring felt a pull to return to Honduras, it wasn’t until a year and a half later, when she was attending the annual SEEK conference put on by FOCUS in January 2023, that what the Lord was calling her to would become more clear.
On her way to one of the conference’s speaker sessions, Ring took a flyer handed to her without much thought to its contents. But as she continued walking, she looked down and saw “Nurses needed in Honduras.” She turned around and went back to talk to the man, who was an employee of Finca del Niño, and told him he was an answer to prayer.
Within the month, Ring had applied for the Finca’s 10-week summer program. While she ultimately decided to work at a hospital that summer, Ring felt that she was being called to work at the Finca. She applied for Finca’s 27-month program and was accepted.
“It’s definitely the Lord’s providence,” she said.
Ring will first head to Antigua, Guatemala, for immersive language school, where she will have six weeks of intensive Spanish tutoring and stay with a host family. She will then travel to the Finca in October.
As her departure date nears, Ring said that she’s getting impatient to leave since she has been speaking with employees of the Finca and anticipating being there for so long, even while some fear of the unknown creeps in.
“I know the Lord is going to ask me to rely on him a lot,” she said. “The more real it gets, the more Satan has to work with.”
Even then, she has enjoyed getting to know the other three individuals who will be taking part in the 27-month mission and spending time in prayer during a virtual retreat and orientation the Finca held recently.
To make her trip possible, Ring has been advised to raise $16,000, which will cover the cost of her language school, room and board at the Finca, plane tickets and other incidental costs.
While she is gone, Ring will share her experience on her blog so that friends, family and mission partners can follow along on her adventure. Her blog can be found at farmofthechild.org/rachel.
Ring is looking forward to serving the children at the Finca and the town of Trujillo as she lives out her vocation as a nurse in the country she will call home for the next two years.
“I try to see Christ in every patient I encounter, and my goal is to be able to tend to the hands and feet of Christ in every patient I encounter,” Ring said. “Being able to be a calm presence, like Jesus was in the boat, it’s such an honor.”
To encourage other nurses living out their vocations, Dotti Easter, a member of St. Benedict Parish in Nebraska City, Sister Joan Kolbe, M.S. and Sister Faustina, M.S. started the Nebraska Catholic Nurses, an organization with a mission to nurture the call to authentic discipleship in Catholic nurses.
The three participated in a mission trip to Mexico City in 2022 that inspired them to bring something from their experience back to the United States. As a result, the Nebraska Catholic Nurses group was born.
The group’s pillars include Eucharistic spirituality, missionary spirit and education.
The organization’s inaugural event was a retreat held in April 2023, and the group held a second retreat in April of this year. Easter said the retreats served as a way to emphasize the spirituality of nursing as a profession.
In working to foster a missionary spirit, the group held a service mission event in February. Participants had the opportunity to encounter the homeless in downtown Lincoln, providing them with food and clothing and inviting them to a foot clinic at Saint Mary Church, where they washed feet and trimmed nails.
Finally, in an effort to increase education, the group works collaboratively with the Catholic Medical Association guilds in Lincoln, Omaha and Grand Island to promote educational opportunities, like the Converging Roads Conference that will be held in Omaha Oct. 19. Open to members of all medical professions, the theme of the conference is fundamental health care ethics.
Easter said there are Catholic, ethical directives written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that Catholic medical professionals are guided by, but that information isn’t always widely known.
“It’s a vocation to be in healthcare in this trying time. There are always moral and ethical situations that arise, and we want to stay true to our Catholic teaching,” Easter said. “There is so much information out there to feed us Catholic providers, we just need to know where to go to be fed.”
While she was in school, Ring was able to get involved with the Nebraska Catholic Nurses and had the opportunity to participate in both of the retreats that the group held, as well as a service mission.
She enjoyed having the opportunity to get to know the community, and take time during the retreats to step back from her role as a healer and be tended to in prayer teams.
“It’s such a good resource,” Ring said.
Easter said one of the goals of the organization was to not have any costs or obligations, but to just be a resource to other nurses who want support and community.
“God really has made it happen,” she said.
Anyone interested in learning more can follow the Nebraska Catholic Nurses Facebook page, or reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
