2023 Legacy Missionaries: On the Cutting Room Floor #3: Ruth Bowman

Missionary Ruth Bowman went to the mission field in 1976 after two of her children were grown and gone and her youngest, Lisa, had two more years of high school. Ruth’s husband Bobby had retired from Naval service as a corpsman, where his assignments were all over the world, so his family could not accompany him. Their children had attended ten different schools during that time, so after his retirement she was grateful for the stability of being in one place.

But that only lasted seven years.  

Bobby Bowman had been pastoring churches and working in ministry after his retirement when he felt God calling him to Central America where he could use his medical skills and plant churches. But Ruth did not feel  the same. She says, “I did not want to go to Honduras, and I cried all the way down there. But when I had to leave it years later, I cried all the way back.” 

After their arrival, the Bowmans realized the medical needs in Honduras were many, and plans had begun for an orphanage that would eventually be turned into a hospital to better serve Hondurans. When another building was purchased to convert into a hospital, an orphanage was built, and Ruth worked with the children there. The Bowmans’ apartment was attached to the orphanage, so they came to Ruth for help. 

The orphanage became her passion and God burdened her heart for the abandoned children who lived there. Some of them had handicaps, so she helped them learn to walk. Some needed help with their schooling. Others just needed love.

Ruth said, “When I worked with the children in the orphanage, I began loving our work in Honduras and the children who needed me. I was their mama, and to this day, they still call and send cards and ask me how I’m doing.” God changed her heart so she could be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Bobby and Ruth left Honduras in 1995, where they had planted nine churches, built a medical clinic, and started a Bible institute. Later, he established BMMI, Baptist Medical Missions International, that hosts medical clinics around the world. In April of 2023, Bobby and Ruth Bowman will be honored for their missionary legacy.