Meet Rebecca Urrutia, PA
Rebecca Urrutia, PA, recently completed her second Faith In Practice surgical mission with the 873 Heinrich/Pond team in July 2025. Serving as a surgical first assistant, she combined her physician assistant skills with her Spanish fluency. The daughter of Guatemalan parents and the first of her siblings born in the U.S., Rebecca grew up visiting family in Guatemala. Now, through Faith In Practice, she returns to serve through her profession and bring healing to patients in Guatemala. “It was such a surreal thing last year and then this year too,” Rebecca explained. “I would have never dreamed that would be possible to do what I do for work, and then get to combine work, faith, and my culture all together. It’s amazing.” While telling her story, Rebecca described her Faith In Practice journey as a series of answered prayers over two years in the making.
A physician assistant for nine years, Rebecca has spent the last six in orthopedics. “I love being in the operating room, and then also being in the office seeing patients,” she explained. “It’s super fun as a PA because you get so much patient interaction.” Her interest in orthopedics grew from her time as a collegiate track athlete, but it began at an even younger age. Her mom has shared that Rebecca would spend time playing with screws and a screwdriver, or pretending to fix her toys. “This doll broke her arm, this dog broke her leg. I liked bandaging them up and taking care of them,” Rebecca explained.
Rebecca works closely with surgeon Dr. Curtis Kephart, assisting in total hip and knee replacements both in the U.S. and during mission weeks in Guatemala. Their partnership, she says, was “a really interesting God story.” At the time, Rebecca prayed for guidance from God about her professional future, and an opportunity developed to interview with Dr. Kephart. During the interview, the topic of Guatemala came up. “He shared that he had always wanted to do a medical mission there,” Rebecca recalled, and Dr. Kephart even had a connection with an organization, Faith In Practice, with which he wanted to serve. She recalls that the entire interview was amazing, and the potential for returning to Guatemala to help patients was an unexpected but welcome component of working with Dr. Kephart. Within a year, they served together on their first Faith In Practice team, and Rebecca celebrated her second work anniversary during the week of the 873 Heinrich/Pond surgery mission.
Rebecca describes the professional impact of the mission in addition to the personal impact. “The character of our patients in Guatemala is very humbling because they are grateful and appreciative,” she said. “They’ll say, ‘You’re an answer to our prayers. God sent you.’ It’s beautiful.” She also noted that working at the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro is a wonderful experience. “The hospital is incredible. Sometimes we don’t have the same resources as in the U.S., and yet we can still accomplish so much good. It’s a humbling thing.”
This year’s mission brought unexpected challenges that Rebecca says affected and strengthened her personal faith. Rebecca experienced a health emergency early in the week, which she called “one of the scariest moments in my life.” Yet through the situation, she felt God’s presence and the support of her team. “This brought me closer to God and let me experience Him in a different way.” While recounting the details, Rebecca paused and said, “God was there with me. He saw me, and He took care of me. And He provided me with an incredible team of [fellow volunteers].”
Rebecca said, “Before I came on this trip, I really prayed that God would use me to be a light and that God would allow me to make new friendships and make new connections.” Although she could not have anticipated God’s answer to her prayer, being cared for by fellow team members such as Dr. Joseph Austin, Dr. Phillip Gallegos, and Katie Gallegos, RN, along with others on the team, was profoundly impactful and brought her experience full circle.
“We did miracles in our patients’ lives,” Rebecca shared, “But I also experienced a miracle in and of myself from the team. As difficult as it was, I feel like it reignited my own faith of seeing God do a miracle in my life, and I saw how He was looking out for me in that difficult situation.” Despite the health concern, Rebecca recovered and was able to rejoin her team mid-week to serve alongside Dr. Kephart in the operating room for the remainder of the mission.
The mission trip itself was uncertain after earthquakes impacting several areas of Guatemala, including Antigua and the surrounding communities, led to cancellations of other July mission trips. Motivated by thinking of the patients in Guatemala waiting for surgeries, Rebecca and Dr. Kephart committed to praying and fasting the week prior to their scheduled departure as they awaited news about the status of their mission. “We both gave up coffee, which was very challenging,” she said, “especially working in healthcare.” However, Rebecca shared that she and Dr. Kephart, “were super invested in this, and it was just cool seeing the way God looked out for everything and looked out for us there as well.” Rebecca said it was challenging to wait for news, but waking very early one morning brought a much anticipated email with positive news that the mission would take place. “When I saw the email, I was like, yes! Thank you, God! It was an answered prayer.”
Rebecca and Dr. Kephart’s prayers were answered, and 74 life-changing surgeries were performed during the 873 Heinrich/Pond mission week that included knee, hip, trauma, and foot/ankle procedures. Rebecca is looking forward to her third Faith In Practice mission in 2026, serving alongside Dr. Kephart and the rest of the 915 Heinrich/Pond/Ebert/Ruark surgery mission team.
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Faith In Practice surgery teams serving at the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro hospital in Antigua provide a variety of surgery services, including orthopedic, general adult and pediatric, urology, uro/gynecology, gynecology, plastics, and ENT procedures.
