Sunday, February 17, 2013

Carnival and University UMC Eye Surgery Team.

Last week I hosted the University UMC surgical team from San Antonio, Texas. I had briefly worked with this group last year while they were in country, so I was eager to spend the entire week serving alongside them this year. This team brings down the same 2 eye surgeons every year, Dr. Evans and Dr. Sponsel. The team did over 100 eye procedures and were really fun to work with. Here are some of my favorite moments from the week.

Sunday was triage day, so I got to the clinic super early and after the welcome meeting with the team I spent the week scheduling the patients for their surgeries. After the patients went through the triage stations and the doctors determined what surgery was needed they came to me and I inserted them into our schedule for the week. This may sound odd, but I actually really impressed myself with how independent I was when it came to scheduling the patients. I asked Jose to help translate for me, but then ended up really only needing to use him when the patients didn't speak Spanish but K'iche instead. Otherwise for the most part I was able to schedule the patient and also give the pre-op instructions. May not sound like much, but I am always amazed when I can talk in Spanish about medical things and they understand!

The team did did surgery Monday through Friday. My role on those days was just to make sure everything was running smoothly. It is always completely hilarious to me when surgeons are all standing around me asking me medical questions that I am able to answer. So many times I walk away from a conversation and just start laughing to myself and asking myself how did this become my life? I also had another pretty hilarious moment when my phone (which quacks like a duck) went off while I was "in surgery" aka watching while taking pictures. The doctors just looked up at me and laughed really hard and told me that was the first duck they had in their OR. I then went outside and called my mom back and told her that I couldn't answer before because I was scrubbed in. A sentence that I never thought I would say.

On Tuesday at the school we celebrated Carnival. I am still not really sure what is behind the celebration, but I don't really care because it was one of the most fun things I had done in awhile! The way you celebrate Carnival is you crack eggs filled with confetti on each other's heads. Janet brought me a bag of eggs that morning into the clinic and told me to get ready for my attack at recess. I spent the morning watching a few surgeries and holding a few family member's hands while their loved ones were in surgery. Then at 10:00 I heard the bell ring for recess, and when I went outside I could not stop laughing. All the precious kids in our school were wearing decorated masks and throwing eggs at each other. The following pictures are my favorite moments from the celebration.

The next 2 pics are with the extremely precious Luisa Elaina. Her and her sister Reyna are without doubt 2 of my favorite things about Guatemala.

I love this picture of me, Carol Ann and Janet. They have recently roomed out of the clinic and into the school to office which I was a little bummed about. However, not I have my one little escape from the clinic when I need to go sit on their floor and complain/cry/or laugh.


Below I sat on the ground so the kids could reach my head better and got COVERED in confetti. A team member took my camera and took the following couple of pictures.


This little boy is Danny. He used to not let anyone touch him and would try to run away from school almost everyday last year. Now he has grown so much and loves to hug. He ran up to me and threw his entire bag of confetti on my head, so clearly I had to attack him with tickles. His laughter in that moment was precious.



This cuteness is Karla Marlaney. She has been another favorite since she had surgery in our clinic last year. Before her operation and then after I sat with her in her bed holding her hand. I think my profile picture on this blog is still of me and her right after surgery.


Beyond happy that Carol Ann is not only my friend but now my coworker as well. It is so amazing having her around at the clinic! However, I was a little mad that she didn't send me the 'wear a hat' memo that morning.


Below are a couple of pictures of me with my sweet friend Mary. She is one of the teachers at our school and the one who came to Houston last December before I moved here. She is very special to me.



Last picture from Carnival is of me and Saydie. She kept running up to me and trying and then succeeding to throw her confetti down my pants. I then got her back by smashing about 5 eggs on her head. Such a fun celebration!


So after having a ball celebrating Carnival with our school students and staff I had to clean myself off and go back into the clinic to continue hosting the surgery team. I could pretty much get the confetti off of my clothes, but it wouldn't come out of my hair and also while I was walking back in the teachers threw blue glitter at me which COVERED my neck. The surgeons just laughed at me and politely suggested that I take the rest of the day off from surgery. :)

This is a picture of our normally office space and lunch room which we transform into pre and post op care during surgery weeks. This is the pre op area where the patients get the numbing medications for their eyes and wait for an OR to open up.


Another picture of our mini "hospital" that gets set up for the week.


This picture came out a little burry, but I still love it. Archy was the translator for Dr. Evans, so when I went into that OR it was hard not to constantly laugh at the fact that we were both "scrubbed in". Also some of the patients when they say bye and thank me as they leave call me doctora. Again hilarious. 



Next up is Dr. Evan's OR, and also a picture of me with 2 team members (Christine and Paula). When I said I was going into the OR they took it upon themselves to "dress" me while laughing the whole time then decided of course we needed a picture. 


This picture was taken on Valentine's Day. Obviously you can see the cute little heart shaped sticker on the surgeon's face. :)

This is Dr. Sponsel's OR. On a side note the Shirley, the team member in black, pulled me aside on the last day and asked if she could pray with me. She then put oil on my hands and held them tightly while she prayed. The phrase that she kept using about me was that I was in a "moment of transition". Her and I had not spent much time talking throughout the week, but she said that while watching me she just got the sense that I was constantly growing in both my position and my faith. She then said that the night before while she was thinking about the week and thought about me that is what kept coming to mind. I actually think it was pretty fitting. Even though I have now been here for over a year I am still everyday in a moment of transition. I thought it was a pretty special moment for her to want to pray with me. 


During the week Dr. Sponsel did 7 child surgeries. Below are 2 pictures of 2 of the children who had operations. The first one is Wendy (wish it wasn't so blurry). She had to come back for an additional surgery and while she was walking into the clinic I asked her if she had any pain and she smiled and said no. Then she took my hand and kissed it. I can't remember exactly how old she was, but she had to have been so scared but yet she came off so brave. She later told me that her little doll that she carried around had a little bit of pain, but not much. :)


This is Rueben. He had surgery with us on Monday. Him and his father traveled for about 8 hours to get from their village to our clinic. It is constantly amazing to me how far our services reach. We paid their transportation to and from surgery, and they spent a few nights staying in the salon before they were cleared to return back home.



I worked with this team Saturday morning while they were doing their final post op appointments. Then while they were cleaning up I got picked up at the clinic to go to Guatemala City to pick up a team of 34. The team this week is from Fort Smith, Alabama and my part of the team is serving in Cunen. More to come in the next blog because now I need to actually get out of bed (and by bed I mean mattress on the floor in a storage room (get excited for that story)) and go host the team. Please pray for another beautiful week of service!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Eliot and Stratham CC: Construction and Medical team

Last week I hosted an amazing team from 2 churches (Eliot and Stratham) which are located in Maine and New Hampshire. If you are an avid reader of my blog (duh) then you may remember me talking about this team last February. This was the first team I ever worked with last year which had the 3 teenage girls on the trip who I really enjoyed hanging out with since I had been missing the youth at my church.

Anyways, I went to Guatemala City last Saturday to pick up the team and was greeted with smiles and hugs when the returning team members came out of the airport. I am very excited to work with all the teams coming this Spring since I have met a lot of them already. I think that is going to be one of my favorite things about working with the teams. After each team leaves I find myself thinking "well obviously now I have to stay until that team comes back next year because I can't fathom not working with them again" and this team was no exception. I truly had a beautiful week serving alongside them and it was a tearful goodbye (as always) when it was time to part ways. Here are some of the highlights of the week.

After picking the team up at the airport we traveled to Chichicastenango where we stayed for the week. On Sunday the team went shopping in the market which I had absolutely no interest in. If members on the team ask me to go with them then I of course go, but if they seem fine to go on their own I gladly pass on the market. After going with teams all the time for the past year I have no more need or desire to shop in the overly crowded market, so when Jose asked if I wanted to see "an ancient Mayan statue that people pray to" I jumped at the chance. Him, I, and Ignacio (a new driver that we worked with last week) walked around Chichi for about an hour until we finally found the little house that the statue is kept in, and when we walked in I had to keep from laughing so hard because it was nothing like I was imagining. Just look at the picture below. Wouldn't you think when you hear "ancient Mayan statue that they pray to and worship" that it wouldn't be a dude in a suit and a top hat holding a cane, a beer, and a cigarette hanging out of it's mouth? When we got to the museum/house Jose bought a few candles that represented different things and lit them and prayed to him (Pascual Abaj). I think the green was for wealth, the blue was to prosper, and the red was to find love. He didn't buy the other candle which was black which he explained was if you wanted evil for someone else. After the tour I put Q5 in his hand and asked for joy for all my loved ones, so if you have been having a joyful week you're welcome.




Then we took a tour of the rest of the museum to learn about the earlier versions of the statues and also the different masks that the Mayans are known to wear in their ceremonies. During the tour though I could really just focus on this painting that was hanging on the wall behind the dude giving us the tour. Let me just say that I had no idea that my dad looks EXACTLY like the saint Santo Tomas. I mean if I asked an artist to paint my father holding a goofy tiny version of himself while wearing a flapper robe with a cool headdress this is what I would end up with. After I saw this I then realized how many paintings and statues of Santo Tomas there are around Chichi. Especially at the hotel we stayed at that week (the Santo Tomas hotel) which all just look like my dad. I have no idea how I haven't noticed it before since I have stayed in that hotel about 10 times. Anyways, if you know my dad then you know how funny it was to discover that.


The team of 17 broke up into 2 groups during the work week. We all stayed at the same hotel, so we were all together in the mornings and nights. However, during the days 11 people went to the clinic in Camanchaj to work construction and the other 6, 3 translators, and myself went with the medical team into rural villages everyday to set up rural clinics. On Monday we served out of one of our Salud y Paz clinics which is not currently operating unless we have teams there in the village Patulup. This photo was taken from our clinic overlooking Santa Cruz, Quiche. The weather was so beautiful this week, and everyday I was amazed at the views we were given. I am constantly reminded of what an absolutely beautiful country I live in.

This is the pastor's house which is located right next to our clinic and church. I sat on a ledge for a long time just looking at this house and wondering why I do not live somewhere like this. My apartment in Pana is not much different than a place that I would live in in the States. I mean obviously in some ways it is very Guatemalan, but in others it is absolutely nothing like the local houses I visit often with teams. Sometimes I get hard on myself for the fact that I do not live the way that our patients live. Lately I have been wondering if I am truly following God's call in every way or if I am only doing it half way. I know that the way to stay down here longer is to have the random comforts that remind me of the States, but then am I truly having the experience he asked me to have? How can I relate to our patients if I cannot even relate to how they live? I have been asking myself a lot lately if I could still do my job to the same level if I lived in a rural community, but I can't figure out the answer. Part of me thinks it is something I need to do, but then the other part of me cannot fathom giving up my community here in Pana. Not a decision I need to make today, but is just something I can't seem to get out of my mind. One time during the day in Patulup Jose asked me what I was thinking about and when I told him he just laughed and said to try it for a month and I would be back in Pana... who knows.
This is just another house in Patulup that I thought was beautiful. Sometimes Guatemala reminds me of Colorado where one set of my grandparents live. Because I spent so much time in Colorado growing up when it feels like Colorado here it really does feel like home. Again just so beautiful. I really do think that the rural villages I get to serve in while with teams are more beautiful than Pana.
I was bad about having my camera out with this team taking pictures, but I stole this one from a team member's Facebook. This was part of the triage team on the first day. When I wasn't checking on the rest of the team or getting sad while looking at the houses around I would go into their room and sit on the counter and listen to the patients. I love sitting at triage because it is really where I can get the most patient interaction during the week. I had just put hand sanitizer in my hand before this picture hence the awkward hand placement.

On the other days we set up the rural clinic I set up a coloring station for the kids. My days were not busy at all with this team because we only had 1 doctor and were usually set up in one large room, so I could just sit there and see that everything was running smoothly. Usually on teams we have multiple providers who are set up in various classrooms and I am the one running patients to all the different sites. However, I took total advantage of this team being more laid back with only 6 people. Also even though it was their first year of being a medical team you could never tell. They had everything so greatly organized that it was a breeze to host them which is why I got to color almost every day!

The picture that I am coloring below was my masterpiece of the week (obviously... just look at it) and without my knowing the doctor on the team took it from my clipboard and hung it over the mantle during devotional one night. He then explained to the group that they had a local Guatemalan artist with them and I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. Then the construction team at the clinic took it the next day and painted it over my desk. I have no idea what the other volunteers and staff will think about it, but I LOVE it!! The team also built me some shelves about my new desk area (pics to come) and put their hand prints on them. I loved it so much!
These were the translators and drivers that we worked with during the week (Archy, Jose, Jaime, Joshua, and Ivan). I really love working with these guys. Several of the team members commented to me that they admired the way I worked with them. They said it was great that I am obviously friends with them and can laugh really hard with them, but that at the end of the day they could tell they all respected me and knew I was in charge. Absolutely something I have worked hard on finding the balance with, so it was nice to have that feedback.

The picture below is of the beautiful team minus one of my favorite team members who wasn't in the picture. I laughed and cried with this team during the week at the nightly devotionals. I truly felt like I was included in the family they were building during the week, and am very thankful for the amazing moments I had with them. One of my favorite moments happened the last night during devotional. Each night Patty would ask a question to the team or say a topic then we would go around the room in a circle and everyone would talk. When people started sharing they all started by saying "When I go home..." and I started getting really sad. I just sat there thinking about how I didn't get to go home and then I started thinking about how much I missed it. Then as people continued to share I had an epiphany that I was home. That for right now Guatemala is my home, and that when they were going to be going back to the States I was going to be going back to my apartment in Pana which is now my home. So that is what I talked about when it was finally my turn. I talked about how I had no idea for how long Guatemala was going to be my home for, but that at least right now in that moment it was home. Maybe something will pull me back to Texas tomorrow, or maybe I'll finish up my commitment and leave, or maybe I will become a lifer (Mom I'm kidding... don't cry. I promise I'll move home and have babies sometime). Anyways, the point is that Texas is now where I am from and don't get me wrong it will always be my home, but I realized that I need to stop being sad that I am not there because that is a choice. Maybe it has taken me a year to realize that because now I have a truly amazing community of people surrounding me down here. Who knows, it was just a really special beautiful moment. After I shared one of the team members suggested that we listen to the song Home by Phillip Phillips (who names a kid Phillip Phillips?!?) which of course made me cry like a baby. My favorite line in the song is "Just know you're not alone, Cause I'm going to make this place your home". Beautiful. Such a beautiful last night to a beautiful week with an amazing team!

After this team left on Friday I worked at the clinic for a few hours helping set everything up for surgery week. It was more difficult than I was expecting to jump from one team straight into preparing for my next one. Luckily I ended up not having to go to Guatemala City to pick up the team on Saturday, so I actually had a day in between to finish up some work stuff with one team and get ready for the next. I will write another blog in the next couple of days about the surgical team in country right now, but let me just say I wish I had time this week to just color everyday! Surgical teams are so hectic not even mentioning that I have a team of 37 flying in on Saturday that I am also trying to get everything ready for. If you happen to read this in the next couple of days please pray for our eye patients and for the hands of the surgeons and supporting medical staff. Also please continue to pray for my guidance for these teams and that I am properly prepared for anything that may come up during the week. 

On another note Land Before Time just came on TV in Spanish which is maybe the best motivation I have had to work on learning more Spanish in a long time! :)

Friday, February 1, 2013

End of 2012 and beginning of 2013 recap.

Oh man oh man... get excited folks! Guess what is back... Your favorite blog ever! Yes I am still alive, and no I have not forgotten how to type. Life has just been extremely crazy lately and since tomorrow starts a whole new level of craziness I figured I needed to catch up on my blog tonight.

Since I haven't updated since November I never got to share about the beautiful Thanksgivings that I had down here in Guatemala. I went into Thanksgiving this year with a bad attitude since I wasn't going to be home with my family for the first time, but I ended up having 3 Thanksgiving dinners here with different friend groups which made up for it. Thanksgiving morning I traveled from Xela to Pana to celebrate the day with friends. My first dinner was at Tom's house with his son Manny, Wayne and Janet, and Dave. The picture below was captured from that dinner. It was cooked by a couple of Guatemalan women and it was delicious. I was very grateful to have been invited to this Thanksgiving dinner.

My Thanksgiving number 2 was with my friends Carol Ann and Deborah. However, Deborah was sick so besides a few minutes with her when we took her some mashed potatoes it was really just a date with Carol Ann. The Japanese restaurant Hana was advertising a "traditional American Thanksgiving dinner", but really it was just bad. Since neither CA or I eat ham we just had the veggies and a salad which I was too scared to eat. While the food wasn't my favorite I loved hanging out with CA. I can't remember if I have blogged about her moving to Pana yet, but she is the one who came to visit me here with my friend Scott then I went to visit her in Costa Rica. She is now living in Pana and is the new volunteer working in our school at Salud y Paz. I absolutely LOVE having her here. She is such a great friend to have in town and I am really looking forward to when I have more down time and we get to hang out more. 
Now onto my last Thanksgiving dinner. This one actually happened a few days after Thanksgiving. I was back in Xela with Archy and Jacky and we were celebrating little Nicky's 1st birthday! I bought a mini turkey at the store and told them I was going to make my mom's famous pumpkin pie which let me  just say was SO MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE. Here's the deal. I have watched my mom make it so many times, but that is so different than trying to make it by yourself for the first time in a 3rd world country. I went to all the stores in Pana then to Walmart in Xela and still couldn't find all the ingredients I needed. I know some of you may read this and laugh, but I had to make pie crust from scratch and whip actual cream instead of cool whip. Maybe not a big deal for you, but I couldn't stop laughing at how hard it was. Anyways while making the pie at their house they told me that they had never tasted pumpkin before. I felt like I really wanted to make something delicious for them to try to represent a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. They kept telling everyone I was making them a "traditional American Thanksgiving dinner". So much pressure!

I pretty much made a mess of their kitchen, but I blamed it on Santi since he was "helping" me cook. His version of helping was licking the spoon. Pretty much my version of helping when I'm in the States with my mom.

Jacky and Dona Yoli helped me translate my mom's recipe while we were cooking. It was really fun trying to explain in Spanish what everything meant. It was probably especially hilarious listening to me try to translate "Dreamy High Pumpkin Pie" into Spanish!
Finished product! I was actually pretty proud of myself with how great it turned out! When Jacky and Archy were eating it they told me that they were pretty sure that they were not going to like pumpkin. However, they both ate second pieces and the next day asked if they could finish the pie. I felt so happy that they loved it and that I didn't disappoint since they seemed to have VERY high standards for Thanksgiving dinner.  
One of the last days that I was in Xela with the family was Nicky's first birthday. Jacky's parents and brother came into town and we spent the day celebrating precious little Nicky. It was very neat to be included in the family celebration. On a side note a few weeks ago I was invited to Archy's mom's birthday party and his brother's high school graduation party. There was a celebration church service for them and then a dinner for about 400 people that his mother had made herself. It was really sweet walking into the church with them and having so many of their family members come up to me and kiss me hello and welcome me to the party. Then when I congratulated Archy's mom and brother both of them thanked me for coming. Archy later told me that it meant a lot to his mom that I went which is so weird to me. It's the same feeling I get when Archy and Jacky constantly invite me to their home and say how much they appreciate me staying there. In my mind I am the one who is constantly showing up at their house and being taken care of like I am with family. I truly hope they realize how extremely precious their family is to me. 

Ok... now onto Houston for December. I LOVED being home for Christmas. If you have been reading my blog (you know before I took my 3 month break) then you remember me talking about how my dad has CIDP. It was really hard in November not to be home with my family while my dad was in the hospital. When I went home in December it was much harder than I thought it would be, but at the same time easier since I was actually there surrounded by loved ones. It seems like my month home went by MUCH quicker than I wanted it to. Before I knew it Christmas was here then it was time for me to fly back to Guatemala. Christmas time is by far my favorite time of the year. My family has beautiful Christmas traditions which I love and look forward to each year. Here are some highlights from my Christmas home with my family. 

Christmas eve dinner at Taste of Texas. Every year we eat dinner there before going to church. Favorite tradition.
 Parker and I with one of the big Christmas trees at our church before the Christmas Eve service. 
Parker and I sitting on top of the stairs with my cat Sadie (who now lives with my parents) on Christmas morning. Even though I am 26 and my brother is 29 we still have to wait at the top of the stairs every Christmas morning and wait for my parents to make sure Santa isn't still downstairs. Then we go downstairs and find our Santa gifts. This year Santa came up with a scavenger hunt that took us all around the house.
Just posing for a super cute picture with my super cute pup (who I adopted with my grandfather and then abandoned) on Christmas morning. I am pretty obsessed with this pup Toby.
The day after Christmas my mom, Parker, and I drove up to Longview to have Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Longview is about 4 hours north of Houston and when we were driving there we started seeing snow on the cars. Then we started seeing it on the ground. It didn't actually snow while we were there for the day, but we still took advantage of it being on the ground and took a cute snow picture. When you live in Texas you get pretty excited to see snow!!
The next day my whole family on my dad's side (all 13 of us) went to Brennens for brunch (another of my favorite traditions). We have been going to brunch/lunch at Brennens in December for maybe the last 15 years. The year it burned down my aunt cooked my favorite meals from this restaurant at her house for my college graduation party at their house. Every year we pose for pictures out in the courtyard together. I don't have any of the pictures with our whole family, but below is a picture of my cousin Ashley and I. 

Like I said before my time in Texas went by way too fast. I flew back to Guatemala on the 30th and was picked up at the airport by Archy and Jacky. I spent New Years in Guatemala City with them at Jacky's parent's house. Guatemala City isn't the safest place, so really other than the airport and driving into the city for random errands a few times I hadn't spent a lot of time in the city. It was really fun to spend a few days there with people who actually knew their way around. I never would have thought I would have felt that safe in the City. On New Years eve we went to a church called Casa de Dios (House of God). This church is expanding to a new location which when we drove by it looks like a huge stadium which will be called Ciudad de Dios (City of God). Church started at 10:00 PM and let out a little after midnight to fireworks in the sky while we were walking to our car. You can see by the picture below that there were about 6 thousand people in this church for the service. Jacky got a seat, but Archy and I had to sit on the steps in the isle. At the end of the service the minister called his family up on stage and then invited everyone to hug and pray with their families. Jacky and Archy were hugging and I was just standing there starting to cry since I had just left my family back in the States. I was standing there starting to feel sorry for myself that I was all alone when at about the same time both Archy and Jacky reached over to me and included me in their hug. We stood that way for a few songs and I just started crying thinking about how lucky I was to have them in my life. They are truly my family down here and I am so grateful for their friendship. I didn't know what to expect from a Guatemalan New Years, but I don't think I could have had a better one. 
Ok... last update for the blog. I know it's been really long! A few days after New Years I hosted my first team of the year. It was a medical, dental, and optical team from Heather's home church. Heather also went on the trip since it was her 5th year to be with the group. This is the trip that she came on which helped her make the decision to move down here. This team had a lot of team members who were around my age on the trip. It was really fun getting to spend the week serving alongside and laughing with some great people. The cool thing about this team is that we stayed at the Lemoa Center which allowed us to have more community time with the group. Each night after dinner we would stay up playing games and just laughing. It was really a great way to get back into hosting teams. 

Another thing that made this week really special for me is that the Lemoa Center is where I worked when I first visited Guatemala. On the mission trip that I came on a year and a half ago I stayed in Chichi and worked in Lemoa on the Retreat Center. I spent that first week in Guatemala looking around Lemoa and asking myself if I could actually live here. It was at this place that I first started picturing what my life would be like if I actually quit my job and moved to Guatemala. It was at this place where I tried my hardest to talk myself out of what I was feeling because I was so scared that I would be lonely if I decided to move to a 3rd world country by myself. However, now it was at this same place where I sat watching a sunset with Archy whose family has become my family down here. Then it was at this place where I broke down crying one day out in the community and realized that I had Heather with me who I could lean on. She has become a best friend to me and I am so thankful to have her here going through this experience with me. It was really special to be able to look back over the past year and a half and realize how completely different my life is now. That first week when I thought "well maybe..." I never actually thought I would go through with it. I don't think anyone thought I would actually go through with it even when I went home telling people I was going to. It was so not like me and I know I surprised many people by actually seeing it through. Me especially. Anyways, it was a beautiful week of reflection that yes I did actually change my life, move to a foreign country by myself, gain independence, challenge myself daily, and am actually doing ok. Below is a beautiful moment that I captured on my crappy iPhone camera. :)
What craziness is starting tomorrow that I was talking about at the beginning of my blog? Well tomorrow I am heading to Guatemala City (my favorite 7 hour round trip ever) to pick up a medical and construction team. I will be staying with them all week in Chichicastenango. Then next weekend I will begin hosting a surgery team for the week. Then after they leave Saturday morning I will pick up a team of 37 Saturday afternoon which I will be working with the medical and dental portion in Cunen. After that team I will have one week off working at our clinic followed by 3 more weeks with teams. I can't even begin to imagine how tired I am going to be after these 7 weeks, but then every time I think about how hard the next 2 months are going to be I get extremely excited about how many amazing and beautiful moments I am going to be able to experience with these team members. I promise I'll try my best to keep y'all updated.

Wish me luck!