The Daily Life of Kaitlin at Km.38

Just Some Fun Pictures

2008-03-31T15:38:00.001-07:00

Team Photo

The Girls

The Boys
I Love Frankie.

Hector

2008-03-31T14:54:00.000-07:00

Through this past month we have had an unexpected baby that we have taken on. His name is Hector Daniel. He is four months old and just over five pounds. He was discovered at a church at Yerbos Buenas. The baby was suffering from severe malnutrition and wouldn’t last much longer.

A few days went by and Jenni and Anita went and saw the baby. The next day the family brought the baby boy to our house at km.38 where Jenni and Laura took him to a hospital in Pucallpa. He was admitted just under five pounds with sever malnutrition and infection. His arms and legs had no fat; his cheeks were sunken in as well as his stomach. His eyes wandered around aimlessly and he had no idea how to suck a bottle, how to hold a finger, or even how to smile.

The Mother, Sandra, had delivered Hector at seven and a half months because of complications. After Hector was born she had no milk to breast-feed and no money to buy powdered milk. The family resulted in giving the baby cows milk, rice powder water, or flour water. Surprisingly the baby lasted even three months before he was discovered.

Hector was released from the hospital having been cured of his malnutrition and infections. He has learned how to focus his eyes, suck a bottle, move his arms and legs, cry, and even smile. All of which he did very little of before. After about a week of being out Jenni discovered that he was having trouble breathing and he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.

He is now out of the hospital again but is still having problems that are caused by unknown reasons. The mother has had many tests that we are waiting for their results as well as the baby. We pray that the tests lead us to an end to the sickness with this precious baby boy.

This was a letter that I started writing about a month ago and many things have happened since then. This was the big turning point of Hectors life and the life of his family…

I think it was a Monday morning but the day is not important. I had come in early that day to get some stuff in town and also pick up the lab results of Sandra. I headed to the hospital and the results weren’t there. They told me I had to go talk to the lab accompanies by the counselor so I headed over there and she went and got the results for me. She came out with a blank look on her face then told me the results. The results came pack positive for HIV. I was a extremely shocked because I didn’t even know that those were the results I was picking up. I walked out of the hospital and headed back to the hostel. The whole time just thinking that ok it’s a false positive. There is no way it could be right. I got back to the hostel and looked up online to see how accurate the tests were. 95% correct. Well that’s pretty high but it could still be false.

About twenty minutes later Jenni walked with a distressed look on her face. I told her the results of Sandra. As she bit her lip looking at Hector she looked up at me and told me that she just picked up Hectors results and they came back positive with HIV. I sat there a little stunned and shocked. Sandra and baby Hector were both HIV positive.
It kinda went down hill from there. Hector got worse with breathing and eating. I brought the rest of the family in for testing and their two little boys came back negative but Daddy Hector came back positive. Hector was still pretty bad, he was getting oxygen treatments which helped relax him and give him the oxygen that he couldn’t bring in himself.

I went with Jenni late one night to the pediatrics doctor which was kind of the finalization of the whole situation. He said that Hector would slowly be able to breath less and less and gave three days and no more than a week of life. Yes I was still praying for a miracle and I even pray now that God will take away his sickness all together. As we walked back to the Hostel all I could think about is how unfair it is for this little child. Why did God lead us to him if he was just going to die. All I could do is stare at the precious little baby.

Days went on and he was still getting oxygen and medication and then things slowly turned around. Hector started breathing better. He started eating better. He still needs his medication, and be put on the mask every once in a while, but he is getting better. He is back up to eating 3-4 ounces. He has his energy back. He is smiling again and most of all he screams and screams when you don’t feed him right when he yells. He has so much strength again it is amazing.

I don’t know what happened to those three days of life that Hector but God has multiplied them. Our prayers still go up to God asking for a life long miracle for Hector and that His strength grows daily in this child

Nicknames (or names he is called)

*Precious

*Handsom

*Sweety

*Fella

*Critter

*Honey

*Gordito

*Pumpkin

*Puggy

To Stuck to Move

2008-03-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

We were at clinic in a village called Nuevo Era just outside of Pucallpa. A woman came into our clinic who was very sick with dehydration and infections. We needed a medication and a specific iv tubing. It had been raining all night and all morning and I didn’t even think about how bad the dirt roads would be. I hopped in the truck and had trouble turning it around. I got about half way down the road driving towards the exit as the back end fish tailed and threw me into the ditch/gutter. Having very little mud driving skills I got out and went to get Brent so that I wouldn’t get it even more stuck. Brent as busy as he was with his dental came out to help. I had no idea how long it would take and the sick woman had to have her medicine. Three little boys were there wanting to help and five middle aged men. After twenty minutes of getting it stuck in different positions I hopped out to catch a moto to town to get the medication. After forgetting my sandals in the truck I hopped in a moto that took me straight to the pharmacy. Realizing that I didn’t have shoes I went and bought the medications and hopped the moto back to the site. The moto wanted five soles. I was getting ripped off but after the rainy shoeless morning I didn’t really care and I gave it to him. I started walking back to the campaign house and saw where the truck was. It was way deeper and there were many more men around it with shovels. I laughed and ran on my barefooted way tromping through the mud back to the hut and brought the medicine. They had made the medication that we had already work but it did come in handy later. Later in the afternoon I heard the truck driving down the street and I looked out to the road and the village boys and Brent had finally got it out. My heroes. Ha. Needles to say I was very thankful that the truck that I got stuck was finally out.

Student Dorming

2008-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Since I have been out on my missions trip in Peru, it has become so much more to me than a mission trip. It has become my life. AMOR Projects has made a huge impact on me. By seeing them work and by seeing their goal which is Gods plan I have taken it into my heart and have made it my own project as well. Each one of our team members at km 38 has chosen a project of their own to fundraise for. I have chosen the project of student dorms. I saw the project and looked at the numbers that were below the heading and then kept looking at the other projects especially the ones with smaller numbers below their title. Then I came back to the dorm project and thought about it I decided to make this my project my project for the years to come.

Why do we need dorms? “We want to start a trade school but where will we put the students? We are recruiting for a larger SM team next year, where will the live? As we move forward with the beginning of some of our industries, it is also time to move forward with a dorm, the most basic requirement for housing students, which can also serve as a guest house, SM house, worker quarters, and much more.” What will these dorms look like? There will be two wings of twenty rooms each and will hold 2-3 persons per room. There will be one bathroom on either wing and a study room alongside the lobby. How much will it cost? $39,523 for the materials and $25,127 for labor. AKA a lot of money that I wont make a even a small dent in with out the help of God.

How am I fundraising? I’m asking for prayers. Without God not a sent will come in for this project. Without God there is no project. He is the base of this project as a whole and for this individual project. I can’t move the hearts of others to support and pray for the project but God can. So, I am asking for prayers. Pray that this project moves the hearts of others and that we will grow and move on to higher stages all for the glory of God.

I am rather intimidated about this project because it is such an amazingly large task that I can not do alone. I will talk about this project and I will fundraise in hopes that the project will succeed.

There are many worthy mission projects that are in need of support. If you are moved by AMOR projects and would like to know more or would like to donate, you can go to www.touchofloveperu.org then click on the donate link. All donations are tax deductible and will be greatly appreciated.

Clinic in Nuevo Era

2008-03-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

All clinics are the same similar process. We pack up, we load the truck, we find our destination, we search the town for tables, chairs, and benches, we set up medical pharmacy, consult, triage, set up glasses, and set up dental. After we are all set up we hand out tickets. Tickets 1-80 usually sometimes more and sometimes less. Then we check if there are any emergencies ( high fevers, chronic diarrhea, vomiting), then we send them in to get their information, then triaged, then if they aren’t diagnosed with the common parasites or the need of vitamins and sent to pharmacy to pick up their medication, they are sent to the doctor. Doctor sees them, diagnoses them then sends them my way where I fill out their order of medication from either one medication to eight medications.

This sounds like an easy process and actually it has become much like clock work as someone had pointed out. If all I stated was the facts of how things are run, you would never know how the people of Peru have impacted my life. Being the last clinic as a team in Peru, I have been greatly impacted and my eyes have been opened to some of the hearts of these Peruvian people.

This clinic we were in a place called Nuevo Era in a Shipibo village. We saw the most abnormal cases this week. Everyone had major diarrhea, vomiting, and tons of fevers. There were 40.1 and 39.5 fevers every day. Our patient load would jump up to the 90’s because we would have to pass all the emergency fevers that walked in.

The mornings were crazy! We were sleeping in tents on top of our clinic house platform and around six in the morning people would start showing up. They would some would stand on the platform and watch us white people sleep. We are such interesting creatures aren’t we. Then as the days went on, the people started coming around four in the morning. Our tents were rather close to the edge of the house where people loved to sit which resulted in some of our heads being sat on through the tent. We finally go up at six and handed out tickets one morning because it had started to rain. People are rather sneaky. I would give them a ticket then they would jump back in line and try to get another one. Which led to me getting very frustrated especially after being woken up by clustering people so early in the morning. After we handed out tickets, triage and consults would happen. Doctor had to work mornings so Jenni would try and give out medication to as many as she could and tell the ones that she couldn’t to come back at a later time to see the doctor. This worked rather well but a little stressful as well.

Pharmacy was rather busy all day. We had baby Hector sleeping in the back who often wanted to sleep but even more often wanted to eat and be held. I of course am a sucker for crying and would have to pick him up even if he had just been fed, burped, changed and was still crying. Often times this resulted in me holding baby and picking up and filling orders with baby in my arms. The patience would offer to help us by holding the baby but I didn’t think about that to longs and nicely said no thanks.

One blessing that we had this week was Brent’s family. It was really nice to have not only visitors but visitors who jumped in and helped out with clinic. Brittany was an amazing Spanish learner and called all the numbers, names, and could communicate enough to get them on the scale and to get their height. Jane, Brent’s mom, did all the blood pressures, temperatures, and she and Brittany worked as a good team doing registration and when they were done we were thankful for the extra hands to hold Hector. Brent’s dad took amazing pictures of pretty much every aspect of clinic and I can’t wait to see them.

A few things that stood out this clinic

-Little Cindy who had terrible fevers and came three different times for her painful shot. She was such a sweet, obedient, and patient little girl.
-Getting the truck stuck in a ditch.
-Early wake ups by eager patients.
-The crazy lady. Everyone had a hard time telling her what her medications were because it was just too funny to hear what her questions and comments were. Especially with clotramazol ovules.
-Kristen’s comments at the end of the day with glasses.
-Precious baby Hector who always brightened my day in pharmacy. Sometimes made it a little more stressful.

Some More Teaching

2008-03-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

Summer classes have come and gone and school has begun. There are the same amount of struggles as before if not more. We start our classes at eight in the morning by singing la cancion de creacion (The creation song), then we have prayer then start our lessons. Our first day I realized that our class was not just a heap of students but each one had a specific grade and it was categorized by the row of seats they were sitting in. From first to sixth we have nineteen students all in one class. This has formed a difficult curve in our teaching because now we have a huge difference of knowledge that the students understand. We have the kindergarteners that are now first graders, the first graders that know a little bit of what we learned in the past classes, the kids who know more because they were in our summer school, and the older kids that know tons because they soaked up everything we taught them and they were in our summer school. So many different levels and we are expected to teach them all at one time. It is absolutely amazing how a teacher can do that out here. Im not quite sure how the system and classes work out hear but I have not grasped the concept of how they can all be taught the same thing all at the same time when we have seven to twelve year olds. I love our student and the little first and second graders are so adorable! I have fun teaching the older kids because they grasp things so well but it is a huge challenge for us to teach them all at once. Somehow everyday it works out and they start to understand and become knowledgable of the information that we are teaching but I hope planning and teaching gets a little easier in this last month of April. We hope to soon start home visits and see each of our students family and home. Im excited to get another month to teach them all and I am looking forward to the fun we have with English games and inventing fun crafts and projects the help the learning progress.

Thomas and Anita

2008-03-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

These past weeks two people who are very close to the hearts of km. 38 have been missed very much in all of our lives. Thomas and Anita have made such an impact in my everyday life and when I stop and think what’s missing at km. 38 these two names come to mind. I first noticed the change when we were at worship the morning after they left and realized that there was no manly deep and tuney harmony or cheerful accented words or talking in the unknown Swiss German at our table. And from this point on the list keeps going. I miss our friends that have become our 38 family. Anita always was good in the kitchen. She kept things clean and was on top of it. Everyday the dished were usually put away mid afternoon after lunch but now I look out side and they are still sitting there being over dried. Thomas is usually walking back in the afternoon in his big white bee suit and I don’t see that anymore. This clinic I have missed the greatly. From doing the dreaded job of handing out numbers to the early medical patience at 6 in the morning to filling out their names, age, weight, blood pressure, and their other information, clinic was not the same without them. After they were finished and doctor was on a roll pushing people through, Thomas and Anita usually would come back and help Tara and I finish filling the line of orders that awaited us. The clinic still ran fairly smooth with the help of the team and the help of Brent’s family but I always thought about our past clinics with Thomas and Anita. So many memories and wonderful learning experiences we have shared together. Anita’s garden still stands and when I see baby hector I think of her time that she had with him as well. When I hear I bee buzzing or the boys coming back from work, Thomas’ name comes to mind. If you are reading this my dear friends I want you to know that you are truly missed and that our team is not the same without you.

Flying Rats

2008-02-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

In our mothers class we walked in and we were moving a bunch of tables around. I grabbed on desk and two rats jumped out at me. I dropped the desk and screamed. I walked away from it and finished moving the others then went back to move it again and another jumped out at me which resulted again to me dropping it and screaming again. I didn't expect to see another one. The moms came in as i was screaming that last time and i said it was because of the rats and now they were hiding under the cabinet. Two of them grabbed a broom and moved the cabinet and one rat went flying out as the other mother caught it with the broom and then the third mother came over with a hunk of wood and hit it three times over the head smearing blood all over the floor as they finally swept it out. Again... one mom moved the cabinet, one mom caught the flying mouse, one mom smacked it. But the third one.... that was the little devil one. It knew i didn't like it so when it came flying out it came flying out in my direction which sent me flying up onto the desk. The moms were laughing and then remembered there was a rat to catch and ran after it and caught it, smacked it and swept it out. I guess you could say it was a good bonding experience. I HATE RATS!!!

Nicely Seeded Face

2008-02-01T08:12:00.001-08:00

As I was teaching last night i was writing on the board the words he, she, him, and her. We are learning about english sentence formation starting with easy sentences. Tonight was a good night. I was awake, had energy, and was even excited about teaching my youngins class. I had just finished drawing a family on the board and writing " Andrew is Amy's dad." We had gone over this family with their sentences before so it was a lot of review and a lot of practicing by writing and saying the sentences. One of my students raised his hand and said that the little boy next to him had a bad fever. I walked over and felt his chest and yes, he was burning up! I wrote another sentences on the board and told my kids to write five more sentences down on their papers like the example on the board while i walk this little boy home. He told me his house was just around the corner. We walked all the way down to the corner, turned the corner and walked all the way down to the next corner, then turned again and walked all the way down to the next corner before we arrived at his house. I talked to his family for a few minutes then headed back to my kids who were supposed to be writing sentences. Tara was just a few doors down so if they needed anything badly they would be fine. I came back to my class and a little boy was crying and breathing extreemly hard. I asked them what happened but i couldn't understand them. I carried the little boy over to taras class where he finally got some water and sat for a bit to cool down and just chill. Apparently a granadilla (a small seedy fruit) was shoved in his face after he pulled a girls hair. I was laughing a little inside but felt sorry for the little boy at the same time. After pestering her all during class and finally pulling her hair, he pretty much got what he deserved. But instead of promoting that fact i talked to him and her kindly and told them to leave each other alone. Class went on and we finished on a strong note. Next week i hope there are no problems and everything goes smoothly.

The Homeless Pigeons

2008-01-29T08:13:00.000-08:00

In the front of our land we have a house that was built in the 1980's from the first group that was here. Since the 80's six pigeons had moved into the roof where there was space in the attic area. Our job was to clean up there 2o sum year old mess. Yuck. I personally don't like attics to begin with because they are filled with spiders, ants and other surprising creatures. We climbed up in the attic and the first thing i did was step through the roof. That was rather exciting and a good lesson not to step on the roof. Across the whole roof there was anywhere from 1/2 inch to 4 inches of pigeon poop, nests, eggs (which our dog loved), dirt, and random nests of ants which was always a thrill. Within two days we got it all swept out. We threw the sacks down to the first floor and all four bags burst open all over. It was rather funny. It was Friday and the upstairs was clean so we left the downstairs mess for Sunday. Sunday we cleaned out the whole house, pigeon poop and all, and the boys put up wiring around the roof so the pigeons cant get back in. Everyday i see the pigeons sitting on the roof cooing pitifully at me because i took away their home and eggs. I almost feel a little sorry for them.

.....Bees.....

2008-01-21T13:31:00.001-08:00

“I’m going out to the bees, does anyone want to go?” As Thomas asked I figured that I would wait until someone would speak up and the spots were filled. There are only three bee suits. One for him and two other people. David said he would go and no one else spoke up. I decided to take a plunge and face the bees even though I am not to fond of bees and especially their stings. I figured it would be an interesting experience to get an up close view of such intricate little insects. I got all suited up and off we went. We visited the first hive which hasn’t been moved yet and it was a little nerve racking. It took me a little while to get used to the thought that the bees couldn’t actually sting me through the suit. They kept hitting the netting around my face and stinging my gloves. I was a little flustered at first but then I remembered that the more you move and get scared, the more they like to sting you. That was a calming thought and I pretty much stood there still and motionless hoping that they would go bother the boys instead of me. Thomas finished up with the first hive, checking their progress, making sure they are going in a positive direction and we moved onto the hives further back in the jungle. There were about twenty hives and Thomas went from one to one looking for queens and checking the honey progress. He showed us a new hatching bee, pollen in the little holes, bad hives that still need work, and the good hives that are on their way to a successful future. It was truly an amazing experience and not only did I become more comfortable with the bees (in the bee suit), I had fun getting up close shots of the bees and Thomas at work. It reminded me a lot of my grandfathers old hives and it was amazing to see such talent that goes into working with bees.

The Angry Bull

2008-01-21T11:34:00.001-08:00

People were running trampling others as they push themselves into our clinic rooms. I had no idea what was going on. I heard the people talking very rapidly saying somethin, somethin, somethin, toro. Then it hit me what they were saying. I hopped up on a seat and there it was. A huge bull that was not looking like it was having the happiest day. It was striking the ground and if smoke could come out of its ears it would have. It was directly in front of the school where I clinic site was and looked like it was getting ready to charge, hence, the swamp of people that piled into our rooms. A truck rounded the corner with a guy in the back and they were getting ready to rope the bull. This did not seem like a very bright idea because how well can a guy in a truck hold back a fierce bull? He went on doing the cowboy over the head swing as the bull was running towards the truck and just before it hit it viered of and ran down the road. The man with the rope misses, thank goodness, and our clinic went on. There was talk about the bull in the field below but it never bothered us again. This was an exciting and rememberable clinic experience.

The clinic that we did this week was always within aroun 20 minutes of km.38 so we stayed at home and headed out to our clinic every morning. After loading our pharmacy, glasses, and dental equipment, we were pretty full. Our bigest number was eleven and we all managed to fit. Don't worry we went moderatly slow.

On one of our slower days when we had a little extra time, tara and i started to learn how to give an IV. We went through all the steps of safety and putting it all together then it came down to practicing. Jenni lended me her hand which i stuck three times and then Dr came up with a bright idea to connect an IV tube to her arm and then we could poke that and get the feel of it. I will still be practicing more within these upcoming weeks before i poke a patient.

This was a really cute kid that was hanging around for three days. He would let me pick him up, turn him upside down, put his hat funny ways and pretty much have fun. He was so cute and always put a smile on my face.

More Pictures from the Trip

2008-01-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Night time in Cusco.

Matchu Picchu

We camped out on the top of Isla del Sol in Bolivia. There was water on both side of us with the sunrise on one side and the sunset on the other. It was really cold so me made a fire out of the Eucaliptis branches and leaves that surrounded us.

Random shots throughout our tirp.

This was on Isla de Taquile. A pretty little island two hours from the floating islands or 2 and a half hours from Puno.

Christmas in Puno

2008-01-03T13:31:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Puno was a little different than traditional. We had been out on the floating islands all day and came back to our little hostel changed and went out for an expensive meal of 10 soles. We went to a cute little stone oven baked pizza place and ordered pizza and a lemonade. We were so excited to get our lemonade. A lady from behind us turned around and asked us what we were drinking. Thinking that she didn't know what the Spanish names for everything on the menu politely told her,"It's lemonade. They make it out of these cute little small lemons so it tastes sweet." She then goes on and asks if it has alcohol. She said that we were acting to happy that it had to have something in it. We said to and went on with our meal. You don't need alcohol to appreciate and love the little things in life. We ate our amazing pizza then sang hymn in our little hostel room. And that was our Christmas day.

Up Up and Up

2008-01-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

This was how it felt the first day. We just kept on going up. We started out on our hike to Matchu Picchu from Santa Maria. It was a nice dirt road that had a good incline. Then we broke off into the trail. From there on out I and the rest of the gang was tierd. We walked up a mountain rising a few thousand feet and the went down the mountain. We had decided that we didn't need a guide so doing it by ourselves was an adventure. Thankfully we were inbetween two tours so if we were to get lost there would atleast be people around us. The hike up was tiering but once we got to the top it was amazing. You could see the vally and the tracks that we had come from just a few hours ago at the bottom of the valley. It was truly amazing. We were surrounded by rivers and mountains that were covered with pluch green trees. As we were hiking down we had the cliff on one side of us and the mountain right by our arm. It was a thrilling experience to be surrounded by so beautiful tracks and to have such a derastic incline. The day after we finished our hike to aguas caliente on which is the base of Matchu Picchu. We were excited to finally stay in a hostel after not showering or sleeping in a bed for the last two nights. The next morning we hiked up to Matchu Picchu. It rained all the way up and as we got to the top it stoped raining. We went in without a guide and followed the signs to Matchu Picchu Mountain and hoped that we were going in the right direction. We hiked again. Up up and up. We saw people that tured around because they said the trail went no where. We decided that it was a trial and that it had to go somewhere. We kept on going up the trail into the fog. The fog cleared and we saw that the trail went along the mountain for miles. We sat down on a rock hoping that the fog would clear and that we could see our surroundings. As we started having our morning worship together and started singing, the fog cleared and we could see what was before us. Matchu Picchu. The ruins and the Mt. that we thought we were climging was right below us. The sight was amazing. We were surrounded by three mountains and the fourth one that usually was surrounding us we were on. We hiked down after taking many pictures and enjoying the view. We walked around the ruins then headed down the mountain and it started raining again. Ha. Funny. Although the hike was exausting and sometimes we wanted to stop, we were all to stubborn to quit and kept on going. We made it to Matchu Picchu and now have amazing new memories and pictures of our treck.

Busin Adventures

2007-12-16T18:08:00.000-08:00

I waslost. And I hadent even gotten on the bus yet. I was in Pucallpa our home town. We were running out of time to get to the bus station and i couldn't remember where it was. David got a moto and saved us. The moto knew where the station was and dropped us right on time before the passengers bored and left all within around ten minutes. It was six thirty at night and we were out for a journey up and over the Andies to lima. A long trip that takes all night and most of the day. About 20 hours total. We slept off and on during the night and in the morning were happy to see the beautiful green villages and lakes that are all throughout the mountains. We could feel the pressure of the altitude as we were going up. 15832 feet was the highest point before we headed back down the mountain into lima. Most of us felt the altitude change in our head and others felt it a little more. Over all the trip was a big success, a great experience and wonderful memories of our trip down south. There will be many more excitements these next two weeks and i am so excited. Next is Arequipa.

GOT WORMS???

2007-12-14T10:11:00.001-08:00

Yes in fact i do have worms. Late Tuesday night I woke up with this gagging feeling. I had no idea what was happening. It was dark and i couldn't find my light. I kept having this gagging feeling like i was throwing up so i ran to the sink and drank some water. It didn't help. I started feeling something in the back of my nose. And i remember some of the stories Jenni was telling us. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror at the back of my throat. It was a little white worm stuck in between my nose and my throat. I reached in the back of my throat and grabbed it pulling it out of both my nose and my throat. At three inches long and the size of a spaghetti noodle i was terrified that if i went back to sleep another one would crawl up and that was not an experience that i wanted to repeat.
It all started when we decided to take Albendazol. Albendazol is a medication that us sm's are supposed to take every three months to get rid of all the worms inside of us. Well we were a few months late and i guess i let my worms grow to long. They normally come out the other end of you but my curious worm decided he wanted to fight for his life and find a way out. I finally fell back asleep and had no more worms. This is one experience that i hope is not repeated.

Hola Mi Familia y Mi Homies

2007-12-10T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have been in Peru now for almost five months. I can hardly believe it. The first three months went by a little slow but now the time is passing in a blink of an eye. My time spent here in Peru has been amazing. Teaching my English and music classes has been challenging but very rewarding. I started out not knowing any Spanish and thinking that I would make very little connections with the kids. Spanish was hard and the kids started out to be little devils. I didn’t know how to handle them by talking in Spanish and didn’t realize the lack of attention that was in their lives and homes.
After the first month an amazing thing happened. Spanish was flowing easier and the children, although still a handful, had worked their way into my heart. A sweet little kindergarten boy who used to run around the classroom is now sitting quietly and singing along with the other children. I get big huge little kid bear hugs from him everyday and I am so amazed by the transformation of our classes.
Classes are ending at all three of our schools on the 14th of December. There summer/rainy break will begin and us sm’s will be heading down south to renew our visas. After seeing some sites in Peru over Christmas break we will be back and ready to work. There will be another clinic in January, lots of work in the fields, and two of our schools will be starting back up with classes during the summer, January 22. I am excited for the break but will be missing all of you.
As we are approaching the holiday season, Km. 38 is looking a lot like Christmas. We have been playing our Christmas music and making our Christmas construction paper chains, hot peppermint mocha tea, and even cut out snowflakes and a Christmas tree. Our house is quite festive but the heat changes the atmosphere from our usual nippy December days. There is no jack frost nipping at our noses, or chestnuts roasting over our fire. The children aren’t bundling up or singing Christmas carols. But the biggest difference is the absence of the family and friends that I have been surrounded by each traditional Christmas day in the past. You will all be missed through this season of joy and cheer. I love each and every one of you and I am so thankful for all your love and support. Keep me in your prayers.

Class Grows to Outstanding Numbers

2007-12-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

Three months ago Tara and I started teaching night classes for kids and adults who wanted to learn from English. There was a big want in the community and our two classes ended up being three classes. Every night even three months later I have mothers coming to me with their children wanting to be in my class. I explain to them night after night that I started out with just one class that grew to forty-five students and that I split that class in to two to make a class for children and a class for adults. They are never surprised to hear that I have thirty five kids in my younger class but still proceed to ask if I can take just one or sometimes four more.
The class room really only holds about 25 students. But when you have three chairs around some of the desks it holds many more students. When I first started teaching in Campo Verde it was a little bit of a struggle because I was really the only teacher and I was currently making up the class. I had many students coming and going as they pleased which wasn’t a very good. As I developed the regulars and cut off at around thirty five students. I am now so excited to not just have a class but to have a room filled with many little children that I have developed a relationship with and have grown to love.
One little girl tugs on my elbow every time I write on the board asking me if she has to write the information down. Everytime I know it is her and I tell her, “yes, you always have to copy down new information.” She laughs and says thank you and starts writing diligently. Another little boy names Isou on the other hand copies down nothing. Every once in a while I will quiz him verbally and this little six year old will answer every question correct. Very smart child. Other kids are just so sweet bring me honey and giving me the common Peruvian kiss goodbye. I have grown to love each and everyone of my children and thank God that He has put me in such an amazing place.

Clinic at Luz Divina

2007-12-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

As we drove up to our new clinic site, the dirt roads were swarmed with skittering feet of the children. They peered in through the bars of the window to see what we were bringing. As we unpacked the medication, surgical supplies and dental equipment, it was obvious that yes, we were having a medical clinic in the middle of their town.
The people of the town jumped at the opportunity to help. Each of the church members wanted to help with food. They decided that each person would take the responsibility to cook for one of us. Every meal we would get ten different meals and would all pick off of all of them. We were so thankful for our food day after day. As we seepedout the building, people would jump up from their seats and take the broom from us and finish the job. They were so understanding as they waited for us to get medicine bags that we had run out of. And laughed and our good but broken spanish. Dont get me wrong, there are always the people who you want to kick out of the building because they keep coming back with different problems that they forgot that last time they came. But the majority of the time the people were so helpful and enjoyable.
Our team seams to be working so well together. We are like a well oiled machine. Well we do have some mistakes every once and a while but we work so well together. I am so impressed with our improvement and excited that we have the ability to make a little dent of help in the cities around us. God is amazing and helps us through each and everyday and just maybe we have made a small difference in the people that we have served.

A FEW MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES...
We had the opportunity to see two baby girls being born. One of them on Jenni's 25th birthday and was named after her. Baby Jenni. It was an amazing experience and one i will never forget.

Playing soccer with the little boys after a long day of clinic. Tiringbut one of the most enjoyable tasks of the day. The kids are so sweet!!! And amazing soccer pros.!!! I was shocked to see these little 5-8 year old kicking the ball like i see on tv. Wow.

A little girl named Angi. I found her sittin in the mud and was wondering why she was so sad. She later told me something that in spanish that i couldn't make out. We were walking back to her house where i thought she wanted to go when she said the same phrase again. I still didn't know what she was saying. I quickly went and asked jenni what the word meant, it was to hit. Her father hit her weather it was a punishment or even just a small spanking this child was sad. Angi and i decided that stickers would be a good cure for her sadness. We went inside and picked out a few of her favorite stickers and spent the next few minutes smiling and laughing and chatting. As darkness grew stronger she ran off with the biggest smile on her face. She was such a preciously beautiful little girl.

Sweet Reminder

2007-12-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

I returned to the doctors room and told him, Dr. we don’t have twenty one pills of this medication you prescribed for this woman. We only have eight. He replied saying that I needed to find it. He told me that if Jesus could turn loaves of bread into enough to feed five thousand, then I should be able to fine a few more pills to at least double the amount we had. I was frustrated and said how am I supposed to do that? I packed the medications, I know what we have, and I have already looked. We don’t have anymore. He said fine and told me to give her what we had. I walked back to the pharmacy frustrated and gave the woman the medication. She had just left as a thought crossed my mind about how awesome God was. He did make enough bread for the people and so maybe he could help me find some more medication. I looked again with a little bit of hope to find more of the medication but yet still with doubt. The second box I searched through there it was. Eight more pills. Doubled the amount that we had to fourteen. I was struck with giggley excitement. I ran outside to se if the woman had left. I didn’t see here anywhere. I looked to my right and there she was just sitting down on the bench. She looked at me and asked what I needed. I said with delight that I had found more medication and that it was only a few short of what he needed but it would get her by. She looked at me with dull enthusiasm not knowing really what was going on and said thank you.
The rest of the day I was just amazed with God. I don’t know if he put those medications there or not. But I do know that he put the will in me to actually look for them one last time. It opened my eyes to see how much God really does care about the little things.

Bursting with Thankfulness

2007-12-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving wasnt a regular day this year. For one it was on tuesday for us out at km. 38. My family, my dad Russell, mom Kathie, brother James, and sister Melissa, all decided to come out and visit this week as well as Taras dad Jeff and stepmom Jane. Emily, Kristen, and Emily were back from their six week long trip from their public health program and our how was full. Eighteen people staying under two small roofs. We were full. We decided to have thanksgiving on tuesday so that taras parents could join us before they left on wednesday. It was so exciting to have everyone together. I never thought that cooking would take so long and eating would take so little time. We cooked for around 4 hours and demolished the food with in a half hour. Amazing. The rest of the week was fun. Having the family there was a lot to take in but very exciting that they could be here and see what life at km. 38 was all about. From sitting in on some of my classes, coming to pucallpa to see some of the sites (the pizza place, market, ice cream store, and hostel), to heading out to San Fransisco island to see that native shipibo crafts and culture. It was a full week filled with excitement. James helped the boys out in the field and dad took many memberable pictures. Mom and missy came to classes and enjoyed reading lots of book and helping out in the kitchen and later enjoyed shopping around in Pucallpa. Frankie was definitely loving all of them as well. He was fed five times the amount of trash as normal and had five times the amount of attention. He became a brat. It was so much fun to see my family and celebrate this wonderful holiday of thankfulness.

Cheva

2007-12-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Cheva our rotwiler was a happy dog. She loved to bark at everything. Lightning, people, balls, sheep. She also liked to chase things. She would run after the lightening, charged us as we were coming in at night on our bikes, lunge and demolish the balls, and even chased the sheep and tested their taste. After two of our sheep died from Chevas taste testing we decided that she needed a new home without other animals to mal on. Until the situation was resolved she was tied up to the house so she couldn’t get our sheep. One day our African killer bees were angry. As David was on his way home he saw that she was lying down under the house. He pet her and noticed a few bees hanging around her head and realized that she was not moving and was entangled in her rope. He ran to the house, we called Jenni to see what we should do, I prepared the epi and Anita ran to her rescue in her bee suit to give her the shot. It was to late. She had already become stiff and there was no hope. The boys later buried her out back. We are sad that our crazy rotwiler has died but are thankful that we still have our other precious animals.

Laura Made an Awesome Video...

2007-11-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

"He peed on me"

2007-11-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

About once a week, all of our kindergarten kids decide that they all have to go to the bathroom all at the same time. They all race out of the room and find a spot behind the wall outside. One day as we were leaving they all had run out to go to the bathroom. Little Cecilia comes running back in the room a few seconds later wet from head to toe almost in tears because a little boy peed on her. The teacher wiped her off a little and went on with the day. Thank goodness class was almost over.

I AM NOT A GRINGO...

2007-11-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

As we teach our classes, our students randomly start calling us gringo.... Tara turns around and says " We are not gringos, we are white and we are living in peru. We are Peruvian..." They now us call us the white Peruvian teachers and whenever anyone comes out to our classroom they are other peruvian white people. hehe. funny.

Kiddish Fun

2007-10-26T04:39:00.000-07:00

As I sit in my kindergarten class watching them color their colorful pages of construction paper, i wonder what i am missions out on. Why arent i coloring? I love to color. I pick up the crayons and start coloring away. As i examine the crayons and their colors and inventive names, i remember how much fun coloring was as a child and how much more fun it is now. Razzledazzle Berry which has sparkles, shocking pink that is so bright it hurts your eyes, or my favorite, mango tango. As i pick up each crayon i get more excited to see all the new and thrilling crayons that people have invented and i realized that i has been way to long. I now color regularly with my school children.

Clinic number 3

2007-10-15T16:42:00.000-07:00

Clinic was an amazing experience this week. It was the easiest clinic yet and we really had no problems. It was an eight hour trip in our Toyota truck with four people in the back seat, two people in the passenger seat, and our amazing crazy but safe driver Richard. There was a long dirt road with huge pot holes and very narrow bridges. We made it there and back safely. Our week flew by faster and quicker than any other clinic week. It was an incredible. A lot of the people in the area had stomach problems. Often the places that we go have similar problems within the area. There were no big surgeries needed but there were quite a few shots. We all slept in tents at a families house. It was a beautiful house with a decent bathroom and place to take a luxurious bucket bath. There was a paved floor with a drain. This was one of the best places we have stayed. We set up our clinic in a church. It was a nice roomy area where we had plenty space for all of our stations. Triage, consultation, pharmacy, and dental. The week went very well. There were lots of kisses from the people after we gave them their medications thanking us for our work. Most everyone was happy with big smiles. They were so thankful and it was a really positive experience for everyone. At the end of the week when we were packing up to go, our cook came by and thanked each one of us for our services. She told us that she was content with everything and was so thankful that we could come. I was so much fun to see the joy on peoples faces. We are now back at km38. Home sweet home…

Rememberable experiences…

Dr. Richard gave the monkey diazepam and he slept if off for two days. So funny but really sad. He is back to normal stealing our food and jumping from rafter to rafter

The lady who we drained 5 ginormous bottles of fluid from her abdomen.

The whole fish that each of us got for dinner that we passed off to all the Peruvian boys.

The numerous rotted out smiles that somehow were so meaningful and beautiful everyday as they thanked us.

Last Minute Laundry

2007-10-15T15:35:00.001-07:00

Laundry can be a very tedious thing. Especially after two weeks. The past week had been very hectic getting our classes in order and I didn’t really have a whole lot of time to sit down and do my laundry. The day I had planned to do it, it had rained. So two weeks passed and I finally decided to take a walk down to our well to wash my clothes. The load was big and took around two and a half hours. But I once again had clothes to wear for the next two weeks. Hopefully it wont be that long before do another load. I have almost mastered the head loads to and from the well.

Challenges and Joys of Teaching

2007-09-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

We teach our classes at three different locations during the week. Sundays, Tuesday, and Thursdays we teach two English classes at Compo Verde in the evening which is 3 km down our road. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we teach three classes, one English, one music, and one music class at Los Pinos which is right down our road. And two classes Tuesday and Thursdays in the mornings at Yerbos Buenas which is a ways down a nice bumpy dirt road. Every day Tara and I wake up and make breakfast, do dishes, and if we have time shower before we hop on our bikes and head to one of the schools.
Yerbos Buenas
The road to Yerbos Buenas is better now that they compacted it but still not wonderful. Our bikes are a little rickety but still seem to be in better condition than most of the bikes I have seen down here. One morning Tara and I made it to the school and while we were there, there was a huge down poor of rain. Mud, rain, and bikes do not mix. After walking and pushing our bikes through the mud, cleaning the mud from the tiers every 5-10 minutes so that the wheals will keep on turning, our fifteen to twenty minute ride turned into an hour and a half. I was so excited to see that the end of the road was a little bit harder and hopped on my bike just to get stuck in the mud and fall over. I was determined that bikes were supposed to be ridden and not pushed but after trying to ride the bike and falling over straight into the mud numerous times, I finally gave in and pushed the bike to the paved road. We were tired and very muddy, but glad to get back to the house. The classes started out a little tough at Yerbos Buenos because the age range in the classes were so big. The kids took a while to catch on but I see it in their faces every time we come to teach that they love the class and love it when we are there. The have picked up very well, and what we thought would be a hopeless class turned out to be amazing. The kids caught on and are rapidly learning more every day. It is so exciting to see the change right in front of our eyes.
Campo Verde
Our classes at Campo Verde ended up being to separate classes at the same time. Tara teaches one class which is an upper level English class, and I took the lower level English class. We ride our bikes there which is uphill both ways but it seems like a lot of the time we say we will bike next time and catch a moto into town. The class is fun to teach. It’s a little hectic because its not a school hour setting but its people from the community who want to learn English. Every class there are new people which makes it a little difficult to keep up a steady pace of learning. Its coming together slowly and should pull together nicely.
Los Pinos
Our class at Los Pinos is one of our favorite of the classes so far. The bike ride is short and the teachers are very dedicated and love what they do which has made our teaching experience very delightful. The teacher offered us to go to the zoo on their field trip last Friday. We agreed and were on our way. Tara seemed to be swarmed by all the girls holding her hands, arms, and legs most of the day. I hung back with the little boys and spent most of my time with them at the monkey, tiger, snake, and crocodile cages. After we went through the zoo and the museum, we ate lunch. One of the moms offered us food which we gladly took and ate most of. The park has this fun little playground. After we ate we spent a good hour or so on the playground playing and taking tons of pictures of them. They are all so cute. The playground was so much fun. It had all the old stuff like seesaws, merry-go-rounds and four big slides coming from this tall tower. We had a great day at the zoo and have tons of pictures to prove it.On another Friday, the professor offered us to join in on their physical education class. It sounded like a good idea but… They ended up doing these crazy drills in the middle of the afternoon. It was rather humorous. For them anyways. One of the drills we were in two lines, one of boys and one of girls and we had to run to the other side and go under the little boys legs then run back 20 times. Ha… I can barely get my body under that little boy with out him just sitting on me. After a few more drills similar to that one they decided to run. I started and then veered off to the side at a neighbors house and sipped lemonade and helped her son with his English homework. The kids and teachers at Los Pinos are so much fun to be around and I often see some of our students as we walk do the streets every day. They are so cute

One day we went to the zoo so i took a bunch of pictures of the kids before and after. They are just too cute!!!

this was a really mudy day. We left our school and it had just finished raining for our walking pleasure. We walked back pushing our bikes and walking bare foot.

Frankie Our Very Lucky Monkey

2007-09-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

He may only be eight inches tall but Frankie is usually twelve feet high jumping around from rafter to rafter enjoying the world below. His big black eyes stare down at the SM team below as we go about our daily lives. One of his favorite times of the day is meal time. Not his meal time but ours. He hops from bar to bar down to the counters and if he is sneaky enough and we don’t grab the spray bottle quick enough, he sometimes manages to grab a little bit of his favorites, cucumber or bananas. The rest of the day consists of catching bugs throughout the house making our faces cringe at the gooiness of it and then finding a nice perch like our shoulders to curl up on and fall fast asleep. As devious as our monkey Frankie can be, we all love him dearly. Not only is he just a monkey, he is our miracle monkey. Dr. calls him Daniel because he has escaped not only once, but twice from the mouth of a lion or Cheva our Rotwhiler.
As the night is winding down, monk monk was enjoying a nice piece of banana and then decided to walk across to the kitchen not knowing that his life would flash before him. Cheva, who was right outside our opened door saw a rat like object crawling across our floor and took it apon herself to try and dispose of it. Lunging through our back door her aim was impeccable as she snatched Frankie off the floor. I ran in screaming as Cheva dropped Frankie out of her mouth and looked up at me like I was crazy. Monk found himself a nice corner behind the stove for the next few moments as I aggressively escorted Cheva to the nearest door. Frankie was wet all over but had not a bite mark on him. That was the first Frankie meets Chevas mouth experience. Just a few nights ago, David, one of our fellow SM’s had Frankie on his shoulder and was walking out to give Cheva some food. Cheva saw the food she wanted and lunged up on Davids shoulder with once again amazing accuracy plucking the monkey off of his shoulder. David plopped himself on Cheva as the monkey was set free and ran to find his nice little spot behind the stove. Our monkey is a miracle monkey. Although a pest at times, we love our new addition to our household.
Frankie came from a little town called Sana Rosa where we did one of our campaigns for a day. We had been talking about getting a monkey a few weeks prior and one day Tara and Jenni came back and showed us our new little baby. The next day he spent on my shoulder in clinic as I passed out patience prescriptions. I was not fond of the caked on mess that came from this cute little fuz balls bottom, but after we hand crafted him a diaper, he became much more loved. He traveled with us back to km. 38 on a 6 hour peke peke and a 24 hour launch boat ride. He was very well behaved. He has now grown fond of all of us and us of him, but Joey, our cat, still is pretty skeptical, but love sometimes takes time.

The Big Jug

2007-09-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

The day after we arrived, the boys graced us with running water. We were all thrilled. We were not thrilled when we saw the boards that braced our enormous water jug bending when it was filled. Our wonderful handy men took down the jug and put up harder wood to support the weight. They even managed to paint the tower so the bugs wont get to it. Our new red tower looks so cute next to our little house. After a day of not having water and hauling water from the well, we are pleased to say that all is good and water runs from our faucets once again.

FIRE, FIRE

2007-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Fuego, Fuego, Edwin came running back to the house telling us that there was a fire, and that it was lighting up our beautiful almost ripe pineapple field. We grabbed the shovels and some boards and headed out to the field. The boys were out there lookin pretty black but working hard making fire lines and throwing dirt on the fire. It was all pretty smoky, hot, and hard to breath but we managed to put out the fire in the field saving a lot of our delicious fruits. We should soon have wonderful tasting pineapples in the near future. Muy Rico.

A Few Hours of Relaxation

2007-09-21T14:25:00.001-07:00

After the Gordon group left, we were in no hurry to get back to km. 38 so we decided to stay one more day and visit the amazing hot springs. The day we were headed out to leave for the springs, it decided to rain. This made it and exciting moto ride on a all dirt road. We pushed the carts up most of the hills giving them aggressive shoves when they got stuck. We finally made it to the springs and hiked in a ways to the actual water part.
When we arrived to the water it really was like paradise. After our long campaign all we wanted to do was hang around and relax which was exactly what we did for a few hours. There was a two story brush hut where we hung up our hammocks that overlooked the river. The river was right below with hot water flowing in from one side and cold water flowing from the other. In some places the water was actually boiling but right in the middle was the perfect warm water.
After lazing around for a few hours we walked back to the hut and had our worship and evaluation time of the clinic. It was raining and we discussed the possibility of the motos not being able to come get us the next morning because the road would be to torn up.
After a cold but wonderful nights sleep, we started walking out. 22 km. That sounded like a long ways. Not only was it 22 km but some of us were barefoot walking in mud up to our ankles. What a day. Tara, Margie, and I hopped on the motorcycle to try and ride out of the mud. The didn’t last long after a backpack strap got stuck in the wheel and then soon after it didn’t work.
Tara and I continued walking as the group behind us caught up to the bike and the boys pushed it a good ways out. I think they gave in and left it along the road. Tara and I who were up ahead finally found a moto for the last 5 or 10 min and the muddy trail. The rest of the group showed up 2 hours later. After long clinic, and our crazy hot spring adventure we got on a boat the next morning for a 24 hour ride home. It was sure an experience. We had a lot of fun even though it wasn’t an ideal situation. We had an amazing relaxing day at the hot springs and a strengthening walk out.

Our Campaign With the Gordon Group

2007-09-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

On August 28 fifteen people from Gordon Hospital Georgia, disembarked a plane in Pucallpa Peru to head out into the jungle for a mission trip. They knew very little of what this trip had in store for them. As we waited at the hospedaje for our new campaign group, we had no idea what to expect either. They all arrived in around seven motos with their stuff piled high in our Toyota pickup. We all went out to our favorite little vegetarian restaurant. The meal was stacked up high with rice an soup. Not much of the group was hungry enough to finish up their food but Tara and I stuck around after and helped them out with that. After lunch we toured around the market and headed to the ice cream shop. We then loaded up a huge truck of all of our stuff and medications to head down to the docks to load the boat. The times of when the boat was leaving was a little bit sketchy and when there are about twenty two Americans who need a passage, people are desperate to keep you on their boat. They were saying that the boat would leave that night which was when we needed to leave but we caught word that it wasn’t leaving till the next day. We unloaded all our stuff off the boat that we had just loaded then headed to a different boat that was leaving for sure that night. The boat that we were originally on really did not leave till the next day. Good choice on switching boats.
It was a long boat ride but we enjoyed it on our almost personal floor with hammocks. After sixteen hours we arrived at Inahuawaya. It was around 2 in the morning and we were all pretty tired and these Peruvian boat docks consist of really steep and muddy dirt hills that you have to lug all of your stuff to the top of. By the time we got everyone to the hostels, it was around 4. Jenni came back after getting the other groups settled in around 5 which we were all still up because our hostel was a little scary. It looked a little haunted but hey, we had a bed to sleep in none the less. It was around 5:30 when I finally fell asleep and then 6:00 came way to early.
Our clinic consisted of four clinic days where our groups split up into 2 groups and went separate directions. Our first day we headed down to the shores and boarded our luxurious hand crafted peke peke boat. We were all looking at it wondering how we would all fit. We managed in two boats and made it safe to our destination.The first day was tough but Jackie, my fellow pharmacist for the trip caught on to the Spanish medications quickly and was able to fill orders about as fast as the rest of us. I had know what to tell the patience about the medications but didn’t know exactly what all of them were for and she helped me learn that as well. It was a wonderful learning experience. Being the only semi Spanish speaker in the pharmacy made me actually have to describe everything by myself to the patience.
The clinic days went on and we got quicker. We saw many patience every day. We had one night clinic till almost midnight and we had many early mornings. The amount of work and the lack of sleep made us all a little tired but everyone pushed on though and we all came out with a big success. It was a challenge but God brought us through it with many little encouraging moments along our journey.
One day we hiked a pretty long way carrying all of our medications and in the end town welcomed us with fresh coconuts and big smiles. Another time when I was headed back with the medication on a moto, I was alone with this little Peruvian woman who I had give a shot to earlier in that day and she greeted me with a big hug, kiss, and a buenos noches. She saw that I was being eaten by the mosquito’s that were swarming my head, arms, and legs and as I waited and hour or so for the rest of the group to show up, she fanned me to keep away the bugs. God knows even about the littlest things that we need. Our last night, we were up late packing up the medications and I was getting pretty tired so I walked outside. There was a group of kids just sitting on the steps. I played with them, spinning around in circles and throwing the little ones up in the air for about 10 minutes and then forgot all about my tiredness. God really does do amazing things when it comes to the smallest pieces of our lives.
The Gordon group were real troopers. The headed out on their plane leaving back to Pucallpa then back to the states. Although we were all worn out and tired by then end, God blessed so many people including all of us. It was a wonderful experience, one I wont forget.

We were pretty board some of the time on our long boat ride. I found this huge syringe and attempted to give Brent a shot.

This was our group hiking to one of our clinic sites.

This was the boat that we were on for six hours.

And this is how tight it was.

There were many motos when we packed up and left.

Just one of the shorelines along the way.

Just giving out a prescription

We had an amazing time.

Our First Clinic in a Blink

2007-08-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

For 2 days we had been doing inventory on all of our medications to bring to our first clinic site. We were finally ready to go and got the truck packed up. We headed out around six in the morning to a town on the out skirts of Pucuallpa. We drove on dirt roads for about 15 minutes to get to our final destination. The team got everything unloaded and we were ready to start. All of us newb's had no idea what was really coming our way. The first clinic day turned into only a half day because we needed to get more organized with our medications. It was nice to cut the day short. The medical team was supposed to get the patience meds that were prescribed and either give the shot or had them the medicine and explain to them what was supposed to be done with the medication. Knowing very little spanish that task was a bit hard. Words like grasoso:with grease, or cc: like a cc on a syringe, were confused with grasioso meaning funny and some other word that sounded like cc that meant poop. Some of us were telling patience that they needed to eat funny food with their medication and withdraw 2 poops of fluid from the bottle. Not words that you really want to mix up. They would laugh at us and appreciate our persistency that they needed to with draw a poop of fluid and eat funny food. Learning the lingo has been a fun task and we have learned enough to get by but there is still more work to be done.
The second day of clinic people started lining up outside of the clinic, which was also our sleeping quarters at around 5 in the morning to get tickets. We only pass out 70 tickets in the morning around 6 and 70 tickets in the afternoon around 1. That line ended up starting earlier and earlier. By the end of the week people ended up starting the line around 1 in the morning which made it a very loud night for us to try to sleep through along with the cock-a-doo-dal-dooing roosters and the rabid dogs barking outside our house. With very little sleep we managed to get through the week. God played a huge role in helping us through the long hours, the needy sometimes very frustrating people, and the new b challenges of our first clinic.
Some of the most remember able people that really stuck out in my mind were the people that needed just a few hundred dollars to have a surgery that would normally cost a few thousand dollars in the states. It was so frustrating to see how much could be done with just a little more money but they don’t have a little more money if any at all. All the children with worms, and the adorable little faces of the child that are dying for a little attention are so precious. We have all learned so much from the amazing dental team pulling the first tooth to their fiftieth tooth, our medical team that have learned the medications and the technique of butt shots, and our amazing doctor and nurse that run the whole thing that keep everything in line. All together we make an amazing team and have hopefully made a different in many peoples lives.
I would say that our first week was a big success.

We are headed on Tuesday night on a sixteen-hour boat trip to a riverboat city for our next campaign. We will be back on September 4 so until then good luck to all of you who are starting school:) Moni and jonny drive safe back to southern. Congrats to missy who passed her Teaching test woot woot, and hugs to grandma who is still recouping from a femur break. Dad keep capturing those amazing shot. I love you james and i love you mom. Mom give grandma a big hug from me:)

Crazy Trip To Masisea

2007-08-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

So Jenni came home Thursday night and asked us if we wanted to go to the masisea village for the weekend to check up on them. It a village that past workers have been. Its a six hour boat ride there and a four hour boat ride back. We were planning to leave friday morning and leave saturday after church to head home. Long trip. We all agreed not knowing that our trip would end up a day longer and a bit crazier. We got on the boat and people just kept getting on and kept loading all their stuff. It was just a Peke Peke and shouldn´t fit as many people and stuff as it did. In the middle there was stuff packed all the way through the boat and then there was two benches on the sides where people were sitting shoulder to shoulder. We made stops along the way and were dropping peopl and stuff off as we went to the masisea village. We finally arrive. Played some soccer with the kids and headed to vespers. Then headed back to our hostil for bed. The hostil was crazy. There was a club bumpin til 3ish and roosters cock a doo dal dooing all night. ha. crazy crazy crazy. Funny stuff though. We got up the next morning and headed for church. Church is still tough for me because i still cant understand all the spanish and so i end up reading my bible after my brain dies from trying to comprehend all the crazy spanish words. Church was done and we were going to head back to the hostil to change then to get some food. It started raining and we were supposed to be heading home in about 2 hours. Well we waited and waited at the hostil and we finally accepted that we wouldn´t be catching our boat ride home and that we would stay there til sunday. We finally got some food after walking there in the rain, our 3rd rice and beans meal of the trip, but still just as good as the first. Its amazing how it grows on you. We headed back and slept for a while because it was raining still... I woke up and everyone was still kinda sleeping but i saw some kids playing football in the muddy soccer field. I went over and spanglished my way into asking them if i could play with them. They are so cute and so amazingly good at soccer. They were aged 6 to 10 but played like they were pros. Brent and Emily showed up and joined in. We had a good 2 games. Mos of which i lost. It was really muddy and the kids loved it when i fell and rolled and triped and slid in the mud. Which was very often. I looked like i hadn´t showered in days and days. My clothes were covered in mud. The pastor showed up and said we had about 10 min before closing of the sabbath. Well i hurried and ran back to shower and change. later i found out we weren´t supposed to be playing soccer oops. oh well. next time i wont. it was fun though and the kids enjoyed it. After vespers we did a kids song service and games in the towns court yard. The kids are so so cute. We ate then found some junk food like chocolate and cookies that we have been craving since we got to peru. We headed to bed because we were getting up at 3 to head to the docks to catch the Peke Peke back home. We got up and headed to the docks. 4 of us went in one moto and the pastor and brent wen on his bike and the others were going to catch a moto and meet us there. Well the roads were teriable from the rain. There was so much mud and the dirt roads. I was shocked when i got there because the roads were so bad but i now know that things can always get worse. A half hour ride took us an hour. the Motor cycle got stuck and the moto droped us off about a mile before the docks because the mud was so bad. It was just the 4 of us in the dark having no idea what happened to the others. We waited for about 20 min doing flashlight circles checking out all the funny noises that were destined to get us from the jungle that surrounded us. ha. funny times. Jenni and the others finally showed up but no motorcycle. The motor cycle was stuck. We walked to the docks and waited about another hour in a half when the motorcycle showed up after being towed by a moto. ha. Our boat was about half the size of our boat we came on. I didn´t know they could be smaller. Again, i now know things can get much worse. ha. It was a shorter ride back and everyone was thrilled to be back on land. The trip was fun, we survived and have many memories and stories. Very exciting.

This week we are going over nursing and dental stuff for our clinic the 19th. Shots and pulled teeth are in the future. ha. Il keep you posted on how that goes. I also have to explain to the people how to take medicins, where they go, and how often to take them. Sound like fun especially since i know oh so much spanish. ha. Oh well. i guess i will be learning it quickly.

There might be another strike so if you dont hear from me for a month, i will be stuck at km. 38 eating rice and beans and sheep if needed. We will see and pray and hope that the strike wont happen. Keep peru in your prayers.

I love pictures...

Sweet sweet baby... Baby Ansley or Annie.

The guys were trying to get the bike off the boat and up the hill. It was insane but they made it... Who brings a bike on a boat. ha. only in peru. look at the size of the boat.
Shipibo kids pushing us off to head home to km38.
They were happy to get in the cool water.
An amazing sunset coming back fron the shipibo village.
Brent sitting on top of the Peke Peke on the way back from the village.
We have a new addition to our sheep family. Now a sheep family of 12.

Just laughing and taking pictures coming back from the village.

The gang minus jenni and brent who was taking the picture.
Thats a small Peke Peke!!!

FOTO

2007-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Mas Foto

Sorry i forgot to rotate the pictures again... oh well. hope you enjoy anyways.

The boys working hard making a place for our waste water.

All of our laundry... took forever!!!
Cheva our dog playing soccer with the boys.
Beautiful fruit stands everywhere!!!
Driving into Pucallpa

Right before Ansley and Carly left we all took a picture infron of the house with the sign that they made us. It is still up. yay.

A yummy SDA Vegi place
Riding in the moto. yes... there are 4 people.
We were the attraction at the zoo.
Jumping in the lake. Trying to do what they do in the olympics. ha.

We Are A Peruvian Attraction

2007-08-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

So we went to the Peruvian animal zoo. It was a very eventful outing. There were many animals there like giant boas, black panther, and tons of monkeys. Not only did people take pictures with the animals while they were at the zoo but they wanted to take pictures with us. Yes… With us. It was really funny to be a main attraction at a zoo. People come face to face with a black panther about as often as they come face to face with a gringo. Now I know how the animals feel. As we were walking out of the zoo a man came to us and wanted us to do an interview about our thoughts of the park and it would play on the pucallpa tv station that night. We should be getting a disk in a few days of the interview. Us gringos are now famous. Very eventful. The next day we went swimming in a lake. Usually, lakes in the U.S. you can take your baths and showers in the lakes, but not here! The water was brownish and smelled kinda funny but we were very delighted to jump in to the sandy shored brownish lake. Very refreshing when it is 98 degrees outside with about 85 percent humidity. We start up with our classes and clinics the 19th but until then we will be studying hard an preparing all of our lessons.

Send Me A Washing Machine

2007-08-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Laundry sucks. Hand washing clothes is the hardest thing ever. Pretty sure i will be wearing dirty clothes for 10 months. First you have to scrub them. Then you have to rince them. Then you have to ring them out. Then hang them up on the line. This four step process is the hardest thing ever. Dont let the fewness of steps fool you. Laundry out here takes about 30 min to 2 hours depending on how clean you really want your clothes. Theres also the soap factor. Do you really mind walking around with starchy feeling clothes because there was to much soap left in them. I have decided that dirt adds to the missionary way and look, soap masks the dirt smell, and soap creates a nice starch feel without having to iron your clothes. I now am very careful of what i wear because i now know the process of how i have to clean what i wear. Soap never comes out of your clothes and water likes to stay there too. I ring ring ring and rinse rinse, but hmmm water and soap still remain. ha. Laundry sucks, mom send me a washing machine. he he.

Out and About

2007-08-03T12:03:00.001-07:00

These lemons are huge!!!

Beautiful sunset. this is where we live. kinda dark
very nice.... The grass is really long. this is where they didn´t burn it. ha

Going into the plane. ha its sideways oh well...

Our group of girls with an over stuffed truck!!!
The airport.

This was our first meal. Plantinos beans and rice.

This is the governers palace in Lima.
Many many policia guarding the palace

These are some pictures of Peru.... I hope you enjoy. some of them are not very good but oh well. I miss you all. Peru is wonderful. My flight was good and Pucallpa is the cutest little place in peru. I live about 12 miles from pucallpa called km38 near campo verde. It is sucha cute little place. we are secluded from everything unless we drive 30 min. Its kinda like living on a farm. We have goats and sheep and two dogs cheva and lola. Cheva is dumb and big and scary but really shes just a dumb sweetheart. Lola is the smart one. Anyways. We live in a little cute house. Theres emily, kristen, laura, tara, and me. Brent just arrived we saw them driving back to the land while we were in town. We stoped and said hi but didn´t really get to chat. Well hope you enjoy the pictures.

Some funny things in peru.

They use these funny little buggy things for transportation.

They have indian people the natives of the land that look like pigme people walking around selling things and they have the really neat outfits.

There are holes that you may fall into when you walk on the sidewalk so you allways have to look where you are steping. they are really deep too.

They burn their grass to keep it down for longer period of time. there will be fields lit up and the people in the house not paying any attention and then they go running out saying that theyare burning more then they wanted to and it is going to far. ha ha. Crazy

They have rice and beans or rice and vegies every day.

They use a drink called ECCO which is like american Roma. but better.

The men and boys and policia all make cat calls by whisteling, hooting, honking or saying hello in american where ever we walk when we are in town. Not fun.

The market is full of many many many things. No where to move.

The cars and carts will run you over if you are in your way. you watch out for yourself they do not watch out for you.

i know there is more but i will have to think of them later.

Just a few more days :)

2007-07-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Packing is crazy!!! How do i pack for a year? I am bringing so much for the classes i am teaching and there is very little room for everything. I have discovered a few things though. 50 lb of luggage is not very much space, packing enough clothes for a year but only packing for a week is really hard, figuring which 2 church outfits i want to wear for the next 10 months is not fun, and that i can never have too much stuff for my classes! I am always finding things that i really dont need but i really want to bring. I dont know any spanish and i have no idea of how to teach. Well i do have some kind of idea but who knows if it will work. In four days i will finally be at peace of what my mission experience withholds for me. July 31 is coming soon and i am anxious to get to lima, meet my fellow teamers, and to explore the amazing Peru. More blogs and hopefully some pictures coming soon. Until then, all the best.

Peru

2007-05-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since the last entry. I have heard back from both Peru and Guyana and everything is fitting in to place just perfectly. A position was created in Peru where i would be teaching nutrition, english, and what ever else i can. It is at a medical base so i would get exposure to nursing and other medical fields. I talked to Melissa from Guyana and she said that she has another girl to fill the position that i was going to fill. She just graduated as a nutrition major and is going to take my spot. So im going to teach Nutrition in Peru. I am so excited and cant wait to finally have a final destination. God has done some amazing things and has managed to work everything out perfectly.

Just Gettin Started

2007-05-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

The First Blog...

This is my new missions blog site. My goal is to keep all my family and friends in the know of my mission experience. I would love to hear from all of you and i am sure that i will love to hear some encouraging words while i am away for a year. Prayers will always be needed for all of the missionaries who are going out throughout the world spreading the word of Christ so encourage you to keep us all in your prayers.

Where am i going?
I'm not sure yet... Right now it sounds like somewhere in South America. Perhaps Peru or Guyana. Those are the two places that i am looking into. A pastor out in TN where i am currently going to college was talking with me and said some very encouraging words. I have been frustrated in finding a place to be next year. Most all of the SM's who are going out next year know there place and know what they are going to do there and here i am... Still waiting moderately patient. But i was very encouraged when Pastor Litchfield was telling me about Noah and a few other bible characters who had calls from God but didn't have clarity about what is was they were to do. Noah didn't know what an ark was and couldn't even imagine what a flood was. So I am a Noah right now. I know i am going to be doing the work of God but the clarity of what i am doing and where i will be going will later be revealed.

List two areas in your life you would like to develop throughout your year of student missions and explain why in a short paragraph.

1.My relationship with God. I know that this mission trip will test my patience and limitations. Even though I feel like I have a strong relationship with God, I do still take him for granted and a lot of the time try to do things myself. I know that without God I am nothing. Even in searching for a mission destination, it is out of my hands. I can try to find a place as much as I want but when it comes down to it, it is up to God. I want to learn how to trust in God more than I do now and rely solely on him.

2. I want to become a more versatile person. I want to learn new things and use what I learn in my every day life. I think that this will make me a more well rounded person and really strengthen my character and my view of life.

Please provide a one-page personal essay on the topic “Why I want to be a student missionary”

I want to be a student missionary so that God may help others and change their lives through me and through the people around me. I don’t know why that I have this burning desire to be a missionary but I believe God put it there. I have heard many mission stories from my grandparents, parents, and sister. This is what I want to do. They have helped so many people in other countries and in our own country as well. I remember thinking when I was young that I would love to be able to help people like they did. Now I have that opportunity. I am still not certain of where God will lead me or what kind of work I will be doing, but all I know is that I am going.
My first mission experience was my sophomore year of high school. My sister Melissa was a missionary in Majuro for a year and I went out there for my spring break. It was an amazing experience of teaching and helping out in the school. A few years ago Ryan Naus started a band aid clinic there where the missionaries would go out on Sabbath after church and patch up wounds, cuts, and scrapes that would normally not be looked after and soon be infected. The program still goes on today and has inspired me to be an individual and think out of the box with my mission experience. Then my senior year in high school some of our student body went down to Mexico to pore cement in an orphanage school. There were so many adorable children that had found a home in this orphanage. There can never be too much love in a mission field because there is always someone that can use more. Both of these experiences have impacted my view of being a missionary. I can do the littlest things and still make a huge impact.

I want to do the best I can wherever I go so that I may be a Christ like example to others. I feel the need to serve others and want God to lead me on my way. I am excited to have the opportunity to serve and can’t wait to enjoy the experiences that God will lay before me.