Wednesday (2-12)
We decide upon Plan B. G. S. calls and changes all our tickets to leave on Friday since the strike is scheduled for Friday night instead of Saturday as previously planned.
Thursday (2-13)
Plan B is foiled when American Airlines cancels all International flights for Friday, because of the strike. We change back to the previous plans.
Friday (2-14)
Took off work, packed and worried until 11:00 p.m. At midnight (eastern time ) a strike was called but the President ( who to this point had never done anything nice for me) broke the strike and sent everyone back to work. So we went to bed after talking to everyone on the phone at midnight only to get up at 4 a.m.
Saturday (2-15)
We were to arrive 2 hours prior to the flight since it was an international flight, so that meant we were to be there at 5:30 a.m. even though the counter doesn’t open until 6:00 a.m. We left Wichita at 7: 30 a.m. In Dallas, our flight was delayed for about an hour, and then we had a 3 hour delay in Miami. We arrived in Santo Domingo at 11:30 p.m. and cleared customs about an hour later. The bus ride to the hospital took about an hour across Santo Domingo. When we arrived at the Chicken Hilton we ate dinner then went to bed at about 3:00 a.m. their time.
Sunday (2-16)
We awakened at 7:30 in the morning and we began with devotions after breakfast. We were divided into a surgical and medical team and go our assignments. Then began an orientation, after that was over we loaded up and headed for Dajabon at 12:15 p.m. The bus ride from Santo Domingo to Dajabon was a five hour bus ride, across the country side. The drive was rough in the yellow school bus, but we saw quite varied landscapes, from very tropical to almost arid. We arrived at Los Campementos de las Ninos a little before dark and unloaded. We found our new luxury accommodations and transferred our mosquito nets to our new bunk beds. After dinner we visited and turned in before the generator shut off and 10:30 p.m.
Monday (2-17)
After breakfast I walked toward Dajabon with several others on the surgery team for exercise. We walked for about 20 minuets toward town before the van caught up with us. The scenery was very interesting with very small huts and houses along this rural road. Once we arrived in Dajabon we had to unload all of the supplies and equipment and clean the rooms. The three doctors went to the clinic (down the hall) and began to see the 200 or so people that were waiting for the doctors. In reality there weren’t that many patients but everyone brings all the family with them. Some of the patients had been waiting for over a year for a surgeon to come. We filled the days schedule quickly. I got started in the O.R. at 11:00 a.m. and we did 12 surgeries. The first case for me was a small lymph node of occiput, and I couldn’t find it. After surgery the father was a little upset, because the patient had many cervical nodes. Otherwise I did a bunch of hernias, mostly on children. Between cases we went to the clinic down the hall and saw new patients to fill the rest of the week’s schedules. We filled Tuesday through Thursday’s schedules. There were a lot of people in the clinic, families and children. We quit surgery by 5:00 p.m. and got back to the camp by 6:25 p.m. ( it took about an hour to clean up and leave). The drive to Dajabon takes about 20 minuets. When we got back we ate dinner then left to drive back to town to use the phone, but we only talked to the answering machine.
Tuesday (2-18)
This morning I woke up between 5:30 am to 5:45 am, ate breakfast at 6:00 am, then we had devotions at 6:45 am. When devotions were over we left to walk to Dajabon, we made it for about 25 minuets before the vans meet us. My first case of the day was an 19 month old with a hernia. Just when I started the incision, the electricity went out. No lights, no air conditioner and no cautery. I tried to use pen lights, but I ended up leaning back so light through and 8 foot by 8 foot opaque window in O.R. allowed me to see, as long as I didn’t lean into the light. The electricity got fixed and I proceeded. We did 22 surgeries on 18 patients; hernias, hydrocoel, cholecystectomy, hemorrhoid, lipoma, sebaceous cyst , TAH ; conization. We didn’t have any rectal instruments, so we used small vaginal spec. We also didn’t have any stirrups on the table, so we used 2 techs. for leg holders during the conization. The flies were really bad. One of the scrub nurses, K., had one land on her left hand and she was able to kill it (yes, she did change gloves). All the hernias were done without a gown, because only one O.R. had air conditioner and we did all the bigger cases there. It was 90 + degrees and sweat was dripping down my elbows. The gall bladder surgery went fast, she weighed 100# , no stones, even though they brought an ultrasound that was positive for gall stones. There is no lab except for occasionally ones brought by patients, also there are occasional sonograms. The patients and their families sit in and open courtyard outside of O.R., you also go outside to get the recovery room. All patients walk to O.R. and put their sandals under the O.R. bed. There are three gurneys for transportation, but they have no mattresses on them. We took one gurney and raised it on 4 cinder blocks, to be used as an O.R. bed. So we had 2 O.R. beds, with one bed and the gurney in one room, with the AC, and the other O.R. bed in the other room., with the fans.
Travel from Santo Domingo showed a drastic change from tropical and rainy tin Santo Domingo. The dig town was very crowed and very dirty. There is no trash pick up, so people just throw it on the side of the road or in their yards. There is not as much processed foods here so the amount of trash is less. Most of the shops are very small and serve a very narrow purpose, one only sells eggs or one just fixes bicycle rims.
There is no welfare, so the doctors must do 2 years public health service after school for about $500 per month. Patients don’t pay for health care but must pay for their supplies. Our surgery patients must bring their own IV solution, bought at the local pharmacy for 2 to 3 pesos. Building in and around Dajabon and everywhere are shack, cinder block rooms with tin roofs. There is much unfinished. Apparently, some move around a lot so they don’t finish what they start. People every where are very friendly. There are many, many mopeds and small motorcycles, with 1-4 people riding at one time. On the one hand there is trash in the ditches, then you see the women sweeping the dirt in their driveways. Roads are in terrible shape. The plumbing is also terrible, you can’t flush paper, so it must be thrown in a trash can next to the toilet. There is no hot water available anywhere. There were dogs and roosters, but no cats or birds.
To eat on Sunday we had chicken for dinner. On Monday we ate beans and rice and meat. Tuesday we ate meat loaf and potatoes. Every day for lunch we had PBJ or tuna sandwiched. On Monday for breakfast we ate a hard boiled egg, and Tuesday it was pancakes.
Wednesday (2-19)
Breakfast began the day with a hard boiled egg and cornbread. Lunch was PBJ sandwich with 3 cheese crackers. Dinner was rice, stir-fry, and fried eggplant (very good). There are almost no desserts. We walked part way to Dajabon again my shins were tight from all the walking. I didn’t have any mosquito bites, but some people had a lot. Two or three people got diarrhea today.
Surgery was busy with 2 hysterectomies on large ladies ( massive fibroids; large ovarian cyst). Also we had a lot of hernias, breast biopsies, and lipomas. The hysterectomy took 45 minuets. The ladies were in excess of 250 pounds and were about 5’ 0” and the O.R. table doesn’t trendelenburg. We got a new AC for room one that we rented for 40 pesos per day. It didn’t cool and it was hotter than 86 degrees in O.R. today. We did 18 surgeries total today.
A lady came at the end of the day who was the sister of a lady who had a C-section last year. The baby required around the clock care and was transported to Santo Domingo, then he died. They brought a present to J. and we were all very moved. J. was the one that traveled with them to Santo Domingo with them.
Mandie seems to be fitting in well and enjoying her work and making many new friends. She has spent a lot of time with S. from San Francisco (she has no medical experience, she sells title insurance).
During the last presidential election 3 candidates ran and one named Leonele won. The candidates give paint to their supporters and they paint their houses, trees, telephone poles that color. Leonele gave out purple. One of the others gave red. So many shacks are purple, it looks very weird.
We call the hospital McGiver General. J. and W. are helpers who fix stuff, and there is always something breaking. The AC breaks because it is 229 volts and is connected to 110 volts, but the generator runs low at 80 volts and it destroys the compressor. The Dominicans don’t have any concept of preventative maintenance. So when something breaks they just throw it out in the yard.
I haven’t had much contact with the medical students or family practice residents but they seem to be enjoying themselves. They get to do some lumps and bumps in the clinic.
After dinner I wrote in my journal during the programs. Tonight C. (RNP from San Francisco) related a story of Corrie Ten Boom. After that H. played the guitar and everyone sang. H. is a Hatian, who lived in NYC as a cab driver. Now he teaches at his own Christian school in Haiti. He is very intelligent. The Hatians don’t speak Spanish but a type of Creole. There is great animosity between the two countries and most can’t understand one another, even though Dajabon is on the border and you can see Haiti from our hospital.
We try to pray with each patient through an interpreter today. Some seemed to appreciate it. This trip has been different because there is very little ego gratification for me and us as doctors, since we don’t have to report to the patients. When we see patients in the clinic we may or may not do the surgery and then never see them or their families. Even though we know we are helping, we don’t get any feed back from the patients. We just seem more like technicians, much like anesthesia or O.R. techs. usually feel.
One of our surgeries today was for an ovarian cyst on a 28 year old lady. We had ultrasound done somewhere, but the cyst wasn’t there. Therefore unnecessary surgery by US terms but consistent with medical care here (20 year old medicine). It still doesn’t feel too good. Yesterday’s gall bladder was similar.
Thursday (2-20)
Food today was scrambled eggs, homemade bread and pineapple. Then ham salad for lunch, beans and rice, with franks along with some weird fruit for dinner. No desserts, but I did have some cheesy crackers. We walked again part of the way in and I met a high school student. His name was H., he takes English from one of our translators G. Apparently they watch us closely because he knew I had not been here before but knew others and how many times that they were here, even though they had not met. The TV and radio in Dajabon apparently announce when American doctors arecoming to town.
Surgery was bust today. I did 2 gallbladders , then an umbilical hernia, an epigastric hernia, 2 ganglion cysts, a D and C, and a lipoma. I canceled one at the end of the day because it was more than could be done under local. The local doctor added a C-section and we had a trauma (motorcycle, alcohol, and sleeping at the wheel). The patient had a cut chin.
Anyone can drive a motorcycle and there are no speed limits, stop signs or any rules except the roads are so bad you can’t go very fast. The pot holes require people to drive any where.
Today a young lady came and brought her 3 week old baby to see J. She was the lady who lost her baby last year at this time.
H. spoke tonight. He supports a school in his hometown though contributions. He is serving as one of our translators.
Friday (2-21)
Breakfast started with French toast and pineapple as usual. They also have papaya each day along with cantaloupe. Sometimes they have plantain which is like a large banana. Lunch was tuna fish with cookies and dinner showed spaghetti.
We had another very busy day, I started with a walk, joined by S., the CRNA from Ohio, and K., CRNA from Wichita. We walked together daily since Tuesday. We canceled 2 thyroid surgeries because of uncontrolled hypertension. They just don’t remember to take their medicine. But we added on 2 hysterectomies and a C-section, along with numerous lumps and bumps. I had one ovarian cancer and maybe a liposcarcoma. I don’t know for sure, because we don’t have any lab or pathology to check. We are going to bring some specimen back to Dr. S.
It is very difficult to do the surgery and not really communicate except through the interpreter, such as A. (who is a 24 year old, Dominican Republic student) or H. or W. (who is a Dominican Republic girl). I know some of the people have been upset , primarily because of the comments made. A grandmother was yelling because her infant grandson, who we had done a circumcision on. It was the 2nd day post operative and the incision was swollen and red. She was concerned that his penis would stay that way forever, very few Dominicans are circumcised. Another lady wanted a tubal because she said she was poor and could not afford any more children. She was 10 day post partum and it not safe to do the surgery for 6 weeks after delivery. She was upset and we couldn’t make her see the risks.
Dr. M., J. and her daughter J. are leaving at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow to return to Wichita. So I thought it would be neat to send you this epistle to you to give you a chance to stay up with us.
Mandie has made many good friends and really has had fun in the clinics, but she misses you.
Tonight the surgery clinic got home before the medical (unusual) but it was because they had only a 45 minuet drive back. Today was market in Dajabon, lots of people were everywhere. A lot come from Haiti since Dajabon is right on the border. All the people come from miles around come to town. There is not a “farm and arts” market. Everyone just brings their cars, trucks, mopeds, etc.. and lines up on both sides of the street. The vehicles are filled with eggs, bananas, chicken, and everything imaginable. The sight and smells are amazing as well as the sounds, everyone yells and honks their horns. We never see police but do see the military with guns everywhere, since we are on the border. They are trying to prevent smuggling of contraband into Haiti.
There is a auction going on tonight while I write. Mandie and I can’t get into it. I guess I’ll close this again. I love you and miss you. I’ll look forward to seeing you very soon.
XOXO - John
Saturday (2-22)
Today started with one fired egg along with fresh bread. We all loaded up on the big yellow bus for the trip to the beach. The drive took us though Dajabon and then north to Monte Christo. It is a small town near a single plateau. The terrain became very arid and desert like with a lot of dust and cactus growing 10 to 12 feet high, they were very thick and dense. It also got 10 to 20 degrees warmer even though we are only traveled 60 to 90 miles. After Monte Christo another 30 minuets on dirt and rock roads to the beach.
The beach was pretty with sand, shells, and shell fragments for miles with many chonch shells. The wind off the Atlantic ocean was relentless. The water was shallow for a long distance. The area had a drop off and it made the colors change from blue to deep green to tan.
The skies were blue and we never had rain although there were occasional clouds. The nights were crystal clear with more stars than you could imagine
The lunch sandwich was PBJ and some type of meat (meat loaf?) and water. They usually have fruit, but M., the cook, and her mother and sisters usually came 5 days before us to buy all the food. This time with all the uncertainty of the strike she didn’t come until the day before . She lives in Monte Christo and speaks no English, but she has been cooking for MMI for almost 20 years.
About 2:30 p.m. we headed back and stopped in Monte Christo for ice cream at an open air ice cream shop. An ice cream cone cost about 5 to 10 pesos. Current conversion is 13.7 pesos to 1 American dollar. Then back to camp for a good cold shower. The shower bag was too much hassle for the benefit for me, but Mandie uses hers. Dinner was the usual rice and bean with okra, tomatoes, and fresh bread. No, I didn’t eat the okra.
P., a lady from Chicago who runs the hospital supply room, didn’t go to the beach. She stayed at camp and snuck in and sewed A.’s underwear, socks, pants and shirts closed. A. was a great sport and that became the beginning of pranks back and forth.
The evening was finished by M. presenting fact about to the Dominican Republic, followed by a Birthday party for D., assistant project director, and E., an elderly lady from Canada. I started and finished the book “The Blood of Heaven” and it was really good. Lights were out at 10:30 p.m.
Sunday (2-23)
We got to sleep in until 7:00 a.m. today, as yesterday. The generator came on at 6:30 a.m. and stayed on until 8:30 a.m. It came back on at 4:00 p.m. and stayed on until lights out.
Breakfast was 2 homemade cinnamon rolls and 1 orange (locally grown) along with a cup of chocolate milk. Some of the group went in to go to Mass at the Catholic church. The majority stayed in camp for a worship service. Lunch was good with pasta and tuna and mangu (which is boiled and mashed plantain). Also cucumbers- yuck, but Mandie liked them. The rest of the day after the worship service, at 10:00 a.m., was free.
I finished my second book by bed time, In His Hands, it was very well done. I took a nap as did Mandie. Chicken and mashed potatoes (actually lunch and dinner were switched). We went to the Evangelical Church in Dajabon and it lasted from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Most of it was translated for us. About 80 to 100 people of all ages were there. There was lots of singing and hand clapping. All of the people were very friendly.
The biggest news around camp centered around the 8 or so people who went to Mass this morning. They then made a trip for 3 or 4 hours into Haiti with H., who is from there. It was an unscheduled and unplanned trip by MMI and the leaders were hot. H. was fired when they got back. Neither Mandie or I went, but the storied about what they saw were interesting. It confirmed what we suspected about the dramatic difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. “Houses” were mud huts and the cattle looked malnourished. The cities have no electricity, no phones, and the roads are almost impassable when dry and impossible when wet. There is 70 to 80 percent unemployment and little hope for them. They stopped by a “nursing home” ran by a single nun, for the last 35 years, for the homeless. She receives no aid or assistance from the mother house in Port-a-Prince, except rarely and she makes due with $32.00 worth of rice to feed 40 people there per month. She is from Canada and speaks only French. Needless to say all came back affected by the country.
I’m out of socks so I’ll take laundry to breakfast in the morning to be done when we return from the hospital in the afternoon. The laundry is done by women from town who come during the day while we are at work and do it by hand. We generally pay about 1-5 pesos per day worth of clothes We just leave it and its in the same place later that day, but folded and clean. Mandie and I enjoyed our time going to church tonight. We thought of the lay witness mission going on back home often today.
Monday (2-24)
Breakfast today was scrambled eggs and fresh bread (cereal is also offered but it is served with whole milk and is almost too creamy). After breakfast we walked again about 2 miles toward the hospital (10-12 miles). The day was crazy as usual, with people stopping us and pulling down their pants or up their shirts to show the “medicos” something. I started the day with a hernia on a 7 month old that weighted 13 pounds. The another pediatric hernia, then a cholecystectomy. I was about to do a tubal, but the lady turned out to be a patient that I had turned away last week because she was 10 days post partum. It is not safe to do the tubal until 6 weeks have passed. She just came back and didn’t tell Dr. R. she was post partum, but I ended up seeing her instead of B. Dr. R. goes by B. The I did 2 lipomas and a patient with a sebaceous cyst. All total 24 more surgeries today. Yes, we had peanut butter for lunch. After work all 17 of us were invited to Dr. C.’s (a local OB/GYN that we have helped) home. In a garden beside his home, he served us fresh papaya, pineapples and bananas from his fathers home. Then we were served a hot drink made with beans ground up and strained. It was mixed with cloves, cinnamon, and sugar, it had vanilla wafers floating on the top. Last we had Dominican coffee like expresso. He introduced his family, and we took pictures. The we went back to camp for dinner, the usual beans and rice. Also we had cusava, which is ground, flattened and fried yucca.
After dinner we had a serious meeting at which MMI staff explained why they had fired H. I think it probably should have been handled in a private staff meeting.
Well I’m in my mosquito net writing tonight. Yesterday I got 15 to 20 bites from the noseeum’s. They don’t itch and fortunately haven’t responded like chiggers to me.
Tuesday (2-25)
At 5:30 a.m. the generator start up begins each morning and breakfast is served at 6:30 a.m. with pancakes an oranges. Devotions were good today A. shared then, we had our brisk walk for about 2 and 1/2 miles. The weather was crisp, and almost cold, last night and this morning.
Surgery today, as I said on the phone, was busy with 19 cases total. I did 3 hernias, a tubal, a cholecystectomy and a cyst on an eyelid. It almost rained, as we walked 8 blocks to the Telephone Company. The we met the crew at the ice cream store for “heliago” (ice cream). There was a big independence day celebration in town so all the school kids were there with flags, etc.. We found out one of the Dominican interpreters, W., is going to Heston College to become a nurse on a scholarship starting in August.
There was a reconciliation today with the MMI staff and with H. so he was back interpreting for us . Everyone seemed pleased.
Tonight we had full dress rehearsal for tomorrow nights talent show. The surgical and medical units both will be presenting skits. It should be fun even though I generally am not a skit king of guy. A. is serving a director and actor. Our skit is entitled “The Saga of Wart Man”, the theme is sung to the tune of Bat Man. Everyone from surgery has a role from the Bimbettes, who sing the theme, to the 3 doctors.
Wednesday (2-26)
Breakfast began with one hard boiled egg and 2 pieces of fresh bread and cantaloupe. Then our walk, but I forgot my camera at the hospital. I got it there and took more pictures because it was our last day in the O.R. We tried to limit the schedule but still ended up with 19 cases. The last one was the hysterectomy that B. and Dr. C. did that was bleeding post op. They were able to sew through the vagina (with human leg stirrups).
I did a 4 month old with and umbilical hernia, 2 others with pediatric hernias, and excision of a breast mass, and ventral hernia, and an incision and drainage of a leg abscess. Lunch was the usual PBJ sandwich. It is amazing how simplified your diet can become and yet still suffice. The regiment for the trip is very calming and relaxing with the minimum of decisions. We got paid a live chicken today and took it back to Maria.
After surgery we had to load the back of the large truck with all of our supplies. While we were waiting for something L., K., and I walked down to the street to look in a “farmacia” (pharmacy) to see what they had. The owner spoke English and said that most drugs are imported but some are manufactured in the Dominican Republic. The IV bottles of ringers lactate that we required each patient to bring or go get cost about 29 pesos (about $2.00 US). That represented the total cost to the patient for surgery , unless he had to buy the dressings, etc..
Back at camp we had a fancy Dominican meal featuring “chivo” (goat), “moro” (a beans and rice dish), also lettuce and tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and beets. Along with fresh bread. It was very colorful. No Mandie didn’t eat a goat.
After dinner the premiere performance of “The Sage of Wart Man”, played to rave reviews. After the surgery team the medical team did their own version of Jeopardy. Guess who they choose as a contestant Me! I guess Mandie told them I was a ham when spot lighted. It was fun but I didn’t win. Just close.
We still had to pack everything up to be ready in the morning. It was a tight fit in my bag. With the addition of all the surgical instruments and no tubs to return. We will drop the clothes off in Santo Domingo tomorrow. I left my shower bag. I didn’t use mine anyway. The cold showers did me good.
Thursday (2-27)
We had a light breakfast of cheese roll, similar to the cinnamon roll, cantaloupe, and pineapple. We packed the bus and the truck with our stuff and left forever.
The clinic today is at a school in Dajabon, so the doctors and two nurses went to the hospital to make final rounds. Also we went to dismiss our patients, mine was the Hatian lady with the hip abscess. We gave her dressings, medicines and money for food. Today is Independence day for the Dominican Republic, but the new president declared the whole month a celebration. Yesterday was mayor’s day and all school kids did face paintings and had a flag parade. A large parade is scheduled for today through the streets.
After rounds, we joined the clinic to watch although I did several consults for the doctors and the students. Mandie was uncomfortable due to the recent outbreak of bites these last few days. After lunch, (PBJ and possibly meat loaf sandwich) we packed everything to head to Santo Domingo, a 304 kilometer drive. With 5 cars, the school bus, two vans and two jeeps, we made our way back to Santo Domingo. That’s where I’m writing this installment as I’m sure you guesses.
We passed 2 or 3 mile of aloe fields with banana fields across the road. The banana trees were short. They were probably only 5 or 6 feet tall.
After arrival back at the Chicken Hilton in Sto. Dgo., the strange abbreviation for Santo Domingo, by way of a wild ride, we prepared for dinner. Mandie rode in the yellow bus and I rode in the van.. Dinner was across town, one hour, to Vessuvio’s. The town was filthy with terrible roads and squalor everywhere. Then all of a sudden we were in a beautiful neighborhood with expensive high rise apartments and hotels. There were casinos that were near the hotels. All of them were near the Caribbean’s beach with crashing waves. I had dinner with Mandie and “her friends”, not the old people. Dinner was good, Steak potatoes, snap peas, carrots, and lobster bisque.
Back to the camp, Chicken Hilton, which is one block from the Ellis Santana Hospital. We got back in to re-install the mosquito nets and get into bed by 10:30 p.m.
Friday (2-28)
We didn’t have breakfast until 7:30 a.m., but I awoke at 5:30 a.m. There was another group from Canada here doing a work project for the hospital and the camp. Mostly high school students and the sponsors. Unfortunately, last night while they were in a group meeting someone stole 2 girls suitcases along with passports and money. They weren’t carrying it with them as Mandie and I have been. Although that has been a pain, I guess it has been the safest way to protect our stuff..
After a brief breakfast of pineapple, cantaloupe, papaya and some type of egg casserole with beef stick pieces in it, we left for the colonial section of town. Santo Domingo, which is very old, has very, very narrow streets down to the sea. There were old forts, and the oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere. There was a street closed with stores on both sides, like an outdoor mall. We walked down the street and to an indoor market, similar to the old post office in Washington DC, but more cramped and crowded, like everything in Santo Domingo. We then took the bus to W.’s house, he is the international executive director on MMI. He has made Santo Domingo his home for 25 years. It was lovely, 3 or 4 stories, open on the roof top. It was on a hill with gentle breezes. The food was fair, pita sandwiches, pineapple, etc.
After lunch, Mandie, S.(MD), 3 medical students, and I were dropped off at the Botanical gardens. We took a train tour of the gardens, all 1,000,000 sq. meters. It was very large, but mostly tropical trees and very few plants or flowers, but it was still very nice.
The we walked back to W.’s house, 1.5 km. and we waited for the school bus to return from taking others back down town for more power shopping.
We traveled back to the camp, about 45 minuets, and a few of us stopped at the Santana Hospital for a 30 minute tour. It is very nice and might work for a project for a group of doctors from Wichita, as a one week deal. Then we walked the last 2 or 3 blocks to the “Campementos” (camp) for evening meal and “sharing time”.
The sharing was very good, except for the generator that went out before I shared. I shared the verses about the song, “Sometimes he calms the storm and sometimes he calms his children.” One of Mandie’s friends S. was not a Christian and S.(MD) was able to share the gospel with her. One lady, E., from Cape Cod, was able to reconcile herself with God. She had resented her childhood in Honduras of missionary parents. No Mandie didn’t say anything. E. had tried to go home Friday, but couldn’t get a flight out. Because of that she was able to be at the sharing time, and was able to witness what had occurred in her life. After wards we all hugged for 30 minutes and then I turned in because of the early flight.
Saturday (3-1)
I woke up at 4:10 a.m. and got finally packed by the van didn’t arrive until 5:30 a.m. instead of 5:00 a.m.. We traveled to the airport, it took about an hour, and got into the long line to check in and had no problems. The flight boarded at 7:45 a.m. and we were in the air at 8:15 a.m. Breakfast was great- Orange Juice for the first time in 2 weeks, also a cheese omelet, and of course cantaloupe and pineapple. The first flight was an hour and 54 minuets to Miami and once we were there we had to get our bags and clear customs. P.’s bag didn’t make it, so that slowed us down but we made the connection. Clearing customs was simple, the line to check our passports, then the line to check our bags, and then the line to check our seat assignment. Then we were on the flight. Miami to Dallas was a two hour and 24 minute flight and it was jammed full. We had to pick up our meal bag on the way in by the way, no pineapple. Just enough time in DFW to walk from gate 14A to 4A the last plane for the 50 minute flight. As we descended into Wichita, Mandie is freshening up her make-up in preparation for the welcoming committee. So, our story ends happily, awaiting the next adventure.
