Well I am sitting in the Sao Paulo airport with a 5 hour layover en route to Asuncion Paraguay. I typically space my missions about 6 months apart so having been in Nicaragua in November & now heading to Paraguay is atypical especially since I was in Madrid Spain last week with West Coast University Public Health students doing some work in the more rural areas there. A 20 hour flight home from Madrid on Sunday - 3 long days at work playing catch up Mon-Wed, unpacking & repacking has made this a crazy time BUT....I am SO GRATEFUL for the opportunity to go & serve the people of Paraguay. I have to plan my mission availability based on what is going on at CHOC (& there is ALWAYS a lot going on there), family events etc. I had hoped for a mission Mid March to Mid April, after Madrid & before Kelli & Clark Graduations the end of April but the dates were not working out. I tried to get on missions with friends to Mexico or to new places like Vietnam & nothing was aligning. Kim the Program Coordinator I was just with in Nicaragua emailed me & asked me to go with her to Paraguay & I said I would check if I could. I had already requested time off to maybe go to Utah for a long weekend so it worked out that I could add a few days on & go to Paraguay. SO that is where I am enroute to. I was in Asuncion Paraguay in March of 2014 so exactly 2 years ago. I re-read my blog & looked at the photos I have to remember those people and experiences & that got me excited. There are some very special people I met there. I also contacted the LDS Church Stake President and Mission President in that area to see if I can possibly meet them & offer some help to people there. we had a few emails & I am hoping to connect in person once I get there.
As is always the case I turn my life & house into a tornado in order to get out the door & Doug is so patient (even when I asked him to go get me earplugs at CVS at 11 pm the night before I left). I tried to unpack Monday & then started to repack on Tuesday night. I am getting pretty good at this & packing less for me (scrubs & clothes) and more to take to the people there - Dolls from a friend who does "Dollies for Daughters", flip flops & clothes I bought at Wal Mart with money from friends, sox from my dear neighbor Jane...and food for me to eat. After many missions I have learned that I do MUCH better when I have some control over what I eat - pnut butter & sandwich thins are a new one this trip, tuna, protein bars, nuts, dried fruit - yep that will pretty much be my diet the next 10 days.
We got to LAX airport in great time, I was seated next to a single dad taking his 2 year old daughter Lucy to Florida to see his sisters. Lucy was darling but after a few hours needed a nap & was very fussy & cried a lot - her sweet dad was so apologetic & I tried to play with her & distract her. At the end really...if that was the worst part of anyones day we are all doing great!
I thought I had a 2 hour layover in Atlanta but my first flight was late & by the time I got to the international terminal gate there was only 20 min to board. I made a few calls & was off again (or so I thought) someone had put luggage on the flight but not boarded so they had to go thru ALL the luggage on the plane (and it was a BIG plane with a lot of people so that took an hour & delayed us an hour or more) I was sitting by Demi - a 25 year old who is also going on the missions the PIT (she takes photos of all patients before & after surgery. She is a DARLING girl, had been an OSI intern for a year & went on 10 missions in a year - talk about travel & jet lag! She lived in Ca for a bit & now is in So Carolina during Nursing school pre reqs so we chatted the time away before take off. It is always fun to find an OSI friend en route. It was a 9 hour flight & I think with some "pharmaceutical assistance" I slept for about 4 hours. We arrived in Sao Paulo & instead of having a 5 hour layover it was closer to 3. Demi wasn't feeling well so we found her a lounge & she paid to go in & hopefully is resting now as I sit in the Sao Paulo Airport Starbucks blogging. 6 other OSI folk just came up who are also on out flight to Asuncion. Our 2 High School students Tiga & Ang both from the East Coast & their student sponsor Dale. This mission will also have some guests from Ethicon (a Johnson & Johnson company) that donates ALL the sutures to OSI & among them was Kim a person I was in Bolivia with. After you do a few missions it is crazy how many people you see again or people who know people. By the time our flight leaves I think there will be 20 of us all together from OSi on this last leg to Asuncion. Of course all of that gets my heart racing & energy level up thinking of what a blessing it is that I have these opportunities.
Again I am humbled to go be able to use the talents I have developed to help Gods Children in other parts of the world. As I look at the team list I am the only International Volunteer in the Recovery Room everyone else is from Paraguay...kicking myself that my Rosetta Stone Spanish Lessons are still in the box unopened :/ The Pediatric Intensivist is from the US so that will be good. Overall the international team is small most everyone is from Paraguay so I am wondering if there will be familiar local faces from 2 years ago :)
My heart swells as I think of the families who are likely already en-route to or in Asuncion waiting for us to arrive, waiting for us to see their child & hoping & praying that their child will be able to have surgery. Truly this is for me "The Healers Art" & why I became a nurse....I am here to serve & love as the Savior did to people I have not yet met & don't know. I am ready...and will share my experiences on my blog...again really for me as my "journal" but also for my dear friends.
As is always the case I turn my life & house into a tornado in order to get out the door & Doug is so patient (even when I asked him to go get me earplugs at CVS at 11 pm the night before I left). I tried to unpack Monday & then started to repack on Tuesday night. I am getting pretty good at this & packing less for me (scrubs & clothes) and more to take to the people there - Dolls from a friend who does "Dollies for Daughters", flip flops & clothes I bought at Wal Mart with money from friends, sox from my dear neighbor Jane...and food for me to eat. After many missions I have learned that I do MUCH better when I have some control over what I eat - pnut butter & sandwich thins are a new one this trip, tuna, protein bars, nuts, dried fruit - yep that will pretty much be my diet the next 10 days.
We got to LAX airport in great time, I was seated next to a single dad taking his 2 year old daughter Lucy to Florida to see his sisters. Lucy was darling but after a few hours needed a nap & was very fussy & cried a lot - her sweet dad was so apologetic & I tried to play with her & distract her. At the end really...if that was the worst part of anyones day we are all doing great!
I thought I had a 2 hour layover in Atlanta but my first flight was late & by the time I got to the international terminal gate there was only 20 min to board. I made a few calls & was off again (or so I thought) someone had put luggage on the flight but not boarded so they had to go thru ALL the luggage on the plane (and it was a BIG plane with a lot of people so that took an hour & delayed us an hour or more) I was sitting by Demi - a 25 year old who is also going on the missions the PIT (she takes photos of all patients before & after surgery. She is a DARLING girl, had been an OSI intern for a year & went on 10 missions in a year - talk about travel & jet lag! She lived in Ca for a bit & now is in So Carolina during Nursing school pre reqs so we chatted the time away before take off. It is always fun to find an OSI friend en route. It was a 9 hour flight & I think with some "pharmaceutical assistance" I slept for about 4 hours. We arrived in Sao Paulo & instead of having a 5 hour layover it was closer to 3. Demi wasn't feeling well so we found her a lounge & she paid to go in & hopefully is resting now as I sit in the Sao Paulo Airport Starbucks blogging. 6 other OSI folk just came up who are also on out flight to Asuncion. Our 2 High School students Tiga & Ang both from the East Coast & their student sponsor Dale. This mission will also have some guests from Ethicon (a Johnson & Johnson company) that donates ALL the sutures to OSI & among them was Kim a person I was in Bolivia with. After you do a few missions it is crazy how many people you see again or people who know people. By the time our flight leaves I think there will be 20 of us all together from OSi on this last leg to Asuncion. Of course all of that gets my heart racing & energy level up thinking of what a blessing it is that I have these opportunities.
Again I am humbled to go be able to use the talents I have developed to help Gods Children in other parts of the world. As I look at the team list I am the only International Volunteer in the Recovery Room everyone else is from Paraguay...kicking myself that my Rosetta Stone Spanish Lessons are still in the box unopened :/ The Pediatric Intensivist is from the US so that will be good. Overall the international team is small most everyone is from Paraguay so I am wondering if there will be familiar local faces from 2 years ago :)
My heart swells as I think of the families who are likely already en-route to or in Asuncion waiting for us to arrive, waiting for us to see their child & hoping & praying that their child will be able to have surgery. Truly this is for me "The Healers Art" & why I became a nurse....I am here to serve & love as the Savior did to people I have not yet met & don't know. I am ready...and will share my experiences on my blog...again really for me as my "journal" but also for my dear friends.
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