Meet the Team!

One of these times I’ll come up with an original title for the first blog of the week, but obviously today is not that time… For those of you new to the blog, WELCOME to one of the favorite parts of my world~  and—most likely—THANK YOU for letting me “borrow” your loved ones for the week to help here in Guatemala… To those who follow our little adventures regularly, welcome back and thank you!  Your time and prayers really are appreciated.

Today I have the privilege of traveling with a team of four, which is pretty close to a perfect size I think!  There is another attending or senior physician, an OB/GYN resident (From the Wilmington, NC program), and her husband who is a Physical Therapist!  So far I’m the only one who will admit to speaking much Spanish, though, so we will see how that part goes…

Dr. Skip Johnstone has told me for years that he wanted to come down with me to Guatemala, and I’m so thrilled he is finally making the trip!  He trained at ECU a few years back and worked there on faculty with me for a while as well.  He is a very accomplished vaginal surgeon, so this week I get to take on one of my “other” all-time favorite roles—that of a student again!  It’s amazing how God continues to provide these great opportunities for both me and the women we will be serving.

Please pray extra hard for Dr. Johnstone this week, as he had to really struggle with the decision to miss a dear friend and mentor’s funeral today in order to fly down.  Also pray for peace and comfort over Sam Atkinson’s family~  May we truly be honoring to him in our teaching and operating efforts this week, as he was very well-known for both of those things.  Rest in peace after a life well-lived, Dr. A… You will be so missed!

Drs. Amanda and Nick DiSarro were contacts from Julia, who came down on the last trip.  She is a third year resident in Wilmington (same program), and apparently Julia made her experience sound good enough for others to start signing up!  This is a huge blessing to me and the women who need help there in Guatemala~  Once again, God provides.  I’m really excited to have Nick as a PT along, too, as it will hopefully allow an opportunity to re-connect a bit with the PT and Special Needs programs down at ASELSI (another great mission just outside of the town we are working in)—I haven’t made it down there in quite a few years, so I’m excited to go back and reconnect!

Today we have been traveling since around 3 am so far and still have “miles to go before we sleep”.  We should land in Guatemala around 1pm local time (2pm EST), then drive up to Chichicastenango where we will work the first part of the week—about a 2.5 hour drive without traffic, but it usually takes an hour or so to get out of Guatemala City Saturday traffic unfortunately!  Hopefully we will all sleep well tonight and be ready to hit the ground running tomorrow!