Three a.m. In Tucson, Arizona and I'm wide awake. So the thought occurred to me that I should do something I haven't done in ages...write a blog post! I didn't realize that I'd be writing this, so I don't have many photos today. So I'll give you an overview of what we're about to do. But if I'm able to keep it up over the next 10 days or so, there should be LOTS of photos. So check back soon!
In a few hours we'll gather with the rest of the team from around the U.S. to head across the border for the 15th Rocky Mountain Ministries mission to Central America. I think this is our 10th trip to San Carlos, Mexico. Our mission is generally 3-pronged: medical, construction and evangelical. Through the years we have been able to gather the supplies we need to set up a small medical "tent village." Each day of our mission we'll visit a different remote village within an hour to 1 1/2 hours' drive from San Carlos. We'll unload our van and trucks, set up our tents and begin seeing patients. We usually have 3-4 doctors, 4-5 nurses, and additional medical helpers (EMTs, sometimes dentists, sometimes physical therapists, etc.). By the time we have everything set up (takes about 30 minutes), we have a whole line of people from the village waiting for general medical attention (often as many as 200 or more). We set up a glasses station, where we give away about 500 pairs of reading glasses and sunglasses at each village, and we set up a fairly complete pharmacy in our big white van.
In the meantime, our children's program is also gearing up. We offer lots of activities for the children in the village: crafts, stories, music, games, and activities similar to a day at Vacation Bible School familiar to so many North American children.
Sometimes in the same village, or sometimes in another location, our construction team is working on a project. They may be roofing a church, building a small medical office, a housing unit at an orphanage, or any number of other projects that are needed.
That's a quick overview. If I'm able to keep the blog entries going throughout the mission, I'll add lots more details with photos, so you can see what we're up to. I say "if", because I know how busy the mission can get! However, this year we have a little larger team than usual (35 as compared to approximately 25 in most years), so we may be able to spread the tasks around a little more and offer everyone a bit more time during the day to step back and observe and enjoy all that's going on. And I'll try to spend some of my stepping back time writing a day-to-day account of what we do down here.
Here are a couple of photos of our first team dinner together in Tucson last night:
Some of the team had not arrived yet, and others (particularly our construction crew) will meet us in San Carlos this evening. They drive down separately with all our gear (tents, pharmacy van, construction tools, etc). We have quite a few young people with us this year. It's always so much fun to watch the energy and excitement of the younger set as they interact with the Mexican people and with others on the mission team.
Better tuck back under the covers and grab a few more hours of sleep. We have 6 hours of driving today, due south, and border crossings and visa checkpoints to navigate. Off to Mexico!
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