Belize

I'm afraid I have been delinquent in keeping my family and friends up to date with certain upcoming plans. Usually I tell everyone as soon as possible when I have plans to travel but I think that between transitioning to married life and having to work every other weekend, this time I have been more isolated.

The destination: Dangriga, Belize.

Tim and I will be traveling with a group of medical professionals and various others organized by an Episcopal priest and his nurse wife (who I know through work) from January 16-25th. The medical team will hold triage clinics and do surgeries while the construction team builds an Episcopal church in another part of town. Tim, being the only technical person on the team, will be updating and trouble-shooting the computer lab at a local school. Apparently, some new hard-drives and software programs have been donated for such use.

This will be my first "missions" trip which is not primarily for evangelical purposes. Yes, it is organized under the Episcopal Archdiocese but all are welcome to participate in this trip to minister to people's physical needs, I assume to pave the way for subsequent emotional and spiritual ministry by local Christians. I don't know yet what my duties will be, but being a surgical nurse I'm fairly certain I will end up on some sort of surgical team. I also put on my application that I like triage. Knowing Spanish will come in handy with that (as far as I can tell there is only one other Spanish-speaker on the team. She is actually a high school Spanish teacher, no less!). Exactly who will be on which team and subsequent organization will be decided the Sunday that we arrive and the work starts Monday. Knowing Kathy I'm sure she will have a preliminary sketch of who will do what before we arrive which will then be up for discussion by the team members. The plan is to work almost non-stop through Friday then Saturday is a free day before beginning our return journey on Sunday.

This will be an interesting change from the slow-paced clinic in the Yucatan where I stayed for 7 weeks the summer of 2006. It will also feel weird to swoop in once again with a flurry of activity and fly out exhausted like the high school style trips to Mexican border towns. Usually in those styles of trips it's actually the Americans who learn the most and change the most so I will certainly watch for opportunities to talk with my future co-workers. Kathy tells me that not all of them are Christians.

Probably the most exciting prospect of this trip is to do my favorite kind of ministry alongside my husband. Perhaps "alongside" is too strong a word. Other than updating the computer lab Tim doesn't have an assignment. I assume that once he is done with that task he will be a few miles away helping build the church. Nevertheless, it is in this kind of environment where I feel at home, where I know I belong. I have never had a love for America I think because the Lord has put a love of other countries in my heart.

Prayer requests:
1. The usual traveling mercies: getting through security with extra bags filled with medical and surgical equipment, bags arriving the same time as the plane, no delays, etc.
2. Safety for me and the baby. Before deciding whether to go on the trip or not Tim and I researched the relative danger of certain diseases in the area. Kathy (the nurse who helps coordinate the trip with her husband) assures me that in their many years of trips no one has ever contracted malaria or any other disease dangerous for a fetus. She simply suggests to avoid the central regions on our play day where the risk is higher. No big deal. I saw ruins in the Yucatan. Snorkeling in the Caribbean has then moved up to the very top of my list to do in that area of the world!
3. Opportunities to share the gospel either with the locals or my coworkers. And boldness to go along with it, please!