On our way!

OK, so my blog posts will be far and few between. We luckily DO have internet access for the NGO's (non-government organizations), however it's slower than the dialup at my parents home from a couple years ago. I was hoping to post pictures throughout the trip, but that will have to wait until I get back because I don't have the patience to wait for this internet to upload pictures. So, a quick update on what I've been doing the past few days...

After about 21 or so hours of travel, we arrived in Guam on May 22nd at about 2 AM. We got some room assignments and went to bed. Woke up a couple of hours later and got registered and checked in. We had 2 days to spend in Guam, which was spend on the beach and doing some fun hikes. Super hot and humid. Lots of sealife and hermit crabs and lizards. I got fried the first day on the beach, even after slathering myself with SPF 50 sunscreen (which I never use). I had a hard time getting to my back with the sunscreen, so that will be peeling nicely in the next couple days or so. At least the pain is gone now. On Sunday (your Saturday-I think we're about 18 hours ahead of Seattle on Guam time) we went to a local branch where we invaded with our khaki pants and blue LDS Charities polo shirts. I think we doubled their branch with our group of 30 or so. I ended up playing the piano in Relief Society. The branch very much reminded me of church in Hawaii. They also had prepared a potluck which they invited us to. It's a pretty amazing branch to be able to pull that all together. They're great. I met a lot of new people-a lot of military families there (obviously). I believe they said there were 3 branches on the island of Guam. Not much to do there in Guam but water activities and hiking, but it is a beautiful island.

Oh, I failed to mention that our team leader for the group fell ill while in Guam. He is still pretty weak and probably won't be able to make it for the rest of the trip. My prayers are with him and his wife, but it has thrown a little loop for the rest of the group, particularly Bro and Sister Nielsen, the couple I flew in with to Guam. They have been asked to be the new team leaders until the Hughes can possibly return to the trip. The Nielsens were only planning on staying for Vietnam (3 weeks) but now may be staying the entire mission (4 months?!) They have a mission call to South Africa in August which they may have to postpone. If we do not have a team leader, LDS Charities cannot participate for the rest of the mission. The Nielsens have been great, and are doing an EXCELLENT job picking up where the Hughes' left off. I'm so grateful for awesome people like them.

On Monday morning we set sail for Vietnam and have been sailing ever since. It was a little weird to have the constant sway back and forth, but I'm starting to get used to it. Today the rocking was a lot worse and I started feeling a bit dizzy, but no tossing my cookies yet! I tell you though, I have never seen such blue water before. It wasn't the aqua tropical color nor the grey ocean color, but it was truly navy blue and so brilliant (it's the best word to describe it). It was amazing! I guess that's why they call it the "Navy" and not the "Aqua". (*Ba-dun, crssshhhh*-thank you ladies and gents, I'm here all night...!) Anyway, super cool. We're working hard to get the ship ready for Vietnam and getting all the briefs in on what we'll be doing. We're slated to do about 200 surgeries over the course of the 12 days we'll be in Vietnam. It's pretty amazing all the planning and all the different aspects and goals of the trip. I won't bore you with all the details (mostly it's just because I don't want to type it all out-you can ask when I get back, or if I'm feeling ambitious one night, I may post about it) but essentially we're trying to build positive relationships with the countries we're visiting-not only through medical work, but engineering, dental, veterinary and community service. I feel truly blessed to be a small part of this mission/project/whatever you want to call it-and to be a representative of the United States. We also have several other country representatives of various military and NGOs-including Australia, Canada, and European countries. It's a very cool international effort.

A little about the ship...

It's huge. I mean HUGE. 10 stories high. I have never climbed up and down so many stairs in my life. I mean, seriously, I'm thinking buns of steel by the time I get home. One of the officers said that taking one step at a time will work your hamstrings and quads, and two steps at a time will work your butt. I may need to incorporate that into my workout schedule. 3 gyms, none of which have everything you need really for a complete workout, but I make do. Yes, I have time (now) to workout, which is great. I don't know how working out will go when we start working and having patients on board. As far as I know, it's going to be working daily 12 hour shifts, with the possibility of one liberty day. Still waiting on my schedule. I will be working on the med/surg unit. The beds are stacked 2 high, not as high tech as regular hospital beds but they do get the job done. The surgical suites have everything that you could ask for, and ICU has all the resources they need as well. We're still dividing out the supplies for each of the floors. As far as MY living space (berthing), our beds are stacked 3 high, and we each have 2 lockers for all of our stuff. I am on the top "rack" (bunk) and all you can really do on your bunk is sleep. There is no room to sit up or even kneel on your bed (trust me, I tried. My first night in my bed I tried to kneel to say a prayer in bed, and my behind hit the ceiling about halfway up-oops!). The military is very serious about keeping your quarters neat and orderly, and they have sweepers come through every morning to inspect the berthing areas-if anything is out of place, they take it away. So far, so good for me, knock on wood. PS, the one nice thing about the boat swaying is that it kind of rocks you to sleep at night. Or anytime you're sitting down for that matter. I am trying so hard to get a book read while I'm here, but I always end up nodding off while I'm reading!

Our group tries to have nightly devotionals, and church on Sundays. I've had fun getting to know everyone. We have folks from all over the US in various capacities, NPs, orthopedic surgeon, Family practice docs, nurses, translators. It's a super cool and cohesive group.

So, that's all for now. I'm super excited for this, and I'm so happy to be part of a great team, both with the LDS Charities group, and the collective military/NGO group as a whole. A lot of hard work ahead, but I'm ready, with much anticipation. Talk to you again soon from Vietnam!