Week 1: Part 1

Ey ey ey... It's been so long since I've posted... I don't even know where to start.

Sunday night I arrived safely at the guesthouse in San Juan after a 3.5 hr. bus ride from the capital, Santo Domingo. The plan was to get picked up around 4:00 pm by Morales (a Dominican pastor) and drive another 1.5 hrs. to El Cercado, a northern town located in the mountains. In typical Dominican fashion he didn't arrive to pick me up until 6:30 that evening. I was a little terrified of driving 1.5 hrs. and trying to keep a conversation going with minimal Spanish. Luckily, Morales brought a young man, Tomas, along for the ride, who spoke a little English. About 15 mins. into the trip, as we were driving, we approached a bus pulled off on the side of the road. As we neared the bus, a man walking off the bus, crossed right in front of us into oncoming traffic. Without hesitation Morales slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The man jumped, hurled into the windshield of our car, flew off, and landed in the road where we proceeded to push him 10ft! We were traveling about 45 miles per hour and our front windshield was completely blown out. We rushed out of the car where the man who had been hit was frantically pacing around. His shoulder was torn open, his legs and arms were scraped, and his head was bleeding. Never before have I felt so helpless. I had some of the skills needed in order to help this man but I had the barrier of not knowing the language. The Dominicans who'd seen the accident now piled around and everyone was talking about the damage done to the car but little attention was shown to the man who'd been hit. After about 30 mins. of talking and cleaning out the car (the front windshield now lay inside the car) we finally headed back to the clinic so the man involved in the accident could receive medical help. We arrived at the clinic and bandaged the mans shoulder and road rash, and then we took him to the hospital. Early reports were that he sustained a dislocated shoulder, broken humerus, bruised ribs, but no internal bleeding or concussion. Ultimately, I don't know what the condition of the man was since we left shortly after he arrived at the hospital. Two hours later I arrived in El Cercado where I met my host family briefly and spent the night... more to come about my trip later.

Right now I'm sitting in the guesthouse with the rest of the team from Ohio/Michigan. Everyone seems to be doing well and is in high spirits. Actually, most of the team is taking a "Siesta" (nap in Spanish) as we've already had a long day. I met up with everyone yesterday evening in San Juan were we've spent a lot of time doing preparatory work for the upcoming week. Lots of counting out vitamins and pills for our out patient clinics next week.

The team had been staying at a different guesthouse in San Juan until the rest of our team arrives today. The house is owned by a mission agency called Adventures in Missions (AIM) the house had 27 people from around the US staying there for a month long period. The people at the house are on an eleven month journey where they visit 11 different countries, spending a month at each destination, and doing missions work. They were all very welcoming to our group and we had a fun time getting to know them. Today we finally moved into the Solid Rock Guesthouse and helped get everything turned over from the last group. Plenty of beds to make, toilets to clean, and floors to mop :) This morning was another time of preparation for next weeks events. However, this afternoon was a real treat as we all climbed into the back of the pick-up truck and headed out to visit the rice patties of a local teacher, Socrates, who has a plot of land. It was quite an experience seeing the irrigation routes and learning a little more about the Dominican's agricultural heritage. After our "field trip" to the farm we were invited over to Socrates' house for lunch. (He's married to Eulalia, the head of the lab at the Clinic.) We had a fantastic time of fellowship, singing, and eating! What an enjoyable time with Dominican and American believers. We did hear from the rest of the team arriving today that their flight was delayed 1.5 hrs. in Atlanta but they are still scheduled to get in this evening around 9:00pm. More to come later on tonight!

Peter (for the team)