It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of September! Some days have been very long, but the weeks have definitely flown by.

Thank you for your prayers during the tropical storm that came through last month. Fortunately for us the storm took a slight turn so we just got some light, steady rain. During the remainder of the summer break I continued to prep for the upcoming fall teams. At the end of August my friend, Kailey, returned to the DR which I was very thankful for. Kailey is the medical coordinator for another organization in the area, and we are often so busy that we rarely are able to spend time together. We took our dogs on walks every evening…it is so fun to watch them run and play together.

Mid-September the Buchers and Tyler returned to the DR. Life doesn’t quite feel the same when they aren’t here; I was certainly glad to have my people back! Katelyn Houser has also joined us for the next few months to offer some additional support. Katelyn has led a team the past few years and our personalities are similar in a lot of ways. We joked about being room mates once, and now she is staying at my apartment with me!

Our first team back from the break was a medical and gynecology surgical team from Nashville. I am always exhausted by the end of surgical weeks, but I love them so much. I love getting to be back in the OR which is where my nursing career began, and it is so special to see the patients through the entire process from consults to discharge. To share one story with you from last week, we had a patient who had wanted a procedure for 10 years but had put it off for a number of reasons, the main one being that her mom had died while having surgery years before. She and her family were so grateful after her successful surgery…I received a lot of hugs on their way out of the clinic. I am really thankful that I get to play a small role in stories like these.

This past week we had a medical team from Louisville serving with us. Over half of the team was here in May so it was really fun to see some familiar faces so soon. On Tuesday I had the opportunity to see patients so that the NP on the team could go on home visits. One gentleman I saw really reminded me of my grandpa with his mannerisms and the way talked about his health history. Unlike my grandpa, he was very serious in the picture we took together!

Prayer requests

• Health and safety. There are a lot of cases of dengue fever in our area. Kailey had dengue last week and was very, very sick. Please also pray for her continued recovery.
• Our staff as there’s a lot going on.
• Spanish