Top 12 Things I Have Learned In My Surgical Residency:

#12 The God of the bible never guaranteed a risk free or easy life.

#11 Prov 3:5-6 is a great way to relieve stress.

#10 Beside every great surgeon is an army of nurses/allied health workers.

#9 Sometimes people just die no matter how hard you work to keep them alive.

#8 In heaven I will be unemployed.

#7 When not to operate is harder to learn than when to operate.

#6 Sleep is just like any other necessity, it can be disciplined, rationed and forgone when needed.

#5 My most precious commodity to give my wife and kids is time.

#4 Perfect surgery does not compensate for arrogance.

#3 Every patient is made in the image of God.

#2 I can't make people feel better if I don't understand their suffering.

#1 If people are made in the image of God, you better know what you are doing when you operate on them.


By Jesh

That's How to Pack a Shipping Container...

Last week we drove our bins and a few other items to Indianapolis, where we met some of the members of our team to load the shipping container. Our stuff looked small compared to what was waiting at the warehouse!

The first of multiple aisles overflowing with goods
that will be put to use at Kibuye.

There were more then 3 aisles full of personal and medical supplies that people from the team, University and hospital had been collecting to get onto the container. I think we all wondered what would need to be set aside in order to get it all in!



The first job was to sort boxes and organize bins for the families that weren't in the country but had ordered things to the warehouse. The ability to do that was such a gift, thanks to the Free Methodist World Ministry Centre (and Amazon - oh, the things you can buy online!)

If you look closely at the back right, there's where
Kai spent much time hanging out - literally, he kept
a close eye on everything from his Jolly Jumper!

Next, the guys built a false floor above the two rows of bins. This was then able to support all the equipment, furniture, building materials, and large items.

Every space was well-utilized, even if that meant tucking books in every nook and cranny. It was amazing how much those guys fit in! And after a good game of tetris, there was even some stuffing space left. Easily filled with a quick trip to Costco...

Three days and about 200 man-hours later, it was packed up to begin the long journey to Burundi!

Some of the families will see there stuff by summer, but for our family, we will be waiting until we finish our language training. Sometime in 2018 we will get on the ground in Burundi, and once again see some of our very useful and wonderfully familiar items.

I hope there's some chocolate chips left by the time we make it there!



By: Julie