Mindy Marie

White Christmas, in Dallas? Yeah right.

2009-12-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

When I was packing for Christmas break it was a little different this year. I didn't bring my mittens, scarf and hat, I even left behind my winter coat. I was packing for Texas and lets face it a sweatshirt would be the most I'd need and that was just for night time. WRONGO BONGO! Christmas Eve brought a freak snow storm! I was shocked when I woke up and saw white flakes falling from the sky. It was a nice treat, but then it started to stick! The snow came down all day and accumulated at least two inches of snow! Yes, in Dallas! I had a white Christmas :) That was my Christmas wish, and it became a Christmas miracle!

How the Grinch Froze Christmas

2009-12-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

We went to the "How the Grinch Stole Chirstmas" Ice exhibit at the Gaylord here in Texas. It was 9 degrees in there! The Ice sculptures were incredible! It was whoville: The grinch and max and the whos were everywhere. I was impressed especially by the final display: a full out nativity scene with narration reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.

Oh yeah, water freezes

2009-12-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

As I was doing some Christmas shopping, I saw a cute little nativity snow globe. My little sister, Emily, collects snow globes and I was lacking in decorations so I figured I'd purchase it. My intention was to let it be a decoration in my apartment for a few weeks and then take it home to Emily. When I returned from shopping I decided to leave the goods in the car and to retrieve them when I was ready to wrap. Two days later I brought everything in from the snow covered car. Inside a little bag I found the now frozen snow globe. Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus we stuck in an ice blizzard! I let it thaw out in a bowl and eventually saw the scene again, this time they weren't in a water world...whoops.

Christmas!

2009-12-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite family traditions is reading a Christmas story every night in December, I was considering starting this tradition up on my own this year. I knew I would have to find stories on the internet nearly every night on account of my only holiday story is "Como el Grinch robo la navidad". But then "Christmas" started. Every night in December an apartment of boys: Eric, Ammon, Ammon, and Matt~ held "Christmas". We read a scripture, sang a song, and read a Christmas story, then had treats. It was the perfect solution and just what I needed to get into the Christmas Spirit. Eric is a very talented snowflake maker: that one says my name :)

Don't Play with Matches!

2009-12-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

Ashley bought me a Mango Peach Salsa Candle. I love the salsa from Costco and now I can smell it any time I like. So I went to light the candle one day....and the crazy match jumped out of my hand! It nearly burnt EJ's bum when it landed on my bed!

Elope: to run away; escape; abscond

2009-11-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

Monday night 10 pm: as Ashley and I were finishing our planning for the week we decided to register for a half marathon...for Saturday in Mesquite, NV! We called Grandma and Grandpa Hayes in St. George to ask if we could stay with them Friday night and we were set. But it was a secret...we didn't even tell our mommies :)
Friday after classes we hopped in the car. The first hour of the drive Ashley put communication restrictions on us...she was afraid that after a long car ride we would run out of things to talk about while we ran the following day(...fyi Ashley and I have NEVER "run out of things to talk about") but I obliged, my physics homework made it easy. At exactly 5:51 Ashley finally spoke to me and we enjoyed the rest of the drive. We stopped in Cedar City for dinner at the pizza factory. Due to a lack of sleep and being cooped up we were a little bit of a disturbance...we enjoyed our meal though.
When we arrived at the Hayes' we were exhausted. We chatted with Grandma for a bit and enjoyed all the nativity sets she had around the house and some holiday cookies. We thought it would be a good idea to look up directions for the morning, we started to plan out the time we would need to leave in the morning when Grandma reminded us of the time change. Yikes! That didn't even cross my mind. She told us we would need to leave an hour earlier to get there on time. The website said the 6:30 for the half so we figured we would need to be there at 5:30, which meant leave at 4:30 but now 3:30! It was 11pm! Ashley and I were going to run on 4 hours of sleep! Hold on! "You gain an hour"! Phew, ok departure time 5:30, much better.

Saturday 21 November 2009

5:15AM: phone alarm! (am I really doing this?)
5:20AM (Pacific Time): The buses were packed and about to pull out! We quickly ran into the building to check in. The woman said we looked panicked and told us that the half marathon buses don't leave for another hour. We were relieved and returned to the car. I fell asleep and enjoyed a pre race nap (it felt like 3 more hours of sleep, amazing!)
7AM: we loaded the last bus for the starting line. I braided Ashley's hair and we made a new friend, Daniel who wanted to win the prize money!
7:19AM: I was still braiding when we got there so we were the last ones off the bus and the driver kinda wanted us out...
7:22AM: We were waiting in line for the bathrooms and met a nervous first timer
7:25AM: entered the porta potty
7:30AM: "Everyone line up..."
7:31AM: I exited the porta potty and realized the sun was starting to warm everything up and the long spandex and sweat pants I still had on were WAY too much. The buses which took back everyone else's belongings had already left...Everyone started to run away as I stripped off the long spandex and sweats. I put my shorts on and realized that we would be carrying our belongings for at least 2 miles!
7:32AM: We met Dwain. He had a little baby air horn to start the race. Ashley noted that he would be driving back to the finish so we asked him if he could take our bag of extra clothes. He willingly took our load and we started the race with a personal blow of the air horn.
7:40AM: Dwain slowly passed us in his car, we ran over to him and gave him our jackets and were offically liberated from excess layers.
(The rest of the time frame is insignificant)
We enjoyed the hills, kinda. The views were great. We astonished people as we cheerfuly chattered on and on. We picked up the pace at mile 9 and pushed it the last half mile. It felt amazing to finish.
After enjoying some bagels and fruit and checking up with our new friends we hit the road and came back to Provo.
Our spontaneous half was a success and we loved every minute of it!

Dance Sport

2009-11-14T23:46:00.001-08:00

Ok, 5 years ago I wouldn't have been caught dead dancing let alone wearing PINK! Yep I did both, at the same time, and I liked it! Kyle and I competed in Rumba Friday night, we were competing in the higher division so I really just wanted to make it out of the first round. We ended up making quarterfinals! Saturday was our class competition for Samba, we did really well and made quarterfinals again. We had a blast shaking our hips, hopefully I can figure out how to add a video.

Ninja Runners!

2009-11-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

We braved the cold and dark (and embarrassment of spankies only!) for our 10 miles last Saturday. Ashley said she felt like a ninja so we appropriately documented the moment, hi-ya!

Farewelcome

2009-11-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

Wed: Nate Returns Home
Friday: Joshua's Birthday
Saturday: Farewelcome Party/ Halloween
Sunday: Colin's Birthday, Nathan and Colin speak in church
Wed: Colin Enters MTC
What a week for the Gill family!
I went home for the weekend and meet up with most of my family to celebrate the great events! Emi and I had a fun snowball fight and built Willy the snowman. Mom and I enjoyed a long run and managed to get a sun burn from the reflection off the snow. It was a rejuvenating weekend filled with emotion: excitement of having Nathan home, a little sadness to say goodbye to Colin for two years but overridden by joy for the impact he will make. Nate and Colin both gave touching talks on Sunday and really brought the Spirit to the meeting. In primary though, I lost it. Colin was a sunbeam teacher so all the kids sang his favorite song for him and the singing time leader said "whenever we sing this song we will think of Elder Gill."They all stood and sang "Army of Helaman" as loud as they could :) I was really moved by the sweet spirits of those children.

Cookie Thief

2009-10-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

A woman was waiting at the airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shop,
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book, but happened to see,
That the man beside her, as bold as could be,
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene

She read, munched cookies, and watched the clock,
As the gustly "cookie thief" diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I'd blacken his eye!"

With each cookie she took, he took one too.
When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.
with a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, and he ate the other.
She snatched it from him and thought, "Oh brother,
This guy has some nerve, and he's also so rude,
Why, he didn't even show any gratitude!"

She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate,
Refusing to look at the "thieving ingrate".

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat,
Then sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise.
There were her bag of cookies in front of her eyes!

"If mine are here," she moaned with despair.
"Then the others were his and he tried to share!"
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief!

So last Wednesday in my Marriage and Family class our teacher shared this poem with us and we discussed the way in which we react to the faults of others. It was a great lesson. The next day in my Physics lab I experienced a real life application. We work in groups of four for our experiments and at various times we make calculations. All of us run the numbers and compare our answers. On one such occasion I was intently working when the boy next to me asked TWICE if he could borrow my calculator, I kinda brushed him off and said "yeah just a sec." When I finished the problem I handed the calculator to him and he grinned. When I went to record my answer I saw MY calculator sitting on my paper. He was so patient and kind about it. I started to laugh and apologize as I remembered the poem.

Colorado

2009-10-12T14:15:00.001-07:00

Colorado is good for my soul! The moment I cross the boarder I instantly feel better. I came home for the weekend for Sarah and Josh LeMonte's wedding. It was great to see how happy they are. I spent some time with my nephew! Carson is growing up, poor kid's teeth are coming in though. David and Malerie made sushi for us, it was impressive and delicious! I enjoyed my short visit and seeing my friends and family :) Sunday was especially fun: I attended sunbeams, Colin and Brian are co-teaching. Sharing time was hilarious. I forgot how open children are in primary and all want to participate in answering any form of a question. In class Colin taught us about the good Samaritan and how we can all be kind to each other. We sang "Jesus said Love Everyone" countless times as we walked or skipped or hopped in a circle.

Jesus said love everyone

Treat them kindly too
When your heart is filled with love
Others will love you

As usual it ended all too soon and I drove back to Provo Sunday afternoon.

Conference

2009-10-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

Ashley and I experienced our first ride on the trax to Salt Lake City on Saturday. We had tickets for the first session and waited in the stand by line for the afternoon and got in! Both sessions were fantastic, I love being in the Conference Center. Great weekend.

Kokopelli

2009-10-04T23:11:00.001-07:00

I feel in love with St George last year, so I was rather eager on the registration for the Kokopelli tri... in fact I think I was the first to register. My bib number was 1. It was my first Olympic distance so I was nervous that I wouldn't even make it out of the water. Don't worry I'm still alive, and now I can't turn back: Olympic distance from here on out. Ashley Alberts, drove down with me and participated in her first ever tri! She did awesome! It was fun staying at Grandma and Grampa Hayes' home again with my tri buddies. Once again St George took my breath away. Not just because of that massive hill, but the views were steller. I was reminded again why I love triathlons.

Timp

2009-10-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

I checked off another goal: see the sunrise at the top of Mt. Timpanogus. We started at 3 am with no pre hike nap. It was rough and super cold at the top but worth the view. The valley was incredible and the red sunrise was unbelievable! I called it a once in a life time deal, but I could be persuaded to do it again next year.

Zion National Park

2009-10-04T22:42:00.001-07:00

Nate, Lindsey and I decided that before starting the semester we should hike the narrows! We camped at Zion and enjoyed the beautiful park. The Narrows were a blast, especially falling and floating down the river.
At one point on the hike we took different paths around a large boulder, my way lead me to a deep area of still water...gross. There was a log running diagonally through the area, on one half was foamy water and the other was a layer of bark and debris, neither side appealed to me to swim through. I saw the only way was to cross on the log. The log however was just floating unattached, very unstable. I sat on it and tried to scootch my way across, but with every small movement the log would roll and threaten to dump me in the infested water. Nathan was kind enough to try to stabilize the other end. I was over half way when I had another close call, yes there was squealing and laughter, especially when moments later I declared "Oh, I can touch here." Apparently the water was deceptive... it only came to my knees.

Good Bye Colorado

2009-10-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

After many long days at work, packing my room and memories, and building more on bike rides and weekend trips I headed back to school. The summer was over fast and classes were calling me back to Provo. Thank you Gills for taking care of me. Thank you family and friends for supporting me while I was away.

Katie is Married!

2009-10-04T22:31:00.001-07:00

I went back to Spokane for the weekend of Aug 15th for a very exciting event! Katie and Chris Lyden were married! The reception was beautiful, a little late but Congrats guys. Sometimes I still feel like a little kid, but we really are grown up, my best friend just got married!

Dallas

2009-10-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

I went to Dallas for the weekend to check out the narrowed down options for a new house. But really I wanted to see my niece and nephew! I drove to Houston with them for Sunday and Monday. I had a great time participating in preschool and a family trip to the spray park. It was great to see this little family growing together. Bryce and Pam are great examples to me, thanks guys. Dakota calls me Mimi and I love it! She likes to play a little game where she yells everyone's name in turn and waits for a reply of her name, I miss those kiddos.

Home?

2009-10-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

After a few days in Spokane I returned to my trusty summer job at the golf course. I was fortunate to pick up quite a few hours as students returned to University and High School. I thought I was at home, but "home" became a strange word for me this summer. Sometimes I call Spokane home because so much family is there and that's where I grew up for a while. Most of the time I call Denver home, but now I think I'm supposed to call Texas home. The family was in the middle of moving when I came "home". So the Gills took me in while they were away scouting out the new area and finishing up the Summer in Spokane. What I used to call home was just an empty house.
I felt like a wanderer from May-August, living out of a suitcase will do that to you. I looked forward to moving into my new apartment in Provo and having yet another place to call home.

Coming Home!

2009-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you can't really see but that is my family welcoming me home! I traveled all day long! I was visited by Dawn Anne, Brian and David during my layover in Denver, and greeted by the rest of my family and Amy and Emi (yeah the rest of my family) in Spokane. I was soo excited to see all of them. I was surprised by how much I really missed being with them in just three months time. We spent a few days at the lake and I got a taste of the summer fun.

Nicaragua

2009-10-04T18:53:00.001-07:00

Last country. It was bitter sweet. I was looking forward to seeing my family again but at the same time sad to leave the ship. We had a great group of translators aboard again, I worked with Rosa and Justin, who oddly enough I met last year at BYU he was in Managua doing an internship and came for the week to help out. I had several more sweet experiences in Nicaragua, one of the most memorable was with Claudia, 15 year old above. We became friends during her two day stay in the hotel; after translating for the doctor I asked if it was okay that I watched her procedure. I received approval and the next day got all ready in scrubs. I was at Claudia's side the whole time, she was a bit nervous. I held her hand as they started the IV and talked with her while we waited for the operation room to be prepared. I put the mask to her face and talked to her as she feel asleep and was there when she woke up. I really enjoyed being at her side for support throughout the procedure.
The schedule had me ashore for one day, but the weather thought otherwise. Evening winds prevented travel back to the ship so we were stuck. . . exciting but gross. I failed to bring extra clothing or any toiletries, did you know that Central America is HOT!? The end of the day I was drenched in my own sweat and eagerly looked forward to wearing the same clothes for 24 more hours. It was fun though, I was able to soak in ONE more day at a site.
COMREL: In every country the Caplin and volunteers do community relation projects. My schedule didn't allow me to participate in the earlier countries but I went in Nicaragua. We were supposed to fix up the baseball field which was going to be used as the HLZ (helo landing zone), but it turned out that they used an open field somewhere else. So, we visited an elementry school where the seabees worked all week to install fans and lights and played softball against a local team. The kids were eager to play basketball and futbol, how could I not? It was a dream come true :) So my last day in Nicaragua was one big play day.

El Salvador

2009-10-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

I know this is far past overdue and because of my negligence my mind has started to group everything together, which makes it increasingly difficult for me to recall the locations of specific experiences. I remember the people in El Salvador were humble and a mellow group. I worked more with optometry and loved every minute on site. This boy was a perfect model. It was sad to say goodbye to Lydia (above with her daughter, Karen), we became close over the 2 1/2 months together and shared many laughs. Karen came aboard in El Salvador to translate and the two left for home before we set sail. We saw more missionaries and LDS helping hands. I was able to RON (remain over night), I stayed at a hotel two nights and worked at a site three days in a row. It was a great experience, draining but exciting.

A little help

2009-06-28T00:35:00.001-07:00

It was a cute progression. HM3 Brown was using the "perfect pushup" thingers and the little boy became very interested. He tried to use them and did well, then i put him on Brown's back and he seemed to enjoy the ride even more.

Mindy La Nina Gringa

2009-06-28T00:18:00.000-07:00

I was able to persuade LT Gill to let me go ashore for the last two days when the hotel no longer had patients. So again I was sent to the school. I helped with patient tracking the first day, but everything was far more organized than the previous week so I wasn’t running around as much. And apparently my job was simple enough that the 9 year old boy in the orange mastered it and took over. (little job stealer!)

There was a little girl that spent some time with me and decide to make up a song the majority of which went like this: “Mindy la nina gringa”. I sang back “Leydi la nina loca”. Good times. The second day I helped in Opto! I had a blast. All the Opto folks are welcoming and great to work with.

sorry my blogs are short I'm working on more, I haven't been on in a while as you can see. We're in the middle of our time in El Salvador. All is going well one more country left, weird.

Thank You Sir

2009-06-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

Someone tossed me a urine collection cup and told me the bed number, I looked at it a little disgusted as I took it out of the plastic and made my way to bed 65. When I handed this man the cup and asked him to go into the restroom and urinate he reminded me that he couldn’t walk and offered to pee right then and there. I asked him immediately to stop and wait. I went back to the nurse’s station and informed them that he can’t walk, the answer I was given was- ok have him do it there, go get a curtain if you want. I returned with a curtain and again gave the man the cup. Apparently he was in a hurry and just didn’t want to wait so I bolted out of there. A few minutes later I looked over and he had placed the cup on the floor, filled and ready for pick up. I put on my glove to retrieve the sample, as I bent to pick it up I noticed the cup sat in an impressively large puddle of liquid. Yes, he decided it would be best to relieve his entire bladder right there. I looked up at his face to see a rather satisfied smirk shinning back at me. I could hear it saying “yep and now YOU get to clean it up, hehe.” My eyes gleamed back with “Thank You Sir!” Eww. This wasn’t the first time I’ve had the pleasure of cleaning up bodily fluids during my mission here and I’m certain it was not the last.

Escuela Max Seidel

2009-06-28T00:08:00.000-07:00

05:30-“Serial call away serial call away”- With an early start I headed for shore, I was lucky to ride in the Colombian military speed boat, making the trip only 15 minutes, followed by a 10 minute bus ride to the school. I was assigned to be a patient tracker along with a group of students, whose school we were using. We were responsible to keep the lines organized and help patients find the right places to go. The students were a huge help and worked hard everyday. They didn’t speak English, so in times of chaos when I wanted to revert to my language, I had to speak Spanish. I think that was good for me, I knew I had to get the message to them and I had little time. I escorted patients all day, played some soccer and became friends with my new primos. It was really neat to see all the missionaries we had there translating and other members wearing the “Mormon helping hands” vests. At the end of the day my mouth was sore (from speaking Spanish all day), I was exhausted (the heat is insane in Tumaco), but I was filled with____(blast I’ve never been great with words: love, excitement, idk)

Odio por Amor

2009-06-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

Juanes! Ok if you don’t know who Juanes is…may I suggest to you: open a new tab in your browser, go to youtube and search for Juanes. Juanes helped us out with positive publicity, …and he gave us a mini concert here on the ship! I was about 6 feet away on acounta I was with the kiddos. The first song he sang was “Odio por Amor”(Hate for Love) and I’d never heard it before, I loved it. Paula, one of the translators, explained to me that he is talking about the conflict between Venezuela and Colombia, through his song he pleads that we change hate for love. Juanes spreads a message of coming together and leaving the past behind, great musician! I was thrilled when I heard he was coming. So thanks to his help the following day the Comfort was displayed in positive light on the front page of all the newspapers.

Strength in Numbers

2009-06-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

We were blessed with angels! A group of translators came from Bogota to help us on the ship while we were in Colombia, many of which were members of the church. When we met on Sunday I was blown away by the strength they brought to our meetings. All the translators did an excellent job and worked extremely hard. We all appretiated the energy they brought with them. Thank you!

From Wog to Shellback

2009-06-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

We took a detour... Our planned route flirted with the equator but didn't quite make it. Apparently its a pretty big deal to cross the equator on a Navy ship. So...WE DID. Anyone who has not experienced this is refered to as a Wog (slimy pollywog). Those who have, are Shellbacks. Fact: I signed a paper saying that the activities in which I voluntarialy participated were in no way shape or form hazing...
Around 7:15 Thursday evening I started hearing about what was going down. Rumor had it we were going to be confined to our berthing at 8pm. I was rushed to sign the paper, find a white shirt that could be trashed and some scrubs as well as the Wog studyguide! I made it back to berthing in time and then some announcements were made (all in character) about some expectations. Wogs were to wear all clothing inside out and backwards, "Wog" had to be writen on their shirt and they were no longer allowed to leave their berthing. I spent some time studying up; I learned all the iteams in our life rafts, a verse of Anchors Aweigh and the history behind it, and the Sailor's Creed.
5AM we were woken with loud noise and yelling. From that point on I was no longer allowed to walk like a normal human being, rather a dirty slimy wog. Sometimes this looked like a duck walk, squated position; or a bear crawl. We were ushered throughout the ship and told to do rediculous things. At times we were required to: sing for the shellbacks, do pt drills, lay on the ground and be sprayed by hoses. Don't worry we received breakfast, but "Wogs don't have hands!" the food was all colored and while we were shoving our faces in the food, ketchup and mustered was so generously destributed upon select woggie's heads. I think I had at least half a bottle of mustered on my head and back which crusted throughout the day. It all ended on the flight deck with more activities and trivia to pass to finally kneel before the king and become a shellback.

Panama Canal

2009-06-06T21:54:00.000-07:00

I’ve been looking forward to this experience for quite some time now. I remember learning about the canal in school, but never considered actually traveling through it. The entire process is unbelievable. I went camera happy and captured some of the journey. I also have some video clips but I can’t really load those now. The locks were so cool. When we were lowered I didn’t even realize it for a few minutes and then all of a sudden we were extremely close to the ground. I could’ve safely jumped from the deck onto the land, when the same jump could kill me when we are at sea. There were boats that helped us along to the locks and then as we approached the locks, little engines pulled us through. They looked like the little engine that could. It was way fun and I’ll go back through at the end of the trip. So far the Pacific side has been a little more rocky and chilly.

Found in Translation

2009-06-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

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For Panama we were actually docked at the port and not anchored off the coast. We were allowed to disembark and walk around on the pier which, unfortunately, was indoors aside from the very end. All the shops looked like a movie set in a huge warehouse. I had the 3-11pm shift again, so I didn’t join in the “night-life” activities, what a shame. However, Ashley was assigned the graveyard shift 11pm-7am; so after I finished I visited the night crew for a few hours in the post op ward.

So the first day, I was extremely nervous to speak to anyone in Spanish. After quite a bit of encouragement from my friends down in the hotel: Estrada, Megan and Keyla; I broke out of my shell and began to strike up conversations. I appreciated the help, thanks guys. Once again I met some great folks that made their way through the ship. I had even more fun with the kiddos this time around. Every night I took them out into the hallway to play soccer and baseball. And I've been practicing staying in the lines when we color together. Melayka (praying above) wanted to come live with me :) she was adorable.

The hotel was understaffed because our army reserves came in late, so no one was able to go ashore. However, I asked Brother (LT) Marrs if I could go as a translator in the morning and be back in time for my normal shift. He helped me out and I was sent to the Gimnasio Pilon. It was a little intimidating to be responsible for the communication between the patients and the doctor I was set with. But a growing experience to say the least. I became of aware of words and phrases I didn't know how to say, I worked around it. Near the end of the day I finally learned "saca la lengua" stick out your tongue after saying put your tongue out of your mouth and demonstrating all morning. It got the job done. I also learned some interesting facts about womanhood while I translated (don't worry mom, I won't elaborate). I had time to play when I was replaced by a native translator for the last hour of the clinic. I returned to the ship right in time for my shift to start, it was a long day but definitely worth it.

Panama was also our place for visitors. Bishop Edgly and Sister Beck both toured and visited with us last week.

The last day at port the hotel staff started our cleaning in preparation for Colombia. While we were folding laundry someone called for me to run upstairs to translate for some patients. I was extremely confused as I was ushered out to the pier and told that I was going on the bus to drop patients off (I'd never heard of anyone doing that). Jenna was waiting for me by a bus and explained that she needed me to accompany her to pick up our June group in Panama City. I left for the day! Peace out ship. However...we were stuck at the airport for 5 hours waiting for a navy boy to come who apparently missed his connecting flight. sweet dude. But we got our new group and drove around Panama, so not too bad. Everything was sooooo green, just covered. It was a nice change of scenery, to see a living ecosystem opposed to our nice steel home. I talked with our personal body guard (Panamanian police dude-also in green) for most of the day. We pulled out the following morning at 5 and headed for the canal.

Liberty Port

2009-06-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

I felt a little strange going into Cartagena knowing that it was essentially a vacation. Cartagena is a tourist destination and as such venders were everywhere. I promise I couldn’t walk 5 feet without being offered: cigars, sunglasses, necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, or pictures. It was ridiculous, heaven forbid we pause on the sidewalk for a moment: within 5 seconds we were surrounded by people shoving their goods in our faces and saying how good of a deal they were offering. I don’t think I’ve ever said the word “no” more than the few days I spent in Cartagena. I recently watch YES man on the airplane and laughed at the idea of a YES man walking down the street there. ha. Even on the beach we were assaulted with offers. We visited the Old City of Cartagena and learned a little history from a guide. The Old city is enclosed by walls, on top of the wall is a great view of the ocean. When our liberty time ended and we made our way back to the ship it felt like coming home…that was odd.

Attention on the MTF

2009-05-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

Announcements on the ship are all over the PA system, most of which start with "attention on the MCS". Sometimes I sleep right through the wake up call so I can't really tell you what they say. Every evening there is evening prayer at 2155, and at 2200 "taps taps lights out, all hands turn into your racks. Maintain silence through out the decks. taps". The worst announcement in my oppinion is at 0800 and at 1500 the man gets on and in a demanding voice says "SWEEPERS SWEEPERS MAN YOUR BROOMS, GIVE THE SHIP A CLEAN SWEEP DOWN, FROM FOR TO AFT. SWEEP ALL PASSAGEWAYS AND LATTERWELLS. NOW SWEEPERS!" Mom what was my all time favorite chore? yeah... I couldn't stand to sweep, now I have a military dude yelling over the speakers telling me to sweep EVERY DAY, TWICE! Not cool! I think I'll have nightmares about this one. But I'm a pretty good sweeper :)

Antigua

2009-05-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry it has been a week since my last post! Antigua was great. I really liked talking with the patients and escorts every evening and of course being a kid, I mean watching the kids. I ran the afternoon/evening shift so in the mornings I was able to check on most of the patients after their surgeries.

One night the ICU called and asked for someone to come read to a little kid. I anxiously ran up to the ICU and there was Jamie! He had an asthma attack right before his surgery, so he was receiving treatments for asthma and his surgery was canceled (that's okay though, an 8 year old getting a circumcision...). We had a good chat and read a few books to each other. He wanted me to sleep there with him. I had to leave but I came back after I was finished at the hotel and he was still awake so I hopped back into the bed and told him I'd stay until he fell asleep. Jamie was out cold on my arm within 3 minutes.

Phillip (Iceberg on the side column) was a great man. I learned quite a bit just by talking with him. A lot of people were very open about talking about their reliance on the Lord. I read the Bible (in Spanish and English) nearly every night with people in the hotel.

I went ashore on Wednesday to the Multicultral Center, where we had a huge clinic set up. My responsiblities were to control the line for the GYN as well as run any errands for the doctors, and I made it my responsiblity to entertain the kiddos. Apparently multiple people took pictures so I'll add them later. I learned their version of ring around the rosies and various playground had clappy games. Aside from the pee on the floor I had a great time.

We are on our way to Columbia now, so the rocking is back. The Chaplin has agreed to teach me how to salute and march properly (poor example in the picture). Welp that's all I have for now. I miss you all.

Patients!

2009-05-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

Last night we received a full ward of patients. Which finally gave me something to do. Jamie (left-8yrs) and Alalin (right-6yrs) taught me how to play cricket last night. We ran around, colored and took pictures for a few hours. I enjoyed the chance I had to meet and talk with most of the patients. Antiguans talk like Jamaicans so that was kinda fun.

Orientation to Disorientation

2009-05-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday: we were escorted to the ship by military personnel. We rode in a little boat out to the ship and were lifted up in a life boat. The rocking began. We were then taken to the admin office and seated in a conference room. Captain Ware gave us the low down and permission to explore and treat the ship as our own. During the meeting I became increasingly aware of the swaying of the boat and a little nervous that sea sickness was on its way. We then had the pleasure of a two hour orientation meeting, followed by being shown our barracks. That first day I felt rather confused and a bit overwhelmed, Ashley and I managed to get lost a few times and directed to the (same) wrong berthing area 3 times. Everyone was very welcoming and helpful but I just wanted to stop the information overload. I felt that the more orientation and helpful tips I received the more disoriented I became, that and this new sensation of swaying had my head packed.

Sunday: I learned where I’ll be working, they call it the hotel. It is the pre operation area; after the patients have had their blood work done and are checked in they come to us and wait for their operation time. Basically I’ll get to play with kids and translate, I’m a little nervous about the translating bit, but apparently Antigua’s official language is English and that’s the next stop. Muster was at 730, I felt mildly out of place in the straight lines: standing tall then at ease yeah I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’ll learn though. We had the rest of the day off after lunch. I got to watch as the ship was refueled and received palettes of stuff from another ship. The sea is incredibly captivating; I don’t think I’ll get tired of the blue. Sunday night we had sacrament meeting down in the chapel, with our group with LDS charities and several members in the military. It was great to hear testimonies shared of the people around me. So every night at 1900 we have a briefing, they review the day and show us the plan for the next day. Its cool how it is all set up and each “department” presents their part.

Monday: “Holiday” so yeah I still haven’t done any real work yet but its coming we arrive at port tomorrow. I enjoyed my first spin class ever this morning followed by a yoga class outside on the highest deck. We had a few drills this afternoon and I’m off to a Steel beach picnic.

Sitting in Miami

2009-05-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the Miami airport, watching quite a few paranoid people taking swine flu precautions: obsessively applying and reapplying hand sanitizer and wearing masks. I'm trusting my immune system on this one. I have reunited with my good friend Ashley and we are awaiting our next flight. We leave for Dominican Republic in about an hour with 10 other volunteers. It still feels surreal. The last few days I spent at home in Colorado saying goodbye to family and friends and preparing for the trip. Yesterday mom and I pretreated my clothes with heavy duty insect repellent. This morning came fast. We dropped Kaylee off at seminary and after her loving farewell "bye Mindy, don't die", Mom, Emi, and Jake took me to the airport. I Love You! and will miss you all!

For those that don't know, I'm going on a service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For the first time the Church is joining with the US Navy and other nonprofit organizations for the Continuing Promise mission. The USNS Comfort ship travels to several central/south American countries: providing medical care to citizens. I am a non-medical volunteer and will be aboard for the next 3 months. I resolved to start a blog in order to keep everyone update with my experiences. I'm very grateful for this opportunity to serve and to share God's love with His children. Thank you to everyone that made this possible for me.