We've continued to have groups and individuals arrive every week, and it's so great to have all of the help! Last Friday we moved Patti Sue into her new house, and Dwight has been working there for the last couple of weeks. He just returned to the property today. I had some help yesterday, and we finally got the office here set up. I can't even think of what all has happened....
This past Saturday was our first entire day "off" in over a month, and it was MUCH needed! Dwight and I were enjoying just talking over our morning coffee when we got a phone call from Dan Whitehead, one of the MAF pilots. He had an emergency flight to the jungle, so we got to ride along. It was an awesome unexpected blessing for the day! The pilots have called Dwight 2 other times, but he's never been able to go. This worked out perfectly, and we were both able to go.
We flew out to the jungle to pick up a young pregnant lady who was having complications- I think the baby was breech. We climbed into the plane after Dan told us this. I was sitting in the back, and there was a stretcher on the floor beside me. I was envisioning this lady lying on the stretcher in full-blown labor. Wow... Needless to say, that was not the case. We flew out to the community, and she came walking out to the plane like she wasn't even pregnant.
The town we went to is one of the biggest in the jungle, because there's a military base there. There are around 500 people in that community. I was bummed, because I was hoping to see the community! The airstrip was kind of isolated, so the people just came out to meet us. They were all barefoot. We picked up the pregnant woman (who looked to be about 16) and her tia/aunt. The aunt sat beside me in the plane, and she was terrified! She had her eyes squeezed shut and kept grabbing at the sides of the plane if we so much as bumped in the air. I just kept patting her on the shoulder and smiling.
I so badly wanted to take a picture of them, but it just feels wrong when you're in the moment. It makes it seem like they are just something on display to be gawked at, and I didn't want them to feel like that.
Overall, it was a great experience! It was cool to see what so many of our friends here are involved in with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). Hopefully we'll get to do more in the future!
Here are some pics from the last week or so.
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