Last post before we´re Canada-bound!

Well, this is our last weekend before we leave. Maybe. Well, I
suppose it all really depends on whether the weekly TAAG flight
actually arrives and goes out this Thursday. (There are many amusing
acronyms for that airline, one being Think Again About Going).
Apparently we were rather lucky in having our plane on time in coming
here (on time = same day). It´s crazy to see how fast the time has
flown by. When I think back on all We´ve gotten to experience here, I
can´t help but feel so blessed. Not only have I gotten to see and
help out with countless different surgeries, sit in on medical
consults (including one in English!), experience (& help a bit in)
what it takes to get a hospital going, and learn about a lot of
different medical equipment by both inventorying it and trying to get
it working, but we´ve gotten to know how great people are here in
Lubango (who would have ever guessed that we´d come here!), learn some
Portuguese and Spanish, be presented with many (fun) challenges in
finding out how to make do & make things work with what we have and
meet lots of other missionaries that we´d love to meet up with again
in the future.

I think Julia was quite success full in getting Africa under my skin
(although not so much Botswanna - it was a bit too hot for me).
Already, we can´t wait for the opportunity to return when I´m finished
medical school (& residency) to see where things are at then, & help
out with whatever my specialty turns out to be (likely some kind of
surgery, I think), possibly letting one of the hard-working doctors
here take some much-needed time off. One thing I do know is we have a
LOT of Portuguese to learn before then.

Here´s something that will surprise a lot of you who know Julia - last
Wednesday she asked to and did come to the OR to watch a surgery! Not
only did she come and watch, but she stayed right through the more
gruesome bits, leaving to sit down only after we started wrapping
things up. I´m particularly impressed, as this was for a toe
amputation that had the patient jumping under the electro-cauter (he
was only under a partially-effective local anesthetic) and making
enough noise to make Robert (operating in the next room) curious as to
what was happening. After this, she STILL hung around a bit to see
some bits and pieces of other surgeries that were going on, before she
left to prepare for her English class. Way-to-go Julia! Maybe there
is some hope for her in our future dinner conversations! (for some
reason, though, she still doesn´t want to go into surgery herself).

Thanks a lot to all our generous supporters and intercessors who
helped make this part of our lives possible and successful, and we
look forward to seeing many of you soon!