Mennonite Communitiy

Kim reminds me that it has been a while since I have placed a new blog. So I thought I would mention my experience today. I had the opportunity to be apart of medical education and see patients in a local Mennonite Community. This community is a very conservative order of Mennoite, no running water, no electricity, no zippers, no photos etc. Each month a group of Western Kentucky University Nursing students, University of Louisville Physicians and retired local physicians give a medical lecture/discussion time and see patients from the community. I grew up having Amish as neighbors, so it brought back memories of my childhood watching them from a far as they harvest the corn in the field across from our house. I recall a few occasions that we actually went inside one of their homes, but not in much detail.

I spoke on seasonal allergies, with a few questions about food allergies. The intelligence of their questions were great. They wanted to know western medicines as well as herbal/natural treatments. I enjoyed my time immensely. I hope I have an opportunity to go back before I leave for Baltimore. I had an interesting discussion with one of the men. I mentioned that I was in China last month for 5 weeks and he became excited and began asking me questions about my time there. When I told him I was in Macau, he knew before I could even speak that it was a former Portuguese colony and the oldest European Colony in China. This completely caught me off guard. Most people I have talked to have never heard of Macau, let alone know the facts he so quickly rattled off. Come to find out he is a convert to the Mennonite faith. He used to be involved with international business.

How amazing to go from a completely different culture half a world a way one month and visit another completely different culture 30min down the road!!

Check out this link to learn more about Mennonites and how worldwide spread the faith is!

Getting Back to Business

I think I am finally getting over jet lag. Although, I still get tired in the afternoon and want to take a nap. I have been blessed with having sometime this week to get caught up on all the paper work and messages that have occurred since I was gone. I will start seeing patients tomorrow. These past couple of days have given me a chance to spend a little extra time with my girls (Kim, Ella, and Lucy) and spend a some time in reflection about the last 5 weeks. People have asked me, "Was it worth it?" "Any interesting medical cases?" "Are you happy to be back?" "What is the thing you missed most about America?" "What was the food like?"

It is hard to know where to start. How do you sum up 5 weeks in just a couple of sentences. Yes I am glad to be back, but yet I miss the relationships started. I see these next few years as a critical time for Hope Medical and Macau with opportunities. Because of the continued boom in the casino industry, Macau is in the Christian sense, "Ripe for the harvest." Parts of me want to stay and be apart of it. Yet other parts of me realize that Hope Medical has two more doctors joining their team later this year and currently my skills do not fill any particular needs gap in the team. I can't say God is not calling my family to Macau, but I can say not now. I will keep tabs on the happenings there and see what happens after my time at Johns Hopkins.

In the mean time, I must gear myself up for the remaining 4 blocks of rotations that finish up my Family Medicine Residency and get prepared for my time in Baltimore.

We are finaly home

Well, after a 13 hour plane flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, a 2.5 hour layover, 1 hour on the plane to Columbus while waiting for repairs to the toilet and 1 hour actual flight to Columbus, we arrived on the ground. Kim, Lucy and I were reunited with Ella and our extended families. We slept the night and part of the day at my parent's house before making the 6.5 hour drive to home in Glasgow. We arrived here just before 1AM. Luckily our bodies still feel like we are on Macau, China time, so staying awake to drive was no problem. Now I must ready myself for work this week. The stress of planning for the next stage in our life journey in Baltimore begins. Thanks for following my trip, it is a one I will never forget. I look forward to seeing how God uses the experiences Kim and I had in the future. I will try to keep my blog going. The frequency of the posts may slow down. Thanks for all your prayers. I hope to catch up with many of you in person and share more about the medial and Christian work I did in Macau.

Lastly, during my trip I spent some time with other ex-pats, a couple of whom were from New Zealand. They introduced me to rugby and the Super 14 league. I even signed up for fantasy rugby. Check it out. The last 2 weeks I have done pretty well for not knowing much about the sport.

A gift for Lucy

The staff, as a sending off present, got Lucy a bee outfit and bunny slippers. She looked so cute in the bee suit. The staff all got pictures with her . She managed to smile rather well with each of them. Afterward she fell asleep in Kim's arms right away. We have truly enjoyed our time here and will miss all the our new friends.

Time Winding Down Here, But Still Trying New Foods

Yesterday Kim helped pass out Bibles to tourist at a local attraction. We had lunch with the team doing the Bible distribution. And yet again I got the chance to try new foods. Including one that I will never try in America..... chicken feet. I have heard through Kim that many of you enjoy my pictures of the interesting food I have tried, so here is one more.

More Answered Prayer!!

Thank you to all who have been praying for me and my family in regards to the Johns Hopkins Preventive Medicine Residency. This morning I received an email offering a position there starting July 1st of this year. Kim and I plan on accepting this offer!!!! Please continue to pray for us as we look toward taking care of details of moving, selling a house, finding a new place to live, new church family, and especially determining a new budget as the cost of living will be much higher in Baltimore and our salary will be much less. Check out my new school's website!!

Visa Extended!

So I found out today that they did extend my visa until after I leave this Saturday. Thank you for all your prayers. It is hard to believe that I am leaving in less than 1 week. It has been so good to be here. I have met so many great people and learned so much about the Chinese culture and medical issues. It will be hard to leave, but I do really miss Ella and can't wait to see her.