Oh well...such is life in the tropics

There's been a bit of radio silence with the blog the past couple of days as we ended our mission week.

Friday, we treated the last of the medical and dental patients and packed up all of our supplies that will either remain at the clinic or come home with us.  Paula, her children and several of the helpers gave a presentation through song, prayer, music and words to let us know how grateful they were for our presence and the help we provided the Ngäbes.  Several tears, lots of hugs and handshakes later we loaded the bus for our trip to the airport where we boarded a plane from David to Panama City.  There, we had our last meal together as a team and had an opportunity for a devotional time on the rooftop of the hotel, with more conversation and tears, as we shared our experience for the week and how this mission trip has changed our lives.

Saturday, we got up quite early with very limited sleep (meeting in the lobby at 5 AM), some of us taking cold showers (due to a defective hot water faucet in Bron and Kayla's room the night before) and made our way to the airport.  Many more good-byes, our group continued to go on their separate ways as we took different flights starting in Panama City, Atlanta, and finally for Steve and I in Chicago where the last of our group left for home to be greeted by their love ones and back to our lives.

The phrase "Oh well...such is life in the tropics" was coined by a friend of Rhett's and as we had our individual and group experiences in Panama, my opinion of that very appropriate phase can mean:
               things will get done in it's own time;
               sometimes we'll arrive (or depart) on time, but hardly ever;
               we can't always control the outcome;
               we have to rely on ourselves and others to get things accomplished;
               we may not always like the process;
               it will be hot or rainy or both;
               there will always be work to be done

So, such was our time in Panama this week.  We all came for the same reason and despite our differences, beliefs, challenges, obstacles and frustrations we were able to provide medical treatment to an average 60-70 patients a day and provide dental treatment to over 70 patients throughout the week.

And as we were packing up on Friday at the clinic, there were 2 more medical patients and a child requiring dental work asking us if there was anyway we could see them.  We know others will follow us to Panama and we hope we can pull together another team next year.  There will always be work left undone and "such is life in the tropics" and the world.

Peace, Nancy