Thirty-five years is a long time. It is a lot of water under the bridge of life. Such is life when friends say good bye and new chapters open. High school graduations are a major event before the scattering starts. Those who spent almost every day together then are pursuing much different paths. I left high school to attend college. I had other friends who went directly to work and others got married. Whatever the reason, we all scattered and...

The little three letter word we use so often has so much power. It is the word “YES”. I can see myself as a child anticipating that word after asking a hope filled question. It might have been: Can I go to the lake? Can I have some candy? Can I stay overnight at my friend’s house? I can remember waiting to hear that little word — “Yes”. When you think about it, it is a very powerful word. It can bring a smile and the hope of a good...

Clean water is vital to good health. There are several ways to transform marginally safe or contaminated water into drinkable water. A common practice in the remote islands of Indonesia is to boil the water. It takes time and fuel to boil every drop of water a family drinks. A well (bore) can be drilled at a per-foot cost. It can be too expensive for some villages. Another option is to hand dig a well. This is a lot of work and the well remains...

Cleft Lip Surgery — See our blog for a running commentary from team members.   http://medicalteamblog.wordpress.com The staff at the Hohidiai Clinic are looking forward to this Alaskan team from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital coming to provide cleft lip surgeries. The permits have been secured with the Department of Health for this team to bring hope to the poor that come for help. Those needing the cleft lip surgeries are now waiting for...

The sky was a stunning blue as I looked down on the glaciers and snow covered mountains of Western Canada and Alaska. It was a view that was the best welcome sign you could see. I was nearly home—weary but excited to be close to the end of my travels. There is no place like home even after being in the remote islands of Indonesia and the beautiful continent of Australia.I left the northland with a dental team in early February. Seventeen...

In Indonesia the word for teeth is gigi–so a dentist is Dr. Gigi. We had our own Dr. Gigi on the recent team. He came from the place on the planet that has had a record snowfall and now he is in the remote islands of Indonesia pulling and filling teeth. Dr. Paul (Dr. Gigi) was just been amazing as he patiently took a look at the dental needs of each person. He was also there to train the dental support staff. It was fascinating watching...

I would confidently say that minus 50 or 60 degrees Fahrenheit is extreme cold. How about over 300 inches of snow accumulation and the winter isn’t even close to being finished? That is an extreme amount of snow. Alaska is beautiful by any measure and it is a place of many extremes. It gets dangerous to drive in these extremes. There are plenty of documentaries and reality shows about life in the Great North Land. The crab fisherman, gold...

Our mobile clinics go to some of the most remote places on the planet and serve the poorest people in these secluded mountain regions and isolated islands. I have personally been on several of their mobile clinics and I am amazed at, and blessed by, the devotion of these mobile team members. Sometimes the teams are greeted with dancers and music and there is usually food served to the team members. These teams stay in the villages for as long...

When I was a child we used to take two opened tin cans, punch a hole in the bottom of the cans and put a string in the holes. We would stretch the string out until it was tight then we would talk into one can and the other end was placed on the ear. This was a lot of fun as we would play for hours with our home-made phones. It hardly seemed possible that within my lifetime we would be able to not only talk to people anywhere in the world but...

The wide-eyes of our school age children gazed in excitement in the new classes they are now attending—21 pre-school and 25 in the combined kindergarten and grade one class. The school is an investment in the future. The children are unwanted by their parents but we see them as beautiful and full of potential. It is a huge commitment with a big payoff. These children will be the best educated in their generation in this remote region. Yes—2011...