June 7, 2004
We worked hard tonight. Getting ready to
travel 2800 miles to work in stifling heat is hard work.
The group met in the Stauffer garage at 5:30 PM.
An hour of popping pill samples out of their blister packs was followed by a few
minutes of pizza, and then the real packing began.
Maria and her father (Juan) sorted through
hundreds of donated glasses, and somehow fit most of them into a big suitcase.
Bob Brown, who “volunteered” to help even though he won’t get to sweat in the
Peruvian jungle with the team, pushed so many Biaxin tablets from their packs
that he developed the dreaded “pill popper thumb syndrome.” Susan and Clay
somehow got all of the medicines and medical supplies into just 4 big bags, and
carefully stuffed T-shirts and stuffed animals around the edges for protection.
Becky turned out to be the Queen of
packing, able to get a few more T-shirts and Spanish coloring books into each
bag that was already full. Jim was the official luggage-weighing machine, and
every bag is under the 30 kg weight limit. Debbie popped pills, carried bags,
and prepped the bus – she is the official designated bus driver. Brenda labeled
bags and jammed more ball caps in, while Carol pulled, pushed, sorted, and
helped everywhere. Jennifer shot a few pictures, and then copied down the long
lists of what went into each bag.
Mackenzie helped pop some pills, then
provided everyone with a “thought-for-the-day” booklet, so each of us could
focus on the upcoming trip each day this week.
Arlen “supervised,” but somehow sweat more
than everyone else.
Unbelievably – well, maybe not so
unbelievably – every T-shirt, ball cap, coloring book, and medical item exactly
fit into the 11 overstuffed bags. How did we know exactly how many of each item
to collect over the past 3 months?
By the time a final group hug was over at
8:30 PM, and everyone committed to being at the church parking lot well before
9:30 AM on Saturday, we were pretty well spent. The packed bags were loaded into
the church bus.
It’s time. We have 108 hours to finish
getting ready: our minds, our bodies, our souls. We’re almost there.
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