GSMDM Blog: LAX and Departure

 

4:08AM PST, somewhere over Pacific Ocean.

I have just awoken from my 2 hour nap. I am sitting in seat 42E with Annie Tran to my left, and Carol, our O.R. tech to my right. I must have fell asleep soon after we become airborne. I was hoping to log in a little bit more hours of sleep time, but my empty stomach had different plans. As a shook of the remnants of my slumber, I was informed that everyone had dinner already. Fortunately one of the well-dressed flight attendances came by my row to hand me the tray of dinner. It was beef stroganoff with steam vegetables, tuna salad, dinner roll, and a cheesecake for dessert. It was just enough food for me to feel satiated. I washed off the meal with a diet coke and doxycycline that the team has been taking prophylactically for malaria.

This is a scene as I lay these lines of text. I do not have internet connection now, and I do not know when this post will finally get published. Before I left, I was very encouraged to hear that many people have told me that they would be following my blog. Thus, I plan to be as faithful as I can to log down our memories as they occur. Writing also helps me process the events that have happen throughout the day. I do anticipate many times I will only have time to lay down only a few words for a blog entry because of time constraints, or just lack of pure energy—so please bear with me. However, in my seat here at 42E, I seem to have all the time in the world.

An update of our LAX adventure was that it started out rough, but ended successful. We had a chance to practice some drills of our entry procedure at Saigon Airport (Tan Son Nhut). Our goals were to have an efficient exit of the airport with all of our equipment, and with the least amount of redundant steps as possible. Although we made many mistakes, and even had to repeat the drill once, we learned a great deal. As of right now, I am very confident in our team. We have a great group of individuals with good heads on their shoulders. I am very blessed to be serving alongside them. Oh, and as an update, we have received our clearance papers that we had been so fervently praying for. These clearance papers would make our live’s so much easier when we land in Saigon. We almost didn’t get these papers on time, that was why I sent out an urgent prayer request in a previous blog. Thank you all that prayed! God pulled through and was mighty to save on this one.

Mark Doan, our vice-chairman on the missions committee, had done a great job organizing this past two days. He actually came to LAX a few days before in a scouting mission to better plan for departure. Unfortunately he could not join us this year, as well as the rest of the Missions Committee: Kim, Julie, and Debbie. I can say I know how they feel, because last year when I served on the missions committee, I had to send off the 2009 team without going too. Bittersweet indeed. Well, God has a time and place for everything. Mark, Kim, and Julie’s contributions were instrumental during these departure preparation days. Now it is time for Pastor Andrew, Luke, and me to carry that torch as we begin our mission in Vietnam.

GSMDM Blog: Urgent Prayer Request

On behalf of the Good Samaritans, I would humbly want to ask you for one prayer request today. Please pray that we can get all of our luggage cleared from Tan Son Nhut airport tomorrow. Because of reasons I can’t disclose, we will be having a hard time getting everything cleared when we land in Ho Chi Minh city. We have worked out many solutions and alternate plans, but we will not be sacrificed if we has to sacrifice of our equipment to customs. Please pray that God pulls a miracle for us, and allow us to pass safely through customs. Thank you all for your love.

Ben

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Mission 2010 Blog: Nine More Days!

Thao and Quynh organizing the MI supplies

Yesterday the Southern California branch of Good Samaritans congregated at Dr. Doan’s house (Anh Viên) to begin the packing endeavor for the 2010 summer mission. Each clinical team worked very hard taking inventory and gathering the supplies we need. The Medical Interpeting (MI) team had the most extensive list with all the surgical items packed sky high in large cardboad boxes. The Medical Assistant team (MA) and Dental Teams had the next most extensive inventory list. Their leaders worked very hard and dilligent in the process of tracking and logging all the medical and dental supplies. The History Team, though they had less supplies, also worked very hard in our storage complex. Our packing leader Laura Huang, had great patience for us in the whole process.

Some good news was that we were able to consolidate two storage units into one storage unit. This saved us $100/month worth of storage rent. We need to save money as much as we can, as funds are very limited. Our goal is to use as much of out funds as we can on our patients’ care, and less on operational costs.

The team is 9 days out until the mission starts. Please keep the team in your prayers this summer. You can also join us in supporting us by donating to our cause at http://gsmedicalministry.org/donate.

I will be keeping a blog here at The Covergency Blog. You can scroll to “The Good Samaritan” tab on the categories menu above to read all the posts regarding GSMDM.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

6/19 Second Garage Sale: Tiring, but Success

GSMDM's Garage Sale Banner

The SoCal Good Samaritans once again converged at the Doan’s residence to prepare for their second garage sale. The preparation process was very arduous, and there was true teamwork happening. There was a group of people who began picking up items across Southern California starting Thursday (Garage Sale is on Saturday). Then there was another group of people who came up early on Friday to make signs and to hang them up on the streets of Riverside.

The garage sale itself started off nice and early (6am), and this time we were more prepared then last time. We have advertised in the Penny-Saver, and on Craigslist. Even so, we made a little bit less money then last time–but that was ok. Overall, we got to donate a whole bunch of clothes to Goodwill, and got a nice tan. I am so proud of the Good Samaritans.