You would think that because there is so much water here everyone would be out on their boats every waking moment of the day. Yes, some do but ironically I've only been on a boat twice since I started coming here. The first time was a couple of summers ago. We had a boating day with the Youth Group and went tubing and water skiing on a lake. I was sitting next to the driver of the boat and he asked me to hold up an orange flag. We drove all around the lake as the kids took turns on the tubes and skis flying behind the boat and holding on for dear life. Meanwhile I was holding up the orange flag...

A while later when we were getting ready to go back to the dock, the driver noticed me holding up the orange flag and asked, "Where you holding up the flag the WHOLE time?" I replied, "Yes. You told me to!" Everyone one in the boat started laughing and explained to me that you only hold the flag up when the person on the tube or ski has fallen off and they are in the water. It warns other boats to be aware that someone is "overboard". Well they need to give a "what to do on a boat" lesson before someone like me gets on!

 

A couple of weeks ago the kids were helping me with loading wheelchairs. Some of the parents had offered to take us for ice cream but by boat - as a reward. We has so much fun although the weather didn't hold out and it was raining - go figure. I was in the bow of the boat (one of the kids gave me a boat terminology lesson on the way). The driver told me that when we pulled up to the dock I had to get out of the baot and tie us off. It sounded easy enough. Everyone else in the boat started to protest that I was from Colorado and someone else should do it. I assured them that I could do it and prepared myself to jump out. When the driver told me to jump I started to regreat my decision. The boat was still 2 to 3 feet away from the dock and I realized that I may not make the jump and the Pudget Sound is COLD! The more I thought about it the further the boat got from the dock. I had a job to do and was NOT going to back out because I was from Colorado and I jumped!  I think it turned out to be more of a flop but I made it to the dock. What ever it was it was graceful I'm sure. Then I realized that I had dropped the rope in the water on my way over...lovely. The boat had to turn around and make another drive by. This time I caught the rope and was able to pull the boat to the dock - while everyone in the boat and myself were in hysterics.

Boating Lesson Notes: It's hard to pull a boat into the dock when you are doubled over in laughter...

El Salvador - Summer

El Salvador is one of my favorite countries to go to. I went two different times this summer and co-lead the teams. We stayed in San Salvador but traveled to smaller towns and villages close by.  In the summer we have groups come for a week at a time. We distribute wheelchairs for a couple of days and also do service projects.

One day we went to a village called Zaragosa. It had a beautiful view but the people were in extreme poverty. They lived in cardboard and corrugated tin houses with no electricity. From the town you had to climb down to a valley and cross a river. There was a path all the way back up the other side. From the river when you look up it looks like a Indiana Jones movie: the staircase through the jungle leading up to a temple. In real life it just lead to another village. But we had to clear that staircase from trash and overgrowth. This particular part of El Salvador had been hit hard by Dunge Fever from the mosquitoes attracted by the trash, leaves and mulch baking in the sun. People came out of their houses to see what we were doing. Some started to help and some waited until we passed and followed curiously.

We went through neighborhoods and passed out bags of clothes, the recipients are always so surprised and grateful. By the time we are done we usually have a caravan of kids following us through the neighborhood.

My brother Jared went on one of the trips with me. He has been to Mexico with me twice but this was his first time to El Salvador. With that team we are able to pass out school supplies to a local Christian School. It’s amazing how happy a new pencil can make a child there. We are blessed. Our construction project was to build a church – it sounded impossible when I heard it too. There was a church in a tiny village that met on the road for service on Sunday mornings. We cleared out a space next to the road where they originally were meeting (with the help of a backhoe donated by a local mayor). We made a simple shelter of beams and corrugated metal with a dirt floor. It would keep the rain and sun out and it’s a place they could meet that wasn’t in the road. Two elders were in tears when we finished. They said they had been praying for a place to meet and now they had it.

While we were building of course people from the village came out to watch. There were tons of kids to play with. We took turns building and playing with the kids. Building the church was only the tool we used to build the real relationships with the people of the church and the neighborhood. One day I brought powered lemonade and a huge tub of water. I thought it would be a nice treat for all of the workers. It ended up being a lemonade stand for the whole neighborhood. It was so much fun. One little boy took a swig and sighed. In Spanish he said “ This is the best thing I have ever tasted and I wish I could taste it forever!” Things like that will echo in my head the rest of my life.

We also painted another church nearby. The pastors wife and some ladies of the church were in a room crying. They couldn’t believe that we would come and do such a thing for them. 

The wheelchair distributions went well. One container holds about 200 chairs, so each team gets to distribute about 30 chairs. We can slow down, take our time and invest time in getting to know the person. We had about 10 recipients that came from a school especially for people with cerebral palsy. We had a blast with them. We got to give them gifts, play games and give all our attention to them. It was a memorable day for the team. We will be working in Mexico next summer but hope to return to El Salvador soon.

 

Argentina - September

This was the first time we had been to Argentina and we partnered with Challenge Aspen an organization in Aspen who teaches people with disabilities how to ski. We were in a town called Bariloche in the Andes Mountians not to far from the Chili border. It looks a lot like Summit County, Colorado. Bariloche is involved with Aspen as Sister Cities. We worked mostly in a school for mentally disabled students called Alumine'. They had a great program and loved their students so much. Before the distributions the kids would perform a folk dance for us complete with costumes. They even decorated the rooms with streamers and paper cutouts.
The thing that struck me the most about our trip was that yes, we gave 160ish people mobility and independence but it seemed to impact the able-bodied people around them. City officials realized that there are so many more disabled people living there (the mayor's office told us there were 6 disabled people in Bariloche - ha!) It is so common in Latin countries for the disabled to be kept in their rooms and out of the community. No one knows they exist. They see these people out and about and want to make Bariloche wheelchair accessible.
It was really interesting to watch Challenge Aspen's program. I was fascinated with the mono-skis and the harness systems that they had. The participants had so much fun. It must be an incredible feeling to ski down the mountain that you were only able to look out through your bedroom window.

 

Mexico - December

We have been doing a sports camp in Mazatlan and Culiacan, Mexico in December for about 7 years now. The last time I went was in 2000. I honestly wasn’t too excited about this trip. We teach them tennis and a little bit of basketball neither which I am interested in playing. I wasn’t passionate about going but that quickly changed.

I just saw the movie Monsterball which is about the US Quad-rugby team. There was a guy who had just gotten out of therapy after a Motocross accident. He was discouraged by all the things that he had to learn over again. One of the US teammates brought in a rugby wheelchair for him to try out and he got in it and got to play a little bit. That gave him such a boost of encouragement and he was so excited to learn more.

The same thing happened at the sports camp. I went to the one in Culiacan. They are separated into groups according to their level of skill and learned different tennis skills. At the end of the camp four days later there was a tournament where they show off all that they have learned. I enjoyed watching their faces. Some of them never hit that ball over the net even but the fact that they even hit just made them light up. They were so excited and  hungry to learn more. It was so good for their self esteem and confidence. We spent four days with them and were able to build deeper relationships with them because of the time we spent with them. It was a very rewarding trip and really helped to renew my passion.

Yesterday I was on the ferry after a few weeks absence with Christmas and all. I was the first one in so I had a great view of everything in front of the ferry. I think I was writng thank you letters when I looked up in thought and there it was! I saw a huge mass bobbing in and out of the water. My heart rate skyrocketed as I thought "Could it be? The whale I have been waiting for?" I pressed my face all the way into the window and hardly breathed from excitment. I watched as my whale came closer and closer and finally materialized into... a tree. I looked further out and there where trees everywhere in the water. Did a cargo ship carring trees sink or something? Whey did they have to be carrying Sequoias to tease me? Why couldn't they sink with smaller trees so I would have thought it was a shark or something?

Then last night, I was on a dock at a marina. It was an unusal night here in the PNW - the stars were out. I heard something spashing in the water. I went from each side of the dock trying to see what was down there. It was a little spooky peering into the dark water. Especially when Hollywood makes so many creatures-in-the-water-kill-everyone movies. In my mind I heard the Jaws music as I waited for the creature to come back. Just when I expected teeth to come thrashing out of the water, about six otters pop out and jump onto another dock below me. They played and chased each other then jumped back into the water and swam away. I can add "Otters" along with "Seal" in my Aquatic Animals I Have Seen In Washington List.