Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted on here. I've wanted to post since I left Caracas in october, but I've just been so busy. And then we went home for Christmas to visit the famliy and I didn't even think of blogging.

So what's been going on since October? Well, I was in Peru doing some research with a team of 5 and planning out a mission trip that I will be leading starting this coming friday! My parents and their church are coming to Peru to help with some earthquake clean-up that is still left to do from the 7.6 richter scale quake that happened in August. Then I went to the Dominican Republic--on the way home from there I got sick. Must have been too much air time or something? I had a small cold, a sniffle before I left, but then my ears didn't pop when we were landing and I couldn't hear out of my left ear for almost a week. I was stuffed up, sneezy, runny nose, coughing and sore throat all through our time back in the states visiting our families, but now that we are back in Panama, I'm feeling a lot better.

I have to say that we are experiencing a little bit of culture shock this time around. Panama is very well developed country compared to most Latin American countries, but we've had a hard time adjusting to the way the medical system works here. The doctors may speak english but they don't show that they really care about you as a patient. I'll admit that we've only really had a few bad experiences with one or two doctors, so my ranting isn't fully credible. I just wanted to share that in our circumstances the two or three experiences we've had with doctors here in Panama have not been pleasant. Also, because our insurance is US based we have to pay everything upfront and then get reimbursed by filing a claim with our insurance company. I knew about this policy before we came to Panama, and I understand, but it's just another thing for me to worry about getting done. It sure would be nice if our company could get directly billed rather than me having to fill out a bunch of paper work!

Work is going well. I've been very busy with budgets and planning since we've been back home in Panama. In November I was budgeting for the next fiscal year which starts July 1, and we were planning for a pretty aggressive increase to the budget. But now I have to prepared for budget cuts during this fiscal year, because funding isn't coming in at the rate we need it to. So if you have an extra $1 send it in to LCMS World Mission!

Alright, I think this blog is long enough. I'll try to keep on top of things and write more soon! Remember...You're blessed to be a blessing!