We started today off with Suzy giving her testimony at devotion.  Some of you reading this may be familiar, but it sure was new and inspirational to me.  In a nutshell, it was her personal version of amazing grace and the radical turning around of her life after she heard God calling to her.  To me, this message was one of utmost optimism and hope because I know that I’ve got many flaws that I would like to change about myself and things that I am not particularly pleased with myself over.  It was uplifting to have Suzy remind us all that God wants each and every one of us, no matter what the state our lives.

Life at the clinic is still one of new learning opportunities and offering ourselves in different ways to help the patients we see.  From a medical student’s perspective (like my brother John and mine), this experience continues to be quite the dream summer.  We see things in the clinic here that I certainly haven’t yet seen in my education so far.  My brother and I helped to treat a bad hyena bite, I cared for someone who was bitten by a poisonous spider, and I watched as the clinical director removed a worm from one patient’s leg.  Some of these are even things that I likely will not experience during my 4 years of medical education in America (which makes this exciting stuff for a med school nerd like me)!  In addition to the unique cases that we see here, I’m learning skills that I will not be formally trained in for another year or two back in the states.  This week, I sutured up my first wound, placed my first i.v. line, and gave my first intramuscular injections.  My brother John and I joke that we should save our money by holding off on our next 3 years at school and just staying here for a a few years, since we’re both learning at such a wildly accelerated rate.  The attached picture is of Richard and John, two of the awesome interpreters that we rely on daily in the clinic.  I think they’ll be very excited when they hear that their handsome image will be posted in cyberspace (I’m already anticipating being able to give them the good news tomorrow morning).

Last Saturday, we went to the market here in Tonj, which is essentially a collection of small huts selling different types of goods.  Some merchants sell clothing, others food, others doo-dads and knick-knacks and what-have-you’s.  This was quite a fun and novel experience for a bunch of Americans like us, who really don’t have anything to compare this to in the States.  For one, everything is bargained for (and we had the distinct impression that the starting asking price for a given good was jacked waaaaay up when they saw folks looking like us stroll up to make a purchase).  Another unusual thing was the hustle and bustle that breathes life into the market.  Kids running around, merchants trying to corral you into their hut, and even motorcycles riding through all contributed to a real vibrant (and distinctly un-American) shopping experience.