We have arrived!

To all the concerned friends and family, we are here and safe! The first two nights we stayed on the local army barracks and had no access to internet and limited phone access. We have now arrived at our final home away from clinic. The hotel is the Hotel Agua del Desierto (56-55) 367-700. While the Chilean army was very nice to allow us to stay on base, the lack of heat and hot water made for two long nights!

We have dispensed over 3000 prescriptions so far, so things are going very well. The people of Chile are wonderful and we cannot say enough for the local volunteers and the military. They have made sure we have everything we need (minus a warm shower).

Some amazing stories have come out of the first two and 1/2 days of clinic. I will share more over the weekend, but a few to get you started.


On day one we saw more than 1000 people in just 1/2 day of clinic. A young man came in with a high prescription and a very home-made pair of glasses. They looked a little like a pair of swim goggles we have seen Olympian Michale Phelps wearing as he broke so many records if he held the lenses in with bathtub caulk! The poor guy could barely see and everyone in the clinic was hoping for a perfect match to make his life better. After refraction it was found that he was a minus 15! and the "glasses" he had been wearing only corrected to a minus 10 in one eye and were plano in the other. WOW! In an almost miracle, we were able to find an almost perfect pair. Mission magic for sure.

Another amazing story from day one was one that just shows how big the hearts of the local people are. An older woman was at clinic and was about to get a new pair of bifocals. As is often the case the new glasses were a major increase from her current Rx. The woman kept trying to tell our team something, but all of the folks that worked with her spoke little Spanish. Finally she was able to tell us through one of the volunteers that she wanted to donate her glasses to another recipient so that they could get the same gift that she was receiving.

I can say from my experiences so far (I have worked in IMS which is the computer system thet identifies glasses, as the Information Officer where you direct people where to get their glasses and in auto-refraction where you use a machine to give a general Rx prior to seeing the OD) that this is absolutely amazing. The people are wonderful, the mission team is fantastic and have made me feel like family, and the volunteers are great as well. We were talking earlier saying more people should get the chance to experinece the joy that is a mission!

While I miss my family (Hi to the joy and light of my life, Angie and Nathan) this is something that I hope to be able to be blessed to experience again sometime and I count myself fortunate to have been a part of.

One final note, yesterday a woman got glasses for the first time... a typical story here. She was so greatful and kept telling Eric Anderson through the translator how much it meant to her. She was obviously not wealthy, but a few hours later she returned and gave Eric a gift (an orange and an apple). This was a huge thing for her to do and shows again the infinite size of the hearts of the people here and reinforces that what we are doing changes lives.

More to come. Thanks for reading!