Arrival home!

We have arrived back in Kansas! It was a little rough along the way but we had a successful trip home...besides three pieces of luggage, mine, A1's and Trent's which are to arrive to KCI around 1:45pm today and be delivered to each of us later today. We did not have luck with the travel gods this trip in regards to flight times but did have luck making each of our flights. We left Santisimo Sacramento around 6:30pm yesterday and following a short 10-15 min trip arrived at the airport. Our flight we knew had been delayed until 8:45pm and was about 1.5 hr flight to Lima. We were scheduled to leave Lima around 12:50am but that flight was delayed until 1:40am making our connection out of Houston a close one. We were able to purchase some final Peruvian gifts at the airport in our delay and have a bite to eat before boarding for Houston. We hit some turbulence which was rougher than I expected and made the last hour or so a little tough. Luckily when we checked our bags in Lima most of our bags had additional priority tags placed on them. Unluckily Trent's bag did not get that tag. With the rough weather we didn't land in Houston until 7:30am and quickly got through customs before grabbing our luggage. The priority tagged bags made it off the plane very quickly and we thought we would make our flight with ease. We quickly realized Trent's bag was not there so Amy and I stayed with Trent until his bag arrived while the others went to the gate to let them know we were coming. Our flight was scheduled to leave Houston at 8:54am and at 8:30am Trent's bag finally showed up! We hurried through baggage drop off thinking we still had a good chance of arriving at the gate in time. Until we got to security. With only one line open and at least 20 people in front of us we didn't think we'd have a chance. The three of us were quickly planning what our afternoon in the Houston airport would entail when we received a call from Reese/Dr. Randall saying they would hold the plane but we needed to hurry. So of course things moved the opposite of fast through security and once through we sprinted to our gate. They were able to wait for us and we quickly jumped on the plane. We made it on time to Kansas City with almost all of the luggage. Things I realized with our flight home is how much we take for granted the ease of communication these days with cell phones. I don't think we would have made the flight without so quickly being able to stay in touch about our whereabouts. Although we didn't leave with all of our bags they will arrive later today. After spending the past week seeing how happy those in Piura are with so little makes it very easy to appreciate even more what I have. And waiting a few hours for my bag is nothing compared to the struggles and work those we helped go through every day. It's a wonderful feeling being home but I can't begin to realize the total effect of the last week on my life. I'm looking forward to going back and doing even more.

A2


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Some more Pics

Sarah wearing her scrubs after helping in the Clinic on the last day.



Amy V (A1) dancing with a man at picnic for a retirement community.



A pig in someone's backyard.



Two kids helping us build the house.



(From left to right) Me, Hogan, and Preston before our morning work projects
And then some pics taken from the back of the truck (standing room only)


-Reese Randall

There's No Place Like Home

First I would like to apologize for a lack of blog updates. We have been without wifi or any other way to post a blog. It's been a crazy 18 hours of travel. Our flight from Piura to Lima was delayed a couple hours. Then our flight from Lima to Houston was delayed an hour. We had a little extra time in the Lima airport to Purchase some Inca Kola shirts. At about 2 AM we got on the plane and headed back to America. We knew it would be a sprint once we got into Houston. The lady in Lima had already told us if we missed our 9am flight from Houston to KC the next available plane wouldn't leave until about 3:15pm. The lady put "priority" tags on our luggage to help us move quickly through Houston. Trent's bag somehow slipped through the system and didn't get a priority tag. As we approached Houston, we were forced to go around a big Gulf coast storm. This detour made all of us a little nervous. We got into Houston a little after 8am. We hustled to the baggage claim and our bags popped right out. All of our bags arrived except Trent's, the only bag without a priority tag. We made the decision to leave just three of us at the claim and the rest of us began going through customs, security and to the gate. By the time six of us got to the gate, the other three were just getting in the security line. We waited until they told us we had to get on the plane. My dad stayed behind and 5 of us got on the plane. We then waited on the plane for five minutes until the flight attendant informed us that because of a strong tail-wind we had time to wait for the rest of the group to get on the plane. Thank God for that tail-wind! We are all in our cars heading to our homes. For the next couple of days we will continue to post some pics and stories. Thanks for the prayers and for following our trip on this blog.
-Reese Randall (editor-in-chief)
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Location:There's No Place Like Home

Last few hours at Santisomo Sacramento Parish

What a fantastic time we have had. Am so grateful to Dr. Randall and his family for letting us have this experience! We finished our last clinic this morning and I have never been called so many glorious things! Truly tears of joy! The Peruvian people are so clean and happy that it is hard to be sad for them.....just so greatful to be able to help. THEY bring us such joy! Thank you Thank you to the wonderful staff. They take such good care of us...fantastic meals, watching over us at the grocery store, helping us with construction and Cecilia for being such a dear nurse to help us. Can´t wait to return! Amy V

Final day

This morning we finished our final clinic. In total we saw 86 patients and provided 97 injections! Again we were even able to see a few of the wonderful people who work here at Santisimo Sacramento. We had one women today who was so thankful and spent 10 minutes telling us how wonderful she felt having us here to listen and how much the people of Piura appreciated our coming and giving them care. She wished us safe travels home and said we were so kind to travel such a long distance to come here. It's been indescribable how little goes so far for the Peruvians. In our week here I have never felt unwelcome or like an outsider. When we were driving through the villages most people yelled hi to us and waved. We receive open and happy greetings from everyone we encountered. I can only hope that as we return to the US that kindness passes on to those around us. It has been the most amazing week and I can't wait for the opportunity to come back and do more. Amy and I have been making a list of what we can bring next time to give more and provide more for the people. We are hoping to go to another orphanage this afternoon and give more OrthoKansas shirts out. We will fly out this evening and be back in the states in the morning.

A2


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Last night in Piura

Tonight is our last evening here in Piura. We will have the morning and part of the afternoon here to work and help as much as possible before leaving for the airport mid-afternoon. We had another clinic this afternoon and in total have provided 77 injections in our three days of clinic. We have even had the chance to help a few of the wonderful people who work here at Santisimo Sacramento. They all work so hard to provide meals, transportation, and safety for each of us that it was great to provide some care to them. Again we received much thanks for being here and providing some medical care. One women even said that every time she has ever had an injection it has been painful but the one I gave today didn't cause her any pain and she was so greatful for that. I think we could have been in clinic seeing patients all night if we didn't have Mass because people continued to show up to be seen. Hopefully we can get them all in tomorrow. We will leave any supplies we did not use here for future use in the clinic. We are also hoping to send a few supplies after we return to Lawrence that can be utilized by the nurses here. They really have the most amazing staff here and we have been so lucky to have all of their help. After clinic we had a short amount of time to relax and then attend Mass. After Mass we provided our mosquito nets to one of the families the Randall's have adopted. We will enjoy another meal tonight and prepare for our final day tomorrow.

A2


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Reese's Siesta Update

We're all just sitting in our beds or on a couch: I'm blogging, Preston is playing IPhone games, Hogan is reading, and I assume Sarah is trying to hack my Facebook again. This is the glory of Siesta. We are all resting after a BIG morning of construction and clinic. In less than an hour we will grab the hard-hats or scrubs and head back out. The Peruvians are some of the most wonderful people to be around. We are just now really in full swing. we are at the point where you realize you over packed some things and under packed others. With all that in mind It happens to be our last full day. When it is time to go we hope we will be blessed with more smooth traveling. We are prepared to take advantage of our last 24 hours here in the Piura.



Kelly, Preston and our new found friend Dave all work on a home in this picture.

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