At left: Fr. Gerry, MM, and I had a chance to chat in October at the Mission Congress 2010.
It's been awhile between entries, but with the New Year well underway, an obvious resolution is to post on this blog more frequently!
So here is a brief update on the status of Medical Mission 2011:
I saw Fr. Gerry (of the Medical Missionaries of Divine Mercy in Texas) at the Mission Congress gathering in Albuquerque in late October. Fr. Gerry had left for the Congress from Laredo, where the MMDM's were finishing up their 2010 mission. Fr. Gerry said the Laredo Mission went well, but there had been some extra challenges this time around - including computeres and fundraising (a rough combination). [The Mission Congress, by the way, was an amazing event!]
After returning from the Congress, I received an e-mail from Cordell, the leader of the MMDM's, and he let me know that we would indeed have to postpone the MMDM November visit to the Diocese of Lexington. As a result, we also have to postpone the envisioned Spring 2011 Medical Mission to Kentucky. Cordell does feel, however, that things will work out for a November 2011 fact-finding trip, but, of course, that moves the actual mission trip to 2012.
It's not what we had hoped, but volunteers and donors, whevever they are, "do what they can do/give what they can give," and we're very grateful for that. We are, of course, optimistic that we can marshall our resources and look at other health ministry opportunities this year.
For instance, the Remote Area Medical (RAM) organization has posted their schedule for 2011, and it lists a weekend-long clinic at Pike County High School, slated for June 11-12. I put in a call to the RAM headquarters in Knoxville a few months ago, and the administrator offered to pass my contact information to the KY coordinator for RAM. I haven't gotten a reply, so it's time to check again. But in the meantime, be sure to check out their page, linked above. It's very impressive!
