Thank you all for your notes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading each of them; they have brightened my week.
Marti, thank you so much for the package. The snacks widened my eyes and got me to say, "yesssss" several times. The reading material was spot on. I'm currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo as I await the arrival of Change your Questions, Change Your Life (I'll write my thoughts of Three Cups of Tea when I remember to do that). So I'll get to the books right after I'm done with that one. Thanks again. There is nothing like getting a package when you are far from home; it feels like a piece of home was sent to me, very comforting.
We've had a slow week, which I see as good. We see a variety from patients ranging from the "enemy" to the innocent. We have seen a couple kids, which especially tugs at heart strings. One is currently here in our ward. I went to get a Pound Puppy and a ball for him to play with. As I entered his room he was laying on his side looking up with his arm raised making movements in the air. As I focused in on him, there were several flies that were flying around his hand as he made the movements. It litterally looked like he was playing WITH the flies. Speaking of the flies, they are very aggressive here. They come right back to you when you swat them away. As for those we call detainees, I have been impressed to find that I feel as much compassion for them as I do any other of my past patients. One of the things I have been worried about is if I will feel some amount of hate, or indifference for someone who would take my life if he could. This has strengthened my testimony in the power of prayer, scripture study, and a general desire to improve myself. My burdens have truely been made light and my life has gained more purpose, just as promised in the scriptures.
Yes, it is very dusty. Tarin Kowt is surrounded by mountains that are even more rugged than the Wasatch and they are brown with not one tree on them. In the distance on several sides of me I can see white capped mountains. However, on very dusty days, the mountains disappear, just like they do when Salt Lake has a bad inversion. On those days, I don't run around base. As I drive around base, I always find myself looking at the mountains, they are very beautiful, Greg Mortensen mentioned that about the Catacorum range, that even though barren, they are breath-taking. Most everywhere I go on base is rocket proof; I work, eat, and sleep in rocket proof containers, and I even shower in the same type of container. There are sidewalks everywhere. Both the containers and sidewalks are unique to this base. I've heard from contractors and others who have been around Afghanistan that this is by far the best base in the country. I primarily eat Australian cuisine, which is not to far from U.S. food. There is a lot of curry. They eat several English dishes, their bread pudding is great. They served red cabbage prepared like that Dad makes, except they added white raisins which I thought were good. The eggs have orange yolks. The milk is boxed, long-life. However, a several minute drive will away we can find an American dining facility where, on Sundays before church, we go and eat all the fried foods, steak and seafood that is offered there. They even have Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Needless to say, it is hard to keep skinny if you are not active.
Church is unique, more so than that of Ft Dix. We have it in the evening. We have one meeting where we have sacrament and a lesson. There is a lot more casual conversation in the place of announcements and we have extra time after the sacrament to meditate. There are not very many active members around base, I think there are six. However, we've found there are four others in our hospital that were raised LDS. I've also had the opportunity to speak of the the church and our beliefs and one of the corpsmen asked for a Book of Mormon and is reading it. I've mentioned this before, but the spiritual insights that I've had since I've deployed have been so wonderful. I truely believe that by trying to live even closer to the spirit these past couple months, I have been not only protected, but strengthened emotionally and spiritually. In fact another simple demonstration of this is that I have been assigned to room with one of the other active members, giving a place for us to retreat from "the world", which can be a bit thick at times here.
We do interact with the locals, but only as far as emergency care is concerned. I am trying to learn some words and phrases so that I can be polite and speak with them without the interpreter. I've learned that there are language classes, so I'll try to take advantage of that. They are a very quiet, respectful people. They are very group oriented. It is interesting to see how quickly they age and how stoic they are.
We do have a gym in a hanger. Our medical group has begun P90X (a work-out program) and they make it a point to pull me away from my work. I've got a constant workload and have a list of projects that I want to accomplish. Being the only administration person in our group can be taxing, but the doctors and nurses have stepped up and have relieved me of some of my roles; that has saved me from going insane. One of my toughtest jobs it helping patients get home when we discharge them. I'm learning about how the theater aviation system works and how to get people moved around. We are getting some Singaporians in our group and I hear that a couple of them are administration, so I'll have them to help me. We are on a multi-national base. There are Austrailians, Slovakians, Singaporians, Dutch, New Zealanders and a couple other countries that I haven't seen. I think there are seven nations in all. It has been fun interacting with them. I work especially close with the Australians and soon with the Singaporians. They are all a fun group and bring a good mix to our health care team.
I am taking a lot of pictures and will try to send some, it is a bit complicated to get pictures to a computer that I have internet access on. Thanks again for all your support. This has been an amaising experience so far. Well, I meant for this to be a quick note, but I let myself go on. I hope you are all well and happy.
I Love you all,
John North
"The Lord doesn't ask about your ability, only your availability; and, if you prove your dependability, the Lord will increase your capability." Neil A. Maxwell
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