A Kind of Calm

The first ever Guatemala Medical Mission Trip to San Lucas began like the previous medical trips with this massive caravan of undergrad students with too little sleep and the entire team dragging a ton’s worth of medical supplies. I’ll admit I was not the happiest person in the world at 3:45am, but by the time we got lined up at the airport, all the excited and nervous energy for the trip started to slowly build up and once we got through security we were all busy chatting away. We all thankfully made the first flight to Atlanta, and a bunch of us just passed out for the hour long flight.

Getting to Atlanta and meeting Dr. Richard Walter was when it all just sort of hit me. I am going to Guatemala. This trip that I have been working towards with the rest of the team for these past months is finally happening! Eric began interviewing us asking how we were fee1ing. I wanted to say nervous, but I couldn’t. I was just so content and excited for this trip. I hone1stly have a small idea of what to expect for the trip. I don’t know what actually running the clinic will be like besides busy and sometimes stressful or how long or exhausting these days are going to be… But I just felt assured. Confident. The long hours of meetings, fundraising, and preparation has just left me with feeling that being in this clinic at this time and date is exactly where I am supposed to be. A kind of calm.

Now, I know this is probably just the calm before the storm. Our team though gives me this confidence in the face of that storm anyway. Seeing everyone’s pure joy and even nervousness when reaching Guatemala, the moment for reflection, solidarity, and mindfulness at the cemetery, the conversations we had eating Pollo Campesino, dragging all the medical supplies up that absurd hill in Choacorral and seeing each other laughing and smiling the whole way up between some pretty big breathes, us taking charge to set up the clinic with the other community members of Choacorral expecting to improvise our first day of clinic too, and screaming Adele's "Hello" on the bus ride back to the hotel. Our translators, Roland Jose, and a pretty fantastic dinner with strawberry flavored marshmallows. All these moments, people, and working with our team... They have been fueling my experience this first day. I am ready to go through the rest of the trip with these people and see exactly what my twin brother Adam described as "the single best experience I had with Xavier" because this first day was exhausting but great.

Evan Purvis