We’re back! This week Bette and I returned from our medical mission trip in Slovenia, and as always, we’re so grateful to be home (if you missed my previous blog post on our trip, you can check it out here)! Since much of the work on our trip was complicated/delayed/rescheduled/cancelled by snow storms, we’re especially happy to see the pleasant spring weather that Idaho is getting this year.

Compared to our medical mission trips to India, this visit was really very laid back. In India, we have huge lines of patients, some of whom have walked for days just to see us, and there is pressure to make time for all of them so that no one has to be turned away. Because our trip to Slovenia was centered on Bette’s childbirth education (CBE) classes, everything was much less hurried. She taught 20 Slovenian women about CBE, and they will now be able to teach this information throughout their country. This is a huge step toward giving mothers some independence in their childbirth experience since all patients are treated the same in Slovenia’s socialized medicine system. Bette also had the opportunity to speak at the senior level of the medical school of the major university in Slovenia – and she was even asked back to speak in the future. That’s pretty monumental, to say the least.

As for me, I split my time between helping Bette set up for her classes and seeing patients in home health-type settings. Back pain, knee injuries, headaches – pretty much business as usual for a physical therapist. I even treated a woman on a dairy farm where they made their own yogurt (which was wonderful!). She was suffering meniscus pain from being kicked in the knee by a cow, so really, it was not too different from back home.

My favorite part of these trips is always the opportunity to see different parts of the world (p.s. the Alps are amazing!) and to meet the people who live there. We’d like to say one last “thank you” to Pastor Ales, his wife Whitney, and their kids for hosting us during our visit, and if you’d like to support the Slovenian outreach or any of the other Calvary Chapel Missions, please visit https://www.chapelmissions.org/.

Until next time, keep moving, my friends!

– Alan