Paul Asay

A group of  16 students and 2 chaperons from ISU spent a week in Panama as an Alternative Spring Break (ASB).  ASB offers students a chance to spend spring break doing service projects.   What follows is more notes from the trip rather than a story, but if your curious about Panama, or an Alternative Spring Break trip you might find it interesting: We stayed in a guest house in Paraiso owned by a nonprofit Christian organization.  They work with SCORE Missions all the time.  Had a nice upstairs we stayed at with bunk beds on each end, and a common area in the middle.  Food was served downstairs just below I another common area with a kitchen.  Another group from a church was there, but maybe 8 or so. David, Mariaanella Bueno, and their boys Danny and Ezekiel were out hosts/tour guides for the trip.  Both from Uruguay, and had worked there with SCORE for around 6 years.  David was a professional soccer player before becoming a m...

So we decide to go on vacation to the beach with my wife’s family including my mother in-law who doesn’t like the beach.  One particularly beautiful beach day my mother in-law decided she wants everyone to go shop for antiques.  I don’t like antiques.  I’m told me I need to leave the beach right this minute and go spend it in at the antique shop a two hour drive away. Walk into the large antique shop just livid that I’m missing my swim and spending it here.  I lean up against a table, knock over an oil lamp and accidentally set the store on fire.  The place is full of smoke and everyone runs out.  They had a sleeping cat appropriately named Smokey that comes running out last with his hair half singed off.   Picture of the cat goes viral. Needless to say a lawsuit ensued and sure enough I go before a judge name Judy, same name as my mother in-law.  The judge, also a cat lover, sees Smokey with half his hair singed off and was e...

On the last day of a medical team trip to Mountain Top Ministries in Haiti we had the privilege of visiting a school they built near the village of Dumay.  The school itself stood out with its modern structure and brightly colored paint.  Yet it sits on the edge of a large industrial gravel pit with a serious dust problem back in the village.  Just a foot out the door of the van we were greeted by a swarm of preschoolers.  Want to feel like a rock star, come for a visit.  If only I was this popular in high school.   The work being done here is nothing short of amazing.  These people have zero creature comforts, little to eat and numerous other problems, yet hope and joy was abundant.  Mountain Top Ministries is doing a serious good work here. After a good 30 minutes of hugging kids we finally were freed up as the kids returned to class.  We then got the tour of the complete facility.  Several co-workers from the ISU Library, ...