Delayed Departure for Haiti

I just received the following email from the Utah Hospital Task Force...

"We have been issued a landing slot placeholder by UN Air Coordination. Understand that the limited slots are being sought after by governments and agencies all over the world. The landing slot allocation determines date/time of departure from SLC.

For three reason, departure will likely now be Thursday, or Friday, or even possibly Saturday:

1) USAID and UN would like some additional time to be ready to optimally deploy.
2) The orphan groups need more time if humanly possible to clear more orphans for extraction from the country.
3) Many of our volunteers have asked if they could get one or two more days to prepare, get off work, etc.

We are juggling all these concerns in working on the landing time."

Going Back to Haiti

On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Haiti with a USAID/UN sanctioned relief effort called Utah Hospital Task Force. I will be part of a team who's goal is to help reconstruct the Helping Hands for Haiti medical facility.

The most frequent question I am asked is, "What do you think it will be like?" My response is simply, "Hell."

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me...

Visit http://www.utahhospitaltaskforce.org/ for more details.

Here are some photos from my time in Haiti during my LDS mission.

Life After Graduation

My recent graduation and entrance into the "real world" has reminded me of a scene from the movie "Step Brothers" staring Will Farrell and John C. Reilly...

Dale: Hey Brennan.

Brennan: Good to see you Dale.

Dale: Thanks for hiring our catering company.

Brennan: Easy Decision. You guys have an outstanding track record.

Dale: (Looks around and sighs) This is like old times, huh?

Brennan: Ah, it really is!

Brennan: You still have your night vision goggles?

Dale: No, no. I had to sell those to pay for car insurance. How about you? You still kickin' boards or breakin' holes in pumpkins or anything?

Brennan: No...but I did start taking baby aspirin. To reduce my risk for heart attack.

Dale: That makes sense. You got to keep an eye on it.

Brennan: You really do.

Dale: Got to knock off the sweets! (Laughs)

Brennan: Thank you! (Laughs as well)

Brennan: That's a truly funny observation!

Dale: (Finishes laughing) Yeah.

Thanksgiving in Provo

Who would have guessed that my Thanksgiving break involved fishing? I shared my first experience on the Provo River with my cousin. After two days of instruction, he was consistently putting a bend in his rod with healthy rainbows and browns on the end of the line.

He is also an inspiring photographer and I appreciate his new found talent.

Fishing with Coach

It was special for me to guide my high school basketball coach, Scott Douglas, down the South Fork and Henry's Fork. We were specifically targeting brown trout with streamer flies, and had good success on both days.

Sisters

I was privileged to spend this past weekend with all of my beautiful sisters. Smiles and laughs were shared as we sat around a bonfire, ate Roxanne's homemade macaroni and cheese, and went fishing down the Henry's Fork. We should do this more often.

Bighorn Boys

I planned to rendezvous with three of my old high school teachers and one of their sons on the Bighorn River in southern Montana. Little did I know that the next three days would host some of the best fishing I've experienced this season.

Everyday produced rainbow and brown trout that averaged in size from 14 to 20 inches in length. I often found myself having to borrow my colleagues' landing nets, as I over confidently left mine at home.

The memory of the fish I caught on this trip will soon be overlapped by more recent angling success back at home. However, the memory of the five of us sitting around at day's end as we watched the sun go down over the Montana horizon can only be duplicated once a year.

See you again next year boys.