Sojourn: of Faith, Dreams, Adventure, and Transitions

By Rev. Terry L. Dwelle MD MPHTM CPH

Dr. Dwelle shares vignettes comprised of stories, poems, and adventures providing insights into events that have significantly influenced his character, faith, dreams, and life transitions stretching from North Dakota to South America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. As you walk with the author on his sojourn you will experience the emotions and lessons learned by this Christian physician in his walk of faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385004195

Rev. Terry L. Dwelle MD MPHTM CPH

Dr. Dwelle is a pediatric infectious disease specialist who has served in leadership positions for several organizations including the Indian Health Service, University of North Dakota School of Medicine, Nyankunde Medical Center, Assemblies of God, Medical Ambassadors International, State Health Officer for North Dakota, and Public Health Consultant for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

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Copyright © 2023 Rev. Terry L. Dwelle, MD, MPHTM, CPH.

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ISBN: 979-8-3850-0418-8 (sc)

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WestBow Press rev. date: 09/18/2023

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Footstool Pulpit

Chapter 2 A Fascination with Worms

Chapter 3 Bats and Lips Don’t Mix

Chapter 4 The Baseball Issue

Chapter 5 Conversion

Chapter 6 The Glove (2008)

Chapter 7 Baseball Gloves and Fire

Chapter 8 Practice, Practice, Practice

Chapter 9 Innocent but Accused

Chapter 10 Overdrive

Chapter 11 Missed Kiss

Chapter 12 Third Place Is Fantastic

Chapter 13 Coaching and Physics

Chapter 14 The Team

Chapter 15 Sharing Faith

Chapter 16 Graduation and Beyond

Chapter 17 Calling

Chapter 18 Premonitions, Snowballs, and Relationships

Chapter 19 Almost Trapped

Chapter 20 Bats

Chapter 21 Touch Football Is a Contact Sport

Chapter 22 The Assurance of Faith

Chapter 23 The Morgue

Chapter 24 Graduate School

Chapter 25 The Apartment

Chapter 26 The Ring

Chapter 27 The Bear Affair

Chapter 28 Forest Kitty (2006)

Chapter 29 Skunks

Chapter 30 Trout

Chapter 31 Tiny Ticks

Chapter 32 The Latex Glove

Chapter 33 Catnip

Chapter 34 The Buckeye

Chapter 35 Miracle of Flight

Chapter 36 The Miracle of Rocky Lake

Chapter 37 Six Mile Bay

Chapter 38 Baked Alaska and Bourbon

Chapter 39 The Fox

Chapter 40 Perceived Needs and Engagement

Chapter 41 Boundary Waters

Chapter 42 Brazil

Chapter 43 Ghost Fish

Chapter 44 I Don’t Need Public Health

Chapter 45 Food Cultures

Chapter 46 Alien Eye

Chapter 47 Camping at Stockade Lake

Chapter 48 Language

Chapter 49 The Dwelle House

Chapter 50 Losing Respect

Chapter 51 The Hospital

Chapter 52 The Laboratory

Chapter 53 Adequate Provision

Chapter 54 A Shield

Chapter 55 Angels by the Names of Roy and Pat

Chapter 56 The Christmas Card

Chapter 57 Maggots

Chapter 58 Genocide

Chapter 59 Leopard Camp

Chapter 60 Taming the Bear

Chapter 61 Cockroaches

Chapter 62 Missionary Health

Chapter 63 Community Engagement

Chapter 64 Burji

Chapter 65 The Smoothie Doctrine

Chapter 66 Transition

Chapter 67 The Phone Call

Chapter 68 Transitional Environmentalist

Chapter 69 Buckhorn Dawn 2012

Chapter 70 The Buckhorn

Chapter 71 Pets

Chapter 72 Turtle Mountain

Chapter 73 Bridging Ministries

INTRODUCTION

During our sojourn on earth, all of us are influenced by various experiences and events that make our lives unique. This book is a collection of vignettes, putting words to situations that have influenced who I am and strive to be. Life and its events will continue for all of us throughout our time on this planet. May we learn from the lessons they teach and adjust as needed to become the people God wants us to be.

I dedicate this work to my wife, Diana, who has loved and tolerated me all these years.

CHAPTER 1

THE FOOTSTOOL PULPIT

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I ’m not sure why or how I became interested in preaching. Was it due to my mom’s deep religious convictions? I’m sure that had an impact. Was it partly due to the charismatic sermons I heard while sitting by Mom in the pew of the Garrison Bible church while coloring biblical characters on a Sunday school coloring sheet? Whatever the underlying influence, or series of influences, I often found myself in midweek practicing sermon delivery in our living room from behind my pulpit, a large red footstool. I had a Bible, or at least a book that looked like a Bible, and a main message: It’s God, I tell ya! I know that sermons generally have three components: tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. I had that down and reemphasized the latter about twenty times to be sure the message got through. There was wisdom in that simple message. Our Christian beliefs and doctrine all boil down to our faith in God. It is all about Him and what He’s done for us through Jesus on the cross. I didn’t understand much theology and doctrine during my footstool preaching days but did understand that basic truth. Human wisdom, with its quirks, gaps, and biases, can lead us down dangerous paths where we question the written content of holy scripture and stumble on the obvious. In 1 Corinthians 1:20–21 (New International Version, or NIV), we read, Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. As a child, I knew it was all about God from the influence of many people who sincerely loved me. He needed to be the center of my life. That’s why Jesus stated so clearly that we need to keep our faith simple and firm throughout life, like that of a child (Mark 10:15 NIV).

I always provided music prior to the sermon. The only song that emerged from my plastic ukulele when I cranked the handle went, Jumb-a-li, the coffee’s fine, fee-lee-a gumbo. It was a stretch to connect that song to the sermon text, but it was the best our young choir could provide at the time. I ended each service with an altar call to the sofa. Spot, our dog and only regular congregant, needed repentance weekly, probably for chasing chickens or stealing garbage. He always came forward and was so grateful to have his puppy trespasses absolved. I’m sure he was a better dog for that. At the end of our services, instead of giving a monetary offering, Spot would just give me a big, juicy puppy lick of appreciation.

It’s interesting that my brother became a pastor and I became a doctor, opposite of what we likely had envisioned as kids. God calls and prepares each of us with special talents and abilities to be used for His purpose. My adult pulpit came with a stethoscope and public health skills along with a calling as strong as that of a pastor. All of us believers are called with the same intensity of calling to dedicate our lives totally to His service of sharing the good news with people we meet every day. One of the most effective ways to present the gospel is by living out our faith and expressing the fruits of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, forbearance or patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23 NIV). When people experience those supernatural fruits, it often results in opportunities to share our faith verbally. A quote attributed to St. Augustine reads, Preach the Word at all times, and if (when) necessary, use words. We all need to find our pulpit. Mine started behind a red footstool.

CHAPTER 2

A FASCINATION WITH WORMS

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W orms are amazing creatures. Earthworms not only attract fish to fishhooks but also enhance soil fertility by transforming roots, leaves, manure, and other debris into vermicompost, a byproduct of an earthworm’s digestive process. Over eons, some worm species have evolved to live in a symbiotic relationship with other life forms, including humans. For example, nearly 15 percent of the world’s population, 1.2 billion people, have ascaris worms (long white worms) cohabiting within the warm, nutrient-rich confines of their bowels, silently and covertly living out a life span of one to two years without giving a hint of their existence to anyone. Rarely, when the worm-host relationship is out of balance, an ascaris infection (called ascariasis) can cause bowel obstruction, pneumonia, liver abscess, and blockage of the bile duct. Symbiosis means "an evolved interaction or close living relationship between organisms from different species, usually with benefits to one or both of the individuals

involved."¹ We clearly understand the worm’s advantage, but what about the human? The following is debatable but plausible. Worms, like many organisms, protect their turf, releasing substances that discourage other competitors or even superinfestations from their own kind. This may be the host’s symbiotic benefit, particularly in geographic areas with less-than-ideal sanitary conditions.

My fascination with these creatures started as a youngster, four or five years old. After a summer rain, my friends and I would occasionally gather earthworms from under a large tree in our front yard, take a handful of these crawly red creatures, and put them in our mouths, a game we called worming. The winner was the boy or girl who kept them in longest before spitting them out. We quickly learned key worming techniques such as pooching our cheeks to provide ample room for the captives and riding herd with our tongues to prevent a back-door exit, usually accompanied by gagging as they slipped past the tonsils. Personally, I can remember only a few critters that did that. Contrary to common opinion, I never felt them crawling around in my stomach.

My mom never discovered this worming game. I know she wouldn’t have approved, and if discovered, I would have been subjected to soap enemas, Ex-Lax, peroxide, and any other concoction she could think of to rid me of any possible lingering infestation. As a scientist, I now know that eating earthworms is not commonly associated with human disease and that the practice likely has nutritional benefits as they are a great source of protein. Consider mama birds feeding these nutritious morsels to their young. Just think—they could potentially be sold as a fried delicacy in fancy restaurants, covered with a spicy tomato sauce and sharing the menu with other dishes like escargot.

During my grade school years, I raided Mom’s garden for earthworms, selling them at five cents a can. I could only find small red worms in our garden, not night crawlers, the ultimate fishing worm. My only customers were our neighbor Eddie and my dad. The few cents I made added a few baseball cards to my collection. I’m sure Dad and Eddie just put those worms back in the garden where they belonged.

My interest in worms continued into adulthood and eventually led to the study of worms and other parasites at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, where I completed a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a preventive medicine residency in international health. Tulane is noted for its expertise in parasitology. Our lab work often consisted of the examination of clinical specimens from around the world.

While completing the didactic coursework at Tulane, my wife Diana and I lived in a used twenty-two-foot travel trailer that we had refurbished and driven to Slidell, Louisiana. We stayed for nine months in a Kampground of America (KOA), located on a bayou north of New Orleans. We bought a pirogue for occasional forays into the surrounding swamp as a mini adventure and for fishing. We were always alert for snakes and alligators, not only in the swamp but also in the campground, where alligators would occasionally walk through. They may look slow, but for short distances, they can outrun a person. Alligator tail is delicious, particularly when cooked in Cajun dishes. Though alligators look like African crocodiles, crocodile meat is oilier and has a strong fishy taste compared to the mild, firm meat of alligator.

My Louisiana office was a screen tent attached to a sliding double door off our trailer’s multipurpose living, dining, and bedroom. It was cramped but functional. During our time as missionaries, we lived in travel trailers for three and half years, including our time in Louisiana, at a language school in Quebec, and on a two-year assignment as the temporary medical mission’s director for our organization in Springfield, Missouri. Trailer camping is a thoroughly enjoyable lifestyle. I understand why retirees often sell their homes, buy an RV, and travel the country. The RV culture is generally relaxed and congenial. Several geckos claimed my screened office as their home in Slidell, so I got to know them and worried about their welfare if absent for a day or so. For study breaks I would often watch them hunt for insects while I sipped tea at my desk, a folding table with a kerosene light.

I brought along a large set of parasitology slides, compiled by Dr. Herman Zaiman, to aid in my tropical medicine studies. Unfortunately, Diana, despite her attempts, couldn’t ignore the graphic clinical material of the slides I projected on our trailer wall and often said things like, That is so gross! or That can’t be real, can it? Yet through all this, she did well.

Upon returning to clinical practice in Bismarck, I was often consulted on parasitic cases. One day, I was notified of an emergency infectious disease consult at the obstetrics and gynecology ward of St. Alexius Hospital. Apparently, a pregnant woman had been admitted with an elevated temperature. She had just returned from a prolonged trip to India, visiting relatives. During her admission, she noticed a tingling sensation in her nose, which was followed by a long white worm emerging from her left nostril. This caused quite a stir on the floor. The woman was in no physical distress but somewhat disturbed emotionally, as might be expected. I examined the worm. It was an adult Ascaris Lumbricoides male, about nine inches long. A stool specimen revealed no parasitic eggs, indicating that this was likely a single adult male worm exiting an environment he deemed too warm for comfort. If she would have had even one adult female Ascaris worm in her large bowel, we would have found eggs in her stool specimen due to the enormous number of eggs each female produces daily. I explained that we didn’t need to treat since this was likely an isolated worm, but for some reason, the physician and patient strongly preferred medication, which I administered, more to treat frayed nerves than actual disease. Somehow, humans, particularly in the developed world, have a visceral, nonrational, emotional reaction to knowledge that they have or even have had a worm living with them in asymptomatic symbiosis, sometimes for years. If this lady had been without fever (afebrile), the worm would likely have lived out its life without anyone noticing it. Worms are fascinating creatures, and symbiosis is an incredible phenomenon of nature.

CHAPTER 3

BATS AND LIPS DON’T MIX

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G oing to elementary school—the gateway to life beyond the homeplace—is exciting yet fearful. It’s like being blasted into the expanse of space to face who knows what, leaving the familiar for the unknown. As we entered that first classroom, serious questions needed answers. Will I like school? Will the other kids like me? Do they serve decent food for lunch, like hamburgers and apple pie? Am I ready for this? What about playtime?

Recess is a novel word for kids in first grade, but the meaning was quickly grasped: a break from the struggle of reading and writing, a brief escape to freedom, a breath of fresh air. What does a kid do at recess? Run, swing, play active games, get to know the new kids who just moved to town, wrestle—just about anything a kid wants to do within boundaries set by the stern overseer hunched in the shadows, ready to pounce at the first sign of unacceptable behavior.

Softball was the preferred recess activity for many in my class. I remember one game in November. Several inches of fresh snow were on the ground, but we decided to play a game of softball anyhow. Running bases in knee-deep snow in overshoes was a challenge. One of my friends—we’ll call him Mike—bunted the ball and ended up with a home run. The other team frantically searched on hands and knees but couldn’t find it as Mike stumbled through the snow, covering a path approximating where the bases were supposed to be. We didn’t find that ball until the spring thaw. After that, we thought it best to shift to ice skating and hockey from October to April.

During one spring recess softball game, I crossed the plate, represented by a baseball cap, and while walking away, I suddenly found myself on the ground, dazed, and staring at the sky. What happened? The next batter was taking a few practice swings as I crossed the plate. The bat hit my face just under the nose, splitting my lip wide