RAIN DAY!!!!

I'm just going to paste my journal entry in here because why write it twice?? Right!?!?

Today is a day for the record book!!!! It was raining when we woke up. Hard. And it kept raining all morning long. I put lunch in the crock pot, first thing (we were going to be feeding four hungry elders at lunchtime).......browned the roasts and cut up the potatoes and carrots. It was chuck full! Our first plan (A) was to go finish up the contracts and take some kitchen supplies to Amaralina. Then Sister Triumpho called to say they were at the airport, the new elder's plane had been delayed more than an hour and the President needed to be at the office for interviews, could we come wait at the airport? Of course. 

Plan B: go to the office to unload the kitchen supplies so we would have room for luggage, then to the airport. It was raining like crazy. The roads were flooding. We had to drive very slowly and merge to other lanes to avoid driving through higher than axle deep water. The buses were pushing the water with their bumper in some places.

 We finally got to the office, unloaded the car and got everything upstairs, thanks to Anna (she is one of the “guards”, I think, but she is also the one who does all the cleaning). She is a gem! Sister Triumpho called to say the plane had to land somewhere else and the elder would be coming by bus and would be another 4-6 hours. Could we pick him up then? Sure. Plan C: haul half the stuff back to the car to take to Amaralina. We needed to get gas and planned to do that along the way. Still raining and flooding. The “canal” was completely full of water! It was even coming back through the storm drains onto the road—Garibaldi and Lucaia. 

Sorry it's fuzzy........best I can do.........

 
The “coast road” was much better. Of course, the canal was rushing into the ocean and it was churning! The ocean was brown today……… 

We pulled into a station to get some gas. The power was out so they could not pump any! Then the traffic nearly stopped! It took us more than an hour to go just a few blocks! We crawled along—literally—and prayed that we would not run out of gas. Just before the Amaralina church house there were two power poles leaning out into the street…….so far out that the busses could not get around them. And only one car at a time could get between the busses. It looked like an old wall had fallen onto the power poles and knocked them over. One was lying across a taxi! We wondered if there would be power to open the portas at the apartments. When we got to the first one, we could not see any lights anywhere, so we went to the second one……….they had power. We were able to park in the garage, out of the rain, and use the elevator. Thank goodness! They will have a nice apartment. I’m so grateful for that! We then wondered if we might be able to find our way around to the other apartment without going back into the traffic mess—the roads are one way in that area. I thought maybe I could do it, but all that happened was we got up in those narrow, twisting streets that are nearly straight up and down and got lost……….. still no gas. We finally found our way out and came home to check on lunch as we were feeding the elders today. The potatoes and carrots were still hard so I turned it to high and we started for the office. Stopped at the gas station at the end of our street to gas up. So thankful we had not run out!! The elders were mopping up the floor at the office. They were all dripping wet after walking through that rain and there was water everywhere. Even the chairs were wet! I sat on one long enough to learn that! We came home for lunch. The potatoes and carrots were still hard! I put all the veggies in the pressure cooker and the roasts in another pan and put it in the oven. The pressure cooker I put on the stove and prayed. While they cooked, Roger went to pick up the elders and I cut up the pineapple and set the table. They arrived before I got the gravy made, but thankfully, everything turned out okay and they ate every bit of it all! except the gravy. There was a little gravy left…….. We visited for a bit. Shared testimonies and had prayer, then Roger took them home and I washed the dishes. I was almost finished when he returned and we went back to the office. The rain had let up some.

Plan C: President Triumpho cancelled several interviews because of the rain—told the missionaries to stay in—we had a “rain day”!!! So they would go meet Elder Garcia. This time I was careful to sit on a dry chair. I did a little stitching while Roger tried to get some more stuff done with the contracts. I really don’t know all that he was trying to do, but I do know that he was somewhat frustrated and feeling a little overwhelmed. We are also trying to get an apartment open in Eunapolis which is a long way away, so he is trying to do it through email and telephone and nineteen year old sister missionary and Portuguese…….hard! We came home about 5:30. The rain had stopped and most of the roads had dried. We still found a puddle now and then, but nothing bad. Had some snacks……..I was not hungry after that big lunch. I finished a quilt block! Yay!! And marked the last two leaves on my temple apron. Then it was time to go to Primary program practice at the church. We got there……we learned the practice had been cancelled. Then! Roger wanted to go buy the pillow Sister Triumpho had called to ask us to get before tomorrow afternoon. So we did—ended up buying EIGHT!! As we will have 13 new missionaries in two weeks……… It’s been quite the day.........one for the record books............

...time......work......reflections.......

Time..........the proof that we are strangers here......... I'm amazed that it's been so long since I posted. I have lots of thoughts running around inside my head, some floating, some swimming.......and I think I will tell you about it. Then things happen, and time is gone, we are going here or there and suddenly it's days and weeks..........time...........I've never got along very well with it.......never have liked it......never have figured it out very well.........fought with it practically my whole life. I think I have finally made peace with it, though. I try to just let it do it's thing, reminding myself that it does not go fast or slow, it is steady. If it seems to be tearing along at break-neck speed, that's fine........I have my eye set on a timeless goal, and I will enjoy what comes or doesn't come.......... (I'm going to stop my philosophizing. Sorry)

One day while Roger was repairing something in another part of a missionary house, I worked on the ironing board cover. Funny thing here........the elders use......well, let me backup. Nearly all missionaries use their ironing board. The sisters I've noticed use it for a shelf--books, makeup, toiletries.........the elders have the iron on it and use it for ironing. Kind of surprised me, but it makes sense when I think about it......a wrinkled white shirt with a tie looks LOTS worse than a wrinkly, crinkly top with a wrinkly linen skirt. Soooooo.........I know these elders use this to iron their shirts, for I caught them at it one day. And the cover was a mess........so here is my "fix". I wanted something I could do no matter what the board was made of. It's not perfect, but it's lots better than it was, and I think they were grateful. Anyway, that afternoon Roger bought a stapler. We'll be back here one day and I'll make it better.

 I was waiting for Roger one day and watching these men......they are sitting on what looks like swings hanging from the top of the building, and they are washing the tiles!!! not the windows! With soap and a scrub brush!! This building is practically right on the beach, so I wondered if the salt spray has to be washed off regularly??

  Sometimes I cringe when I see how hard people work here. I have seen very little "heavy" equipment and lots of shovels..........with men on the end of them! There are wide expanses of grass here....well, along the "Avenidas", which are all divided, with grass and occasionally a canal down the middle, or a small play area, or a monument to someone. But no tractors with lawn mowers! Crews of men, dressed in green coveralls with hats and face shields. Gloves are optional. Two or three are holding a screen made of some fabric (looks rather flimsy to me, but it must work) along the curb while a couple of other men use over-sized weed-eaters like scythes, swinging them back and forth, cutting the grass right down to the dirt. Coming along behind are several others with rakes! Yeah......they hand rake it all up and put it in bags........I wonder if they are ever done. I just don't have my camera out in time to get the pictures I really want, but you can see the expanse of grass.........

 ...and all along the roads are white curbs......which they paint by hand. I watched them outside our apartment building one day........a man with a broom went ahead.....sweeping the gutter. The painters came next, followed by a man with a barrel of paint.

I've also noticed people--men and women--pushing a garbage can, sweeping the gutters and using a shovel as a dustpan. It gives me pause just to think about all the manual labor that goes on here......... They are taking out the sidewalk just down the street from us here. They started last Friday--five days ago. They had a small jack-hammer, or a large hammer-drill--depending on your experience. But they didn't use it much. Most of the work was done with regular old-time picks! They threw the bigger pieces of cement into a dumpster kind of thing and shoveled the smaller stuff into a bucket and dumped it with the pieces. I thought, at home they would have hired a "bobcat" or "skid-steer" and had it out in an afternoon. I don't know if they have it all out yet......... It all just makes me stop and think some. Grateful that these men have work to do, but feeling so badly that they have to work so hard. Life is hard here, for most people. I'm pretty sure I think nearly everyone is older than they really are.......... we are, well, Roger is working to get contracts set up for some new missionary apartments. We went to meet a man and talk about one of them yesterday morning. Later, Roger asked me to guess his age. I was off by nine years!!! And as I pay closer attention, I'll bet I do that with lots of people.

I don't want this to get too long......and I've already written more than you will want to read.