10/11/12 CRAZY DAY –
Today we woke up and reviewed the things
we had to do. It appeared like it would
be pretty laid back. We taught two
institute classes, than we went to a zone meeting with the mission president
and the 5 zone leaders on the island. We
ran to the post office to pick up the mail, returned home to sort it, boxed up
what had to be sent to mission headquarters and then it was off to the airport
to send it. One the way home we had to
pick up some items for several of the missionary quarters. With the creation of another zone we have two
more sets of elders and needed to make sure their places were equipped. We picked up a fridge from the PBO (church headquarters
on the island), went to several other stores for irons, ironing boards, brooms,
mops, electric pots for heating water, and 5 gallon water bottles for their
water. Then we headed back home to fill
the water bottles (we have a water filter).
I think we grabbed a sandwich – but I am not sure – before we started
delivering the items. We didn’t have
anything else on our agenda after the items were delivered so we thought we
would have most of the afternoon to work on the institute lessons for the next
day. As we were leaving to make the
deliveries, we got a call that one of the elders was sick and needed a
prescription. Because he did not have a
car we detoured to the other side of the island to the only pharmacy on the
island to pick it up. On the way back we
got a phone call from the elders on the opposite of the island. Their van had quit running and they wanted to
know what to do. Dennis made a phone
call and arranged to have the van towed, called the elders and told them that
after the van was picked up to take the bus to wherever they had to go. We delivered the prescription and then
proceeded to finish the deliveries. But,
another set of elders called and needed a ride to do a baptism interview. We picked them up and part way there they
said they didn’t have the paperwork so we detoured to their house, picked up
the papers, got almost to the house where they had to conduct the interview and
they informed us that the zone leaders needed to be at the interview as well –
it was the zone leaders with car problems – so we called to see where they
were, then headed back down the hill to the original location where we had
picked up the first set of elders to pick up the zone leaders. We got them to
their interview and waited while they conducted the interview. By now it was almost time for dinner (called
a fafanga) and because they didn’t have a car they needed a ride to where they
were scheduled to eat. We dropped off
the zone leaders, and asked directions from the other elders to where we should
drop them off. They couldn’t remember
exactly where the house was, so we drove around for 30 minutes trying to find
it. Finally they called the family to
ask directions. By the time we dropped
them off two hours had gone by. We still
hadn’t finished what we set out to do – deliveries… We decided that because it was getting late
we would make the delivery to the sisters, and finish the rest the next day. We
made the delivery and thought we were headed home. On the way out of the village where the sisters
live we saw two more elders walking down the street looking rather dejected. We
pulled over to see if we could help.
They told us they had been walking down the road to give a discussion
and four dogs came running after them.
In an attempt to protect themselves, one of the elders swung his lanyard,
with their house key on it, at the dog.
When the key hit the dog it flew off the lanyard and into the bushes – now
remember how dense the foliage is here…
They had been looking for it for over an hour and finally decided to
walk up to our house to see if we had an extra key. That is when we met them… We didn’t have a key, but they got ahold of
the bishop who owns the house where they live and he said he wasn’t sure he had
a key, but he thought he could get them in.
So, we took another detour to their house. By the time we got home it was past 9:00 –
too late to fix dinner, so we settled for Cheerios and fresh bananas, eaten
while we tried to prepare the institute lesson for the next day. When we started out we had only planned to
deliver the prescription, make three deliveries and take two elders to their
baptismal interview!
It sounds crazy – but in all reality,
that is how most of our days are - and we wouldn’t trade it for anything!
SMART DOGS…
I said before that there are lots of dogs
on the island. But the ones in Pago Pago
are really smart! When they want to cross the street the go to a crosswalk and
wait for the cars to stop. Then they
proceed across the street. It is really
crazy – but true. We have seen in
several times. We never cease to be
amused…
No comments:
Post a Comment