Random Pictures of My Life in Puerto Rico

There is no theme to these pictures. I am trying to take one picture a day of something I do. 

The elders heading home on July 30th waiting to go to the airport. They were very excited!

After the Ponce sisters had to spend their pday helping us spray their house and belongings for bedbugs, they joined the Adjuntas sisters for a softball game.

We have spent the last week looking for two more senior apartments. This is the kitchen in one of the ones we looked at. I'm not sure where the refrigerator is supposed to go. Maybe in front of the window to the right. This one probably won't work because we really don't want to have to buy appliances for the apartment.

It's so strange that we are responsible for keeping the patio plants under control. We had a 20 foot weed tree that the people upstairs were complaining about. The owner came over to tell us, and I told him we didn't have any tools. So he asked if we had a knife. I found a Ginsu knife in a box of things they didn't need at the mission home. The elderly gentleman used that knife to hack a 4 inch diameter trunk down. We need to get a trimmer for the other bushes. 

John bagged up as much as he could and took it to the trash cans. Strangely, the neighbors on both sides have beautiful plants that grow above the fence line and theirs aren't a problem. I think the bigger the better. After trimming back the plants to where the owner wanted them, bare dusty dirt was exposed, but I'm sure they'll grow back quickly. 

This little kitty loves hanging around whenever we are home. 

Last Saturday, the Starrs from Wyoming arrived. They spent about 24 hours here before we took them to the airport for 18 months on Antigua. He's been a small town branch president for years so I'm sure they will adjust fine to the isolation. In the past, the couples have rotated on and off the islands so they wouldn't get island fever, but all the new couples coming this month plan to stay on their assigned island for the duration of their mission. 

Elder Eakle is in charge of cars. We have about 65 cars in the mission, but use of them is very restricted. Many have been parked in church parking lots for months since the restriction was put in place. Now they have dead batteries and lots of other problems. One had all the electrical mechanisms chewed up by what the guy at Pep Boys said must have been a dinosaur. One day we went over to jump start a few cars, and the rain just started coming down in buckets. We got the cars started, but the one with the windshield wipers on the one with the chewed up electrical system didn't work and Elder Eakle had to drive 40 minutes with his head out the window in the rain.

This is a furnished apartment we are considering moving into. It looks kind of fancy, but the furniture is really pretty old and beat up. It is on the 15th floor of a 27 story building and I don't even dare get near the windows. The windows open all the way up and don't have screens because the owner says bugs don't fly up that high. I would be all right with that high of a building if it were a bigger building, but it is so tall and skinny. I think it only has two apartments per floor. It looks like a Jenga tower. It's about the same proportions as a box of aluminum foil standing on its end.

This apartment just has one bathroom which really is enough but I'm enjoying the two that we have in our current place because they are really small and we would both be in there at the same time. 

Elder Eakle obviously doesn't mind standing out on the balcony. You wouldn't catch me there. A few nights ago there was an earthquake tremor. I'm pretty nervous about living there. 

The kitchen is okay, but doesn't have an oven just like our current place. 

If we end up moving in here, we would like to ask the owner to put in a bigger bed. This one is just a full. I definitely won't sleep on the window side.

Elder Helm lost his support card around the first of June and has had no money since then. On August 14, he received his replacement card. This was definitely a highlight of the week. Now he'll be taking us out to lunch!