Lots of Moves

One evening this week we went to Home Depot and bought some pruning shears so that we could trim the plants in the back patio area to the owner's satisfaction. Elder Bennett owned a landscaping business before his mission so he was happy to get back to what he loved and help out. We used the old grill on the patio and rewarded him and Elder Helm with a steak dinner. 

Elder Bennett at work.

This week I helped the Toa Baja sisters move to a new apartment. Elder Eakle, Elder Bennett and Elder Helm had meetings so I was on my own with two Toa Baja Elders that helped out. The sisters' old apartment was in a bad area, had a terrible rotting floor, smelled like cat, and had the strangest bathroom. They had to walk up a few stairs to the bathroom. 

The shower is only 18 inches wide so they had to stand sideways and they had no hot water. 

I drove the truck to Toa Baja. The screws were stripped in the beds so we had to put them in the truck without taking them apart. Thankfully, two ward members showed up with another truck to help with the dresser, washing machine, and suitcases. The sisters put all the kitchen things in their car. Our last load was the last bed and all of their garbage tied to the straps so I could take it back to the office to throw away. 

The Toa Baja sisters were victorious having cleaned their apartment without leaving any garbage. 

 The new apartment definitely isn't perfect. It backs to a busy highway and doesn't have much of a breeze, but they have a nice air conditioner that is included with the rent. The neighborhood is nice and right down from the church. 

I'm sure it will take them awhile to unpack. 

 This week we moved into a new apartment because we thought the new couple coming would prefer the first floor apartment we were in. We needed furniture so Sister Boucher and I picked out a few things at Ikea. Luckily, the mission already had the couch and a bed. Elders Bennett and Helm worked on assembling the furniture for us. 

Elder Helm trying to figure things out. 

Elder Bennett hard at work assembling a chair.

The chairs, table, and bookcase weren't bad to assemble. In hindsight, I wouldn't have chosen an assemble yourself dresser. We still don't have that done.

The senior couples usually get together once a week for dinner. This week we went out to celebrate Sister Allred's birthday. The Porters arrived this week so they and President and Sister Boucher joined us right after they were picked up from the airport. 

 I'm not sure why President is burying his head in his hands. 

The birthday girl with her special dessert.

 On Thursday, we took a road trip to spray for bedbugs, deliver a hotplate to an apartment with a broken stove, and deliver a washing machine and dresser to a different apartment. We passed the town of Yauco which is a colorful village up on the hill. A typical road trip day is usually 12 hours long. 

I wish the picture better showed the steep streets and colorful buildings of Yauco. 

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!

Old San Juan Never Gets Old

On Saturday, we went to Old San Juan again for a few hours. This time we decided to ride the ferry over from Catano. Catano is about 20 minutes from our house, and the ferry ride takes about 15 minutes and costs 50 cents.

This is the view from Catano waiting for the ferry. The cruise ship isn't really as close as it appears because I zoomed in.

I love how the buildings are brightly painted.

This one is pretty, too.

The blue cobblestones streets. I read that the cobblestones were used as ballast for the ships traveling to Puerto Rico.

One of the places I wanted to visit was La Casa Blanca, one of the oldest homes in San Juan. It was built by Ponce de Leon's family, but he never lived there. It was added onto over the years, but the original home was built in 1521 and was the first fortification in the area. Now it is a museum that visitors can walk through.

The main living area.

Outside on a terrace.

The kitchen.

A garden courtyard.

Going through Casa Blanca didn't take very long so we walked around and looked at some other buildings. Many of them are built with an open courtyard in the center. This one had some shops and a museum.

I really don't know what is behind all of these doors.

A particularly colorful street. La Fortelaza, the Governor's Mansion, is at the end of the street.

La Fortelaza. This building was closed on Saturday, but we will go back during the week when it is open for tours.

This beautiful church had a sign on it that said hospital. I thought that seemed strange so I peeked my head in the door. A lady said we could come on in. By the door were some nuns there dressed in long white robes. They showed us the beautiful chapel and then took us around the corner to a room that looked like an old time hospital room. I think they said the hospital is for the sisters.

Outside the beautiful church. When I saw the sign saying hospital, I thought maybe it was a really fancy nursing home.

The view from the church/hospital terrace.

Another pretty building. I think it is some sort of government office building. I like how all the doors open to the outside.

Flowers!

I love flowers and the bright flowering trees and bushes make every day a little better.

Flowers outside an apartment.

Outside an apartment in my complex.

A house near the office.

Orchids (I think) growing on a palm tree in our complex.

A beautiful bush near our apartment.

Another house by the mission office.

Flamboyan trees across from the mission office. The train track is behind them. 

Closer shot of a Flamboyan tree. This tree is one of Puerto Rico's symbols.

A tree by the apartment pool.

Our neighbor's entrance.

Ours by comparison.

A Week in the Life

This is pretty much my journal from the past week.

Monday, July 28, 2014

On Monday, we had quite a lot to do in the office to get ready for the new missionaries on Tuesday and transfers. Elder Helm and I put together packets for the new missionaries and the missionaries going home. I also worked on updating the housing report with the last two zones we had visited so I could give a copy to Sister Boucher. We met with the president to go over assignments for the activities with the new missionaries. John and Elder Bennett were asked to present finance and I am supposed to go over keeping apartments clean. If I remember right, John and Elder Bennett went out in the afternoon to line up a storage unit. We have been storing things in an empty apartment, but a storage unit would be cheaper. That night, Sister Heidenreich took Elder Bennett and Elder Helm out to Longhorn Steakhouse so we and Sister Allred joined them. We sure do a lot of eating out.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Tuesday was busy, but fun with transfers. I spent the morning getting apartment supplies together in bags so that missionaries who were at the office for transfers could take them back to their areas. About half ended up taking the supplies. Some areas didn’t have any transfers and some just got missed in the confusion. We had to be at the mission home at 11 for the training and lunch. It was fun to meet the new missionaries. My little presentation on apartments didn’t go that great. I didn’t have Sister Boucher’s cleaning policy until that morning and I was busy getting the supplies together. Unfortunately, today was landscaping day at their house, and it was so loud with the trimmers that we all had kind of a hard time concentrating on what we were saying. We had six sisters and ten elders. All of the sisters were from the US except one from Mexico who is so cute. She speaks English very well. Another sister is from Utah, but she speaks Spanish fluently so she went to the Provo MTC. Actually, she wasn’t there on Tuesday because they accidentally booked her flight to the DR. She did get in Wednesday morning, however. Elder Bennett grilled hamburgers and hotdogs along with fruit, chips and dessert. We sat out on the deck where there are several big tables. It was hot, but nice except for the landscaping noise. I sat with the five sister missionaries. One is from Roseville, another is from Michigan, the one from Mexico, and the other two are from Utah.

New missionary orientation at the mission home.

Orientation

After lunch we went back to the office. It was swarming with missionaries there for transfers. One thing I didn’t anticipate was all the missionary supply requests. We have items they can purchase like the missionary reference library or PMG. I fill out a slip and the money gets taken from their debit card. That kept me really busy. Then, of course, all the sister missionaries hug and kiss. It was crazy, but fun to see everyone. The Wentzels showed up to help with rides. Sister Wentzel had a big bag of Costco rolls she was passing out and Sister Allred had a big box of granola bars left over from her conference. I also spent a lot of time trying to help an Elder going to Dominica get his luggage organized. He could only take two 50 pound bags and one 15 pound carry on so that is really one carryon short of what he would have come with. He had to leave some stuff here. The elders who were there before had warned him to take toiletries because they are super expensive there so he had stocked up. I think he ended up paying the extra $20 to take a 70 lb. suitcase. 

Around 5 pm, we were asked to drive a new sister and her companion to Adhuntas way up in the mountains. We drove the truck because of the luggage and our trunk is full of apartment supplies. As we were leaving, the older missionary said they needed another dresser. I found that a bit frustrating because we had just drove a truck up over two hours and could have taken one. We were exhausted when we got home about 10:30 pm.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Because of transfers, we found out that we have about five apartments that need to be closed meaning getting all the furniture and appliance and any belongings left there out and cleaning. Sometimes the missionaries clean and take everything except the big stuff that we need to move in the truck but sometimes they just walk out with their suitcases leaving all the pamphlets and their food. The dishes stay with the apartment so I have to box that stuff up if an apartment is being closed. I did some work around the office and after eating some pizza at Costco, the four musketeers moving company headed to Caguas. We dropped off a dresser at the Caguas sisters’ apartment, then we took some fans to the Cayey elders. They live in an apartment that belongs to a single male member who lives upstairs. He cooks all of their meals and does their laundry. He has had over 100 missionaries living there and he collects a nametag from each one. Apparently a general authority told him that he would have missionaries living there as long as he does

Then we headed over to another area in Cayey and emptied the furniture out of an apartment. The sisters in there kept it very clean. We just had a few things to carry out other than the furniture like a microwave and other small appliances. We didn’t have to do any cleaning. We then took some fans over to the Humacao sisters. Then the Caguas sisters called and said they needed another desk and a chair. We had a desk from the empty Cayey apartment and the Cayey elders said they had an extra chair so we drove over there and picked it up and then went back to the Caguas sisters to give them the desk and chair. A desk is about a five foot plastic lifetime table. We got home by ten.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

I got up and put on my jeans and t shirt. John and I went to Walmart to return a set of pans that had one with a big dent and some silverware we ended up not needing. Then I headed over to the apartment across from the office to battle the cockroaches. At least, the ones I could see were dead. They sure were big, though. Elder Bennett picked up John and they headed west to Mayaguez to close an apartment. They then planned to head down south to close an apartment in that area and drop things off. For example, the Elders in Mayaguez were moving to an apartment that provided a stove, washer and refrigerator, but some sisters in Cabo Rojo needed a washer and some elders in Juan Diaz needed a new fridge.

I cleaned from about 9 to 1. I washed all the dishes left in the apartment and boxed them up so we could use them if needed in the future. We also need supplies for the new office couple coming September 12. After I finished cleaning, I went home, ate some lunch and took a shower. I went to the grocery store and got some things I need to make dinner for the four elders in the Bayamon Ward that we usually attend. I made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad with ice cream drumsticks for dessert. They really liked it. They said they eat a lot of fried chicken, but it’s more like KFC. We all read our favorite scripture in our non-native language for the message. It’s a pretty diverse set of elders. Elder Frampton is from Utah, but he’s half Korean, Elder Obi is from California, but his parents came to the US from Nigeria, Elder Perez is from Mexico, and Elder Lembert is from the Dominican Republic.

Friday, August 1, 2014

We took Friday off to go to the beach with the Wentzels because the beach is always so crowded on Saturdays. Later, after making our plans, we found out that a storm was coming in on Saturday anyway. We left it up to them to decide where to go. They have done a lot of traveling and have taken 46 cruises. They said when they are on cruises and get off the ship to go to a beach, they usually go to a beach by a hotel. They buy lunch there and then use the hotel facilities and beach. So they decided that we would go to the beach behind the Hilton. The beaches here are all public so I didn’t think it would be a big deal to go through the lobby to get to the beach. However, when Sister Wentzel saw the pool, she wanted to hang out at the pool. It was kind of funny that the guy standing there at the entrance of the pool didn’t say anything to Sister Wentzel or me when we went in, and he didn’t say anything to Brother Wentzel. They really looked like tourists in their Hawaiian shirt and coverup. However, when John went through in his old stained Rockies t shirt, he asked him for his room number. John just told him he was with us. We spent quite a while in the pool, and I got really burned. I was going to put on sunscreen, but I thought I should wait until I got out of the pool. But we didn’t really swim; we were standing in there talking and between the pool reflection, being right at noon, and having not been in the sun yet, it was the perfect combination for getting burned. Then I went over in the ocean where there was kind of a calm cove area and snorkeled. My back got really burned doing that. The water is warm so I was out there a long time. I saw a few fish, but it’s definitely not like snorkeling around a coral reef.

We went over to the pool bar and grill and got two hamburgers that we split. They were $15.99 each and John’s can of Coke was $5. When we left, parking was $17 so they outing came to $60 for the four of us to swim for a few hours. We will definitely find some place cheaper next time.

Saturday, August 2, 2014.

The storm definitely showed up Saturday, but not with the intensity that was originally predicated. It was a gray, rainy day all day. We often have rain sometime during the day, but then the sun will come out. Today, it rained all day, but since they say there is a drought here, that’s good. We went to Costco and to a grocery store called Amigo (owned by Walmart) to get the things we needed for the senior dinner. I planned to have Hawaiian Haystacks. I bought two Costco chickens, peppers, cheese, cream of chicken soup, coconut, ice cream, watermelon and strawberries. I wanted to get tomatoes and chow mein noodles, but the tomatoes looked terrible everywhere except Costco and I forgot to get them there, and the chow mein noodles on the shelf were almost expired.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty boring. We just stayed in the apartment while it rained. At least it wasn’t very hot. I did some chopping and getting stuff ready. Everyone showed up at 6. They seemed to like the dinner. Then we played Catch Phrase for about an hour. While I was making dinner I had a gross bug encounter. I used all the rice in one bag that we have been using that is stored in a Ziploc bag so after I made the first batch, I made some more using the original rice and then added another cup of rice that was in a bag in a Tupperware type container. I thought it would be fine, but when I was putting the container away, I noticed there was this weird brown dust on the bottom of the container. I looked more closely and saw that there were tiny bugs in both the container and the bag of rice which hadn’t even been opened although I think I saw a small hole. It was so gross. I threw all the second batch out and took it all to the trash and cleaned the container out really well. Everything has to be sealed in Ziploc or kept in the freezer. 

I wish I had more pictures!