02 October 2009 – Friday
Woke at about 4:00 and could not go right back to sleep. When I finally did, I slept until after 6:30 which is unusual.
I had a frustrating morning trying to post to our blog. I made a number of mistakes that I had to go back and correct. Then the blog stopped responding and so I kept getting ‘not responding in time’ messages which meant I had to start over. I finally gave up and decided to try later tonight.
Elder Richey came over to check his e-mail to find out any last minute changes in his parents coming to pick him up and to copy any of our pictures that he wanted to take home. He found out that another couple was coming with his parents and also that he could not drive the rental car because you have to be 23. This means his mother gets to do all the driving in South Africa. They will have an interesting time in Port Durnford and some of the townships where he served.
Mary is assigned to make cookies for the Relief Society meeting on the 10th. I took advantage of her baking time to try and catch a short nap. I am afraid if I had a nap it was a very short one and it did little to energize me.
The only thing we did really well today –besides make lots of cookies – was spend money. Bills got paid, groceries got bought, and errands got run. At one point I thought we had actually run out of cash, but we just had enough and that told us it was time to stop.
When we got home I started to put things in the freezer and noticed one of the drawers did not want to go all the way in. An inspections soon showed that our self-defrosting freezer was not doing that so I spent a non-enjoyable 20 minutes cleaning out the rather thick accumulation of ice.
It reminded me that going on a mission does not mean you do not get to enjoy the same chores you do at home. Plumbing still goes haywire, appliances – like our printer – stop working, and some one has to cut the grass and dig up the weeds. What a mission does mean is that you are given the opportunity to love and serve others. You get to help train them in their callings, to visit them when sick or discouraged, and to invite others to come unto Christ. You also get to learn about cultures you only have read about in books or newspapers.
“The call of the humpback whale tale.†Some of those who know me well are aware that I collect 20th and 21st Century classical music. Among my collection is a couple of pieces that include a work by Alan Hovhaness called “And God Created Great Whales.†Hovhaness build the piece around the actual recording of the call of the humpback whale.
The reason I am writing this is that the water pipes in our boarding run across the beams that hold up the ceiling. This is great unless they spring a leak and then you get a ceiling full of water. Luckily – at least up to now – this has not happened, but somewhere along the path of at least one of them they rub against the stud when the water is turned on in one of our bathrooms.
So any time we flush that toilet or take a shower, we get a wonderful deep sound that each time reminds me of the whales calling and of course the piece of music. To stop it I am either going to have to go up in the attic myself, find the spot where it is rubbing and cushion the pipe from the stud, or pay someone else to do. The other choice is to just put up with it until we finish serving. Of course we will warn anyone who stays with us in the future to not worry when they hear the sound – it is only our pet whale asking to be fed or taken out for a swim.
In the evening Mary made a flyer to hand out about the up coming District Relief Society Conference and we went over to the Barts to print copies because we did not have any colored ink for the printer. Their daughter-in-law had made some wonderful creamy chicken soup and she had some home made bread. Since we had not gotten around to eating dinner, it made our trip doubly nice. Their visitors – who are leaving for home tomorrow – liked the game drive so much that they are already planning on coming back to go on a multi-day safari. Perhaps the B’s will come back with them.