8-15
Feb 2020
Saturday,
February 8th seemed like it would be a fun day as we anticipated
accompanying the Ericksons on their last few St. Louis outings. But, before we could get out the door, I got
a call from the Elders serving way down in Sikeston, Missouri, on the Arkansas
border. They said they weren’t sure, but
they thought they might have bed bugs.
They said they had red bites all over their upper torsos. They also sent a picture of some bugs. Sure enough, their bugs looked just like the
bugs in the literature. Before now, I
thought that bed bugs were just part of a nursery rhyme. I had never heard of a real one, much less
seen one. Well, it was time to
learn. It turns out they are pretty much
human parasites. They follow us around,
living primarily in our beds and bedding or sometimes in couches. Missionaries, transferring from apartment to
apartment, and visiting all manner of people in their homes, are perfect
carriers of bedbugs. Their eggs are
burrowed in seams and crevices, and pretty much impervious to pesticides. So even if you kill the adults, the eggs will
hatch and the cycle will start again.
They sustain themselves on blood, and are tricky, little buggers,
putting in an anesthetic before taking their bite so you almost never feel them
until after the fact. The only good news
is that they are not known to be transmitters of serious disease.
It
takes a professional to eradicate them.
And the most effective treatment is to seal up the apartment and put
heaters in to heat up the place to 130 degrees or so, and hold that temperature
for three or four hours. That kills even
the eggs. Afterwards, you get to vacuum
up all the little carcasses, eggs, and other unpleasant remainders. Alas, they do not discriminate between rich or
poor, clean or messy. The best you can
do is not share furniture or bedding. So
there you have it. An encyclopedic entry
on bedbugs written without reference to anything except the learned experience
of a mission housing coordinator.
On
Sunday the 9th, we received a formal ministering list, and so off we
went with our Elders to see them. We
made some new acquaintances, including Carol Market and the daughter of Diane
Fleming, two sisters that haven’t been out to church in a while. It is fairly easy to befriend folks like
these. They are usually of very humble
circumstances and in need of some sisterly love. It is harder to know how to help them in any
fundamental way. When life is hard,
thinking deeply about the Plan of Salvation can seem to be an unaffordable
luxury. We pray for them, teach them,
invite them, and give encouragement.
Thankfully, Christ will meet each of us in our personal circumstances
and overcome exactly what we cannot.
Although
Sister Hatfield and I have been functioning quite well for a couple weeks now
in our respective roles as mission secretary and housing coordinator, there has
been lots of Erickson experience and assistance to fall back on. But today, Monday February 10th,
the umbilical cord is cut. I meet the
moving assistants at the Erickson apartment early to carry boxes and bags and
pack cars. Then they came in for exit
interviews with the President, and were off.
After a few hours, I figured they were probably in Kansas. It turns out they spent the day mailing boxes
of stuff they couldn’t fit in their cars and cleaning their apartment
thoroughly. I suppose that having
lectured missionaries for two years that they must keep their apartments neat
and clean, the Ericksons weren’t about to leave theirs without cleaning. Sometime well after dark I stopped by to turn
off lights, turn down the thermostat, and such, and to my surprise, Elder
Erickson was pacing the sidewalk talking intently on his phone. Apparently his car battery was dead. This was the last hurdle to a frustratingly
slow departure for them. AAA said they
could be there in about an hour to give him a jump. He hung up and then explained the predicament. I said we could get a new battery installed
ourselves and were about to head out to the auto parts store when the AAA truck
pulled up 45 minutes early. Although it
cost a good deal more, at least Elder Erickson had the peace of mind to know
that his alternator tested good. And in
the end, we all agreed it was better to have a bad battery in St Louis than on
the plains of Kansas in the middle of winter.
That night, they were finally off, and we were on our own as the newly
comprised mission staff. The Ericksons
and their colleagues had done a great job creating mission systems, and it was
now our job to carry them on with our own adaptations suited to our skills and
helpful to President Bell.
By
Thursday, February 13th I was running out of time. I had told a landlord that I would be ready for
a final inspection and to turn in the keys in our St Charles North teaching
area apartment that had been vacated the last transfer. We had gotten the sisters out and moved to a
downtown location near Washington University, but I had not got the apartment
cleaned sufficiently to turn in. So, on
this day I headed out for a solo cleaning party. The sisters had certainly done some cleaning,
and to be fair, it is hard to do a deep clean when the place is still loaded
with furniture, boxes, and whatever, but honestly, their standards didn’t quite
measure up. So, I loaded up the bathtub
with cleanser, mopped floors, cleaned windows and sills, etc.
But
the real story was in the kitchen. It
was all too obvious that something purple and gooey had slipped down the back
of the refrigerator long ago and had basically glued the bottom shelf and
drawer into place. It did not look
good. So, I put enough hot water down
the back to loosen things enough to get the shelf and drawer out. The kitchen floor was littered with fridge
parts to clean after I cleaned the interior walls and floor of the fridge. Finally, I was just about there, with only
one glass shelf to put through the paces in the soapy water in the sink. Unfortunately, I tapped—not very hard, but
apparently at just the right place—the glass on the stainless steel sink and
BOOM, the safety glass burst into who knows how many thousands of pieces. Glass bits were everywhere in the
kitchen. I swept and collected for along
time, both the floor and the sink, and all sorts of places. How could glass go so far?
Worst
of all, a handful had ended up down the disposal. Luckily I had a glove, and I painstakingly
pulled out as many pieces as I could.
Alas, I could not get them all, and the disposal was jammed. I had to take apart the disposal to clear it
up. And of course, I now had a missing
glass shelf. I went back to the office a
bit discouraged and much later in the day than I had planned. But, praise be to Amazon. Armed with a picture of the ancient refrigerator
make and model, and after a little online detective work, Amazon was able to
ship me a replacement shelf for about $30.
It fit perfectly. Finally, all
was well in St Charles North.
Friday,
February 14th was a special day.
The newest missionaries had by now been in the mission for a couple of
weeks, and so it was time for some additional training by President and Sister
Bell, the APs, and the office senior missionaries. But to begin the day, as is the custom, we
accompanied them on a temple endowment session.
After spending so much time in Utah temples, and the Provo Temple in
particular, it has a different feel in the temples where there are so few
workers. We call ahead to tell them we
are coming so that they can be ready for what seems like a big crowd to them. But the Spirit is equally strong, and knowing
how important it is to fortify these young missionaries who are doing very hard
work, the time in the temple is especially meaningful.
After
the temple session, RaDene and I raced to the church building where she had
beautifully decorated with a Valentine’s theme and served yummy chicken
tortilla soup, chopped salad, and brownie sundaes with Sis Bell’s home-made
fudge sauce. Heaven! Afterwards was the real test of whether the
new staff would measure up to Pres Bell’s expectations for our presentations. He wants content that covers our topics,
e.g., baptism reports, housing upkeep, vehicle safety, and health but a strong
dose of spirit and testimony blended in, and all within a compact amount of
time. Afterwards, Pres Bell said he felt
as if the staff did a great job. We were
finally all “his staff,” having arrived and having been trained on his
watch. I think he was particularly
talking to RaDene, who has such a strong ability to connect with people,
sharing who she is and what she stands for.
The missionaries really love her concern for them.
On
Saturday, for P-day I joined the Housing Assistants on an all day trip to one
of the eastern edges of the mission, out to Centralia (Salem), IL where we
delivered a treadmill to some lonely elders, among other things they need. On inspection, I think I will put them on the
list to look for an alternative apartment.
That one is in pretty rough shape and a fair distance from the majority
of their work and the church building. But
I think our visit and prayers with them gave them some cheer and encouragement,
knowing that we cared. On the way back,
we stopped in Shilo East (Lebanon), IL to check on a vacant apartment, then on
to O’Fallon, IL to pick up an extra couch from a sister’s apartment needed
elsewhere. They were not feeling well,
so we gave them blessings, and of course, fixed a few things, like a bathroom
plug that wasn’t working. Ah, the mixed life
of a housing coordinator.
We
stopped on the way back towards St Louis for a late lunch, and our nametags
caught the attention of a fellow diner, who remarked that she loved our
name. One of the young elders was a bit
confused as to why she loved all our names.
I pointed out that she was referring to Jesus Christ. Her comment was actually good to hear, bolstering
faith in our fellow men and women. We delivered
the couch we had picked up and a kitchen table to the elders in the Lindell
east teaching area, the most downtown teaching district in the mission. The apartment building has a style that is
reminiscent of Manhattan. Honestly, I’m
not sure how we got the couch in the elevator, and I hope I never need to take
it out. But the elders were very grateful. It is amazing the gratitude one receives for
delivering a few household items that would surely be in the sale section of
Deseret Industries. The missionaries
learn to get by on very little. A long
day on the road meant no P-Day work, again!
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