Bed Bugs do Bite! YiKeS!

This past week my world has been turned upside down as I have discovered that bedbugs do bite! YiKeS!! I seriously didn't even know they really existed until now. In fact, I often said "Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite" to my children- jokingly. Now I am having nightmares about them.

For those of you who read my last post, we had to take a sister to the hospital because she had been bitten by bed bugs and she was highly allergic to them. They had done tremendous damage to her legs in just a few days. This sweet sister is from Chile and my heart ached for her.

Well, we had to do an emergency move out of their apartment... and it made a domino effect. We decided to put those Sisters in an apartment that we had just moved Elders to because the Sisters don't drive so their area is a bike/walking area and they needed the "downtown" apartment. That meant that we needed to moved the Elders to a new apartment. In the meantime, we had to move other Sisters out of another house to make it ready for the new couple coming. We had completed that the day before this happened. So we temporarily put the "bed bug" Sisters there while we were getting the new apartment open, but in three days time, we moved them out to get the house ready for the couple and the new couple moved in. Then we moved the Elders to their new apartment and the Sisters into the Elders apartment. Basically... if you didn't follow all of that ... we moved about five households in three days. I just have to say that I am grateful for the Office Elders and my Stud of a husband, Kyle, who helped with all of this. I told them this complicated moving made the "blog". Sometimes moving Elders and Sisters feels like a "Rubik's Cube" problem. And this isn't the first time we have experienced this - this is our life right now... mixed all together with teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ - the "frosting on the cake". Whew! We love it. http://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/bed-bugs/

Where in the World Is... Miracle

Yesterday I experienced one of the most amazing miracles. I am prompted to share what happened so here it goes...

I got a call from a sister who needed to go to the hospital. The mission president's wife was on the island of St. Thomas, so she had asked me to take her.

To say I am directionally challenged is an big understatement. I usually sit back comfortably in the passenger's seat and most of the time, I have no idea where we are or where we are going.

Well, Kyle, my husband was unavailable to help with this dilemma of getting this sister to the hospital, so I buckled myself in and put the address in my new Garmin. The Garmin wouldn't take the address as is - it declared "no such address" so I resorted to putting in part of the address like Flamboyant Street in the city it was in. I worked with that for more than an hour driving here and there but I couldn't locate them (there are tons of streets named after the tree - Flamboyant). The addresses here are very, very hard to find. I found myself on the tippy top of a hill looking down a very steep, winding, narrow ravine. I was afraid that if I went down there, I just might never get out. It had been raining and the roads were very slick. I didn't know what to do. I felt I was stuck - no more options to try. Plus, I was feeling overwhelmed because they had expected me hours ago. I decided to pray. I asked the Lord to help bless me to find my way. I was in desperate need of help and I pleaded for direction. I was nervous about trying to turn around on that steep hill - no room to back up - very scary.

I was impressed to get out the OLD Garmin from like 2009 which had all the addresses marked in it. The problem with that Garmin was that it didn't stay on for more than about 30 seconds. The battery was exhausted. Kyle and I had tried working with it for about two days, but when it was plugged into the power source in the car, the screen wouldn't work. I  had tried earlier in the week to try to transfer the information with my computer to the new Garmin, but the connection was bad and it would not transmit.  Well, I decided to plug it in. The screen popped on and lo and behold - there it was  - working!!! I had never see it do that before! It was a miracle!

I found the address marked to the sisters' apartment and drove straight there. I was about 45 minutes away from their location - well off the mark.

We got to the hospital and we spent about 5 hours there. That is another story, but for the record, I know that God hears and answers prayers. He is very aware of us and our troubles. I am grateful for the power of prayer and the help from above. Whew! With the Lord, I can do anything.

This is my little red toyota that I drive when I am not driving the huge 15 passenger van with stoves, beds, washers, and such. I am grateful today that I am not a pioneer in 1847 with that form of transportation - walking, walking, walking. 

Happy Pioneer Day tomorrow, the 24th of July!!!

Heroes in the Mission

Wow! Working along side of Elders and Sisters - full-time missionaries is a rush. They are truly the Lord's army, reserved for this time - the ushering in of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I feel of their power everyday and I am grateful for the opportunity to be in the "trenches" with them. I feel more spiritually alive than I have ever felt in my whole entire life. This is hard work - but it is the most rewarding too. I am addicted to the Spirit.

This week, I witnessed some funny, but amazing miracles. These two elders fit a full bunk bed in their teeny tiny toyota (we were preparing for 21 new missionaries to arrive). It is difficult... to plan for 170ish missionaries needs... while doing the giant "shuffle" (transfers). In fact it was beyond my comprehension at times - but our first one went okay and YES we survived with the help of everyone.

The missionaries are the bomb. I am amazed at their strong testimonies and the power they have when they teach. The Lord is with them and He will support them in every trial! We were blessed to close out some apartments and open others this week. I cried and laughed as I witnessed so many miracles.  It is hard to explain in words - but I have felt my Savior's love this week more than ever.  Here are a few more hero pictures:

I was so happy to get this stove in place. We had brought it clear across the island (bumpity bumpity) in the truck and I was afraid it wasn't going to work. The smiles tell all - and now these Elders can cook!
I think it is pretty funny that I deliver stoves, beds, mattresses, washers and all sorts of household items in a dress and high heels.

I love the Sister Missionaries. Many of them left to the tiny islands in the transfer this week. It was hard to say goodbye.

Life is rich!

Fajardo - A Most Beautiful Place to Visit

We had our 5th P-day yesterday and it was an adventure! We went out to the most Eastern part of the island called Fajardo. It was beautiful. We also stopped along the way to visit three other apartments. Our goal in going to Fajardo, was to help the missionaries find a new apartment. Their current one is in a bad location because it is so noisy that they can't sleep nor study. So we prayed for help and we found a beautiful one right close to the ocean. In Fajardo there were many places for sale, but not any for rent. We feel we were blessed to find this one and it seems perfect. The landlord said that he has Mormon friends that he has known for a long time. He was happy to rent from us because he says that we are honest people. Our influences are never ending. Right?

Practice Makes Perfect

So... if you need to get really GREAT at something, just do it over and over again. We all know "practice makes perfect". I believe my next career will be my very own moving company because I am getting really good at it. haha

Recently, I moved from our house (put our things in storage) to Puerto Rico.  We moved into our apartment, but the same week I helped another couple move out of their apartment to go back to Washington. After that (still in the same week),  I helped the previous mission president and his family move out of the mission home and into their new home. Then I had to move out of our present apartment and into another place because it was already scheduled to "close" at the end of June when we arrived. So I just moved into our current place and helped the NEW mission president and his family move into their home here. In the meantime, I have helped a few elders and sisters move here, there, and everywhere with transfers. And on top of that... we move bunk beds and mattresses every week as new elders and sisters arrive. This is the move that never ends... oh dear...

On the brighter side... we are finally settled and we even have internet here! Here are pictures of our new place. It was a dormitory for missionaries for 3 years with the living room full of bunk beds. I spent about 2 days cleaning and organizing it ... but it is now "home". Whew! Speaking of which... my litttle book is being published about cleaning, organizing, and home management. It will be ready in about 2 weeks. Who wants one?