Of Mice, Missionaries and Mary
A load of washing takes 2 hours and 15 minutes!!!! Time in the dryer is somewhat less. So I was grateful to get two loads done before the business of the day began.
Sometime in there, we got a frantic call from the sister missionaries. They had been up all night listening to the scurrying sound of little feet...tiny little feet....mouse feet! They had him cornered in the bathroom and they needed an executioner. Hence the call to the elders, and Elder Madsen...who all scurried on their big feet over to the sister’s flat.
Alas, the mouse had escaped through one of the many openings in the walls of the room. The sisters had purchased a rat trap a week ago, but it was a slam dunk for that wily little vermin to grab the bait and skedaddle without tripping the trap. They were pretty shaken up by the whole idea of that little pest.
We had our missionary district conference here today. It will be here every Wednesday morning. It lasted about 2 hours and then we served them lunch...the seemingly unpopular baked ziti of Monday night. I don’t know if those four young people were just being gracious or perhaps really really hungry, but they ATE and then exclaimed how good it was, and then thanked me profusely for lunch.
I think their parents would be so proud of them if they could have been flies on the wall today. One of the elders is the district leader, and he took the lead. He took an accounting of activities, asked what accomplishments each felt good about, what areas needed improving, and helped each set goals for the week.
Then he taught some principles of missionary work, admonished us that it is all about our relationship with Jesus Christ, and challenged us to do our best. He was very inspiring. One of the sister missionaries conducted a training session as well, taking us through scriptures that taught and inspired. They are serious and sincere, dedicated and obedient.
As soon as they left, SK and I left on a quest for a serious mousetrap. In a town that is a thousand years old, you’d expect them to be available everywhere. We finally found one in a little shop down a narrow side street. Not only did we find one, but it came in a package of two, and it was already to put out, bait and all.
We came back to our flat and had dinner. The sisters came by to pick up the traps after a teaching appointment. They called an hour later to let us know each trap had done its job - with a net of two dead mice! -one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen!🙁
The mice were disposed of and the traps reset, and we haven’t heard from them since, so we are praying that’s the end of the mouse chapter. -Don’t hold your breath!
At seven, the doorbell rang. It was our institute teacher - Mary. She came prepared to teach, but had just arrived back in town from Germany. She hadn’t gotten the message that institute starts next week. So she stayed and we visited. She is wonderful....passionate about the gospel and about the YSA program. She is a professor at Oxford and has just published a book about “Hunger in War and Peace.”
We have already met so many here who are remarkable, kind and welcoming. Everyone thanks us for coming to serve, as if we had done something great. We feel blessed to be here, entirely inadequate and a little uncertain about what exactly it is that we are to be doing. We are spending a lot of time with young missionaries, young single adults and young professors and we are enjoying them.
We cook, we kill mice, visit and try to lift. For now, perhaps, that is enough.
Sometime in there, we got a frantic call from the sister missionaries. They had been up all night listening to the scurrying sound of little feet...tiny little feet....mouse feet! They had him cornered in the bathroom and they needed an executioner. Hence the call to the elders, and Elder Madsen...who all scurried on their big feet over to the sister’s flat.
Alas, the mouse had escaped through one of the many openings in the walls of the room. The sisters had purchased a rat trap a week ago, but it was a slam dunk for that wily little vermin to grab the bait and skedaddle without tripping the trap. They were pretty shaken up by the whole idea of that little pest.
We had our missionary district conference here today. It will be here every Wednesday morning. It lasted about 2 hours and then we served them lunch...the seemingly unpopular baked ziti of Monday night. I don’t know if those four young people were just being gracious or perhaps really really hungry, but they ATE and then exclaimed how good it was, and then thanked me profusely for lunch.
I think their parents would be so proud of them if they could have been flies on the wall today. One of the elders is the district leader, and he took the lead. He took an accounting of activities, asked what accomplishments each felt good about, what areas needed improving, and helped each set goals for the week.
Then he taught some principles of missionary work, admonished us that it is all about our relationship with Jesus Christ, and challenged us to do our best. He was very inspiring. One of the sister missionaries conducted a training session as well, taking us through scriptures that taught and inspired. They are serious and sincere, dedicated and obedient.
As soon as they left, SK and I left on a quest for a serious mousetrap. In a town that is a thousand years old, you’d expect them to be available everywhere. We finally found one in a little shop down a narrow side street. Not only did we find one, but it came in a package of two, and it was already to put out, bait and all.
We came back to our flat and had dinner. The sisters came by to pick up the traps after a teaching appointment. They called an hour later to let us know each trap had done its job - with a net of two dead mice! -one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen!🙁
The mice were disposed of and the traps reset, and we haven’t heard from them since, so we are praying that’s the end of the mouse chapter. -Don’t hold your breath!
At seven, the doorbell rang. It was our institute teacher - Mary. She came prepared to teach, but had just arrived back in town from Germany. She hadn’t gotten the message that institute starts next week. So she stayed and we visited. She is wonderful....passionate about the gospel and about the YSA program. She is a professor at Oxford and has just published a book about “Hunger in War and Peace.”
We have already met so many here who are remarkable, kind and welcoming. Everyone thanks us for coming to serve, as if we had done something great. We feel blessed to be here, entirely inadequate and a little uncertain about what exactly it is that we are to be doing. We are spending a lot of time with young missionaries, young single adults and young professors and we are enjoying them.
We cook, we kill mice, visit and try to lift. For now, perhaps, that is enough.
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