Happy Valentine's Day!

How ironic.  We received notice today from the mission office that our apartment management company will be by on Monday (the busiest day of our week) to inspect our flat.  Yes, we inspected two this week, and will be doing four next week and two the week after.  We will compliment them on what they are doing well and we will make suggestions about how they can do better.

Next week, someone will come through and - well, who knows what they will look for!  As soon as I read that today, I kind of went into overdrive.  I try to keep this place clean and orderly because there are always people coming in, but somehow, having someone come in who owns it and wants to make sure it is being well-taken care of....that makes me a trifle nervous. 

And the worst thing?  They will submit the report to the mission office.  I can see it now. 
"That Madsen couple don't know how to take care of a flat!"
"We'll have to evict."
"The flat is a disaster."

Oh well....something to keep me busy for a day or two.

I spent a good portion of the day at the computer, looking for items for missionary flats, communicating with various and sundry individuals and arranging for some things to be picked up, repaired or taken care of.  I did laundry, I cleaned, I studied.  That was the morning. 

In the afternoon, we met an adorable young couple at the nearby mall movie theater, where we saw "The Personal History of David Copperfield."  It was enjoyable, entertaining and thought-provoking.  SK enjoyed it too, but thought it would have been better if there were subtitles.  Even after 5 months here, we sometimes miss what is being said by Brits.  The other YSAs who attended enjoyed it too.

In the early evening, the young couple who invited us to the movie came over with a bag full of groceries and the two of them cooked a wonderful curry dinner for us.  It was excellent!  They even brought a decadent dessert - cream puffs (otherwise known as profiteroles). 



We finished off the evening playing a few matches of "Nines."  SK won one of them, and yes, he was quite exultant. 

What an enjoyable day!  What a sweet Valentine's celebration.  What a lovely young couple.  What a good meal.  What a fun game. 

I'll remember this day for a long time to come.

Comments

melissa said…
It sounds like a wonderful Valentine’s Day!! And if the owner doesn’t think your flat is clean, the rest of us are in serious trouble!
February 15, 2020 at 10:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Master Teacher

In the 1st Ward today, an 11-year-old boy gave a talk that was one of he best sacrament meeting talks I have ever heard.  He got up to speak and his head just barely cleared the podium.  He is small and has a shock of dark hair topping a cute slightly freckled face. It will be several years yet before his voice deepens.  He had his written talk, and he read most of it, but he was familiar enough with it that he looked up often and it seemed as if he was speaking from his heart. He began with a quote from Nephi in 2 Nephi 25:29, where Nephi prophesies about the future and then tells us how to worship the Savior. How? this boy asked us. He went on to answer his own question.  Nephi says "with all our might."  The boy then asked how that is done. He cited the story of the converts in the Congo who threw all of their idols into a massive waterfall where they were unrecoverable.  The boy said that when we worship the Savior with all our might, that mea...
Read more

Going Home

  Fifteen missionaries are returning to their homes this week.  For this Saturday night zoom conference broadcast, each bore their testimony from their flats with their companions by their sides.  SK and I teared up many times as we listened to humble, sweet and strong testimonies.  It is easy to see the difference as they get close to their release date.  It they have been faithful, there is a maturity and a sweetness that is unexplainable. Here is a smattering of what was said: There is no growth in the comfort zone.  I am about to go home to my comfort zone...but it struck me that my old comfort zone is no longer comfortable for me.  I want to be in a growth zone. The early apostles did not succeed, but they knew we would. One elder quoted Dave's poem "If."  "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same...Hold on...even through the hardest times."  "How can I accomplish these things?  Jesus Chr...
Read more

Shark!

Image
We left our flat way too early for my taste this morning, heading out to go south to Farnborough.  Forty-eight miles, supposedly an hour and twenty minute drive.  We got into some heavy stop and go traffic and it was closer to 2 hours before we got there. We inspected the two young sisters' flat, which was beautifully clean and organized.  They are cute sisters.  They had been in London yesterday for zone conference and excitedly shared all they had heard and been taught.  They had their notes out and were very cute to repeat some great messages from President Checketts.  I hardly ever talk to him when he isn't dealing with numerous issues in the mission and in the middle of at least one or two crises, and planning the next gathering....all at the same time.  It must be that he and Deb are in a constant state of stress.  But he has cleared the half-way mark.  I wonder if he knows how highly he is esteemed by these young missionaries, who ...
Read more