Jul 30 07

July 30, 2007

We spent most of the morning defrosting the refrigerator. Robert says it’s our 1932 model, but I suspect it might be much newer, possibly 1940 or even 1950. At least we don’t have to buy blocks of ice for it. What a colossal waste of missionary time!

Since I’d already wasted so much time I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon making cinnamon rolls. Actually, there was a purpose. We’re having cinnamon rolls for our September Fast Sunday Lunch and I decided I’d better know how to make them. Also, I was left to entertain myself because Robert was helping Bill with repairs around the trailer and then went with the Elders all afternoon.

Bill and Robert repaired the toilet—it was running—again—constantly. We’ve lost count of how many times they’ve repaired it. It lasts for a few days then starts in again. Bill brought 4 complete new fill valves for the toilet and said to just replace it when it happens. If we do that, though, we’ll use all 4 of them this week. Bill also gave Robert on-the-job training on how to clean out the valve. The water here is just impossible. Bill had to replace the filter again. It has to be changed about every month, and it should last at least 3 months. He also turned up the hot water temperature and repaired the sprinkler system again.

At 4:00 Robert went with the Elders. They managed to corner Fernando, the 2nd counselor in the Branch, and he agreed to take them, along with the Branch list, around town to update the list and locate the members. They started at 4:00 and got home at 7:30 and still have 1/3 left to do today. It was somewhat discouraging to see how many members there are here who have nothing to do with the church. We’re going to work with the Elders and try to start visiting all these families. We already started working on this list last week by telling Bro Wilcock the members we personally know are deceased. However, the church, being as picky as they are, wants dates of death. Like anyone around here knows that. It would work out if the church would accept “during the full moon last winter” as an appropriate date.

By the time they got home we had a late dinner and then Robert and the Elders left again. Is it just me they don’t like? Actually, they took some cinnamon rolls to Abbit and Tamara and Murphy.

It rained again last night but it was a pretty gentle rain. In Phoenix they had major flooding. The news said Highway 60 was just about completely shut down.