OFFICE

We are working hard at the bureau to get things in order and many days have spent long hours there.  We are hoping that as we get things running smoother it will ease President and Sister Granger's load a little bit and help the work go forward in this part of the mission.

One issue lately has been trying to figure out what to do about driving school.  After a year in a French country an expatriate has to get a French driver's license.  The license is good for life.  You have to take the written test in French and pass a driving test. If you pass the test in a car with a manual transmission you are licensed to drive both automatics and manuals.  Otherwise a person can't drive a manual in a French country for the rest of his life.  The missionaries spend at least ten hours at the school preparing for the written test and ten hours driving.  Some have never driven a manual before and it is nearly impossible for the missionary to practice other than with the instructor.  This ties a set of missionaries up for at least twenty hours not to mention the high cost.  If the missionary fails the test there is additional time and money required to repass the test.  It is to the school's advantage to fail the missionaries which they do quite readily.  One has failed four times. Elder Glade has been looking for a school which will test on an automatic only--especially for those missionaries who aren't from French countries.  Just one of so many issues.

We have had lots of light-hearted times at the office, too.  A member brought us a huge bag of pamplemousse--a sweeter and very seedy, juicy variety of grapefruit, and a great source of vitamin c. (We do worry about missionary nutrition.)  Some of the missionaries weren't sure they liked them including the office elders.  We encouraged them to try some with us. We didn't have a good utensils for eating them at the bureau so we sliced them and went outside to eat them.

Hope a tree doesn't grow for every seed we spit here

Consensus was--DELICIOUS! and we were able to give away a few more pamplemousse.

One day the toner wasn't working.  Elder Glade had the Elders take the cartridge out and shake it a little bit to see if the ink would work better.  Look what fell out! A couple of eggs which immediately hatched and the geckos scurried off almost before anyone could get a picture. How many offices have this problem?













This critter was on our car one morning and rode the several kilometers to the bureau.
It was there for quite a while each time I checked, but wasn't still there when it was time for us to go home.  It must have found another ride.

 Stowaway!

An excerpt from Elder Glade's Email. "This week flew by.  Next week will too.  On Friday Elder Lynn G Robbins and Elder and Sister Vincent O Haleck will be flying in.  They will convene a “Special Stake Conference.”  No one is quite sure why.  Pres Guidi (Stake President) has asked us to drive them a few times when he cannot.  They will meet with the missionaries for one hour on Saturday.  

"Our only assignment from Pres Granger was to make sure all the missionaries had decent shoes, white shirts and pants for the elders and whatever for the sisters.  Many of the Tahitian missionaries only have 2 pair of pants and 2 shirts.  They are so dirty.  There are holes in the pants and shoes with 75% of the tread gone.  Although some have bought clothing on their missions, most of the missionaries we are trying to help don’t know where to go to shop.  When we finally get to a store, they don’t have the right size, especially for some of our huge South Pacific islanders. One elder is 6 ft 7 in.  The mission bought a sewing machine.  Meg has two pairs of pants to hem.  

"Meg has organized a major cleaning, planting, painting project for the office.  Missionaries in our ward (on their p-day) will help, then we will share a meal.  She really is making the place shine."   

APARTMENT AND OFFICE

APARTMENT

Here are some pictures since the last post was pictureless.  

Scrubbing grout film off the tile

Moving in

A place we will miss

The changing position of the morning sun shows how long we were able to enjoy this lovely place.

Hotel le Stanley from the back

The pool

Our new address.

The streets where we live.  Both addresses get used by different people.  We like the idea of living on "Rue du Croissant."

The other end of the street

The kind men who delivered bed, couch, fridge, etc. to our apartment.

If they needed to move the washer or dryer they just picked it up.

Was sure this wasn't the mattress I bought, but it grew to the right size.

It was difficult to maneuver a big somier (like box springs) up a low staircase and down a narrow hall into a small bedroom.

It has taken time to buy all that we need and to do what needs to be done in the apartment (like mount curtain rods in cement walls), but we are almost there.

To be continued. . .

INTERNET CHALLANGED ONCE MORE

This will be a post without pictures for now.  We moved out of the hotel where we have been staying since we arrived in New Caledonia.  The hotel with the incredible view.  We moved into our apartment last Saturday.  I don't believe I have ever set up an apartment from ground zero.  When we signed the lease the apartment had a stove, an oven, construction dust, and grout film on all the tile.  There weren't even any light bulbs. We don't have internet at our apartment and it is a complicated process to get it so in the meantime I have some time at the office when my work is done and Elder Glade's isn't, but I don't have access to our pictures.

The first night after the water had been turned on and we went to clean our apartment was a comedy of errors. We finally left the office about 4. Went home and grabbed a quick snack before going to the apartment.  We had borrowed a broom, bucket, fan etc. from the office and thought we were well prepared.

When we got to the apartment we realized there were no light bulbs and it was getting dark. We couldn't remember where we put a couple that we had bought to try. (We didn't  want blue light.) Elder Glade decided to go back to the hotel and look for them. He left and I was going to start cleaning the grout film off the tile floors.  That was when I realized that the water I turned on when we first got there was all that we were going to get. I called to say that there was no water after all. Elder Glade realized I had the key to the hotel.  He called me to say he would turn around and go to the office for light bulbs. We realized we needed something to stand on to reach the ceiling.  He said he'd get the ladder at the office, too.  I could see a tap outside so I went to see if I could get water there. The handle had been removed.  I called Elder Glade to ask him to bring some water.  He told me to look for a valve outside and make sure it was on.  I checked on the terrace and couldn't see anything. I called Elder Glade to find out exactly where.  He told me to go to a closet in the hallway. My key unlocked it and I was able to turn the water on.  Called  to tell him we did have water. Missionaries were around the office for an activité sportive at the chapel and wanted to talk to Elder Glade. He kept telling them that he had to go--he had left me in a dark apartment. Our apartment is at the beginning of an indoor hall which is very dark so there is a light switch at the beginning of the hall.  When it is turned on it will stay on for a few minutes and then turn off again.  I kept turning it on and leaving the door open so I could see until Elder Glade got back with the light bulbs.  

We stayed for a while and went over the floors a few times where we had light. It was pretty hot with just a fan. Before we left we plugged in the water heater and it overloaded the circuit. After that we had no electricity.  After running around and so many phone calls I'm glad we finally got something done.  

So far we have spent long hours at the office trying to get things running smoothly here.  We are caught between two systems--New Zealand and Tahiti (French).  Still not sure how it will all turn out.  We wanted to get my signature on a local bank account that Elder Glade had opened and we had to make an appointment and return a week later.  Things are done differently here and in a very complicated fashion to our way of thinking.

In the evenings we have tried to get what we needed for the apartment.  Most stores close by 5:30.  Even grocery stores close by 7:30 or 8.  It's probably good because we are exhausted by then.

We have also kept busy by attending baptisms when we can, a dinner with a sister becoming active again, and dinner with another sister in the ward.  We have accompanied missionaries to doctor and dentist appointments; picked up medicine at the pharmacy; gone grocery shopping a few times with two sets of elders trying to teach them to budget so they don't run out of money half-way through the month; worked through problems with packages shipped from home; corresponded with worried mothers; dealt with visa issues and driving school (a requirement for expats of more than a year); helped with missionary car inspections; and have had a set of sisters and one of elders who have had car accidents--fortunately not serious.

Hopefully internet next week and a blog post with pictures.