Apartment Inspections - the Strange and the Wonderful

A lot of miles are spent on the road checking out the 69 apartments throughout the mission. Most roads are decent. Sometimes, though, Siri takes us through tiny backroad alleys and even grassy foot paths. It's an adventure!

With a charge to do apartment inspections once a quarter, (which takes nearly the entire quarter to complete), as well as moving missionaries, opening or closing apartments, or helping with repairs, we spend a lot of time in "The Beast".

 

And we get to see some amazing views along the way.

When we enter an apartment for inspections, we are looking primarily for safety and cleanliness. We check their red emergency bag to make sure it has what it needs. We examine their water filter, dryer filters, and run an ear piercing test on the smoke/CO monitor. Which they LOVE!

We make sure they have curtains and working lights and enough bedding. If anything is leaking, broken, missing, cracked, shattered, malfunctioning or dangerous – we teach the missionaries how to take care of it, or get the landlord to fix it, or fix it ourselves. We make sure they are sleeping on sheets, and not just mattresses!

We remind them to clean the inside of fridge and freezer…..

And we take them homemade treats! And then we ask them to share with us a recent miracle. They are always quick to identify a recent teaching opportunity or a contact as a miracle, and love to share their experiences with us.

A by-product of our assignment is the opportunity to see the “strange and the wonderful”.

Like, for example: 

The shattered bedroom window that the missionaries didn’t 
realize was shattered.

Or the maggots in the rice cooker.

Or the wildlife crawling through the apartment.

Or the shattered bathroom shower door.

Or the earthquake damage.

Or the cockroach kill count

Or the innovative drip system from a leaky air conditioner

Or discovering the importance of cleaning their lint filters. 

And this one – not an apartment but at our church building on the day of a big zone conference meal – black ooze bubbling up from the drain on the floor!

That’s the strange part – but now for the wonderful - the missionaries. They are the wonderful part of our mission!

We love the amazing opportunity to work with these servants of the Lord - even when they are goofy - the power of their call still shines through!

We love this door to their apartment building  - so much character!