For the past month, we have been heavily involved with work, of the physical kind. Basically we have been day laborers, but without being paid (other than a mountainous pile of blessings to us and our family). Some of the activities we have been doing include putting up a shed, taking it down, and then putting it up again. After working one day for a few hours to put up the walls of the said shed, we realized the floor was not level. In fairness to us, we didn't construct the floor. Paul went a few days later and disassembled it and then some men from the church spent a half day re-constructing the floor. A few days later, Paul and I returned and put up the walls again, and added the doors. Later, we also put on the roof. I am, of course the invaluable assistant, fetching tools and steadying things while the mastermind assembles.
At this same home, we also cut down three dead trees and hauled as many of the branches as would fit to a trailer. Because we are not permeant residents, we couldn't take the load to the dump and had to wait until the following Saturday when the owner could do it. We then hauled more branches to the empty trailer. One more load awaits us later this week.
In our spare time from these jobs, we searched for a new apartment for a member of the branch who has terrible allergies and had to move out of her current apartment because she can't smell cooking meat. This was a new allergy, which suddenly appeared, has been added to the countless others she already has. She wears bracelets up her arm, warning of life-threatening allergies, including one to cat dander which can cause her to break out in a rash and stop breathing in a matter of minutes. The restrictive situation she required made our search time-consuming, but we were able to find an upstairs apartment with just the owner living below. The former tenant had had a cat, but the owner assured us he had painted everything. Just to be sure, Paul and I went over before she moved in, or even came to the apartment and washed all the windows and blinds, all surfaces inside and out of the cabinets, and put contact paper on the shelves. We also washed all the baseboards, some of the walls, etc. We hung heavy plastic over an unfinished portion of a closet. She still had and continues to have some problem with the allergy, but we are hopeful it will dissipate over time (apparently the dander will lose its allergens after a year).
After the cleaning, it was time to do the actual move. The young elders did much of the heavy lifting, along with some young men, so we were able to preserve our fragile backs. Paul had three dressers and two armoires to assemble. Once again I was the ever-attentive assistant. Her old apartment was 25 minutes from Victoriaville so we added some more miles to our vehicle. I was just grateful for the beautiful weather which made the moving so much more pleasant. I am already fearing our own move out of here in mid-December. Maybe we will be lucky and have a mild winter!
Once she was settled, we spent some time to help paint the apartment of another branch member who was moving to a larger apartment. We also have helped her do some of the moving.
Wew! Not bad for two old people with bad backs and other physical ailments, huh?
