Spreadsheet Guy
One of the mission rules is: No non-missionaries in the mission cars. That means when you see a member walking to church, you cannot stop and give them a ride. Or if you see an old person walking on the side of the road way out in the bush, you can’t give them a ride.
The exception is we can give called but not yet serving missionaries rides. Like if they are going on teaching events.
Mark’s birthday was on Columbus Day, and the Office Staff celebrated by going to the local Indian restaurant, one of Mark’s favorites. And of course, the phone never stops ringing. The first was the Office Elders wondering if we could go to the airport for a pick up. They were busy taking a Pre-Called missionary around town to get things so they could get their call. The Mission President said he would have to remind the missionaries that Pre-Pre Missionaries are not within the exception.
Then the next call was a previous landlady. We get calls from missionaries needing water or electricity. This landlady had terminated our lease because she was moving back into her flat. But now that she was in, she didn’t know how to do the water and electricity. So Mark had to explain it.
It was funny, in a pathetic kind of way.
Lynn’s phone did not ring during the meal. She had forgotten to take it off silent which was set during church two days before.
One of our favorite Hallmark movies is “Love on Safari”. The bad boyfriend (who is boring and not supportive) at one point in the movie he offers the hero actress help which she doesn’t want nor need and says:”I’m Spreadsheet Guy!”
In the office, Lynn got a note from one of our missionaries requesting a replacement water filter. Lynn stated “You need to keep track of these replacements. You’re Spreadsheet Guy!”
Mark’s not sure he’s feeling the appreciation!
Mark stopped by Dis-Chem (the local pharmacy) for some meds. At the pharmacy counter, they gave him the medicine, but placed it inside a little metal caged box and zip-tied it closed. As the pharmacist handed it to Mark he said the cost was 20 pula. That’s like $1.50 dirt cheap. Mark took it up to the register in the front where they cut the zip tie and gave the meds to him after payment. Funny things they do here.
Since Lynn was not feeling so well, we got an appointment with the local Doctor in the private hospital. He was great, checked Lynn, prescribed some meds and had a blood test performed. When we went to check out, the receptionist was already starting to process Lynn’s visit just like they do for our younger missionaries. That was encouraging that they know us so well. Wait, maybe that’s not so good!!???
Lynn had to let them know that the Senior Missionaries pay for their own medical care. But we were happy to see they knew how to process missionaries.
We did have a tender mercy this last week. Somehow three mission couples planned a vacation without letting the mission president know. The two CES couples were off to Cape Town for a CES seminar and the Mission President and his wife were at mission leaders training in Madagascar for the week. We had visions of all kinds of problems happening as we were the only adults in the mission. Fortunately we only had to relocate 3 missionaries for shower purposes because they had no water in their flat. We had a new flat ready to go just a 5 minute walk away.
The mission also met the monthly goal of 100 baptisms. This is a record high for the mission. The previous high was 88 converts 2 months ago.
Baboon Crossing on the A1
(the main Botswana Highway)
