The Dumpster Lady

 



I just found out yesterday that I am staying in this area for another transfer. That may not be a surprise to a lot of you because you normally stay in your first area for at least 3 transfers. But it is a surprise for me because our mission president really likes moving people around, even trainees. One second you're in Reno and the next you are out east, in the middle of the desert. That's just how it is in this mission. Although Reno is one of the largest missions in the continental US land-wise, it's one of the smallest in population. It's really the biggest little mission in the world-- just like how Reno is the biggest little city in the world. Last P-day our district went on this really cool hike to a waterfall up in the mountains. The first 2 miles was all desert but as soon as we hit the treeline, it was just gorgeous. Some of the braver elders in our district stuck our head under the waterfall. It was freezing and it honestly made my head hurt for a little while. I was just praying that I didn't get some brain-eating amoeba up my nose. 

Also that day we found out that we are officially moving buildings. There's an apartment that the office wants us to have but it doesn't open up until November 6, so the quad is splitting up and going to some other Elder's apartments this next week to wait it out. It's kind of sad because we've had to slowly get rid of our furniture over the past few days. For the last 3 days we've been sleeping and eating on the floor. Our room is kind of a mess right now just because we have to pack up all of our stuff. Even though I am not getting transferred, it definitely feels like it. On the brightside we are getting rid of the Nissan Rogue. Sometime later today we are going to pick up a Equinox. It's funny though because we all thought the smell had finally gone away, but when we gave the zone leaders a ride they all were like, "ugh this is foul!" The bad news is now that we are getting a legit mission vehicle, we will have to deal with a "Tiwi."  A Tiwi is a device that basically tracks where your car is and at what speed you are going so that Elders don't decide to just go to Vegas for a weekend trip. The thing is, it is really sensitive and it yells at you if you go too fast or turn too sharp. And it counts the number of times you get an "aggressive driving" notice. Too many of those and you get your driving privileges revoked. FOR GOOD. Good thing is I really do not have to worry about that yet because I was late getting my driving paperwork turned in. I don't even have driving privileges yet. So yeah, take that, I guess. 

Well I am sure everybody is waiting to hear how my experience with the Polish Lady was this week, and trust me it will not disappoint. For starters, she had a bunch of junk in her yard, porch, etc, so we decided that we needed to take care of that ASAP. She rented a Uhaul, and we got to work. We spent the next 2.5 hours filling the massive truck with wood, furniture, a couch, boards with rusty nails, a fridge, a tv, cinder blocks, rocks, tumbleweeds (yes, seriously idk), old shingles, cinder blocks, more wood, and then some more cinder blocks. To polish it off there was a swing she took down with metal saw. Worst sound of my life! There are those speakers that they use to control riots that are so loud they make your ears bleed. Yeah, I bet this sound came pretty close. Anyway, we got all of that loaded up and stuff was falling out as we closed the door. Then, the next day, we went to the dump. Now this isn't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill landfill. No. This is one of those fancy indoor disposals that rich people go too. I am honestly not really sure how everything worked, but you throw your stuff into this big concrete trench and then every 10 mins or so a HUGE truck would come and push it all away. It smelled like garbage in there. I honestly don't know why because it was so fancy. When we arrived there was a line, so we cut up ahead and helped some lady with her garbage before we even started with ours. It probably would have taken her alone like an hour but we whipped that through in about 5 mins. She wanted to pay us so bad but we gave her a passalong card instead. I'll never forget putting in her contact in the area book: "Dumpster Lady". Now it was our turn. Cinder blocks and rotten wood was barfing its way out of the bed as we opened the Uhaul. And then we got to work. There is nothing more satisfying than throwing heavy things into a big pile off of a truck. It was straight chaos the whole time. I loved it. The lady we helped out sat in the truck, and she said she felt like royalty. I was so tired afterword, I laid on the floor and took a nap in my boots during my lunch break. Best nap I've ever had. That was a long day. The rest of the week was pretty slow. 

We haven't found anyone in a while but we work hard. I'm not worried because of one bad week, but I just hope it doesn't become two bad weeks or 3. And when I say bad I don't mean unproductive or lazy, we were super busy all week. We just didn't find anyone. I'm not too worried though. Hunterlake forever. One more story. Elder Sana, the guy who was famous for "what's going on chica" struck again and said something along the lines of "what's going on 'mato" in the Reno chat. You'll never guess what we were saying all week. He also sent another voice clip of him apologizing for it and bore his testimony--then at the end he said, "love you more, bye". Next notification I got said, Elder Sana has been kicked out from the chat. Oh well :)


The crowning event of this week was my trip to the temple. No, I didn't get to do a session or anything but, I did get to go inside. Once a month or so missionaries in the Reno area get to do service at the temple. I was raking weeds for about an hour, but then one of the Assistant Temple Presidents said he needed my help with something. He took me to a rare part of the temple, the attic! It's where they store a bunch of carpet, paintings, soap, etc. It was so cool to see that part of the temple. It was honestly so surreal just to be in the House of the Lord again. I have to admit I felt a little out of place in my dirty jeans, gray t-shirt, and dusty sketchers boots, but it was worth it. Even if it was just to grab some soap. After that he took a bunch of us to the roof. The mission takes you to amazing places that you would never think of going to. Whether it be the dump or the roof of the cleanest place on earth, it's all on the Lord's errand, and that's what matters. I was so close to the Moroni statue I could see the artist signature engraved in the robe. I hope I get asked to help get the soap again!
















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