Moving again, but this time, in the rain!

Yesterday, we traveled to Kaohsiung, about 2 hours south of Taichung, to help with some moving. Actually, we started Friday, when we went to our storage unit and loaded the van with furniture and household items the new apartment would need. Then, yesterday, we left home about 6:45 to ride our bikes to the office. There we gathered up the keys and other things we needed. We got in the van and began driving south. It was misty when we left, and then it began raining. Before long, it was raining hard. Then, it turned into a crazy downpour. Motorists turned on their hazard lights as well as their headlights, and we all slowed to about 30 miles per hour or so. The wipers were going full blast, but still it was hard to see much at times. We had to laugh, though, as the typhoon In-fa was supposed to arrive LAST weekend, not this one. It rained over 4 inches in Kaohsiung yesterday!

We first drove to a new, mostly-furnished apartment Brother Yang had secured for the new missionary couple (DeWitts) who are due to arrive in August. This apartment is on the 13th floor of a building with a magnificent view of a forested mouuntainside. We dropped off some items they will need such as a desk and chair, toaster oven, blender, water filter, etc. and then drove to the Daliao area missionary apartment. This apartment was being replaced because it was so run-down, and the landlord wasn't willing to do any repairs. Unfortunately, the missionaries had NOT packed up much beyond their own suitcases. (You can be sure that Sister Wells, in her own loving way, made her displeasure known to the young elders.)

So, with the ever-faithful Elder and Sister Yu, we helped with lots of packing, disassembling beds, re-assembling the landlords beds, and hauling everything over to the new apartment, load by load (4 in all). Fortunately, we were able to back the van up to an overhang at their old apartment, and the new one had a covered garage, so we were able to (mostly) keep out of the rain.

The Elders were amazed at their beautiful new apartment. It is in a brand-new building, so the apartment still has that "new apartment" smell. It really is nice, with the only drawback being (as is the case in all the new apartments, it seems) that it is very small. The largest bedroom is just large enough for 2 bunkbeds (we only installed one, since the apartment is currently housing only 2 missionaries). The other two bedrooms are even smaller. As is usual, one is used for study, and we installed 2 desks and chairs, and the other is used for dressing, with 2 wardrobes which in this case were just wire racks from Ikea (the outfitter of choice for this mission).

After re-assembling the bunkbed, the wardrobes and the dining table, and helping with other move-in tasks, we finally finished at 6:30, about 8 hours later. It was a long, tiring move, but the Elders were all moved in!

One more task - we drove to the Chaozaou Sisters apartment to pick up a bike with had been left by a departing missionary, to move to storage. Finally, in the dark, and through the pouring rain, we drove the two hours back to Taichung. Instead of leaving the van at the office and riding our bikes home, we opted to drive the van home and park it there. We were too exhausted to do anything else!

This morning we woke up with more aches than normal, and Sister Wells is napping right now, but we're happy for the work, and to be contributing, even if in a small way, to the building up of God's kingdom here on earth!