Getting Used to Small Town Life

When we unpacked the car, we were missing the most random things.  We thought we had a blow-up mattress.  We slept on it in California the last two days before leaving.  But when we unpacked here in Indiana, no bed.  The first night we slept on the floor and it was most miserable.  We have a small hand mixer, but no beaters.  We have the Cutco knives, but no silverware.  We decided NOT to bring the two-man tent, but ended up with the tent stakes and ropes.  We decided to go to the store on Sunday (but don't worry, we took off our missionary badges first) and  we bought another Coleman mattress, dishes, milk, and some other necessities.

Missionaries have been living in this apartment for about 5 years now.  We cleaned out all the closets, drawers, and cupboards and put several boxes of junk in the car to return to the mission home:  puzzles, a basketball, a football, a bike helmet, misc. articles of clothing, pots and pans we didn't want, clocks that tick so loudly I can't sleep at night, and stuff like that.  Craig told the landlady that if she'd buy the paint, he would paint the apartment.  The walls have had lots of nails, screws, and tape used on them.  Generally, we are pleased with where we are living, but every place has its idiosyncrasies.  When you use the washer, you set the water level on high, and it fills up about 5 inches.  Then you start the cycle over and it fills up another 5 inches.  You just keep doing this until you have the right amount of water and let it wash.  The dryer has to run at least 2 cycles to dry the clothes, sometimes more.  THERE IS NO GARBAGE DISPOSAL.  Who builds a house without a garbage disposal.  I really haven't complained about this, however, because I see pictures of where other missionaries live and I know it could be worse.

Now, let's talk about Rensselaer.

It is in the middle of nowhere.  About 1/2 way between Chicago and Indianapolis.

Everyplace you may have to go is far away.  The stake center is about an hour and 15 minutes away, so we went to Stake Conference at the nearest chapel, about 45 minutes away.  We do have a place to meet here in town, but it is a converted office building, not a chapel.  Our ward has about a 60 mile radius.  Rensselaer is in the middle and every small town is around us like spokes on a wheel, each one about 35 minutes away.  Here is what it looked like tonight driving out to meet Miguel, who lives in Goodland.

Scenic, huh?

 Oh yeah, this was me in the car.  It was about 27 degrees with a wind chill factor of who knows what?  

And the best thing of all, is that 1/2 of the branch is on Central Time and 1/2 is on Eastern Time.

The locals call it fast time and slow time.  We are on slow time.  When we went to Lafayette, they were on fast time.  Our phones said it was 4, but our watches said it was only 3.  So if you want to meet with someone, you have to find out if they are fast time or slow time so you will show up at the right time.

So here is what we do for fun.  We sit on the tracks and 

try and dodge the trains.

So as of tonight, we still don't have a couch, or a real bed, but today we got our TV hooked up and WIFI, so we are happy.