“Give me a Coke!”

Today was our first day in our new church building. We finally signed the lease agreement three weeks after we first said we wanted to rent the building. That was taken care of Friday night and Saturday was spent all day in cleaning and preparing for today.

After the morning services we were eating lunch. A man walked in off the street right into the building to ask what we were doing. Well, obviously we were eating. This building is a colonial style house but has been an auto parts store for many years. So it would not be unusual for the neighbors to still see this as a public business. And, of course, we would welcome anyone into our church. So it was all fine up to that point.

I told the man that we had started a church for the Deaf and that we had services there on Sundays. He was welcome to join us. He declined saying that he goes to mass and did not want to come to our church. Then he proceeded to ask me to give him some Coke. We had a 2-liter bottle of Coke sitting on the table. And we were all sharing it, so it would not have been a big deal to give the man a Coke. But, what if someone walked into your house (he did not know until after he was in the building that it was not our house but a church) and demanded a Coke. Would you give him some?

I then asked him if he would come back and visit with us. He said, “Yes, I will come by every week to see you. Give me some Coke.” Well, if he is going to come back every week and ask me to give him some Coke, then I think I will pass on the opportunity. He then proceeded to ask one of the young men at the church to give him some Coke. I just had to laugh. Remember this is a Deaf church. He was properly ignored by the Deaf teen who was playing a game. He was not being rude, he just did not hear the fellow.

Ahh, a day off

Friday is not really a day off for us, but we always consider it our day to go and do. It is library day. We hit the local English library. It is pretty well stocked. We have recently been bringing home magazines. Even though some of them are from the last century, Readers Digest does not change that much.

But before the library today I went to a friend’s house to see what was wrong with his computer. It is acting wonky. I think the biggest thing is that if he had a bit more RAM, that would really help. I did all the normal diagnostics and found nothing amiss. The good thing about the house call was that I got to eat “second breakfast” today. At home I had a couple bowls of cereal along with my coffee. Then I went to their house and had pancakes with real maple syrup from Ohio. A friend of theirs makes it.

That was at 8:00. About 10:30 we were ready to head to the library. But before the library we had to check the post office for new mail. Nothing. Then to visit the pastor of our church. He is a plumber by trade and I needed hot water heater recommendations. Off to buy a hot water heater. Then finally the library.

After our fun filled day at the library we hit our regular Friday eating out spot…Burger King. Costs just as much as it does back home. Maybe a bit more. But, they have free refills on their drinks. Also, air conditioning is always very nice to have when it is 99 degrees outside. And the kids like the play place. That gives us time to read a bit on the books or magazines we get from the library. Today I did not pick up any books, so we played Sudoku on the Palm Pilot.

Then we ran back home to get the baby down for a nap around 1:30. While she was sleeping, I worked on pulling the old hot water heater out of place. To do that, you have to shut off the water. The water shut off valve is up near the water tank on the roof. I don’t have a ladder that can reach that high. We live in a house with tall ceilings and two stories. I need a 20 rung ladder to make it all the way to the top. My ladder is 13 rungs. So, to shut off the water, I waited until the pump kicked on which let me know the water level was as low as it would go. I quickly shut off the breaker to the pump. Then turned on all the faucets and showers to drain off the rest of the water. I was able to get the water drained and the old heater pulled before 3:00.

At 3:00 we left to meet some friends at the bowling alley. Like always, they arrived late, and they are not even Mexican. I have always enjoyed bowling, but it is not something for which I have a passion. This was the first time since we have been here that we have bowled. We were there till just before 5:00. I rolled a 157. Much higher than my average in college which was 135. I was pleased.

At 5:00 my wife dropped me off at home and took our son to chess class. I installed the new water heater (at least enough to turn the water back on to the house) and showered before 5:40. At 5:40 I ran downtown to teach my class at the Deaf school from 6:00 to 7:00. I got home around 8:00 after talking to some friends for a while.

I am writing this at 8:30 and have to go get my son from a youth meeting at 9:15. Then home to relax for the evening.

So, that was our rest day. How was yours?