A full day's work

Yesterday was crazy. Part of my new job is to coordinate one-time jobs in the community. People(primarily old ladies) call and want us to help them with tasks. I have been talking to several ladies and I forgot which one wanted us to do what. We were scheduled to help an old lady out yesterday morning. I thought we were supposed to help her clean. I was wrong.

I brought Retha, who is my mission builder and also my friend, Kristy's mom. She is a good cleaner and luckily a strong woman. I realized soon after meeting the old lady, Karen that we would be helping her move from Haiku to Kihei, a 45 minute drive. Retha and I had to load everything in a ten-foot trailer. We made to hair-raising trips across the island with a top-heavy trailer full of Karen's belongings. Karen was a crazy driver and being in a ten-foot moving truck did not help matters much. It also did not help that I was not sitting safely in a seat with a seatbelt but on a bucket in between the two front seats. Karen had a dangerous habit of stopping at the last minute and often scaring me into thinking she might not stop at all. I have never prayed that much during a car ride. Thank God I emerged from the journey alive.

The task took all day which I had not known nor told Retha. I felt bad for dragging her along on my exploits but I could not have done it alone. After our first trip, Karen treated us to lunch at a diner. Our order got mixed up and took way longer than it should have. Karen freaked out and yelled at our waitress. She threatened to walk out without paying for our drinks if we didn't get a hefty discount. It was so embarrasing and I felt sorry for our waitress. Luckily she ended up staying and not walking out. Retha and I did not know what to do. So awkward!

We carried so much crap and much of it had to go upstairs at Karen's new place. Retha and I carried a bed, desk, glass-top table as well as an endless amount of boxes. I almost lost it several times. It was pouring down rain at one point as we loaded furniture onto the truck.

I was so excited to see this tedious day come to an end. She gave us a donation of $20 each which amounts to about $3 an hour for the eight hours of manual labor. I almost screamed! The money is not even for me and I am giving it to the housing fund but this paltry sum for a full day's work was hard to take. My ankle hurt and I am getting sick, evidenced by the swollen lymph nodes in my armpits. Ugh! What a crazy day!

We had some decent talks about YWAM and what we do but I fear my mood as too sour at the end. She was an astrology-loving new ager who is in some sort of dance group that dances to songs of various religions. I hope we made a good impression on her because that experience wa a lot like Hell.