Challenges of 93 Apartments with a Traveling Nurse

      Sometimes when we travel, we face-time the married kids and grands and it is so fun to see how they are changing. We took another trip to Huntsville to toss a bedbug mattress and replace it with the truck and trailer.  There was a threesome that also needed a new mattress and desk etc. we needed to deliver.
     The missionaries are pretty much amazing, and in August, September and October there were nine,  12 and 14 baptisms. President and Sister Sainsbury are devoted leaders and wonderfully focused and filled with love for the work and the Savior. During Zone conferences the Spirit was so strong and the missionary miracles and robust singing make everyone tear up.

     Steve is the housing coordinator over 93 apartments he is suppose to check every three months.  He was initiated on Conference weekend with  a flood from an elder hanging his wire hanger on a ceiling sprinkler(4 inches of water on the 3rd floor) 1500 gallons a minutes for 20 minutes!!(big insurance claim the church has to cover.) There have since been mice, bed bugs requiring new mattresses twice, several cases of cockroaches where Elders had to be moved, maggots in potatoes that caused "Emotional distress" with some sweet Sisters, part of the roof blown off during a storm and a myriad of tiny complaints.  Such as "We can't stay in this apartment because the smokers below us cause too much smoke in our apartment" , "We need new white boards, the previous elders used tape on them and when we pulled the tape off the white board came off", "I can't sleep on this hard bed", "Can you get us a new DVD player, ours is broken", "We need 5 light bulbs, 2 new chairs" and "we want to be reimbursed for light bulbs and a cleaning cloth," "we need a new microwave," "some previous elder must have done bench presses on our ironing board, can we have a new one?"

     Steve bought $400.00 worth of led light bulbs at Sam's Club and they are almost gone!!  We are both in a little surprised at everything required of everyone!!  Elder and Sister Barfuss traveled to three Senior couple apartments and petitioned help with checking the young missionaries apartments for Co2 detector check, Smoke detector check, cleanliness throughout and checking through a to do list.  They all agreed and it lightened the load a little.

     Sister Barfuss likes to prepare a treat when we do the apartment checks.  This month she fixed up microwave popcorn packages and some candy corn and jelly beans in snack baggies for each missionary  checked on.  After going through the check list, Elder Barfuss leaves a beautiful prayer with them and blesses the apartment and their lives in service to the Savior.  Sometimes it makes me cry because the Spirit is truly there, comforting, reassuring and blessing these great missionaries.

     As mission nurse we both attended two appointments with missionaries a week ago Tuesday and it took 7 hours out of the day.  Sister Barfuss goes into the appointment and Brother Barfuss visits with the other missionary in the waiting room.  After every phone visit and in person visit, the nurses put notes into Missionary Medical website. Rosie has been teaching several missionaries about mindfulness training, diaphragmatic breathing and how to calm anxiety triggers.  We had a wasp sting and some skinned knees, allergies and what the other nurses call "Mom medicine." One Sister was allergic to wasps and was having difficulty breathing and was given steroids and epi at an Urgent Care appt. At least half of the phone calls are Mom Medicine, where the nurses say, "Go to the store and buy some Benadryl or Pepto etc.  Our mission has an Area Medical Advisor(they are over 6 missions) that we have to get approval from to send anyone to a doctor, unless it is an emergency.  We have to get missionary approval, Mission President approval, sometimes parent approval if the condition is pre-existing, because the mission will only pay for conditions that begin during the mission.  Mission Medical is self insured with tithing dollars and are very careful with the sacred funds.  Sister Barfuss reports to the  Mission President and his wife, the other nurses in a weekly Monday meeting and on e-mail(AMA too).  Sometimes Sister B is fielding phone calls and typing notes a good portion of the day.  While traveling the mission with Elder Barfuss, a hot spot with the lap top and phone has to be created to have internet access to help the missionaries find Urgent Care in their area, as needed.