Good neighbors

I think the last time I wrote I said that my neighbor, Fany, often goes to visit her in-laws and gets stuck there for days at a time because of the torrential rains.  It happened again this week.  She left on Wednesday with plans to return Thursday.  Thursday it rained.  Friday it rained.  Saturday she headed home but the car broke down when she was almost here.  She called to say she would be back on Sunday afternoon.

A few hours later I saw the kitchen light in her house turn on.  Then I saw the bedroom light turn on and someone walk past the window.  I thought someone had broken in because I knew Fany and her husband were stuck at his parents' house.

I locked my door and tried to think of a place to hide.  Obviously the robbers didn't know I was home if they were turning on lights and wandering through the house so blatantly.  With the door locked and all of the windows barred I was safe, but what should I do?  I hid in the bathroom and called Fany.  Her phone just rang and rang.

Then I heard a voice outside calling my name.  It was Fany.  Her brother-in-law had offered them a ride home and her phone was dead so she couldn't call.  I told her she scared me to death and had to call next time.

Yesterday we all went to church.  Afterward I had my first meeting with my single ladies discipleship group.  There are only four of us and one wasn't there yesterday.  I don't know any of the other ladies, so it will be nice to get to know new people.  They seemed nice.  They were very kind and encouraging.

Afterward Fany's husband Santos started working on a few things that I needed done around my house.  I bought new faucets for the sinks and a thing to change the electricity so I could plug in my dryer.  Fany said Santos would install everything.  I thought it was a job that maybe I could have done myself.  Little did I know.

First it took hours to put the new plug in for the dryer.  We started at about 2 p.m.  It was dark (6 p.m.) before that was done.  He said the electrical wiring in the house is really screwy and that's what took so long.  I figured that was all for the night, since that one task took so long.  But when I walked into the house he had already taken apart the kitchen sink and discovered dilemma # 2.  The counter tops are rotten.  They were peeling apart below the faucet.  I have noticed the cupboard below smells horrible, but I thought the pipes in the sink must have leaked into the cupboard.  I stuck a bunch of baking soda in there and hoped for the best.

Santos got the new faucets on but said we will need to look for someone to put on a new counter top.  I told him I felt bad.  I imagined the electric outlet would be ten minutes and the faucets maybe a half hour.  He finished at 10 p.m. on the dot.  The bathroom faucet was a pain in the neck too.  I walked in and the whole since was on the floor!  That was not a good sign.

Anyway, after 8 hours of work I can now use my dryer and I have pretty, new faucets in the bathroom and kitchen.  Fany told Santos he couldn't go to bed until he cut the grass.  But then she gave in and told him it could wait until morning.  (She was joking.)

Oh, I forgot the part when we thought everything was done and they were eating a late dinner.  I ate too and was washing dishes when I discovered a leak under the sink.  So Santos finished his dinner and came back over.  He tried to adjust the pipe and the whole thing fell apart in his hand.  I didn't understand exactly what happened, but the pipe had some sort of internal corrosion.  It seemed like every step forward was 3 steps back.  I figured I'd be without a kitchen sink until we could buy a new pipe.  But he said he fixed it with tape.  He also said if it leaks again, don't be afraid to let him know.  Sounds like he is not sure how long the tape will hold up.

I have great neighbors!  Would your neighbor spend 8 hours on a Sunday fixing things around your house?  He refused to accept anything in return, but I know Santos is one of the few people here who love my cookies and cakes.  So I will be doing some baking.  Most Hondurans complains that North American treats are too sweet, but apparently Santos has a sweet tooth.

I told Fany we cannot ask Santos to do any more work on this house for a long time.  She said the roof is still leaking.  I said if we ask him to climb onto the roof he will fall through.  (He did fall through 2 years ago when he tried to fix a leak the last time I lived here.  It scared us all to death.  But he said he was fine.)  The roof can leak for a while.