Last evening we got an emergency call … bed bugs in one of the sister missionary apartments. Nina captured a couple of them and they are definitely bed bugs. This morning we learned that another apartment probably has bed bugs as well. As a result, I’ve learned something interesting. Bed bugs must be a worldwide missionary problem. The Church has a bed bug kit! It consists of a spray bottle with specific instructions and a bottle of Permethrin 13.3% solution and a mattress sack. Four teaspoons of Permethrin to 16oz of water sprayed liberally on the bed, mattress, box springs, floor, floor boards, etc. to kill as many bugs as possible. Then all of the bed linens, blankets, etc. are washed in hottest water and dried on hottest heat. Vacuum the floor and empty outside. Then put the mattress into the mattress sack and close it up. Any remaining bugs in the mattress will die. The whole kit can be ordered from Church Distribution.
So, I remembered seeing a spray bottle in our garage. Turns out it is the Church’s spray bottle. I also found two bottles of Permethrin, one full bottle and one partial. So, tonight when we all got together for Transfer News, Nina and I instructed the missionaries on how to prevent bed bugs and, when infested, how to treat the infestation. Hopefully it’ll work!
Speaking of Transfer News, next week is missionary transfers. On the Saturday night before transfers we all meet at the Visitors’ Center in the large theater where the Coordinating Sisters have put together a video showing the new companionships, what apartments they’ll be living in, and what their proselyting area will be. It’s a lot of fun and the whole video is greeted with whoops and hollers as the information is revealed. On this transfer we’re sending three sisters out for their full-field proselyting assignment, bringing two sisters back from full-field, sending one sister home as her mission is completed (she’s been an excellent missionary), and two new sister missionaries are arriving from the MTC. It takes a couple of weeks for everything to settle down.
I’ve also been introduced to a new ham radio capability and have been busy getting it set up here in Laie. This is a system that links over-the-air radio repeaters around the world by way of the Internet. There are a couple of systems that I already knew about, Echolink and IRLP, each being rather convoluted to set up and operate. The new player is AllStarLink (http://www.allstarlink.org), a more capable and less convoluted setup. It has important use for emergency communications. I now have (for free!) a new radio with associated computer and hardware to setup which will result in an AllStarLink node here in Laie, Hawaii. Sometime over the next ten days I should have this capability up and running. I’m interested to see how this works in reality when compared to the other capabilities.
We had an assignment this afternoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. This particular assignment means one person counts the people coming into the luau and records the count every five minutes while the other guards the exit side from interlopers and helps people in the luau find the smoking area and the bathrooms. Nina did the count, I did the guard duty. The benefit was that we were able to watch the luau show. These are always a lot of fun. We’ll be back at the PCC on Monday afternoon, on a different ticket taking assignment, one that we haven’t done before.
Humidity is down, the tradewinds are blowing. Life is somewhat mellow tonight!