CATHOLICS, ODD GARBAGE, AND YW

November 11, 2010 Thursday

Orson was tracting today and knocked on a door where the man greeted him and said they were Catholic missionaries. They invited us in. What a neat family! They have 8 children and she’s expecting another. The oldest looked to be 16 or so. There was play-doh on the kitchen table and a rolling pin the 3 year old was playing with. The 12 year old daughter was busy making cupcakes for her younger brother to take to school tomorrow for his birthday. The 15 year old son was on the computer. They were great to visit with and they even gave us ice water. The temperature was 95 this morning at 10 am and is still there at 4 pm. The house gets up to 88 or so when we leave and turn the AC off.
Anyway, the man had been on the “wild side” until he had a spiritual experience that brought him to the Catholic Church. She, too, had been spiritually converted and they wanted to “pay back” the Lord so they offered themselves as missionaries to their parish in Melbourne where they were living. They were sent to Broome 18 months ago. He is the “Father” at the Notre Dame University campus here in Broome and that pays for their expenses. They are basically here to be a good example to the many Catholics here in Broome and to help out where they can. Orson explained a tiny bit about the restoration to him while his wife and I compared “large family” stories. It was great.
We live on a corner. The owner planted bushes all around the outside perimeter of the house because it’s on the way to the Mini-Mart IGA down the street. There is a constant stream of people walking by. Without the bushes, they’d be cutting the corner through the yard making a new path. So instead of cutting through the yard, they just throw the wrappers, cans, bottles, bags, fry containers, etc., into the bushes on their way home. It gets pretty trashy looking so once a month or so, I take a bag and clean it up. About a week ago just after I’d cleaned up, I noticed what looked like a couple of white bags in the bushes. I finally went out today to get them and throw them away and guess what? They weren’t bags—they were a couple of pieces of my underwear! We don’t have a dryer so we hang all our clothes out to dry. Our clothes line is visible down our driveway from the street. I guess somebody was curious about what I’d hung out. Crazy people! I was glad to get them back anyway.