Our home teacher/FRIEND rocks.
On Labor Day around 8 pm the tenants downstairs knocked to say that the water heater was leaking. This bad boy had been on its way out for a while, so naturally the time to go out is in the evening. At least the Depot was still open.
Roger and Jethro, his trusty steed, zipped on down and grabbed a new water heater. Once he got started on the project, Rog realized he didn't have the right size of connecting pieces. I gave our home teacher/buddy a jingle to see if he did. Being into property management himself - only on a MUCH larger scale - odds were good that he would.
I expected him to say 'Come on over and see if I have what you need.' I still can't get over his response. Without hesitation he said 'I'll just grab my stuff and come on over.' It's now 9 pm at night. He didn't have to think about it or clear it with his wife. He just came over.
And he has comparable man skills to Rog. I make a decent assistant, but let's just say I'm not my fastest self these days. I'm sure I could sweat a mean joint if I could ever pry that torch out of Roger's hands and have a go at it. But really, is an evening plumbing project the time to test this skill? Mike and Rog both knew what they were doing, and each could work on a different part of the installation in tandem. Instead of Roger having to stay up late and plumb it all himself, while I downed the Dove miniatures upstairs, one hour later they were done. I still got to eat ice cream and not feel guilty about it.
I sent the wife a little thank you email, and she sent Mike over a couple days later with some goodies. STOP already!
The week before this we had gone out with these guys to the Dinner Theater and had been joking about how we had re-requested Mike as our home teacher - cheaters, I know. But his style works for us. He doesn't come every month, and he doesn't throw a message at us as he checks his watch to hustle out the door. When we need help, however, he is always available. Whenever Roger has had to travel for work, or when we go out of town, I get a little nervous that some rental catastrophe is going to happen, but then I check Mike's schedule. If he's going to be in town, I don't worry. I know that we can call him, and he can and WILL take care of things if need be - not that we've had to yet, knock on wood.
This for me is real home teaching. He started out as our home teacher, and became our good friend. We talk about church stuff when it strikes us. Most importantly, we know that he cares about our family and will always help with whatever we have a need for. When the kids are bigger and we NEED to go to Moab, I'm sure he'll be there. :)
2 comments:
I think that is a sign of a really amazing home teacher. That's supposed to be the point, right? I have always used your example of visiting teaching when you were the RSP.I remember you saying that you took people out to breakfast. Now I always do that. Ice cream, a movie, whatever. VTing has become much more fun and I have made some really great friends!
Really this story made me cry :) I must be pregnant or something. I love good home teachers and visiting teachers. To be honest I think I have had the best Visiting Teachers since I first got visiting teachers. HT's have been much more hit or miss, so be glad for the good ones.
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