June 20, The Saturday after the Health Fair, the Mercy, & Zone Conference

Rex Wrote: Brother & Sister Harward moved to a new flat in Savusavu just across the street from the Roths. Their water filter needed a special fitting to hook it up. They had looked all over Savusavu and could not find one. They called Elder Terry in the office who knows everything, and he told them that the box of fittings was in Labasa at our flat.  He told me his problem and I said I would bring the box and come down and get his water running.

I loaded all my tools just in case they needed other things fixed. We had bought a new toaster to take down to the Roths and on the way picked up a new fan from the Seaqaqa Elders to take to the Harwards. Betty needed to get some pictures from the Roths of the Health Fair and ship Mercy. This unplanned trip was suddenly very needed.

In Savusavu I left Betty at the Roths and went to the Harwards with the box of fittings. We looked at what they had and soon found a fitting that hooked their filter up to the faucet. That was easy. Sister Harward asked if I could move a bracket that held the remote control to the air conditioner. It was a little harder because the screw that held it to the wall had a strange thread. I was lucky and got the screw out and used two new screws from my tool box to put it on the wall where she wanted it.

Then she asked, “Can you change the hinges on my fridge to have it open the other way?”

I said, “Sure.”

She was so excited to find out I was skilled at fixing things.

The fridge was not as easy. The hex screw that held the plastic cover over the hinges was stripped.

President Harward said, “I guess it can’t be changed.”

I told Elder Harward as a farmer I didn’t let the machinery beat me. I asked if he had a blade screwdriver. He looked at me funny and went to get one. I went to my truck and got a hammer. I put the edge of the blade on the outside of the screw and used the hammer to tap it loose. All I did was dig a groove in the soft screw. I reversed the blade to the other side of the screw and tried again with the same result. The hex screw now looked more like a blade screw. I got a small blade screwdriver bit from my socket set and tapped it with my hammer into the grooves I had made. I hooked the bit to a ratchet and took out the stubborn screw. 

President Harward made a classic statement, “I have never seen anyone remove a screw with a hammer.”

We changed the hinges and made Sister Harward so happy. She asked Betty to come take a tour of their house. Then they bought us dinner to tell me thank you.

She said before we left, “When you come back, I will have a list of things for you to fix.

Betty and I had to drive back to Labasa and get ready for movie night to show “Meet the Mormons”  at the chapel.That was fun, too. It was the end of a very busy day and week.