Providence and Protection

Brad here. He is so good and faithful, I need to share how. Well, we've been happy to have a kitchen and to avoid those twice a day decisions...where do we eat. We thought everything was great with the kitchen until Amy brought it to my attention last week that it is not uncommon for her or our kids to get a slight shock when they touch the oven (this is a great story to give you an idea of how things work here). I tested the oven and found the same to be true. So we called the 'oven people'. They came out and quickly noticed that the outlet the oven is plugged into was emitting too high of a voltage. So they happily bolted and we called up the apartment maintence people. They came up, worked for a while and supposedly fixed something on the outlet. After they were done, they touched the oven with their tool and there was no voltage on the outside of the oven when it was off. Great...they're ready to bolt. Ummm...guys, can we turn it on?.. I say sheepishly (you learn to examine people's work here after they're done). We turn it on, touch the instrument/tool to the oven and they notice there is still voltage on the oven. Hummm...what now? A little electricity isn't a terrible thing, they reason...it's really not all that bad. Um...wrong answer friend, try again. Well, they determine they've fixed the outlet and there is nothing more they can do. So we call the oven people again and they come out the next day (by the way, my local friend is over my house constantly talking with them, helping me through this). The oven people conclude the oven is bad and they will replace it. "Don't turn on or use the oven," they say, "very dangerous". :) Gotta love the different answers one gets, based on the situation. So we wait a week and I forgot to mention, it was annoying to learn that oftentimes when we would be cooking on the burners (gas...right above the oven), and then turn on the oven (electric), it was only a minute or two before the burners would shut down. What connection could that be, we'd ask. Oh well, if the new oven doesn't solve the problem, we'll call the kitchen people and let them figure it out.

Fast forward to today when the new oven comes. The oven guys install the new oven and say, "its great". I put my hand on the oven (when it's off) and immediately notice a current. My response, "not good". They say, "no problem, its good". Amazing how they convinently forgot their tool/instrument to determine if there was any voltage on the oven (isn't that why they're here?!). Again, I protest, this is not fixed, please get your instrument to verify my observation. 15 minutes later after they got the tool, they're wondering why the new oven has the same problem, and are now telling me 'a little electricity is not a bad thing'. (the same guys who last week said, 'very dangerous'. :)

But this is where the providence and protection come into play. As they were pulling out the old oven, I noticed that the rubber gas line (for the burners above the oven) was touching the oven at a number of points. Apparently, as the oven would heat up, the gas line would increase in pressure (due to the temp.) and cause a backflow of some sort which would signal to the burners that something wasn't right, causing them to shut down (think I'm right there, but new country and all, plus I'm not an electrician/gas guy, I could be wrong). Long story short, this was a disaster waiting to happen. It seems like the gas line could have easily melted or sprung a leak next to an extremely hot electric oven...not a great scenario. But how did we find out about this? Due to the malfunctioning oven. Even my 'outside the camp local friend' (who is getting close to entering) told me that Someone is taking good care of me.

So we call the kitchen guy who says, for another hundred US bucks, he can move the oven to a more suitable location. We inform him we've paid him enough already and this was his design to fix. He agreed (I suppose for him there's no shame in asking) and Monday plans to fix the problem with no extra charge.

Finally, the oven problem. Apparently, the ovens were fine after all. The problem was the power strip that the kitchen guy bought to plug the oven into...too small and poor quality. So when he comes out on Monday, an electrician will meet him here and run a suitable extension cord for the oven.

I'm thankful nothing terrible happened and more thankful that we're getting this all straightened out. So don't hear me sound frustrated. In 6 short weeks, I feel like I've adjusted well to the 'I'm going to do the minimum and get out of here fast as I can regardless if its right or fixed' attitude that so many workers here have. Its a part of life here and I'm learning to examine their work closely and ask when something isn't right. I wonder if I worked for a dollar or two per hour if I'd have the same attitude. I hope not b/c of the One I ultimately work for in all things, but maybe that's explains their approach to work.