It was a request I just couldn't ignore.  A missionary family, living walking distance from Shiloh, put out a plea for a "missionary plumber."  They had a problem with a toilet.  In fact a local plumber had been hired to fix it a couple of times.  But the problem just kept coming back.  And then there was water coming up through the floor in another place in their house.  Their young plumber assured them it wasn't a serious problem, unless it got worse.  

They just needed help.  They didn't know if they should trust their plumber's judgment in this matter.  So I hastened to let them know that I live with a "missionary plumber" who doubles as my husband!  They were very surprised.  While Jim is no stranger to them, they knew him only as the one who runs Shiloh.  They had no idea he is Mr. Jack-of-all-trades.

The toilet problem was an easy and quick fix.  The young plumber had done an OK job as far as he went.  He just didn't know to do the final step.  But as for the water coming up through the floor, that was a different matter.  From a strictly plumbing standpoint, it is good advice to just keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse.  However if one knows something about house construction too, one realizes this is a serious matter.  The house foundation could be compromised.  The floor could even cave in. 

 

Missionary plumber Jim will be going back to their home soon to drill a small hole in the floor with his long drill and see if he can learn anything.  Hopefully this won't turn out to be too big a problem.

I am happy to loan my "missionary plumber" out to others.  It always reminds me of how terribly spoiled we are here at Shiloh.  When we have any maintenance problem we just holler "JIM!!!" and he comes to our rescue.