Every Missionary's Best Friend

My mom wanted us to get a shop vac soon after arriving in Guatemala. They aren't very easy to find and it has been a running joke for the past three years. Finally she bought us one from the Sears in Guate. It is a 5 hp, 12 gallon craftsman. Since taking it out of the box 10 days ago, we have had something to use it for every day.

The first day I filled it up twice with sawdust from the cribs I made here so that we could use that workshop room as a storage room. We never would have been able to clean out that dust without it.

The second day, after putting in new pipes to move our washing machine (our previous laundry room is now the nursery), I turned on the water pump forgetting about the pipe I cut in the nursery. I was strutting around, very proud of myself for not having any leaks and verifying that the new drain was working when I heard water running and it came pouring out of that room. I grabbed a broom to start sweeping it out the front door (we've done this many, many times in the past 3 years) when I remembered my WET/dry vac. In just a few minutes I had everything cleaned up with the only wet casualties being a few flip flops and a belt.

I could go on about cleaning up concrete dust in the shower after fixing a pipe there, or concrete dust after hanging some new curtains my wife just sewed, or picking up flaking paint from walls that got too humid, but the point is that this appliance will probably become a permanent fixture in our hallway... always ready to go where needed. Well, probably not, but I'm really happy to have it, and I think everybody should have one.