La Caleta

We hear that it is starting to get cold in Utah. I'm never cold and Hermana Borup complains about being cold once in awhile when she thinks I have the Air conditioning too high. It seems like we have been getting less rain and the days are a bit more mild. Mid 80's and partly cloudy. It's really warm but more mild. As you can see from the picture below, we enjoyed another trip to La Caleta, a beach near the Airport. I would call it my favorite beach. It has tons of character, the water is crystal clear, the people are amazingly friendly and it's easy to get to. We went for a swim and when We got back some boys about 12 years old were asking about our goggles. We let them try them for a while. They had a blast.

Our English class just took a major jump in enrollment. Last week we had some kids that we didn't recognize show up to class with note books, ready to learn. They told us that their teacher announced our class to the kids at school. They asked it was ok for them to come. We told them yes. This week we had about 20 of their classmates. They know zero English. But it is really fun to have so many in the class. I guess we need to increase our candy supply.  

One of the best parts of our job is we get to help the missionaries however we can. We are always looking for ways to help however we can. A simple way that comes up once in awhile is to take a passport to a missionary who needs to get money from Western Union. Occassionaly a missionary will need extra money for clothes or other items and unless they have a bank account (many do not) they need a passport to get the money family has sent to them through Western Union. This week we took a passport to an Elder and it just happened to be his birthday. It was also the same day as McKenzie's Birthday. So it was his lucky day we treated him and his companion to a great big ice cream. It's hard to be away from our loved ones on special days especially but it's a little easier when we can share those days with missionaries.  

One of Hermana Borup's duties is to buy things for missionaries and the mission from the "Temple Store". She goes there once or twice a week. She has made friends with the ladies that work there. They help her with her Spanish and she helps them with their English. Hermana Borup noticed that they had a storage room full of boxes and that there are many spaces on the sales floor. She volunteered us to help them stock the floor. So Tuesday morning we spent several hours opening boxes of women's garments and putting them on the shelves, while the workers sat in their office talking. In their defense though they were both not feeling well. 

I taught the Aaronic Preisthood lesson this week. It was on the attributes of Christ. Just when I thought my Spanish skills were getting better I was humbled once again. As I gave the lesson one of the councilors in the Young Men Presidency translated for me. The problem was that I was giving the lesson in Spanish. He felt a need to translate my Spanish into real Spanish. On the bright side of things he understood my Spanish well enough to repeat it in real Spanish. Personally I think the young men understood my Spanish better than he did. The conclusion to the story is that the it was obvious to me that the attribute of Christ I need to improve most on is Humility. I was feeling pretty good about my Spanish and I obviously needed to be put in place. We study the language of our mission every day and love it.

This continues to be a great adventure in our lives. We love serving where we can. We know this is a great work and feel blessed to be a little part of it.

Your friends

Hermana Y Elder Borup

Honda super cub right side up with dinner upside down

A typical scene in the country side

just some goats standing on a wall. We saw them as we were driving through Nizau to pick someone up for church.

If your going to come to our English class you better be ready to take notes.

English class is growing. Here Elder Hodson is making a contact with a new family from Venezuela. They speak Spanish not Dominican. 

Piles of money from the caja-chica (petty cash). I count money way more than anyone should.

La Caleta, our playa favorita

another view of La Caleta

It's easy to make friends at the beach when you have a towel in the shade. This little girl didn't care that our Spanish is bad she just wanted to share our shade.

Is it really Christmas time?

Same goats, different angle.

Avocados bigger than coconuts at a local grocery store

Enjoying the beach with the Perez family. They were Baptized the second week we were here. They have never been to La Caleta and were very thankful that we shared it with them.  We're always willing to share the light.