Yep Still here!

Yep! we're still here and I'm still writing. You would think that after so many weeks writing this blog I wouldn't have anything more to say other than, "been there done that". Like I have said in the past there is no such thing as routine. Christmas time in the office means a lot of missionary packages from home. "Oh how wonderful", you say, not if your Hermana Borup and in charge of getting those packages to the right missionary in a timely way. She is constantly reminding (getting after) the Mission President and The Assistants to take packages every time they go somewhere. Do they remember? Sometimes (notice I didn't say most of the time). Do you want to see Hermana Borup mad? (trust me you don't, I've seen it once or twice), then don't take packages to the missionaries when you're supposed to. Having a mother who has sent packages to missionaries that never got them in charge of this task,  has increased the urgency of the task. As a side note, you know how we blame the countries mail system on the missionaries not getting their packages. There may be another explanation. 

This week we spent a day in the immigration office so we could take a picture and get our residency cards. This process took all day. We arrived at the Immigration office at 9:00. At 10:00 the churches attorney came and told Hermana Borup and I that we could go and come back at 1:00. He didn't want the missionaries to leave and come back because he felt like they were too unpredictable. He doesn't know us, does he? We left and when we came back it was fun to see the missionaries had cornered several other people who were waiting. They found a very captive audience. Religion here is a very open topic for conversation. No one seems to be worried about hurting anyone's feelings. Anyway, we (the missionaries) were the last ones to leave the immigration office at 4:30. I don't know why it takes so long, but I can't imagine how hard it is to get immigration cards in the US. 

On Tuesday Elder Buhler needed to go to Enriquillo to look for a house for the missionaries. We had a home there but it closed because the missionaries were robbed and then threatened if they didn't leave. Enriquillo is the farthest area from the mission office. It is a beautiful town of about 12000 people. There is a branch there that until about 2 months ago had never had a member as the Branch President. It was always a missionary. The new Branch President was baptized about 5 years ago when he was 19. He was reactivated about 8 months ago. He's 24 with a wife and a 1-year-old child. We spent the day in Enriquillo with the Branch President. He had arranged to see several apartments. As we were going around town with him everyone in town seemed to know him and like him. I think he is going to do great. I kept thinking how fun it would be to be there as a couple and help this Branch along. I texted the President with that idea. He said good idea. Hmmm.

We had the chance to go to la Caleta, I mean the airport twice this week. On Monday, we took an Elder to the airport who was going to Mexico and was here as a visa waiter. We drove right by his house on the way to the airport. His mom and dad were there to see him off at the airport. Oh, and after we had a nice 30-minute swim at La Caleta. We took another missionary to the airport that needed to return home for some personal reasons. We got to spend some time with him. He is a great young man and wants to come back as soon as he can. This time we took the Buhlers to the airport with us and spent a couple hours at La Caleta. You know we must like the Buhlers if we are willing to share La Caleta with them.


Today was fast and testimony meeting. I love fast and testimony meeting here for a couple of reasons. One is because I can usually understand the language of a testimony. Another reason is that testimonies are short and to the point. Today a young man (12 or 13 years old) who has come to church twice and who is taking the missionary discussions, bore his testimony. He said he knows the church is true and that Thomas S. Monson is the true Prophet and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. How does a 13-year old know something like that? This young man is very special. In Priesthood meeting when I have asked questions the last 2 weeks he always had a well thought out answer.  (He's the boy in the middle with the cap on in the picture below.) No one is pressuring him to come to church. No one made him declare publicly his faith. He's a special boy who has the faith to follow the light he is being given.

AS you can see, we've had another eventful week. We hope this next week is just as good and hope that your's is also.

Your friends,
Hermana y Elder Borup

Aaronic Priesthood of la Rama Nizau (a few are not members). The boy on the far left back has a legitimate chance of playing baseball for a living. He's 14 and has the body of a man. His father is the Bani District President.

The Government thinks they can shut the missionaries down for a day by making them wait ALL day for their residency cards. This lady didn't have a chance. They taught her for a long time.

Missionaries waiting at the immigration office.

Another Trip to the airport to say goodbye to this great young man.

A very large sack of cinnamon at the market. 

These look yummy!

These are very skinny chickens with very long legs

This a newer member of our Branch. I told him that I wanted his picture but I really want his tie.

Produce aisle at the local grocery store.

This has to be one of the best community Christmas displays EVER! The tree is made up of five-gallon water bottles, strung together and painted green. Santa's seat is made of Five-gallon water bottles painted white.

The manger scene was made totally from plastic bottles, even the angles. Now you know what our manger scene is going to look like next year.

What do you do when you don't have snow to make a snowman? You use plastic cups. I wish I could have seen this a night. there were lights going down the middle. 

This is Enriquillo, the farthest area from the mission home. They have their first non-missionary branch president. He is 24 years old, has been a member for 5 years and re-activated for about 8 months. Should Hermana Borup and I move here?

A few from the town of Enriquillo.

Another view of Enriquillo

Nothing says Christmas like an Eifel tower made of PVC pipe! Another reason to move to Enriquillo

We picked up some hitch hikers. I gave them the pamphlet about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The one on the far right started reading it out loud. When she stopped to answer a question the one on the right asked her to keep reading. 

Don't be surprised to see me in this when we get home. My legs are about that white

It's been a long time since I've seen a Datsun

Nick Nolte waiting to immigrate to la Republica Dominicano.

We don't share the secret of La Caleta with everyone, but we felt safe with him since he is going home. 

For $1 he climbed the tree and cut the coconuts. 

We met him in our first month here at a beach called Playa Juan Dolio. It turns out he lives near La Caleta and travels to Juan Dolio to sell coconut water to the tourists there.