Yes, We are in Azua

I learned another lesson in life. First are GREATLY affected by personal motivation. AS you have read over and over again, I have been very excited about getting out of the office and into the cities with people and members and missionaries. Hermana Borup liked her job in the office and was very uncertain about moving away from a very comfortable life, with lots of knowns. I spent much of my time last week helping to get things ready for the move on Monday. We thought things were nearly done. My first impression was, "this looks great, yea it's a little dirty (from construction) but we have everything we need and more". Hermana Borup didn't overlook the dirtiness as easily as I did. We have a history of that. She had a hard time seeing the Air conditioning, the nice stove and big nice refrigerator. She saw a whole lot of dirt and grime left over by some very hard working men who don't clean as well as they install things. Let's just say our first night in Azua was not what I had envisioned.

As side note of where we live, We like to eat chicken, We don't like to hear roosters at midnight and then again at 4 in the morning. Especialy when those roosters are just a few feet outside our window. ANd yes that is roosterS with and "S". We have been told that we will get used to them. We are still quite uncertain about that. But I was able to find ear plugs by our second night.

My 2nd great lesson was that missionary work has a way of making everything right. ON Tuesday after a morning of cleaning and putting things away. Hermana Borup went out with one of the Hermanas in Azua. Her companion went home a couple weeks early so she does not have a companion. They taght a couple planned lessons then contacted and taught for 4 hours. And yes during that time I worked very hard to clean so she did not feel as much stress as before. I'm not sure she noticed I had been cleaning but she was excited about doing missionary work. She was able to go out for a whole afternoon another time during the week also. Missionary work is happy work.

Azua is not right on the ocean but it is only 3-4 miles to the beach from our house. We had two great swims this week in the mornings. The water is perfect and was very glassy each time we swam.

One of our new responsibilities is to take care of housing needs in the South part of the mission. A few months ago we closed down a house that I was unable to pay the landlord. As it turned out he owned much of the real estate in Neyba so we have had a hard time finding a new place. But, sometimes things work out for the better. We found a very nice apartment right across the street from the chapel and it is almost new. The landlady is a Dominican lady that lives in New York and cleans houses for a living. SHe has managed to save her money and has built a 4 apartment building in her hometown. SHe plans on coming back here and live when she has saved enough. This seems to be the dream of every Dominican that goes abroad. Anyway, we made the 1.5-hour drive to deliver things for the house and then drove another 2 hours to get more things for the home from Barahona and finally made our way home.

Everyone we have met so far has been very kind and interested in us and our well being. I have had to go to the hardware store a few times and have made friends with them all. One of the men I get help from is a member of the church and gets a big smile when he sees me coming.

I want to take just a moment to tell you about the process of buying things here. Most stores do not have isles to walk up and down and pick the things you want. At the front of the store is a counter behind the counter are the workers behind them is a wall with many of the items (But not all or most) hung-up and displayed. The process is like this: You talk to one guy about what you want when you think they understand he tells another guy to go and get the item. If it is not what you want you go through it again. If it is what you want he gives it to another guy who holds onto the stuff until you go and pay another person (always a girl in my experience). After you pay the girl she gives the receipt to the guy that has your stuff. That guy then checks that the numbers on the receipt match the numbers on the items. If they do, you get your stuff and a copy of the receipt. Needless to say, there is never a quick trip to the store.

We were asked to bear our testimonies today when the District President gave the 5th Sunday lesson. The miracle was that we could do it and we seemed to be understood. We hope that our language will improve. It will need to be if we are going to be effective here.

One of the best things about our house is that we are just a few minutes walk to the chapel. We love our neighbors too. Our landlord goes out of the way to make things right for us. It's starting to feel like we belong here. We have been out with the missionaries and that makes us happy. We have had missionaries in our home and that makes us happy and we have met people and invited them to church and most of them say yes and that makes us happy. SO we're happy!

I hope you all have a great week. We're going into Santo Domingo this week to help with transfers this week. So until next week.

Your friends,
Hermana y Elder Borup

the view from our house in Azua

Our landlady extended her garage by 18 inches so our truck will fit. she was so happy when we pulled it in for the first time

Our landlady gave us some fresh (relative) fish that she seasoned. It was really good.

In the U.S. we have chicharrones we also call them pork rinds. Here there are 2 types of Chicharrones. One is more like barbequed pork with the fat. The other is like this guy is selling, more like pork rinds only fresh and amazing.

An artifact left over from our fumigation.

the truck isn't very big but this is a big load of eggs

Family home evening with a less active member, the hermanas and some neighbors. Sorry the pictures not so good but you can see my bald head and Hermana Borup's blonde ha

Remember the house that closed because I couldn't pay the rent? We are opening a new house in that town. This little truck has A refrigerator, washing machine, stove/oven, two beds, propane tank and a microwave.