This Must be the Lord's Work

I'm pretty sure this was the busiest week we have had since moving to Azua. We are getting to know more people and trying to have return visits. We also had several meetings with the missionaries. The Mission President has asked the zones to have a Zone Council meeting each month and also a Zone meeting. These are meetings by the young missionaries for the young missionaries. Both were this week and both were very well planned and executed. We also had a zone activity on Monday (P-day). Hermana Borup and I gave everyone 50 pesos to buy something at the "Paca" market. The Paca market is the market where large bundles of clothes from Haiti are unwrapped and sold. You can find some very random things there. We gave prizes to the best buys. It was an activity that didn't need athletic skill to win. We then gathered and shared our purchases and ate pizza.

We started to have Spanish lessons from the District Presidents wife. She is a teacher by profession and speaks English very well. We know enough Spanish now that she can speak mostly Spanish to us with occasional English explanations. We learned "The Wheels on the Bus" in Spanish. She teaches elementary school. The Language is still a big challenge but we seem to keep moving forward in the work and the language.

We attended a Noche de Hogar this week in another Branch. The Elders were planning on 30-40 people. So we helped them by going by the investigators and picking up chairs at the Church. It was scheduled to start at 7:00. At about 7 the elders realized that they did not have any refreshments. So we took them down to the Supermarket (a very loose use of the term super). We bought sliced meat and cheese, some secret sauce, (don't ask) some bread, a couple of loaves of bread some soda and some cookies. We paid about $20. Everyone got a half of sandwich, some cookies, and some soda. The highlight (other than feeding the mass with $20) was hearing an Elder who is going home to Guatemala this week teach the lesson. He is a master teacher. The Lord has invested in the Elder's development and it has paid off.

We had a baptism in our Branch this week. A single mom, who works hard to support her family by running a small store in front of her house. I wish she could have had more support at the Baptism. THere were just a few members there. We went to another Baptism on the same night and there wasn't enough space in the room for all the members that came in support. The contrast was just too obvious not to mention. It's so hard to change your life to follow the Savior and it's even more hard to do it with not much support. We hope to be able to be an example of that support.

One of our Highlights this week was when a young family that we had met with a couple of times, came to church after not coming for 3 years. They live as far away from the Church as you can and still be in the Branch. They are a family with 2 kids and all 4 came on the family motorcycle, a little 125 cc Chinese made bike. They looked amazing. The greeting they received was underwhelming. I hope that they enjoyed it enough to make the effort to return. We are going to keep visiting and encourage them to return next week.

Hermana Borup started helping a 73 year that has been a member for less than a month get family names ready for the Temple. They spent last week getting accounts set up and starting to enter data. This week she invited her back but also invited a young 16-year-old girl who is getting baptized next Saturday to come and help. The younger Girl speaks English very well. She is self-taught. She says that in her spare time she likes to study languages. She also says that she has a lot of spare time. She is the main reason we have an advanced English class on Thursdays. Anyway, Hermana Borup worked her magic and now they both have accounts and the newly baptized member has some Temple ready names printed out.

This week we went out to a nearby community called Sabana Yegua. I had visited some less active members there while Hermana Borup was in the U.S. I had marked their houses on the GPS. We stopped at one of the houses and asked if her husband was at home. She said he is 2 doors down with the dog. So we asked if we could come in and talk. We had planned to share a message about the Temple. We talked a little about Temples and showed her a video about how a family sacrificed for over 4 years to save enough money to go to the Temple. We talked to her about how lucky they are to live in a country with a Temple. We told her that it can be hard sometimes to get to the Temple. She seemed a little surprised and asked why. We told her because sometimes it's hard to attend church all the time and pay tithing and live the other commandments. She seemed ok with our answer. We then asked if she had ever been to see the Temple. She said sure it's just a couple of blocks away. When we asked her son if he had the Priesthood he said no. We asked if he goes to church he also said no. We started to get a little uneasy that they didn't know more about it than to know that the chapel is a couple of blocks away but the Temple is in Santo Domingo. We then asked if her husband has been to the Temple. She replied: I've been married twice but I'm not married now, thanks to God! OOPS! wrong house!

Of course, being the experienced missionaries that we are and not having enough language skill to explain our blunder, we didn't let on that we were in the wrong house. We told them thanks for letting us visit and practice our Spanish and asked if we could send the young missionaries (that speak Spanish better)  to her house to tell her more about the church and temples. She actually seemed excited about that. We went and got in our car and drove 2 houses down to meet with the real family, just like that was what we planned all along. After meeting with the real family (which went well), we called the Elders.

After relating to them how we went to the "wrong" house, they told us that at one point they had shared a Book of Mormon with her and have not been able to find her home. We told them that she would be home in a couple of days. Instead, they went to the house right then. They taught her and challenged her to prepare for Baptism. She accepted! She kind of has to get baptized now because the story will be great, How these crazy old people showed up to her home and challenged her to get ready to go to the Temple, how it's hard but worth it before she even learned about the church.

We love the work we are doing. We are doing our best at staying engaged in the work as best we can. We love the missionaries and our interactions with them. We love telling people about a better way.

Have a great week

Your friends,
Hermana y Elder Borup

I asked the owner if the pig had a name. She said no, so I suggested chicharron. 

Hermana Borup trying on $1 pair of pants under her skirt. You wouldn't want to risk $1 on a pair of pants that didn't fit.

Nor would you want to risk 10 cents on a pair of underwear that wasn't going to work. If this photo is not appropriate for a missionary to post I'm sorry. I am a Senior and have lost that filter. 

Elders finding their way through the "paca" Market.

The "Paca", a lot of clothes from Haiti.

Feeling bad that Hermanas don't get to wear ties. 

Resting and waiting for pizza after a morning of shopping at the "paca"

These Hermanas found this stuffed toy that they thought reminded them of the Elder. Both are pale.

The zone showing off the pizza and the things they bought at the "paca"

Some P-day soccer, The South Americans were taking it to the North Americans. 

We have met with this family a few times now. This little girl has her own chair and when we show up she goes inside, brings it out and sits on it in front of us. 

This guy just cut me off.

Madison's wedding is in a couple fo weeks and her colors are Peach and Yellow. This yellow right? Nothing says wedding like a jacket that has animals wearing clothes. 

This Motorcycle was in the twon next to Azua. He came from near Barahona which is about 60 miles away.  2,000 ($40) pesos fo a rocking chair

A family we have been visiting in Sabana Yegua. Hermana Borup wanted a picture if the Curlers.

Kids that came to our street meeting in Village of the Heart of Jesus

Same meeting, better picture.

This hermana was Baptized by this Elder from Guatemala. He's one of our favorite missionaries. 

Hermana Borup keeping this little girl entertained while her parents who are investigating attend baptismal service.

This family was one of the first families we met in Azua. This was their first time in church for about 3 years.