More Training
Yep! we're still here. And Yep! we still love it and we are still being trained. The mission is going through a major transition in a couple of different ways. Hermana Borup and I are training as the Financial Secretary (Me) and the Executive Secretary (Lynette) and at the same time there is another Senior Missionary couple, the Buhlers that are being trained as Housing Secretary (Elder Buhler) and Records Secretary (Hermana Buhler). This means that instead of 6 young missionaries working in the office (4 Secretaries and 2 Assistants to the president) there will be 2 couples and the Assistants. This represents a major shift in the culture of the office. The mission president hopes that this will create some stability for the incoming mission president. The new mission president arrives July 1.
This change will ease some of the burden of the other transition. The number of young missionaries are decreasing over the next few months. For example this week 22 missionaries are going home and only 6 are coming in. Having the missionaries that were in the office go out into areas will help this change in numbers. So at least a couple of areas will not need to be closed or combined. This transition is only temporary. In September after the missionaries that have just graduated from high school have received language training, the numbers will start to climb again, and then they will level off after a couple of transfers.
I feel like I need to address the whole financial secretary thing. There are many of you who are now panicking about the fiscal future of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission. (Business Partners, Friends, Financial Advisers, Family Members, Accountants, Fellow Bishoric Members, My Dad, Pretty much anyone who knows me is worried) I do not have the strongest background in finance. My lack of being detailed oriented is not very compatible with finance. Really what's a dollar here or a dollar there? Really???. Anyway I am certain that this assignment is some sort of God given test to learn the boundaries of my attention to detail. How did the mission president know that this is my ONLY weakness. (besides Spanish of course)
Then of course there is Hermana Borup and her computer skills as the Executive Secretary. Those who know her are panicking about the general organization of the mission systems. This not to say she is not organized. She is very organized. She just does it with paper and pencil. How did the mission president know that her ONLY weakness is her lack of computer skills. I'm not sure "computer skills" is the right way to put it. Is knowing how to turn on the power a "computer skill"? The only problem with this weakness and her assignment is that EVERYTHING she does is with the computer. The church utilizes a custom program for running the mission offices. It is really quite amazing but not so amazing if you are "computer skills" challenged. This challenge is also a test to our relationship however that is easy for us. We are strong in that department. It is a good thing that Elder Holder (who is training her) is patient and probably has a mother just like her.
On the adventure side of things: We went to an open market called Merca Santo Domingo. YOu can find any type of produce found in this country. It was located outside of the city center and took about 30 minutes to get there. It looked to me like it was some sort of distribution warehouse where they open it to the public on Saturdays. The produce was in a building that is about 50 yards across and 200 yards long. There was another building where you can buy meat and poultry products. It was just as big but only partly full of vendors (a new word I have learned as the Financial Secretary). We were introduced to some new fruits. One of our favorites is Zapote. The outside looks like a giant kiwi fruit but the inside has a sweet fruit about the texture of a baked sweet potato. It tastes a little sweeter than a sweet potato but is not too sweet at all. (OK maybe we found another weakness, "food critic")
After our adventure to the Market we traveled to a beach called Playa del Gingo. We just saw it on a map and decided to check it out. We got to travel through some great little neighborhoods and witness first hand some of the great Dominican culture. When we got to the beach we were taken back by two things. First it was really a beautiful beach. Palm trees, sand blue ocean. The other thing that was shocking was the amount of plastic bottles that have been washed up on the sand. As you can see from the picture. There is about a 15 ft strip of plastic bottles that go the whole length of the beach. It's really weird. My theory is that there is a large river very close that empties into the ocean. I think that the currents must collect everything that floats down that river and pushes it up onto this beach that is just a few hundred yards long.
One of the highlights of the week was attending a family home evening at President and Hermana Nuckol's home with a family that is investigating the church. They live in a barrio that is about 1 mile away but in a different world. They have 5 children one is a 12 year old daughter that uses a wheelchair. I followed President into their neighborhood so we could give them and the missionaries back to his house. President gave a great lesson on eternal families. We even understood most of it. What we didn't understand in word we made up for by our feelings. I'm sure it was very uncomfortable for this family to come and be in such an unfamiliar environment but it didn't take long for everyone to feel at ease as we talked about the importance of families. Family seems to be a universal language.
We have had another great week which has included driving missionaries around to get documents and stitches out, celebrating an office elders birthday, shopping for mission supplies, getting lost trying to find a baptism, attending a family home evening and accompanying a mission to his physical therapy appointment. We love this place. We miss all of you but we love this place.
This change will ease some of the burden of the other transition. The number of young missionaries are decreasing over the next few months. For example this week 22 missionaries are going home and only 6 are coming in. Having the missionaries that were in the office go out into areas will help this change in numbers. So at least a couple of areas will not need to be closed or combined. This transition is only temporary. In September after the missionaries that have just graduated from high school have received language training, the numbers will start to climb again, and then they will level off after a couple of transfers.
I feel like I need to address the whole financial secretary thing. There are many of you who are now panicking about the fiscal future of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo West Mission. (Business Partners, Friends, Financial Advisers, Family Members, Accountants, Fellow Bishoric Members, My Dad, Pretty much anyone who knows me is worried) I do not have the strongest background in finance. My lack of being detailed oriented is not very compatible with finance. Really what's a dollar here or a dollar there? Really???. Anyway I am certain that this assignment is some sort of God given test to learn the boundaries of my attention to detail. How did the mission president know that this is my ONLY weakness. (besides Spanish of course)
Then of course there is Hermana Borup and her computer skills as the Executive Secretary. Those who know her are panicking about the general organization of the mission systems. This not to say she is not organized. She is very organized. She just does it with paper and pencil. How did the mission president know that her ONLY weakness is her lack of computer skills. I'm not sure "computer skills" is the right way to put it. Is knowing how to turn on the power a "computer skill"? The only problem with this weakness and her assignment is that EVERYTHING she does is with the computer. The church utilizes a custom program for running the mission offices. It is really quite amazing but not so amazing if you are "computer skills" challenged. This challenge is also a test to our relationship however that is easy for us. We are strong in that department. It is a good thing that Elder Holder (who is training her) is patient and probably has a mother just like her.
On the adventure side of things: We went to an open market called Merca Santo Domingo. YOu can find any type of produce found in this country. It was located outside of the city center and took about 30 minutes to get there. It looked to me like it was some sort of distribution warehouse where they open it to the public on Saturdays. The produce was in a building that is about 50 yards across and 200 yards long. There was another building where you can buy meat and poultry products. It was just as big but only partly full of vendors (a new word I have learned as the Financial Secretary). We were introduced to some new fruits. One of our favorites is Zapote. The outside looks like a giant kiwi fruit but the inside has a sweet fruit about the texture of a baked sweet potato. It tastes a little sweeter than a sweet potato but is not too sweet at all. (OK maybe we found another weakness, "food critic")
After our adventure to the Market we traveled to a beach called Playa del Gingo. We just saw it on a map and decided to check it out. We got to travel through some great little neighborhoods and witness first hand some of the great Dominican culture. When we got to the beach we were taken back by two things. First it was really a beautiful beach. Palm trees, sand blue ocean. The other thing that was shocking was the amount of plastic bottles that have been washed up on the sand. As you can see from the picture. There is about a 15 ft strip of plastic bottles that go the whole length of the beach. It's really weird. My theory is that there is a large river very close that empties into the ocean. I think that the currents must collect everything that floats down that river and pushes it up onto this beach that is just a few hundred yards long.
One of the highlights of the week was attending a family home evening at President and Hermana Nuckol's home with a family that is investigating the church. They live in a barrio that is about 1 mile away but in a different world. They have 5 children one is a 12 year old daughter that uses a wheelchair. I followed President into their neighborhood so we could give them and the missionaries back to his house. President gave a great lesson on eternal families. We even understood most of it. What we didn't understand in word we made up for by our feelings. I'm sure it was very uncomfortable for this family to come and be in such an unfamiliar environment but it didn't take long for everyone to feel at ease as we talked about the importance of families. Family seems to be a universal language.
We have had another great week which has included driving missionaries around to get documents and stitches out, celebrating an office elders birthday, shopping for mission supplies, getting lost trying to find a baptism, attending a family home evening and accompanying a mission to his physical therapy appointment. We love this place. We miss all of you but we love this place.
They should gather those plastic bottles and put them on a big truck.
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