Welcome to the República Dominicana
We intend to post a blog about one time per week (We think Sundays might work best). But as you can see we have already missed our first week. The first thing we have learned as new missionaries is that life is BUSY. In this blog we hope to just get you all up to speed.
After spending a week in the MTC learning how the mission office runs, on Thursday night May 25th we said goodbye to our family. That made us rethink this whole thing. Six months ago it was relatively easy to say we will go on a mission but saying goodbye made it all very real. I can say that the hardest thing so far is being away from family. So far google hangouts has been our best friend. We arrived in Santo Domingo at 12:30 in the morning, Saturday. President and Sister Nuckols were there to pick us up. By the time we went through customs and got back to their home (The Mission Home) it was 2:00 am.
Our first day in the Dominican Republic (DR) was mostly trying to get our feet under us a little. We slept in and took a walk in the local park. The Nuckols hosted a Branch that came to the Temple from about 4.5 hours away. They gave them a simple lunch and then we walked over to a plaque that was in the park where we had walked earlier. It was a plaque commemorating the dedication of preaching the restored gospel in the DR. (The story is really amazing and some day I will tell it in this blog.) The Branch left on the bus at 4:00 am and then left to return about 4:00 pm. The President of the Branch was a young missionary from the Mormon colonies in Mexico his name is Elder Robinson.
In the Early evening we accompanied the Nuckols to a Baptismal service. There were 9 baptisms, which included a family of 4. All together 4 families were completed as members of the Church. The meeting was amazing. A member of each family was invited to share their feelings at the end of the meeting which we did not understand with our ears but was received with our hearts.
That brings us to the whole language thing. We have been studying Spanish for the past four months. We felt like we were making progress, starting to be able to say simple things and understand when our tutors would talk to us. We were studying a different language. Yea, we know what you are all thinking. Every missionary says that when they get to the country. What we are saying is different. We didn't understand ONE WORD! It didn't even sound close to Spanish.
ON Sunday we went to Church in the Branch President Nuckols has assigned us. It is called the Nizao Branch. Here is the link for google maps: (https://www.google.com.do/maps/place/Nizao+94000/@18.246382,-70.220867,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8ea545b8d093c4b1:0x63c00ea6db5869c1!8m2!3d18.2465544!4d-70.2142886?hl=en)
We already love this place. The members are loud and fun and have an amazing spirit. We still couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Luckily for us the young missionaries speak English. We can't wait to get to know the members of the ward and help out however we can. The language thing might be a little obstacle for awhile.
On Sunday we were shown our new apartment. It is far beyond anything we thought we would have here. It is close to the mission office and is nicely furnished. The apartment has 3 bedrooms 3.5 baths and 3 panel TVs. We have plenty of room for visitors. We don't know if the TVs work but you are welcome to come try. We have been too busy to care. We moved into our apartment on Monday.
The rest of our week has been learning how to perform the office tasks. I am learning to be the financial secretary and Hermana Borup is learning to be the mission general secretary. We are learning from the Elders that we will replace. Elder Hodsun from Houston Texas is teaching me and Elder Holder from Gunnison Utah is teaching Hermana Borup. Both jobs require a lot of running around and will require some Language skills. We want to help out where we can and we trust he will put us where we need to be.
Our Preparation day is on Saturday so we can be available to help the missionaries on their preparation day which is on Monday. So yesterday we went exploring. We found the beach and we found Chinatown. We decided to drive out to Nizao to make sure we know how to get there. It takes about 35 minutes. We live on the West end of Santo Domingo and Nizao is further West. It is a little farming community and has an amazing beach. We didn't go ready to swim but maybe next time. (Senior missionaries can swim). The beach wasn't sandy near the water but up under the coconut tress it was. We sat for awhile and watched the waves and made friends with a man that rents parking places by the beach. He cut open a coconut for Hermana Borup to drink.
After the beach we went into downtown Santo Domingo to find the Chinatown. There are a couple of streets that have a large number of Chinese businesses and I have always loved visiting the various Chinatowns. We knew that we were going to visit it at some point so we went on our P-Day. It was not the best Chinatown we have been to but it wasn't the worst either. We did eat a late lunch there and bought some electric cords that would cost twice as much at any other store.
Saturday night we attended another Baptism. This was in our local ward. We were able to walk to the service. It was a couple that got married during the week so they could get baptized. They both spoke English. He is a US citizen and she attended High School in New Jersey. They were really excited and will be a great addition to the Ward.
Today we attended Church in the Nizao Branch. I told Lynette to get ready to bear her testimony just in case. The Branch is really warm and friendly. Lynette helped out in Primary and I went to Priesthood and Sunday School. I was asked to Pray in Sunday School but I didn't know I was asked until the elder nudged me. I wondered what the guy was saying. I thought I heard my name followed by a stare. I prayed in my best Spanish which wasn't great I'm sure. We were not asked to bear our testimonies but since it was fast and testimony meeting I decided to give it a go. I tried to say something funny and the congregation laughed. I think that means I communicated. Progress!
First impression of President and Sister Nuckols: WOW! They are kind, they are gracious, they are really fun, they love the work and they are BUSY. We began to see how hard it could be to run a mission when we were getting trained in the MTC on some of the behind the scenes aspects of a mission but after spending a weekend in the Mission Home and observing the pace of their lives we are amazed at the level of dedication and effort.
First Impressions of the missionaries: Wow! They are dedicated they are hard working, they are humble and they love the Lord. It is humbling to be working with them.
First impression of the DR. WOW! The people here are kind, they are warm, they are loud, they are fun and they drive CRAZY! The country is beautiful with a deep blue sea and very green countryside.
This has been the hardest thing we have done. All the preparation and study and now moving from family has been really hard but we have this amazing sense of faith and hope. We know the Lord has called a Prophet in our time and he has assigned us to labor here. We know he has a purpose for us to be here and that as long as we are faithful we can fulfill that purpose.
After spending a week in the MTC learning how the mission office runs, on Thursday night May 25th we said goodbye to our family. That made us rethink this whole thing. Six months ago it was relatively easy to say we will go on a mission but saying goodbye made it all very real. I can say that the hardest thing so far is being away from family. So far google hangouts has been our best friend. We arrived in Santo Domingo at 12:30 in the morning, Saturday. President and Sister Nuckols were there to pick us up. By the time we went through customs and got back to their home (The Mission Home) it was 2:00 am.
Our first day in the Dominican Republic (DR) was mostly trying to get our feet under us a little. We slept in and took a walk in the local park. The Nuckols hosted a Branch that came to the Temple from about 4.5 hours away. They gave them a simple lunch and then we walked over to a plaque that was in the park where we had walked earlier. It was a plaque commemorating the dedication of preaching the restored gospel in the DR. (The story is really amazing and some day I will tell it in this blog.) The Branch left on the bus at 4:00 am and then left to return about 4:00 pm. The President of the Branch was a young missionary from the Mormon colonies in Mexico his name is Elder Robinson.
In the Early evening we accompanied the Nuckols to a Baptismal service. There were 9 baptisms, which included a family of 4. All together 4 families were completed as members of the Church. The meeting was amazing. A member of each family was invited to share their feelings at the end of the meeting which we did not understand with our ears but was received with our hearts.
That brings us to the whole language thing. We have been studying Spanish for the past four months. We felt like we were making progress, starting to be able to say simple things and understand when our tutors would talk to us. We were studying a different language. Yea, we know what you are all thinking. Every missionary says that when they get to the country. What we are saying is different. We didn't understand ONE WORD! It didn't even sound close to Spanish.
ON Sunday we went to Church in the Branch President Nuckols has assigned us. It is called the Nizao Branch. Here is the link for google maps: (https://www.google.com.do/maps/place/Nizao+94000/@18.246382,-70.220867,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8ea545b8d093c4b1:0x63c00ea6db5869c1!8m2!3d18.2465544!4d-70.2142886?hl=en)
We already love this place. The members are loud and fun and have an amazing spirit. We still couldn't understand what anyone was saying. Luckily for us the young missionaries speak English. We can't wait to get to know the members of the ward and help out however we can. The language thing might be a little obstacle for awhile.
On Sunday we were shown our new apartment. It is far beyond anything we thought we would have here. It is close to the mission office and is nicely furnished. The apartment has 3 bedrooms 3.5 baths and 3 panel TVs. We have plenty of room for visitors. We don't know if the TVs work but you are welcome to come try. We have been too busy to care. We moved into our apartment on Monday.
The rest of our week has been learning how to perform the office tasks. I am learning to be the financial secretary and Hermana Borup is learning to be the mission general secretary. We are learning from the Elders that we will replace. Elder Hodsun from Houston Texas is teaching me and Elder Holder from Gunnison Utah is teaching Hermana Borup. Both jobs require a lot of running around and will require some Language skills. We want to help out where we can and we trust he will put us where we need to be.
Our Preparation day is on Saturday so we can be available to help the missionaries on their preparation day which is on Monday. So yesterday we went exploring. We found the beach and we found Chinatown. We decided to drive out to Nizao to make sure we know how to get there. It takes about 35 minutes. We live on the West end of Santo Domingo and Nizao is further West. It is a little farming community and has an amazing beach. We didn't go ready to swim but maybe next time. (Senior missionaries can swim). The beach wasn't sandy near the water but up under the coconut tress it was. We sat for awhile and watched the waves and made friends with a man that rents parking places by the beach. He cut open a coconut for Hermana Borup to drink.
After the beach we went into downtown Santo Domingo to find the Chinatown. There are a couple of streets that have a large number of Chinese businesses and I have always loved visiting the various Chinatowns. We knew that we were going to visit it at some point so we went on our P-Day. It was not the best Chinatown we have been to but it wasn't the worst either. We did eat a late lunch there and bought some electric cords that would cost twice as much at any other store.
Saturday night we attended another Baptism. This was in our local ward. We were able to walk to the service. It was a couple that got married during the week so they could get baptized. They both spoke English. He is a US citizen and she attended High School in New Jersey. They were really excited and will be a great addition to the Ward.
Today we attended Church in the Nizao Branch. I told Lynette to get ready to bear her testimony just in case. The Branch is really warm and friendly. Lynette helped out in Primary and I went to Priesthood and Sunday School. I was asked to Pray in Sunday School but I didn't know I was asked until the elder nudged me. I wondered what the guy was saying. I thought I heard my name followed by a stare. I prayed in my best Spanish which wasn't great I'm sure. We were not asked to bear our testimonies but since it was fast and testimony meeting I decided to give it a go. I tried to say something funny and the congregation laughed. I think that means I communicated. Progress!
First impression of President and Sister Nuckols: WOW! They are kind, they are gracious, they are really fun, they love the work and they are BUSY. We began to see how hard it could be to run a mission when we were getting trained in the MTC on some of the behind the scenes aspects of a mission but after spending a weekend in the Mission Home and observing the pace of their lives we are amazed at the level of dedication and effort.
First Impressions of the missionaries: Wow! They are dedicated they are hard working, they are humble and they love the Lord. It is humbling to be working with them.
First impression of the DR. WOW! The people here are kind, they are warm, they are loud, they are fun and they drive CRAZY! The country is beautiful with a deep blue sea and very green countryside.
This has been the hardest thing we have done. All the preparation and study and now moving from family has been really hard but we have this amazing sense of faith and hope. We know the Lord has called a Prophet in our time and he has assigned us to labor here. We know he has a purpose for us to be here and that as long as we are faithful we can fulfill that purpose.
Off to a great start! It's a good sign--Elder Borup made a joke and the people laughed!
ReplyDeleteYou made a job me and people laughed. That's better than your English.
ReplyDeleteYou both will be sorely missed by many. I know I am one of them. But I am so happy for both of you. You will be amazing missionaries and touch many lives.
ReplyDelete