Life with bikes


Life just seems right again. Hermana Borup and I get to get onto our bikes once in awhile. This week we did a little exploring on our p-day. We did our normal loop followed by a ride along the coast of Santo Domingo and into the Colonial Zone. It is the oldest city in the Americas. Traffic is crazy but we made it home alive. 

Our week started off with a trip to Santiago. IT is about 2 hours away. A sister who is going home in 2 weeks needed to go to her school to registered for classes in person. If she did not do it this week she could not start classes until January. President asked us to take her and her companion. Hermana Rodriguez lives in Santiago and we came within a few minutes of her house. The drive took 2 hours the registration took 2 minutes. Santiago is a beautiful city that is much more calm than Santo Domingo. The high-lite of the trip was sharing the Book of Mormon with a couple of men I met. I still love the response when you ask anyone if they believe in Christ. "Cree en Jesucristo?" response: Claro! The response comes with a sentiment of "why do you ask such an obvious question?" I confess the reason I ask is because I love to hear the answer. It gives them a chance to confess Christ and it gives me a chance to hear it.

ON the crazy side of things. One of the Elders drank gasoline by mistake. I'm happy to report he is just fine but he had funny tasting burps for a few days. The gas was stored in a juice container and was going to be used for a bar-b-q. The Elder saw the "juice and asked where it came from. The response was "from some members" He then asked if he could have some. The other Elders thinking that he could smell it wasn't juice said "sure go ahead". He poured some in a cup and took a big gulp. I talked to him later and he said for some reason he just couldn't smell it. Life never gets dull here.

Transfers are in a week and a half but we were able to take an Elder to the airport this week so he can get home to Mexico in time for his school to start. It is pretty special to see a missionary off at the end of two hard years of serving the Lord. ON the way back to the city we picked up a man that needed a ride from the airport where he works. "Cree en Jesucrist?". "Claro!" again. I think we are getting better at sharing the good news with others. at least on a surface level. It still is fun.

At the end of the week We took a nice long bike ride followed by a trip to the Casa de España. The Casa de España is a private club that is 100 years old that was started by some Spanish families to keep some of their traditions and recreations going. There is a running track that goes around the property that is almost 2 km long. There are tennis courts (clay, cement) pickle ball courts, a soccer field, 3 swimming pools, basketball courts bar'bq grills, a tapa bar and some game rooms and reception halls. Sister Perez that joined the church with her husband about 2 months ago can go because her father is a member. Her great grandfather was a founding member. We enjoyed our time mostly swimming some laps in the cleanest pool I have ever been in. 

The Perez continue to teach us Spanish and we have been able to keep the conversation more in Spanish. We are either getting better at Spanish or they are better at not letting us change the conversation to English. Today was testimony meeting in Church and I was able to understand almost everyone. The miracle of the week was in testimony when Dariel got up to share his testimony. He was baptized 2 weeks ago. Today he gave the priesthood lesson on Baptism also. His testimony was without a pause. He stood and declared his faith in the restored gospel and modern revelation. NO one forced up, his family are not members. I had a glimpse of him as a missionary. The young mens president is a returned missionary of 4 months. He was Baptized when he was 13 like Dariel. The work goes on. What an amazing privileged it is to be a small part of it. We miss everyone (well almost everyone). But this is really an honor to be serving here.

Your friends
Hermana y Elder Borup





Bike ride to the Historic District along the coast of Santo Domingo
We love our mission and love it more now that we have bikes

This what happens when missionaries find your phone
Before
After
Sharing the Book of Mormon
More Sharing the Book of Mormon, It was cool to see him reading it as we drove off.
Monument in Santiago
Very large monument, very small us
Santiago de los Treinta Cabelleros was started by thirty gentleman. This is a statue of a woman yielding a sword.
More of Santiago

Casa de España a 100 year old country club in the city of Santo Domingo



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SLOW DOWN!

Image
It's hard to believe that this episode in our lives is coming to a close so quickly. As we make plans to visit people in the coming week we realize that it might be the last time we will see them. Of course, the follow-up question after we tell someone we will not be able to come back is "Will you ever come back to this country?" Our answer is that when they are sealed in the temple if we can come back we will. It is hard to say good-bye. We have made some great friends here, people we have served, people who have served us and people we have served with. One of the harder good-byes this week was to the daughter if Isidoro. If you remember Isidoro is the 92-year-old man that we have visited 2-3 times a week since we started helping him recover from a hip injury. His daughter is the most loyal, kind and patient daughter I have ever seen and I have some sisters that have shown me a very high standard. We will miss her. As we try to wrap things up we have been traveling a...
Read more

Didn't get out much

Image
No trips to the airport this week. In fact we haven't bee to La Caleta in 3 weeks now. We both miss it but we know where it is and will find a chance to return soon. I wish I could say that the work in the office has become easy and routine and that we have everything mastered. Well it continues to be challenging but our mistakes seem to be fewer. I feel a little jealous of Hermana Borup because she has had a personal assistant all week. The Elder who hurt his knee has been transferred temporarily to the office to give his knee a chance to heal. It just so happens that he is very good with computer skills and has helped Hermana Borup actually get ahead in her work. To be honest she has been a little gloating and likes to rub it in. However I am used to this behavior from her from the many triathlons I have raced with her and only have won one of those. She likes to let me know my place.  Speaking of the Elder with the hurt knee, He is getting better every day and is optimist...
Read more