Hermana Y Elder Borup

We survived another threat of a hurricane. Not because we are good at surviving them but because they are missing us. Maria went right through Puerto Rico and turned to the North before it got to Dominican Republic. We feel very fortunate to have missed out. We feel very bad for those who have been so devastated by Irma and Maria. Maria went directly over the home town of President Santos. He had not heard from his family until this morning. They were told by their son that everyone was OK but the whole country looks like a bomb went off. He had to drive 3 hours to get to where he had cell coverage. Although the hurricane went farther to the North than Irma we got more wind and a lot more rain this time. It didn't stop us from going into the mission office to do our work.  Speaking of work Hermana Borup reports that it was an epic week for her. She learned how to paste pictures into a document in a way that saves her a lot of time. Speaking of time. I had to pay the power bi...

After surviving Irma anything I say may seem like a let down but have had another great week. The Mission continues to move forward with the emphasis on sharing the Book of Mormon. President Santos had 15 minutes before a meeting and wanted to video tape how to make the initial contact. He went with he Assistants to a barber shop and had one of the Assistants video tape his contact. His video was instructive to me.  His approach was to tell a man that he was trying to see how people react to the Book of Mormon. He asked him to read a verse. After the man had read it, he asked him what it meant. The man told him and then President asked him how it made him feel. The man was visibly touched by the scripture. He then followed up with an invitation to the man to receive a Book of Mormon at his home. In 15 minutes he found a man who is now at least interested in knowing more. The Book of Mormon is a powerful tool. The highlight of our week was getting a call from Madison to tell u...

I know I have said this before but things are never routine here. In fact, no routine is the routine. If a day went the way it was planned it would be the first. The hours are long and sometimes hard. The work never seems to end. But the energy and spirit of the work is stimulating and satisfying. As busy as we are and feel, it is nothing compared to how busy President and Hermana Santos are. Hermana Borup and I are trying to find ways to ease their burdens. As a young missionary I was totally impressed with my Mission Presidents (I had 2). At the time I had no idea how hard they were working. My respect for my Mission Presidents has increased many, many times by seeing how hard they have to work. We got to take another missionary to the airport this week. It was a sister going to Nicaragua. She is from one of the Districts in our mission (Barahona) so she was set apart as a missionary by President Santos. She then stayed at the mission home. We picked her up at 4:30 am to take he...

First I have to make a confession. I wasn't a very good representative for the church this week. I have discovered that the best way around town is to ride my bike. Between 7:30 in the morning and 7:30 at night this city is gridlock. The lack of rules doesn't seem to help traffic move any faster. I would compare the traffic to New York City only with much less organization. On my bike I can dodge in and out of traffic and at busy times I am much faster than a car. On Tuesday I needed to pickup a check from the bank that is about 1.5 miles away, so I decided to ride my bike. Everything went great. I got there in just a few minutes. When I got there  I brought my bike inside and leaned it against the wall. The security guard told me to take it outside. In my very limited Spanish I told him "no"("no" in Espanol). He asked me again with a little more enthusiasm. I said "No" with a little more enthusiasm. This went back and forth several time each t...