Elder Cook visits the Island

Every six weeks our lives are turned upside down. It's time for transfers. It feels like and is a whirlwind of activity. This transfers as far as transfers are concerned was rather tame however. There were 7 that came and 6 that left, well mostly. There is always more to the story. We had two missionaries that had to go home due to health issues and of course they din't go home at the same time as the other missionaries. We also had 2 who had to go home for other reasons, of course they didn't go with the others either. And there was one missionary who was told he should go home due to his knee injury but he really wants to stay here so he's going to work in the office for awhile to see if things will resolve. (more on him later). This all means that we had several trips to and from the airport, missionaries staying in our home along with our normal transfer duties.

There is one picture I have but did not include in the blog. On Monday we were asked to pick up an Hermana who lives in Don Gregorio and who will be leaving to go to El Salvador Tuesday morning. We see her often when we go to church since they meet in the same building that we do. As we were running around getting ready for transfers on Monday we headed to the office before driving out to Don Gregorio to pick her up. When we got to the office she was there with the Branch President and his wife. Somehow they were told that we couldn't pick them up so they came on a bus to drop her off. When she got to the office she was wearing a matching outfit with shirt that had a picture of a Sugar Daddy candy on it and said "I'm looking for my sugar daddy". There were only 3 possibilities: She's looking for a Sugar daddy, She has a good sense of humor and disregard for rules, Or she doesn't know what it means and has nothing else that matches her skirt. The later is true. In fact she is very excited to be a missionary and she had a good laugh when she found out what it meant. It just so happened that an Hermana on her way home to the US was her same size and she was able to get all the clothes she needed. The picture I mentioned was with her in her shirt and President Santos.

Another unusual thing that happened this week during transfers was an Hermana From Don Gregorio returned from serving her mission in the East mission. President Santos needed to release her. So Wednesday I was able to take her and 2 Hermanas who were leaving our mission back to her home in Don Gregorio. One of the Hermanas from our mission was her companion. It was one of the great moments of my mission so far. As we got closer to her home you could see her get more and more emotional. She lived in a very humble home. I will never forget her jumping out of the car and running to hug her parents. Her parents who are not members were beaming with pride and joy. They invited us into the backyard where they were preparing a feast for her. I can't imagine how hard it would be to have your daughter serving in a mission just 31 miles away.

As I mentioned we had an Elder who hurt his knee. I talked about him last week. His x-ray was negative, he received a cast. (which we removed) This week he went in for an MRI which came back as read by someone as a tear in the Lateral-co-lateral ligament which tore away with bone on each end. So much for my clinical skills, I tested his LCL and did not find any laxity, and he did not have pain when I felt it. Our local Church doctor said based on those findings he will need to go home and have it repaired. It really didn't want to go home. He is a very good missionary and wants to complete his mission. Things didn't add up to me. I did some digging and and ended up calling the on call doctor in Salt Lake who just "happened" to be an orthopedist and said that I should trust clinical findings before MRI findings. He said sometimes with blood and bruising it can cloud the conclusions of the MRI. With that advice he is still here. We are trying to find an orthopedist in Utah to look at the MRI. It "just so happens" that the Buhlers served a mission in Spain and their Mission President is an Orthopedist. This story is to be continued.

With all the things that go in a transfer week the highlight was getting to hear from a visiting Apostle. Elder Cook was here on the island. He was in the Santiago Mission but had a meeting with missionaries only that was broadcast to 4 different locations in our mission and also to the East Mission. We a were assigned to go to the Bani District to be with the missionaries there. I love to watch general conference and even be there in person but there was something very special about this meeting just for missionaries. The spirit was strong and confirming. We have living Apostles on the earth. They are just men but they are called and set apart to be special witnesses of Christ. ELDER COOK'S WITNESS WAS SPECIAL! He is and Apostle in our day!

Have a great week! We love and miss you all (mostly all).
your friends
Hermana y Elder Borup

Missionaries waiting outside the Temple, New missionaries get to attend the Temple with their trainers before they start in their first area.

Playa Matanzas, after a meeting we took a drive to see an area in the mission that we have never seen. There is a small region that feels more like Arizona then the Caribbean.

I think this is a Rhinoceros Iguana, but it was big and ran away fast.

Left to right, Hermana Aquino (Branch president's wife), Hermana Tifoni (I don't know her last name, she's everything music in the branch) Hermana Borup (she's just everything) Arjelus (Son of the Aquinos)

He's only in his first area, I want to see these shoes in 2 years. I just might since he is from our Stake.

President and Hermana Aquino visting at the Temple with Elder Izaquirre that served in Nizao and who is on his way home.

An Elder at the airport who needed to go home due to a knee problem. He's only been here 1 transfer and he looks too happy to be going home if you ask me.

Closed cuircit brodcast from Elder Cook to the Bani chapel. It was very special.

We bought this shell from this man a shared a Book of Mormon Pamphlet with him. W couoldn't understand the price at first. We thought he was saying 500 pesos ($10) but he was saying 150 pesos ($3). We would have bought it at 500.

President and Hermana Santos. we went to lunch with all the office missionaries

Elder Bateman who served in the office since we got here. His first day in the office was our first day also. He is happy because he is getting transferred out. He's going to Azua. The city we may get transferred to. He is a really good missionary.