Another great week. When we first moved here from the working in the office we were worried about having enough good to do. In the office, our day was set before us. It was easy to see the work ahead, but as mentioned that work never unfolded as expected. Now we need to be more active in our pursuits to do the work of the Lord. This has been an intimidating challenge but the work seems to unfold before us.
One of the highlights of the week was to have a couple of Family Home Evenings with investigators of the missionaries. We have needed to work on a lesson that we can share and of course games and treats. We love to share about the restoration of Prophets and Apostles. And how the Organization of the church has been restored. We know the words and there are some good videos online. We love to play the flour game, where you pack flour in a bowl then turn it upside down and remove the bowl, then you put a coin on top. Everyone takes a turn to cutting away some of the flour until the coin falls. When the coin falls the last person to cut has to take it out with their mouth. Always fun. It is really a joy to see families having fun together.
When they announced the new lesson schedule for Priesthood and Relief Society we were a little concerned how the first Sunday ( a council meeting) would work here. We thought it could easily turn into a big gripe session. Here everyone has an opinion and no one seems to be shy about sharing it. These meetings have been fairly tame and productive so far. Today in Elder's quorum the whole EQ Presidency was gone so with a last minute substitute filling in it became a very spirited meeting about everything that is wrong. I seemed to be the person everyone was appealing to for approval of their opinion. If only they knew I could only understand about half of what they were saying. As things were coming to an end it started to turn towards solutions. The most popular opinion for solutions was we need more activities. (As it turned out Hermana Borup had a similar experience in Relief Society) I concluded that we need Bachata! Everyone seemed to love the idea. Every Dominican man loves Baseball and Bachata. We are now planning a missionary sponsored Bachata Party next week. Hermana Borup and I will get to show off our skills. This will be good entertainment for the Branch members.
We had a report that some Hermana Missionaries were not getting along well and one was being disobedient. (I think the most common reason for missionaries not getting along is that one is committed to obedience and the other is committed to something else) Hermana Borup and I visited them this week. We made Tacos and gave a lesson on the power of acting with faith and love, both actions require obedience. We had our eyes opened. The Hermana that was being disobedient comes from an amazingly tough background. She is Dominican, Her mom lives in the US and has not been active for 12 years. She doesn't know where her dad is. She lived with her sister and younger brother before her mission. She returns from her mission soon and will be picked up by her aunt at the temple and then taken to her old Stake President to be released. She will then go to Santiago to live with an older brother in an area where she will not know anyone. She has had some problems with disobedience but has accomplished tons given her pre-mission life. We learned that sometimes it's not about where you are it's more about where you are headed.
We made an unexpected trip to the Capitol this weekend. A couple of weeks ago a missionary from Azua had some surgery on an ingrown toenail (see pictures below). It was healing but healing slowly. I saw it on Thursday and took the pictures. Hermana Santos felt like he should come into the Capitol to get some IV antibiotics. Friday afternoon we went to pick him up and his toe looked awful, way worse. I could smell something in the room that smelled like gas and asked him what is was. He wouldn't tell me. AS I looked around I saw a bottle that looked like it had gasoline in it. I asked about it. After some persistent prying, he told me that it was gas and that he had used it to "clean" his toe 4 times. A member told him that it would get rid of the infection. The member may turn out to be right because he might lose his toe along with the infection. We have been told that the further from the city you get the crazier the home cures become. We are now witnesses to this.
Hermana Borup spent her Sunday afternoon teaching a recent 73-year-old convert of 1 month about family history. It took them awhile to get her an account but she will soon have Temple ready names. She is very excited about getting this work done. She gets to work on both ends of her genealogy, her posterity, and her ancestors. I listened in a few times and the fact that she speaks zero English did not stop them from being effective.
While we were in the Capitol we were able to attend a Temple session. I listened only in Spanish. I have decided that Spanish is easy to understand when you have the English memorized. I have been looking at how there are subtle differences in the scriptures and the Sacrament when Spanish is used versus English. There are many things when Spanish is used that makes the meaning more personal. Things that have helped me take the ordinances and make them a more intimate part of my life. It has also motivated me to keep learning and internalizing the things of God, in Spanish and English.
AS you can see things are never dull. We love you all and miss you. have a great week.
Your friends,
Hermana Y Elder Borup
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