Sicky

Dear Family and Friends,

Well you know all my secrets already.  Yes, I've been sick this week.  This week was pretty hard and I'm kind of glad it's over.  Is that bad to say?  I can be honest right?  This way when you hear that I'm loving it you know I'm telling the truth, which has been almost every other week so far.

So last Monday I started to feel sick.  There's a house we go to pretty often because there are a few recent converts there and we also have an investigator there.  I think there may be mold there.  It smells awful and we feel sick every time we leave.  So I just assumed it was from that and went to bed.  I woke up on Tuesday sick, went to district meeting, got a blessing, went to a lesson and then crashed.  I went to a member's house and slept which my companions went out (benefits of a trio).  Then I went home and slept the rest of the night (I could do that because my landlady was home by then.  Wednesday I slept the whole day.  Yes, in one session I slept 19 hours straight.  I did go to the doctor's because Sister Miller wanted me to and it was sort of a waste of time.  Can you tell I didn't really like that doctor?  He was rude.

Thursday I was still feeling awful but I couldn't stay home anymore.  So I got ready and we went to the Jordan River Temple.  We had a mission conference all in white in the chapel and then did a session (the mission was divided in two for the session and luckily I was in the first because I wouldn't have lasted).  We then went back to the mission office and had lunch as a mission and then we had a final mission conference.  It was a really great day, but I was feeling awful.  I still learned a lot though and it was great to be in the temple as a mission.  At the end of the conference they announced transfers and nothing changed for me except a really exciting change in leadership!  I big weight was lifted off my shoulders when that was announced.  And then we went to work.  And I crashed and went home to sleep for the last hour.

Friday I woke up not so great but in time for weekly planning.  By this time Sister Wanlass was sick too and so the new zone leaders came over to give her a blessing.  We then had a great lesson with Claudia and then went to temple square with Luis and Luis!  And yes, I saw Sister Shipp!  And the rest of the Shipp family minus Heather.  It definitely wasn't a coincidence.  As we were on our way up there I was telling my companions that I felt like I just needed to see someone from home to get me though that day.  And boy did it lift my spirits.  Not to mention it was a fantastic lesson with Luis and Luis and the spirit was super strong.  

That night the zone leaders came over to give us Sudafed.  They won me over right then and there.  Seriously though.  Do you know one's from Denmark/ Hurricane, Utah?  Yep, he was actually called here and he's lived in Utah for the majority of his life.  Weird, right?  What a difference it makes when you feel like you're working together as a mission, leaders included.  Before it was like our leaders were there just to babysit us.  Now I feel like there's some trust.  There you go dad, I hope that wasn't a cliff hanger, but that's all I'm going to say.

Saturday was rough.  I was shaking and blacking out a lot and just plain dizzy.  But I made it through the whole day.  We had a zone meeting and I came with a card and ice cream for Hermana Leavitt for her birthday only to find out that she was transferred last minute!  What!?  It crushed me because we've been together since day one and I felt super alone all of a sudden.  But the zone meeting was good and our zone started a purification challenge, which meant we had a fast.  Longest fast of my life.  I almost passed out several times.  Sister Wanlass was really worried about my thyroid because she also has thyroid problems except worse because she's allergic to synthroid.  

Sunday was pretty much the same.  And then we went to the worldwide broadcast and I was kind of in and out.  And then it dawned on me, personal revelation, "I'm dehydrated!"  It's not my thyroid at all!  Because I also had the worse headache of my life.  And then I was happier.  Broadcast ended and President and Sister Miller spoke to us for the final time.  I was doing great with not crying and then President asked us to sing "God be with you till we meet again."  And I almost lost it when I saw President crying during the last verse, but I sill held it together.  Then we went individually to them to say goodbye and to hug.  I hugged them and then they told me the news... "You won't be here very much longer"  What?  "Ya, you leave July 1 and only with Elder Lopez, Sister Leavitt hasn't gotten her visa yet."  What?  And then the tears started.  It was rough.  And I had to say goodbye to Sister Leavitt at the same time.  It was hard.  And by the time we got back to our area, it was time to do numbers and plan.  

So now I know when I'm leaving and this is my last p-day in Utah.  I'm excited but really sad to leave at the same time.  I'm praying that Luis and Luis's baptism really does happen this weekend.  Also, that Sister Leavitt has a miracle and leaves soon.

Love,

Hermana Borup

June, time for Spanish BBQ's

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was both excellent and horrible.  Let me explain something first.  Do you remember our old car trips?  When we were little and we just couldn't seem to get along in the car?  Why was that?  I've thought a lot about it lately and I realized that an extended amount of time in limited space with anyone is bad news.  It's not that you don't like everyone else in the car, but sometimes you just need your space to breathe.  Now on spanish assignment we cover two stakes, both of which are covered by english elders, one is the stake of our district leader, and the other is the stake of our zone leaders.  We got three calls this week because the zone leaders noticed our car in a certain spot and were wondering how long we had been there.  Yep.  I need space.  They drive past our house on purpose to just check up on us.  And you wonder why I'm having trouble with leadership in this new area?  I love them though.  They're good, just in our faces a lot.

So on Wednesday of this week we went to our last training for Hermana Danielson.  It was also President Miller's last training and it was pretty special.  After he took his time, the AP's started to train on contacting people in the streets (OYMing) and President took over again and quizzed us all on the articles of faith.  I was super excited because he got to me at the same time he got to number 6 which is the only one I really know.  Unfortunately he got back to me on number 12 and was in my face as I shouted it at him with the help of Hermana Wanlass.  I'll miss President.  But now I know I need to refresh myself on those.  

Thursday we had a great day and Claudia accepted a baptismal date for July 13!  Except she works at Walmart and she works during church and you can only possibly change your schedule once every month so she has to wait and see if she can change her schedule this next week.  Any prayers would be very helpful.  But she has a really strong testimony.  She just needs to be at church, which is frustrating because she knows that and that's where she wants to be. 

Friday Elder and Sister Cook came to our mission!  It was amazing!  I got to shake their hands and I think I was super red from excitement.  Yes, there are definitely some great benefits of being part of this mission.  This is the second apostle in about 2 months!  But something he said about this mission in particular really stood out to me.  There's a reason why the pressure is on the missions in the valley, why there's so much added pressure from President Miller, and our other leaders.  Basically this is where the Lord needs me and he's preparing me in a way that I couldn't have been prepared in Argentina.  I felt that strongly while he was speaking.  Even though it's hard to still be in Utah, I'm so grateful to be here.  I know this is where I need to be for the time being.  One day I will be able to explain all that's going on, but I can't right now.

After the mission conference we had an amazing lesson with Luis and Luis.  We had it by the baptismal font and we discovered that they are actually more solid on their baptismal date than we thought!  They came to church on sunday in ties!  And so did Estevan!  They were all commenting on how it took them forever to learn how to knot it.  

Then we had a little activity at the church for father's day and Estevan's dad came so we got to have a lesson with him as well.  I love my life!  These people are too good to us.  Estevan's basically a member already but he has to wait even longer now to be baptized for legal issues and he still keeps that positive outlook.  He teaches us so much every time we meet with him.  I wish others could be as great of a missionary as he is.  

Basically we've had so many BBQ's in the last two weeks and carne asada that I think I'm going to explode!  Stop feeding me!  Please!  All I want is grapefruit for dinner and mom's goods for dessert.  But since Hermana Wanlass loves running and hates zone workouts, we've been running a lot more and so I don't feel sooo bad.  Gross, but not horrible.  

Funny story, there's a less active that we've been sort of working with named Luis (I know, another Luis) and he's kind of... sensitive would be the word.  He went on for 40 minutes about why he's not active anymore without stopping to take a break!  It was horrible!  We couldn't cut him off because he would talk over us.  And at the end he gave Hermana Wanlass a hug.  Hahahaha she seems to always attract those.  I give a very "hand shake only" vibe I guess.  Good thing too because the only hugs I will accept from males are very awkward ones from President.  The way it should be.

Love,

Hermana Borup

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Dear Family and Friends,

I apologize for not explaining my subject line last week.  In the spanish culture, if you ask for water they give you juice.  If you ask for jugo they give you super concentrated juice.  So I've learned to ask for agua natural.  

This week was insane.  It was another roller coaster of emotions.  We had our good moments, probably the best on my mission so far, and our not so good moments.

We found 3 new investigators this week.  Henry is the husband of a less active and Giraldo is a father of three of the cutest girls ever.  And Maria recently lost her husband and is somewhat interested, but not really.  We're meeting tomorrow and we'll see how that goes.

Luis and Luis accepted a baptismal date for the 29th of June yesterday after church.  This weekend they went with the branch for a fathers and sons camp out.  They're doing really well.  But any extra prayers for them would be nice.  They're still a little hesitant because they don't want to be pushed.  But that makes three investigators who are progressing towards baptism and 6 that are not right now but will be soon.  This area is amazing.  I love it here and we taught 27 lessons this last week!  I love teaching.  

So I really want to talk about Marta.  Last sunday our ward mission leader introduced her to us and she just lost her son.  We tried going over to her house on sunday, but she wasn't home.  We went later that day, walked in, I got a call from president and let's just say we didn't go back that night.  We went back on wednesday and she was just staring at her plate of food.  So the grandma and the sister were talking to us and we started to sing a hymn.  Marta started to bawl.  And we shared a quick message and then gave her a hug and left.  We've been there every day since.  Saturday we went there first thing after studies and she told us that we were an answer to her prayers that day we first came over.  The experience was probably the most powerful I've had on my mission.  Right after our lesson, she came with us to two other lessons and bore her testimony on prayer.  She's been through the temple before so she wants to get back and go on a mission.  She's amazing.

We had to drop Adan and Josefina this week and it was rough.  They started crying and I was so sad.  It's amazing how fast you grow to love the people you meet.  I wish we never had to drop anyone and we never had to be transferred, but that can't happen unfortunately.

So life's grand.  It's hot and I'm tired all the time and I wish my mood would be consistent and I'm gaining weight, but I've never been happier.  

If you could send me some b-12 pills that would be great.  Also, I love homemade or store-bought.  But some no show socks would be greatly appreciated.  

Funny story of the week (sorry it doesn't have to do with missionary work): Last p-day we were having a really rough day because we just had to drive a lot and we couldn't do anything stress relieving or relaxing.  So we're waiting for our district leader to give us mail and all of a sudden we're at a bowling alley with our district.  And I dominated and the Elders were terribly embarrassed.  The second game I finished at 144 and one Elder (kind of an interesting guy) came up to me and told me that he's gonna try and beat me, but it's fine if I win.  "Don't worry, I'll try my hardest, but it's ok if you beat me, just to let you know."  I guess you'd have to know him to think that's funny but it was and I almost laughed in his face.  He barely got over 100.

Love,

Hermana Borup

 The difference between agua natural, agua, and jugo

Dear Family and Friends,

I love it here!!!  This week was probably the best week I've had so far on my mission.  It was an emotional roller coaster for sure, but it was great.

It started off with a pretty great district meeting and we found two new investigators on tuesday! Their names are Sheyla and Kayla and they are 15 and 9.  We met with the mom finally on friday and she will be a new investigator too when we can find a time to teach her.  So that was the first miracle and they will be baptized as soon as the parents are on board with it.  They live with one of our ward missionaries. 

Wednesday we had to go to a training because Sister Danielson is still training.  But it was good and I actually raised my hand and participated!  I was called Sister Leavitt (who wasn't even there) about 5 times, but that's alright.  I also had to lead the music which I've had to do quite a bit because they just assume I know how because I'm from Utah.  Yes, I sing all the time now and I lead music.  I've changed.

Thursday and Friday were alright.  We found another new investigator named Claudia who is the mom of two new members.  We've had amazing success this week because we've changed our focus on service.  We just go about serving and we've gotten into so many doors because of it.  It's amazing!  All these people are prepared, we just have to resolve certain concerns (mainly church attendance) first.  We also taught Luis and Luis and we've had several lessons with Adan and Josefina and we see Estevan everyday.  But I'll get to that later.

Saturday we had an exchange with the sister training leaders.  Sister Bingham came to our area and Sister Danielson went to the other area.  We found another investigator, Lorena!  We also found like 15 strong strong potentials that we have appointments with this week.  

Sunday Luis and Luis came to church again!  And Estevan fasted and bore his testimony!  It was amazing!  I also had to teach gospel principles spur of the moment because Sister Wanlass had an emergency with a member.  That was intense.

I had a very humbling, hard experience this week and I'm worried it will completely change me.  I've been praying hard though and I just keep remembering Moroni and how the Lord told him that he will make weak things become strong.  Sometimes I feel emotionally drained and inadequate, but I know I'm where I need to be.  Yes, I've had problems, but I'm working on them and that's one of the best things about being on a mission.  As you focus on others, you forget your problems and your testimony increases.  

Funny experience for the week: We were at a potential's house and she was skyping her family in Peru.  We came into the picture and her brothers started cat calling at us.  It was super awkward especially because I'm the only one that really understood exactly what they were saying.  

Another one:  We were OYMing a white man on the street and at the end he reached out to give Sister Wanlass a hug and she thought he was pointing somewhere and she was super confused.  I jumped in and told him we weren't allowed to hug and Sister Wanlass turned bright red.  Fun, fun guy.

So I love my companions!  We have so much fun together and the work is moving forward to the point where we go on splits with members to cover it all.  Amazing things are happening in this area!  And both of their stories blew me away.  I love being a missionary!

Love,

Madi