Great News

 28 Jan 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

Remember the Familia Narducci from Arroyo Seco?  They got baptized!!!!  Woooo!!!!  Probably not Eve yet because they have to get married, but all the kids!!!!  I´m so happy.  Yes, yet another baptism I was not there to see, but it doesn´t matter.  I was able to teach them and be in their lives and see the change in them.  I will never forget saying goodbye and seeing Lucas, the 13 year old, cry.  Ahhh!!!  I´m just so happy right now.

So another transfer done.  I have a new companion.  Of course.  I only last one transfer with each companion.  Her name´s Hermana Ihler and she just turned 11 months in the mission like me!  It´s going to be a blast.  She´s also the nurse.  Ha, I think this assignment was inspired.  Hermana Mueller and Romero are staying and Hermana Garbin goes to Venato Tuerto.  This change is for the best, but it´s still hard to say goodbye to yet another companion.

So this last week was great.  I don´t have any time to talk about it.  But a few highlights:

On tuesday we contacted a boy.  He opened up and we asked him if he believed in God.  He had dreadlocks and at first I thought he was on drugs.  Because he didn´t answer our question but just smiled and told us that he plays the....  I didn´t catch the name.  And then he started playing this instrument from Australia.  it was super weird but then he answered our question and told us that God is energy.  And a lot of other stuff that I had no clue what he was saying.  It was awfully fun though.

Saturday we ate rice and french fries, ya we´re healthy.  But then we had dinner with Beatriz, an investigator.  And she made meat and french fries and fried eggs for us.  I thought I was going to die.  I think I need to cut back on dairy yes, but also on grease.

Sunday we were asked to be with the nursery.  Yikes it was a disaster.  about 6 kids and a big mess.  And then I gave a talk in sacrament meeting.  I chose to speak on the holy ghost and little did I know, the other elder, Elder Higginson, spoke on the same thing.  It was the spirit.  I guess it´s what the ward needed.  Following those promptings. 

Thursday we didn´t have light.  And it was the hottest day of the year.  So there was no air.  I thought I was going to die.  But we had to walk in the night without light and it was kind of fun.  I told Hermana Garbin, because she was super happy that there wasn´t light, that good thing I knew how to get home.  She still doesn´t know the area after 4.5 months.  Ha, oh boy.  Good luck Venato Tuerto. 

Yesterday it rained.  Hard.  Super fun.  We got soaked, ran home, changed, and then got soaked again.  But it was a good day.  We have a new investigator named Elsa.  And we have a golden referral that we tried to contact but he wasn´t home so we´ll try and go tomorrow if my companion gets here early.

The mission is great!  I love life.  Pictures next week!  Keep up the missionary work Dad!

Hermana Borup

P.S.  the situation with the plumbing has not been fixed.  Still no hot water so when it´s raining, we choose not to shower.  Our apartment smells lovely

Disaster Week

Dear Family and Friends,

So I´ve often thought on my mission, missionaries never can have bad weeks.  When we have bad weeks, we get leaders on our backs asking us why we didn´t work.  But this week was the exception.  Here´s what happened... (by the way, I don´t blame my companion in this story)

So Tuesday we woke up with a message from our district leader changing our district meeting to the afternoon.  So we started doing all of our studies.  Ten minutes to 11, or ten minutes before finishing everying, planeamiento, estudio personal, estudio de compañerismo, e idioma, our district leader changes the meeting to Wednesday.  No!  What are we supposed to do during siesta entonces?  So I helped Hermana Garbin with her English and washed clothes but that was a big bummer.  We couldn´t even make calls because everyone yells at us for waking them up.

So Wednesday morning was district meeting.  Then, right before studies during siesta, Hermana Garbin made arroz con leche.  Yum!  I ate a nice bowl and then we studied.  We went out at 4:30 to a less active´s house.  While we were there I felt something funny in my stomach.  I gave Hermana Garbin "the look"  so that she would stop talking and we could get out of there.  In the back of my mind I thought, I just need fresh air.  So we leave and we start walking.  All of a sudden I was in a lot of pain.  So we went back to the pench.  I tried sleeping but that wasn´t working.  And then I went out to our kitchen and talked to Hermana Garbin.  De repente I threw up.  Weird because I haven´t thrown up really since 5 years ago when I had the flu and I was home alone.  While I was throwing up, Hermana Garbin called Hermana Giuliani who said it was because I had milk and then went out in the heat.  Who knew?  So I spent the rest of the day throwing up.

Thursday I woke up and didn´t feel all that well.  And then it started coming out the other end about every 15 minutes.  So we stayed inside until our appointment in the afternoon with Augustina.  The member didn´t show up but it was still a really good lesson.  And I bought fruit salad because it was the only thing that I could get down.  Oh and crackers.

Friday I woke up good.  We did studies and we were ready to go out when we noticed our termo tanque was losing water.  So we had to call a plummer and he said it was the building´s problem and he couldn´t do anything about it.  All morning we had to try and fix everything because our apartment flooded and water was coming out of the walls.  And of course everyone was on vacation.  Eventually by lunch time everything was fixed.  A faucet broke upstairs.

Then I felt sick after lunch and we didn´t go out.

But saturday I was all better and it was time to get to work.  A member from another ward was with us until 5 and we didn´t get any lessons!  How can it be?  Oh well, next time.  We had a lesson later with Alejandra and the less active that you met on Christmas.  

Sunday we contacted and all our investigators couldn´t let us in so it was a lot of walking.  

So ya, our week was basically a disaster, but it´s all good now.  They´re fixing the faucet upstairs, we don´t have water in the kitchen and we have a whole in the wall!  I love Argentina!  Oh and did I mention that we didn´t have water Friday morning and when the water turned on the disaster started?  So so shower... or toilet... with me being sick...  We learned our lesson and now have jugs filled with water just in case.

I´m a happy happy missionary though and it´s the last week of

the transfer so miracles!  A member in the ward told us yesterday she´s ready to get along with the sisters (us) again and she´s just the beginning.  The errors of the past sisters are slowly being forgotten!

Weston, we don´t get dinner time, but sometimes we don´t have lunch appointments so i make it then.  Or the banana bread at night instead of writing in my journal.  It´s fast and easy and delicious.

Hermana Borup

Pictures:

Our zone today at pday especial!  It´s soooooo hot!

Our investigator gave us a ton of food on saturday.  Yikes, it´s getting embarrasing.  But we have a plan so that next time she doesn´t give us so much.

Hermana Garbin and the flood.  My pictures of the water coming out of the wall didn´t turn out so well, but you can imagine.

Just keep walking and walking and walking

 1-6-14

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this area is the same as last week.  I thought I told you about the area last week but if you really want to know more...  We live in the center of Pergamino in a shopping mall.  It´s nice, but not at the same time.  It gets loud at night because everyone eats outside and there´s music.  But other than that it´s fun.  We have a ghetto elevator and everything.  Our area is Centro B which is the half of the ward starting from the train tracks and going to the limit in the center.  So that Dad can be a creeper and look on google maps.  Most of our work goes on far from where we live.  The outskirts of our area because no one likes to listen in the center.  My companion is slowly learning the area.  She´s also getting a lot better at contacting.  Now she doesn´t just hand people a pamphlet and counts contacts for the people across the street that she yells at.  She actually talks to people now.  So we´ve found some people through contacting.  The ward is good.  Nothing like Arroyo Seco.  I don´t really know the bishop because he´s super quiet and doesn´t really like the missionaries.  I want to help him out but he lives no where near our area and we´re not allowed to go into his neighborhood.  Somehow we´re going to find a way to serve him.  Oh that´s another thing.  all these members want service service service.  I love service, but I´m getting the feeling that their attitude is this, "these missionaries aren´t doing anything so we´ll give them something to do.  Clean my house!" so... yep.  But every week gets a little better.  We´ve repaired some damage done by the sister before me and we had two less active families at church and an investigator!  And the members got excited about that!  Wahoo!

 

So I feel like I´m trying to have a positive attitude about everything but this place is really hard.  And it shouldn´t be.  It´s hard because of my companion´s last companion.  No one wants to work with us.  And all the other missionaries kind of exclude us in the zone.  So that´s rough.  Today I wanted to do something for pday instead of just sleeping like we´ve done for the last two weeks and the elders said they were all getting together to play soccer, which we can´t play with them.  Lame.  So we´re having a picnic by the river with the other sisters.  We´re going to eat ice cream of course so it will be fun.  But I do miss pdays in Galvez with my last district.  

 

This week I had a near death experience with my health.  But I got a blessing and it´s all good now.  I finally got to do my blood testing and i´m going to a doctor when I get the results, so there was no need to call Hermana Giuliani.  Just know that I was protected and I know that what my setting apart said is true, that Grandpa is close to me on my mission.  

 

Quick question? Can someone get addicted to benedryl?  Because I´ve been having a lot of allergic reactions and I´ve been taking a lot lately.  Let me know if I shouldn´t.

 

So this week was the fast.  I love fasting.  With my health, I can´t do it very often, but when we do fast, it gives us so much extra spiritual strength.  We start our fast after lunch on Saturday and then break it on Sunday lunch time.  Saturday was amazing!  We finally had a lesson with a member, a recent convert named Angela.  She came with us to our investigator´s Alejandra.  We had a good little lesson and then we talked about church.  And Alejandra asked Angela if she walks to church and at what time.  They exchanged numbers and then came to church together!  It was exactly what Alejandra needed.  Now she just needs to quit smoking before her baptismal date on the first of February!

 

The other miracle: we met Viviana this week.  Saturday we had a lesson with her.  She´s been going to a lot of different churches.  She had cancer and since that trial she´s been looking for a way to be closer to God.  When we told hing to give her the Book of Mormon she almost cried.  She´s a miracle and we´ll see her again on Saturday.

 

The other miracle:  I had to call Arroyo Seco last night because I forgot a few things.  While I was talking to Hermana Dean, she told me that the Narducci kids have another baptism date for the 25th and that they came to church!  Luis Ramon moved back to the campo and walked 8 kilometros to get to church and he´s 80! and Delma is coming to church!  Ahhh!!!  I feel like the Narducci family is my family.  Everyone looks for that family to teach on their missions and they are mine.  I didn´t think I could love anyone besides my own family that much!  Now I just have to find people like that in Pergamino.

 

Well this letter is long.  I hope you´re all doing great.  Thanks for the updates on everyone in the family.  Mom, st George half is the best race, so I know you can beat McKenzie.  You´re getting old but not that old.  

Love,

Hermana Borup

p.s. This week I made brownies and taco soup because we actually had a rainy day.  Yes, I´m cooking.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

1-1-14

Dear family and friends,

So last week our pday got passed on to Christmas and we weren´t allowed to write, only talk.  This week our pday got passed on to today.  so that´s why I haven´t been writing if anyone was wondering.

So cool to hear about your San Francisco trip.  You know, you have been there twice now as a family and I have never gone.  I think we should change that when I get home.  Or we can forget about San Francisco and take another trip to Mexico.  I could use a long week in Mexico right about now.

Weston!  That´s super cool to hear you´re going south.  Really south.  Take lots of pictures of penguins for me.

 

So this week was super long.  Because of the holidays, no one wanted to meet with us, and that includes members.  We walked and tried tracting and either no one was home, or no one wanted to talk to us.  We did have a great contacting experience Friday.  We did some service for a less active that morning and since no one else in our plans were home, we went contacting.  In one street we talked to 3 people with really strong potential.  One was a man named Gustavo who set up an appointment for the next day.  One was a less active named Marcelo, who´s wife is not a member, but they were going out of town until March... they´re already in our plans for March.  And one was a guy that stopped us because he thought we wanted to talk to him.  Ya we do!  He´s an old investigator, but he doesn´t live in our area.  But the next day we went to Gustavo´s and it was probably the most awkward lesson of my life!  We didn´t know if he had a wife, but we knew he had 4 kids and that they were going to be there.  So we get there and there they all are waiting for us with the nanny.  But they wouldn´t talk to us, just stared across the table from us.  The man was standing next to me and the nanny was sitting on the floor.  I can´t really understand why it was so awkward but afterwards Hna Garbin helped understand.  She has never taught a man before!  Or kids!  And she didn´t know how to handle it.  Her comments were out of no where on whatever subject.  So it was all just a mess but we´re going to go back more prepared next time.  Also, I think she was shaking.

 

Highlights of the week, I made my first asado.  Yes, I also made banana bread without a recipe.  And it was dang good.  All that watching Hermana Smith cook paid off!  But the asado came because on Saturdays we cook for an old less active lady.  She wanted asado instead of milanesas and neither of us knew how to cook it.  So I just sort of guessed and it was delicious.  Quite the cook these days.

 

Yes, my companion´s interesting.  She´s from Peru and she´s great.  Super funny.  She´s been here for 3 months, it´s her first area, and she didn´t even know where the church was or what the bishop´s name was.  You can tell she´s a new missionary because she kind of likes to talk a lot  in the lessons and throw scriptures at the investigator.  But she´s a lot better than I was that´s for sure.  With a lot more practices in studies, she´s going to be an awesome missionary.  

 

Well that´s all.  Last night we didn´t do anything special but the fireworks did wake me up.  Also our blind investigator stopped us in the street the other day and told us that revelation doesn´t exist and that we´re teaching false doctrine.  I think she may have gotten that from her Jehova witness niece.  Oh well.  There are prepared people in Centro, I know it.

Happy New Year!

Hermana Borup

P.S. Still haven´t done the blood testing yet.  Lots of dumb complications.  Everything´s closed until after Reyes.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Dear family and friends,
Happy Birthday Mom!!!  I love you!  Best mom in the world!
So this week was probably one of my more interesting weeks of my mission.
It started out with a great night in playa hermosa after emailing on
Monday.  We even got to have a lesson outside with the fireflies.  I've
never seen fireflies before.  It was cool and they were on the long walk to
the parada as well.  But that night there was a scare in the mission.  We
got home and there was a text saying that there was a new temporary rule
that all missionaries had to be home by dark instead of the usual 9:30 or
10:00.  Then the zone leaders called asking for all of our parents emails
in case of an emergency.  But no one told us anything so we didn't sleep
that well.
The next morning I woke up swollen.  Bad.  So I took a benedryl and did the
normal morning routine.  We went to Rosario for the Christmas conference
and I have to be honest, I didn't get much out of the spiritual morning
because of the benedryl. But they told us the reason for the new rule.  All
the robberies going on because the police were on strike.  Dang it.  there
goes all our lessons.
Then we had lunch and it was way fun, but the highlight of the Christmas
conference was getting to see a lot of familiar faces.  I got to see Elder
Lopez who I've been with since the MTC.  So that was fun.  And then every
zone performed something.  Most just sang Christmas songs, but our zone did
a skit.  Because our district is kind of apart from the zone, we did our
own skit.  We have a really funny elder in our zone that kind of made of
skit the best.  President filmed it and then showed it to the north half of
the mission the next day.  It was the only one we showed.  So now we're
famous.  Kind of embarrassing because I did my dancing in the skit.  Ya...
Hermana Jimenez said she couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard.  Good
thing I don't see these people very often.
The rest of the week was kind of rough.  We had so much potential and all
of our appointments fell through.  We worked harder than any other week,
but numbers wise it was our worst week.  Which got me thinking about the
success of a missionary.  It was a hard week, but we were happy.  I feel
like the joy comes when you really are trying your hardest.  It doesn't
matter what people say after that, but I feel accountable to the lord and
no one else.  He knows my heart and knows that I gave it my all this week.
On Friday I had to go to the doctor's.  I know I said no more doctors, but
after 2 weeks of straight diarrhea I felt like it was time to make the call
to Hermana Giuliani who told me to go to the doctor.  the good news is, it
was the best doctor I've seen.  The bad news is he put me on a special diet
that took away all my joy out of eating.  No lactose, only bananas and
apples as far as fruit goes, and limited veggies.  This means no cereal
(I've become a cereal addict on my mission), no ice cream, no cheese, no
yogurt with fruit, no fruit salad, etc.  Really depressing but it's only
for a week.  And I have to do a bunch of studies which are a pain.  But
I've been feeling better.  And I lost 4 kilos in the last couple of weeks.
So I guess that's a plus?  Not very healthy but I'm happy.  I blame it on
the heat.
And that was mainly our week.  Yes, I'm super excited to skype next week.
Oh!  And I'm being transferred.  Kind of expecting it.  Hna Dean's training
so I'm going to be a grandma and I'm going to Pergamino!!!  I'm going to
miss Arroyo Seco a lot, but it's time.  Pergamino also has air conditioning
and Hermana Mueller and her companion share the pench with us!  Kind of
funny because I told everyone that's going to be my next area and it rang
true!  By the way, I'll be finishing my mission in Rafaela in 3 transfers.
My plans are the same as God's plan for me.  Presidente Gutierrez told me
I need to get married 6 months after I get home, I told him 2 years. he
brought out the miracle of forgiveness and the scriptures, but I told him
God has a plan for me and it's 2 years.  Ha, I'll miss him and his wife.
I'm going to miss everyone.  I've learned so much here.  It's been a
growing area with a ton of trials, but I feel like I'm leaving part of my
heart behind.  Hna Dean will do great though.  Pergamino here I come!!!
Hermana Borup

ps pictures are of birthday day.  The Barcelona, messy jersey was given to
me by a family here

We have my sweat line.  That was not the best shirt to wear.  It was cooler
than most, but it showed all of my sweat.  My back was a lot worse.  Gross

Like McKenzie would say, Birthday week

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes.  It means a lot and they sure did brighten up my week!  But I still didn't get your birthday package mom, so I just opened up a few of the christmas presents and I'll save some of the birthday ones for christmas when it comes.

This week was crazy packed and I have very limited time because we have to get back to work soon.  So I'll just share the highlights.

Tuesday we had our first real lesson with Miguel and his dad, the less active, was there as well.  He accepted a baptismal date for the 11th of January.  He's going out of town for work soon, so that was the best date for him.  He's pretty solid though.  I haven't had anyone this strong and ready to go since Estevan in utah.

That night at midnight I got a call.  Really confused I answered the phone and it was a family in the branch that sang me happy birthday.  Ha!  I love this branch.  The mom is the relief society president and the dad is the first counselor in the branch presidency.  They are the best.

My birthday was fantastic.  Couldn't of asked for anything better.  We just taught all day long and you're right dad, teaching on your birthday is the best present.  We ended up having 6 lessons that day which is pretty darn crazy for this mission.  It was hot though.  And we were running from place to place.  I thought I was going to pass out, but I didnt which was another birthday miracle.  We found the familia Narducci in the morning, then a less active, then we went to another less active for lunch.  They made me milanesas and salad and they bought be a cake!  They are not the wealthiest of people so this meant a lot.  She's the mom of this area and can't stop smoking and that's why she doesn't go to church, but she has the biggest heart.  I love them!

Then in the afternoon we went to Pueblo Esther, and our lesson fell so we ended up having a lesson with the less active family we work with there.  Their daughter isn't a member and we got to teach her and it was awesome!  She'll be baptized soon.  Give it a month or so.  She knows it's true I just think no one's really invited her. 

Then we went back to Arroyo Seco, met with Hermana Isabel and taught her about tithing (she paid for the first time this week!)  and then to the chruch to celebrate with the members. Members got me presents! And we had a surprise lesson with Miguel.  So best day ever!

Then on friday we had lunch witht he family that called and they had another cake for me!  And milanesas... ha.  And then we went to zone meeting in Rosario where I got my gift from president and sister Giuliani and then we got home in time to have dinner with hermana isabel and she had gotten me a gift and made pizza for me!  I love this branch!

Transfers are coming up and I really don't want to go.  Especially now that so much is happening, but I think I might be going.  If that's the case I'm so grateful I got to spend 3 transfers in Arroyo Seco.  I'm convinced it's the best area a missionary can have!

Hermana Borup

Miracles are all around

Dear Family and Friends,

Ahh!!!  This week was pretty great.  I did get a little sick from the heat at the end, but other than that it was wonderful.

Monday we picked up two new investigators that are wonderful, except one is living with her husband without marriage, juntada?  I can't think of the word in english.  Tuesday we picked up another investigator and a member actually went with us to a lesson!  That's amazing in itself!  Members are really hard to get in Arroyo Seco because they don't live in the actually city. 

Wednesday was 9 months in the mission and we had to go to Rosario for a conference for new missionaries.  Ha, Hermana Dean has 9 months now too and she's considered new.  But it was good to hear from President Giuliani all the same and I learned a lot more on what my purpose as a missionary is.  The best part is the questions and answers part at the end.  And then I got my christmas package... but not my birthday one yet.  And the calender's weston's so I hope he can send me mine because I'm going to send him his.  Thanks for the candy mom!  I haven't opened anything else.

That afternoon we went to Pueblo Esther and we had a little bit of time before we were going to meet with a less active family so we went back to a good contact hermana jimenez and I had and the lady just let us in without us saying anything.  Offered us mate, then mate cocido (which we're allowed to drink) and then her daughter joined us for a lesson.  It was one of the best lessons I've had on my mission and she just kept saying she felt peace and we kept testifying that it was the spirit.  They accepted a baptismal date for the 28th!

Thursday the miracles continued and we got another new investigator in playa hermosa.  She's juntada as well though.  And then we met the son of a less active we've been working with.  We had heard about him but he's like 60 and lives way out of the way.  As we were leaving from teaching his dad, here he comes up the road!  We met him and invited him to a family home evening we were having on sat. and he said he would come!

we also celebrated thanksgiving by eating chicken and mashed potatoes with cobler and ice cream as dessert.

Friday was when I started to feel bad because it was also a million degrees and we had to walk everywhere.  But a friendly man gave us a sauce to put on bread and meat.  That was nice. 

Sat I was really bad so all we could do was the family home evening at night.  And Miguel (the son) came! New investigator and he loved it!  We did the spiritual part and the treat and the other sisters did the game.  They did something!  Well Miguel at the end said he would come to church.

Sun we get there 10 minutes early and there is Miguel and his dad sitting in the shade ready to go!  After priesthood one of the members asked me when his baptismal date was and we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes!  So... we're going to actually teach him something on tuesday and we have a member to go with us.  So many miracles.

I love being a missionary when things are just handed to you like that!  I feel so blessed!  I love being a missionary always, but I would love a few more fans and air conditioning because I woke up sweating bullets.  Not a good start.

Love,

Hermana Borup

Oh I almost forgot.  We had a great encounter with a drunk man in a dark alley on monday and he wants to marry us!  I'm engaged! No but it's funny now, at the time I was scared for my life.  Luckily he didn't accept Hermana Dean's invitation to come to church on sunday.