Waiting outside a new member's house

 The Strike!


In a mission things are scheduled; interviews with the missionaries happen every 6 weeks, transfers happen every six weeks, zone conferences happen every 6 weeks, Every week there is a district meeting, every Friday there is companionship planning, and every morning the missionaries in our mission get up at 7:30.  Every morning a missionary studies the gospel for an hour and studies the language for an hour. This happens regularly except when it doesn’t. Things happen! “Things” seem to happen more often when you are in a different country. 


This week started as planned. Zone Conferences started on Tuesday and were scheduled through Thursday. In our mission, there are six zones. Each zone conference has two different zones, which means two zones per day per conference session. Zone Conferences start with recognitions for birthdays and language accomplishments, after an opening song, prayer, and recital of the missionary purpose. In our Zone Conferences, the Assistants to the President conduct the conference. The Mission Leaders each teach and the Assistants teach. We have a video that is created by the office missionaries that shows some of the highlights since the last conference, which includes an introduction of the new missionaries and pictures at baptisms. One of the best parts of the conference is we eat popcorn while we watch one of the missionary safety videos.  There is a breakout session when the missionaries stay in their zones and are taught by the Hermana Training Leaders and the Zone Leaders. It is all finished with testimonies from the missionaries who will return home and a very “high-carb” meal. 


Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s conferences went as planned. I think I mentioned that sometimes things don’t go as planned. We found out that on Thursday there was going to be another bus strike. The missionaries rely on the Busses to get everywhere. No busses means no missionaries.  No problem the conference was rescheduled for Friday. But then the bus strike was extended through Saturday. I guess they needed a bigger impact. The mission leaders outsmarted the bus strike. They hired a private bus (public buses were on strike). The President had to reschedule a few interviews but everything went off without a hitch. All is well that ends well. I learned that Missionaries are adaptable and so are Mission Leaders.


About that strike… The city just shuts down. The buses that were on strike are used heavily every day, all day. You can get on and off one at every corner. It’s how everyone gets anywhere. Besides the practical side of the buses, the buses are a big part of the rhythm and flow of the city. When the buses don’t run it feels like a different city. The streets are quiet with a few cars here and there. The taxis cost twice as much so they were not being used much which only added to the deserted feeling of the city. We were advised to stay at home due to the dangers of potential riots. We stayed home but didn’t hear about any riots. By Saturday afternoon things seemed to be back to normal. 


We had a great experience with a young adult age new member. She was baptized a month ago. We went to her baptism and have been trying to get with her since then. On Saturday we met with her and the missionaries from her area. We started teaching her about the importance of covenants and how we want to help her get to the Temple. Her mother passed away a few months ago which influenced her to learn about the church. She has an aunt and uncle who are members of the church. We are going to keep meeting with her. She is very excited about going to the Temple to be baptized vicariously for her mother. 


The work continues. Somedays feel more productive than others. Somedays go as planned and some don’t. We love being here. We love the people. They work hard and are kind sincere people.


Until next week,


Hermana Y Elder Borup


This bike shop belongs to a member.

A lot of choices


Moto Taxis waiting to give rides

Military were out for the strike

How does anyone know where the wires go?

A lonely flower and some garbage.

Mission leaders teaching at Zone Conference

A sample of a missionaries diet.

The Elders around the corner from us have a turtle, well there's one in the apartment building.

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