Another Week!

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great! This week was kinda slow but here are the highlights:

We had our first district council with our new district. It was pretty good. We talked about lots of different ways of finding, trusting the Lord, and asking for miracles. Definitely something we needed.

We had interviews with our mission president. It's always good to get advice from him. One piece of advice he gave us was to cut out planned street contacting and plan tons of visits with formers and find on the way as we walk between each house. So lets just say the Lord is giving me great opportunities to get my steps in lol. I'm excited to see what miracles the Lord has in store for us as we follow our president's council.

We also did some service for a family in our ward. They're building 2 sheds in their yard so we helped lay gravel for the foundation. They then fed us and gave us lots of names of people in the ward to visit. So overall very successful.

We had a member meal where we made sushi. It was actually pretty good. Then we had a good conversation with the members where they gave us the advice of always working to progress in life and not allowing yourself to get comfortable and stagnant.

For pday today we went to DC. We attempted to go to this 360 clock tower where you can see all of DC but we got to the door and it was closed. SO we went to the Botanical Gardens, the outside of the Capitol, then this super cheap but good DC gift shop that basically has all the things you can find at the monument gifts shops but SO much cheaper. So if you're in DC go to the DC 1 gift shop.

That's pretty much it for this week.

Spiritual thought: This week in our Sunday devotional we talked all about prayer. We watched a portion of a talk President Nelson gave to mission leaders and he talked about so many good things.  Specifically, setting aside and planning private time to prepare, ponder, and pray. Praying is great but to see the fullness of the blessings of it we need to put in work too and set time aside for the spirit to speak to us. Prioritizing prayer in my life has blessed me so much and I know you all will feel the same blessings if you follow President Nelson's council.

Love you all! Have a great week!

-Sis.Kapp

Botanical Gardens

Capitol

Roller-coaster

Hello everyone! This week was kinda a roller-coaster. 

To start off Tuesday our friend Henok came to a baptism and it was SO good! The talks were simple, clear, and very heartfelt. At the end we could tell Henok could feel the spirit. So this gave us a little boost to start the week.

The rest of the week consisted of lots of not so successful finding and visits. We had a few members lessons too which are always good. But by the end of each day Sister Esplin and I were pretty defeated. We had no idea what to do differently to find some success, so we asked our district. Their suggestions were ditching the car and visiting people who formerly showed interested in the church.

So Thursday after lunch we ditched our car.

15 minutes into our walk we got 2 phone numbers and then 1 more later. Did any of those people come to church? No. But they were tender mercies from God.

Thursday night Henok came to a member meal and it was so good until he told us that he's grateful for us talking to him but we should focus on talking to people who don't have a relationship with Christ. But then he still came to church and our members invited him to go to the temple visitors center sometime and he said yes, so we aren't sure if he dropped us. We're not giving up hope yet. 

Saturday I got to call my fam to see my brother and his now wife walk out of the temple after getting married so that was a big highlight!

Sunday we attempted to apply our districts other piece of advice, visiting formers. When deciding who to visit we decided to go somewhere we don't go too often and we missed the mark a bit. We got to the first "house" and it was an office building, the next was only a street, one wasn't home, and the last was a house of dudes smoking weed (who were not interested). So we'll have to retry visiting formers again haha (and look at the addresses better). 

Sunday we also got to volunteer at a faith walk. This basically consisted of us welcoming people and giving them general information for 2 hours. If anything it showed people that our church consists of good people wanting to help out.

For pday we went to Annapolis (the Island of Maryland) and toured the naval academy and got some good Mexican food. The unfortunate thing was that our district leader forgot that our area has permission to use our gas card to pay for parking so we did some good old walking. Annapolis is beautiful though! Praying that I serve there are some point.

If any former missionaries have finding advice send it my way I'm all ears! 

Spiritual thought: 

In Alma 36: 3 & 27 it states,

"3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.

27 And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me."

Alma is telling his son Helaman that God will support him through his trials because he has done so for him, all it takes is trust. I know that if we trust in God he will help us through everything! There are so many hard things I wouldn't have been able to go through if I didn't trust in God. Trust in him and look for him in every little detail and tender mercy. It won't only make it easier but it will strengthen your relationship with him.

Love you all! Thank you for the support!

- Sis.Kapp

Car ditched

Faith Walk

Annapolis

Transfers!

Hello everyone! Not much has happened since last pday so this is gonna be short.

- Our friend Henok came to church again this week and our sacrament meeting was perfect! We had talk that this girl gave on her experience receiving her endowment and it was so good! I didn't have to explain anything to our friend. We then had a talk on a member's conversion story and the last was a member's experience recreating his relationship with Christ. 

- On Sunday we made muffins and visited some member's.

- We had our last district council with this district and I am staying in White Oak another transfer with Sister Esplin! We are finally seeing some success so we are happy to both be staying! 

- I had to last minute teach our FHE Monday but luckily it was on the Kirtland Temple so I knew a thing or two to help me out. 

- For pday today we had a zone activity in the morning. Then tonight we are going to a member's baptism. Our friend Henok is going so hopefully him seeing this baptism will allow the spirit to testify to him that our church's baptisms are different than the one he received as a baby. 

Spiritual Thought: 

Going to the temple last week, hearing a talk on the temple, then teaching a FHE on the temple reminded me of how important it is. There are so many blessings we receive for going and for making those promises with God. In the October 2022 General Conference, in his talk, Focus on the Temple, President Nelson said, "It is significant that the Savior chose to appear to the people at the temple. It is His house. It is filled with His power. Let us never lose sight of what the Lord is doing for us now. He is making His temples more accessible. He is accelerating the pace at which we are building temples. He is increasing our ability to help gather Israel. He is also making it easier for each of us to become spiritually refined. I promise that increased time in the temple will bless your life in ways nothing else can." The temple is SO important so everyone please take of any opportunity to go because it will bless you, your family, and those you are doing work for SO much! It has truly blessed my life and has strengthened my relationship with my Savior and Heavenly Father.

Love you all!

- Sis.Kapp

Silver Spring Zone

Muffin Visits

It' Been A Minute

Hello everyone! It has been a while since my last pday so a lot has happened so bare with me and let's get into it:

- I had a late bday dinner with a family in the ward and it was a good time.

- We handed out backpacks with school supplies to kids in need and it was the most wholesome, fulfilling service. 

- We started to contact at the metro stop and have met some cool people!

- It's started to cool down so we've been able to do more studying and planning outside and it's been so nice!

- We met this neat guy named Henok while finding at a park. We shared a scripture with him, had a good conversation, he came to church and our FHE activity. We also had a lesson with him that ended up being 3 hours long! I was so tired after haha. But it's was a good conversation and we talked about a lot of different things. He's planning to come to church on Sunday. We just have to help him to come to know that there is one true church on the earth.

- Our mission member of the 70 (Brother Haynie) came and did a training with us from 9:30-3:00. It was long but SO good! I learned so much! 

- Our water went out unexpectedly (we think they were working on a leak) the other night which was just funny. Luckily it was back in the morning. Haha 

- We met a super cool guy yesterday morning while contacting. He loved the verse we read with him and was really impressed by what we were doing when we explain it. He made some funny comments and ironically was heading to the liquor store. We ran into him as he was leaving the liquor store and just said, "I'm sinning" and we told him that's what repentance is for lol. He said he'll come to church so we'll see if he pulls up.

- We went to visit an inactive member (wasn't home) so we knocked the neighborhood a bit and had an interaction that we initially thought would end badly but it ended being good. After we knocked this lady looks at us through her screen door, we told her who we were and she said she was busy. We told her, "no worries" and she responded by saying, "no be happy". At this point we were scared we offended her so we said yeah. And she asked if we wanted a happy worm. We came to learn that happy worms are what she makes for kids with adhd. They're full title is, "don't worry, be happy worms". We had a really good conversation with her, learned she catholic so she's not interested but she gave us a rundown of the neighborhood and was impressed by what we are doing when we explained it. Super awesome!

●I met so many cool and kind people this week and feel SO blessed.

- For pday we went to the temple! It was so good! I love going to the house of the Lord.

Spiritual thought:

Brother Haynie told us to allow ourselves to become different and to allow God to make the change.

I think as people sometimes we get scared to loose our personalities as we adjust to do God's will. But that's the whole point. The only change that will take place will be good. We will becoming more like our Savior. So allow yourself to do what God's wants and be who he wants you to be.

(My next pday will be Tuesday because of transfers.)

Love you all!

- Sis Kapp

Park planning sesh

Park finding

Don't worry, be happy worm

Temple!

6 Months As A Missionary!

Hello everyone! We ended up deciding to go to the temple next week so normal pday this week. 

This week has been a little different than my typical weeks so let's get into it.

-Monday for pday we had a cereal breakfast with the sisters in our zone and then played some games with our district.

-Tuesday we had interviews with President Vance. We got to go to the mission home and had some cookies as we waited so no complaining here.

-Wednesday we had new missionary training and it was really good, I learned a lot! I also got to see Sister Hendrix! I love her!

-Thursday it was my birthday (thank you everyone for the birthday wishes). I got to call my fam in the morning and was able to visit lots of members. We played scrabble with a sweet old lady in our ward (Pauline) and I am SO bad at scrabble, luckily we weren't keeping score. We had a sweet spiritual thought with her on faith. We also made some visits and one seems sincerely interested so prayers his way cause we have almost no friends right now. 

Sister Esplin and I made a thing where we draw a paper from a bowl everyday to make our days more interesting. On Thursday we drew, "knock blue houses" and it did make our day quite a bit more interesting, so I recommend to any missionaries who need a switch up.

-Friday is when things took a turn. My comp had a bad reaction to a medication she was taking (she's okay) so we've been in the hospital since then. Hopefully she'll be discharged soon. And shout out to the STL's who drive me to and from the hospital everyday and stay the night with me.

-Sunday I went to the STL's ward which is Spanish so it was an interesting church service.

-Pday we're just hanging out at the hospital so I'll have lots of time to talk with my fam.

Spiritual thought: I wanted to share some scriptures from my little lesson with Pauline. We watched the Book of Mormon video for Alma 32-33 (which i recommend).

In Alma 33:22-23 it states,

"22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works. 

23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen."

It's through our faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can receive all of the blessings from it. The more we nourish our testimonies of the Savior and His Atonement, the closer we will be with him and the more comfort we will receive.

Love you all!

-Sister Kapp

Those who responded to be email last week thank you all! My email is being weird and wouldn't let me respond. Know that I read them and am grateful for them.

Sister Hendrix!

I'm 20! 🙉

Me and my hospital chair

Zone Conference & Exchanges!

 Hello everyone! 

This week was good.

-We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was really good. It was all about our missionary purpose and having faith and trusting in Christ.

-We went on exchanges Thursday. I left the area and was in the Spanish area for the exchange. I was very clueless throughout (because I don't know Spanish) but I learned alot from the STL I was with. I was able to share a verse in Spanish for one of our spiritual thoughts during our member meal and that was a neat experience.

-We did some service at this clothing donation center on Friday. We also made cookies and delivered them to members that we were impressed to and the Lord's timing is good because one member wasn't home and when walking to the car she pulled in and we got to talk with her and share a spiritual thought.

-Saturday was a finding and call filled day. We talked to this older guy who was smoking and invited him to church. He laughed and said he hasn't been to church in 40 years so I told him that it's the perfect time to start, he laughed and we gave him a card with the church info. Just one of the many fun finding experiences. While knocking we talked to this cool guy from Russia and he was asking us lots of questions and had a solid conversation with him. We planted lots of seeds! (We also got FROYO between everything so that made our day a little extra fun.)

-I gave my very first talk on my mission on Sunday. It was on my relationship with the Savior. And I wanna share a scripture I shared in my talk for my spiritual thought:

In Alma 29:9-10 it states,

"9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

I have been so blessed to have grown up in this gospel and have had so many amazing experiences that have helped me grow closer to the Savior. Being on my mission I have learned that yes that brings me so much joy but much more joy is felt when you help others to receive the gospel and build their own relationship with the Savior.

Love you all! (I think we're going to the temple next week so my pday should be Thursday)

Zone Conference

Exchanges with Hermana Rios

FROYO

First Full Week In DC

 Hello everyone! 

I have officially been in DC for over a week. The work here is much different from the sites but good in it's own way.

-We had a district council breakfast and we talked alot about baptism as it is the first covenant we make with God to gain eternal salvation. So our challenge this week was to invite at least one person to be baptized everyday. This seemed a bit scary at first but God provides and helps us fulfill his will. That day we got a Facebook referral from a lady interested in baptism! So we called her and she said she was interested and so we set up a time to meet with her. So we met with her the next day and it was such a spirit led conversation and we put her on date to be baptized. Now the hard thing I've learned about missionary work is that you can't control your friends decisions or force them to do anything. We planned on this friend coming to a baptism Saturday and church but a few texts, calls, and knocks at the door later we found out from a member in our ward that was going to give her a ride that she couldn't come and she was unable to come to church. So lots of prayers that she can feel the Lord's guidance.

-Another miracle is the other day we were having some not so successful visits and we're about to drive out of the parking lot and Sister Esplin sees this guy walking and decides to "drive chase him" and we had a good, long conversation with him and gave him a Book of Mormon.

-Something I've learned while out here is that I wish I knew Spanish and my Duolingo isn't cutting it out. We were knocking an apartment complex and this cute old Latino lady answers and she just talked to us for like 45 minutes all in Spanish, I was clueless but she was happy. Something cool is that some of the Spanish elders are actually teaching her and put her on date for baptism that evening! Another moment when I wish I knew Spanish was when we were knocking a neighborhood with not many interested people and we were about to leave but I felt like we needed to talk to this guy trimming his bushes. We go up to him and all he speaks is Spanish. Luckily Sister Esplin knew enough to invite him to the Spanish ward and he seemed interested.

-Another way the Lord provided was that in another area a new member told the sisters there about a lady he cares for at a nursing home and that he wanted the missionaries there (us) to visit her. So we did and found out she was a member, and sisters used to visit her but at some point during transfers her information wasn't passed to the next sisters. So I'm so excited to visit her every week! She has such a strong spirit!

-Though our friends we hoped for didn't come to church this week a new person did!

-For pday we played kickball with our president and his fam and our zone. It was lots of fun!

A few fun moments:

-Stealing the elders Maryland crab magnet off their car (we gave it back) 

-Making our district leader a cake for his birthday 

Spiritual thought:

The Lord works in mighty ways! In every "disappointing" moment the Lord provides light and miracles. All we need to do is to be like Nephi when getting the plates and exercise faith.

Love you all!

-Sis Kapp

Sunday personal study

Cake part 1

Cake part 2

P-day