Snow❄️, Ice🧊, & Long Car Rides🚗

Hello everyone! This week was so good so lets get into it.

The week started with an awesome lesson with our friend that's on date for baptism and his friend.

Then, zone conference! It was good, a 1.5 hour drive but good. I got to see Sister Esplin which made my week! Plus I learned so much there.

We had exchanges this week which I loved! I got to leave the area and was with Sister Bonilla and she's over a YSA ward so it was fun talking to people my own age. They have a friend who is in the Naval Academy and we got to teach him a lesson at the academy which was so cool! 

We had a lesson at the temple visitor center with our friend who is getting baptized soon and it was so good and definitely worth the car ride. It was so special hearing his testimony and love for the gospel. I'm so excited for him to be baptized and grow closer to God!

That night we had a scripture study lesson with one of our friends and he accepted our invitation to pray about being baptized!!! He is loving the Book of Mormon which is so awesome!

Saturday night the storm hit so Sunday our cars got grounded (not allowed to drive) and church was canceled. So we did a little zoom Come Follow Me/Scripture study with some of our friends which was really good. We did some planning and basically calls all day but we saw miracles! We got 2 new people to teach while calling people who were once on date for baptism. 

Pday today we're still not allowed to drive so we're home resting and cleaning.

So yeah a great week!

Spiritual thought:

Something I love that was shared at zone conference was, 

"Come to know your Heavenly Father in sacred ways"

It's so important to remember how much our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and we can feel that love so much more when we increase our knowledge and faith in Him.

Love you all!

-Sis.Kapp

Sister Esplin!

Annapolis Zone

Naval Academy

Sister Bonilla

Visitor Center Lesson

Snow!

❄️SNOW❄️

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great! This week on the island was good so lets get into it:

The week started by doing some service for someone that used to be taught in the area. He lost a leg a little while back so even though he's not taking lessons anymore we like to help when we can so we stacked some wood for him. 

There's this old couple in our ward who has been sick since I got here but they are so sweet and so involved in missionary work. They do so much for those around them so we decided to heart attack their door one night this week and their texts after were so sweet.

A major miracle this week was meeting this guy named Timothy in the Target parking lot. We only have like 15 minutes before we needed to head to our member meal but we decided to street contact there anyway and we met Timothy. Turns out he has been through a lot lately. He just had someone he looked up to pass away and he was on his way to pay his respects to his aunt that passed away. We were able to share a little scripture with him and got his phone number. There is no such thing as coincidences.

I hit 11 months! Pretty crazy! We decided to celebrate by getting smoothie bowls which was so good! We saw a major miracle this day. So our friend who is on date for baptism can't drive and for various reasons he hasn't been to church in a few weeks but this week he could come but we could not find him ride. People were either out of town or not answering their phones. The hard thing is that he lives 30 minutes away from the church so not a lot of members live by him. But after lots of prayer and asking members for people to ask we found him a ride! He even brought a friend to church that we're going to start teaching!

Sunday was pretty good. We had 4 people come to church and it was the first time for 2 of them! And it snowed! (not much but still pretty)

This week we were blessed with lots of member meals. It's been fun having a chance to get to know the branch and create relationships with them. They are all so involved in the work which is so awesome.

Spiritual thought:

In the talk, "Love, Share, Invite"

By Elder Gary E. Stevenson he says,

"Through Christlike love for others, we preach the glorious, life-transforming properties of Christ’s gospel, and we participate significantly in the fulfilling of His great commission."

Sharing the gospel seems scary sometimes but it is also really simple. Our example of Christ's love is the biggest thing we can do. 

Love you all!

-Sis.Kapp

Hot Chocolate

11 months

Snow

🏝I'm On The Island🏝

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week! 

This week started rocky with me getting sicker. But a few urgent care trips later we found out I had strep and the flu. Luckily the medications are working and my lymph nodes are almost a normal size again (if you know you know)lol. 

Transfer day was tiring since it was my sickest day but I got the exciting news of serving in the Kent Island Branch with my 2 new companions Sister Bell and Sister Erickson. It's weird looking out my window and seeing a field and not a parking garage but it's a good change. 

Thursday I took a sick day but Friday we were back to missionary work.

Friday I got to meet our friend John F. who is preparing to be baptized on February 8th. It's really neat to see how badly he wants to be baptized and make the changes he needs to to get there. 

It was pouring ALL day Saturday. So we pulled out our umbrellas and got to work. We were able to talk to some nice people and ended the night with getting some ice cream from Sugar Doodle (best ice cream I've had in a while).

On Sunday the rain switched with wind. But the Lord's work went on and we talked to some nice people.

For pday we are having a chill day, grocery shopping, cleaning, and resting for the week.

Spiritual thought: for our mission Sunday devotional we studied 2 Nephi 7 and I gained SO many new and cool insights. I never realized that the chapter is about Christ trusting Heavenly Father not Isaiah trusting Christ. Christ's trust in his Father is shown beautifully in verses 6-9,

"6 I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

   7 For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

   8 And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth.

   9 For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up."

Trust God and do everything you can to walk in HIS light.

Love you all!

-Sis.Kapp 

Andy

New Comps

The Island

Packing My Bags

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week! This week was interesting but miracle filled.

This week we had very few lessons and they were all at the beginning of the week so we had lots and lots of finding time. Even though there were moments when it dragged we were really able to focus on finding the 1 every day.

On Tuesday we were contacting at this metro stop and met this former who is still interested in learning about the church! 

Our News Years Eve miracle was we had a former randomly text us saying that he could meet the next day. We had such a good lesson! He really wants to know the truth.

Surprisingly we didn't have to be home early on New Year's Eve so we just drank some sparkling cider and were in bed before 10:30 lol.

Another major miracle was we were trying to visit this former and Sister Anderson decides to knock the door across the hall (I've knocked this whole building before) and we met this former who we're meeting with Thursday!

Sunday we finally had someone come to church!!!! Major miracle!

Then Monday we had call outs. I am leaving White Oak. It's bitter sweet. I'm excited for my next chapter but I'm going to miss the people here. 

For pday today we are playing a real life Among Us with our zone, then we might try this brunch restaurant, then I'm packing.

I've been sick all week so I'm hoping to get better soon so I can start the new transfer off strong.

Spiritual thought: This week during comp study we studied the talk, "Jesus Christ Is the Treasure"

By Elder Dale G. Renlund

In the talk he said,

"We need Him. We are counseled to rely “wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.”"

We need to fully rely on Christ in our lives, he's right there, we just need to turn to him.

Love you all!

-Sis.Kapp

Bye Mays😢

PDay

🎇Happy New Year 🎇

Happy (almost) New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great week and Christmas!

Christmas for us was good. We did a little breakfast with our district then had brunch with some members. The rest of the day we talked with family and made some gingerbread houses. For not being home it was pretty good.

I won't lie, the work after Christmas was pretty slow. All our lessons fell through and we weren't able to find many who were interested. But this next week is the last full week of the transfer and I'm sure some awesome miracles are going to happen!

Sunday we sadly did not have any friends come to church but we got to work The Festival of Lights one last time in the evening. There we got to teach this couple a lot about the temple and our beliefs as a church. It was really nice because even though at the end they weren't interested in learning from the missionaries they said they'd be more open and accepting of "Mormons" because they understand our beliefs now.

For pday today we are going to be playing volleyball with the sisters in our zone and then Sister Anderson and I are going to the Bible Museum in DC, which I hear is pretty cool so I'm excited.

Spiritual thought: we found out that President Holland passed away Saturday morning and I wanted to share a quote I liked that was shared in a news article about him, 

“If the Savior of the world can use little old Jeff Holland from little old St. George, Utah, to accomplish His work, He can and certainly will use you. …

“As you do serve, I promise you will find your own place in the family of God. The reality of your connection to Him and to others will sink deep into your heart and into your mind. That knowledge will change you, perhaps dramatically change you, as you become ever closer to Him and ever more like Him.”

As we serve God will all our heart we will discover why and how we are meant to help in his work, we will see how we fit into His family.

Love you all!

-Sis.Kapp

Christmas Eve Festival of Lights with Sister Anderson and Lee
(We've all been comps)

Christmas District Breakfast

Gingerbread houses

🎄Merry Christmas🎄

 Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all doing well and are staying healthy!

This last week and a half has been good!

We had interviews which were really awesome! 

This week we had some really awesome lessons and met some cool people. We also got into the homes of so many inactives. So blessed! 

I loved Christmas Sunday! So much music and such good testimonies on Jesus Christ. 

We were able to make some banana bead and other treats for our members as a Christmas gift which was lots of fun.

We did a relay race with our district and we did not win but we also didn't loose. It was so funny though.

I have felt very blessed this Christmas season because of you at home who have done so much to make me feel loved, my ward for taking care of us, but mostly because of the added focus that being on a mission brings to Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Thought: I love Isaiah 9:6

"6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

I love the names of Christ and how they embody the blessing he is. Thinking about them makes this Christmas season that much more special.

Love you all! Merry Christmas

-Sis.Kapp

Christmas goodies

Making videos for our friends

Sister Lee

A Week of Miracles!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week! This week was good and a lot less crazy than last week so we're happy, haha. (this is a little longer, sorry)

On Tuesday we had zone conference! It was pretty good. I got to see Sister Lee AND Sister Hendrix (this was Hendrix and I's first zone conference together! So fun!) Something I love that we talked about was charity. Charity is so much more than serving someone it is cleaving onto Christ!

This week we were able to do so much inactive work and it was SO good! God really prepared them for us to come and prompted us to visit during a time where they needed it most. It really shows that God loves all his children and all he wants is for them to feel his love and to come back to him.

An amazing miracle this week happened on Wednesday. We were going to go do a drop visit with one of our friends because he hadn't been responding to any of our texts and calls. We knock on his door and he answers! Miracle #1 Then we found out the his phone was sending our calls and texts to spam (because he didn't have our number saved) and he's still interested! Miracle #2 Turns out he's been reading The Book of Mormon and is really liking it and we set up a lesson! Miracle #3! God is good!!!

We had our ward Christmas party on Friday and it was lots of fun! Good food, great people, music, games, and Santa!

On Saturday we were able to do some service. We volunteered at this place where we helped those in need Christmas shop for their kids, choosing from some donated toys. It was fun trying to help them pick the perfect gifts for their kids.

Saturday we also had a church tour with our friends and went to do a drop visit with one of our other friends and barely caught him. He's super cool but sadly works every Sunday. He is coming to our FHE tonight which is super awesome! 

Funny random thing that happened is while on visits we found a dresser with a free sign on it. You see, our new apartment's dresser is smaller than our last one so we did indeed take it and it fits perfectly in our apartment lol.

Sunday we got like an inch of snow and church almost got canceled! Church did not get canceled but the snow did keep our friends from coming. But church was awesome! 

Sunday was freezing though! With the wind it felt like it was 2 degrees outside. Luckily our members gave us some hot chocolate for the road. 

Sunday night we had a good mission devotional where we looked at Luke 1 and learned a lot more about Mary and Joseph. You should all go read that chapter and see what you learn.

For pday today we are doing a scavenger hunt at the mall with our district which should be lots of fun!

Spiritual thought: 

Our mission has been focusing on "Walking in the Dust of the Rabbi" and to help me do this I have been working on having more sincere, specific prayers, and exercising faith to see them answered. This has been an awesome experience. Our days have been much more spirit led and my prayers have been answered. Something I've prayed for almost every time we go to street contact, knock doors, or visit someone is praying that the people we come in contact with are kind, soft hearted people, and it has worked! I have a hard time bouncing back when someone is mean to me and God has been aware of that and has answered my prayers because I have talked to so many kind people this week and it has helped me walk with God so much more!

Love you all! Have a great week!

*My next pday is Christmas Eve*

-Sis.Kapp

Zone Conference

Scrabble with Pauline

Dresser Adventures