"When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph"

Hello from the warm lands of California. (It's in the 60's here!)

This last week was very different.

Monday was my last P-Day with Elder Phillips. We had fun and were able to do things with our zone and the Escondido zone.

Tuesday I said goodbye to Elder Phillips and hello to my new companion, Elder Wilde. The transition is hard, but it gets better after a certain point. Elder Wilde is a younger missionary. He has been out 3 transfers now. He was serving in La Costa, Del Mar. So this is very different to him. He never encountered homeless people, drunk people, or people yelling at him. On the second day we were walking towards our apartment and a car drove by and swore at us. I asked him, "You get that much in Del Mar?" He said, "No, that is probably one of the first times I've ever been cussed at." I said, "Elder Wilde, you're not in Kansas anymore."

Wednesday we went to the Zone Welcome. There were only 4 new missionaries in our zone. Altogether it was really good. I was in charge of the "get to know you" game. I made it really entertaining. We then split off into our districts. We made a decision as a district that we were going to be the hardest working district in the mission. (Not that it could be measured or anything. We're just going to work hard)

Thursday we went to the New Missionary Meeting because Elder Wilde is a new Trainer. All the missionaries were brand new except Elder Gull. We sat by each other and 'enjoyed' the meeting for the second time.

Friday we got to work. We have been visiting less actives, potentials, and formers like crazy. We fill our planner up and we don't have enough time to finish half of it. We met with 3 less actives and made plans to come back, taught 1 former investigator, Ron, and had a miracle...

 

My first week in the mission this random kid showed up to sacrament. He was wearing a hoodie and shorts. His name was Kevin and he shared how he went to Utah the week before and was amazed by all the beautiful Utah Mormon girls... He is 22, lives at home, and has a 3 year old baby, but he isn't married and isn't with the mother anymore.  But we never saw him again. This last week we were meeting with the Skousans. They are awesome. Bro Skousan told us that a member of the ward drove Kevin home and he told us what road he lived on. On Friday we decided we were going to try to find Kevin. We went on his road and I just prayed. We knocked on a door and an older Hispanic lady opened the door. We asked for Kevin and she looked at us funny. We told her we were missionaries then turned around and said, "KEVIN!" Kevin came to the door! We talked with him for 45 minutes and he said he would come to church on Sunday with his little brother.

Saturday met few less actives.

Sunday, we had meetings and were waiting for Kevin before sacrament. Sacrament started and he didn't show up. The first speaker was about half way done when we saw him sitting in the hallway on a couch wearing a t-shirt and shorts. He said he went running and forgot, but then didn't want to be rude so he came. He ended up staying all 3 hours! We plan on teaching him this week.

Moral of the story... Heavenly Father wants us to show faith. We had worked hard for 6 weeks with little results. If we had given up, we wouldn't have found Kevin. We are finding a lot of success and it is all due to our previous and constant hard work. I am excited to see where it goes with Kevin and all of our other potential investigators. All the hard work has made the success that much more amazing. My dad shared the quote, "When there is no peril in the fight, there is no glory in the triumph." I have seen that truth this last week.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Erik Kapp