New Investigators - Lydia @ the Baptism

This last week was a blessed week! We were able to have a ton of fun and see lots of miracles. The missionaries we have in the zone are some of the best in the mission. They are seeing lots of miracles and finding tons of new people to teach. They are working super hard. It's great for us because they are contacting and sending us lots of referrals :) That's always a good thing.

So one of the miracles we saw from this last week was Lydia. She was raised going to church, but was never baptized. Their family stopped going when she was young, but one of our members invited her about a month ago and she has come to church every week. She goes to the activities and expressed her desire to be baptized. We invited her to come to a baptism service with us on Saturday. It was such a good service! After we set up a lesson with her for tomorrow! We are super excited!!

We also got a referral from some elders in Murrieta. They said this girl came up to them at a gas station and said she had Mormon friends and she thought she would like being Mormon, too. Sure enough she lives in our area. We gave her a call and we are going to set up an appointment with her for this week! Not too bad!

I'm excited for conference. I was thinking about scriptures the other day. There are parts in the Book of Mormon where the prophets say they didn't know exactly why they were writing what they were, but they felt like they should (for our day). But honestly, we have a prophet that speaks to us every 6 months and tells us EXACTLY what Heavenly Father needs us to know for RIGHT NOW! We should take every talk seriously! Each talk is scripture for our day. I am super excited!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Kapp

Transfers and Milkshakes with Butterfield Stage

This week was crazy! Transfers were nuts! Every area in our zone had at least one missionary transfer except for one. We had 3 companionships white wash in with greenies, so we had to help them with getting everything figured out. We did a lot of running around and introducing members to Elder Gull. Elder Gull and I are having lots of fun! He's a great guy! 

We had lots of crazy stuff happen. One of our less actives gave us a call and had a bit of a break down. We stopped by his place and he had groceries and stuff all over his yard, but he wasn't home. We haven't heard from him since. I guess that was the welcome Elder Gull got to Temecula.

We weren't able to pick up any new investigators this last week, but the missionaries we have in our zone are incredible! They stacked out zone! Temecula has been on a bit of a struggle for a while, but things are picking up a ton! At zone greet, Elder Gull and I made the theme for the transfer, "Make Temecula Great Again!" We are already seeing miracles left and right!

On Wednesday we were at the ward talent show. For the closing act the Elders quorum was doing a game show type thing where people volunteered to go up to win a plate of cookies. What they were doing is having them draw 3 random ingredients from a hat (it was super nasty stuff! Veggies, cheetos, gravy, hot sauce, chocolate, mustard, etc...), then they made a milkshake out of it and if they drank it they got a plate of cookies. So they were finishing up and Thomas and McKenzie, two YSA aged members in the ward, started chanting "Missionaries! Missionaries!" and everyone joined in. Then Brother Downs stood up and called us out. So we go on the stage and they didn't have us draw out of the bag, which we thought was weird. After a few minutes they bring out these shakes and it smelled NASTY! They had Elder Gull and I race and I started drinking. It turns out they put EVERYTHING in it. I almost threw up after I swallowed it. It was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted. SO BAD! The guy that made them didn't expect us to drink it because it was so bad, let alone drink all of it. But we did it and got our cookies. Best of all members made a video of it and sent it to our parents. 

No pictures this week!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Kapp

Chris Goris and Transfers

Hey everyone!

So transfers are this week!! I am staying here and Elder Gantner is going to Del Mar! Elder Gull will be my next companion. I am super excited for that! He is one of my good friends in the mission and we have a lot of good missionaries coming to the zone.

We got some bad news last Wednesday. We were teaching an older man named Chris Goris in the family ward. He was excommunicated over 40 years ago and recently started coming back to church and expressed to us how he wanted to get baptized again. We taught him the lessons and he was very scared to talk to the bishop. He had a lot of guilt and didn't feel worthy to do so. We encouraged him and after like 3 weeks he finally met with the bishop. Unfortunately that week Chris had a bad fall. We didn't hear back from him and his wife (who is not a member) told us he wasn't doing well. 2 weeks ago we stopped by and dropped off a talk for him. The talk was "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. His wife said she would read it to him. This last week she called us informing us that Chris had passed away. He died 2 days after she read the talk to him. She expressed how much he appreciated the talk and how much he loved us stopping by and coming to church. We were sad that he was not able to get baptized in this life, but we both felt a feeling of peace knowing that he had all he needed to pass on to the next life. I know he's learning now.

We also had a couple really great stop bys where we shared messages and the families expressed that it was answers to prayers. One of the lessons was with 2 recent converts, Gia and Renn. They are going through a lot right now and were kicked out of their living situation. We shared a message of hope and Renn, the daughter, texted us that day and said she prayed the night before for help and it was answered in the lesson.

I am so grateful for the spirit. We can't take any credit for the miracles we see because it is through that Holy Spirit that miracles have been brought to pass. I know that as we strive to be obedient to the promptings and live worthy of the companionship we can see miracles in our everyday lives. Heavenly Father promises us the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost after we are baptized and keep our covenants.

I love you! Have a great week!

Elder Kapp

                                                        Lunch at the Thompsons

                                                                    Selfie from MLC

French Lesson with African Refugees

Hey everyone! This last week was such a fun time! We had a lot to do! We haven't been teaching any investigators this last week, but we are helping grow and strengthen the ward and branch. We have had a good time too! 

We went on 2 exchanges this last week. I went with Elder Marchand on Tuesday and went with Elder Sharp on Saturday. Both were really great and we were able to stop by and teach some people!

We had a super cool experience on Saturday! We went to teach an active member the lessons and her non member friend was there and we taught her the Plan of Salvation! It was cool! I don't think we will teach her again, but she for sure got a lot of questions answered.

The best part of the week was Saturday night. We got to go down to Carlsbad to teach a French lesson. No, I don't speak French, but I get to go with my companion to teach. We taught two refugees from Africa, Leticia and Rita. The crazy thing is the family that found them and is being the fellowshippers lived in Switzerland a while ago and knew Elder Gantner and his family! The lesson part was incredible. It was amazing that I didn't know the words being said, but I could understand what was going on because the spirit was so incredibly strong. Leticia is so prepared. Rita wasn't really feeling it. I can't even describe the feelings I felt as the First Vision was shared. Leticia started crying. At the end it wasn't even a question. I could tell without knowing what was said that Leticia had just been invited to baptism and accepted. I don't think that's the interpretation of tongues, but the Spirit knew how to speak to me so I knew what was said. It was a special moment.

I love you! Have a great week!

Elder Erik Kapp

                                                                           Pictures from MLC

                        We did visits with Brother Ford and this is the car we took :)

                                                          Leticia, Rita, and the Price Family