Carlsbad YSA Week 12 - Transfers and Gratitude

This last week was super busy! It felt like we barely had time to do our regular "knock doors and contact" work. Halloween was a blast! We weren't allowed to be out after 6PM so we had a Halloween party at the church building. It was a lot of fun! We ate some snacks, watched a movie, and played a fun game of baseball inside the gym with plastic bats and balls. (The teams were the "She Bears" and the "Lamanites" in honor of the World Series) 

Wednesday we taught Delshawn. He is getting baptized this Saturday!!! He has opened up a ton and we are excited for him! He is ready! 

Thursday I went to MLC at the mission office and Elder Hadfield spent the day with other missionaries. The head and assistant of proselyting for the missionary department were there and ran most of it. WOW! It was a very eye opening experience. I learned a lot and was shocked how much I could improve on! 

Friday we had district meeting, weekly planning, a lesson with Delshawn, building cleanup, and a lesson with Nathaniel. All were good!

Saturday was a blast. Our ward was assigned to help put up the Christmas lights at the San Diego Temple. We had some non-members going, so we got permission to go help. It was super cool! We left really early in the morning and worked until about 11:00. It's crazy how much work they put into the lights there! Right when we got back we had lunch and cleaned up. Before we finished lunch the zone leaders called and said a member was moving in next door and asked if we could help. So we put back on our service clothes and helped her move in. We got back into our proselyting clothes and went to correlation. It was a really busy day.

Saturday night we got transfer calls. We are staying together for one more! I am really happy about that. I love the ward. I love the missionaries here. I love Elder Hadfield. So I am pretty grateful. The only bummer is my district is getting switched. They are adding another Spanish area in our zone so the Spanish missionaries will be their own district and I will have the Zone Leaders and the STLs that we ward share with. That'll be cool.

I have learned the last transfer the importance of being happy during affliction. Elder Hadfield gave a great dinner message this last week about this and it really added to what I've been working on. We are here to learn and grow. We learn and grow when we have trials and afflictions. However, the Book of Mormon says... "Men are that they might have joy." So obviously Heavenly Father expects us to be happy when life is hard. Murmuring and complaining is exactly what we do to show Heavenly Father how ungrateful we are to have opportunities to learn and grow. I am very guilty of this, but I am working on it. Everything we go through is a learning experience. When you die all you get is your knowledge and experience. Without pain we know no joy. We need the hard times and the bad days. Stop praying for God to take away your trials because He never will! Instead, what I've learned, is pray to have strength to do HIS will. I promise that will bring you joy. If you can't be happy during trials you will never be satisfied when you don't. Money, popularity, prestige, and power will never bring joy. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can truly do that. 

So my challenge is to start showing gratitude every day. It is November and it's a great time to show thanks for all we are given. Every day pray and show gratitude to your Heavenly Father for something each day. Try to make it unique. I promise you will see yourself a happier person.

I love you all!

Elder Erik Kapp

                                       Lunch with Princess, a member of our ward.

                                                             The District

                           We stopped and took this pictures on the way to Edson Range
                     (because our clock didn't reset and we showed up at 6AM instead of 7AM)

Carlsbad YSA Week 11 - Temple Trip

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This last week was really stressful, but went by crazy fast! So I got sick last week and I lost my voice. I could barely talk! (which makes my job a little hard) This last week I had to plan and conduct district meeting, went on exchanges to the Spanish ward, went to the temple, and had exchanges with the zone leaders. It was pretty crazy, but I really loved it!

Our investigators are doing alright. They have all been really hard to meet with and haven't made any big progress. We are still working with them and trying to figure it all out. Delshawn came to church on Sunday and we are going to have another lesson with him on Wednesday. We have him on date to get baptized on November 12, but I feel like we are probably going to push that back. We are only meeting with him once a week, so we are going to try to meet with him more.

Nathaniel is such an awesome kid, but he drives me crazy! I know he feels the Spirit and knows it's all true. I've even told him that! But he doesn't let himself progress! He has come such a long way since we met him, but I know if he really took it to heart and made it his first priority he would receive an answer and a ton of help and peace in his life. 

On Saturday I was with Elder Gull and their mini missionary, Elder Olsen, in O3. When we met up to exchange back, I felt like Elder Horton should come to our lesson with Nathaniel. We were maybe going to drop him and I just felt like it'd be good for him to come. Andrew Snell, our ward mission leader, came as well and played a great role in the lesson. Elder Horton shared a personal experience with Nathaniel that I think really made a difference. At the end, Andrew challenged Nathaniel to pray right then to ask if God was really there and if He loved him. The first 2 prayers weren't very sincere and Andrew helped Nathaniel pray. The 3rd time we felt the spirit crazy strong. I know he felt it too. It was a super powerful experience.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Kapp 

                                             Elder Hadfield and I with Elder Horton

                                                         The Pier 

Carlsbad YSA Week 10 - Slow week... :(

Hey everyone! I have to keep this one short! This last week was a little slow, but it was good! Not a whole lot happened. We taught Delshawn and Nathaniel. They are both doing alright. They haven't really progressed over the last week. We went to pick Delshawn up for church, but he didn't come.

We had a meeting with some of the San Diego missionaries on Friday. We met them in Del Mar for an MCRD meeting. That was a lot of fun. It was cool for Elder Hadfield and I to go back to the area we served in before. 

We had zone conference on Wednesday. That was cool to see a lot of the missionaries I haven't seen for a long time. I really felt the spirit strong and received answers to my prayers. We learned a lot about how to have more fun with finding. That was interesting but helpful.

I got sick on Saturday. I woke up and I couldn't talk!! My voice is just gone for the most part. It doesn't hurt, but it's super frustrating because I need my voice in order to teach!

Edson has been a bit slower. Recruit Kerr is doing well! I taught him the plan of salvation on Sunday. He is doing good, except he won't pray when we meet. I know he prays a lot on his own. It's super strange and I am trying to figure that out. 

Alex Douge, a kid I knew at home from Syracuse showed up to Edson on Sunday. I guess he decided to become a marine. It's really cool seeing people you know from home.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Kapp

Carlsbad YSA Week 9 - Get'n em on date!

This week was really good! Elder Hadfield and I are having lots of fun! We are having a hard time finding things to do, but we are finding and teaching. Elder Hadfield and I get along really well and he is good to work with. 

Last Monday we picked up a new investigator, Zack, that we met at FHE. The Sisters are teaching his sister and we taught him the restoration and set a baptism date for November 5th. He is a really cool guy. We taught him the Plan of Salvation on Saturday. That went really well. He is absorbing everything.

Friday we taught Delshawn. Last transfer we taught him he didn't want to get baptized. Elder Hadfield and I talked a lot about what he needed and we decided to teach about the atonement. It was great! He understood and felt the spirit. He committed to be baptized November 12! He also came to church Sunday.

I went on exchanges with the Spanish elders from Wednesday to Thursday. That was really good. I went to the Spanish ward with Elder Wockenfuss. He is such a nice and fun guy. I really admire him. 

We also had interviews with President this last week. 

A cool miracle... We were walking down the street and an LDS family from Arizona saw us and they took us to lunch. It was super cool! It has been Fall break in Arizona and Utah and we know it because of all the members that have stopped us and said hi.

Things have been slowing down at Edson. The groups are smaller and we don't have as many people to teach. 

Earlier today we went to LegoLand for our district activity. It was a lot of fun. 

I love you all! Have a fun week!

Elder Kapp

                                                       Selfie with a raccoon

                                                                     Dinner with Kai 

                                                          LEGO LAND with the District! 

Carlsbad YSA Week 8 - Blessings poured down on Kapp and Hadfield

Hey everyone!

This last week has been a great one! It's been full of miracles and success.

The first miracle was Delshawn. We taught him my first week and a half being here. I didn't know the area at that point and I didn't even know where Delshawn lived. We felt like we should go stop by him and see how he is doing. We went to his apartment complex and started praying. We started around the complex and came to a door that looked right. We knocked and Delshawn came to the door. We set up a lesson with him and taught him. He has opened up a lot. He is doing well. He is going to Snow College in January, so we helped him send some of his stuff in. We are excited to teach him again on Wednesday.

On Thursday we had to do weekly planning because I had MLC on Friday. We cleaned up the apartment and had institute that night. After institute we had a lesson with Nathaniel. We had Andrew sit in on the lesson. They really clicked! We taught the plan of salvation and it went great. It was one of the first times Elder Hadfield and I had taught together and we were able to teach pretty unified. He did a really good job explaining the atonement and when we taught about the celestial kingdom we asked him if that's what he wanted. Then we committed him to be baptized!!! We haven't set a date yet, but we are excited.

Friday I had MLC. That was really long. It was good though! I enjoyed it and got to see a lot of missionaries I have missed. 

Saturday we went to a funeral for a member in our ward. That wasn't fun. Her mom asked us to go. That night we had dinner with our Ward mission leader, Andrew, and Franky Hunt, my investigator from TOV. He is doing well. That was really cool to talk to him. I asked him why he hasn't gotten baptized yet and he said he doesn't really have a reason. So then I told him to do it this month. During that conversation he asked me to baptize him. That was cool. I love that kid. He has become such a good friend. 

Sunday was the greatest miracle of the week. I was really banking on Recruit Filener to get baptized. When I met with him he wouldn't do it. He is ready and everything. He didn't get baptized. While he was getting interviewed by another elder, I met with Recruit Oviat. We started talking about how he hasn't been getting an answer if he should be baptized. That led to us talking about how he already knows and he isn't waiting for anything else. He told me he didn't want to get baptized down in San Diego for the last stage of boot camp. I told him we were having a baptism today. He got baptized 5 minutes later. It was awesome. I got to confirm him and it was sweet! I am super excited for him!

I love this gospel so much. I am so lucky to be a missionary. I love E. Hadfield. Have a good week! Love you!

Elder Kapp

Carlsbad YSA Week 7 - General Conference Week

Hey everyone!

This last week was awesome, but very slow... You have to have the slow weeks, but MAN I HATE THEM! 

This week I got my new companion, Elder Hadfield. We are getting along great! He is a cool guy. I am hoping to see a lot of success with him. 

We had a couple lessons with Nathaniel this last week. He is doing well. He came to one of the sessions of conference with us. He is slowly progressing. We just need to get him to read and pray every day. I feel like he knows the church is true. He just needs to want it.

General Conference was great though! We got to watch it at the Stake Center! Except for the last session. We went to a members house with Nathaniel to watch it with the YSA. That was super cool! I loved how much they talked about missionary work. Being on a mission I have realized what a blessing it is to share the gospel. My testimony has grown SO MUCH from sharing it with others. Even when we are rejected, it still grows. 

I also loved how much it talked about prayer. Our relationship with Heavenly Father is something we too often take for granted. Being on a mission I have sometimes forgotten the importance of building that relationship and turning to God in all things. Our relationship with God is like any other relationship. If you put in a minimal effort, not giving time or sincerity, the relationship weakens. We forget the feelings we had and focus on the negative. Over time, we start being repetitive and insincere, yet still expect Heavenly Father to give a greater effort. But the thing is God is not variable. He doesn't try harder to bless and help one person and less with another. He is constantly trying to bless and help us. We need to open that communication and listen with our hearts for His love and guidance. You can't say, "I don't have time" or "I'm so busy". But, let's be honest when in life will you not be busy? It isn't a matter of time in the day, but of priorities. When we set a priority of putting the Gospel first in our life, we experience the abundant blessings Heavenly Father has to offer. 

I know the gospel is true. I know President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that he leads and guides Christ's church on the earth today. How blessed we are to have a living prophet that gives counsel for us in our day!

I love you all!

Elder Erik Kapp

                                                                   Sea Lion

                                                         Saying goodbye to Conrad! 

Carlsbad YSA Week 6 - Transfers

Hey everyone!

So transfers are this week. Elder Richards is being transferred out and I will be getting Elder Hadfield! I am super excited for that! He's a good kid and I feel like we will work really well together. I also was made the district leader of my district so that will be a new adventure.

So this last week in a nutshell...

Monday we did go cart racing. Like, real fast go carts! It was a ton of fun! I now understand how some might consider NASCAR a sport because I was sore after!

Tuesday I went on exchanges with our zone leaders to Oceanside 3 with Elder Horton. It was a ton of fun! It rained all day that day and we were biking around. We went pretty hard! It was a blast.

Wednesday was another crazy day. I went on exchanges with the AP's. I went with Elder Ruhl. We went to a district meeting in Del Mar, went to Buffalo Wild Wings, and taught Steven. It was awesome! Then we had dinner at the McClellans, one of the senior couples. That was us, the AP's, and 2 senior missionaries. It was so much fun!

Thursday we had our district meeting. And we taught Steven and said goodbye to him and taught Nathaniel that night. Nathaniel is really progressing. Slowly, but surely. That night I got the call that I would be the District Leader.

Friday I went to a leadership meeting at the mission office and weekly planned.

Saturday we got the transfer calls.

Sunday I taught on Edson. We changed/set both of the guys I'm teaching to be baptized on October 9th! Recruit Oviat still is nervous to make the commitment, but I feel like Filener will be ready to go!

This morning we played some tennis, got hair cuts, and visited some of E. Richards old members! 

I just want all of you to know that I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves and cares about each of us. I also know He answers our prayers. I really have been praying hard for help this last transfer and even though it was probably one of my hardest transfers I still feel happy and like I am the best Elder Kapp I have been thus far on my mission. I love this gospel. The more you put in the more you will get out. So if you feel like you're not getting enough out of the church, I encourage you to raise the bar. Read more. Pray deeper and longer. Study harder. I know Heavenly Father will always be there.

I love you!

Elder Kapp