Easter Week

Hey everyone! Happy Easter! (yesterday....)

It seems like my weeks go up and down. This week was a for sure an up.

On Tuesday we got to teach David. We are beginning to see a definite change in him. He feels the presence of the Holy Ghost in his life and has been able to withstand temptations to drink. We also met, Daniella, a potential investigator we met on the streets.

Wednesday we went to teach Daniella. Guess she forgot... But we rescheduled!!!

Thursday we had district meeting. I gave a discussion on, "The blessings pertaining to keeping the Lord's commandments and being obedient". I think it was a success. We also taught David. We taught the plan of salvation and didn't get to finish. He asked a lot of questions, but we didn't have time because we were about to go teach Frankie. Frankie's lesson was AWESOME!!! He's great. He got hurt surfing and had to get 4 staples in the back of his head the day before, but said he didn't want to cancel our lesson. At the end of the lesson we asked him if he would be baptized. He said he would, but we didn't set a date. 

Friday was fun :)

We went to teach Daniella again. She needs a calendar or something because she wasn't there. Again. ("Daniella? Don't you know you're gonna get baptized?!") 

We then had a service project with a nonmember. She had a traumatizing experience with her husband who is now in jail and we cleaned up her yard. She said she wasn't going to come to church this week, but we will stop by again soon. I caught a lizard during the service project. Pictures will follow. After that we gave the Sisters' investigator, Bonnie, a blessing because her back was hurting. She is on date to be baptized April 17, but still isn't positive about Joseph Smith. It was great to share our testimonies with her and try to help.

Saturday was crazy. We had lunch with the Wongs. Wow. Brother Wong is a good cook. He is from Tahiti and him and his wife have been less active for over 10 years, but he has some crazy spiritual stories!! After that we went to the Cid's 7 year old daughters b-day party. We only stopped by, but it was funny. They are both from the Philippines. 

Easter Sunday was great! We didn't have ward council and we didn't have to run, so we got to sleep in!!! (to 7:00) Frankie came to church! But David has gone MIA. Brother Birch said he wasn't there when they were going to meet on Saturday and he didn't come to church. Hopefully he didn't relapse... Michael Weaver gave his farewell talk! When I got here, he wasn't sure if he would even go on a mission. He began going on splits with us and leaves to South Carolina on April 12. 

The work is great. Elder Wilde and I are having lots of fun! Transfers are coming around the corner and the polls have spoken... The other missionaries think I'm leaving, EXCEPT ME. I want to stay here 14 more transfers :) Just kidding. I love it here, but change will be cool. I love it here. The people are amazing. I can't wait for general conference. 

Al Stroes, one of my favorite members, is going to General Conference in Salt Lake with a couple other people from here and will be going to Priesthood Session with Dad, Jake, and Caden. THAT WILL BE COOL!

I love you all. Thank you for all the love and support. I loved the Easter packages and, as you will see in the following pictures, so does Elder Wilde :)

Love, Elder Kapp

P.S. We began gardening and growing little plants Sister Whiteley-Ross gave to us. (Members from England are hilarious and my favorite.)

                                                    Someone stole my bike seat:(

                              This is Al who is coming to Utah for conference.

Pre Easter Email

Hey everyone! This last week was another good one for the books, but it was very up and down.

First, we can start with the bad stuff that happened and end happy. So Joanita dropped us... We went by her house and asked when we could teach her again and, well.... Sounds like someone told her something she didn't like, because she said she heard some stuff about the church history and she wasn't interested anymore. (Dang it...) 

A less active we've been working with fell off the wagon and relapsed this week and lost contact with us. That was sad. 

We found out Elder Glover, our beloved Zone Leader, is getting transferred immediately... He's made it to the pro's. He was assigned to be an assistant to the president. We're happy for him, but I'm really going to miss him. 

GOOD NEWS! 

We officially picked up David as an investigator! He's a great chap and we are teaching him tomorrow. He's come to church 4 times now.

We taught Franky again! That was great! I am really sure that he is going to get baptized! We haven't set a date with him yet because he doesn't really know anything about baptism, so we should probably teach him about it first... We are teaching him this Thursday and he is coming to church on Sunday! 

Brother Birch was released as a ward missionary and called to be High Priest Group leader. That's awesome. Guess who I am sitting by at ward council? 

I guess the only other thing is the lizard fight. There are little lizards that are everywhere. They are crawling back and forth on the sidewalk, but there were a couple pretty big ones fighting and we tried to save the loser, but then he ran away. I just got really sad because that was probably the most exciting thing that happened... 

Well I love you all! Have a good Easter. Check out the Easter video on Mormon.org. It's real good! 

Elder Kapp

Fun week... Kind of :)

Hey home!

This last week was a really long week! Holy cow. It seems like it was full of small events, but not a ton happened. First off, we didn't get to teach any of our investigators.... AHHH!!!! It's frustrating, but what do you do? We picked up a new investigator, though. David is in his 40's, a recovering alcoholic, and is living on the streets right now. Usually we don't teach homeless people, but he's a solid guy and is actually very smart. We are teaching him tonight.

We didn't teach him, but Franky texted us this morning and asked when we could do the next lesson. YESSS!!!! He's so cool. We are excited. Alex and Joanita have been really bad at contacting us... Hopefully it is temporary. 

On Wednesday I needed to talk to a doctor and the closest mission doctor was in Temecula... We also had exchanges on Wednesday, so Elder Haskell and I got to go on a road trip to Temec! It was a blast! Then we finished the exchange.

Thursday we had a Zone Review. Basically, President Kendrick came to every zone and initiated a "Jubilee" where the entire mission is their best selves, obedient, and prays for miracles. We have already seen success from it. It's been great!

Saturday we had 2 service projects that we didn't plan ahead of time.... We painted benches for an Eagle Scout project and we busted tables at an old folks party. That was alright.

On Sunday we had a part member family just randomly show up and a less active who hasn't been for over a year show up. It really was a miracle. David came to church too! We have family home evening tonight at a ward missionaries house and our lesson with David. It should be great. 

This last week I learned a lot about the atonement. I learned that in order to feel the spirit and be forgiven, we must forgive. We need to forgive EVERYONE. As soon as we do we can better feel the love of our Heavenly Father in our lives. It's just good to do.

Sorry more fun things didn't happen... Love you all! Have a good week! 

Elder Kapp 

I don't know how to title this week, but it was a good one!

Hey everyone!

Let me start with talking about the interesting and fun things we did this last week. 

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY! The San Diego Temple is the most beautiful building I have ever been in. WOW! It was an amazing experience. 

We went to Clyde Miller's 100th birthday party on Saturday! He is this member in our ward and he is just amazing. He still, today, makes cutting boards and stools for his friends. He is cool.

Later Saturday night, we 'responded to a prompting'.  In other words, we dodged a sketchy situation. We were walking down Knob Hill, a road right by our apartment. There is an elementary right there and we were getting a little bit closer to it when I noticed some cars and heard some shouting. I had a feeling and said, "Cross the road, now." We crossed so that we were on the other side of the road of the school. We walked a bit further and heard more yelling. I then said, "Elder Wilde, turn around! We need to get out of here." So we did and went down another road. Elder Wilde said he got a feeling right when I said that. Heavenly Father protects His missionaries. Moral of the story, ALWAYS obey promptings. If you are keeping the commandments and being good, you don't need to worry if it is your own thought of the spirit. It's the spirit and don't test it.

Most of my emails up to this point of my mission have been saying how, "We aren't finding things to do, but we are working hard." We have had no real investigators. We've had no progressing. No solid referrals. 

Let me just say, fasting and praying works. This last week has been full of miracles.

We didn't get to teach Janita and Alex because Janita has been really sick, BUT Alex came to church on Sunday and we are teaching them Tuesday and maybe Thursday.

Ron is in his 70's. He's a former investigator, but we have taught him a few times by just showing up to his house. He came to church on Sunday! We are inviting him to FHE at the Lawson's tonight.

Benny, the less active we've been working with, got a job, is working a ton, and came to church on Sunday!

On Friday, we were being dropped off at the church after dinner with the Johnsons. As we pulled in, Brother McMaster came out and started talking to Brother Johnson. Then he looked at us and said, "Elders. I got a bone to pick with you guys." We were like, oh crap.... He says...

"Our daughter, Jaycee, has this friend named Frankie. He has come to church a few times. He wasn't raised in any church, but I've talked to him a bit. We have a lesson set up with him at 7:00 on Sunday. Will you be able to come?"

........... Just like that....... So, we taught Frankie last night. He is 18 and lives outside our ward, but we got our President's permission because he would best be taught here. The lesson went so great! He was involved, asked lots of questions, and understood everything and accepted commitments. After the lesson he asked, "When can we meet again? I can do Thursdays and Sundays, if that works for you..."

So, we now have 3 investigators. We are SOOO grateful. And I have been a lot happier. We are finally finding the success we have been waiting for!! This should be a great week.

One thing I was reminded of this last week is our Heavenly Father is always aware of us. He loves us. We are His sons and daughters. Sometimes we feel alone and discouraged. Sometimes it seems like that connection between us and our Father is broken. No matter what you are going through or what you do, He is there! He is never ashamed of us. He wants to help us and is waiting to bless us. When life gets too hard to stand, kneel. He will be there to lift you up. 

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for this gospel. Be good. Talk to you next week!

Elder Kapp

                             A family from Minnesota visiting Southern California for
                                Spring Break took these pictures and sent them to us.

                                                           San Diego Temple

                                              Us standing in front of the temple.

                                          Threw a pass along card in the ceiling... Whoops.

Eighteen Then One

Hello everyone,

Life goes on in Twin Oaks Valley. And we have seen blessings.

So the title... "Eighteen then one". As you might know, we haven't been teaching a ton of lessons. We find several potentials every week, but they fall through. In fact, Elder Wilde counted and we had 18 lessons with potential investigators fall through IN A ROW. In 3 weeks, we had 18 lessons fall through with potentials and NO lessons. Zero. 

Because of this, I didn't have a lot of faith going into this transfer. To be honest, I was pretty disappointed I wasn't transferred. I love the ward, but the lack of success has really worn me out.

But Heavenly Father kept me here for a reason. So on Tuesday, we headed to a potential lesson with Alex and his girlfriend. On the way, our fellowshipper said he couldn't come and I scrambled to find someone else to come to this lesson with us. I lowered my head to say a prayer and before I even began to pray the name of Brother Birch popped into my head. I thought, "Wow. That was fast." We called him up and he picked us up.

We knocked on the door and Alex invited us in. We met his girlfriend, Janita. They are both from Uganda and are looking for the right church for them.

Let me back up real quick and explain how we met Alex. We found some former investigators in our area book and went to knock on the door. Alex came to the door and confirmed he wasn't who we were looking for. I began to explain who we were and asked if we could come share a message with him. He said we could come back Friday, but a voice from behind him said, "No, I won't be there! Do Thursday!" That appointment cancelled, rescheduled for Sunday, cancelled, and rescheduled for Tuesday. 

I want all of you to know that Heavenly Father is aware of you. He wants to bless you. Also, He answers your prayers. He always does. We just need to be patient for His answer.

As we began to teach Alex and Janita, we found out ALEX IS A MEMBER! He has been inactive for a long time and Janita didn't even know. We taught Janita the restoration. The Spirit was so sweet. We gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she would read it. I then asked her to hand it to me so I could bookmark a page and, to my surprise, she had already folded down the page for first Nephi. She said she would read and pray to know if it is true. We are teaching them again tomorrow.

Now ask yourself. Is it by chance that a man who has been an inactive member for over 7 years and his nonmember girlfriend have 2 young missionaries knock on their apartment door looking for someone who had once investigated the church in the same apartment? Heavenly Father knew. He is constantly setting appointments for us. We just need to be willing and ready to teach.

I am so humbled by the lesson I have been able to learn this week. Every 'no' we receive is one step closer to the 'yes' we are waiting for. Sometimes they come faster than 18. Sometimes longer. I know that as we keep working, exercising faith, keep the commandments, and be the best missionaries we can be, we will find those Heavenly Father is preparing AND begin to prepare those who will be taught and ready for those that will follow us.

Other than that lesson, it was a very slow week. Elder Wilde and I are the only companionship in the zone that was together last transfer. Everyone else is with a new companion. I guess we have an advantage there. We are excited for this next transfer and can't wait to see great things happen.

I love you all and I know that as we have faith in Jesus Christ and use His atonement in our lives, we will find joy. This gospel is the most important thing we could ever have. Without it we have nothing. Yes, there are jobs, schooling, work at home, family, and all other things that occupy our schedules. Don't ever let your schedule be too busy for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I mean, Jesus made time to suffer for you. 

Love you and I hope to have more to talk about next week! Have a great week!

Elder Kapp

 A lady in Erik's stake sent these pictures: "Just happened into the Family History Library while your sons and daughters were writing - greatest missionaries! Escondido loves them!"

"There's a turtle in the road..." - TRANSFERS

ELDER KAPP.......... IS GOING...... TO.................

be staying in Twin Oaks Valley for 6 more weeks with Elder Wilde. 

However, Elder Richards, our zone leader, is getting transferred to Oceanside. Elder Richards has been like an older brother to me and he is my favorite Canadian. Best of luck to him.

This last week was really slow. However, a few fun things happened.

On Friday we fasted. We haven't picked up any new investigators and the work has been crazy slow. So we fasted to find some new people. We found 2 new potentials. Elizabeth was getting her mail with her son and we set up a lesson to teach her Saturday, but she wasn't there. (AHHHHH!) We met Alex while going to a former investigator's house we found in the area book. We knocked on the door and Alex answered. I guess the former moved. So we took advantage of the situation and asked if he would be willing to hear our message. He said yes! He wanted to reschedule for a Saturday, but a girl's voice from the other room says, "Hey! I won't be there! Do Sunday!" But, he cancelled.... So we should teach him Tuesday.

Friday we had dinner with the Brittains. Brad Brittain was a lineman for Arizona State University and is a big guy. He has been less active his whole adult life, but his dad always moved Brad's records wherever he went. Now his dad is really sick and terminal. His last wish is Brad will go back to church, so he has come to some activities and church a few times. His wife and step son aren't members. They are really funny. They don't always understand the missionary rules. Like they invite us to play poker, turn on movies for us (Disney), and stuff. 

Well they were still cooking dinner when we showed up. They live by the old country club in San Marcos, so a lot of people have golf carts... Brad came in and asked if Elder Wilde and I would drive the cart to 7/11 to get some olive oil really fast... so we did. It was funny. It was cool to meet with them. His wife was going to come to church because Sister Prather is leaving, but they ended up not... We will keep working on it!

Here is the story that explains the picture and title...

Saturday we got transfer calls and I was a bit disappointed. I love TOV, but the lack of success has really taken its toll on me. My attitude has been much better, but I really just hit a low on Saturday. I was in a bad mood as we were going to houses and getting a bit rejected. I had my head down and out of the corner of my eye looked across the road and saw something large moving. I started crossing and Elder Wilde says, "Where are you going?"

"There's a turtle in the road...." 

Sure enough, there is a 50 pound tortoise walking in the road!!! Nobody was around. Just 2 missionaries and a tortoise... As we kept it from getting ran over, some neighbors came over, we figured out where it belonged (It escaped a backyard where it had just been dropped off as a pet). But yeah. We rescued a tortoise. 

Then 10 minutes later we helped get a chihuahua out of an intersection. It was crazy.  We called it "Safari Saturday".

Sunday was Stake Conference. It was really good. President and Sister Kendrick spoke. We had dinner with the Grochmals. They are the coolest. He played semi pro hockey before his mission  and is the Elder's Quorum president. That night we saw Benny. He is less active and wants us to come teach him. He is cleaning up his life. 

Today is our last Pday as a zone. We are taking on the Escondido Zone in some games, so that'll be cool.

I know that this work is hard. REALLY HARD. I am not a patient person. I am being forced to be though. I joke and say, "I wish Heavenly Father would just hurry up and teach me to be patient already." But I love being a missionary. This is not my work, but His. The next transfer may be hard, but I know Heavenly Father is keeping me here for a reason. We will turn this ward around!

Love you guys!

Elder Kapp

                                                               My Birthday

              Emerald Heights, San Marcos. (You can see the ocean, but the sun ruined the picture.)

The less active family we had dinner with needed us to go to 7/11 for olive oil real quick,

so they had us take the golf cart.

                                      We rescued a tortoise that was walking in the road.

                                                                    Typical day in TOV.

Transfers this next week!

Hey everyone,

Sorry we are emailing a couple days late. Our P-Day was pushed back because of President's Day and Zone Training Meeting.

Last week we had zone conference. It was really cool to be around the other missionaries and hear from President and Sister Kendrick. They are amazing. I learned so much was able to feel the spirit so strongly. I am really sad President and his wife will be going home this June. They are such great and loving people and I love being one of their missionaries.

On Wednesday we went to the Grow's to pass off everything to Bro Rios, the new Ward Mission Leader. Brother Grow is moving to the Bay Area and we are all really sad.

Thursday we taught Jim Busike. I don't think we are going to go back. He was baptized when he was 13 but never had a testimony. While teaching him, I asked him a few questions that made him contradict his statements and Elder Wilde and I agreed that he wasn't open to the spirit. So we hope he will soften his heart in the future. All of our other usual Thursday appointments cancelled, but we did pick up a new potential couple, Dane and Natalie.

Friday we helped the Grows pack up and we said goodbye to them. It was sad. They were extremely involved in the ward. After we said goodbye, we had exchanges. I got to go with Elder Haskell in Twin Oaks Valley. It was awesome. We went to the Birch's and, sure enough, we got root beer floats.

Saturday we did some service for a new move in, the Butlers. The wife is Thai and really hard to understand. We ended up just helping them fix their sprinklers. Elder Haskell and I got to put our "Farmer" and "Landscaping" experience together to help them out. It was fun. Sister Butler fed us SO MUCH pasta. It was so much food. We went by a bunch of solid potentials, but all of them fell through...

Sunday we had regional conference. Elder Renlund gave a great talk that really made an impact on me. We went to Al's for lunch and then dinner.

Monday was a tough day. We didn't have much luck at all. After dinner we went with the Grochmals, Elders Quorum President and his wife, to Dane and Natalie's for a lesson, but they weren't there. We were so frustrated. However, we did pick up a new potential, Alex, who we are teaching tomorrow.

Yesterday was a fun day. We went to In-N-Out with Brother Birch and a less active in the Sister's area, Benny. They passed him off to us. He is trying to clean up his life and has tattoos all over his body. He was super nice and is coming to Stake Conference with us this week. After dinner, Brother Birch drove us to a bunch of potentials, such as Dane and Natalie, Jim Nelson, and he just clicked with all of them. Bro Birch has a gift with people and missionary work. I don't know if we will teach Dane and Natalie, but Brother Birch befriended them and is going back later... :)

Today we played soccer at the park and ate at Costco. It's been a fun week. Transfer calls are coming on Saturday. We will see if I am going or staying!

What I really learned this week is how hard it can be to be happy when you are looking down. You can't feel the spirit if you are constantly feeling stressed and contention. Celebrating all of the little successes and being the best companion I could be has helped a little bit. It's also nice to have members realize that we are working really hard even though the numbers haven't been there.

Also, we found old progress records (records of each of the people they teach per week and all their numbers. i.e. # of contacts, lessons, and investigators) from TOV from over 5 years ago. They baptized over 10 people a year 3 years in a row! What I realized is this:

-First.  Holy cow. They were teaching a TON of people. Some progress records.

-Second. They were contacting between 30-60 people A WEEK! Currently we are contacting over 190-250 a week.

-Third.  Referrals. They were getting referrals, most of them families, every week. They were being contacted, taught, and fellowshipped.

- Fourth.   Baptismal dates. Most of the investigators had a set date to be baptized.

This is what I decided. Missionaries NEED members to help them find people to teach. We contact over 5 times more people on our own efforts, but we aren't seeing the results. When people are fellowshipped by members, not only do they learn better but they stay!! A lot of those names we saw on that list are now active members such as Al Stroes (Assistant ward mission leader) , Byron Lawson (High Priest & Ward Missionary) , and Brother Weber (Stake Secretary). We are going to try to get more referrals now.

I love all of you. I am excited to email you on Monday. I am grateful for all of your prayers.

Elder Kapp