12 Weeks! No longer a Greenie!!

Well this week is transfers and my trainer is leaving tomorrow! I am so nervous I don't even know what to do and the anticipation for my new companion is killing me! I finished the 12 weeks missionary training program so now I'm just a regular missionary....no longer a greenie! Hopefully by 6 months I'll feel like I'm not a greenie anymore :) I passed my 4 month mark on Sunday....isn't that crazy? I don't want to think about it though, because I never want to leave. The work is hard and I'm frustrated a lot, but surprisingly I don't hate it....I really love it! It's weird....I feel like I should hate it and I probably act like it sometimes....but I never want to leave. Two elders from our district here in Ramona went home today.....and it just made me realize how much I never want to leave. Basically half our mission is leaving this transfer and we only have half of that number coming in. They're trying to downsize our mission, we are only supposed to have 200 missionaries in our mission....which is crazy because there's 7 LANGUAGES in our mission! 

I've heard stateside Spanish is 9 months, that's halfway through my mission! Crazy right? I really do need to work on not getting frustrated....how did you know that was a problem? Haha it's not a huge problem, but my trainer only corrected me once in a while because I would just get so mad at myself. I need to work on being patient with myself I think. Spanish isn't really my biggest problem, I have a bigger problem with remembering everything we need to do! I'm so forgetful, it's ridiculous. And it's a struggle sometimes, but I feel like I'm writing more things down (or typing them in tasks in the area book planner app) so I'm doing a lot better than when I first got here! President and I even talked about that during interviews a little. He just told me to write everything down. 

Earlier I was thinking about miracles. I feel like they don't come around as often as I expected before I was actually a missionary. It's ok, though because it really makes me appreciate the daily little miracles that we have the opportunity to see. We are so lucky to see it as much as we do. It makes me see that by little things, great things come to pass. The little things are the greatest things. 

Well other than that everything's same old same old. Pray for my new companion....hopefully she's patient because....I'm working on myself still! Haha just focusing on the work makes it better. I've been working a lot on trust with the people that we teach and I've been seeing that they really love me a lot more. They already loved me, but now I think they trust me. I've just been sharing more so that we can relate to each other better. It's been good!

It's been soooo hot! My companion got sick this week, and I think it's just because it's soooo hot. I've been trying to drink a ton of water, but I still feel like it's not enough! It's just so hot! My skin feels like it's baking in the sun. It's so boring when your companion is sick because sitting around is bad because you work all day every day on a mission, then when you're sitting around you feel anxious like you just can't sit still. I have to do something for a little while, then go do something else because I'm getting antsy, then switch, then switch back to something else. Even emailing every week gets to me! 2 hours of the same thing gets me a little antsy, but it's ok because I'll pause emailing and switch to something else. It's crazy how much that's changed since I left. I think I'd get antsy watching tv now! Crazy right? I was even watching interesting church movies while she was sick and I had to pause it and do something else. 

I was so excited to see that Julia is going on a mission! That is so cool. 

Being a missionary is the greatest thing! I'm learning so much and I know I'm growing! 

Well I hope you have a good week!

Love,

Hermana Lapp

Sent from my iPad 

Elote: corn, mayo, chile powder = heart attack on a stick

Excerpts from the past couple of weeks

July 28, 2015

Well it's been a pretty good week. Today I am in old town with other sisters for pday. It's pretty fun!

I had my first interview with my mission president, he's really awesome and gave me some good advice about remembering the things that I need to remember! He also gave me some criticism, but it was in a loving way, so that's good. This week I was challenged by our district leader to talk to at least half the people that sister Briggs talked to. So this will be an interesting week, but I'm going to put away my pride and be humble enough to talk to everyone hat passes me!

The area here is getting better and the members are definitely getting more involved. I am excited to see where this branch goes, even if I don't get to see it until I leave. For some reason, I was meant to be here! I'm not always sure what that reason is. 

There's a bunch of traffic getting out of old town so I don't have much time to write, I'm sorry!

I'm doing well! Sometimes I struggle with being unsure of what to do or scared to say something, but it is definitely getting better. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to be a representative of Christ and can't wait to see what the rest of my mission brings!

💕Hermana Lapp

Aug 4, 2015

Well this week was a good one.

Spanish doesn't even come close to frustrating me as much as leading.

Leading is scary. I don't mind messing up with Spanish, but if I need

to choose where we're going next... I freak out and don't want to say

anything. I'm just a weirdo and a follower. I'm working on it....

Oh my goodness the exchange was so fun and I even led! The STL I was

with has only been out for 7 months and our Spanish is basically the

same, so I felt pretty good. She just understands more of what they're

saying than I do. The STL is so fun! She's soooo good at talking to

people too and she literally tries to teach the restoration to

everyone we pass on the street. It's pretty awesome! We love both of

the STLs!

We did a lot of stuff this week, but when I sit down to type, I can't

remember it.

Let's see.....this week is week 11. They call it "senior week".

Basically I have to lead everything. Yesterday was the first day and

it was not fun! But I already feel like I grew a lot! There was one

girl that We should've taught a lesson to and I didn't start it. I

just gave her a card and asked if we could come back. I just felt

horrible, but the good thing about this experience is that it gave me

the motivation to talk to everyone and try to lead a lesson. I didn't

want to feel like I let a soul pass me by again so I was more focused

on our purpose to invite others to come into Christ.

We taught the restoration at a baptism last week and i really did a

bad job....and it was in English. I need to work on not fearing to to

just face my fears. It's good! I'm so glad that I get this chsnce to

become a better person. But I'm sooooo much more happy that we get to

teach people to tell them about the true gospel, even if they don't

want to accept it right now!

Love,

Hermana Lapp