October 11, 2016 One Week until she returns!!!

I hope you had a good week. I am looking forward to seeing you soon!
This week has been a crazy one and I have been learning sooo much
these past few weeks. I am so grateful for the hard times, the good
times, the normal times, all the times the Lord has given me to teach
me!

Roberto has been the most difficult person I have ever taught and has
taught me sooo much. He was confirmed this week and what a special
experience that was for all of us. He has been through so much and it
will help him so much to have the Holy Ghost. He brought his wife (Who
we didn't know existed, they were separated) to sacrament meeting. She
lives in Riverside and she was very cordial and we were soooooo
confused. the lesson in Sunday school was about Matrimonio Eterno and
so that was just weird because they are in the middle of a divorce and
are apparently going to get back together.
Fastfoward to yesterday, we get a phone call from Roberto saying that
he is going to move to Lake Tahoe and he wants to say good-bye....so
confused still, but we go say good-bye,
Fastfoward to this morning, Roberto  calls us and tells us he is in
Riverside with his wife. WHAT?? So then he puts Cecilia on the phone
and we are just sooo confused and scared shes going to like yell at us
or something, but then she thanks us for being there for Roberto and
helping him find something spiritual to fill his life. she thanked us
for all our work and said the missionaries can visit themm and wanted
to know which building they should go to (btw they live like a block
away from the church). What a crazy experience! I know that families
can be together forever and that the Lord's timing is so real! I have
learned so much from this experience, I can't even explain it all
through email.

this week we also set our investigator, Dora with a date. She is so
cool and is now best friends with her fellowshipper. She is looking
for the truth and light and already shares it with her family. She has
invited a couple of her kids to listen to the misisonaries (they said
they were too busy). She also came to church on Sunday and sat with
her fellowshipper and they were just so cute together! She said her
husband isnt really down with her doing this, but then we went to her
house yesterday and had a lesson and made small talk with her husband
and now he says "Mi casa es su casa" to us! He really liked us and is
okay with us sharing our message with him as well during the next
lesson. He is this really old man that is just so funny! She is so
cute as well, she always starts her prayers now saying "senor
Celestial" becuase we say padre celestial.

Well, this is my last email, so I want to share how much I love being
a missionary . I love it. It has completely changed my life and formed
and shaped me into the person that I am today. I know I am different.
I can feel it, I know that my mind has been focused on our purpose to
Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored
gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, Repentance,
Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the end.
I know that this purpose is my life's purpose and if I keep focusing
on it, I will never lose my way. I love this gospel and I just want to
share it with everyone because it has blessed my life and I have seen
it change the hearts of so many people. I know it is the true gospel
and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I am grateful for
the experiences I have had and the people that I have met. They are
near and dear to my heart and this place is sacred to me. its going to
be really hard to leave it all, but I know Heavenly Father has a
purpose for me and that He knows where I need to be and When and He
will guide me as long as I ask Him and always try to do His will. And
I will never stop being a missionary!

See you soon!
Love, Hermana Lapp

October 4, 2016

exchanges! We met this crazy old lady from guam that said everyone
thinks she is chinese....but shes not chinese

My week was really good. We went on exchanges again and I went with
Hermana Tuia. She is from Samoa (I go on lots of foreign exchanges
haha ) and we had a lot of fun and we worked hard! She is really great
at talking with everyone and always says the most interesting things,
it really catches their attention. We taught their investigator who I
really judged at first by his appearance, but then I was hit in the
face with the spirit when he started talking about how much he has
changed since he has started meeting with the scriptures and getting
closer to God. It was a really cool experience to see how much he
loves the change that he is making in his life and I felt super bad
for pre judging him. I am always learning new things like that.

This week our new investigator, Dora, came to a members house for
dinner. they are both these little old ladies. Well, they both have
smartphones and we thought it would be perfect to have a facebook
video chat lesson  with Dora while she is out of town this week so we
showed her and hna herrera how to use the video chat.  They were soooo
funny! They had no idea that was on there and they were acting like
two little kids, it was so cute! We had a wonderful lesson as well
that evening. we invited Dora to be baptized. It was really cool
because she took the Book of Mormon a lot more seriously when we
invite her to be baptized. She really understood that she needs to
know that Book is true so that she can change her life and be born
again. The spirit was strong because we were also in a members Home
and it was really cool to have Hna. Herrera also testify of the Book
of Mormon. The spirit was so strong, it just filled the room.

Yesterday we were supposed to have the Facebook lesson with Dora, but
of course she didnt answer so we called one of our oher investigators
and we got to have a lesson with her over the facebook video chat! It
was really cool because she goes to Rosarito a lot and so we got to
see a little bit of Mexico as well! She is really cool and she even
has started reading in the Book of Mormon. She is also a little older,
so she wasnt sure where to hold the camera! We got a screen shot of it
because the camera was just super close to her face the whole time! It
was really cool to spread the gospel by using technology, I can see
how much it willl help the future missionaries.

We also had MLC yesterday! We talked a lot about the new technology
that we are using. I gave my testimony on our purpose and one of the
other missionaries that is going home (we all did one these things,
those of us that are going home this transfer) she gave a short 3
minute talk and she said that our testimonies give us power and
authority to teach and that we need to keep that strong. I really
loved that she said that because its true. I may not have exactly tthe
same power and authority that I have as a set apart missionary, but I
will for sure still have my testimony. Sister schmitt also promised
that we will see a might change of heart wrought in our friends and
family. that will be really cool to see the conversion that people
have passed through.

General Conference was soooo good! I learned so much and the spirit
was just so strong. We are really focusing on the talk given in womens
conference, Fourth Floor, last door, by President Uchtdorf, as a
mission. Overall, conference was just really good and I felt like it
was super missionary based this time. One thing I learned that was
really impactful was from Elder Eyring's talk about gratitude. I was
thinking a lot about if I just have a grateful heart then feelings and
thoughts that Satan tempts with (overwhelming guilt or shame or
feeling inadequate) will go away. Gratitude makes us humble because we
realize everything that The Lord has done for us and all that He will
do for us. We stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting in Him. I
loved the quote he used, "Be of good cheer, I will lead you along". It
was also really cool because my companion had a lot of questions
concerning joy and Everyone talked about Joy, but especially Elder
Nelson, his talk was soooo good! I  was really just so cool to see
them talk so much about having joy. I really need to be happy about
everything that happens to me in this life!

Have a great weeek!
Love,
Hermana Lapp

September 27, 2016

We went on Exchanges and the exchange went great! I went with sister
Exposito. We had a really awesome day and taught some less actives which
was good because they have been suuuper hard to find these past. couple of
transfers. She is a super awesome missionary and really good at talking to
people. Shes from Temple square and Im convinced she'll be the assistant to
the president when she goes back to temple square! (Sisters do the Elders
job in Temple Square ) either that or she'll definitely be a zone leader!
She is just really an awesome missionary and knows how o do hard things!
One thing She said was
to be patient with people by always focusing on the good in them and the
good around you. Instead of thinking they did this to me, think what did
they do for others today? If something really bad happens and something
kind of good happens, you should always focus on the kind of good thing
that happened and ignore the big bad thing that happened. Positivity always
takes first place no matter how great the negativity is. I really learned a
lot from that exchange.

This weekend Roberto was baptized his baptism was really awesome and he was
really happy, but then he didn't come to church to be confirmed. I was
really sad and kind of angry that morning and I think it was because I was
thinking more about myself than him. I felt really bad that night though.
We called him and he was crying on the phone and said we could meet with
him on Monday. When we hung up I felt we should go to his house and so we
prayed and I still felt the same. Well, He wasn't there so we wrote a note
and right as we were walking away, he walked up. It was such a miracle and
I saw the Lords hand that all this was supposed to happen for a reason. He
told us he felt horrible about not coming, but that day was the 9 month
mark of the death of his son and he spent the whole day at his grave. He
was in no shape to be going anywhere. He will be getting confirmed soon. I
shar e this experience because I learned so much that night.  two examples
were (1) Trust in the Lord and His timing by being humble (2) Always follow
the spirit.

Womens conference on Saturday was soooo good! The stake wasnt really sure
what was going on so we showed up late to watch it because they started it
early, but I learned so much from what I saw! It really applied to a lot of
the things that I was thinking about for my investigators and the other
people that we work with. They said, * Do what is reasonable to help them
and then leave this burden at the feet of the savior because you cannot
give them complete healing. Their healing may be a long process!

I know that the only person who can heal us is Jesus Christ. This week I
really learned that we should not be ashamed of our past sins---it is no
longer who we are. We may not literally forget it, but when we repent it
wasnt us that did it, it was someone else, the person that we were. I read
a talk this morning from Oct. 2000 conference by elder oaks called "The
Challenge to become" and it talks about how if we really live and feel the
gospel then we can become the people that the Lord wants us to be---we can
fill our full potential. I also learned that as we overcome that person who
we were or the things that we did, Our Heavenly Father is sooo proud of us
for overcoming that obstacle and he will never love us any less.

I love this quote that we shared with Roberto Yesterday by Elder Holland
(Another great talk, The Grandeur of God, one of my favorites) that says
"In that sense Jesus did not come to improve God’s view of man nearly so
much as He came to improve man’s view of God and to plead with them to love
their Heavenly Father as He has always and will always love them". I have
really learned how much Our Heavenly Father loves us because I have felt
the healing and enabling powers of the Atonement. I know He died for us but
I also know that He lives!

I hope you get a chance to watch some of conference this weekend! Its going
to be a great one, I can feel it!

Love,
Hermana Lapp

September 20, 2016

My week was pretty great!

We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was basically same thing we
learned in MLC about Facebook, so that was fun! I learned a lot of
cool new stuff though about really following the spirit when using
Facebook. Its a really neat thing to be able to see how this all
works. That night was the craziest. Zone Conference went longer than
we had planned and so we got back late and our dinner wasn't there. We
knocked on the door and no answer, so we went to Church's Chicken
tenders get a 5:30 our dinner called us because they were waiting. I
guess they didn't hear us knock 5 times!!! Of course she is also less
active, so we went back at 7 and she gave us the food----really hard
sopes because she cooked them twice.....when we were supposed to go
and when we went. We had already eaten church's chicken and it wasn't
very good and then we ate 3 sopes...it was just a crazy night. It was
super funny though because we were about to throw up from being so
full, so while she was doing something elsse we hid one in our bags:(
it was the first and last time ive ever done that but....we were going
to die from all the food we had eaten.

On Friday I went on exchanges with Sister Sego From Texas. She is a
really amazing missionary and has no fear of talking with everyone! It
was really just amazing to see her do that because she is very new
with her Spanish.

On Saturday we werent really sure where to go, but then my companion
thought we should go visit this lessactive who is usually in Mexicali
(super far away) on saturdays. Well, we went anyway and found her son
named Antonio! He was super cool and has been reading in the Book of
Mormon a lot and has a great testimony of the church. As he bore his
testimony of the Book of Mormon I really saw him in white in the
temple and as a missionary. It was a really cool experience for me
especially since we have been focusing on a talk called "Begin with
the end mind" as a mission, which talks about that very thing. I felt
the spirit so strong testifying to me that he is going to do great
things in his life!

We had a mission president devotional on Sunday and i sang and my
companion played the piano....our Investigator came as well! Roberto
is going to get baptized this Saturday, so that is super exciting! He
really felt the spirit in that devotional so that was really awesome.
after the devotional we didnt have a lot of time, but we decided to
try to make it in time to see one of our investigators, mostly so we
could be obedient :) well, we made it there at 8:55 and ran into
another one of our investigators! We havent been able to contact her
and so that was a huge miracle that we happned to see her outside! The
spirit really works!!!! We taught her a super short lesson aaaand made
it home in time! That was a super huge Miracle.

Last night we went on splits with the bishops wife and her daughter.
One of the members of the ward was there as well and he was super
weirded out that my companion was there without me! He prayed for me
that I would be protected and safe! haha hes so cute, 10 years old,
got baptized in June with his family, and he says the most sincere
prayers I have ever heard.

I love being a missionary. I dont know how many times I can say it.
this is just the best thing that anyone can do with 18 months of their
lives. Thats a huge commitment, but its never a sacrifice. I Have
sacrificed nothing because Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have
already done everything. I love them and I know that they live. I know
this is their church on the earth and that they love every single one
of us. I have loved every minute of preaching this gospel and I will
keep doing it always. This is going to a good week this next week I
can feel it! We are going to see many miracles.

Until next week,

Love,
Hermana Lapp

September 13, 2016

So....I'm sure you've seen me on Facebook....yes, it was different at
first. I thought I was never going to have to use it, it is my last
transfer so I was like, no way.  But then....missionary leadership
council.....online proselyting training....we had to be the first ones
to get Facebook this week and by Friday everyone in our mission will
be allowed to be on Facebook. This week I have been trying to make my
prayers more meaningful and more focused on others so that I can have
that prayer in my mind and in my heart. It has helped me to constantly
be thinking about our investigators. It's also helped me stay focused
as we have been cleaning up our Facebooks! Doing that could have been
so distracting, but I said a lot of prayers asking the Lord how I
could stay focused and not pay attention to the things that I needed
to hide. He helped me so much to find different ways to stay focused
on my purpose and receive revelation for our investigators, He really
needs to be included in the process, in every phase of missionary
work. This experience actually really helped my testimony of prayer
increase and helped me to see how focused I really am on my purpose.
Sometimes I dont really realize how into I am, but this was an
eyeopener for me and really helped me to increase my relationship with
him because I couldnt do it on my own . its just a similitude for me
that we cant do any of this on our own

I locked the keys inside....only the second time on my mission!
Luckily our screen was already broken from other missionaries who
locked themselves out....

We had a great week this week and have our investigator, Roberto,
preparing for his baptism the 24th of September <x-apple-data-detectors://1>.
He really wanted t
get baptized, but I feared man and didn't set him with a date because
he struggles with his testimony of Jesus Christ, which is super
important. Well, our first lesson Sister Summers and I set a date with
him and ever since then his testimony of Jesus Christ has been
strengthened so much! This week he even said he  knows that he has a
savior. It has been amazing to see the Atonement change his life. I
have really grown to love him, even with his stubbornness! Things have
been hard for him since his son died a year ago (the day after
christmas...so sad) and has really chosen this time to come closer to
christ. It has really strengthened my testimony that if someone really
has the desire to change, they really can change by ten fold! He has
become more and more humble every time we see him. One day he wanted
us to teach him in English and he was speaking very broken english to
us and me di cuenta that he really is becoming humble....it really
hurts your pride speaking a language you hardly know! That was a
really special lesson with him and he even bore his testimony about
Jesus Christ.

My companion and I have really been trying to always be in the right
place at the right time. I mean, as missionaries we always try to do
that, but in planning and going and doing sometimes I feel it gets
lost in all the busyness. The other night we didn't really feel very
good about our plans so we prayed and felt that we should go to one of
our backup plans from earlier in the day. It was a less active that I
really didnt know who they were (And it turns out on sunday that ward
council doesnt know them either). They are sealed in the temple and
all of their family is lessactive. They are super old, so thats why
they havent really been coming, he works on Sunday and she has some
health problems. I told her what happened, how we prayed and felt that
we should be there and she said "Sisters, you were following the Holy
Ghost because I really needed this visit today". I felt soooo good to
hear that because in that moment I knew that we were in the right
place at the right time.

Can I just tell you that I love this ward??? The members are so
amazing, we find lots of members that are willing to come out with us.
One of the ward missionaries is this little old lady from Guatemala.
She is the coolest missionary and has the most amazing story. At
dinner on Sunday <x-apple-data-detectors://5> she shared an experience
about when she lost her son.
We have been having such amazing short lessons at dinners with members
and we have been really blessed to have them sign up. We have been
able to give them commitments that really apply to their specific
needs. I felt on Hermana needed to hear a quote from the of my
favorite talks called"waiting for the prodigal" so we planned on that
because I knew she had some people in her family that had not been as
active as she woud have liked. The first things she talked about was
her grandson who recently lost his dad and is going through a really
rough time and how much she wishes that he had the gospel in his life.
The quote we had picked beforehand was soooo perfect and she
absolutely loved it and chocked up again reading the words that were
promised to her that if she loves, watches, and waits, he will find
that hope in his life. We have a lot of members inviting their friends
and family to the mission presidents devotional this sunday and they
are just really getting involved in the work which is just such a
blessing o see.

I have just been doing so good and I truly truly love being a
missionary. It was the best decision of my life to come out here and
serve these wonderful people.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

September 6, 2016

I got a new companion! We are already friends.....its Sister Summers
from the valley! She helped me out so much when I was in the valley
and now I get to be companions with her. Today we had transfers AND we
went to the temple because she hadn't been since January, SO, I really
don't have a lot of time. But the temple was wonderful as always, I
felt so happy there :) we've already had such a great Pday. Anyway,
She is such a great example to me and we've already set goals to work
super hard this transfer! She is from South Jordan, UT (Utah companion
#2)

Last night we taught the familia we found last week. We had planned
that if they didn't read, we were going to tell them we couldn't move
on to the next lesson, we have to read with them and just be super
bold because that's what the seventy told us to do when he came. Well,
when it came down to it, they hadn't read and we really didn't do it
the way we planned and I was kind of disappointed in myself. But the
dad was the on.y one who read and at the end of the lesson, he told
his family what we had planned on and role played to tell them! It was
super inspired and his family was really listening to him, because it
was their dad. Please pray for Benjamin, Maria, Brenda, Luis, Samuel,
and Israel. They are such a great family and I already love them so
much!

On Sunday it was fast and testimony meeting and 3 people went up to
talk about going out with the sisters....it was a super big miracle
for us because that always gets the other members pumped to do
missionary work, but the funny thing was that all 3 talked about how
we kept getting rejected! Haha it's true! The first people we talked
to yesterday told us "retirense. Me están molestando", But to be
honest, their not rejecting me, their rejecting the savior and I will
get rejected for Him any day because He has done a lot more for me. I
love being His representative!



Love,

Hermana Lapp

August 30, 2016

Last week we went to a place at balboa park. Since we are
missionaries, we are residents so if we bring a letter, we get into
museums for free on Tuesdays. Every week is different and last week we
thought it was the 3rd Tuesday and we were going to go to the Japanese
friendship garden, you know super pretty, and the museum of man, you
know, super interesting. Well.....we were wrong, it was the 4th
Tuesday....so we went to the aerospace museum....the car museum was
closed....and I wasn't about to go to the sports champions
museum...but we had fun anyway! There are these tiny cottages
everywhere and there are usually only a couple open at a
time...they're like a little room for different countries...we went to
China and Iran!

Our biggest miracle is that yesterday we found a family! And they were
waiting for us and just so ready to listen! The dad is super interested
(it's usually the mom) and the mom is SOOO sweet. They have 4 kids, only 2
are baptismal age, but that's like whatevs because the other two can grow
up in the gospel and they want to come to church this Sunday! That's the
biggest miracle of the week. The little boys name is Israel and we asked
him how God has blessed his life and he said he's given his family
protection and nobody has killed them yet. Haha kids say the funniest
things.

We got this referral from missionaries in Nevada. They were teaching this
man and he moved here to San Ysidro so they sent him to us. We recieved the
referral and called him right away. He was super excited to receive our
call and schedule an appointment so we were super excited as well because
usually people aren't that excited! We had a lesson with him and he knew a
lot! He was already in alma when we first met with him and had gone to
church twice! But he's kind of a know it all, so we have had to grow to
love him. He usually wants to do all of the talking, but yesterday we had a
really pleasant lesson with him and he seems to be more and more humble
every time we talk to him, it's cool to see his heart change....and mine
too.

We had exchanges this week! I went to my old area--Chula Vista! I went with
sister Garcia, she is a wonderful missionary. Hermana Garcia is really
amazing at talking
with everyone and really getting to know them. She really shows her
love to the people she meets. We actually saw a few people that I know,
which was kind of funny. Some less actives....it was really funny because
we taught this less active I saw a less active that I knew walk outside her
house! She is super hard to find, and last time the missionaries taught her
was when I was there and that time the missionaries couldn't find her for
months before that and she wasn't very happy about it. The sisters tried to
see her, but she was never there, so they left notes. This time she was a
lot more receptive and willing to listen to us and gave us the real,reasons
she's not going to church! It was a miracle because Hermana Garcia had
never seen her before, but I had! She even recognized me from the one time
I went to see her! We also tried to go see someone and ran into one of my
formers that I still think about sometimes, she is the apartment manager at
the complex and so we taught her and she said the sisters could go back!
She is such a cool lady and I was so sad to drop her because we just
couldn't find her, but that day I happened to be there, she was there.
Miracles everywhere that day!

We taught a suuuuper old guy and his wife this week that the sisters found
on exchanges....he was sooooo old! He can't really hear very well or talk
very well, but his wife is super interested and has read the Book of Mormon
before and loved it and has been to church! They are such a cute little old
couple and he is super funny. He kept saying stuff about
la....iglesia....catolica....apostolica.....romana, All spaced out like hat
too because I don't think he can breathe very well, but it made the church
name sound super dramatic. Oh and the wormies we found in our apartment a
few months ago in Calexico....well there were a few of them in their
house...I was freaking out inside. But it's ok because they are super cool.
Love,
Hermana Lapp

Exchanges with Hermana Garcia!

 We had to do some of our studies in the car on Sunday due to
church, appointments, we don't live in our area, etc. we had a little
set up so the sun wasn't shining in our faces....we have a screen to
keep out the sun that has eyes like the movie cars....and I also took
a couple pictures of my companion while she was on the phone....haha

Video of me and Some Idaho potatoes

Our investigator who came to an activity with us :)

August 23, 2016

Exchanges

This week was a pretty good one as usual. We had a ton of members come
out with us to teach people and that is always super good and super
fun! One of the ward missionaries is a little old lady from Guatemala
and she is just such an awesome little missionary! She joined the
church when it just barely started being a thing in Guatemala, so she
did a lot of missionary work there to build the kingdom in Guatemala!
She comes out with us all the time and she always says "Que alegre!"
And makes fun of me and my companion because we are getting kind of
old in the mission.

We went on an exchange on Friday and it was a good time! Hermana
Samamé came here to San Ysidro with me and she is such a powerful
missionary! People on the street even noticed and commented on her
sincerity. She is from temple square. Sisters from temple square go
out to a mission for three months and experience a different kind of
mission. She is from Peru and sometimes lives in Panama as well. We
had a lot of fun and we saw lots of miracles. We met this lady who
didn't want to learn from us, but kept talking to us about how
precious we were and how she and her friends she was with are just
sinners. Well, she testified of Jesus Christ and how we are all
sinners but through him we can be clean! We invited her to pray if she
should learn more and told her we would be waiting for her call ;) we
also had a couple of great lessons with some of our investigators and
members that came out with us. We are teaching this lessactive
Humberto. His brother who is taking care of him (super sick) called to
confirm an appointment, which I thought was at 4. They said they would
be waiting at 4v but then I saw that it was a different appointment!
So I called them back and they said we could go over at two. So we
went and Humberto was reading in the Book of Mormon, something he had
never really done on a long time and he said that he would've been
reading from 1pm-4pm if we were going to go at four! Too bad we
couldn't go at 4....he would've read a lot!!

Yesterday we were right next to the border of Tijuana! I always feel
super cool when we go down there! They have this giant flag that you
can see from miles away on one of the hills in TJ. I took a
picture....but you can't really see it :( we speak a lot of Spanish
down here and on the exchange I think I said 1 sentence in English! It
was pretty fun and it's been really fun to teach literally everyone we
see in Spanish.

We recieved a referral from other missionaries--a man who almost got
baptized, but then he moved here last week. He lost his son about a
year ago and truly loves the message of the church that families can
be together forever. He is also in Helaman in the Book of Mormon! He
reads super fast and loves what it says! Last week we brought him to
an FHE at the bishops house and he seemed to enjoy it and the spirit
was really strong! There was another recent convert there as well who
bore her testimony on how the gospel has changed her life and you
could Just feel the happiness she has received from the gospel. We
have been receiving a lot of really cool referrals, so that has been a
huge miracle this week!

I love being a missionary! I have truly been blessed to be able to set
apart this time in my life to serve The Lord. I know that this is His
work and I am a part of it fully at this time in my life. I have
really been learning to love people and express that love to others
and that has been something wonderful that I have been able to feel
the of the Savior for others. He really loves all of us! No matter who
we are who we've been and he is so proud of every single one of us for
trying to be better than we were yesterday. That's really the message
of the gospel for me: that we have the capacity to be better than we
were yesterday.


Well, that's all this week!
Love,
Hermana Lapp

See if you can spot la Bandera

August 16, 2016

Soooo I trained sister Romero and 

she wanted to take a picture because

she trained the one next to her and 

now she's training the one next to

her....#generations

This week was a crazy one. We had a seventy come on Wednesday, Elder
Arnold, he gave a talk last conference about members being
missionaries and that's what he talked about at the zone conference.
It was 10 hours long! You don't even know how tired I was after a
spiritual meeting like that, but I'm not complaining I learned
soooooo much! He is so inspirational and has suffered through so much
in his life that none of us can even imagine. He is such an inspiring
speaker, he reminds me of a mix between Elder Holland and Elder
Bednar. He has such a passion and fire for the work. He told a lot of
stories, especially from when he was a mission president in Uruguay at
37 and had to get all the missionaries out of there, because of who
know what I don't really remember, and he was held at gunpoint and
things like that. But then he had to go to where all the missionaries
in the mission were going to be Transferred and had to drive to each
city and pray for guidance to know which missionary to put there. It
taught me a lot about following the spirit and how directly it can
speak to us if we just have faith.
I learned so many things from Elder Arnold. He has been through so
many things and really just showed me an example of someone who can do
hard things. I think I learned a lot from the way he teaches, aside
from working with members and all that, which I learned a lot. What I
loved about him was that he got really personal. You could just see
the passion for the work and the fire in his eyes. I think to myself a
lot now, do people see that in me? He testified with such boldness,
power and love it made me want to be better. I have been taking what I
learned from that and tried to do the same thing, to testify
personally with a fire and passion. When working with members, recent
converts, less-actives and investigators I want to apply that
principle of testifying with passion.

This week we have really been just setting our area on fire! We set a
bunch of dates for September. One with a family they taught all last
transfer. We prayed to the Lord and said if it's His will that we drop
them, they won't come to church this Sunday. They
haven't come to church yet, but they have read in the Book of Mormon
and are member referrals. Well, we set a date for the third of
September with the faith that they will come. Then on Sunday we
thought that they didn't show up....we searched for them in the halls.
We sat down and I saw one of them sitting in the back, but I wasn't
sure it was him because he wasn't sitting next to his grandma.  So I
said "who's that kid back there? " and my companion turned around and
said "it's them! They came!" So that was pretty exciting. They are
super cool and hopefully they can get baptized that day!

We also set a date for the 10th with a woman named Maria. This Sunday
we visited her at night and she didn't come to church. But when we
visited her she said that she changed her schedule for her job so that
she can come to church and was excited for her baptism! She is so cool
and really just wants to give her life to God!

I also love this Ward that we are in! We took the bishop out and he is
soooo funny! He didn't go with my companion before but after the
lesson he told us he is free every Saturday if we want him to come
out. I just love him and really appreciate the work that he does for
this Ward. We have some super sweet recent converts in the ward as
well. Candy recently got baptized with her 2 kids. I came on an
exchange here once and she wasn't interested in listening to the
missionaries, but her son was a convert. Well, he left on a mission
and now his family got baptized a couple months ago! They are super
active and her daughter even goes to early morning seminary! That's a
sacrifice! I am so grateful to serve in this area, i truly already
love it soooo much.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

Janeth....She's going on her mission on
the 24th of August to Logan Utah! 

Companionship Selfie

August 9, 2016

Welll to update you on me....the one who is always getting
lost....This week we have only been getting lost slightly less than
the last one.....haha. I have been kind of learning the streets now,
so thats good. Please pray for me ;)

yes, the weather is nice, I am wearing a sweater today!!!!! People
think Im crazy, but its cold here!

This week we contacted this referral. He lives super far away from the
rest of our area, but we had an appointment and he seemed pretty
interested. Well, his trailer was in this weird place where people fix
cars, but theres different sections, so that was super weird because
we thought it was going to be apartments....His brother and him were
there though and the spirit was super strong. We shared the
restoration and talked a lot about baptism. The first time we
mentioned it Miguel was like, Yeah I need to get baptized sometime. It
was pretty cool because nobody ever really says that they need to get
baptized! They were super funny too and always making fun of each
other.

This week there was a ward activity at a park, so it was outside...and
it was pretty cloudy, so I decided that sunscreen wasn't necessary
when my companion asked me if I wanted some...I got the worst sunburn
of my mission! (Which actually wasn't that bad) But still....I guess
my stubbornness hasn't changed that much :)

We have also been teaching this older lady named Celia...She is in a
wheelchair and only has one leg and says she is waiting for the
day.....well, you know. its kind of sad. But she is super funny in
lessons! She just really gets into what she is saying and sometimes
she yells and I cant really understand her because she talks really
fast and slurs a lot and she just seems mad. Shes just so intense. But
she also is super into what we talk about and hopefully will be able
to make it to church soon.

We got a referral for this guy named Humberto and he ended up being a
member! He is also super sick and his brother is taking care of him.
His brother is...super interesting and at first had no interest in
talking to us. We taught his brother outside the sliding glass door
while he was in his room. During the lesson his brother came out and
said to let him know when our lesson was over so we can pray for him.
So we knocked on the door for him to come pray when we finished and
after the prayer he took an interest in the message! So then we
testified about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and got
a return appointment. I think the Lord is really trying to prove to me
lately that hearts can soften and that I just need to keep giving it
my all everyday!

I love being a missionary. Some days it may seem hard, some days may
be full of crazy miracles, and some may just seem to be ordinary, but
at the end of the day, I realize that miracles are all around us and
that we are truly children of a loving Heavenly Father, that
everything is never as it seems. I know that we are not alone in the
Work, there is a hand much bigger and greater involved.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

Aug 2, 2016

This week was an interesting one. Our area is ginormous and my companion doesn't drive, so she doesn't know the area (doesn't drive, only been here 6 weeks). And soooo we have to use maps but that doesn't really work very well, so we have been spending a week driving around....our area is huge and we just teach people all day long because there are always a bunch of people outside. We just talk to people all day. It's actually really nice! It has taken some adjustment because I'm used to small towns now....but it's very similar to Chula Vista we just have a lot more area to cover! 

Yesterday we went to the mission home (for the first time in 15 months!) to go to a meeting with Sister Schmitt. It was so great! We got to eat lunch with sister Schmitt and talk about our areas and the sisters that we are serving. She is such an amazing person. Then we got lost again in our area trying to find this place where we were going to do service for our investigator.....haha I'm so used to getting lost now! But yesterday we were with a member and we taught this girl named Margo who asked us when she can get baptized (the dream) and then we found this lady in the street that came to California with absolutely nothing, she prayed that God would guide her and she ended up at the Mormon church. She said that they helped her out and she is ever grateful for "the Mormons". Haha so we taught her and she remembered the story of Joseph Smith that she heard 20 years ago! 

We went to the temple today so I'm sorry, it has to be short today :( 

Love you!

Hermana Lapp

July, 26, 2016

Well, this week was also a long one, but on Saturday we had the privilege
of seeing our investigator, Paola, be baptized! We worked so hard to help
her and lead her. She was super nervous before and she doesn't really ever
show her emotions, but she was nervous for this new commitment, but she
knew that it was the right thing to do. Afterward we could see a change in
her, especially after she recieved the gift of the holy ghost. I think as
we taught her we saw her smily more and feel more of God's love for her,
especially as she kept her commitments to read and pray and come to church.
Her mom said it was such a miracle because she is shy and doesnt really
like interacting with people, so for her to go to church was a huge step.
Her mom was baptized in June and she sent me an email today telling me how
grateful she was that the Lord sent us to answer her prayer---To find the
truth and that we are helping her family to join her in this as well. I
just found it to be such a huge miracle. I feel we have worked so hard and
have done all we could do.

This Family is so cute!

 Another miracle we saw was with a less active. We met him and he said he
had asked for his name to be removed, but I don know if he didn't do the
full process or something because his records still exist. He asking why we
are here, he doesn't need religion. He said that he doesn't need God and
that God doesn't need him. He is a social worker and sees horrible things
done to children and elderly people, so he is just super angry. He at first
said he would never ever call God his Father, but some miracle happened
during the lesson and he ended the lesson with a prayer saying "Heavenly
Father". During the lesson his heart softened more and more. He went from
saying I willl not go to church to I hope someday I can go to church to
where is the church? Maybe I will try to go sometime. I gained a testimony
that day that hearts can change in a manner of minutes if we come with the
spirit, ready to listen to the needs of the people. I also read a scripture
that answered his question perfectly to "Why do bad things happen to good
people" and it basically explained that if God stopped a person from doing
something bad, then that person couldn't be judged and punished for his
unrighteous actions. I found that to be really interesting and actually and
answer for me as well. I think we have all wondered tha before.

Here's what happened yesterday...I have been working really hard in my
companionship to be "humble, patient, full of love". It was going super
super good, but then Well, The Lord put me to the real test. Like, THE REAL
test. Sunday night I woke up at 11:54 to a choking noise, half asleep I
turned around and saw that my companion was having a seizure. I jumped up
and turned on the light, looking everywhere for the phone, crying. I called
the mission pres. wife who is a DR. and she told me to call 911. They sent
a firetruck. She had no idea what was going on and she was kind of
incoherent. all she could say was "Hermana, what happened?" so Id tell her
what happened and she would ask me again what happened. Plus it didnt help
that she doesnt know what seizure is in English and I didnt know what it
was in Spanish and I had to look it up. I had to knock on the Elders door
(they live in our complex) from what Sis. Schmitt told me to do and I was
waiting for them to come outside so they could give her a blessing. The
firefighters had arrived and were attending to me companion. They were also
trying to see if I was lying (I was so annoyed at them) and they told me I
needed to come inside and get off the phone with Sis. Schmitt, pres. called
the elders so they just waited for us outside our apartment. By the way,
did you know firefighters are super rude??? They got sooo mad at me because
I was crying. Then the ambulance arrived (they figured out I wasn't
lying...go figure). She didn't want me to leave her at all and she wanted
me right next to her holding her hand so for the first time I got to ride
in an ambulance! That was actually pretty cool. I mean, it wasnt cool at
the time, but now it is. Well, we stayed in the hospital until 9:15. I went
to the sister training leaders apartment at 8 to sleep and they called us
at 9 to come get them. (by the way, I didnt sleep) then we went home and
she slept a while and I just laid there because I couldnt sleep. well, she
has this thing where she twitches, its not an epileptic seizure like that
night, just little twitches that last less than a second and it only
happend twice while we were together. Well, she woke up and kept having
those, so I had to call Sis. Schmitt again and they told me to get her some
benedryl and turn on some hymns. so , I did that and she fell asleep. The
sisters told me about transfers....my comp is going back to the batallion
and I am in San Ysidro as a Sister Training Leader, so they are giving our
area to the elders. Pres. Schmitt called and said that he was sending a
Senior couple to bring us to san diego (we lived 2 hours from San Diego)
and the Sister Training Leaders are coming to help us pack. So We packed,
mind you I hadn"t slept at all, so towards the end, I collapsed on a bed
and just cried. Then they took us to san diego, I couldnt sleep in the car,
nor on the couch that is in the break room of the battallion. The director
of the battalions wife gave me benedryl and told me to take it as soon as I
get to my apartment to sleep. My new companion and her old companion came
and picked me up, I took benedryl and slept a solid 8 1/2 hours and then we
had to take her old companion to the airport because she was returning
home. It was the longest day of my life and I had to be "humble, patient,
full of love" for almost 24 hours as I took care of and worried for my
companion. When I talked to Pres. Schmitt at the airport he shook my hand
for 2 minutes straight and told me it was killing him that he wasnt there
and he wished he wouldve come, but he thought the hospital would only take
2 hours, but that this is the practice the Lord wanted me to have to be a
sister training leader..some practice, verdad??? Last night I parted ways
with my companion. It was hard to leave her and I felt sooo sad, but I know
I am needed here in San Ysidro. I am actually really grateful for the
experience, because I learned a lot about love and charity.

Hospital Selfie

Car Selfie....just to show the bags under our eyes  :)

I'm in my new area now and I am feeling a lot better today. I'm still a
little tired, but I am soooo ready to get to work tomorrow.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

I forgot to say stuff about my new companion!

My new companion is Sister Leyva. She came in the same day as me, but since
she was only in the MTC for 2 weeks, I am one transfer ahead of her. She is
from Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico and she was originally english-speaking, but
got switched to spanish. This area is another border town, my area is
suuuper close to Mexico again. I live in Imperial Beach (riiiight next to
the beach that we can't go to.), which is just outside my area and I have a
2015 Toyota Corolla, I feel so cool driving that red thing around :) Haha
thats basically all I know about my new area.

July 19, 2016

Well, this week was a pretty crazy one. I have a lot of stories to
unload here today.

First we had interviews this week and I don't want to go into too much
detail because that will take too long, but it was really really good!
I learned a lot from President about how the Lord tests our humility
and charity just as he tests our patience and our faith. I also
learned about my attribute of being uncompromising and how that can be
both a weakness and a strength. I have a lot to work on, but I know
that I have The Lord on my side and I am so grateful that I have such
a great, loving mission president to give me council as well.

As a result of interviews, we have been visiting a lot of members and
giving them something our mission made called faith cards. Basically
its a card to remind the members to do something we invited them to do
to find new people to teach. It has been fun to go see the members for
a few minutes and be able to get to know them a little better. The
members definitely need a new fire for missionary work, its still in
the works, but i can see a change coming in the near future :)

Yesterday we were about to pray to go see this less active when this
guy walks past our car and he looked drunk or something, so we didnt
get out of the car. He goes to this door and knocks on it and then out
of his back pocket pulls out a hair brush and starts combing his hair.
We were just like,.....what??? The heat must really be getting to
people or something. Yesterday we were teaching a lesson with a
patricia, the recent convert and the investigator asked us if we
wanted tea or water. And of course we go for the water, but Patricia
said tea was fine. Well I was worried like crazy about that, but then
Patricia all of a sudden remembered she doesnt drink tea anymore and
mouthed to us "Oh no, TEA" and started telling the investigator, I
changed my mind, I changed my mind!!! Adjustments to the gospel are so
funny sometimes :)

We had been teaching this woman named Rosy and she hadn't really read
in the Book of Mormon. She had come to church once, but hadn't read
much. So we followed up and recommitted and then she went on vacation.
When she returned from her vacation this week we called her and
invited her to church again and she came! Yesterday we visited her and
she had read to 1 Nephi 15! That was our pretty cool miracle from this
week.

This week was pretty slow, but I was really thinking a lot differently
than usual and it made the week a lot better and it ended up being a
great week! we visited some members, gave them faith cards, and went
around searching for people. We have been using the part member family
list and calling/visiting formers and potentials. We both feel that we
really did all we could this week and are hoping to see miracles this
upcoming week as we do all we can again. there are things I have seen
change in me. I was a pretty lazy teenager and I feel that I have
changed that into a strength and developed true diligence. I have
given my all every day of my mission to this work. Im sure there were
days more lazy than others, but I have never given up. There are
things that I am trying to change my heart on right now and I think
thats something Ive also learned, never give up on changing.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

July 13, 2016

 This Is Becka....Sorry for the very late posts  I have been traveling for over a month now in Idaho and Oregon.  I am going back to North Dakota for 2 more months..... then back to Idaho for Scarlett to arrive home in Mid October!!!  I am so excited and I miss that girl so so much!  I haven't written much of my own comments because I just wanted this page to be for her and her thoughts.  I am so blessed  to have her as my daughter.  She is an amazing young lady with a kind heart and full of so much goodness. Thank you all  for  your love and support!!

Servicio!

I wrote you an email, but I dont think it sent. This is from last

week. I will send you an email for this week sometime today.

Well, this week was a pretty hot and good week! Friday was really hot,
but the lord blessed us and let us have 5 lessons that day!!!!!! It
was good for 2 reasons, we got to teach lots of people and we didn't
have to be outside as much!

We visited this woman named Luz and it was the second time we had
taught her. We talked about baptismal dates that morning in Zone
meeting and so we had just practiced doing baptismal invitations and
we were invited to do it no later than the 2nd lesson. So we were
super late for the lesson because zone meeting was really long and our
ipads deleted her phone number so we had no way of telling her. So we
showed up late and she said she was going to leave but she prayed 3
times that we would show up and then we came! So that was crazy. She
loves what we teach and read in the Book of Mormon. She is older and
so remembering everything is hard for her, but she loooooves it! She
is so excited for the gospel and accepted a date for the 13th of
August with a simple yes! She couldnt go to church this sunday because
she was going on vacation but she should be coming this sunday!

We have begun to see a change in our investigator, Paola, the daughter
of a recent convert. She has been coming to church, but she wasn't
reading very often. As we have been able to celebrate with her, be
happy with her, she has been able to read more often. She has been
reading almost everyday this past week.

There are 2 really cool less-actives that have been coming back to
church! First, is Carlos! We decided to text him and see when we could
go see him and  i guess we did it at a perfect time because he told us
he is going to quit his job so that he can go back to church and he
instantly started to read and pray everyday. He is just the best and a
couple months later he is now active again and I cant wait for him to
get a calling! He was a missionary in the phillipines and has suuuuch
a strong testimony.

The second less active is Emily. We had been trying and trying and
trying to see her but she was never there. Her dad was there once and
he said he wants her to go back to church. Well her dad who is a
non-member told us he wanted her to go back to church.  a few weeks
ago she called us and said she was coming back to church. She came and
has been coming ever since because her dad told her to go back to
church!!!! She even invited her dad to be baptized. He wont really let
us teach him right now, but he will get there! She has been doing so
much missionary work and it has just been such a miracle to see!

This work is the best and I love being a missionary. Wearing His name
everyday has helped me to understand His love for us and the love that
God has for us more fully. No matter who we are, who we have been, no
matter what He wants us to return to Him! I know its true, more than
ever before!

Love,
Hermana Lapp

The member we did service for..
and she fed us lunch

I am the best at eating spicy food  and a member made
spicy spicy spicy salsa ....I  ate it and didn't die!