Feb 16, 2016 - Baptismo!!!

The baptism was great and there have been 6 baptisms in our ward so
far. The elders baptized a family. So far, February has been a great
month for the Chula Vista 4th ward. Obispo is looking all happy up
there at the stand with all our investigators. I have never had so
many investigators at church my entire mission, but we usually have
3-5.

Our exchanges last week were pretty good. I went with Sister Benavides
my old companion for a day. It was pretty fun! I was in San Ysidro and
if I would've missed our exit we would've gone to Tijuana, Mexico!

The other day we were talking to this super old man and his son. Well,
while I was trying to set up an appointment with the son, my companion
was talking to the 90 year old man and apparently he asked her to
marry him! Oh my goodness, that was so funny! but then yesterday we
were talking to our next door neighbor who is also a super old man.
Nobody thinks I speak Spanish here, but when he found out I spoke
Spanish he asked me to be his girlfriend. Oh man, old people! they
crack me up! If they weren't old, it would be creepy, but they are
just so old its hilarious! He sadly does not want to talk to the
missionaries.

Flors baptism was awesome! After the baptism she just kind of stood
there all wet and told us how good she felt in her heart. Before she
went in she thanked Heavenly Father for finally letting her be there.
It was so great and I was so happy that I could be a part of it. I
sang while my companion played the violin for the musical number and
there were some really good talks that about baptism and the Holy
Ghost.

This week we had the regional broadcast for stake conference! It was
so good and my favorite thing I learned was that all questions that
people have for us about our religion can be answered with the first
vision. I loved it because sometimes I fear that someone has a
question that I wont be able to answer or I dont want to go into deep
doctrine to answer. But I have a testimony that Joseph Smith saw God
the father and Jesus Christ and thats all I need to answer their
questions!

Well, It was a pretty great week!
Love,
Hermana Lapp

Feb 9, 2016

This week when we were studying about church attendance there was a
chapter (Mosiah 25:18-25) that talks about how the church is the same
everywhere you go. That day we found out that there were some
complications with where Flor was going to be baptized. I was super
stressed about it. Even though it all worked out with the
complications and she wasn't able to get baptized (she is supposed to
this Saturday. Her car broke down in Arizona) I think it helped me to
realize that every time we send a referral or we help the other
missionaries, we are edifying the entire church. I learned a lot from
that study.

So what happened with the baptism: She went on a trip for work and the
truck they were in broke down in Arizona. When we called her she was
like "Hermanas, estoy triste porque no voy a llegar a mi Bautismo"
"sisters, I am sad because I am not going to be able to make it to my
baptism". We told her we have it all taken care of and its moved to
Saturday and said that Satan is just trying to stop her from being
baptized. it was so funny because she said "no tengo miedo de Satanas.
El tiene miedo de mi" " i do not fear Satan, he fears me. " she told
us she is not going anywhere once she returns either tomorrow or
Thursday. :)

Monday at zone meeting they talked about a power hour where we go out
for the busiest hour where there are a lot of people out and contact
them all. Well, this week we decided to our first power hour around 7
when we Tend to see a lot of people. We did it in the busiest part of
our area. We thought it would be busy at least, but it wasn't that
busy. We didn't find anyone who wanted to talk to us. We had a miracle
though that was pretty cool. We still hadn't found anybody to invite
to be baptized that day and we were feeling a little discouraged.
After that we decided to go see a less-active in the area and she had
some friends at her house. Some friends she had referred us to but
they hadn't been available! We taught them and invited them to be
baptized. At first they said no, they were already baptized, but we
were firm, redid the invitation and they accepted! Two miracles in one
night.

February 2, 2016.....

thanks for all the fotos! The templo looks so beautiful!

       Our investigator and us eating Pho

we had like a windstorm the other day and palm trees look so freaky in

the wind. I asked my companion if one of them fell on us we would die.
She said yes but I think she was just trying to freak me out.

Well, our investigator is going to get baptized this week! I am so
excited and she is ready! She was telling us about her kids (They are
adults) that still live in Cuba and told us which ones she thinks are
ready to get baptized! She is super awesome and really wants to have a
calling in the ward because she is super into edifying the Kingdom of
God!

There was one man this week that we have tried to go see a few times
and he always asked how our church was doing and how it was on Sunday,
but said he was busy. This week he finally let us teach him and
accepted the baptismal invitation. I am always so nervous to extend
the baptismal invitation, but when I do it always feels so good and
the spirit confirms that we are doing the right thing.

Last night we had dinner with a younger couple that have been a little
apprehensive to talk to us at church. It was super awesome to talk to
them because I think we really gained their confidence! They said they
liked us and if they didn't.....we wouldn't be at dinner with them.
They are so awesome and we talked about some of their friends that
they want to introduce the gospel to. I love working through members
because the biggest miracle is seeing them do missionary work.

Funny story from the week: I was studying and I found this article
that I thought would go great with one of our lessons called "Oracion
con verdadera intencion" from the Liahona. The article was by someone
with the last name of Romero, which is my companions last name. Her
dads family is also from El Salvador and thats where the person
writing the article is from! I made a joke saying "hey is this your
family" and she was like "No way thats my grandpas name!" later in the
article the author says where he is from and it's where her grandpa is
from! Her grandpa is in the ensign! Its called "prayer with real
intent". Its funniest because nobody in her family even told her that
her grandpa was in the ensign.

Well, I think thats all I have this week!

Love, Hermana Lapp

I am teaching myself how to cook! I made the pattys myself...

Actually they look kind of gross.....They tasted good though.

January 26, 2016

We have 2 investigators right now who have a ton of potential to get
baptized soon. One is a 23 year old who's mom is in the Relief Society
presidency. She is super cool and we just want her to get baptized
already! She only doesnt want to get baptized because her Dad is
catholic and she doesnt want to upset him. She is reading and praying
and she came to church for the 2nd time last week. We are also
teaching another investigator who is from Cuba! She is wants to get
baptized on the 6th of Feb. She already even asked one of the Hermanos
in the ward if he would baptize her. She always talks about getting
baptized. She is basically a golden investigator, its pretty awesome.
We don't even really have to do much, she has a desire to change.

This past week there was a broadcast for all the missionaries in the
World by the missionary executive council. It was so good and they
really went to the basics of things to help us to become better
missionaries. I have really been trying to take Elder Bednar's advice
on helping investigators recognize the spirit. Not just saying "Hey
this is the spirit", but asking questions to help them recognize for
themselves that it is indeed the spirit. I think that is something
that is hard to master, but I am working on it. There are so many
things that I need to work on to become a better missionary, but I
think i am doing pretty good at keeping the line to progression going
straight up. :)

Last week we found that crazy lady again but this time she was super
calm and so we street contacted her. That night we saw her AGAIN and
she told us she loved us. Her name is Lisa. She is super funny. We
always hope we will see her again.

This week I went on Exchanges again with Sister Briggs! She really
helped me with some things in the area and in missionary work. I think
it was a good exchange and that we got to help each other :) It was a
pretty good day and one of the less actives wants us to set her up
with a 79 year old man......she told us she is not joking. The other
day sister Romero and I went to visit another less active and she told
me she wanted me to set her up with a man from Idaho because she likes
cowboys. So mom if you know anybody, let me know. She only speaks
spanish and she says he has to be around 50.

We went to a place called Sunset Cliffs today, but I forgot my cord
for my camera so I will have to send pictures next week.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

Y'all know I take car selfies. Just sending this one because......well
I haven't sent a picture in a long time. We went to sunset cliffs
today and so I will send those pictures next week.