June 21, 2016

Well this week was a crazy one! We had some pretty slow days and it
just started to get hotter and hotter and hotter. But we found a bunch
of people to teach and so that was a blessing!

Our investigator, Paola the daughter of our investigator that just got
baptized, likes church, but is always uncomfortable around us. But
when she found out my companion was from Argentina, she became an
angel. Turns out she loooooves Argentina. I keep telling my companion
I'm so mad because I'm not from Argentina haha :) that was a miracle
and she has been reading in the Book of Mormon more often. Patricia
told us she usually has to get Paola up and it always takes for ever,
but this Sunday, Paola woke her up! And Paola stayed out until 3am the
morning before (teenagers....they're a pain), but she still got up and
came to church!

Okay, so I'm going to tell you about the funny/horrible things that
happened to us this week. There was a bunch of bees outside our
apartment this week. Yesterday morning we found 4 bees in our
apartment! So we did our studies elsewhere. Later in the day, we saw a
bunch of smoke while we were driving and it was in the direction of
our apartment, so we thought our apartment burned down! (It didn't.)
then this morning we found out we have a flat tire, so today we are
emailing at pep boys because they always take foreverrrr. So that was
the past two crazy days we have had!

The fire....don't worry it's not as close as it looks. Btw I don't
think I told you, but we had a 5.0 earthquake a couple weeks ago at 1
in the morning and I didn't even wake up.....

The Bees....

I'm really grateful to be with Sister Castañino because she is
experiencing a lot of the feelings that I have experienced and been
able to overcome. It takes a lot of time and humility to change the
way you think, but it will get there. I'm super grateful to be able to
help her and to have her help me as well. I know feelings of failure
are just the worst and they really put you down and so I just want to
help her. Plus I get to speak soooo much Spanish!

Today our mission president asked us a question and I thought I'd
share my answer for Father's Day:  What do you love most about your
Heavenly Father?What I love about my Heavenly Father is how merciful
He is. He sent his Only Begotten Son because He is so merciful! In my
life, I have thought that Heavenly Father punishes us when we do
things wrong because I've always thought that everything we do has a
consequence, pero no es así con Dios. The things that happen to us are
trials of our faith. It has taken me a while to figure out the way
that God really is and now it has become what I love most about Him.
We make mistakes and sometimes there are natural consequences, but
with Heavenly Father, we can repent and He forgets those past
mistakes.

Love,
Hermana Lapp

June 14, 2016

Awesome family we are teaching!  Minus the parents, they were sleeping when we stopped by.

This week was a pretty great week! Patricia, our investigator, got
baptized! We had been meeting with her every day to get her ready for
her baptism and teach her everything and her testimony of the Book of
Mormon has been growing stronger and stronger and her faith has been
increasing! When she came out of the font, she was so happy and
crying. We stayed in the bathroom with her (She never wants us to
leave her sight sometimes, shes so funny!) and she changed in the
other stall and the whole time we could hear her crying! She loved
making that commitment to God. While we were having a lesson with her
she was talking about how special of a day baptism is and how she was
so excited and then she stopped and said "Well, I guess I can feel
that every Sunday when I take the sacrament.." I was blown away and
she said "Well, I am learning something Hermanas!" because she didn't
think she was going to know enough.  She was so so happy and she is
fellowshipping herself into the ward!

Patricia's Baptism!

We had another investigator come to church yesterday. Her name is
Rosy. she is a member referral and the first lesson we had with her we
brought the member and the member basically taught her about the
Restoration! It was super cool and the Hermana even invited her to
church and stayed after to talk after we left. She came to church all
three hours this Sunday with her 3 year old daughter. She went to
Sunday school and the members just took her in a were trying to teach
her. she had so many good questions! The coolest part is that we had
a ward party and she came with her dance team and danced a tradition
dance from Guadalajara. that was about a month ago more or less. ever
since then she has been interested in our church and is looking for
truth! So that was a super cool miracle that she showed up to church
on Sunday.

My New Companion!

Today was transfers and Sister Shields left. We had a lot of fun
together and worked really hard, but now its time for new changes. My
new companion, Sister Castañino,has come out of the Mormon Batallion
for 2 transfers (They get 2 transfers out of the vistors center) and
she is from Argentina! She learned english in the mission so I am
already learning sooo much more Spanish. She is also suuuper funny.
ITs gonna be a good transfer!


Hermana Lapp

The Familia

Our Ward Mission President

June 7, 2016

we had another visit from a 70, so we are a pretty lucky mission
these days! I learned so many things from Elder Hamula that I have been
attempting to apply here this past week. Every time I make a mistake I try
to think "I am not perfect like the savior, but next time I will try to be
more like him." We learned so much about taking on the saviors identity and
becoming more like him. One thing I have talked about often as a struggle
throughout my mission is talking to people that I don't know. I learned
that Jesus loved everybody, he loved literally every person He came in
contact with. I want that! I have been struggling with that lately, just
being able to love everyone that I want to talk to everyone! I included
that in my fast this sunday and have been trying to think about what the
Savior would do. I wear His name always and it is my charge to become more
like him so I am learning to love the things that the natural man doesn't
want me to love. Changing is something that we should do everyday as
disciples of Christ, but especially as His full time representatives, so I
thought I'd share that changing moment in my life!

This week we have been seeing miracles. We have that investigator that the
stake clerk couldn't find her records so we invited her to be baptized and
she will be baptized this Saturday! Her name is Patricia and she is truly
becoming converted to The Lord and His gospel. We have been following up
with her visually daily and it has been really helping. She is reading and
praying everyday and thinking about her baptism. She is receiving
revelation during sacrament meeting! She is really progressing towards her
baptism and it is such a tender mercy to see. As we continue to invite
people to be baptized in every lesson, I know we will see more miracles
like this one. She is also one of the funniest people I know and I love her
so much! We had FHE with a family in the ward and I told her that she wasnt
going to win at the quick game of hot potato we played before we left the
FHE. She was like Oh yes I am and she beat me!!!!! SHe was so proud of
herself....oh man....the other day she lost her cat because we  came over
and so her husband accidentally opened the door too wide....so we helped
her get her cat back! She took off her shoes and everything and was running
all over the place.

 Transfers are coming and I'm always nervous for transfers becuase I know
change is coming, but I'm really excited as well. I think I've really
learned on my mission through transfers that the Lords will is the best
will and I know that my next companion will be the perfect one for me at
that time, just as I've learned this one was and this area as well! We are
not for sure that there willl be a change, but most likely there will be. I
just know how much the Lord has us in the right place at the Right time and
when Elder Hamula spoke to us he said , "If there is no one for you to find
that is ready for the Gospel, then you wouldnt be where you are". Wow, that
is so true becuase people that I have taught will someday accept the
gospel!

It was 117 this week and I thought that I was going to die, but its all
good! Everybody is running everywhere because they are always in a hurry to
get inside! Its hot, but I feel like that is my trial, you know? I didnt go
to africa and get a parasite, so I had to come to Calexico and burn! Its
great though and through all this heat we see miracles. Speaking of foreign
countries, I basically live in Mexico. I got out of the shower this morning
and noticed tiny little wormies in the shower! I screamed and told my
companion so we started looking around and saw tiny little wormies
everywhere! We thought maybe we were nasty people and so we took out the
trash and went to ask the elders and they said that they had tiny little
wormies too! So we talked to the manager and  he said they were larvae that
are produced from the humidity. (not sure if we got that right because he
said it in spanish). So we did a little fumigation while we were gone and
we came home to a bunch of dead wormies. I am still grossed out.

Well, I love being a missionary and I love the opportunity to serve My Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ! He is the best and has taken care of me all these
years and I want to help others to understand that He is taking care of
them too! I love doing that, it is truly bringing happiness to my life.
Being a missionary hasnt been easy, in fact it is the hardest thing that I
have ever done but it is the thing I have loved doing the most at this time
in my life.

Love,
Hermana Lapp