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