Elder Caden Kapp: Just Like Old Times

Hi Everyone!

This week was actually super great! We had a few meetings which were alright, and a lot of success with the work. So overall there's nothing to complain about, all is going well. So during the week we had a zone conference with Elder and Sister Wakolo, which was so great. Something that stood out that they talked about is what kind of missionary are we going to choose to be. We can be the missionaries who are happy, finding joy and love for the work. Or we can be the ones who find a negative in every little things. The choice is ours. And for me it's also how we live life. Are we going to negative and get lost in the troubles of the world, or will we enjoy this life that God has given us and make the most of it? At the end of the meeting, Elder Wakolo invited every companionship to find two new people to teach, and extend two baptism invitations before Friday meeting. Since my companion and I were flying down to Adelaide the next day, it meant we had less than 24 hours to do so. But for those who know me, I'm not one to back down, so we went for it.

This is probably one of the bigger miracles from the week. After zone conference we went to our flat and prayfully decided which of our friends would benefit most from the invitation to be baptized. The ones we felt strongest about were all from part member families. The first was Jamika. She's around 11-12 and her mom and grandparents who she lives with are members. She's come to church a few times and recently has really opened up to us. So we go over and have a lesson with her family and invite her and she said yes! To celebrate we played a game with her and her sister with the Australian football.

The second and third people we chose was a couple who's kids are members from Mulgabore, but they and their grandkids are not. Their names are Natalie and Angelo. They've been put on date before but weren't too sure if they really wanted to. So we went and taught their family. From this lesson their grandkids sat in so that's where our new friends came from. As we taught Natalie and Angelo we had their kids talk about their baptism and how it's helped them. Then to our surprise Angelo raises his hand and says, "I would like to be baptized." Okay that's one, and what about Natalie? She says she wants to but she wants to learn more, we said perfect our next baptism service is December 7. She said that date would work for her.

For me this shows how important the work of the Lord is. Nothing is going to stop it. It will move forward and miracles will continue to come depending on the faith of us. And by us I mean all who are baptized. Because didn't we covenant to do missionary work as members? Oh we sure did! And thank goodness we did because it is the greatest work on this Earth. So why wouldn't we want to be part of it?

Another huge miracle was with our friend Christina who's on date for baptism. We show up to her house and she's outside for our lesson. We walk up and she just seemed off. We ask how she's feeling and she told us sad and said she was thinking about her mother who had passed away. Man, I'm telling you the mission makes you soft because this really made me sad seeing her so sad. But it went away because I thought of God's plan for us and talked to her about it. She remembered what we talked about in previous lessons and her countenance changed. We ask her after talking for bit how she was doing and she said much better. So we shared our lesson and she accepted everything. We left feeling happy but what brought more to our happiness was the text we got from Christina about 20 minutes later. She said God showed her this scripture after we left and it was a confirmation for her. The scripture was Alma 7:14. Go read it and you'll know why it brought us much joy. We're so excited and happy for Christina, she truly is one ready to deeper her relationship with our Savior.

Okay now the travel. We left Wednesday to Adelaide for an in person MLC with Elder and Sister Wakolo on Thursday. We made our flight and flew to Adelaide. Thursday we had a great meeting. In this meeting we broke off into four groups and each had a topic which we would present to the MLC after 25 minutes of planning on how to best help the mission with this topic. Our groups topic was baptism. We went off as a group and discussed on how we would increase baptisms in the mission. I was chosen to be the group leader and would present our ideas. I don't know if you've ever given a presentation in front of a general authority but man stressful. But it went good. After MLC we got dinner and then something super amazing happened. At the start of my mission I taught a guy named Wayne for a long time. My companion and I grew a strong relationship with him. And he still messages me, and while in Adelaide I had the chance to have a lesson with him and introduce him to the sister missionaries in the area. It was so good to catch up with him. He's definitely a lifelong friend. It was a visit I needed probably more than he did.

The next day we travelled back to Alice Springs and got to work. That evening we started exchanges with the Elders in Alice Springs. For exchange Elder Somerville came to our area with me. The exchanges went well. We saw a lot of people and had a bunch of friends and members come to the branch activity. Elder Somerville is a good missionary and I enjoyed the day with him.

Then to finish the week, Sunday was just jammed packed with lessons. We only had a few days in our area but the days we did had were stellar.

Spiritual Thought: Isaiah 24:5

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." This scripture shows the importance of having a restoration. Without it, we would be still lost not having the truth needed.

Well as always if you made it to the end then you're a real one. Love you all, talk to you next week!