Samoan Bible Study

  The most happiest Monday to you all! I hope you all had the very best week ever. My week was so amazing. To start the week we had exchanges. And I stayed in TTG with the last Elder who served here (Elder Campbell). So we went to work and got a lot done. It was a great exchange. And then we have Wednesday, the main event. We had a lesson with the sisters and their friend who they were teaching who had a lot of deep doctrine and flat out wild questions. So he and I talked for two hours while everyone else watched and listened haha. But we cleared everything up and they ended up giving him to us to teach. His name is Bryn, and he's pretty cool. 

   We also had zone conference this week which was amazing. It was a about the spirit. This week we also had a couple lessons with our friend Margeret which went very good. She came to church on Sunday and loved it. We also had a couple other great lessons with some of our other friends. Sadly we only had like one day in where we could door knock. But just too busy. Then on Friday night we had one of the coolest experiences on my mission so far. We got invited by our neighbor who is Samoan to come over to his place for a Bible study with others from their religion. So we invited someone from our church and us three went over to a house full of Samoans. The Bible study was such an amazing experience. They were all very welcoming and asked for our comments. And then as prompted by the spirit, I did something outrageous. I pulled out my handy dandy Book of Mormon and read from it. A room full of big ol' Samoans staring me down, BUT they loved it! We talked about it and it was so great. And afterwards we had a big feast of KFC and Pizza and whatever else they could get their hands on. We're invited again next week which I'm so stoked about. They were so loving and kind towards us. It was such an amazing experience.

   My spiritual thought this week is from Come Follow Me. 2 Corinthians 1:4, "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." I love this scripture so much and I've definitely seen it in action while being out on my mission. 

   This week was one of my favorites on my mission by far. Yes I'm probably missing a lot in this email about things that happened. But it was so great. Sorry for any spelling errors or if things don't make sense, I'm writing this on a busy, bouncy, bus. Dang that sounds like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book haha. Well I hope you all have an amazing week filled with great memories. Thanks for all the love and support as always. I love you all, talk to you next week.

Exchanges

Teaching with Dave

Oops! Wrong Church

Zone Conference

Biking, Drunks, and more

   Happy 1 month in Tea Tree Gully. Let me tell you, this month has absolutely flown by. And I've been loving every minute of this area. Especially this last week because it has some pretty crazy stuff. First exciting news, I biked! For those who don't know, I needed a new tube but they wouldn't give me one because of my collarbone. BUT, I had enough. So you know what I did? Got our big ol pump, pumped up the tire. Went out to an appointment that was hecka far away in the hills on the worst weather day of the week with pouring rain and wind. And took my pump in one hand the whole way. Had to pump up the tube like 8 times, but we did it. Woohoo!!!

   Interesting thing number 2: the drunk. So I've come across drunk people left and right here. Drinking is like a religion in Australia. So we're at the bus exchange to catch a bus, it's around 4:00, a couple hundred people. And then out of the hundred I was chosen out by this drunk native lady. She was the definition of tipsy. She was all over the place and came up right to me just yelling for everyone to see. Lasted like 10 minutes of me just standing there not even moving until our bus finally came. I just told her she needed help and to drink lots of water haha. 

   On a more spiritual note we had some amazing lessons this week. Two with Margeret and some with some other of our friends. It's such a spiritual high when you are able to come out of a lesson with someone progressing. One of the greatest joys. We also did some service for a couple of ward members. Just some gardening, moving and installing a water tank, and moving gravel. Fun fun stuff. 

   Now the little stuff that made me happy. We joined the Stake choir for Stake conference. Had practice which was pretty fun. I also caught two lizards this week. And saw a koala and some kangaroos. We also went to a park with a whiteboard and had people write what/who they love. Super cool and fun experience. And lastly, door knocking this week was one of my favorites of my mission. We just were able to talk to so many people and it just made me happy.

   Now for my little spiritual message. We read this in church and I absolutely loved it, "I will never forget you,” with these words: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." Dang isn't that amazing. It's just such an amazing thought to think that Jesus Christ will never ever forget us. But how often do we forget him? Yes we don't have scars from nails on our hands, but how could we forget someone so amazing and loving? He literally died for each of us. So crazy to think someone loves us enough to go through all of that. Very comforting if you asked me.🤓

   Well another week has come and gone. Couldn't do it without all of you. All the love and support I have is out of this world. Thank you for all that each of you has done for me. I love you all and miss you heaps. Have an amazing week. And keep in touch, I love hearing from you all.

-Elder Kapp

 Y.O.L.O.

Biking

Some Roo

Random Folks

I saw the sign (after)

Australia

20 Laps Around the Sun

    I'm finally not a teenager!!! Dang that's weird. Definitely doesn't feel like it haha. Anywho, this week was pretty decent. We got to do family history with Elder and Sister Sant. That was loads of fun. Then we were able to have two lessons with our friend Margeret. She's been progressing great, the only problem is she's scared of change. We've taught her everything now, we just need her to love the church. We also had a great lesson with our friend John which was great. He's open to meeting with us but he really likes to talk so these visits go a long time. Other than that our teaching pool is shrinking quick. Everyone's dropping left and right. 

   On a brighter note we were also able to do service this week for a couple of members in our ward. One was for the Duffields and it was just weeding, and same for a less active member. And then for another member their garage ceiling collapsed so we helped them fix that and put a new one up. Oh and they have a son who's like 24 and we got to hear about and help him with his girl drama. I'm telling you, I'm literally the love doctor haha. Jokes. 

   Then with that we just had laughs here and there which really helped the week. Oh also, our bus driver forgot to stop at the bus exchange so it got on these like rail road tracks for buses going 90kilometers and we ended up in Morialta. Oops. Had to hurry get on a bus and get back to our area. And then yesterday, we went to visit someone we're teaching and it was just a 45 min bible bash. BUT, I won😏...I'm still loving my area loads, just working on loving the people in my area a little more;).

   A little spiritual thought I have is on the greatest spiritual gift, which is charity. Charity means something different to each person, but no matter what, if we don't have charity then we can not have true joy. Joy comes from love if we like it or not. So just love, and we can be happy:).

   Well I love you all! Thanks for an amazing 20 years and for all the birthday wishes. I'll talk to y'all next week, have a great week!

Family History

Morialta

Just a reminder that I'm in Australia

Elder Santos

Birthday

What the Hail!

  The weirdest thing, it hailed this week. It's the closest thing we'll get to snow. What a way to start the week. This week was good. So Monday a lot of the zone got together at the chapel and we played basketball and volleyball. Probably the most fun volleyball I've played in a long time. This zone is pretty lit. Definitely the party zone. Then the day ended with me getting my butt kicked in Cover Your Assets. I've been humbled. 

   This week we had some service which has been awesome. One was supposed to be with the sisters. Crazy amount of weeding. But the sisters didn't show up. It was their service! Two hours of weeding and they got busy with a member. They called us when we were back at our flat saying they'd be at the service soon... too late. Oh whale 🐋. Then, on Saturday we helped this lady in the ward move. Let me tell you, the collarbone was feeling it when we had to move a literal shed. But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Gotta live in the moment right? Haha😅

   This week we had a couple of amazing lessons with Margaret. She also came to church and loved it. So happy with her. And then we had a couple of other lessons also. And found some people door knocking. I literally LOVE door knocking here!!! People are either like oh my gosh let's talk (not really but you get the point), or get the "bleep" [insert word of your choice] off my porch. I honestly laugh getting yelled at. Like I think it's funny someone is yelling at two people offering them salvation for FREE. At least we tried haha.

   Some random events from the week, Sister Epinisa left😭. Gonna miss her but she'll do great in her actual mission in Tahiti. I gotta play with a dog door knocking who was absolutely adorable. #GoMe. Yep that's where my mentality is at. OH, we walked in the hills one day, just the bottom and saw kangaroos. That was cool. Wish we had a car to go to the rest of the area. Other than that nothing new. Just chillen. 

   Little spiritual thought, we have been given commandments to love others, BUT we have not been given commandments to be loved by others. 

   Well I hope you all have been absolutely loving life. If not then that sucks. Love it. As always thanks for the emails, I love them. Have a great week, talk to you next week!

Roos

Service

My area

Sunsets

District

Week 1 in Tea Tree Gully

  I got through the first week of Tea Tree Gully. It was an exhausting week let me tell you. First things first, the sad goodbye to the district. P-day was good except the whole goodbye part. It was sad saying goodbye to some of my closest friends, but I knew it would happen. They are great missionaries and will continue to kill it. Can't wait to serve with them again. And then transfers happened! I'm companions with Elder Orr. He's from Idaho so he grew up on a farm. I also got to drive for an hour through the hills and highways. Driving on the left side isn't too weird anymore. 

   Wednesday we got to meet the rest of our district. And it's a small one again!!! I'm very happy about that. It's just us two Elders and three sisters. But sister Epinisa got her visa so she leaves this Saturday. But I think it'll be good transfer.

   A little about our area is it's huge. But we don't have a car so we can't visit 3/5 of it because it would take a 4 hour walk in the hills. And buses don't go out there. So as of right now we're working around us. But it's still huge. My focus this week has been meeting as many members and people being taught. We have a lot of lessons set up for next week so I'm very excited about that. Oh and the members here feed us way more than Morialta. We had four dinners last week. And four more this week. 

   So the ward here is really small compared to Morialta. My last ward had 150ish active, this one has 40-50ish. But I honestly already love the ward. They're super good. And have been super nice to us. I honestly already love this area so much. The only hard thing is the lack of people being taught by past missionaries. But we found a lot for next week so not super stressed about that. It's going to be a good transfer.

   A little spiritual thought that hit so hard is from the movie Coco, and no I didn't watch it but someone said it in their talk: "Remember me, though I have to say goodbye, remember me, don't let it make you cry, for even if I'm far away, I hold you in my heart..." I love these lyrics. Because it made me think, how do people remember me? Am I leaving an impact on those I meet? On those back home? On those I serve with? It's such a great reminder to make sure we're being remembered for the right things. 

   Well I hope you have have the most stellar of weeks. I'm trying to catch up on my emails so bare with me. I love you all and thanks for everything!

District part 1

District Part 2

New District

Tea Tree Gully

Welcoming committee

Sunset

I'm Leaving Morialta!

    Hallelujah it happened, I'm leaving Morialta!!! Holy dang are my emotions all over the place. I'm so happy to move and get change, but so sad to leave the ward. But very excited to serve in Tea Tree Gully. Plus I'll be training again so I'm excited about that. But about the week... 

   We played netball on Monday which was sick. And also we've been teaching nine people English class which has been awesome. This last week we taught four people who are brand new to Australia the alphabet. Oh man were they a hoot. It was honestly so fun I loved it. Also we had games night again this last week and that was a blast. We didn't have as many as people as last week but still had like twenty so we were pretty happy with it. We played some chair soccer which I'm a pro at and then volleyball. 

   This week we were able to see a lot of members which was amazing. A lot of them have come a long way which has been a blessing to see. We also had some amazing lessons with our friends we've been teaching. It's sad to leave them but I'm happy to see where the gospel takes them. 

   Then on Sunday was pretty sad. I had to day goodbye to the best ward ever. I'm truly going to miss the Morialta ward. It was sad and filled with lots of hugs and handshakes (for the sisters);). And Wayne came to the end of church to say goodbye. But I'm excited to start in a new ward and leave my mark there.

   My spiritual thought is a scripture found in Alma. It's Alma 5:26 and it says, "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" I absolutely love that question, "Can ye feel so now?" This scripture is about having a change of heart and having charity. That's what we need to obtain salvation with our loved ones. So can you feel that change and feel that love? I love that.

   Well the new adventure starts. I'm very excited and am so lucky to have all of y'all. If you need anything please let me know. Love you all!

Ice Cream

Brother Catalini

Wayne

Ramsays

Bye Morialta

Hike, Games Night, and Much More

 Buenos días my amigos. Another week in the books. And what a week it was. Transfer calls got moved to this Saturday. If you haven't, pray I leave. Jokes, sort of, not really a joke. I love Morialta and the ward is family but time to get a move on. But whatever the Lord wants am I right? But this week was beast so let's get into it...

   Monday, was a great pday. We went on a hike with most of the district (sorry Morialta sisters). That was seriously so much fun. The senior couples invited us and we saw lots of roos and it was just so pretty. Then after the zone came to our chapel and we played volleyball and some pickleball. And then to end the night we had to have an Elder who's finished his mission with us for a couple of hours and as a reward the assistants took us all to Hotpot. And that was pretty dang good. 

   Then Tuesday started off good. We saw some of my favorite members in the morning so that was great. And then I had my x-rays. And let's just say we were hoping it would be a lot better. Oops. Haha no, the doctor said its starting to heal right. Sister Knight and I thought it would be more stitched up. Oh whale🐳. After that we went finding and that was great. Then we had dinner with the Bramfords!!! My favorite members! That was super great as always. And after that we went to the youth activity and I killed the teachers in chair soccer. So a pretty good day if you ask me.

   Wednesday was just full of meetings and service for families in our ward. We also had a great lesson with our friend David which was beast. Then Thursday we had English class which was great. And we had a lesson with them afterwards. And we had a couple more lessons and door knocked. Then Friday was mostly service for the mission. They are going to stop using four storage sheds so a couple of elders went out and moved stuff for a couple of hours. Sister Knight was in charge so if I hurt my collarbone more it's on her. After that we had game night and had 40 people show up! It was absolutely insane. I was so pumped. And then to finish the night we started our exchange with the Firle Elders. I had Elder Ginn come to Morialta with me.

   Saturday was super great with Elder Ginn. We saw a bunch of members, had some great finding, and were just able to see a ton of people. It was super great. And then Sunday the sister's friend Grace got baptized. She's the one who told me I'm the most handsome man she's ever seen. Funny how all these older women like me. But the baptism was super good. We had our friend Wayne come to it and he loved it. Then after we saw some members and had a lesson. 

   This week was a good one for sure. It was fun and I was happy. I tried to focus a lot on the daily miracles and that was a huge help. Just being able to see the Lord's hand in my everyday activities. Something I thought about this week was one of great commandments. Which is to love your neighbor. While door knocking I get frustrated with people a lot. Like I'm trying to save them, they have the easy part of just saying yes. But I've learned that we have to let them use their agency and love them regardless. And that's just a super important lesson on charity I've realized more this last week.

   Well my family and friends, I sure do love y'all. I have the best support system I could have ever asked for. Thank you for all you do for me. Even just the little things make the biggest difference for me. Have a great week! Love y'all!!!

   -Elder Kapp

Hike

More hike

Roos

Bramfords

Hotpot

Game night