Monday, October 2, 2023

Hey! I added a subject on this one!!!

  Happy Australia Labor day everyone! Totally forgot to add a subject to my last email. Oops. Oh whale 🐋. This week was pretty epic. I'm seriously loving every second of this area. Even the depressed people who don't want joy, I even love them! Crazy right? Anywho this one is going to be a doozy. So to start off, Tuesday. We had an amazing lesson with Margaret, just working with her towards getting baptized. And then we went to a members house and gave him a blessing, so that was neat. Then we visited heaps of people and had dinner with the Duffields. *Spoiler Alert* This last week we had dinner appointments all but Saturday. #Blessed. Anywho so that was good. 

   Then Wednesday we had district council as usual, but at the bus stop we met this super sweet lady who gave us her number to meet with her. That was fun. Then we had a lesson with our good friend Stephan who's a paid pastor for his church. It's just like nice Bible bashes. But he just spits basic doctrine so I feel like I'm owning him. In a nice loving way of course. Anywho, then after that we door knocked and had dinner with my favorites, the Hanns. Ok now onto Thursday. So in the morning we went to seminary and helped with that. And got breakfast so that was a plus. But it was loads of fun. Definitely don't remember the doctrinal mastery scriptures haha. Then later we had a lesson with Margaret. She's still doing well and is getting ready for baptism. Then we saw some friends and an old member who was obsessed with his Korean show. We wouldn't watch it so he wad giving us play by play. Sweet old guy though. Then we met with some less activities and had dinner with some members. That was a blast. They have two younger boys who love to talk. 
   Onto the weekend, Friday, we had a good lesson with our good friend Robin. He was taught in the past but stopped coming to church because of past missionaries. So hopefully we can fix that haha. Silly gooses. But then we had another lesson with our friend John. He's doing good, just doesn't want to come to church. But we'll fix that. Then we door knocked and then to finish the night we...
   Had our Samoan Bible study! I love going to this. There was a lot more Samoans and reminder they belong to a different religion, but it still didn't stop me from whipping out my Book of Mormon. Then we had a feast of pizza, KFC (obviously), and heaps of other foods like hard boiled eggs, breads and then they gave me islander cereal. I was so nervous to try it. But I took a nice big spoon full with everyone watching and choked it down. It's water, rice, raw coco beans, and some cream. It tastes like coffee. We had to call our islander sisters after to make sure we didn't break the word of wisdom. But at dinner they wouldn't stop putting food on the plate. I felt so bloated after. But they're so loving and kind. 
   Ok ok on to Saturday, if you're still reading haha. Today literally no one was home and everyone was watching the Australia Football championship. So door knocking wasn't very good. Not too much to note for this day. But Sunday we had Margeret and a new member Ben come to church!!! We were so happy!!! Ben shared such a strong testimony. Oh I probably should mention, because we are ahead a day, our general conference isn't until next week). After church we had an amazing lesson with our friends Matt and Abby. And then saw more families we've been trying to see forever. And after had a great time door knocking, when I saw like 12 rabbits and was determined to catch one. When all of a sudden I hear this, "What are you so happy about?" My response: "I'm spreading the good news about Jesus Christ, why wouldn't I be happy." We ended up taking to this old guy for a while and he asked us to see us again. But he was lost and didn't know his address so time to start knocking that area to find him. After that we had dinner with Tony Bright and his family. This was the guy with all the birds. We had seafood and it was amazing. But after dinner we were late for our mission zoom call and my phone was dead, so we sprinted a literal mile back to the flat and made it. 
   This week was so amazing. Some side things, I petted a chicken and held a lizard. We found a pond in our area that had a lot of birds. We met a guy on the bus who played at Kansas college when Kobe played. He was super tall and had the biggest hands ever. I gave him a pamphlet so we'll see.
   Anywho sorry for the novel, my little spiritual thought is this thought that has come across my mind a lot: "How can I be an answer to someone else's prayers?" Like people say this to me and I'm like how? I'm a person and no one major, but that's the best part. We are everyday people who can make the biggest difference. Isn't that pretty neat? I thought so. There was also this quote I heard this week said from Ben at church, it was "In order to have sunshine, we must have the rain." So true. 
   Well I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! Keep on killing it with whatever you do. Thanks again for all the support and love!

Nature

Sunday Dinner

Hey look it's me

Oooo A Lizard

Hello little roo


Monday, September 25, 2023

Guess Who???

   Guess who??? It's your favorite missionary! Unless I'm not then we have a big problem on our hands. But we'll save that for later haha. ALSO, a lot of people back home has had the impression that I am quiet or shy. Well let me tell you that there is not a single soul in Australia that thinks that. And for those of you who believe I am quiet, then consider yourself fact checked and know you are wrong. Anywho let's begin.

   I hope you all has an amazing week!!! I, myself, had a great week. I love this area so stinken much. Loads of good things happened this week. Probably our biggest highlight is with our friend Margeret. She accepted the invitation to be baptized! We're so excited for her. Some other great things that have happened was we had an amazing lesson with our friend Bryn. He really enjoys our visits and invitations. And then also we had a lesson with our friend John. And he's an older fellow who's always looking out for us. He also gets visits from the Jehovah Witnesses so we got some relationships to break. Just kidding of course😅. Anywho... we also had some great success seeing people who were taught in the past and getting lessons scheduled for this next week. Very very excited to see what comes from that.
   On a more goofing off note, I made a lemonade slushy this week with the lemons from our huge lemon tree in our back yard. We also tried the tiktok jelly fruit thinga. Those were actually amazing. Elder Santos and I are getting pretty dang good at our duos in volleyball. Sadly he finishes his mission in two transfers. Oh whale 🐋 that's life. On a different note, we didn't see any kangaroos this week😔... PSYCH, we saw heaps. I love this place. Welllll on another totally different note, we had transfer calls, but of course I'm staying. Looks like I'll be stuck in an area for another 8 months🙄. Haha just kidding, I'm super happy I get to stay. I absolutely love this area.
   The little spiritual thought I have is we shouldn't be enduring to the end, but enjoying to the end. Make life fun and enjoyable. 
   Well I hope you all have a most stellar week. I sure do love you all and love your emails. Keep 'em coming. Thanks for everything!
   -Elder Kapp

We busen

The district

Love the sunsets

Cinnamon,Cinnamon,don't forget the Cinnamon

Can't forget the roos


Monday, September 18, 2023

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


Monday, September 11, 2023

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


Monday, September 4, 2023

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


Monday, August 28, 2023

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


Monday, August 21, 2023

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


HOME!!!