Monday, November 13, 2023

My Third born in The Wilderness

   First week done with Elder Shum. And let me tell you, it was a pretty stellar week. So Tuesday was transfers and Elder Carr dropped off Elder Shum and took Elder Orr. And then there were two. So first day we went out and door knocked off the start. And that actually went pretty good. Elder Shum is willing to jump right in it, and its been so great to see. 

   Wednesday we had district council with our new beast district. Then after we saw a lot of people and then had lessons with our friends Anna and then Theo. So pretty beast day. Then on Thursday we had two amazing lessons with our friends John and then our friend Will. Then after we knocked doors which was super beast. Then we went to visit some members and past people being taught. Friday was probably my biggest struggle day in the mission. Elder Shum hadn't broken in his shoes and got this huge blisters. So our mission nurse grounded us for the day. So we studied, literally all day. And then called a ton of people until we called everyone possible. But that evening we had a dinner with a family in the ward. And then after that we had our Samoan Bible Study. Now I was able to bring a Samoan with me so that was nice. But with that, I'm now the only white person in the room. But it was good and then after they made us eat more food. KFC to be exact. 
   Saturday was our grind day. We had a lesson in the morning at the chapel with our friends Gihad and Tom. That went super beast. Then after we had a service where we put down heaps of mulch and then planted trees. Pretty fun service not gonna lie. After that we saw some more friends and later in the evening we had a lesson with our friend Stephen. And to close the night, the park by has had heaps of food trucks, so you know we had to stop by. 10/10 it was so good.
   Then Sunday we had church and most of the ward was gone so Elder Shum didn't get to meet too many people. Then we had our weekly planning which went awhile. Had to walk Elder Shum through everyone. Then we had some visits and went to the Neave's for dinner. Very classy, we had our non alcoholic red and white wine (just sparkling cider but dang was it fancy. Video on my google photos.) Then we ate heaps of good food. So I went home happy happy. 
   A little spiritual thought I had was just that no one said following Jesus Christ would be easy, just that it would be worth it. If we have our eyes on him, then we can't get lost in the bad and negative things of life. 
   Well everyone, I hope you have a great week. As always, thank you for everything. Today I hit 11 months, so I'll see you all in just over a year. Love you all, talk to you next week!

Proud Dad

At the food trucks

Elder Shum

Lunch with the district

Good food


Monday, November 6, 2023

God Has a Sense of Humor

   Guess what time it is??? Weekly email time!!! Woohoo! If you want to know about the title of the email, it's about transfers later in the email. Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing great. This week was all over the place, but we ended on a high note. For starters, last pday was pretty great. We played heaps of volleyball and painted shoes. Did I mix up American and Australian sizes? Maybe. But will I still wear them? Absolutely haha. 

   Then for Tuesday, we had a couple of lessons which went good. We door knocked some and ended up visiting some members. So overall it was a pretty alright day. Wednesday we tried to visit heaps of friends and were striking out left and right. Finally we hit a foul ball by just getting the door opened. So we had lots of time to door knock, in which we found more people to teach. Then we visited one of our members and he was dressed up as Santa and asked us to take a picture with him. It made him happy and now I have a picture with Santa in Australia. So a win, win situation. After that we had a lesson with Tunui which he's still doing awesome. And then one with his neighbor Stephen who's super nice. Then to close the day, we had our last District Council with this District. 
   Thursday was ok. We had a lot of appointments fall through. So we door knocked heaps but nothing too exciting came from that. But we had a lesson with John which went very well and very long. Boy does he like to chat. And then to end the day we started an exchange with the Zone Leaders. Elder Cardiff came here to TTG with me. Man was it needed. So Friday, our exchange was beast. We had a service in the morning so can't hate that. And then we had a lesson with our friend David. That went super well and he's started to keep commitments! Super stoked about that. And then we had lessons with some struggling members and those went amazing. We then got in contact with some of our friends and were able to talk a little and set up some appointments. And then we door knocked a bit which was great. After that we had a lesson with Margaret and Elder and Sister Sant joined. And let me tell you, that lesson was beast. Margaret is doing amazing still and is loving the church. So that was great. And then to close the night we had another lesson with our friend Va'a who has us over for Bible study. But we were able to talk to him about the Book of Mormon. And that went good, he wants us back again. So yeah, the exchange was beast. 
   Then to close the week, Saturday, we had a lesson in the morning which went amazing. And then service after for this other person. Then we helped a member put up shelves and went to some lessons after that. We had a very long lesson with this guy who doesn't want more than the Bible. But he was willing to listen to us, we shared a lot of Bible Verses and now he wants us back. So we'll see how that goes. Then we had some more lessons that went actually really good. And then Sunday we had Stake Conference and I was in the choir for it so I had to sing. But it was a super good conference. After we cleaned for our flat inspection because it was pushed back 4 days. And then we visited people and when we went to leave, our neighbor pulled up and offered to give us a ride to the bus stop. He had his son in the car and was very nice. A little miracle. And then we door knocked up to the baptism our ward had for one of the members. It was super cool to attend that. And then later that night we had transfers...
   Now the moment you've waited for, will Elder Kapp spend a year in the mission in just two areas, or will he be transferred? The answer... I'm staying and TRAINING AGAIN!!! MY THIRD GREENY! And guess what, there's only three in the intake. So yeah that happened. God really does have a sense of humor. Guess we'll see what happens.
   A little spiritual thought is when we put full trust in the Lord, he'll bless and help us greatly. Even if we can't see where it'll lead, he has a plan and we need to trust that plan. 
   Well again I love you all. I hope you have the greatest week! Talk to you next week.

Santa!!!

Elders

My bestie (aka Margaret's dog)

Elders building

Stake Choir




Monday, October 30, 2023

Shake and Bake

    Happy Halloween everyone! Even though I hate the holiday, I hope y'all enjoy it. This week was crazy good. A lot happened and so many miracles. And we had zone conference so can't complain about that. Anywho a couple of good from the week, numero one, we had such an amazing visit with our friends Matt and Abi. They're a younger couple with two little girls and asked if we'd come over for dinner. And then after dinner we has a great lesson and we're able to connect with them super well. They were super nice and very welcoming. That was probably my highlight of the week. It made me very happy. 

   Another great thing that happened was a Bible study we had with another young couple. They had us over late Friday and the topic we picked for the study was our purpose to life on Earth. So they shared some chapters, I shared some. And it was going great. And at the conclusion, the husband just asked to learn about our church. So we gave him the run down of the restoration and they were super nice and open about it. It was another super great experience. 
   Then on Saturday we had a couple of services. One in the morning doing gardening on like a ten foot ledge. So that was exciting. Then later in the day we went to a members who's wife just left on a trip and he's redoing her studio room. So we had to move like a ton of stuff. And then we tore up the carpet and everything. It wad a good service and a lot of fun. 
   The rest of the week was just busy with lessons and member visits. And an occasional door knocking sesh here and there. This was one of my favorite weeks in the area. Oh and also, I got my final X-Rays and everything is looking good. On a down note, once again my mission sister left. But we'll serve around each other again. But yeah it was a good week. 
   The little spiritual thought I have is from Ether chapter 2 and 3. This is when the Brother of Jared is trying to find ways to light their ships. What he did was come up with ideas and ask the Lord which was right. And I love that because we can sometimes just go straight to the Lord and ask what to do. But in reality, we need to do our part and present him with ideas that we tried. Then based on our efforts, he'll help and guide us.
   Well thank you again for everything y'all do. I hope y'all have a good week. Love you all, talk to ya next week.
-Elder Kapp


My favorite painting

Shake and Bake

Gotta teach everyone

Bye Sister Mataiti

Matt and Abi

Spider


Monday, October 23, 2023

Party in the TTG

 What's good my familia and friends? This week was pretty stellar. Soooo to start off, we played volleyball on Monday. That was pretty fun. On Tuesday we had loads of appointments with members and also a couple of lessons so can't complain about that. Then Wednesday after district council, we bussed to go see a member and while on the way we talked to this uni student and got his contact to start teaching him. That was a pretty big miracle for us. And then the member we saw was Ben. He got baptized last January and has been doing good. After that we had a lesson with our friend John who loves to talk. We can never be there for a short time. 

   Not a whole lot happened Thursday, but the stuff that did happen was amazing. We had service for a part member family in our ward. Mind you this was the hottest day of the week. But totally worth it. They were very grateful and even invited us to share a message after. From then we went door knocking and had a lesson with our friend Tunui. He's someone we found twoish weeks ago and is so cool. Our last lesson went absolutely amazing and we've been able to form a great bond with him. Then we went to the church to meet Margaret and the senior couples in charge of family history to get her an account set up and to help find her names for the temple. That went great. She actually already had information from someone else so that was a blessing to see. And she was taught how to do family history and loved it. It was such a great experience and overall an amazing day. 
   Friday was also a pretty good day. We had a couple of member visits and lessons during the day. And were able to find people door knocking so can't complain there. And then we went to a members for dinner and holy crap I have never been fed so much food. Super sweet of her and it was amazing. But I literally made myself throw up after because I felt so unhealthy. Then onto Saturday which was just packed with lessons so that was a good day. And then Sunday was good with a couple of lessons, and door knocking.
   Overall this week was great and I absolutely love this area so much. A little spiritual thought is from Elder Bednar's talk. It's important to do the little things and be the background character who makes the big difference. People might not recognize it but the Lord will. And that's what counts.
   Well I love you all and hope you have a stellar week. If you're bored email or write me, I appreciate it.

Yo check out the Google photos and join it to get the updates of the nidy gridy. 

Tunui

Minion

The goods


Think Celestial


Monday, October 16, 2023

Big ol' Brown Snake

 Hello to all my family and friends! How have you all been? So fun fact about the title of this email, you all know Australia is known for it's deadly creatures and stuff? Well one of the worst is the Brown Snake. Guess what I almost stepped on this week?! They aren't too happy of creatures I can tell you that. We were walking to a lesson and I was looking at Google Maps for directions and next thing I know, my comp is stopping me from stepping on this huge deadly snake. So yeah, that happened. 

   Besides the snake, this week was actually super beast. If I've said it once, I've said it a million of times, I love this area so much! The first thing that made this week amazing was I got to door knock! I was so so happy. We had a lot of appointments fall through, so we were able to door knock heaps. And let me tell you, when one door closes, another one opens. We were able to find so many people this week door knocking. It was such a miracle. One of the people specifically was Tom. He was one who was like, "I'm busy come back Friday." Not a lot of hope there. BUT, we showed up Friday and he was so happy to see us. We talked for about an hour and he had some amazing questions about what we were teaching. So excited to see what comes from the visits. 

 The second amazing miracle was Robin. So a little back story, the sisters there said there was this older guy in their area who used to take lessons, but because of missionaries he rejoined his old church. What silly gooses. But they said they think I could connect with him and to give it a try. So we called and scheduled a time to see him and when we showed up... nothing. Oh what a bummer. We tried calling and nothing. But a few days later we get this call and it's Robin! He felt awful about what happened, he was reading the Book of Mormon the day of our lesson and fell asleep. So he made sure to see us that day. And let me say, he and I connected so well! He had questions that were really on his mind that I was able to answer. And he was so happy with the visit and asked us to come back next week. That was a huge miracle.

 Some side miracles, we had an amazing lesson with John, Margaret who is still doing amazing and has a day set to go to the temple. And then we had a couple more lessons with some of our other friends. This week was joyful for me. 

 Now the random stuff: First, we had service for a ward member this week. Doing lots of yard work and what not. There was this crazy guy on the bus who was telling us about how wrong religion is and his times in the crazy people care place. I almost burnt down our flat by accident. I was cooking fish on a pan in the oven, and it looked funny and when I opened the door, flames just shot out. The whole pan was on fire. So we threw it on the ground and smothered it with dish towels. Almost started the second round of burning down Australia. But on a positive food story, I made my mom's seven layer bean dip and ate it in the span of 24 hours. So I feel pretty good about that. Oh and last thing, while we were door knocking there was this guy who came out with very little on but asked to show us something. Usually I would say no, but hey, you only live once haha. No he just showed us some super cool cars that he's been working on. He didn't want Jesus so hopefully the cars will keep him happy enough.

 Ok ok enough babbling, spiritual stuff time. The little spiritual thought I have is something I heard in sacrament. So a senior couple from my ward just returned home and gave their talks and the guy talked a lot on missionary work and how everyone needs to serve. And what he said which stood out to me was this, "Make the decision now to serve, and the Lord will show you how." It's very much true that missions can be hard. But the reason they're possible is because of the Lord. We do our best, and the Lord will make up the rest.
 
  Well, I love you all and appreciate all you do for me. And hey, if you're bored, shoot me an email. No promises I'll respond, but I sure will try and I sure do love them. I hope you all have an amazing week and thank you so much for everything!

Snake

Cars

Me

Lizard

Tank and minion mailbox


Monday, October 9, 2023

My Butter From Another Utter

 How's it going my family and friends?!!! I hope it's all going good. Hope you enjoy the subject, its a special one haha. Has their been any crazy news or things happening back home? Guess what? I finally got to watch conference! WOOHOO! Oh man was it good. It's definitely different having to watch it throughout the week on my own instead of watching it live at home. But hey, if it works, it works. To start off my email I wanted to just tell you how good this week was. First things first, our friend Margaret got baptized!!! She is a very stubborn lady but luckily, I'm more stubborn. The service went amazing. To get a sense of the character Margaret is, I asked her after the service finished on how she felt. Her response, "I have a dry mouth, I swallowed too much chlorine. Looks like my inside is just as clean as my spirit." She's a literal crack up. All jokes aside though, it was such a great time and the spirit was so strong. And the ward was so amazing at helping her feel welcomed. Such an amazing experience. 

   Anywho, some other amazing stuff happened this week. We had such an amazing lesson with our friend John. He was super curious about baptism and how that works in our church. Right now we are fighting against the Jehovah Witnesses over him. But our church is true, so of course we'll come out on top. Haha they've actually been pretty nice about him seeing us as well as them. On top of that we also had such an amazing experience with this YSA name Kaba. We were walking to an appointment and I saw he had a NBA jersey on so I stopped in my tracks and went over and talked with him. We ended up talking for like 20 minutes. He was so keen to hear what we had to say. We left him a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read and scheduled a date to come back. But here's the sad part, when we went back he came out, read the Book of Mormon and absolutely loved it. And we started to teach him the restoration his dad came out. He is a very huge brother, and told us to get lost. And told his son to get inside. Even though Kaba is old enough to take lessons from us, his dad forbids it. So yeah, that's where we're at. But, like I said I am stubborn. So we are going to go back and have a heart to heart with the dad. But if the answer is still no, that's ok, because Kaba will be taught when the Lord sees fit. 
   On a happy note, we were able to contact a lot of people who were taught in the past, and got appointments with them. Also, we had a lesson with our friend who is a paid pastor for his church. He's been saying over and over for us to read Hebrews, so I did. And when he asked my thoughts, I simply told him it was basic Christian doctrine, and how it was nothing I didn't already know. Oh man, was that not the answer he was looking for. I think he thought it would convert us to his church but I flat out told him he is just a basic Christian. Then we talked more about beliefs and I said since we read what he wanted, now he has to read the Book of Mormon. He accepted and agreed to read the chapter we gave him. So we'll see how that goes. 
   Some extra stuff that happened, so if you followed my last emails of my last area, you would know that I always find the strange people and they always come to me. Well this last week we found this lady who was in desperate need of service, but then she started knocking her neighbor's doors saying we were there to do free service for the whole neighborhood. She had good intentions, it was all fine until she put her hand on my arm. That's when I dipped and now the sisters will be seeing her. 
   On that note, let's have a spiritual thought. And of course it's from general conference. So in the talk by Sister Freeman, she shared her story being on a tour in Israel. But while she was there she had a broken ankle. While going around, the tour guide tied a rope to her scooter and helped her on their journey. This is likened to our life on Earth. Jesus Christ is our tour guide, and we need to trust the rope that tethers us together. He will never let go, so we must put our faith and trust in him that he will get us through our journey and that the rope never snap.
   Well I am absolutely loving my area. It's been a blessing and such a good experience. I hope you all have an amazing week. And don't be strangers, I love your emails. Thank you for all the love and support! Love you all!

I love graffiti art

Look what I'm under

This store keeps chocolate in the fridge.
Greatest place on earth.

Margaret's Baptism

Little more of the baptism

Springtime


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


HOME!!!