Worst Service Ever!

 Hey Everyone,

   Where to begin this week? I'll start with the most disgusting thing I've ever had to do! Maybe not actually but honesty it might’ve been. So back story, our member Kerry asked us to come over and do some service cleaning his yard for a house inspection. Of course we'll do that, I love serving. So we pull up and Kerry is out to meet us. We ask where to get started, then he says this: "I want to bury the dead dog at the playground." So apparently there is a dog that is dead at this playground, who knew? Kerry got us like a box trolley and said he'll start digging. We went over and the dog was under a blanket, and let me tell you, this thing was big. I'm saying he was the size of the Sandlot dog. We move the blanket and everything went downhill. The dog's face was gone, it was the worst smell I have ever smelt. We went over to Kerry and he told us the dog was there for a month! Kids play on the playground everyday and he was there for a month. Anywho we got a tarp, wrapped the dog up, rolled it over and buried it. The funny thing is the place was swarmed with cops looking for a guy on the loose and here's us just dragging this massive thing in a tarp across the bush and throwing it in a hole. So that's the story of the most disgusting thing I've ever done. 

   All right let's move on. If you're still reading and haven't left, good on you. The rest of the week was actually super stellar. One big miracle was a bunch of saints out bush went to the Temple this week! We drove them to the airport and they were all so excited. Then when they got back we met them at KFC and they were just giving us all hugs, showing us pictures. They were so happy, as were us. Now it's time to prepare the next batch. So this week we've been teaching lots of saints Temple and Priesthood prep. Alot are super excited and eager. Sadly I won't be here by the time they go but I'm excited for them.

   This week we're been so packed with lessons. We've had to shorten our lunches to fit everything in. I am absolutely loving the work. It is going great. We've been able to teach our on dates a lot and they are doing great. Sadly Christina missed church again so she'll be baptized in January. But at least she's getting baptized that's all that matters. 

   Another cool experience this week was doing parking for the Alice Springs festival. We were able to direct cars for parking for this massive festival they have every year and dang were people happy and nice to us. It was the best reactions I've ever had being a missionary. It was honesty a lot of fun. 

   A huge miracle this week was with our friend Valerie and her family. We did service for them the other week and she came to church two weeks ago which was great. So during this week we went to her house to have a lesson and her family joined. We taught the restoration and showed the Ask of God video and the spirit was so strong. After, her family was in tears and they told us they haven't felt the spirit in a long time or ever before. It was such a big miracle.

Spiritual Thought: Alma 34:38 

   "That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you."

   As always, thanks for everything. Only threeish more of these and then that's it. Love you all, have a great week.

Saints going to the temple

Tashy and her family

Collingwood Magpies

Morning Run

Alice Springs Chapel

Lizard

First Full Week in My Area

 Hi everyone,

   Another week in the books. Again it was another great week. We've been seeing many miracles and have seen the work just explode forward. One thing that was great was Christina, Natalie, and Angelo passed their baptism interviews! No we're just waiting for the day and they'll be all ready. Also praying that Christina continues coming to church so she meets that requirement, but all will be well. Our other two on date are doing great. Just going over some last things with them and then they will be ready for baptism.

   This week was so good with lessons. I haven't taught this much in a while, or maybe I haven't before this week. We've been working hard and helping our friends and members progress in the church. This all is amazing, but of course there has to be opposition. What is it you may ask? I lost my voice for a couple of days. Now this isn't the end of the world, but I like to talk, and it's hard to do that when it hurts to do so. But we persevered and made it. 

   One super huge miracle is our new member Kerry. Kerry is absolutely awesome but he struggles Sunday mornings to come to church. Except for this week. We got to his house and Donovan was staying there and wanted to come to church. So I picked Kerry's lock, and started just kicking him until he woke up. In result, Kerry Donovan and his wife all came to church.

   Donovan is actually super awesome. He's from out bush but they've been in town because their kids have been in and out of the hospital. At first they were in a motel and had us come teach them there. Now that was the first time I taught someone in their motel room, but their family was super keen. Then later in the week we taught them at the hospital and at Kerry's house. They love the lessons and have such a strong belief. Super cool family.

   The rest of the week was just teaching like crazy. It's been so great but it's definitely making the time speed up. But I'm excited to get home so it's alright.

   Spiritual Thought: "Jesus can bring us closer to our Father in Heaven than we’ve ever been before." I absolutely love this quote because it shows that the Savior came to help us achieve our pure potential. 

   As always I love you all. You only have a couple more times to email me so you better make the most of it.

-Elder Kapp

Donovan and his family

Shout out to Janet

My guy Kerry

37 Days Left

 Hey everyone!

   What a great week. So much to talk about but I'll shorten it for you all. To start the week on Tuesday we had a day packed of lessons with members. With active, to less active to returning, it was the whole lot. They all went very well, and we also had a lesson with Natalie and Angelo which was amazing. Then for the evening we had a mini transfer call because my comp finishes his mission. My new companion will be Elder Abbott! I'm actually so excited to be comps with him. He's been serving out bush for a while and before that served in Alice a bit. So far the week with him has been great. Stoked for this next transfer.

   Wednesday Elder Keller said goodbye to our friends and members we've been working with. Then us and some other Elders went to the airport to drop Elder Keller off. I'll miss that Elder but he'll do good back in the world. The rest of the day and the next I spent with those Elders. We got to see some of the friends and members in my area, like Christina, Tim, Natalie and Angelo and their family and Jamika. A good list of people but we definitely got more done when Elder Abbott came into the area. 

   The rest of the week we got the grind going. We had a couple lessons with our friends on date for baptism. And big miracle was while going over the baptismal interview questions with Natalie and Angelo, Tanisha walked up asking if she could be baptized also. So now she's on date for baptism which is super exciting.  

   One exciting thing was we were having a lesson with a family we're teaching out back by their fire, when at the end one yelled, "snake!" We looked and their cat was in a battle with this snake. So I jumped up grabbed their shovel by the fire and killed the thing. Felt pretty cool not gonna lie.

   Spiritual Thought: Doctrine and Covenants 84: 20-22

"20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.

21 And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; 22 For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live."

   Overall this week was great. We've been teaching heaps and our friends are progressing so well. The work is good and the days are slowly coming to an end. 37 days left. Well, as always, love you all. Have a great week. Email me if you want.

Faatauvaa Family

Suzie and Bobo

Renita, Rhiannon, Gillian

Elder Abbott with Sarah and Mervin

Elliott and Hiking

 Hi everyone!

   This last week was another great week and this upcoming week should be great. Sadly my companion finishes his mission this week so I'll be getting a new one. Until then I'll probably be in a trio with some of the other missionaries so we'll be double-covering areas. But we'll cross that bridge in a couple of days. 

   At the start of the week, we went on exchanges with Tennant Creek. For the exchanges, I went with Elder Liprott and we went to Elliott. So Tennant is 5 hours north and Elliott is 2 hours north of that. The exchange went very well. We were able to teach some friends and the members. Play rugby with the kids in town. And also hold family home evening at one of the members' homes. So overall a good exchange. Lots of driving and driving in the dark was sketchy will all the cows but we made it.

   The day after we got back from the exchange, my companion had a 5 hour zoom meeting with all the missionaries finishing their missions. Let me say, there's only so much one can do in 5 hours. But we made it. After that the work was pretty much the same as usual. We've had really good lessons with our friends on date. Two came to church on Sunday which was great. The other two we're working with them but they're looking good and it looks like they'll meet their date in December. 

   One crazy story was a service we had this week. We go during the week to check it out and she asked us to clean out the weeds against her fence. Her backyard is the literal bush and she told us she wants them removed because of all the brown snakes. So yeah that was that. So we went over and I saw a snake in literally five minutes. Luckily it was the only one. The lady's name was Zoe and she is actually pretty cool. Hopefully we'll start teaching her soonish. We'll see the will of the Lord. 

   Spiritual thought: "48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I love this scripture because it just talks about our true potential being children of God. We need to work and exercise faith and God will bless us for it.

   Well I love you all. Hope you all have a great week. Sorry I'm bad at emails. And I'll love emails from you all. 

P-day Hike

Hiking with Baby-roos

Elliot FHE

Lesson

Sunset

Samoan Sisters

Tim McNamara

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!

Wayne

Flying

Anna and her granddaughter

Camping in the Outback

 Okay what a week!

   So much happened this week that is worth note taking. So this may be long or not, we'll see what happens. If you make it to the end, good on you, if not then what a shame. 

   Big thing #1: We did an exchange with the Bush Elders. This meant I got to go to Mulga-Bore! For those who don't know, Mulga-Bore is an Aboriginal community in which everyone is a member. So cool! The members there are so awesome. Then with the exchange we slept in tents. The other Elders have a house out bush but not enough beds for us so we tented. Not gonna lie, such a highlight being able to say I camped in the Outback. But so hot! Probably some of the worst sleep of my mission. But hey, no one said missions would be easy. Overall the exchange was great. I got to eat Kangaroo tail, and bush Melon and also got to teach a lot in this place called Harts Range. 

   Big thing #2: Member meets this week were something else. For Monday, an American family invited us over and we had a bunch of American cereal for dinner. Not a good idea. You then feel sick and never want to eat cereal again. The second dinner was a house of Samoan members invited us missionaries over for dinner and they basically planned a wedding for me in Samoa. So that was the most uncomfortable dinner ever. Then thirdly is the islander members just buy us food like crazy. It's so unhealthy for us but we appreciate their love and support.

   Big thing #3: The work has been going so well. A lot of the less active members we've been working with have been progressing so well and we've been able to build genuine relationships with them. This week we went and Anna taught us how to paint and painted with us. We also had some great lessons with Kerry, even though his dogs keep trying to bite me. And we've had heaps of success with all the part member families we've been working with. On the friends side of things, we found out Wilson is a member (huge shock). But the rest are doing great. Overall, it's been huge miracles.

   Big thing #4: We've had a lot of service opportunities for non-members. We've been letterbox dropping our free service flyers and it's paid off. We had a couple this last week and alot this upcoming week. We're excited for it but this next week will be BUSY. We have zone conference tomorrow will Elder Wakolo. Then we fly down Wednesday for MLC on Thursday. We'll then fly up Friday and then the work grind begins. 

   Big thing #5: The final thing I wanted to talk about is just the work. The members and friends here are so elect. All my areas mean so much to me but Alice Springs might take the win on favorite. Too soon to tell but I sure am loving it. So many fun opportunities and experiences. Like basketball night, the lessons, those we teach, painting, exchanges, and just spending time with the community. All are just small things that makes the work great.

   Spiritual Thought: "The Returned Missionary" By Elder L. Tom Perry; "His words are always positive and direct, revealing the blessings that come through following His law and His way." A lot of times we can get lost or confused on what is the words and promptings and Christ, and what are the promptings of man or even the adversary. Anything positive comes from God, and we need to act immediately on it. Why should God keep prompting us if we just ignore his promptings? We need to do our part and act and then he'll bless us because of it. 

   Well family and friends, sure do love you all. Big shoutout to my little sister on getting her mission call. She's absolutely going to kill it in the field.

Well I'll talk to you all next week!

-Elder Kapp

Painting with Anna

Painting with LB

Exchanges

Mulga Bore

Sunset

Flying, Monkey

   What a week of traveling this week. First off Monday, I got packed, went to the airport and flew to Alice Springs. It was a good flight. Then the next day we flew to Adelaide for MLC. The lady at the desk said we made the flight by 4 minutes. Close one. Then Thursday we woke up at 5:45 and got a flight back to Alice Springs. Then in two weeks we fly back down for another meeting. Not complaining because it is much better than zoom.

   This week overall though, so good! Holy cow I love Alice Springs. Right now we're working with a bunch of less-active/part member families. Everyday is just packed with lessons which is a great thing to have. One lesson we had that was great was with our friend Christina. We had two with her this week and she just retains information so well. Then she came to church Sunday and watched General Conference and she said she really enjoyed it so that was good. 

   Some super amazing members is Sharon, she's the lady I met on exchanges in Katherine who has been to the temple. She's a crack up. We had to jump her car Sunday morning and she had us put the cables on backwards and safe to say we almost died (but really but dying sounds more intense). Then there's a deaf member LB who's doing a painting for me. And then Tim and Kerry are just some two super cool members. 

   Another super cool friend is this guy named Wilson. He's from China and super cool. We taught him English class and had a lesson which was super good. He has good questions for us which makes teachings more interesting. He's come to church four weeks in a row which is super cool. We're very keen for him.

   One last super cool miracle is there's this place called the APY lands that is in the middle of nowhere. We have some members there and a couple came to church Sunday. It was so cool to see them there.

   Spiritual Thought: "All of us have family members we love who are being tempted and tried by the seemingly constant forces of Satan, the destroyer, who would make all God’s children miserable. For many of us, there have been sleepless nights. We have tried to surround the people who are at risk with every force for good. We have pled in prayer for them. We have loved them. We have set the best example we could."

-President Henry B. Eyring

   Well I love you all and hope you all have a great week. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.

Christina

Kerry

APY Members

Jump Starting Sharon's Car