Ceduna Sacrament and Emus

 Ok like, what a great week!

Y'all are probably sick of me saying that but I'm loving the work. This email might be long, or it might not be. Guess you'll have to read to the end and find out;).

I'm going to start with our exchange this week. The exchange was with the Whyalla Elders. My companion and I felt very strong that I should go with Elder Keller. So we told them and they said us two would be going to Ceduna. I was very happy with the opportunity to go again. On our drive over we saw an emu. I haven't seen one in the wild until then so it was super cool. Such funny looking animals. Once we got to Ceduna (A total of 8 hours of driving for the day) we had a lesson with two of their friends from Peru who actually work at the motel we always stay at. They let us use the dinning room for the lesson and it went absolutely amazing. They absolutely loved Restoration and are super keen. After that we got dinner at Bills Pizza as always. The pizza lasted us three meals, so good! 

The next day was busy. We were having the first sacrament meeting in Ceduna so our day was focused on teaching about the Sacrament and then inviting everyone to come. One thing about Aboriginals, they love Jesus and everything we have to share, but they love their sleep more. So morning church was going to be a big faith tester. We had some amazing lessons throughout the day. We got to go to town-camp and teach a group of indigenous people there. We were also able to give the sacrament to a couple of members who were unable to attend on Sunday. Then to close off the day, we had a baptism interview with their friend Adrienne Kennedy. It was such a spiritual experience. I love doing baptism interviews. She's ready and excited for her baptism. She'll be the first baptism in Ceduna. So cool! Then that night in our Motel room, I looked at the wall and it was moving. Turns our it's like this 9 inch centipede. It took us smacking it with the shoe three times to kill it. But we got it. 

Finally, it's Sunday. We spent the morning driving around trying to wake people up for Sacrament. One of the members of the branch drove a couple hours to be apart of it and it went absolutely amazing. We had it on the sand like 15 feet from the ocean. This experience was definitely one of the biggest blessings I've seen on my mission. Definitely a blessing to be apart of it. Everyone who came out loved it and said they felt the spirit so strong. After that, we drove to Whyalla, ended exchanges, then drove home in the dark. It's honestly such a vibe driving through the bush in the dark. Between the two days of driving, I drove 17 1/2 hours. I'm so exhausted, but hey, we got it done.

Okay so that's part of the week. The part in our area was absolutely amazing as well. We had some amazing lessons. We have some indigenous friends we've been trying to see and finally had a lesson and it went so amazing. They had two massive pit bulls who were the sweetest dogs. Funny story, earlier that day while door knocking we saw someone chasing a massive pit bull so we dropped our bags and joined in, and eventually the dog was caught. Some fun exercise to mix things up haha. 

On top of that we had an amazing lesson with our friend Sokol. He's doing great! Then we had a lesson with the Anderson brothers and they are doing so great.

And finally we had a dinner with some Filipino members and had tons of Filipino food. And to add the cherry on top, I ate with my hands. With permission! Like, dream come true!!! Little me would be jumping off the walls. And to close the day, we had the Filipino duck egg thing. So gross! But I had to do it. 

My spiritual thought comes from general conference as a whole. In conference the word covenant was used 194 times, and the word temple was used 179 times. I think there's a theme that God wants us to know. So as you watch or reread conference, keep a look out for those terms.

Well I love you all and hope you have such a good next week. I promise whoever emails me this week, I'll email back next week.

-Elder Kapp

Ceduna Sacrament

Ceduna Peru Friends

Ceduna Sacrament pt 2

Filipino Egg

Big Bird

Closed On Sunday

 Anddddddd it's Email Time!

Hello my family and friends. It's your favorite Elder, Elder Kapp. We have another week with more updates. This week was pretty good not gonna lie. On Pday we went to this like adult park with these massive slides. Pretty fun not gonna lie. 

All of Tuesday Elder Oliphant was with us. We had a lesson with our new member Chris which was pretty great. Then we spent time in Elder Oliphant's area and taught one of their friends who's on date for baptism. The lesson went amazing and their friend is super ready to find the Savior in his life. 

On Wednesday we were suppose to have an exchange with the assistants because we haven't had one since I've been here. But we all felt prompted that Elder Mitchell and I should go to our lesson and they doorknocked a street. It actually went amazing. They found a new contact and then we had such an amazing lesson.

After that we started the exchange and we had a lesson with our friend Chin and her family and then some members. It was super great and we had such good lessons. 

Then the rest of the week we had an amazing lesson with our friend James. And also the Anderson Brothers. Such miracles. The Andersons said they might come to church. A big might but hey that's big for them. 

Another huge miracle is we visited some Filipinos in our ward and one of their housemates is less active and it went amazing. They're having us over so we can start working with him to get him to return. 

A spiritual Thought comes from Enos and prayer. The question is, why are we praying? What do we want from it? Prayers are so important and one of the biggest gifts we've been given. So they need to be meaningful and heartfelt.

Well as always I love you all and appreciate all you do. I'm sorry I'm so bad at emailing but it's my goal next week to do better. Well email me! 

-Elder Kapp

Some Elders

My companion

James

Bye Felts

Short but Sweet

Hey everyone!

So this email is probably going to be super short because we are in a petrol station writing it. So I apologize to my lacking of emailing everyone. I will repent and do better.

Ok this week was super lit. My new comp is awesome. I got his height wrong though, he's actually 6 ft 10 in. Literally crazy. Good thing I'm not self conscious about my height... He's a super hard worker and easy go get a long with. Super humble, as he would say. Haha just jokes. You know, we be getting stuff done though. No one is going to stop these two Elders.

So we had a meeting with the Stake President and others on Tuesday. It was to good to talk about the struggles of the zone and how we can get members more involved. After that we got dinner at Nandos with the other missionaries. It was so good. 

We've been crazy busy with lessons. Definitely not a bad thing. But we only got like 20 minutes to doorknock this week. Which most missionaries would be happy about, but this Elder here loves doorknocking. Our most beast lessons were with Mukwiza MkZee, and his room-mate James, also Racheal, Sokol, Chin, and heaps others. We have a family from the Philippines we haven't gotten in contact with in forever, but they had us over for lunch. Very good. 

We had our Ward's Filipino night on Saturday and dang was it sick. There was this lady who showed up who we met like 3 weeks ago. Crazy. We also had some less actives we've been working with and some friends. Food was ok... Idk but I usually love Filipino food but this wasn't it. But still an amazing night and so fun. 

I'm excited for this next week and what the Lord has instore.

A spiritual thought, is Hebrews 9: 16-17

16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

So basically we have to leave a legacy. My time here isn't going to last forever, so I'm going to leave my footprint. And that's what we all need to do, all the time.

Well I love you all!

Have an amazing week and email me your favorite general conference talk.

The main man Chris

Mukwiza and James

Filipino night with David and Phil

Exchanges

So Much Happened!!!

Holy Cow! Too much happened this week. This will by far probably be my longest email. But it's so worth it so y'all better stay tuned and read it. But you have your agency. 

Okay, we'll go day by day, the end of the week is the crazy stuff if you want to skip. But on Tuesday, we had lunch with the APs because we didn't do an exchange this transfer. We just talked about the zone and whatnot, nothing super exciting. We had a couple of lessons, one with a friend who wasn't wearing clothes. Well, he was in a bathrobe technically, but we'll need to teach him how they can tie. That was fun. 

Wednesday, we had our district council which went well, and then after had a meeting with President Johansson. It was very good, pretty intimidating when your mission President pulled up to your flat even if you planned on him coming. But like I said, it was so good to counsel with him. We wrote a song and honestly just joked around. After that, we had a couple of lessons which went super amazing.

Thursday was crammed with lessons. It was super good, I'm not complaining. We had some referrals we visited and they are super keen! Real referrals! Crazy, miracles are good.

Friday, this was just another day crammed with heaps of lessons. We got to get lunch with a less active member we've been working with. It was so good. 

Okay Saturday, we had exchanges with the Tea Tree Gully Elders. Elder Shum came to Paralowie with me. We had a service in the morning for Sister Folker (my Australian grandma). We were able to have our new member Chris come. It was a good time. After that, we had a lesson with our friend TP which went super amazing. He's very receptive and open. It was such a good lesson. It was also fun teaching with Elder Shum again. After that, we went to a Filipino couple in our ward for lunch. And then helped them start putting together things for our Filipino night this Saturday. After that, we went to our friend Racheal's house and helped clean up the weeds there. After that, we went door knocking and right after our first door, we got a call from the Whyalla Elders. They said their friend Dan who was supposed to get baptized the next day was stuck in Adelaide four and a half hours away. So we called President and told him what the problem was and asked what we should do. The conversation went as follows:

Me: "So President, this is new to me, what do we do?"

President: "Well Elders, you could drive him."

Me: "What?"

President: "Yeah tomorrow morning you could pick him up and drive him to Whyalla. Do you think you could make it?"

Me: "Are you joking?"

President: "You could just drive him to his baptism tomorrow, do you think that will work?"

Me: "President just so we're clear, you are saying us, missionaries, pick up a non-member friend in Adelaide, in a mission vehicle, and drive him in the morning four and a half hours to Whyalla for his baptism."

President: "That's what I'm saying, Elder. This is very rare but it's possible, we'll get you special permission."

Me: "Alright sounds good."

My mind was all over the place during that conversation. But hey, if there's a will there's a way. So we finished our exchange and got ready for lots of driving.

Sunday, we woke up early and got to the place where Dan and his friend Lachlan were. Called President while they were in the car to get permission. Then drove four and a half hours to Whyalla. We got there at 11 am and he got baptized at 12:30. Members were very confused about why we were there, all we told them was we just wanted to support Dan haha. After that we had a tender mercy, President gave us permission to have the sacrament with the other Elders. We won't get it next week because that's our general conference so it was good to take it. Then we drove home. But wait there's more! We had our mission zoom and one of the APs goes home today. So we had a mini transfer, and sadly Elder Arnold is leaving to the city. But I'll be joined by Elder Mitchell. All I know is he's like 6 foot 7 inches and we're somehow related. But I'm so excited. It'll be good.

So that is my week, a spiritual thought I learned this week was just put all your trust in the Lord. When your load seems heavy, then you're living life right. That's the Lord trusting us with more to do and pushing us to our limits.

I love you all and appreciate all you do. Email me if you want. It would make me very happy;)

-Elder Kapp

TP

Ready to baptize nations

Sunset

Bye Elder Arnold

Last Aussie Easter

Happy Easter!

Hey everyone, another week is in the books. This last week was pretty stellar not gonna lie. We were able to go out to Ceduna with the Whyalla Elders again. That place is so blessed and prepared. I went with Elder Keller for the exchange. There were a lot of tender experiences that'll stick with me for a lifetime. 

The first of these experiences was when we first got to town. All of us went to this place called town camp. It was an Aboriginal community type place. There, one of the Elders friends came out, but along with her whole family. Mind you that it was beyond windy and freezing cold, and they are used to the heat. But they had a desire to learn more about Jesus Christ. So they sat on the ground on the side of our car to shield them from the wind and listened to our message. Every single person was freezing but they wouldn't let that stop them. For me, that was just peak faith and dedication. That Lord asks us to give our all to him and this was a prime example of it. 

It was very eye-opening and just a miracle seeing people so prepared for the Gospel. After Ceduna we spent an afternoon in Whyalla. Lots of miracles were seen, even though their flat is infested with cockroaches. 

Saturday morning we drove to our area to cram in as many lessons as possible. We saw lots of miracles and it was very joyful. The biggest miracle is our friend Racheal. She's been progressing super well and we're so excited for her and her family.

A spiritual thought is on the Atonement! What a gift it is. Treasure it, and use it daily, that is if you want joy. It's the greatest thing that had ever happened so we must use it!

Welp time to close this up. I'm tired from lots of driving and want to eat. Love you all. Email me if you love Jesus.

Studies in Ceduna

Massive pizza in the hotel

Nerd Alert

Lesson

Lessons in the cold

Sunset 

Sunset pt 2

Here we Are

 Heyo everyone!

How are y'all doing? This week was pretty great. There was a part here and there worth noting. Like why does everyone stick their pit bulls on us?! One bit my comp a couple weeks ago, and then when we went to visit someone we were teaching (obviously no longer interested) he sent out his pit bull. But jokes on him, his dog is nice. She just wanted to play. We left just in case her mindset change and then she just ran away. Sorry mate, don't have your dogs come and eat us. 

But on a more exciting note, we had zone conference this last week. Man am I going to miss President and Sister Johansson. I've gotten really close to them this last little bit and am very sad to see them leave so soon. President tested my boxing skills and said I could be a boxer. Found my calling in life I guess haha. But zone conference was so good. I got to conduct and give a surprise training I didn't know about. So very exciting. 

Next up, the exchange we had. So this week I went with Elder Oliphant in their area. Let me tell you, the whole exchange was just miracles. It was so good. 

This week we had so many amazing lessons. We had two with Chin and her family. They are doing great. We also have a friend from the Philippines who is the coolest person ever! We show up for our return appointment (they usually don't show up) and he was there and excited. He bought us all this chocolate to take home and was asking questions the whole time. I'm so excited for him.

This week was super good. This is definitely God's work, because it just works. Funny how that works. Well a little spiritual thought comes from a great song. It says, "I am a child of God, And he has sent me here, Has given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. [Chorus] Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do To live with him someday" This song gives so much purpose to life. We are sent here from our Father to learn and grow. That's why we go through hardships, so we can learn and grow a little more. 

Well I love you all! Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Check out my Facebook post because I hate Facebook work. Don't forget to email me! Adios.

Paulo

Door Knocking

Exchange

Exchange pt 2

Not so Interesting

 Hey fam bam!

This week was pretty not super interesting. But I'll do my best to make this email as interesting as possible. First things, my comp got like super sick Thursday to Saturday. That means we couldn't leave the flat and he slept all day everyday. What did I do? I studied, studied some more, tried to throw a ping pong ball in a cup (I failed), and then studied. So that was a big portion of the week. But don't you worry, we still got stuff done.

Tuesday was pretty stressful. We had transfers and had to move a bunch of missionaries around. Then we had to fill out Stake report forms for our meeting. But to make up for it, President and the APs took us and the STLs to dinner. So I was happy by the end of the day. Oh and Stake meeting was super good. 

Wednesday we had our exchanges. I went to Tea Tree Gully with Elder Ginn! Man did I miss this Elder. Our exchange was super good. We had a few people to visit which was so good. I got to see John again. Miss that guy. Then we stopped by the Rices and had dinner with them. It was pretty great.

Then Thursday-Saturday we had to stay in our flat because my comp was sick. Definitely God was testing my faith and patience. But Sunday came and my comp was all good for church. So we went to church and it was good. Then after we tried to visit all the people we could. But I kid you not, no one was home. It was so frustrating. So we had so much time to door knock. We actually found some super cool people, so we'll see where it goes.

My spiritual thought comes from the Book of Mormon. It 2 Nephi 33 verse 10. "Hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good." 

Well I love you all! Email me! Have a great week.

Exchange

Rices

Car Wash

Spider