For Good.

For those who don't know.. I LOVE musicals. One of my favorites is Wicked, which I got to see on Broadway a few years ago. These last few days, the words of a song have constantly been popping into my head.

''I have been changed for good.''

As I am preparing to leave for Houston on the 30th, I have been thinking of how incredibly blessed I am to have met some people here that have truly changed my life. 

Coming here, I didn't expect to be placed in a district with 11 people who would get along so perfectly. My district quickly became my MTC family. It was so cool to see that we could go from messing around and laughing, to having an amazing spiritual experience. Each person has taught me so much by their examples and testimonies. The people of Texas, Peru, and Ecuador are so lucky to be getting these incredible missionaries! 

Learning a new language in six weeks can be hard! Luckily, I had THE BEST teacher in the world. Hermano Salvador is quite the man. He commutes in the crazy streets of Mexico, by bus, 4 hours each day just to teach us. What makes him even cooler is that he doesn't really know English, but he made such an effort to understand us. He makes learning so much fun! I don't think our district could love anybody more. His testimony of the gospel is so solid, and it has had such an impact on me. I am so grateful that I could have him teach me in the time that I have spent here. 

Lastly, my sweet companion, Hermana Hemmingsen. I was so blessed to have her as the person I literally spent every minute with. She was so incredibly patient with me and my Spanish and she has been such a great example to me. She always looks for opportunities to serve others. Once a day, I would see her doing something kind like making a bed, writing a nice note, giving people treats, you name it. Her testimony of the gospel is so strong too. She is going to kill it out there in McAllen. I have been so lucky to have a companion that has taught me so much. 

God is truly in the details of our lives. I have the strongest testimony of that. He sees the bigger picture and knows exactly what we need. 

The past 4 days here have been some of the longest here (I think because we are all pumped to get out into the field), but they have also been some of the funnest! 

Let's start with my dumb moment in Spanish. Hemmingsen and I were teaching TRC to a lady on Saturday. TRC is when people from Mexico City come to the MTC and let us practice teaching the lessons. This time is legit.. real problems, real people. We began asking her about her life; What she liked to do? Did she work? Is she in school? What her family is like?

When she began talking about her family, she told us that it was just her and her mom because her dad had died when she was younger. 

My natural response is always ''Muy Bien'' .. so that is exactly what I said. 

I SAID VERY GOOD TO HER DAD NOT BEING ALIVE.

I felt really dumb/awful and didn't know what to do.. so I just moved on really quick. Thankfully the people that come in know that we are just practicing and learning Spanish, so hopefully she didn't take it to harshly. 

Saturday night, we had one last hoorah as a district. I don't know how, but one of the elder's mom sent us Martinelli's apple cider. We played games, had an awards ceremony, then flipped from fun to spiritual within 5 minutes and had a really cool testimony meeting. 

Our last Sunday here was one to remember too! Mainly because .. after 5 weeks of getting by, I was called on to speak in sacrament meeting. Each week, our branch president just randomly calls at least 8 people to talk and I have somehow gotten lucky each time. It was actually a really good chance to practice my testimony in Spanish though, before I am asked to speak in a real ward. 

My district also sang during sacrament meeting. One elder is like David Archuleta on steroids.. he is amazing. So we are always singing. We sang a really cool version of ''Í Know That My Redeemer Lives''. It was so spiritual. 

To finish off the Sabbath, they always do a presentation for the people heading out into the field. So we sang ''God be With You Til we Meet Again'', then finished the night off with a testimony meeting. There are about 118 missionaries leaving within these three days. It is so crazy! 

Two days from today, I will be in Houston sharing the happiest message in the world. I cannot wait! 

 

I have had 19 years to prepare for this moment. I have eternity to reflect on it. But I only have NOW to live it. So here is to then next 18 months of my life with no regrets. 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Bugs.

HAPPY 24TH OF JULY!

July is seriously the best.. with the funnest holidays! 

This has been the last full week that I will spend here in the MTC. It is such a bitter-sweet feeling. Bitter because I have the most amazing district. They are seriously some of the best people in the world and my experience here would not have been the same without them. 

But it is so, so sweet to think that in less than a week, I will be in Houston! I am stoked! 

It has been another awesome week and once again, I have been taught so many lessons and made some great memories! 

I just want to start out with something that is kinda lame.. but it played quite the role in my week. 

I have been super lucky the entire time here because I haven't had any encounters with bugs. If you know me, you know that I am scared of any kind of insect.. No matter what the size is. Well this week, all of the bugs decided to come out and it was terrifying.

One day, we found a spider bigger than a nickel. It was huge and you could see it from a mile away. Another day, a massive butterfly came into our classroom. You may be thinking, '' a butterfly, really? they are so pretty and wouldn't hurt a fly.'' Well it isn't very cute when you can hear it's wings flapping from across the room because it is the size of a bat. You better believe I dropped to my desk and covered my head pretty quick. 

There have been all sorts of other unknown creatures that I have run into.. I don't know what they are besides disgusting. 

I have heard that there are cockroaches in Houston and if that is the case, I am going to die haha. 

Now onto the important stuff. 

Once each week, we get to teach people who come in from the city (some LDS, some not). Hemmingsen and I got to teach a really cool girl who was about our age, and her little sister. First, let me just tell you have cute little kids that speak Spanish are. 

This is a really awesome opportunity because we get to practice our Spanish on '''real people'' and they are so kind and helpful. I absolutely love it!

We also teach lessons to our teachers every single day. On Saturday, I had a really cool experience with this. 

Teaching the gospel in Spanish, I have a hard time feeling the spirit since it is not my native language. That has made me wonder if the people that we are teaching actually feel something, or if what we say are just empty words. 

Hemmingsen and I were talking about The Book of Mormon with Hermana Garcia (who has been our ''investigator'', Gabi, for the past 2.5 weeks). I began to share an experience of how The Book of Mormon has brought a lot of comfort it my life. I shared a story of how 1 Nephi 3:7 has really helped me through things that I didn't think that I could do. I wasn't really feeling the spirit, but as I continued talking, Hermana Garcia's eyes filled with tears.

It was such a testimony builder that the Holy Ghost is what teaches people and we are simply a mouth piece. Though her and I both speak different languages, the spirit is universal and I am SO grateful for that. 

Lastly, I just want to share something from a devotional that was given here in the MTC that was amazing!

The second shortest verse in all of the scriptures is in Luke 17:32. It says, 

"Remember Lot's wife.''

So much can be learned from these three simple words.

Because of the wickedness of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot was commanded to take his family and leave the city. They were also told not to look back. As Lot and his wife left the city, the Lord sent fire and brimstone to destroy it. 

In Genesis 19:26, we learn of why we should ''remember Lot's wife.''

''But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.''

She looked back with doubt in her heart and a lack of faith in her future. Or in the words of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, 

''Her attachment to the past, outweighed her confidence in the future.''

The first week I was in the MTC, my mind was often full of thoughts from the past. My home, school, family, friends.. the things that I had left behind. My focus wasn't 100% where it needed to be and I was nervous that these next 18 months wouldn't compare with the experience I had in Utah. I quickly learned though, that dwelling on the way things used to be was not doing me any good. I was letting my past get in the way of my mission. 

Our past should be learned from and remembered, but never lived in. We should never doubt the Lord's ability to give us something better. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, 

''Your future is as bright as your faith.'' 

We should be confident in the future, we have the God of the universe on our side!

So point your faith to the future and ''Doubt not. Fear not.''

Love,

Hermana Rupp

My Currant Bush Moment.

Hey everybody!

Tomorrow is my one month mark in the mission field! I can't even believe it! Time is flying. 

I also only have 13 more days left in the MTC! I am so stoked that I will be out in the mission field soon! It can't come soon enough!

Days here in the MTC are pretty repetitive. Our schedule is literally the same every single day. I have been teaching lots of lessons, studying a ton, playing some crazy volleyball with my district.. just living the life. 

It is also getting so crowded here! When I first got here, there was around 400 missionaries here. We now have around 800 missionaries, and by the time I leave, there will be over 1,000. It is nuts!

This week has been one of the most spiritual weeks for me and I have grown so much. 

I have learned that attitude is everything. Before leaving, I made a goal with myself to always be positive. To always have an attitude of ''Come what may and LOVE it.'' It has made the biggest difference in the world! I can honestly say I have not had one bad day here in the MTC. Yes, I have had some moments that have been hard, but those moments don't determine my day. It has been really cool.

One of the most spiritual moments happened when I was struggling the most this week. I was taught a really special lesson...

The Lord has high expectations for each of us. He sees a future that we can't envision and who we can ultimately become. Because of this, we sometimes are asked to experience difficult things that at times, don't make sense and seem to tear us down. 

President Hugh B. Brown told a personal experience that he had on a farm he purchased in Canada. On the farm, he came across a currant bush that was over 6 ft tall with no berries on it. So he pruned the bush down until it was only small stumps. On each of the stumps, he saw a what looked like a tear, as if the bush was crying. 

He imagined it saying, "How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth.. and now you've cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me.. how could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here."

President Brown replied, " Look little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn't intend for you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and some day, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit you are going to say, ''Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down." 

This week, I had my own little ''currant bush'' moment. 

I was asked to get up in front of my district and teach an ''investigator'' about the restoration. Spanish just wasn't happening for me that day. I struggled the entire time and the words I needed just were not coming to me. After I was finished, I sat down in my chair feeling cut down, humiliated, and pretty worthless in the language. 

I began thinking to myself, "Why would God ask me to do something like this? People are a lot better than me and I make embarrassing mistakes all of the time. Why would he want me to do something that I am having such a hard time with?'' I basically just started having an internal pity party. 

I then remembered the sweet words of an elder in my district who said, ''I believe that the people I will be teaching on my mission came to me in the pre-earth life and asked for ME to come find them.'' 

As I sat in my chair, I was completely humbled as I was reminded that Heavenly Father has asked me to learn this language because He knows that my friends who asked me to come find them, need to hear the message of the gospel in Spanish.

I am so thankful that Heavenly Father loves me enough to cut me down and direct my life in a way that he knows will be best for me. 

We will all be cut down and asked to do hard things at times and when this happens, we should never forget that we are never alone. Jesus Christ can and WILL help us through it all.

"The Atonement will carry you. When you struggle and when you are rejected, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known. You have reason to stand tall because the Living Son of the Living God knows ALL about your sorrows and your afflictions.''

-Jeffrey R. Holland

The church is true!

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Lindsay's companion made this skirt out of palm leaves. Linds said she's super crafty!

Then they decided to make Harry Potter brooms with the palm leaves.

Flying. 

U.S. (They're 4th of July.)

The whole zone. 

"Fe en cada paso."

Heavenly Father is our Potato.

"Potato" and "Dad".. completely different, right? These 2 words are in no way spelled the same, they don't sound the same, or even look the same.... in English. Spanish is a whole different story though. In Spanish, a potato is spelled "papa'' and dad is spelled "papá". The only difference between the two is the need for emphasis on the "a'' in papá (dad) when pronouncing it. Well I didn't learn this until I was teaching a lesson to an investigator.

Hermana Hemmingsen and I were teaching a lesson on prayer. I began telling the investigator how prayer is our chance to talk to God. I really wanted him to understand that our Heavenly Father is our Dad. 

So I turn to him and say (in Spanish), "Prayer gives us the opportunity to speak to Heavenly Father. Our potato."

I TOLD THE INVESTIGATOR THAT HEAVENLY FATHER IS OUR POTATO.

This wasn't the only time I slaughtered Spanish this week. In class, we were practicing using the Book of Mormon to help solve everyday life problems. A girl came to me and said ''Yo soy embarasado.'' So naturally I ask her ''Porque'' because I thought she had just told me that she was embarrassed. Little did I know, she had told me she was pregnant and I had just asked her why? She gave me a really funny look and just sat there for a minute. When she realized that I really wanted to know why, she began telling me that her and her boyfriend had done something bad. I was so confused, but eventually figured out the conversation we were having was not what I thought it was. I felt so dumb once I realized that I had basically just asked her to tell me about the birds and the bees. 

Other than the fact that I constantly mess up and my Spanish is pretty shabby, I am loving the language! It is so much fun!

This past week was also the 4th of July! Being in Mexico and being in the MTC, our day was a lot like any other day here. Since it was a holiday for so many though, the workers went out of their way to make the day a little bit special. They decorated the cafeteria in red, white, and blue. Then they fed us REAL American. I think a few tears were shed by many because of that. While everyone was eating, we sang the National Anthem together. It was super cool!

To make the day a little bit more patriotic, my district played the most American sport that you can play... Baseball. Despite the fact that we played with a woffle ball and a broken plastic bat (we aren't allowed to play with the real stuff), we had a blast! The 4th of July in Mexico was a success! 

Sunday was a really cool day here because it was fast and testimony meeting. Sacrament meeting is always in Spanish here, so each person who bore their testimony that day did it completely in Spanish. People who have only been here for 4 days were able to speak incredibly well and were able to say all that was in their hearts. There is no doubt in my mind that we are all receiving divine help when it comes to the language.

Each Sunday here, we get to watch an old MTC devotional. The last one that we got to watch was by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and it was amazing, so I thought I'd share.

The talk was based around John 21 in the bible. This chapter tells a story about Peter- a disciple of Christ. 

After Jesus was crucified, his disciples not knowing what to do, went back to their nets and began fishing as they did before. They spent and entire night on a boat, but with no success. In the morning, a man on the shore called out and asked if they had any luck. Learning that they had not, he told them to cast their nets to the right of the boat. They cast their nets and in them, caught so many fish they weren't able to pull them in. Peter realized that the man on the shore was the resurrected Savior whom he loved so much.

He and the disciples went to the shore where Jesus turned to peter and asked, ''Lovest me more than these?''

Peter replied, ''Yea Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.''

Jesus then told him, ''Feed my sheep.''

Jesus then asks Peter a second time if he loves him, where Peter tells him he does. The Savior again tells him to feed His sheep. 

For the third time, Jesus turns to Peter and asks, ''Lovest thou me?''

Peter, being grieved that Jesus asked him three times replied, ''Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest I that I love thee.''

Once again, Jesus responds saying, ''Feed my sheep.''

Much like Peter and the other disciples, all of us have ''nets'' in our lives. These ''nets'' are the things that hold us back from forgetting ourselves and following Jesus Christ. He has invited all of us to feed his sheep- to bring the gospel to all. We are unable to do so though, when we are focused on other things. In order to truly follow Christ, we must leave our ''nets'' behind and feed his sheep forever. 

The gospel is the greatest and I feel so blessed to have it in my life! I cannot wait to "forget myself and feed His sheep'' in Houston!

Love,

Hermana Rupp

Power of the Priesthood.

Hello everyone! 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

It is so weird that I won't be in a place that celebrates one of my favorite holidays! The 4th is the best. 

It has been such a good week here in Mexico!

One of the best parts about being here in the MTC is that the spirit can always be felt and through it, lessons can always be learned. This past Sunday, I learned a great lesson about the power of the Priesthood. 

Here in the MTC, a ton of people have been getting sick with an intestinal virus. One girl from my district became so sick, she was not able to leave her house. She asked my companion and I to go find some elders from the district to come and give her a blessing. After finding the elders, we were able to go with them back to her house while they administered a blessing to her. It was a beautiful blessing and the spirit was incredibly strong. In it, she was promised that she would be healed and that she would be able to return to the work. 

After the blessing was finished, I began thinking about what I had just witnessed.  Four boys.. three of them 18 years old and one 19, exercised the same power and authority that Jesus Christ used to perform miracles while he was on the earth. Jesus Christ healed the sick, raised the dead, caused the blind to be able to see again, and performed so many more miracles by the same authority. The spirit burned inside of me as I realized that the Priesthood is real.

Here are just a few things that have been happening here:

1. I have taught about 10 lessons in Spanish now. I still can't speak it very well.. but I am so excited to be able to learn it and teach the Spanish people in Houston the gospel in their own language! It is amazing. 

2. Raining season is a real thing. I never would have guessed that living in Riverton, where it rains for like 5 minutes and then stops for like a year. It rains so hard here that the streets basically turn into rivers, and we walk in water up to our ankles. It is nuts! 

3. Every couple of days, we hear like a million gun shots being fired outside. At first it was a little bit scary just because we didn't know what it was.. We just started calling it execution day in Mexico. We finally figured out just a few days ago that the Catholic church uses cannons instead of bells to announce that their service is starting haha. It is so interesting! 

4. Our district had the opportunity to go to the Mexico City temple! Unfortunately, it is under construction so we did not get to go inside, but the outside was beautiful! We went on a tour around the visitors center (which is massive). It was so nice to be able to leave the walls of the MTC for a few hours! 

5. Weekends don't exist anymore. The other night, we were going to bed and there was the loudest Spanish music playing outside of the MTC. We had all forgotten it was Saturday haha. 

Anyway, I hope all is well for everybody. I am so grateful to be out here serving the Lord! 

The church is true! 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Temple Trip.

Playing volleyball in a lake after it rained.

Service Project: Cleaning the kitchen.

Mexico City.