The scriptures can heal us.

As I am going farther into my mission, my memory seems to be getting worse and worse (just ask my companion haha). That being said, I don't really remember much of what happened this past week, but I will try my best! 

For the past thirteen weeks, I have been working with an inactive member to help her to come back to church. Finally after a lot of visits and talks, she came to church for the first time in months! When she walked in the door I wanted to cry I was so happy! It was such a miracle!

Not only did we experience that miracle at church, but we also found two of our investigators can be baptized! They have been waiting for their husband/dad to be reactivated into the church so that he can do it! We should be having a baptism in the next few weeks that means!

We have been doing a lot of finding and have knocked into some really cool people! I LOVE tracting! It has been super cold and rainy here, but it has actually been quite the blessing because sometimes people just let us into their homes so they don't have to keep the door open! 

I have been reading The Book of Mormon for the second time in my mission and as I have done so, my love for it has grown and my testimony has been strengthened. One scripture that really stood out to me as I was reading was in the book of Jacob.

  8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul.

The word of God is the scriptures! When we read in the scriptures, we can literally be healed. Our Heavenly Father will speak to us and offer peace to our hearts! I know that this is true because The Book of Mormon has healed me when I was hurt. It has changed my life. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to share this happy message with others! 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Lindsay and her companion almost burnt their apartment down. They have a fireplace and wanted to roast marshmallows, but the chimney was plugged and filled their apartment with smoke. haha. They decided to use the stove instead.

The parking job of Lindsay's companion. She has to help back her out all the time. haha.

This cute old man bought Lindsay and her companion sweaters because its been so cold. 

Lindsay took this scripture literally, and "delighted in fatness"

They were tracting and someone opened the door, told them they would be right back, and never came back! haha.

Some of the huge houses in Lindsay's area. She thought this was a hotel. 

Versus the homes of the people that Lindsay serves. Very humbling. 

A weird Sunday.

Another transfer has come and gone, and I get to stay in the beloved Oakcrest for six more weeks! I also get to stay with Hna Medeiros, which is really exciting since I have been going through companions really quickly haha. I couldn't be happier! 

I realized that I always start out my weekly letters the same way, saying that it has been another good week. Nothing could be more true though, each week is just really happy! 

Hispanics are always so loving, and always try to feed us even if we aren't hungry or have just eaten. They also give us enough food to feed about four people (the term "push past the pain" is like my motto now). One of our sweet investigators from Peru decided to invite us to eat with her and her daughter while we were at our appointment. She piled a bunch of food on the plate (the usual: rice, salsa, bread, and meat). I had never seen the meat that she was feeding us before, and when I asked her what it was, she just told me that it was meat and that I should just eat it. So I did. 

I have been pretty blessed so far on my mission not to eat anything weird, but that day, I ate something that I wouldn't be mad if I never ate again. We went back to her house a few days later and she finally told us that she had given us. We ate some chicken liver, kidney, heart.. ya know just your everyday organs. Thank goodness chickens are little! I am counting my blessings! 

Sunday was the most interesting Sabbath day that I have ever experienced. It all began on Saturday though. 

We had gone over to a little trailer park where a family that we teach lives, to go try finding somebody that lives just behind our investigators trailer. While we were walking, we see a shirtless, hairy man stumbling towards us across our investigator's backyard, clearly drunk. 

By the time he reaches us, he starts telling us that he is a Mormon and that he is related to our investigators! We talk to him for about 20 minutes and he tells us that he wants to come to church with us and that he would be all cleaned up by Sunday. We didn't take him to seriously though since he was kinda tipsy. 

Sunday morning, we decide that we are going to go beat the door down of our investigators to wake them up for church! We also decided that we'd soften them up first by making them pancakes. We spent the morning cooking, then went over to their house. 

When we got there, the same shirtless guy was sitting outside, getting a haircut from his nephew. He was still a  little hungover, but he was being real when he said he wanted to come to church! In the end, it was him and one of our investigators from the family he was staying with that agreed to come! 

When we got to church, we sat on the back row with them. Church started, and so did this guy. It isn't uncommon to hear people that we are teaching whisper and talk while we pray (like they say "amen" a lot, or they just say their own little prayer), but I have never heard it happen at church! Each prayer that was given, this guy made sure to pray too.. like hardcore and really loud. 

I was asked to speak this same day during Sacrament meeting. As I was standing at the pulpit, I looked at this guy who is making faces and mouthing crazy things to me. It was really hard not to start laughing! 

Having him at church was such a blessing, but it made for an interesting three hours! Church felt a lot longer than it usually does that day haha. 

Not only did we have those two at church, but we also had five other investigators show up! It has been really hard getting people to come to church, but we were really blessed!  

We are seeing so many miracles here every week! We were able to find some more people to teach this week and have some great lessons! The Lord is truly hastening his work and I am so grateful to be a part of it! 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Lindsay tried squid. Anyone that know her, knows how hilarious this is! 

Go to the temple!

I love my mission. I could leave it right there and it would be fine, but I will add a little bit of sugar! 

To start the past week off on a really great note, we found out that Marcos and Bryan won't be going to Florida after all! Talk about a reason to rejoice! Hna Medeiros and I literally flipped out when we heard the news! We are so blessed to be able to work with these guys! 

Spanish is still coming along slowly, but surely. It's pretty cool to see where I have come in eight months. Obviously, I have a lot to work on still, but the gift of tongues is a real thing! One of our investigators, Elizabeth, had to take her son to the dentist and asked if we would go with her. When we got there, the receptionist didn't speak Spanish, so I got to translate! After, the paperwork that Elizabeth had to fill out was all in English so again, I translated. I haven't ever had to really talk about dental things in Spanish, so there was a lot of acting involved too (I'm sure the people around LOVED that haha), but it is really cool to see how blessed I have been with learning the language! 

On the day of love and friendship, we decided to do some heart attacking! Since we are missionaries and have rules to be at our house during the nighttime, we got to do it in broad daylight! It made it a little more of a challenge, but we accepted and had a great time!

This weekend was stake conference for this wonderful Spanish stake! Elder Dan Jones from the seventy came and spoke. It was AMAZING. One thing that really stood out to me during the Sunday and adult sessions was how much temples were talked about. 

28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meekand lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

Feeling weighed down, stressed, or having a hard time with something? Go to the temple and your burden will be made light! Whatever it may be, attending the temple WILL help! 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp

Bertha was baptized!

I couldn't have asked for a better way to end this past week than to find out that Bertha Tijerina was baptized! I was so blessed to have the opportunity to work with her for the first three transfers of my mission. There was nothing happier than seeing the gospel of Jesus Christ change a life.

Learning that Bertha was baptized was just the cherry on top of a really stellar week! Lots of miracles, and lots of great things that happened. 

On Tuesday, we went to see one of our investigators, Elizabeth. Each time we go there, she tells us that she has been reading about Relief Society, or watching videos about our church on mormon.org. She even asked us why we have Moroni on our temples and we haven't even taught her about those yet! Even though she shows so much interest in our church, we haven't been able to get her to actually come! So that day, we decided to buy her a skirt because she had told us that she didn't want to come, because she didn't have one. Sunday came, and Elizabeth still didn't show up to church. That didn't discourage us though! 

Right after church we decided to drive to her house to invite her to a temple tour that the mission presidency is doing each Sunday throughout February. This gives nonmembers the opportunity to learn about what happens inside the temples and ask questions. When we got there, she was pretty hesitant, but she ended up coming with her son! 

She wasn't able to listen to a ton because her little boy was wild and only wanted to play in the fountains (darn rules that don't let us hold kids and help out haha). What she did hear though, she liked. Our mission president even talked one on one with her and addressed her concerns! It was a really cool experience and the spirit could be felt which is all that matters. 

Something else really cool that happened was with the Garcia family. They are a big family that live in a tiny trailer, but we only teach Marcos and Bryan. When we got to our appointment on Saturday night, Marcos told us that him and Bryan will be moving to Florida on Tuesday to work for two months. This means that I most likely won't be able to work with them again because there is a big chance that I will be transferred before then. Because of this, Marcos shared something that I never knew.

I met Marcos back in December. He had been taught by missionaries before, but they hadn't been able to get in with him so we decided to try again. We showed up at his house and he was outside with his friend, drunk. This was the first time that I had met him and he just kept apologizing to me and telling me that he knew what he was doing wasn't good. I told him he was fine and we talked for a bit! He told us to come back and so we left and have been visiting them ever since. That is our side of the story. 

After we left, Marcos felt REALLY bad. He had been having a hard time and so he decided to buy alcohol. He didn't know why, that isn't something he normally does. His friend left and he went into his room and began to pray. He told us that he knew that God had sent him angels to stop him from doing what he was doing and promised to never do it again and ever since that day, he hasn't.

What a cool thing it is to hear of little miracles that take place and we don't even know about them. Miracles are continuously happening out here. It has been such a sweet blessing to be around Marcos and Bryan. They are so special and I am so grateful for the time I have had with them.

I am so blessed to be here. I love these people with all of my heart! The church is true and I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve here! 

Love, 

Hermana Rupp 

Apparently this is how gangs mark their territory.