A Limping Disciple of Jesus Christ

Trying to smile through the struggle of crutches. (It makes finding easier cause no one runs away from the girl with crutches... )

This week I thought a lot about the atonement and what that means in my life and in the lives of the people I teach. Because of it I can strive to be better every day and so can my investigators. Because of it we also never have to feel alone through our pains. Speaking of pains, there are emotional and physical pains. This week I experienced both when I accidentally hurt my foot one night when it was too dark for me to see a step on a flight of stairs. It hurt but I assumed it was just a matter of time until the pain went away so I laughed and I walked it out (If the "Walk it Out" song started playing in your head then my goal here was accomplished). After a long night of no sleep and barely being able to move my foot I decided to push my pride aside and call the mission nurse. Surely, I had sprained my foot. I am now on crutches but refuse to stop doing anything so I am still working just as hard just don't tell my mission nurse... I know what you're thinking but trust me, I'll be okay! 

When we didn't have ice in our apartment so Hermana McCracken found frozen chocolate chips to put it on my foot! Hahaha!

I have been working a lot with investigators and inactive members that are girls between the ages of 13-18. We have two investigators from El Salvador that came here because of the dangers of their country. One of them who is only 17 had to move here because she was put in a dangerous situation in El Salvador that included having to watch her cousin be murdered. I could not believe what these girls had gone through. Others struggle with addictions, depression, bullying, the list goes on and on and it's heart breaking. It's clear that this generation needs our help and support, I can't express that enough. This week for women's conference we had an ice cream bar and watched conference with our ladies! I have so much love for the young women here in Old Town. It gives me a glimpse of the love a mother can have for her daughter and how much Heavenly Father loves us all. I love the youth and I'm very passionate about working with them. I think about my 15 year old brother back home and it motivates me to work harder, to be an example and to be mindful of others and their needs.

Do you all remember the sweet elderly woman who had the dream of the picture of Christ I talked about last week? Well, we had ANOTHER amazing experience with her. This last week we had the strongest impression that we needed to visit her. To our surprise her husband had been in the hospital earlier that week and almost passed away. We went over to him as he sat slumped on a chair and he just held our hands and cried. He can barely hear, talk or walk. We taught them a lesson on the restoration of the priesthood. The husband allowed us to invite the missionaries over for a priesthood blessing. Our Elders came to give him the blessing and it was one of my most spiritual experiences thus far. And it gets better, their whole family showed up right before the blessing so they got to be there for it! Their niece asked us to come back and teach her family. It was so great!

A beautiful sunset and a silhouette of a beautiful monument. (Sorry about the dirty window)

This week I learned SO MUCH! From zone conference, S.T.L transfers, General Women's Conference, right before my fuel was burning out - Heavenly Father poured all this amazing counsel and encouragement on me. One of my favorite quotes from women's conference is from the talk given from Sharon Eubank, the First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency. She quoted President Kimball when she said the following:

“Finally, my dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world … will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world. 

“Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. These real heroines have true humility, which places a higher value on integrity than on visibility. … 

“… It will be … female exemplars of the Church [who] will be a significant force in both the numerical and the spiritual growth of the Church in the last days.”

I felt so empowered during this talk! As women we have to make the choice to help one another and do all we can to bring the world His truth. So often we forget this and compare ourselves to someone else, hold a grudge, spread rumors, have negative thoughts about another. I know that as we strive to work together as daughters of God and to be kinder to one another and focus on our purpose we will trigger the major growth in the church and build up His kingdom just as President Kimball told us we have the potential to do. Sister Eubank ended her talk by saying:

I conclude with the words of our well-loved prophet, Thomas S. Monson: “My dear sisters, this is your day, this is your time.”

I know this is true. My challenge of the week is to remember that we are in the last days, have you seen the news recently?? Christ is coming soon! Let's be missionaries in his vineyard and not waste time.

Fun facts:

• I had cow tongue for dinner one night.
• A 15 year old asked me for my number.
• Got 12 mosquito bites in 20 minutes.
• Got 8 new investigators! 
• Got kissed on the hand by an elderly man.
• Set my first baptismal dates!

If you have any questions about what I do please email me or contact your local missionaries! We love answering questions! Love you all! Until next week! Have a great conference week!

Love,

Hermana Tapia

Noche de Hispanidad

Hola!

Hermana Tapia here and I just completed my first week on the field!!! I am in love with this place, the people and sharing the gospel brings me so much joy! I am so excited to share everything with you guys today!

The missionary table AKA the second best table at the fiesta (1st is Mexico, sorry).

So, my first area is called Old Town, the architecture is just beautiful, there is so much amazing history to see and it is so green! In Utah I always knew where I was when I could see the mountains, but here there are no mountains and I don’t think I will ever be able to know my way around. (Your girl wants a GPS for Christmas *wink* Hahaha I’m kidding) Old Town was actually closed so my mission president (and the Lord ) trust my trainer and I to open it up again, this is A LOT of work. We have soooo many investigators and inactive members in this area since it was closed and there is work to be done. Every night my compañera and I collapse on our beds and barely get home on time because our schedules are jam packed. Even though it’s hectic and crazy…. I LOVE IT. I’m seriously having the best time and I am working so hard. I told the Lord I was ready to work and do what I was asked to do and He did not hold back… haha! It’s so humbling that my compañera and I are trusted to build up this new area and invite these people to come to Christ and to receive the blessings of the gospel. I am so happy, I love putting this tag on every day that says I am a representative of Christ, it motivates me to do and be better. Although it is absolutely not easy, trust me. But 1 Nephi 3:7 teaches that Heavenly Father doesn’t ask us to do anything we cannot do and I believe that wholeheartedly. I am getting to work!

My trainer Hermana McCracken is INCREDIBLE. She is so obedient, hardworking, sweet and courageous; she’s not scared to talk to anyone! Also her Spanish is so great. She is so humble that she tells everyone she feels like I am the one training her! Hahaha! One night we talked about personal trials and life experiences we have gone through that helped us come to the conclusion that we were going to serve missions and I would have never guessed she had gone through so much. She is a spiritual powerhouse, she is so strong and is not afraid to follow the Lord. She is the best example to me and I love the trust and unity we have established with one another! She truly is an answer to my prayers and I love her!

Hermanita McCracken and I enjoying the performances and meeting people. I love her so much!

The members in our ward are so awesome and we visited them a lot this week and tried to establish trust and friendships with them. They’re all so nice and treat me like a princess and feed me every 5 minutes. (Don’t be surprised if I put on a few pounds) I love that about Hispanic culture, they just give all they have and are so humble and friendly. (Except for the cute old man that growled at us and slammed his door in our faces Thursday afternoon. Yikes!) Saturday night we had Noche de Hispanidad! This is where members in the ward set up tables to represent the Country they’re from. The tables had food, decorations, costumes, drinks, candy, etc. And there were also performances with traditional dances and singing. And it was SO AMAZING. I came just in time for the fiesta! I was asked to say the opening prayer and I took that as an opportunity to share my testimony of prayer before doing so, the spirit was able to testify of the power of prayer. After that we got started and I fit right in! All the members were so excited to meet me; they hugged, kissed and welcomed me and I felt so at home! We encouraged members this last week to invite all of their friends and families and introduce us to the nonmembers. We got a TON of numbers from people interested in lessons and met potential investigators. Member missionary work is the best, we need you guys!! I will add lots of pictures of the event here and I’m excited for you all to see our missionary table with the Elder’s. Also my compañera and I got to borrow beautiful dresses from an hermana that we loved! I love my culture so much and I am so proud to be Latina! Viva Mexico!

One of my favorite members who is from Chile! (Shout out to my favorite missionary in Chile and in the whole word... Elder Inouye!!!) She preformed a traditional Chilean dance with her hubby. It was a dance about love and unity, I only cried 2 times during the dance I promise... haha!

Hermana McCracken and I with the Bolivian dance group that did AMAZING. 

I am already seeing miracles on my mission… It’s so crazy. I have been here just one week and I am already blown away at the work of the Lord and all He does for His children. I have seen wayyyyyy too many coincidences and miracles in these last few days to think that this is anything less than the work of the Lord. There have been numerous occasions where we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Or when the spirit impressed me to say or ask something that lead to something that was exactly what that person needed. From reading the bible with random elderly women to getting a group of 14-16 year olds to stop and talk about God with us to accidentally going to the wrong home at a time when that sister needed to hear my and my companion’s testimonies… the list goes on and on. But I will never forget the night I met J. She is 14 years old and was baptized last month, but was struggling to stay active because she didn’t have support from her family being the only member. Guess who else was baptized when she was 14 and is the only member in her family??? Me! Hahaha! I was able to relate to her in a unique way and the Spirit was able to testify through my personal experience, little had I known she had been praying for someone to understand and help her. She is like my little sister and I love her so much! I love being the Lord’s missionary, tears come to my eyes as I type that because it’s seriously so amazing. We can all be missionaries by simply serving others and being kind! My challenge this week: think about what you can do to serve and love those around you more, but start with the people you live with, your family!

I gotta go, we are currently at an auto shop because our car has a coolant leak… Ill talk about that next week! Haha! Thank you so much for your emails and letters! I promise I will respond to you! Don’t feel ignored! Love you all! Stay safe and read your scriptures!

Love,

Your favorite Hermana Tapia

Where Hermana McCracken and I go to plan our day and email... yeah... I'm only a little spoiled here...

She Has Arrived

Some of you may already know this but for those of you who don’t, the 4th is my favorite day of the month. Keep in mind this was all coincidental, but I was baptized May 4th in 2012, entered the temple for the first time June 4th, received my patriarchal blessing August 4th, these are big events in my life but the list goes on and on! Wonderful things happen on the 4th of every month and it’s always a coincidence. I have cool experiences and sometimes just simply feel God’s love stronger on this day. I was emotional on my flight to D.C. this morning and I looked down on my tablet and the date read: September 4th 2017. In that moment I felt God’s love so strongly. Maybe this is another “coincidence” but I like to think Heavenly Father is mindful of me and what I go through. I know He knows me and cares for me, I love the 4th of every month, and this is something I like to see as a tender mercy.

Leaving the MTC was harder than I thought it would be, lots of goodbyes to such good friends and I miss them already! Hermana Vasquez and I got A.G. a journal with our testimonies inside of all that we had taught her and a few words of love for her. We were all so emotional and A.G. mentioned that we are like her daughters and that she will never forget us. We love her and I miss her already.

This weekend after in-field orientation we were at dinner and it was finally sinking in that we were all leaving. Out of nowhere one of our Elders says, “We were talking last night and we want to thank you Hermanas for being here and serving missions.” Another of our Elders adds, “Yeah, out of all the Sisters here we all agree you four are the coolest ones here.” Sunday night we had a final testimony meeting with our district. It was tender and we love our Elders, they’re seriously our brothers, I’ve always wanted a big brother, now I have four. I will always cherish my time at the M.T.C. and the friendships I was able to make.

But now the mission REALLY begins! Aside from being a little emotional I AM SO HAPPY TO NOW BE IN DC!!! I feel so blessed and am ready to get started! Our plane took off this morning and being out in the real world feels soooo great, I just want to talk to everyone and I can’t stop smiling! Oh no… I’ve become a weird missionary. OH well, maybe it’s part of the process. Haha! My travel compañera, Hermana Porter and I decided to talk to an older man in the line for McDonald’s as we waited to order at the airport. He ended up telling us about how he believes in God but not religion. We explained how religion is just a way in which we worshiped God and he opened up to us more. That was my first experience doing that and it went really well!

   

My last week I pondered a lot about my attitude on the mission. Sometimes getting up at 6:30AM was NOT fun and I often got lazy with some of my duties. Brother Savage from the MTC shared verses from D&C Chapter 78 with us and it says;

18 And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. 

19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

I don’t know about you but I struggle to have a good attitude when I don’t want to do something. But as we try to be of good cheer and receive all things with thankfulness then great blessings are promised if we do so. I understand you’re all going through life, going to school, working, raising families, and sometimes we just go through life and become unmotivated or dread doing the things we need to do. My challenge this week! I invite you all to see these duties with good cheer and to have a better attitude, I know that as we do so we will be blessed for our efforts and we will just enjoy life in general.

My p-day on the field is still Mondays and I can’t wait to meet my mission president and get to the mission home and tell you all about it! I miss and love you all!

Greetings from beautiful Virgina!

Hermana Tapia

Guys, I Am ENGAGED!!!

There have been rumors and even though I’m in the MTC I’m here to inform you all that the rumors are true. Our Tuesday night devotional Weatherford T. Clayton of the seventy spoke with his wife Lisa and the first thing she said to us was that she could tell we were all engaged in the work of the Lord. Therefore I am engaged… in the work of the Lord. (Hahaha okay that was a bad joke, sorry guys)

Week numero dos! I love it here and it has become my home. (Although I really look forward to making D.C. my home this coming week!) Can you believe it?! I’m leaving in just one week and I barely got here! The MTC is seriously so cool, you feel the spirit here constantly and it is so wonderful. But now is the time to take all this knowledge we’ve gained and take it to the field to bless the people we are sent to teach through the help of the Spirit! I got my travel itinerary and it’s a 6 hour flight from Salt Lake to D.C., I’m so excited!

Being a sister training leader has been such a blessing. I love these hermanas so much. We got 5 new Hermanas and 4 new Elder’s on Wednesday and we love them! Hermana Vasquez and I decided to hold a “girls night” in our residency Friday night where we had candy, face masks, nail painting and got to know each other better. Each one of us are so different from the other but share a love for our savior and have a testimony of this gospel. We all get along so well. I seriously love my whole zone and we are like a big family. We have volleyball nights during workout time and it’s always so fun! I am not looking forward to saying bye to the Elders and Hermanas next week.

Last night was like no other. Without giving away too much information I will just say someone had a seizure and as sister training leader I had to take control of the situation. If anyone knows me you know I freak out in dangerous situations. I couldn’t help but wonder what heavenly father was thinking in making me sister training leader! I can’t handle these situations! But I thought about how the Lord doesn’t call the elect, he elects the called. I testify of this because in the moment this all happened I knew exactly what to do and everything went fine, I was in “go mode”. Hahaha! Shortly after everything cooled down she asked for a priesthood blessing. I have never had the priesthood in my home, so i thought about how I personally haven’t gained my own testimony of the priesthood. That night I gained that testimony. I prayed before the blessing to know if it was truly God’s power here on earth. That girl was blessed with health, comfort and love. And just like that she was healed. After the blessing the Elder’s felt strongly that they needed to share their testimonies on the priesthood. I was sobbing. I know the priesthood is God`s power on earth to comfort and heal us. I know this. I’ve seen it and I’ve felt it. That night when I went to check on the hermana she shared with me her feelings during the blessing and thanked me for all I had done. I love this calling with all my heart. I am grateful for these experiences and yes, the girl is okay. Hahaha!

This week we started T.R.C. which is a program where real investigators and recent converts get to come and be taught by missionaries in the MTC (Am I the only one that didn’t know this was a thing??). I was so excited for this because before T.R.C. our only practice was teaching lessons to our teachers as they pretended to be people they taught on their missions. As fun as that was it felt nice to really see what it was like with someone who wasn’t just playing a role. Our investigator A.G. (I will only use the initials of my investigators when referring to them) was so amazing. She is a really sweet older woman with children that came to the US to learn English. She had just recently been divorced from her husband, moved to Utah and was having a hard time. She felt lonely, unlovable and lost. She grew up going to lots of different churches and thought there was something unique about the LDS church. Long story short I sat there listening to her thinking about how crazy it was that she and I had gone through such similar trials. It reminded me of a quote from our Sunday devotional, “It is not the perfect that minister to the broken, it is the healed.” This indicates that we too need to go through trials and be broken at some point in our lives and then be healed in order to help others who may feel broken. That is so beautiful to me. I sat there in my first real discussion with a real investigator and I had never felt so much love for a complete stranger, we had taught her 2 times and guess what… SHE SAID YES TO MY INVITATION TO BE BAPTIZED. We set a baptismal date, September 16th! I am so excited about this because I love A.G. so much and want her to make those covenants with the Lord. This is my first Baptism! It’s so exciting! My love for these people and the Lord continues to grow and grow. I am so grateful for the rough times I have had to go through because it helps me love and understand people like A.G. It is true when they say the Lord prepares his missionaries for the people they teach. I testify of this.

My challenge of the week! Think about trials you have had to go through. Now consider the lessons you learned and how you benefited from it and try to help others who might be going through a similar trial. I testify that as we do this we will help others be strengthened and we will be able to see trials with a grateful heart and rather seek knowledge and not feel as discouraged when difficult times arise. I know that for this purpose we are given trials, to come closer to Heavenly Father and help others do the same.

I don’t know if I will get to email next week since I will be on the plane at this time but you’re all in my prayers and I love you all so much! Keep me updated and I appreciate all your lovely emails! I love you all and I love my Heavenly Father, that’s why I am doing this! Next time I write I will be coming at you live from DC!

Love,

Hermana Tapia

Week Numero Uno at the MTC

Hola!

I made it to my first p-day! This has been one of the hardest and most amazing weeks of my life and my mission has only begun. First, leaving my family was so hard. Nothing will compare to the feeling in my heart as I hugged my brother and mother goodbye outside of the MTC. I love them so much. It was in the back of my mind my whole first day and I couldn’t shake the feeling so I prayed for comfort. The night we met our branch president and his counselors, they each bore small testimonies. The first counselor, Elder Flores spoke about how hard it was for him to leave his family. He talked about how he knew he had to go on his mission because he loves the Lord more than he loves his family and he looked right at us and says, “I know that’s why you’re here too. Because you love the Lord more than anyone else.” It was so true. I love and miss my family more than I could say but my love for the Lord and desire to follow Him is so much stronger than any other feeling. That was so powerful and helped me remember why I came in the first place, because I love my father in heaven. So I forgot about myself and I got to work and the blessings just came pouring.

Being a missionary is so humbling and my Español is improving so much already! The ladies in the front office treat Hermana Vasquez (Rocio) and I like celebrities. For those that don’t know how it works, prior to missionaries entering the MTC they pray before setting up companionships. Hermana Vasquez and I got there at the same time and were waiting for our tags in the office and to meet our companions. We kept hugging and talking to each other because we were so excited and when the office lady asked, “Do you know each other?”

We enthusiastically responded, “We are best friends!”

“Awe… you’re in the same district.” She says.

We are so excited at this point. And then she gasps looking down at a paper and looks up at us again and says almost in disbelief, “You are… companions.”

Yep, my best friend since 9th grade that introduced me to the church is my MTC companion. Hermana Vasquez and I were crying at this point and hugged again. The lady asked to take a picture of us. She later emailed it to me so you all can see it. It’s literally us crying in the scheduling office and I’m literally holding my used tissue in my hands. Hahaha! It’s a tender mercy and we learned quickly why we needed to be companions and it’s been a humbling and spiritual experience! I’m so glad we get to share this experience.

The first night we met our branch presidency we all went around and introduced ourselves; name, mission, background and why you decided to serve. It got so deep when we talked about why we chose to serve. There is one Elder in particular that is a tall, larger structured young man that looks a lot older for his age. When it got to him he paused for what seemed like 20 seconds, looking back at him now I saw that young man with tears streaming down his face covered by his hands. Finally he said, “I chose to serve because I know this is what I need to do in order to become the man He wants me to be.” One by one I watched as 18 and 19 year old young men and women bore their humble testimonies and the spirit was so strong. We really are a chosen generation. It is NOT common to find an 18 year old boy that has such a strong testimony of his Father in Heaven and is willing to sacrifice it all because he loves him and wants to become who he was out on this earth to be. The gospel has changed all of our lives so that is what we are willing to give everything up to do what He commands of us. Witnessing that gave me chills~ that is the power the gospel has had on our lives although we are so young we know the Lord and we love him.

Also I was called to be senior companion on the second day. And Hermana Vasquez and I were called as sister training leaders for our zone on Sunday. We were told that hermanas get that calling after weeks of being here but our branch president said he saw tremendous potential in us and knows we can do it. It is so humbling when the Lord trusts me to be a leader but also makes me realize that He will expect more from me which can be overwhelming. But he truly helps me. I thought of a quote that says, “You do not shine your own light, you reflect His.” Callings are to help others come to Him and He works through me. I am so amazed at how much I love my friends here! I seriously lucked out in the district department because we have the greatest hermanas and elders! We all get along so well and are so focused on the work and work hard during class time yet have a blast at lunch and work out time. Hermana Alcalde and Hermana Cole are the sisters in our district and are literally like our sisters! We all get along so well and love one another!

Before entering the MTC I prayed a lot to know what my faults were. To more clearly see my weaknesses and what was standing in the way of me being the missionary, daughter, sister, friend, future wife and future mother that Heavenly Father wants me to be. And let me tell you, the Lord did not hold back from showing me my faults. I realized quickly that there was a lot of stuff I had to work on. But realizing that gave me hope… weird I know! But hear me out, when the Lord projects our flaws it’s kind of a way of saying, “Pstt! You are so wonderful but I want you to be better!” Isn’t that the point of this life? To learn and progress from our difficulties and our mistakes?! How often do we fall to discouragement when we realize one of our weaknesses? This is not what they are given to us for. Only through these difficulties and challenges can we draw closer to God and become more Christ-like. That is amazing to me, times when I feel weak I rely on Him and it helps me realize how much I need Him. I want to testify to you all that we ALL need him. If any of you have felt discouraged lately or are going through a hard time I encourage you to take that pain to the Lord and He will heal you and more than anything He will change you. My life as a missionary helps me to further understand my role in this life as myself.

This leads me to my challenge of the week! I invite you all to think about what you could work on, that can strengthen your relationships with others. I testify that if you rely on God to help you understand what those weaknesses may be and ask Him for help you will also strengthen your relationship with Him! Because we really do need Him so much. I have come to see that so much as a missionary. I need Him as much as He needs me and that is so powerful to know. I have a testimony of this and it has only grown here in the beautiful MTC (I will provide pictures of this gorgeous place below). There is so much I want to share and so little time but I love you all and thank you so much for your emails! It has taken time but I feel at home here and I’m working hard! As the wife of our first counselor in my branch said to us sisters Friday night, “The harder you work, the more handsome your husbands will be!” Hahahaha!

I have a testimony of this gospel and invite anyone who is wondering to learn more about it! It has brought me so much joy in my life that I could not imagine living without. I am learning and growing so much and I know this is where I belong.

I love you all!
Hermana Tapia