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