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