A Day in the Life of Hermana Tapia

All of the missionaries around the world follow a schedule and general rules/guidelines that help us be motivated, organized and hardworking missionaries. The schedule and rules given on the mission have blessed my experience and I am excited to share it with you all today. Here is a little of what my days are like as a missionary:

6:30-7AM: Wake up, pray and exercise.

It was rough at first, but now I'm used to it and love it. Starting my morning with prayer is so important. It sets the tone for the rest of my day, I feel comforted, motivated and I feel my Heavenly Father's love and support for the rest of the day.

7-8:30AM: Get ready for the day, eat breakfast, personal time.

8:30-9AM: Planning for the day.

We start and end planning with prayer. We have an app on our tablets called Area Book where we can organize our day, look up the information of the people we are teaching. We rely on the Spirit to know what we will be teaching and who to visit.

9-10AM: Personal Study.

Personally my favorite part of the morning routine. I start with a personal prayer. I always start off my studies reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon and another in the Bible. My love for studying the scriptures has grown SO much on my mission. Following scripture study I pick a Christ-like attribute I feel I need to work on most and I study that attribute and make goals for myself. I then read a section in Preach My Gospel. Following that I will study for the lessons we are having that day. The hour goes by fast!

10AM-12PM: Proselyting and service.

As far as service we are always looking for ways to help the community and those around us. Constantly doing service is one of my favorite parts of the mission.

12-2PM: Lunch, studies.

We are almost always STARVING by lunch time. Studies consist of companionship study, language study and 12 Weeks. 12 Weeks is a booklet that contains specific things a new missionary should study and do the first 12 weeks on the mission. It's has helped me adjust to the mission and I love it. Companionship study is just what it sounds like, we share ideas and scriptures and learn together. During language study we study Spanish. Sometimes I tutor Hermana McCracken or improve my own Spanish.

2-5PM: Continue proselyting and teaching.

Our schedule is always packed with a huge area!

5-6PM: Dinner!

We usually always have dinner at a member's house. The members are so sweet and sign up to feed us on a calendar that is given to us monthly. It's great because my area is so diverse. There are people in my ward from El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Bolivia, etc. So I get dishes from all of South America! My extra 15 pounds and I are happier than ever!

6-9PM: Proselyting.

Generally our "golden hours" when everyone is out or at home with their families and we are able to successfully contact more people. The goal is to have lessons in the afternoon and if not we go finding.

9-10PM: Get home, get ready for bed.

10-10:30PM: Bed time.

I am drained by the end of the day and fall asleep in seconds. I often have dreams about teaching lessons and sleep talk a lot! Hermana McCracken said I woke her up one night because I was teaching a lesson in my sleep! She said I even sat up to "Say the prayer" and said "Amen" at the end and went back to bed! Haha! 

This week was amazing! Here are some of my favorite experiences this week:

♡ - We met a girl this week that accidentally walked into an LDS church Sunday. She only spoke Spanish so the English sisters referred her to us. We met her Tuesday night and taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong and it kept telling me to invite her to baptism. So I did and she wants to be baptized at the end of this month! She is incredible and so excited to hear about the gospel. 

Us sisters with the girl from Africa

♡ - Having a humble Hispanic lady cry and hug me as I gave her a Book of Mormon with my testimony on the first page.

♡ - Update on the man our Elders gave a blessing to last week: he is walking, talking and even dancing now! He said the priesthood blessing healed him and that it was a miracle. He and his wife moved back to Honduras Friday so we took pictures and said some heartfelt goodbyes.

Us with the Elderly woman and her husband from Honduras. A took that picture where Santos is looking at me like 5 times and every time he would just smile at me!!! Hahaahha! He's so cute!

♡ - When our 14 year old recent convert got her temple recommend, this means we get to go to the DC temple with her next week I am SO excited!!!

♡ - Watching General Conference. If you haven't seen General Conference, DO IT NOW. Two times a year we hear from the living prophet and his apostles and it has blessed my life immensely. You can go here to watch it, I invite you all to do that this week!

I love being a missionary of the Lord. The people here and these experiences have blessed my life so much and I am excited to continue serving, learning and growing as I help others do so. We are all learning together, trying to get back to our Heavenly Father.

Have a wonderful week, los quiero mucho!

Hermana Tapia