la Hermanita Mexicana

Dear Everyone,

Yesterday was testimony meeting at church and I decided to go up and bare my testimony to introduce myself to the ward. It is an important part of building their trust when they see how dedicated we are to la obra misional when we are willing to share our testimonies and experiences. It also makes them excited to work with us. I started off my testimony by introducing myself as Hermana Tapia from Utah then went on to say I was Mexican. After sacrament meeting many of the ward members came up to thank me for baring my testimony and almost every single one of them mentioned how excited they were to have a Mexican missionary and how they love Mexicans. It's really refreshing because on the West Coast the majority of Hispanics are Mexican and here they aren't as common and everyone loves us! It's great! Hahaha!  I am now known as "la Hermanita Mexicana" here and will only respond to emails that address me as that from now on. Hahaha! Just kidding!

Miracle Moment:
We received a call from a less-active couple this week that expressed to us their desire to come back to church. We met with them one night this week and it was such a spiritual lesson, yesterday they came to church together for the first time in years. I sat by them and when I was about to go up to bare my testimony I asked them if they wanted to come with me. To my surprise the wife said yes! In her testimony she shared how she had prayed so much that her husband's heart would be softened and that he would go to church with her again and how sitting by him today was an answer to her prayers. Tears were streaming down her husband's face. We scheduled an interview with the bishop for them and we are now working towards getting them sealed in the temple! I love watching how the gospel shapes and changes peoples' lives. God is so mindful of all of his children.





DJ Update: 
Oh we love DJ so so much. He struggles a lot with depression and often times deals with these feelings by doing drugs and partying. We received a random call from him one night where he asked how we were doing and told us about what he had read in the scriptures that day. It was random and unexpected, but we were so excited to receive the surprise. This week he shared with us about how he was really depressed that night and had decided to go to a casino to drink and party. He shared that as he was driving to the casino he stopped and thought about us and all we had taught him and in that moment he made a U-turn, drove back home, read his scriptures and called us to tell us all about it. We teared up. He is the perfect example of striving to overcome addictions and taking it one day at a time. He is one of the strongest people I have ever met and his baptism is coming up! We all have problems and weaknesses, but they do not define us. What does?

Happy November!
This is a little reminder to count your blessing this month. The mission is incredible, but sometimes we get caught in the routine of everything and forget to enjoy every moment and count our blessings. This is much like life back home. As you go on throughout your week keep an eye out for blessings and remember to have an attitude of gratitude. In honor of this month our trio made a "miracle wall" in our apartment. We hung it up this morning and throughout the month will be posting little miracles we saw every day to remind us to be grateful and positive. I invite you all to put up a "miracle wall" in your lives  this week. Whether it be at home or a mental wall. "Miracles happen every single day we just have to look for them and they will be there." -President Huntsman.

Funny moment: 
As you know I love children and dancing. I was teaching ballet to our investigator's daughter one night and it didn't go to well.. here is a gif to explain what I mean. 

This week was a little bit of a harder one for me. All week long we had a lot of investigators asking about life after death and we taught the Plan of Salvation probably 3-4 times a day. We even had a family home evening about it one night with a family. As I bore my testimony that families are eternal I got emotional. I thought about my sick step-grandmother who was dying of cancer back home and in that moment the spirit told me she would be okay and that what I was teaching would get me through the week. The next day I received an email that she had passed away. I knew Heavenly Father was allowing me to teach the Plan of Salvation to remind me what I believed and to prepare me for the news. As I read the email my  own words of the things I had taught and testified ran through my head and I knew they were true. I am grateful to be a missionary at this time and I know my step-grandmother is no longer suffering and that I will see her again. I am so sure of this that I probably would not even be able to express it in words. I really appreciate all of your kind words and am so grateful for the people back home comforting and helping my family at this time, you are an answer to my prayers.

Los quiero mucho, no se les olivde a contar sus bendiciones!

(AKA La Hermanita Mexicana)

Hermana Tapia