An Unexpected Visit to the E.R.

I am going to be honest, I am so prideful.... so Heavenly Father taught me a humbling lesson in a really unique way. This week many big events (lessons, meetings, two baptisms) were scheduled and so I was ready to work hard. I prayed, worked and studied harder than ever and I was in game mode. I thought all week, "I got this." And then I found myself collapsed on my bed Wednesday night after meetings and lessons in possibly the worst pain I have ever felt and it had lasted all day long. I was just barely letting myself rest after a long, busy day and I could not get out of bed. I was taken to urgent care and they sent me directly to the E.R. I really did not think it was necessary but I went anyways with my President and his wife by my side. After a C.T. scan, blood work, hours of waiting for test results and pain the doctor came in and let me know I was scheduled to get my appendix out within hours. All the events of the week came running to my head and there was no way I was going to be able to attend any of them. I was so STRESSED. But I really didn't have any other choice. I was admitted to the hospital and got some rest before I was taken into surgery hours later. 

The surgery went well! The hardest part has definitely been the recovery. Laying in bed all day, taking medication, eating very little and the pain of the wounds really got to me. I felt so sad and so frustrated. To top things off our investigator and his son that were getting baptized this weekend called to see how I was doing and let me know he was cancelling the baptism to let me recover and that we could meet after I felt better. It was so sweet and thoughtful but I thought NOOO!!!! I tried so hard to promise him I'd be ready but it just wasn't possible. I appreciated the love and concern from the investigator but it felt as though all our hard work was going down the drain.

Our amazing week ended up being the worst week of my mission. After letting myself soak in my self pitty I took advantage of my alone time when my comp left the room thinking I was asleep and I said a prayer that was kind of a selfish, angry prayer. I was so upset with how the week had turned out and all our cancelled events we had prepared months for. I asked why? Why now and why like this? I had worked so hard and I thought I could do it. And these words quickly came to my mind. "You are not in charge here, I am. Just trust me." I realized I had been relying on myself and trusting in my plans and abilities and not my Heavenly Father's. I was forgetting to incorporate Him into all the plans and ask Him for help. I have also been sick for months and hadn't had the time or opportunity to get checked until now.

I learned a few huge lessons:

1. We are not in charge. God knows so much more and so much better than us. 
2. Because of this His plan will always be infinitely better than ours.
3. We just need to trust and accept His will even when things get hard, especially then.

So the week ended and we had 0 lessons, no baptisms, lots of cancelled and highly anticipated events, I can barely walk or eat and although it all stinks right now I know that Heavenly Father knows why this needed to happen. And until I know I will do the best I can to be thankful for the medical attention I desperately needed and was able to receive, the loving members, investigators, leaders and missionaries who were right by my side the whole time. I trust Him, I know Him and I love Him.

On a brighter note, the nurses were awesome. I got to explain to them what I do as a missionary and here are some funny responses.

On the fact that we can't watch TV or movies:
"Do you have any idea how much Netflix you need to catch up on when you get home?!"
"So what do you do when you're bored?" (We don't have time to be bored.) 

Having companions:
"But like what if you don't like your companion?"
"So it's like an arranged friendship for 6 weeks?"
"Do you hate each other yet?" 

Seperation from family and friends:
"That's soooo sad."
"So they sort of kidnap you from your family?"
"I need a break like that from my family." 

Service for 18 months:
"That is so long, how do you do it?"
"So were you forced by your family to do this or do you actually like it?"

After sharing what missionary work means to me and why I am doing it:
"Awe... you're so cute. I would never do that."
"You should start a T.V. show about this, I'd watch it."

OH YEAH! Also I am getting transferred to Springlake and getting a comp who is new and I'm so excited! Wish me luck so I can pack, I should be back to normal by Wednesday. Have an awesome week. I am getting better every day! 

Los quiero!

Hermana Tapia

Getting Chased Down by the Ice Cream Man....

Hello!

I may or may not have been disgustingly sick this week with a cough starting Wednesday. But all is well because we still had a wonderful week and I started feeling better Friday. The best part of being sick was definitely leaving the Elders a voicemail and having them call back thinking I was a man because I barely had a voice and sounded like a teenage boy. Haha!

Last week during weekly planning we were sitting in our apartment and suddenly hear the ice cream truck. So we look at each other, drop everything, grab some money and run outside after the ice cream truck. The ice cream man ended up being from El Salvador and told us about his friends in his Country that are LDS. He said he's always wanted to know about their beliefs but never asked cause he felt it'd be awkward. So we run back to our car and get a restoration pamphlet (he was so entertained by our excessive running) and run back and teach him the restoration out in the 80 degree heat as we quickly try to eat our already melting ice cream. He seemed interested so we left him with a card.

Now fast forward to this week. We were walking outside when all of a sudden we hear a car speeding behind us make a u-turn and race towards us and break suddenly. We turn and it was the same ice cream truck! Our Salvadorean friend pokes his head out and waves. We run over to him and he was so happy! He tells us he read the pamphlet and talked to his friends and wants to learn more but is just always working (I have come to gain a strong dislike for jobs that make people work on Sundays....). We also found out he works in our area but lives in another mission (Southern Virginia). Nonetheless it was cool to see what an impact our contact had on him and how strongly the spirit was able to testify of the truthfulness of the restoration. Once again, RARELY do we have people chase after us! 

Have you ever seen two missionaries teaching a lesson at Starbucks? That was Hermana McCracken and I this week. Our investigator Luiggi lives alone so we normally meet up to have lessons in public places when we can't find members to come to the lesson with us. He is almost done with 1 Nephi. He comes to our lessons with so many great questions and insight on his reading in the Book of Mormon. BUT we are still about 2 lessons away from teaching the Word of Wisdom. (A law of health given by God that tells us what we should and shouldn't eat or drink.) Thanks to a modern revelation and prophets we know that we must stay away from strong or hot drinks like coffee and tea. Sooo, we had yet to teach Luiggi this. Tuesday Luiggi sends us the address of the restaurant we are meeting at. We type it into our GPS and pull up and realize it is a Starbucks... oh no. We meet up with Luiggi and he offers us some coffee. We sit down and have a full on lesson on the Word of Wisdom and Luiggi quickly agrees with it and understands everything! We were so relieved. Then he says, "Afterall I don't really ever drink coffee anyways, I'm more of a tea kind of person." And immediately after got up and ordered some tea. In that moment it hit us that we forgot to mention tea... hahaha! You can probably picture our faces in that moment panicking. Two missionaries at starbucks teaching our investigator as he drinks his tea... haha! Now that he understands and has prayed about it he let us know he is willing to give up tea, he's so great!

Here are some pictures of us and the English sisters at Little Washington for p-day.  

That's all for this week, Love you guys!!

Hermana Tapia

Meeting an Apostle of God

Hello everyone!

Meeting Elder Ballard this week was definitely the highlight. The second he walked into the room all of us could feel the spirit testify that he is a man called of God and worthy of his sacred calling. As he spoke I felt love, motivation, encouragement and the spirit. I also needed to hear everything he said. When I was 15 years old and a recent convert I spoke at my stake conference that Elder Ballard had also happened to be speaking in. After the meeting I shook his hand and he told me I'd be a great missionary one day. It was so cool shaking his hand again now as a missionary. So cool! I am so grateful that there is no confusion in Christ's church, God literally calls apostles and prophets to lead and guide us through his gospel so we can always know what is right and what we need to do. I know for sure that the priesthood has been restored and we have living prophets and apostles today just like Heavenly Father promised.

Ephesians 2:
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

We went to the DC temple visitors Center as an MLC and met with the MLCs of the Baltimore and DC North missions. It was a great time, an experience I will remember forever.

In other news, we saw many miracles this week where we just happened to be at the right place at the right time. Someone who really progressed this week is an investigator I will call Luiggi. He was a self referral that we met two weeks ago. He is so interested and this week in our lesson with him we were at a members home and we asked if he had time to read the Book of Mormon. He said, "Yes and I don't know what it is but something just feels right about all of this as I read and pray..." I feel like often times we expect dramatic, huge, overwhelming answers to our prayers when in reality it is just the still and quiet moments when we are reassured we are doing the right thing. And if we have faith to act on that we will come to gain a personal witness of all things. I have a testimony of this and I know the people we are teaching do too.

Love you all so much, have a great week!

Hermana Tapia