¡Hola amigos!

 

Oh my! It has been super nice this week. It is starting to get green and hot. Last P-day we went outside and played a little pick-up football. It was so good to get outside and have some fun with some of the other missionaries.  Now instead of shoveling people's snow, we are mowing people's lawns. Friday was Elder Crocco's birthday and these members took us out to lunch at the coolest Vietnamese restaurant. It was like out of a kung-fu movie and the food was so good. We also went out to dinner with the zone leaders to get donairs. If you have never tried them they are super delicious. We ate so much food on that day. We went over to Vianney's and Gabriels to talk about what they have been reading in the Book of Mormon, and they ended up feeding us too. "Happy Birthday" in Spanish is so much cooler!

 

This week we had a super cool experience. We called a family named Dellez about 2 weeks ago. They were some people that we met a long time ago and they had moved and we didn't know where. But they told us to call them back in two weeks and set something up. They didn't give us their address but we were pretty excited to meet with them. Meanwhile, we tracted into a family that wanted us to come back the following week. We were on exchanges and Elder Crocco and Elder Lewis went and met them and said they are super cool. Well, we called them on Friday to confirm the other appointment we had on Saturday. When we called them I thought that the phone number looked familier. I looked around and discovered that the Dellez and the family that we met while tracting for were the same! We both sat there for about a minute, shocked. We concluded that the Lord really wanted us in that home. To call them and then randomly tract into their new home is crazy. And above all, they moved into the best ward for fellowship of Spanish people in our area. As before, I am a a firm believer that there are no coincedences.

 

This week we saw Ruben and Cindy and talked a lot about them getting baptized. They don't want to set a specific date but they are both preparing and want to know more. They both realize the importance of the baptismal covenant, which is good, but they are both ready to be baptized. It really changed when they started reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true. That is truly the key. They also made us Horchata con cocao and Pupusas. Oh my! they were so good. They also told us that they loved church and meeting the bishop; so I think everything is going well with them. We finally were able to meet with Mauricio and we brought Hermano Mesen along to help fellowship. It was such a good idea because he really was able to open up more. We helped some of our favorite members in Bonnie Doon Stake move on Saturday and Hermano Mesen, being the crazy fellowshipper that he is, invited Mauricio and he ended up coming and helping. It was really good for him to meet some of the other members of the ward and he definitely felt the Spirit of Service. The move took all day, but we were happy to meet some friends of the members that seem interested. No act of service goes unnoticed!!!

 

Well, I just wanted to remind everyone that has the opportunity to be a home or visiting teacher, do your job! It is really the best way to keep people coming to church. I have learned on my mission that Home and Visiting teaching might be the most important calling that you can have. This is how people stay in the gospel. So just a little reminder. Love you all.

 

 

Mucho amor,

Elder Kipp

¡Hola hormigas!

¿Cómo le paso la Pascua?

This past week was crazy because we it was starting to get really nice and warm. But we woke up on Thursday and it was a blizzard outside! There was like 2 feet of snow outside and we had to dig our car out! ha ha Who would have thought that it would have snowed in April, only in Canada!

This week was amazing!! We were so blessed to be able to meet about 10 new people that are all interested in the gospel. Only 2 of them are Spanish, but we are working with all the other ones to get them handed over to the English areas. And guess how we found them all???....The Lord of course... but good old fashioned tracting. We would pick a Spanish potential in an area of the city and then tract alrededor their place. It showed success and we were able to get in the door with many people. One especially cool guy had bright yellow hair, and he was black. His name is Borruss and we shared the Book of Mormon with him and read some stories out of it. It sparked his interest and he wanted us to come back. We came back with the sisters serving in YSA ward and what was cool is when we invited him to say the prayer at the end. It was so spiritual. It sounded like he was talking to a dear friend and asking him to help him know the truth. I hope he will keep going. We also met one of the most prepared people in my mission thus far. Her name is Amamda. She gave up her first son to the LDS Child services about 10 years ago and didn't really investigate the church, but always liked how family-centered it was. We started to talk to her and she said that she needs some direction in her life and wants to know the purpose of her life. She was also confused why there were so many churches. BOOYAH! Her son Riley is everything to her and she wants to meet with us again and even invited us over to eat with the English elders. She needs the gospel in her life. We also met the sweetest old lady in the world. Her name is Edi and she likes us a lot better than the Jehovah's Witnesses. She said that we are better looking..he he. We felt prompted to read when Christ appeared to the Nephites and she absolutely loved it.

One thing that I have learned on my mission is that as human beings and children of God we have can have the ability to love people instantly. It is amazing how fast you can feel comfortable with a person and TRULY love them in a matter of minutes. When you are in the service of others, you receive the capacity to love them so much more rapidly. I can now see why Christ loved EVERYONE. His whole life was devoted to others. He even gave up his life for others. King Benjamins address in Mosiah 2 really does apply to us.

We were able to meet with Ruban and Cindy as well. We brought a sweet member from Argentina named John Capriz. They were instant friends and he explained a lot about conference and helped us awnser any questions they might have had. We talked abou the sacrament and really tried to get Ruben to go to church even for 15 minutes. He told us that he could not but we think there is something else holding him back besides his health, but Cindy said that she would come next week and would tell Ruben about it. I love them so much and they really love meeting with us. I hope we can keep working with them and helping them learn more. They are so sincere and they already have amazing faith in Christ. We were not able to meet with Anslemo, but it is his birthday this weekend and so we are going to bring him some cake. ¡Feliz Cumpleanos! Alexandra is doing good, reading, praying, but still not going to church. We are crossing our fingers for this week. We met two new Spanish investigators, Linda and Eric and his family. They seem super chido and we are excited to meet with them.

  

One tip for future missionaries, use the Book of Mormon EVERY TIME you teach someone. It invites the Spirit so much easier and faster then you can and it is the best tool in your quiver.

Go look up "Poutine" on the internet, it is a great Canadian thing!! You get fat though...

And dad, we ate Mole twice this week, and the good stuff. Also we are having Pupusas on Saturday and we are excited. But we are still being able to lose wieght. We are working out every morning and trying to eat healthier. You can really feel a difference everyday. Elder Crocco is super fun and teaching me a lot of Spanish.

Les amo mucho y estoy contento en la obra del Señor.

Adios, mucho amor, cuidanse mucho.

Elder Kipp

Its still snowing....in April?!?!

Hola mis amados hermanos y hermanas,

¿Cómo le va? ¿Qué tal? ¡Qué chevre! ¡Qué PADRE! ¡Qué ando!! ¿Cómo estas?  The funny thing about learning Spanish in Canada is that you learn words and phrases from every country, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Columbia, Chile, and let us not forget Argentina!!! It is a quite a different experience.

It is still snowing in April!! It is hard to believe but all the native Canadians are saying "Oh, this is normal eh". I want some sunshine!! Ok...there is sunshine but it needs to melt the snow! Oh and one thing to put on your list of foods to try is Donairs. Its like a gloryfied gyro, but so much better.

This week was another good week. We were able to meet with most of our investigators and they are all seeming to be doing good. They are all having trouble making it to church, but we have faith that they will all keep progressing. We met with Alexandra and brought a solid member named Brother Palmer (who served a three year mission, he is super good at learning languages). We talked a lot about excercising our faith and how she can gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon if she excercises her faith. Bro. Palmer met her about 2 years ago, and he said that her environment to discover the truth is so much better now. The main reason is that her boyfriend is a less-active member and now he is supporting her and wanting her to get baptized as he is coming back to church. They are both sincere and we can really see that she is gaining a interest in the BOM. Anselmo's birthday was this week and he had surgery so we could not meet with him. But we stopped by on his cumpleaños and gave him a license plate holder that said "Nicaragua" and also a giant bottle of salsa picante. He loved it and wants to meet on Friday.

We went on exchanges with my favorite little asian district leader "Emperor Wan". He is from Hong Kong and is an amazing district leader. He makes me laugh because when we turn music on in the car, he always sings super loud and thinks he has an amazing voice. He always says, "I am going to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir." You guys really need to meet him, he is the greatest.

We met with Ruben and Cindy 2 times this week and his situation is still difficult. They are both reading, and the more they read, the more questions they have. The first time we went over there it was our goal to really open them up and try to get them to go to church, even for 15 minutes because of Ruben's condition.  We are growing their trust and I feel like they are both progressing. We also went over there on Saturday night with a member from Castledowns and gave him a blessing. We explained why it was so important to realize the significance of it and he said that he had enough faith to go through with it. The spirit was very strong and he felt super calm. They are reading what we are giving them and they even asked to see the bishop next week. So at least Cindy is going to be there next week to meet with Bishop Durado before church. Ruben is coming along and has a lot of questions, which is good. Because the Spirit has the answers.

Gracias Amigos!!!

Elder Kipp

Booyah!!!

¡¡Hola amigos!!

This week was pretty hectic. To be honest, mom, you are probably going to freak out, but don't worry. Ready......wait for it.....we got a notice on our door Tuesday morning that our neighbor had bedbugs!! We spent about 5 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday packing and unpacking all our things in plastic bags and cleaning the apartment to almost perfection. We had to move all the furniture to the center of the apartment and wash all the sheets. It was unfortunate because we had just unpacked and gotten our apartment back to normal. But we did get to clean the apartment and hopefully all the bugs are gone. We did not find any in our apartment, so I think we are safe. It was just a precaution. On Thursday, they sprayed the whole apartment and we could not go to the apartment until 10. That was good because we had a very productive day. It was a little taxing on our patience, though to not be out working to our full potential, but we definitely saw some blessings from this.

We were able to meet with Anslemo this week. Elder Crocco and I shared the rest of the plan of salvation with him and also talked about the resurrection in detail. Something cool happened as well. He was asking us about the Spirit world and we both turned to the same verse of scripure: 1 Peter 3:19. We both more fully realized that the Spirit guides us. Anslemo keeps meeting with us so hopefully we can get him to come to church. We also met with Ruben and Cindy. He still cannot come to church because of his lungs, but we are hoping to see if he can come to just get the sacrament. We are also making progress with them because they said that they would "unite" with the church if they could go to church. So we are working with the bishopric to see what we can do. I truly do love them and want the best for them. We were excited because the first session of conference on Sunday really spoke to Ruben. Thanks Elder Nelson!! We also got in contact with Eric Aguilan and we are meeting with their family this week. We also are pretty much re-organized and now that the bedbugs are gone, we can hit the ground running.

General Conference was SUPER BUENO!!! I loved all the talks because they seemed to all be focused on the family and the simple doctrines of the gospel. I also loved the talk about how you can be converted to the church but not converted to the gospel. I agree. the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way we are saved, not the "church". The Church is an important factor of the gospel that allows us to grow in the gospel. 

 Favorite Quotes from Conference:

"Why should you be jealous if i choose to be kind?" - Elder Holland
"The greatest joy that God has about being God is being merciful, especially to those that do not expect it." -Elder Holland
"Stop It" - President Uchdorf

Haz el bien. ¡¡Milagros todavía estan pasando!! ¡¡Jésucristo vive!!

Mucho Amor,

Elder Kipp