May 7th, 2012

Que Pedo Familia? ( haha Honduran slang, don’t use it)

How is everything going? Things have been well here in Villanueva and it seems like we’re picking it up a little bit.  We don't have a lot of solid baptismal dates set but we have a lot of investigators progressing.  We had 17 investigators at church on Sunday.  Many of them were great families.  We have 3 families progressing but the parents all need to get married.  So this week we really have to focus on the people that we have progressing.  This week I really learned a lot.  On Tuesday I had the opportunity to work with Elder Jones, our A.P.  They came out and did divisions with us and I worked with him in our area.  I really learned so much and he made me just want to be better; I can't really explain it.  It's not that we had the best appointments with the best investigators but just the way he worked he taught me a lot.  He's a missionary that I really look up to.  He went to Alta High.  One thing that we have really started to focus on is working with the members and focusing on them to help us in the work.  They really are the key.  When Elder Martino came he gave us the statistic that 1 out of every 1000 people get baptized off of street contacting; it might be a little higher here in Central America, and that every 3 out of 4 people that are references and receive the mission lessons with the support of members and friends, are baptized.  So that is what we have been trying to focus on in the mission.  We need to get to know the members better here though.  We know all the super good active members but they always give us references when they have them but most of the time the less active members have great friends but the members are too afraid to share the gospel or don’t think about sharing it.  This week we received a reference of a cool guy about 20 years old from a family.  Last night we had our first appointment with him and he was talking about serving a mission already but we first better talk to him about baptism.  So I want to do a challenge for all of you this week.  Everyone think of a family that could use this gospel in their life. If you can't think of one, think of a family that just had something big happen in their life, like a new baby, a death in the family or if they just moved or have a family member a little wild haha.  Then invite the missionaries over and tell them about them and introduce them.  Next week you have to tell me who they are. (this applies to everyone).

Well, thanks for all of the love and support and for all that you do.  Sorry - no pictures this week.  I left the cable at home.

Thanks for everything. I Miss and Love You All!!!!!!!

Elder Kapple

Villanueva Celestial Zone

April 30, 2012

Hola Mi querida familia!!!!!!!!

I would like to start out by thanking you for all of your e-mails.  It is always great to hear from you.  Things are going well here in Villanueva and we are seeing some progress here in our area. We have had some good appointments this week and we have some good possibilities coming up.  Our first one is the Ponce Family.  They are a great family.  The husband is one of those guys that just loves the word of God and he has been to church 3 times now and his wife has been 2 times.  We talked to them about getting married last week but when we went by this week they were questioning a little more about doing it so we challenged them to pray to know if this is what they should do.  They said that they feel like it is what they need to do so this week we’re going to go and verify everything.  They really like the church and have been going to most of the activities as well and really love them.  Their little kid is best friends now with some of the members’ kids so that is really helping.  They still need to do more of their part.  They read but they need to do a little bit more so that they can gain a strong testimony of the restored gospel.  So keep them in your prayers so they can get married.  We also have this young man named Jonathan.  He is 17 years old and has been changing a lot.  He is passing through a humbling time in his life.  He has a super bad ear infection that he hasn't really been able to find anything to help heal it.  We gave him a blessing and now he is taking injections to help.  So we have been working with him a lot and he has had a big change so we’re going to keep on working with him.  We also found out that our other family can get married.  The husband got married in the states about 12 years ago but he said that the lady that he married called him a few years back and told him that they were divorced but he never signed anything so we have been waiting to verify it.  I was talking to Elder Jones (our A.P.) about it and he talked to President Veirs and they said that he can get married so that was some awesome news for us.  But she might have to have a surgery pretty soon so she is going to go and see when they’re going to do it today.  I've been praying that she won’t need the surgery for a while - haha.  We have a few more people and we’re going to keep working with them.  We had 16 at church on Sunday and it was really great.  So we were really happy.  We also had a zone leader meeting this week and it was way cool.  We had a video conference with Elder Martino.  He wanted to talk to us because when he came here to teach zone leaders we told him that all of us were going to baptize a family this month -  but only like 4 companionships got it so he wanted to know what happened.  Then he gave us the offer that he will take us for a steak dinner if every zone leader companionship baptizes a family in this next month.  He also gave us some encouraging words.  President Veirs said that Elder Martino will be the Area President starting in August.  He's a cool guy.  I'm excited for this coming week.  We’re going to do divisions with the AP's tomorrow and we should be able to set some more baptism dates.  The mission is awesome and of course there are hard times but there is always something new that I learn.  Right now in my studies I have been trying to finish the bible.  I have about 100 pages left. The bible is awesome (new testament especially) but sometimes hard to understand everything.  It teaches a lot about the organization of the Church along with the ordinances that we need to have and how we should do them.  Well, thank you so much for all that you do for me.  You guys are all the best.

I Miss and Love You All!!!!!!!!

Elder Kapple

April 23rd, 2012

What’s up everyone!

Sorry this is a little late today,  we had a zone activity for p-day today and it was in a place called Mochito which is about an hour and a half away.  We went to this place called "Arca de Cristo" it was really cool.  Some Christian guy from the states put it here.  It is a replica of the tomb of Christ and a place where they have 3 crosses set up.  Then there is just a big open field, so we played some volleyball and of course we had to play some soccer and we fried some chicken there.  It was a neat place and really fun for the zone.  It also had a really good view of "Lago de Yojoa", the big lake in Honduras.  This week was good.  We had changes on Wednesday and I really like the new zone.  We have some good missionaries.  My new companion’s name is Elder Guzman.  He is a cool guy and is from Guatemala.  He only has 2 changes left so he´ll probably finish here.  He is 26 years old, the youngest in his family and just his mom and sister are members.  He speaks English well.  He has been a ZL for a while so he has great experience.  He is a great companion.  For our area, we have some good things going now.  One of our families is doing well and we put a date to get married for this weekend but that fell through.  The dad hasn´t been there lately and I guess he just has a really strong attitude and everything has to be his way.  So his wife told us that she will not marry him until he changes.  So we’re going to be working with him because they are really a great family.  But we were able to put a date with the another family.  We just need to keep working with them so that they understand the doctrine more.  They have the date to get married this next week on the 4th and baptized on the 5th but she didn´t go to church on Sunday so we´ll see what she says.  The biggest problem here is getting people to get married.  They always have the excuses like they need to get to know each other better, when they already have been together for like 20 years.  It´s kind of funny.  But this family said that they would get married the first time we talked about it.  It was pretty cool, so pray hard for them.  We had 10 at church on Sunday but most of them have some things in their life right now that they need to change.  So we just need to keep focusing on them.  Dad, you said that you were going to talk next week on the blessings of work.  I don’t know his name but he´s in the presidency of the 70.  He spoke to Central America members about that and the blessings that come financially when we are obedient and keep the commandments.  He used a lot of the scriptures that state: and if ye keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land.  Also, I agree and think that you should line Paige and Ben up.  Thanks for all of the emails and love and support.  It really means a lot and thanks for all the pics and emails Erika and KK.

I Miss and Love You All!!!!

Con Amor

Elder Kapple

April 16th, 2012

Hello -  sorry I had a big e-mail written and then I had to exit out and it got erased. But this week was good.  The weeks go by so fast and I really never feel like there is anytime to do anything.  We always have meetings, divisions, paper work to fill out, and every once in awhile we get to study.  But I’m enjoying it and I like staying busy.  On Tuesday of this week we had a ZL leadership meeting and it went really well.  Pres Veirs talked about how we need to fix the problems in our zones and districts from the get go; we can't wait and if we do they will just grow and get bigger.  Then we did divisions two times this week.  First Elder Johnson left and I was in my area with Elder Barba.  He's a new missionary from Mexico.  The point of divisions is to train the missionaries so after all of the appointments we stop and talk about what we did well or bad and what we can do to get better.  Then I went to Las Brisas with Elder Castillo.  He has 6 months left but he just barely came to this mission.  He had to go home early from another mission. He told me all that happened and he was kind of in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he is a really good missionary and we had a good time working together. We talked a lot at night and it was really a good spiritual talk.  It was something that benefited me too and I hope that I helped him.  Elder Johnson and I have been really worried about our area because we haven't been having to much success so we fasted this Sunday and we saw some miracles.  We had the parents in a family of 4 committ to getting married and baptized in 2 weeks.  They weren't able to go to church this Sunday because a family member died.  We were also blessed with the people that went to church. We had 11 investigators there and they are a lot of great people.  So we really need to start focusing on them so that we can get them progressing.  Fasting is a really big blessing here in the mission.  Sometimes it's hard with the heat and all of the walking but we can really see the blessings for doing it.  And as you all know, we were zona celestial so we went and played a little soccer in San Pedro and then we went to eat lunch with Sister and Pres. Veirs and it was so good.  I think it was the first time that I have eaten spaghetti in Honduras that wasn't made with ketchup sauce and man was it good.  Elder Johnson and I went to go get our new suits too but they have to do a few ajustments so they won’t be done until next week.  Sorry this email is kind of short but it all got erased earlier plus I’m really starting to forget how to spell in English. 

Elder Johnson has a transfer so I will have a new comp this next week.  Elder Johnson is a great guy and we had a lot of fun together.  A lot of areas have changes so we will have a lot of new missionaries coming into the zone.  Sorry, my computer is being dumb and I can't attach the files today. Until next week.

I Love You All!!!

Elder Kapple

April 9th, 2012

What’s up family? How is everyone doing? Things are good here and a little hot too.  Semana Santa or Easter was just great - minus the part that everyone leaves for Semana Santa and goes to the beach or leaves and does something else so the week was a longer one for that reason.  We would go out and work and just be sweating to death with no one in the streets to talk to.  Semana Santa is actually a really big holiday celebration here.  Most of the people don't work on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and on Friday all of the stores were closed so it was hard to find places to get water and stuff.   And of course everywhere we go the people are in church doing their normal worships.  The strong church here is the Evangelical Church and everyone of the Evangelical type faith has a different way to  worship.  Here in Villanueva there are so many of them and every night this last week we heard them and their preaching - just yelling out that Christ lives - it is actually kind of funny the way they do it.  People here do have a strong belief in Christ but really don’t understand what the purpose of His life really was and what our purpose is in this life too.  That is one thing that the restored gospel gives us is the fullness of Christ’s doctrine so that we really do understand more of our purpose  here and what we are suppose to be doing.  There are a lot of people that have some weird beliefs and it's sad because most of the people that have these different beliefs are the ones that don't accept the gospel truths that we are here to bring them.  Here in Villanueva, we have encountered a lot of different types of believers.  But this week was kind of slow because so few people were around to speak with.  We are having some troubles in our area right now.  We are teaching a lot of families but none of them are really progressing right now.  We’re still working with the Pineda Ramirez family but the dad wasn't able to go to church on Sunday.  They are an awesome family but we need him to do a little more of his part.  We also had a new family at church and they seemed to really like it.  We have an appointment with them tonight so we'll see what they say.   Keep praying for our investigators.  We really need a little extra help right now.  The zone is doing well though and I know we'll have more success this month.  We got kind of lucky because the mission has been slacking a little bit and we ended up winning Zona Celestial with only 23 baptisms so we will be privileged with the opportunity to eat with President and Sister Veirs next Monday.  Thank you so much for everything that you all do for me.  It means so much.

I Miss and Love You All!!!

Elder Kapple



P.S. I got my shoes. They will probably be the most expensive shoes here in Honduras – haha, but thanks -  you guys are the best.

April 2nd, 2012

What’s up family and friends -  how are you?

Things are just fine and dandy here in Villanueva – well, everything minus the heat because man it is hot.  Every time I leave the house I feel like I am being cooked.  We are pretty lucky in the house here where we have a nice AC unit in our room so at night when we get home that is the first thing that we do is turn that bad boy on.  Well, this week was a fast one.  We had to go to San Pedro 3 times this week.  First off, on Monday for mine and Elder Johnson’s shopping spree;  - we are going to look good in our new suits haha.  Then on Tuesday we had interviews.  They’re a little bit different with being zone leaders.  We go first and have an interview together to talk about the zone and stuff then we have our personal interviews.  President Veirs is awesome.  I just wish I could have an hour of personal time with him just to talk and learn from him.  Then on Wednesday we went back to get a Partida (a paper that is needed to get people married here in Honduras).  Then on Thursday we did divisions.  Elder Contreras (we came together to the mission), came with me and Elder Johnson went to his area with his comp.  We have been working with him to try to help him out.  He is a great missionary but just needs to take more initiative with his district.  Then it was general conference and it was awesome.  We lucked out as "Gringos" and we were able to watch it in English.  It's just not the same in Spanish.  I can understand it and everything but the spirit definitely speaks better in your own language,  so I was pretty happy to watch it in English.  I really enjoyed conference and I learned a lot.  There are always a lot of different topics but they all seem to help in some way or another.  From how to raise children, covenants and priesthood responsibilities, holding grudges and forgiveness, - there was just a wide range of things and they were all great.  I need to read back over my notes and put these things in practice.  We did have some good numbers at church too.  We had 8 investigators come.  The best one was definitely the Pineda Ramirez family.  This is the family that didn't go last week because Elder Johnson and I like to open our mouths and joke too much.  But we passed by in the morning to remind them and they said that they were going to go so we were there waiting at the door until about 10:10 and they never showed up so we were pretty bummed.  But then after we walked out to say goodbye to everyone and his mom (a member) came running up to us saying "Vinieron, Vinieron" or they came, they came.  So we were pretty excited and you can tell that they enjoyed it.  We had a great experience yesterday with an inactive family.  A family where the husband went on a mission and they were sealed in the temple but have been inactive for about 4 years now.  So we stopped by yesterday because he had told us that he was going to go.  I gave him 100 limps because he had to go to San Pedro and he promised he was going to go.  So we went and they just started giving the excuses that such person said this and all the normal stuff but we could really see the desire that they had to come back to the fold.  So after Elder Johnson had heard enough of their bad talk, he told them to stop and with tears told them to write 3 things good about all the people they had talked bad about.  We could see they started to feel bad and cry a little .  Then I gave a testimony and told them how we need them in the church here.  It was a very good experience and the spirit was really strong.  I know this family will come back.  We just need to help them along the way.

Well, thanks for all that you do for me and all of the love and support.

I Miss and Love You All!!!!

                                                                        Elder Kapple