Hallelujah!

Yes - yesterday was the annual "Messiah Sing-a-long" at the Ashburn
Stake center, and it was amazing! Hundreds of voices singing
Hallelujah sent chills down my spine; so wonderful. Although, when it
was advertised in the paper, it read, "Messiah Sin-a-long"... so that
was awkward. ;)

So what's been going on here in Leesburg, part of Loudoun County, the
nation's wealthiest county? Nothing.

...terrible!

Nothing terrible. ;D things here are flowing very nicely actually.
Wake up, exercise, study, tract, lunch, tract, dinner/lesson, visit,
plan, sleep. That's pretty much it (not counting all the little
variables inbetween;) ) - we met a guy (Jeremiah) the other night, and
he's definitely wanting discussions. He's divorced, has one kid, he's
got tons of half brothers and sisters, served four years in the army,
from North Carolina, Christian upbringing, and he said he's willing to
listen to us. "As long as what you're teaching is rings true to me, I
will listen to every word you say"

Ya dang straight what we got is true! :D

OH. So I also found out yesterday that my bishop was A CASE OFFICER
FOR THE CIA FROM 1981 TO 2006. And you never would've guessed, because
Bishop Wride is so calm and collected! He's super polite, and he's
always so nice to everyone.

...okay maybe if you think about it, he'd be perfect for the CIA and
undercover work. Ya know those movies with the guy and his family who
live in a decent house in a decent village while the guy does his work
in the country he's assigned, and then when bad things go down they
relocate to a different house that night? Yep, that was Bishop Wride
and his family for quite a while, actually. Nothing but love and
utmost respect for that man; he's seen and done things that would last
me a lifetime.

Welp, I love you guys! Merry Christmas, and keep in mind why we
celebrate Christmas. I'm sure you've all seen the video "He is the
Gift" that the church released - after #heisthegift fades away towards
the end, there's someone reading their scriptures, and someone else
praying. Those are two ways we can discover the gift: Jesus Christ.
Think of different ways that you've seen His hand in your life, and
then think of ways you can show your gratitude to Him. Not just for
the season, but every day.

Elder Taps :)

Dec 15th - "No solicitors, can't you read?"

They had such a nice grand piano too... *sigh*

It's not the door slamming that's discouraging; it's the fact that
they won't hear the message we have to share with them! While tracting
on Tuesday before dinner, we stopped at a house out on Battlefield
Pkwy. I peeked through the big window, and sitting there in the living
room was a shiny Yamaha grand piano! As always, I got super excited
and waited with eager for them to answer the door. We heard footsteps,
I saw a man peek through the smaller window next to the door, and he
locked the door. *CLICK*

Huh.. so I tried again. This time, the wife answered the door, but
before she said anything, her husband came back and said, "no
solicitors, can't you read?" And slammed the door. Sure enough, a sign
was posted out by the big tree saying "no solicitors". Great, except
we're not selling you anything! We kept going, but after every house,
I'd always look back down the street, give a big sigh, shake my head,
and keep walking. A message was skipped, a piano wasn't played, a
lesson wasn't taught, and, and... :/

But hey, our purpose is to invite, right? If they're not ready, then
they're not ready. Simple as that - and hey, I'm okay with that! It
just annoys sometimes, ya know? Anyway.

We hit the Festival of Lights at the Washington DC temple yesterday!
It was so beautiful, and after a bit of strolling around we went to
the Visitor's Center to watch Jenny Oaks Baker perform! Hooooly canoly
she was amazing! And her kids (four of them) were incredible! One had
the guitar, another the piano, then the violin, and finally the cello.
They played this huge Christmas medley, and it was just killer -
Sister Todd was among the little orchestra playing with Sis. Baker,
and so the whole front row was us from the ward going "Whoooo, Sister
Todd!" After the concert was done ^_^ hehe

I've told you guys how well the members feed us, right? Well, if I
haven't, let me tell you what my dinners were last week:

Monday: Bro. Rothman and his family took us to CiCi's pizza buffet
(THEY HAVE MAC N CHEESE PIZZA. WHERE HAS THIS THING BEEN MY WHOLE
LIFE)
Tuesday: The Stallards fed us huuuuge soft shell tacos
Wednesday: Bro. Rothman's father fed us lasagna and garlic bread
Thursday: Bro. Guymon fed us taco soup, then took us out to Arby's
Friday: Bro. Canigiani fed us cheese steak subways (I had three -
golly they were good!)
Saturday: Ward Christmas party!!
Sunday (yesterday): Bro. Peterson and his family fed us steak and
mashed potatoes

So much food... goodness. Oh! And we had our Christmas Mission
Conference at a stake center in Mt. Vernon, and it was a talent show
with lunch and a program - I was the last talent of the night (played
and sang Silent Night (yes, a very nice and serene version :P ))
before we had Brother Studderd came and spoke to us. Long story short,
this guy was one of the top advisors to Pres. George H. W. Bush, and
the first presidency turn to him for a lot of political discussions
and such. And if you want to have an idea of how much of a "stud" (see
what I did there? "Stud"derd? XD oh man I'm too funny) he was, he got
visas for Elder Holland and President Monson to go to Nigeria, Ghana,
and South Africa in the space of five days. Pretty boss, right?! :D

This work is amazing; I'm so thankful for such strong members here in
the Goose Creek ward, and I'm definitely thankful for all your support
back home! Above all, I'm most thankful for the opportunity to be out
here. We are all His children, so as such, He loves us all no matter
what! And this gospel IS for EVERYONE. Christ sat and ate with
publicans and sinners during His Ministry; not for public image or
for praise, but out of love. We don't knock on doors and stop people
on the street for praise or recognition. We do it out of love - and I
really do love the people of Northern Virginia. Many different
ethnicities, cultures, and lifestyles slammed into one, and hey, guess
what? I get to experience all of it! Not as a tourist or a journalist,
but as an instrument in His hand. 3 Nep 9:12-17. "Whosoever will come,
him will I receive" and we're here to help them reach for His extended
hand of mercy. What a great time we live in. Love you all!  keep up the good work
wherever you are! :D

Love,
Elder Taps 😎

P.S I heard the Raiders beat the 49ers... ahahaha! ;D

Dec 8th

It was pouring Saturday, then yesterday it was bright and sunny. Just make up your mind, already!

Things are going great! :) like the email before,
people here are always busy and have no time to talk to us or anything
of the sort. But the members? Oh, goodness... they are spectacular!
Seriously, they all have such strong faith, and I still haven't met a
family yet where the father didn't serve a mission. It's like
missionaries from about 20-30 years ago all moved here to Leesburg!
It's crazy!

Oh, right - Wednesday.

We have four mission training conferences a year, right? So the
Centerville, Ashburn, and Leesburg zones (about a third of the whole
mission) showed up to do some training on Charity and being "in the
box" of self-deception and self-betrayal, and then after lunch we had
a lesson on following up from Sister Riggs, then to close out we had a
Q&A with president Riggs. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy the Q&A.
Too many argumentative comments, and most of them were directed at
other missionaries instead of focusing on learning new things. In
fact, I wasn't really paying attention; I was too busy studying
Doctrine and Covenants 93, which is just loaded with all kinds of good
stuff! One of the main points to take from it is that even Jesus
Christ had to receive the fulness of His Father grace for grace. He
learned. He grew. And that alone gives us plenty of motivation to keep
pushing through moments of self-doubt and pity.

After the meeting, we had a dinner and lesson with the Smith's, then a
lesson with the Gardner's, and then we went on missionary splits with
Brother Palmer. We visited Jay Stevenson (he's a convert and was
baptized when he was 18). Right now he's 48 and he has three kids,
just recently re-married in the temple a couple months ago, and...
he's had it rough. He's HAVING it rough. His oldest daughter is 26 and
married, and she has a daughter, but she's not accepting of her new
stepmom at all. She actually cussed Gretchen (Jay's new wife) out
Tuesday night over the phone. On top of that, his youngest daughter
Jade (who lives with his ex-wife) has been on suicide watch for the
past couple of months, and it's not getting better with her. Kira (the
oldest) makes it worse by constantly berating her for not being strong
enough and just causing a bunch of trouble for Jade. Also, he's facing
religious discrimination at the middle school he works at (he's a
teacher) by the head of the department there, and the school
administration isn't doing anything about it. He's also sick! :/ I
just felt so bad and wanted to help him out... and help we did.
Brother Palmer showed him the "Refiner's Fire" video made by the
church, afterwards I shared with him the story of Alma the younger and
had him read Mosiah 27, verses 14 and 20. I explained to him that the
prayers of the older Alma did NOT go unanswered, but he had to
continue working in the faith. And when his prayers finally were answered, and Alma the younger was brought back to him almost in a coma, he rejoiced. Not because his son had "gotten what he deserved", but because he knew it was the work of God answering his prayers. So Jay and Gretchen just need to keep
up what they were doing; praying for their kids, and showing them love
at all times. We gave him a blessing, then we left.

This work is amazing - and there's a lot of people out there who're
lost without the knowledge of the truth that we have. And that's what
we're here for! To help spread the Gospel. In order for the Second
Coming to happen, two things have to occur first: the hearts of the
children have to be turned to the fathers, and the Gospel must be
taught to ALL the world. We're getting there! :) love you guys! Thanks for all your love and support of me out here, I really do appreciate it! :D

Love,

Elder Taps

P.S - I could've sworn Studio C was just a Utah thing... boy was I wrong!

A Well Fed Elder!

 
Me: The plan is to lose weight while I'm out here.
Brother Ligon: ...buddy, you've definitely come to the wrong mission
for that diet of yours!

This was while we were eating six boxes of Papa John's pizza... *sigh* ;)

When I say the members feed us, I mean the members FEED us. Right
after we left their house, Sister Mason and her family picked us up
and took us to Chili's! Talk about food! :P

Anywho, work is progressing! A little slow,  but it's progressing!
Everyone here is so ambitious, and in a good way. "I have a meeting to
get to", "I'm in the middle of a business call", or my personal
favorite, "thanks but we're very stable and we don't need more of your
kind here". Your kind? /:| riiiiight... we even got shut out because
they thought we were solicitors (totally, because we're trying to sell
you something. -_-)! But hey, when their hearts are ready to receive,
then they'll be ready to receive. Am I right? :)

We have a baptism this Saturday, and oh! Violin recital I'm
accompanying for tonight at 6:30 at the retirement center! That'll be
fun! Let's see what else... shopping, football with the district, dry
cleaning... Lots to do today to get ready for the week! How was
everybody's Thanksgiving? Lots of food? I hope so! We had four dinner
appointments last Thursday - the Bullocks, the Todds, Bishop Wride,
and the Rothmans... but believe me, I was done after the Todd's.

AND THEN.

We were on our way back to our apartment (Elder Robbins and Elder
Palmer (our zone leaders) were giving us a ride, so there's four of
us), and we took Battlefield road which is a really long back road
with forest on both sides of us (Virginia is GORGEOUS by the way...
except for the no mountains part:/ ). We were going about 40 mph, then
a deer ran across the car so Elder Robbins swerved around it. And we
thought we were done!

Thought.

Then out of nowhere, three more deer hauled some serious deer-rump
across the road, and it was like dodging debris from a mountain
because Elder Robbins was all over the road! When the deer was gone,
we just stopped in the middle of the road for a couple seconds. A
couple seconds of silence... then we all erupted in cheering and
screaming! We drove off, and our nights were made. Yup, it wasn't the
food, or the members that fed us... it was the road where we almost
totaled the mission car and would've had to pay a lot of money to
cover it. Totally. ;) hehe

The church is true! Love you guys, be sure to keep up the good stuff
back home! Oh, and if you wanted to write a hand written letter,
here's the address:

1604 Village Market Blvd.  Apt 414
Leesburg, VA  20175

Elder Taps 😎

News from the Field!!

Elder Tapusoa has been assigned to serve in Leesburg, VA for his first area.  He said "People here are so freaking rich".  I know this is true because I have a friend that lives in Leesburg and can vouch for that!  His companion is Elder Alofipo, who is also Samoan!!!  Elder Alofipo is straight from the islands.  For the next 5 weeks you can send him mail at:  
1604 Village Market Blvd.  Apt 414
Leesburg, VA    20175

P-Day is on Mondays so we will have more info to post then!

 

First Emails from the MTC!!!

To my family and friends:

 

This place is nuts! And by nuts, I mean that in a good way. I thought my testimony was strong before, but now... whooooo. It's crazy how much I learned in a day, and it's unbelievable how much I learned in a week. I'm going to keep it short because I have other things to do, but I just wanted to let you all know (we can't say guys or dude or bro or anything like that... yeah, I'm suffering over here;) ) that I'm alive and well here at the MTC! Time flies when you feel the spirit, as well as your testimony just taking off. Keep writing!

 

...no seriously, we feel very deprived of love from home whenever I run to go get the mail for my district (I'm District Leader here - so cool! :D ), and the only one that ever gets mail is Elder Holdaway. I mean he's cool but... he's hogging all the letters. Seriously. So tell everyone to write me! Or at least, send me their email so I can put it on my fwd list. :) Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Tapusoa :D

(or is it Sincerely? Eh, whatever)

 

 

We additionally got some other info:

 

It's crazy here! So many spiritual experiences, so many great people, and just... ugh, I love it.  There are average missionaries, then exceptional, and then there are LEGENDARY missionaries. Aw yeah, I think you know which one I want to be ;) love you guys! Oh, and as for the MTC food, Ether 14:18. I mean it's great, but seriously. It's a mess. :|

MTC Address

Sorry for the delay in getting his MTC address out, but here it is:

Elder Tagaloa Tapusoa
Washington D.C. South Mission
Departure Date: Nov 19  Unit # 187
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604-1793

You can also use the following website to send a letter that will be printed and delivered right to the MTC the next day!  http://www.dearelder.com/

Happy writing!!