Hole in the Lip, Teaching by the Spirit and real PIZZA in Mongolia!(Nov 2nd)

Dear Mother, Well, my health is recovered and I am the more thankful for it. I believe that which each passing sickness I gain a greater appreciation for the health the Lord blesses us with and the aide he gives us in times of distress. My health was in full swing by Tuesday morning and so I was very happy that day. I am loving my new area and my new companion more and more everyday. Just because I want to, I thought I’d let you know about one of the Elders in my group that wasn’t as lucky as I was to just get a bit of bad food in his stomach. Somehow, this Elder got a staph infection in his lip. It started small, just like a zit or pimple would. Then it just kept growing and growing and growing. As it swelled, his lip grew to gigantic proportions. Eventually part of his lip gained a black strip of color and he was able to squeeze juices out of a whole he had produced every now and again. The last I saw of him, he was sticking a heated pin from a pin cushion about halfway into that whole before reaching the back. It was sweet. Anyways, they took him into the city where he received a surgery and removed most of the infection. Now I’m told that each morning they suck out any new juices from the area and then scrape around on the inside of it all. So, compared to that, throwing up and stuff for two days really isn’t that bad is it? :)

Anyways, on to the work! As I said, I love this place. The branch is pretty strong here and we have 6 Elders and 4 Sisters in the Missionary District. My companion, Elder Byambadorj, is amazing. Everyday I feel compelled to thank Heavenly Father for him being my companion. We get along very well and our purpose is one. From the last transfer we had two investigators with a baptismal date set but they apparently didn’t understand the Word of Wisdom well and so we had to delay it a bit. We’ve been meeting some very tough resistance in the work lately. It’s been hard to find investigators or even catch people to meet with. Our two progressing investigators both had problems of their own that we were worried about. With another family of investigators, we just taught the Word of Wisdom and extended the commitment for the father to quit smoking. It’s going to be really hard for him, he’s been at it for 20 years. Needless to say, our prayers have been full of petitions to help these people we are working with. This work is such a rollercoaster. The joys and elation we get from seeing people receive the Word and act upon it is unspeakable. And yet, just as soon as it comes, disappointment and sorrow come when we see an investigator suffer in misunderstanding and disobedience. It’s tough. The thing that holds me firm through it all though is my testimony of Jesus Christ. If they’ll just come unto Him, he’ll help them, I know that. So, at the present time, we are laboring to bring them to that realization and bring them the joy that comes from living the Gospel.

We had a neat experience the other day as we were teaching an investigating husband and wife. One of their biggest concerns is that when they read the scriptures, they don’t understand them. As we talked about the importance of reading the scriptures daily, I was able to level with them and relate my own experience of growing to love the scriptures. I told them about how earlier I didn’t like reading the scriptures too much, that sometimes it didn’t make sense. But as I understood what they did for me, I begin to read more and truly began to love them. I don’t think what I actually said did anything for them, but somehow, the Spirit was there as I talked to them about that. From the Spirit I think they felt the truth of that message: even if it may be hard to understand, you can learn from them. It really was a great moment for all of us there. That’s one thing that I’ve really been becoming more aware of. We as missionaries must rely so heavily on the Spirit being there to back up the truth we teach. Our words won’t convert. Only the Spirit can do that. We have to work day in and day out to be pure enough, to be in tune enough, to be prepared enough, to deliver the message that the Holy Ghost can testify of to them. And of course, their hearts have to be open. But on our end of the deal, we really are nothing without the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Oh, in Erdenet, there is a pizza place called Eden’s Pizza House. It’s quite possibly the best pizza in Mongolia. It’s pretty legit! We ate there last Monday and I was like, “wow, this is good”. Haha, anyways, I like Erdenet. Also, my bag was found, so I’ll be getting that with the next Elders that come up this way! Alright, well that’s about it for now. I love all of you and hopen that everything is good for you in America. I hope your work gets better and I’ll be praying for you. And yea, I’ll finally get a call into Wells Fargo, sorry I keep postponing it…

~Your Son, Elder Cappuccio -----Original Message----- From: Marathomom@aol.com To: james.cappuccio@myldsmail.net Date: Sun, 2 Nov 2008 15:22:31 EST Subject: Lost backpack, lost fluids Dear James, I hope you have found your health and your backpack. I have been praying for both for you. Thanks for the vivid description of your suffering, it's almost like being there! Maybe you should do your own cooking for awhile and now I understand why when listing the contents in your missing backpack, you listed the tuna fish first!

We just had stake conference, but it was a regional one from Salt Lake City for all of Arizona. You would have liked it....when it first came on the feed was in Spanish and President Jones had to get up and announce that they were going to have to fix the problem, but that we should try to get the spirit of the message....unless you actually could understand Spanish, which you probably could have, so you would have liked it. They got some audio in English before the first speaker finished but it wasn't from the video source, so the audio lagged behind the speakers lips. They finally figured it out by the end of the 2nd speaker and it came blasting through.

There were some good messages. Brigham Young sent a group down to settle Arizona. They got to a pass in the mountains and were out of water, so they camped and prayed for water. The next morning they awoke to snow and enough water to fill their barrels. The expedition then turned around and returned to SLC and told Pres Young that Arizona was uninhabitable. Pres Young then asked another member of the group, Bro Jones, what he thought. Brother Jones said that he would have filled up the barrels and continued on and then prayed again and continued on until he reached the area in Arizona. So, Pres. Young put him in charge of the next expedition and in settling AZ. So, we need to pray, fill up our barrels and then press forward and then pray again, etc.

So, I hope you like your new area and looking forward to hearing some good stories of the people you teach there and hope you feel much better. I don't like the stories of your lurching your lungs out as much as the missionary experiences.

Love always,

and keep the fire burning

Love,

mom