So first things first.
963 Lapwing Dr
Columbus, IN 47203
Medford Oregon Temple
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
December 21, 2015
December 14, 2015
Well let me start off by saying that this message will be short. This last Saturday I received a phone call saying that I am leaving Logansport and going somewhere else. Apparently being told repeatedly by the Mission President even him saying about 3 or so weeks ago I would be staying a long time is no guarantee. To say I am a little frustrated and sad is not to far of a stretch of the imagination. But that's part of being a missionary being moved around, and being sent where the Lord needs you. So as of right now hold on to everything, don't send any letters or stuff. I will get you my new address and everything tomorrow. I have some members who are going to help out with making sure you guys get all of my information.
Well this has been a pretty good week we as usual have been working a lot with the less actives we had a few on the path and committed to coming to church. Elder Scribner hopefully will continue to be on top of that. A few of our investigators we are going to go see today so I can say goodbye to them.
It was touching telling them members that I would be leaving because there was a lot of tears. I haven't been here very long but I feel very blessed to have gotten to know several of them and that I will be missed.
Logansport has been a area where I have grown to love quite dearly. It has perhaps been one of my favorite areas since Lafayette. And that is saying a lot.
I am sorry that this is going to be as short as it is. I have to now go say good bye to a lot of people and pack.
As a favor could you guys pray for the members and less actives of Logansport for me. I would greatly appreciate that.
As always but now with the Christmas season I can say I hope you all enjoy the holidays and have a merry merry Christmas. I love you all and miss you so much.
December 7, 2015
Hello how all you guys? How was the week and did anything fun happen?
This week we have been busy with lots of fun and amazing things. We had a awesome conference with Elder Nash of the Seventy.
He talked specifically about how we can work better and accomplish the work. He gave us quite a list of commitments. He talked about patience, and how we can work with people to accomplish their commitments. He read with us the scripture of Jesus coming to the americas and teaching the people. With a emphasis on how Christ invited the people to pray about the things he had taught him and then proceeded with their increase faith leading to their baptism.
It was great and funny enough before coming to our mission they were in the Eugene, Oregon mission so we had a good laugh about that. He is also fluent in Spanish so we had a nice conversation. It took most of the day so we didn't get back home till about 7 where I launched my little surprise for Elder Scribner.
So it was his birthday last week and I secretly planned a birthday party with a member. I got some pizzas and the member made a ice cream cake and we played games. It was fun and I think he had fun.
We went to Monticello to see how our investigator out there was doing and she is doing fine just still recovering from her surgeries.
So a cool thing that happened with us recently was this. So we have a less active member who we haven't been able to meet with us recently due to issues with her husband. Well the one day we go over with a set appointment she isn't there and so we leave. A couple hours later we get a phone call from her asking if we can come over and we do and she tells us that she is leaving her husband because of multiple things but the highlight is physical abuse. Well she hadn't told anyone else this because she was very ashamed and embarrassed about the situation. We were the only ones she had told. Not even her family or friends. And so we told her that she needed to talk with the Branch president and that we were going to help her as much as we could. The cool part was that she was originally just going to go to a bar and get drunk for the first time in years but she felt very strongly to give us a call and talk with us. So now that's going on and if we could have her in your prayers that would be great.
We have been busy with lots of appointments so that has been pretty good. This Sunday we watched the Christmas devotional and it was fantastic. If you haven't seen it I wont spoil it go and watch its great. And the music as usual is fantastic.
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/first-presidencys-christmas-devotional/2015/12?cid=HP_SU_12-6-2015_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/first-presidencys-christmas-devotional/2015/12?cid=HP_SU_12-6-2015_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng
Well as usual I love you guys and miss you. THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING. I got my Christmas package from the parents its pretty awesome there are new pictures and videos in the dropbox.
November 30, 2015
HAPPY REALLY LATE THANKSGIVING AND ya.
So for this email the week was pretty standard in terms of the work. Lots of visiting lots of knocking, with some walking thrown in. The highlight was definately Thanksgiving and the majority of the letter this week will be about that.November 23, 2015
Well we have come to the week of where we devour our spoils of a years worth of food. Oh and thanksgiving is on Thursday.
Well I don't have too much time today we have to get some things done and we only have a half p day. This Thursday we have two thanksgiving dinners. One with some less actives and another with the Tinchers.
This week though.
Well we had plans to go visit one of our new investigators this week but we couldn't set up a appointment with her. It was pretty annoying but its how it works. We have been trying to find new people because as of right now our investigators aren't progressing and so we may have to make some drops soon.
One of the big worries we have is concerning our grandma like investigator. We have gone by her house and have called several times but we haven't been able to make contact.
Some of the less actives are FINALLY committing to come back to church. We are also working hard on making sure that the younger families are going to church on a regular basis. There are a lot of them that are going to be the future of the branch here so we are on top of that.
This week we got our first bit of snow. Friday night it started to freeze, and then later Saturday morning its starts to snow just a little bit and it looks like its only going to snow and not stick. Well we had some service to do for a sister and it was putting in posts to make a barrier that could help sliding cars on her road. She has a steep driveway. Well it started snowing a lot more and we got about 4-5 inches of snow. And the roads got really bad, and we had a scary moment where I had to tell Scribner to slow down and stop because he was about to rear end someone at 35 miles per hour. Well we slid just a little and it all worked out in the end. Later that day we visited a lot of more people and got a lot of soup.
Well we have a full week. We will have quite a lot of things to do.
And so I wonder what is the plans of for the rest of you guys this holiday weekend.
I hope we can remember that part of thanksgiving is giving thanks. Thanks for all we have, for the blessings we have received and of course for our families and friends.
Things are going pretty good for us just lots of stuff to get done.
November 16, 2015
Well a lot has been going on this week. Both in the mission and also in the real world. We will go into the mission news and maybe talk a little bit about the world news for just a moment.
SO lets kick off with Monday.
Things are going pretty good for us just lots of stuff to get done.
November 9, 2015
Dear Everyone,
Well this week was quite a adventure.
Monday: P-Day afterwards some visits
Tuesday: Went down to Indianapolis for transfers due to a broken black box in the Rochester car (the car coordinator had to fix it). Afterwards came back helped with a member on his new house (its a fixer upper). It was just scrubbing some finish and cleaning some floors. Afterwards we went home got clean and went to visit a less active member. She is very funny. She has a boyfriend by the name of "Stoney" and he is quite a alcoholic, smoker, and yaaaa. But he is super nice to the missionaries and really likes to hang out with us. Me and him always have a long conversations about smoking pork, hunting, fishing, and cars. Then dinner.
Wednesday: Family History. Visit to a investigator and service afterwards. Less actives, schedule appointment fell through. But then dinner with the Watts.
Thursday: Service at the salvation army where we served lunch. So cool thing about that. We work every Thursday at the salvation army preparing the lunch for all the homeless less fortunate and a few crazy people its fun. After that we had tracting, weekly planning, and then service for a member where a few of her trees had fallen down so we got help from the branch president to cut them up and stack them up in a nice pile. There is still a lot to do there but we will get it done later. After that president bought us dinner, we ate and then went to visit one of the less actives.
Friday: We had district meeting which was fun, then went on splits with the Rochester missionaries. After wards we got picked by a member who was feeding us that night but lives in a town over so helped us out with a ride. I shared a message about faith and showed the trick with the two forks and two toothpicks where you balance them out (big thanks for dad showing me that trick).
Saturday: Not to much happen today. Lots of trying to visit other members and investigators. We also helped out again with them member who has the fixer upper house for a few hours and got dinner from him which was fun.
Sunday: We had quite a busy day of meetings. PEC meeting we had in the morning, afterward we had church and then ward council. So quite a busy day with lots of fun stuff. After that we had a few appointments and we were going to visit one of the Spanish members but he was sick so instead went on break, then finished the day with a few member visits and less actives and finished the night with dinner at home. Proudly I got some ground beef, bbq sauce, and bread and made myself some burgers it was good.
And that was the week.
Quite a lot of fun stuff this week, lots of stuff done and a lot more to do.
Here is a spiritual thought for the week
Well that's all for this week. Not to much going on but we are staying busy.
Monday, November 2, 2015
November 2, 2015
So this was quite a adventurous week full of meetings and other exciting stuff.
So first to start off Monday we went to Lafayette because on Tuesday morning we were going to have a special Spanish Missionary Conference in Indianapolis so I figured to save miles I would just travel with the Spanish elders there (elders Ryan, Baird) and I just spent the night with them while my companion went with some of the English elders house there in Lafayette. It was a pretty awesome P-day as I just got to hang out with my two best mission friends.
Tuesday we woke up early because from Lafayette its about a one hour drive down to Indy where are meeting was at the Mission Presidents house. Went there had a special guest speaker who skyped us from Mexico (he is a assistant to the Seventy down there). After a few other speakers we went to a buffet for lunch. I rode with President Cleveland and we just had a long talk about the mission and future of some areas. It was pretty good. The rest of the conference was very good and inspiring. They should have pictures of the whole Spanish contingent on the face book page.
Wednesday we went back to work with nothing to significant going on. We did have our district meeting. Halloween themed and later the branch had its activity, a trunk or treat. It was a lot of fun. I wore my starwars shirt over my church clothes and went as a "normal person" hahahah people thought it was funny.
Thursday we went and visited one of the Spanish members who is fighting cancer. Its fun to talk with him in Spanish expecially since I don't get to practice it quite as much as I use to. We also got to eat at the Pughs who are a excellent older couple for dinner.
Friday we had several appointments fall through and we cut the night short because we here they celebrate Halloween two to three nights in different portions of the town. Weird but makes sense. As such mission president told us not to be out knocking doors after 6. But we could go visit people. And so we finished the night with a visit to one of my favorite families in the Branch the Watts. We had dinner with them and just talked for a lot longer than we should have but they love to talk and we love to listen.
Saturday we had various service projects and later because we had the miles we went to Monticello a town we cover to try to visit all the less actives and members. Funny enough and also a major spiritual highlight we went to a one of the less active families who were surprised to see us but also commited to come to church tomorrow. Which they did.
Sunday we had a stake priesthood meeting in the morning so they pushed sacrament to 1 (usually its at 9). We had to give one blessing to a older lady and then another to a Spanish lady who I made the elder quorum president do (he is Hispanic) because I felt impressed that he should do it. So he did in Spanish, I helped him with the words and such. Afterwards he told me that while he has given blessings this was the very first time he had ever given one in Spanish. Coooooool stuff right.
And now here we are Monday. I am writing to you and am now coming to an end to all these things. As always I want to close by saying I love you all and miss you very much. Keep partying on and having fun. I love ya guys.
October 26, 2015
Well another week bites the dust.
This week had quite a lot of significance. Last Thursday was my one year mark. Wow that went real fast. One year, 5 areas, and 6 companions later and now here we are. One more year. As a refresher I have look and reread my journal entries since starting, wow they are really bland probably need to write more interesting stuff in them.
We also had a fun birthday party with everyone at the Tinchers house who are a older member family. They have the tradition of celebrating all the missionaries birthdays on the same day. So they took us the Logansport missionaries and the Rochester missionaries to lunch, later we had cake and then they gave us presents which were gift cards to Walmart the perfect gift for missionaries.
We also had a small group meeting in Rochester where I had to give the closing talk. Truth was I sort of forgot about it but I didn't tell them that. It went as I talked about the book of Mormon and the history and its significance in our lifes. It went well I think.
As for what has been happening in the work not too much. We are still working with everyone to help them reach certain goals
We also have some changes to mission rules. We would usually go and play with the members during sports night, but due to missionaries getting injured so often it has now no longer allowed. Its a bummer but it happens and its what the leaders want to its what we shall do.
Oh almost forgot we had interviews with President Cleveland Tuesday. And that was pretty good. Mine with him was quick and he was funny enough to say that he didn't think I really need one he knows im doing ok. But he emphasized getting the area back up and running so yep.
Well that's all the fun and exciting stuff that is going on out here in Indy. I hope you are all doing well and are continuing to party on.
I love you all and miss you all. Take care and keep having fun.
October 19, 2015
Another week another Monday and now another email. Boy these things are sometimes hard to write because in terms of the week it was okay but uneventful. However I will go through quickly some of the good fun things we have had.
This week we returned to teach a older lady we had met who is the sweetest old Grandma (she has adopted me) you could meet. I planned a lesson to give her a little gift one of the pictures of Christ you can put in a frame. I read the story of Peter declaring Jesus to be the Christ the son of the living God, and then revealed the picture and she went crazy. She loved it and started to cry, and say this was the greatest gift she could receive and how much she loved me. Boy talk about the spirit being strong in the room she was caressing it like a baby. Later after we left she gave us a call like 10 minutes after we had left to tell me she had found a frame for it. When we returned a few days later she had it right next to her bedside so she could have him watch her. That meeting I gave her a book of Mormon which she really liked. Later on she gave us a angle that sings silent night. Its pretty cute and I will have to send a picture of it. I am keeping that in my collection of random stuff.
We met with our main investigator Tony this week and while he is really ready, he is not committed. He missed church again this week, and this Saturday we had him schedule for baptism but now its off because of that and gahhhhhhhhh. He knows the church is true, and that he needs to be baptized. I just don't think its his priority in his life.
We met with a long time investigator Maggie whose parents are active members in the church up in Chicago. She is a great lady with a very dark past but that's a story for another time. She has been reading and studying the Book of Mormon for a long time. Her mind is getting blown by 1 Nephi with the visions Nephi had of the life of the Savior, the future of his people, and next time we are going over his vision of the Restoration of the Gospel which I know she will be singing her praises and hallelujahs to the heavens.
She is a funny lady.
We also finally got to meet several less actives this week and we are working on them to go back to being active. Several of which would boost the numbers of the branch tremendously. Honestly if ever half the less actives would return the branch could be a ward. But then there is that whole agency thing.
We also went to a bbq/birthday party of one of the less actives. I have a running joke with him that he always offers me the Bacardi (alcohol) to drink. So for his birthday I went to the dollar tree and bought a wine bag, along with a bottle of Sangria which is a Spanish drink that taste like wine but isn't alcohol. Oh he thought that was the funniest thing ever, and his friends who do drink alcohol were really excited, then disappointed, and then laughing cause they thought it was pretty funny for the "Mormon", they all know the missionaries very well so they got it.
We also had dinner with the Thomas's who the wife is a member but the husband is not. Though out of everyone me and him get along probably the best because we just talk about farming, fishing, and history. Last time me and him had a discussion about native americans and I told him about captain jacks stronghold or hideout (cant remember) that we would go to a lot (the one near the lave tubes). But we usually have dinner with them once a week and sister Thomas is the sweetest lady you can imagine. She is fantastic.
On a spiritual note a video was posted concerning trials, and how we react to such trials. Do we grow angry, and selfish or do we allow the light of God to penetrate us so we can overcome them. Here is the link, I really enjoyed it.
But that's all folks, the work continues forward. As always I would love to hear how things are going with you all and your families and everything. I love and miss you.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
October 12, 2015
So ya this week had its ups and downs, I am going to go with the downs first then we can jump back to the ups.
Ok so first down. So we have a investigator named Tony who has been struggling with keeping commitments and such. We rechallenged him to baptism date and that went great you can tell he wants it but then he didn't show up to church this Sunday which was due to a sick kid so its excusable but this is the 3rd or 4th time that this has happened. We are starting to worry that he is slipping.
Ok so second down. One of the Spanish people we met who wanted us to come back to teach the family turns out doesn't even live there in the house, and the people who lived there were incredibly nice but explained that she was only watching the house and lived out of state contrary to what she said. Gahhhh
Ok so third and final down. I had to give a talk this week. Yep I had to give one and afterward was followed by the Stake President yikes. But it was good the talk was about conference and so I focused on President Monson's talk concerning being a light and example for the world. I had the impression to share a few of Grandpa Olsen stories about serving in the Philippians (Japanese POW story), and Korea (giving up his bed to lady and son). I then related that while we do not live in a war in the traditional sense we do live in a war of sin and decreasing morality but that we can always show forth Christ like attributes and in so doing do as the Prophet has emphasized "A light unto a world, that men may see your good works and glorify your father which art in heaven."
So now for some good stuff. There are still some delays with the plans to have a English class and that is still underway but it is progressing.
I had the pleasure of meeting one of the Spanish members who speaks perfect Spanish but her mother does not, and she is not a member. I decided to talk with her and get to know her and we had a blast. She asked some questions about the Church specifically the services which led into a perfect discussion of the Book of Mormon or Libro de Mormon. I gave her the run down of the story and she wanted to get a copy to read. To her surprise I gave her mine (not mine personally but the ones we give out to people, I always keep a few in my bag in English and Spanish just in case) she truly was flattered and excited. When we left she was flipping through the pages and examining it. Awesome.
The other cool thing is that we got to meet one of the other members of the branch that can speak in English but prefers Spanish. We now have steady appointments set up with him and his family who are not members. This week has truly been fantastic for the work in Spanish and I am both nervous but also super excited.
I forgot to mention I think, my mtc companion/Oregon brother/best friend in the mission is in Lafayette. So for the last several P-days we have been hanging out and partying, its awesome. If you remember from my earlier letters Elder Ryan is from Brookings and he truly is a bro. Our dream is to serve together one day. Oh and he is serving with another bro of mine in the mission his name is Elder Baird. And truly if a miracle could be performed it would be us three being put in a trio together. That is a missionary dream. Probably and most assuredly wont happen but who knows.
Well as always I love and miss you guys. Take care and keep partying on.
October 5, 2015
This week was pretty boring if we go into the terms of the work. Nothing to exciting happening. There is a man by the name of Tony who we are teaching and is at the point of baptism though he needs a spiritual conversion rather than a intellectual conversion. So we are working with him on that. There are a lot of less actives here that need to pull it together. So we will continue to work a lot with them. I also have plans to start a english class here. It has never been done before and I have help jump start a couple. Specifically in Elkhart which was intimidating but fun to do, though I guess when I left it fell apart soooo ya. Lots of stuff on the barbecue I am still trying to figure out how to best serve the Spanish people here.
The branch here is awesome. Its has a solid group of families that are really just good people. We also have a ton of food donated to us. Not many if any dinner appointments, but a lot of food given to us. We seriously have probably more mac and cheese than the whole stake of missionaries do. Its pretty funny.
Well lets get down to business. This week we were blessed to hear from our Prophets, Apostles, Seventies, Relief Society Leaders, and others. Who was your favorite?
I personally enjoyed the emphasis on women and there divine and essential roles in the plan God has for us.
I loved the testimony and reiteration from Elder Bednar of the service and sacrifice of the departed Apostles. I love his emphasis on the fact that the leaders of the Church are not perfect, but its head Jesus Christ its corner stone is.
I enjoyed the very first talk of President Uchtdorf concerning the beautiful simplicity of the gospel. How we to often enough over complicate what the Lord has given us and in so doing blind ourselfs to the simple truths he has restored.
Many wonderful and powerful talks were given. I will have to reread and study all of them in order to fully comprehend and choose my favorite. It is notable that we have three new apostles of the Lord. Elder Rasband, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Renlund.
I found it humbling to watch as President Monson give his testimony, and with time begin to lose strength. He truly will continue to work and strive to finish the work the Lord has given him till he has breath in his body. I feel sadden that he has finally reached that point, but also encouraged in his divine calling to be a special witness in these last days of our Master Jesus Christ.
Many things have happen this conference. With talk concerning the calling of Apostles, the departure of Apostles, Spiritual guidance, the Importance of the Mother/Women, and the understanding that at the helm of the church leading us on is Jesus Christ.
I hope we all will have a chance to review, and pray about the things we have been taught. For these things are what the Lord wants us and needs us to know. Truly I love General Conference, it is a time for me personally to be rebooted and reinvigorated in the sacred things we know are true.
I hope your week was excellent for all of you. And I hope you came out of Conference like I did. I love you all and miss you. Lets see what this next week brings shall we.
September 28, 2015
So my computer crashed and due to library restrictions they wont let me extend my time though I wasn't on. So this group email is quick and to the point.
I am in Logansport, Indiana serving with Elder Scribner. I am a striped elder now working with both Spanish and English. Its been a little hard of a transition but all is good.
Today is my birthday which interesting enough is also the day of the Blood moon and the Jewish feast of tabernacles/ or trumphets not really sure only that a member explained it to me.
I love Logansport there is a lot to see and a lot of work to do. So I am going to get on that. Again sorry this is short but I make up for it by having downloaded finally all my pictures and videos to the dropbox.
Next week I will give a much more indepth overview of the area and what is going on.
I am twenty now so only one more year for me to go on my mission. I will probably return home and by ammunition to celebrate.
Well I love you all and miss you all so much, thank you for the letters, emails, and packages you have sent. They have all made it a happy birthday.
September 21, 2015
So this week was something. With the idea that I and elder cruz would stay here and continue the work here potentially even till Christmas we were not prepared for the call presidente gave us. "Elders your all out"
That is correct, I Elder Trapp am once again leaving a area just after 6 weeks. So if you have any mail of any sort wait till I can give you my new address.
ALSO REALLY IMPORTANT PLEASE PAY ATTENTION. The mission office is being moved. So if you had plans to send stuff through there please be aware that they are moving. Here is the official letter.
Dear Elders & Sisters:
IMPORTANT MESSAGE:
When you email your families this week, please let them know the new Mission Office address:
777 Sunblest Boulevard, Fishers, Indiana 46038-1167.
This change goes into effect on Monday, September 28th.
Sister Anderson
Secretary to the President - Baptisms & Referrals
INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS MISSION
I hope that is clear, it was fairly unexpected we thought we still had another three weeks or so till they would change but nope.
Now back to me leaving the area. Its a bit emotionally wearing, and a pain in the rear to pack every six weeks. I have done this for pretty much the entire summer. Not that I am complaining only comenting on how much I dislike packing and leaving many families and converts so quickly. But where ever the lord wants me to go I will go.
As to where I could go there are a few options. In a email to me President told me that I would be going stripe (english/spanish) in an area that has not had a spanish elder in a long time if ever. However the call he gave us this Saturday he said that I would be going straight Spanish, and Elder Cruz would go to a stripe area. As such I lean more to his call Saturday as it was more recent though reading his email did throw a curve ball.
If I do a stripe I have no idea where I would go (this seems unlikely now) but if I went straight spanish (very likely) there are really only two options. I could return to Lafayette where I could serve with Elder Baird (good guy) or Elder Ryan (mtc comp). Or the other option is that I go and open a new area.
A few weeks previous President did say that something super weird was going to happen and this is it. I am not sure how well this will turn out but its what the Lord wants so ok.
As always its hard to leave areas. Expecially when there are many things going on. Recent converts who still need a lot of fellow shipping
We are having problems with one convert who has bad health and a smoking issue. She is a really nice lady who unfortunately has gone back to her bad habits and it is making things harder and worse for her.
And one situation is one I would love to write about but cant till after my mission probably. Lets just say it involves the police, a con artist, smuggling of illegals, and a lot of money. Fear not the missionaries have no strings to this only that we are the un involved witnesses.
So I will wrap up with what happened with our branch part we had this Saturday.Only want to share a little about the Branch party we had this last Saturday. It was a blast with all the food, music, dancing, and to quote are BP a "Dance War". We were elected judges (because we cant dance). And by a landslide the primary kids won, it also help they were the only ones that didnt try to bribe us with money or meals. But while that was all very good and fun the best came from our Investigator William.
William we met on the street who ran up to us wanting to shake our hands and all that good stuff. We were very confused till he explained that he had lived in Provo for 20 years, hanged out with the missionaries a lot, and has attended most of the wards activities and etc. But for some reason he is not baptized. We invited him to come to the party not really expecting that he would come only for him to show up, dance with the members, and even performed a solo song for all of us (he was actually pretty good). He shows a lot of promise and we are excited for the work the missionaries will do with him. We are excited for several people here to be taught by new missionaries.
William we met on the street who ran up to us wanting to shake our hands and all that good stuff. We were very confused till he explained that he had lived in Provo for 20 years, hanged out with the missionaries a lot, and has attended most of the wards activities and etc. But for some reason he is not baptized. We invited him to come to the party not really expecting that he would come only for him to show up, dance with the members, and even performed a solo song for all of us (he was actually pretty good). He shows a lot of promise and we are excited for the work the missionaries will do with him. We are excited for several people here to be taught by new missionaries.
But we will see how things go with everything. Well lots of stuff to do and so little time. There are more pictures and videos in the dropbox and I and inserted some here for you guys to see.
As always I love you all and miss you. I will let you know where I am in a few days.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
September 14, 2015
Well I hope all is well. It sounds like many exciting things are a foot. In reference of whether I will be moved in the following week. I shouldnt be, but that is what I thought in my last area and now I am here. I will know for sure this upcoming Saturday.
It would be a bummer to leave Columbus after such a short time but whatever the Lord wants.
This week was event full to say in the least. I am going to narrow it down to three main things: The Wedding/Baptism, A Unexpected Confirmation, Temple Trip With a Miracle.
The Wedding/Baptism
Jose Bucio finally married his wife (a member) and then was promptly baptized like immediately afterward, the marriage was only 15 minutes. I was tempted to be one of the witnesses to the wedding but they already had enough and we needed to move along. Jessica Ruiz (17 year old with a lark mom) then followed with her baptism. It was difficult because we only had access to the building for one hour, that was it as such everthing had to be crammed together but it all turn out well. There was a lot of joy and spirit in the air. I had Norma (Jessicas member friend) give a short testimony about her baptism experience. She gave a wonderful and spiritual testimony.
Temple Trip With A Miracle
This last Friday we had the great privilege of bringing two recent converts to the temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. Specifically a son and a mom. The son who has some special needs was flat out refusing to go in because he was nervous, uncomfortable, and just didnt want to. The situation developed to such a point he was crying and we were planning for one of us to stay with him outside while the mom went in. Finally after a half hour we were able to get him to enter. A rather marvelous thing began to occur. He started to smile and act like his normal happy self, he still was very nervous, but he had changed. Finally when it came his turn to do some baptisms rather than refused which we thought would happen he got up immediately and went right in the font. After doing two we didn't have any cards so he began to get out when the Ordinance worker asked me if he wanted to do more. I went to him and asked and no sooner had I done so he took off his glasses and went right back into the font doing another 10 names. Near the end of the trip when I talked with him about it he was smiling and laughing completely of a different mind set from when he had begun. He commented he was proud of himself. I was proud him. But I felt that more importantly heavenly father was proud of his courage to go and do, and as a result blessed him with a wonderful experience and the spirit.
I will tell you the planning and preparation necessary for a wedding and two baptisms this Saturday was pretty stressful. Luckily the Lord was a part of it and as such all was successful.
The Wedding/Baptism
Jose Bucio finally married his wife (a member) and then was promptly baptized like immediately afterward, the marriage was only 15 minutes. I was tempted to be one of the witnesses to the wedding but they already had enough and we needed to move along. Jessica Ruiz (17 year old with a lark mom) then followed with her baptism. It was difficult because we only had access to the building for one hour, that was it as such everthing had to be crammed together but it all turn out well. There was a lot of joy and spirit in the air. I had Norma (Jessicas member friend) give a short testimony about her baptism experience. She gave a wonderful and spiritual testimony.
An Unexpected Confirmation
A very good blessed day for them and especially for us as missionaries. However a rather unexpected turn of events ensued when Jessica (now Sister Ruiz) asked if I could do her confirmation. We had not yet asked her or Jose about it. But when asked who she wanted she immediately pointed to me. I agreed but oh boy was I scared. I would of been nervous to do my very first confirmation in English, but this one had to be done in Spanish. I looked over the specific words that needed to be said and studied various words for the blessing afterward. Needless to say I pretty much forgot all my Spanish but still manage to Confirm her and dictate a few things the Spirit prompter me to. Truth be told afterwards I couldnt remember what I said to her. Its taken time and some prayer to recollect all of it. But in the end she was confirmed and is now a member. Thank goodness for the gift of tongues.
Temple Trip With A Miracle
This last Friday we had the great privilege of bringing two recent converts to the temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. Specifically a son and a mom. The son who has some special needs was flat out refusing to go in because he was nervous, uncomfortable, and just didnt want to. The situation developed to such a point he was crying and we were planning for one of us to stay with him outside while the mom went in. Finally after a half hour we were able to get him to enter. A rather marvelous thing began to occur. He started to smile and act like his normal happy self, he still was very nervous, but he had changed. Finally when it came his turn to do some baptisms rather than refused which we thought would happen he got up immediately and went right in the font. After doing two we didn't have any cards so he began to get out when the Ordinance worker asked me if he wanted to do more. I went to him and asked and no sooner had I done so he took off his glasses and went right back into the font doing another 10 names. Near the end of the trip when I talked with him about it he was smiling and laughing completely of a different mind set from when he had begun. He commented he was proud of himself. I was proud him. But I felt that more importantly heavenly father was proud of his courage to go and do, and as a result blessed him with a wonderful experience and the spirit.
Well that is the news for the week. Many a things happening. We shall see if I am lucky and get to spend my birthday here in Columbus or if they will banish me from this place. I dont know, I feel confident I should be staying but who knows. Probably I will continue to work with Elder Cruz.
As always I close with my love for you all and the hope that all is going great for you guys.
September 8, 2015
Well I hope we all give Shannon a big round of applause and a loud happy birthday shout.
I must say this week had some ups and it had some downs. I will start with the downs because thats quicker.
A family we have been teaching, who have come to church and enjoyed it, who agree with all the teachings, and have also expressed the desire to be baptized has recently dropped us. It was a little bit of a blow expecially to Elder Schoneman who originally contacted them. But while they have shut the door a little bit, they have not closed it. They wont be coming to Church but they have invited us to come back.
Now this saturday we were going to have three baptisms. Two of which will happen. But one will not. One of them has found some difficulty and some personal problems that has delayed the date. She will be baptized but needs a little more time.
Now concerning the other two. One needs to be married to his wife which will happen this week, the other one though is all ready. They will get their interviews perhaps today.
I dont think I have mentioned this so perhaps I will now. This Friday we are going to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead, and a first time endowment. This could quite possibly be one of the most exciting fridays I will of had in a long time. We will actually have the blessed opportunity to go to the temple in October, and December with our investigators for the baptisms for the dead.
As of recent the work continues at a slow pace. But progress is being made. There are many out there who are waiting, we just need the patience and diligence to do it.
I apologize for the shortness of this letter. But as it is not our traditional p day but rather a work day we run short on time.
Now for a spiritual thought, recently we have been heavily focusing on the importance of family prayers. To sum up I think President Henry B Eyring says it best.
The generations that come after you may call you blessed for your example of prayer in your family. You may not raise a great servant of God, but you can by your prayers and your example of faithfulness help the Lord Jesus Christ raise up good and beloved disciples.
Of all that you might choose to do to help the Lord,prayer will be at theheart of it. There are apparently ordinary people who, when they pray, inspire others toopen their eyes to see who is there. You can become such a person.
Think of what that can mean to those who kneel with you in family prayer. When they feel that you speak to God in faith, their faith will increase to also speak with God. When you pray to thank God for blessings they know have come, their faith will grow that God loves them and that He answers your prayers and will answer theirs. That can happen in family prayer only when you have had that experience in private prayer, time after time.
I am still being blessed by a father and a mother who spoke with God. Their example of the power of prayer in families is still blessing the generations who came after them.
I love you all and miss you all. I hope you are all getting ready for the lovely winter we are going to have. We certainly are hahaha.
August 31, 2015
Well here we are again. And I have something rather profound to say. SUMMER IS OVER. Yep its the beginning of fall which came up rather quickly.
This week I will run through some highlights really quickly.
First things first new people. We have met one of the recent converts sister who loves us and wants us to come visit them. She is married and the husband while a little less interested still wants to learn. They have a cute son who is 5 i think. Their names are Anaeli, and Jose. They live actually only about 5 or 6 minutes away so it makes visiting them easier.
We also tried a little outside of town a trailer park that is literally all hispanics. We found one man who had been taught before by english missionaries a little, which I am wondering how because he doesnt speak english.
In that same park we also found some young men (20's), or more specifically brothers that took the time to listen. For the first time in my whole mission they actually answered all the questions correctly such as why the apostasy happened, the importance of prophets, and why the Priesthood had to be restored. Truth be told it took us by suprise, they now want to come and play soccer.
There were other people but I am limiting this to the most interesting. The last I will mention is a man we bumped into on accident who immediatly charges up to us and says missioneros. His name is William Rodriguez he is was living in Provo, Utah before coming to Indiana about 5 weeks or so ago and he had lived in Provo for about 16 years. But he is not a member. Literally he has met and fed the missionaries for almost all of those 16 years and has gone to church but has never been baptized. He also doesnt attend a church but is deeply religious so its a little confusing whats up.
So moving off from the new people we met to whats been happening at church. The Hondurans 25 of them have still not come but supposedly they will be next week. Who knows. The branch keeps growing slowly though we could use a boost and the Hondurans could be it. Besides that the church is still the same.
So the Nehrings the people we live with were impressed that I worked as a temple worker before my mission. They also liked the story of how I got called and was really scared that I had done something wrong.
But what else. We had to move our baptism of Jose this week till next week due to him not getting married. He will be next week so we should be able to baptize him the 12th of September along with Jessica and Delayne.
Well that is a good chunk of the week sorry if I missed something. I feel I covered just about everything.
Recently I watched the movie On the Lords Errand:President Thomas S Monson, if you havent seen it I highly recommend it. Its powerful all the work that the man who would later be called to serve as the Prophet, Seer, and Revelator did before becoming the man he is now. Just more evidence the Lord prepares those he calls.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
August 24, 2015
So we had a Temple dedication here. And boy it was good.
But we will get into that later. This week was like any other week in the mission life. Knocking doors, trying to find people, and getting kicked out of trailer parks. We had quite a lot of bad luck this week with getting kicked out. This does cause some problems because we only have about 4 trailer parks out here that house the majority of the Hispanics in Columbus. We have been kicked out of 3 of them so far. One of the parks in manage by members of one of the English wards and they came over and told us to leave. Which was a little annoying but oh well I guess their just doing their job but grrrrrr.
On the brighter side of news we have 3 people progressing towards baptisms and are steadily making their way. One is a man named Jose who is married but not legally so we are making them get married. His wife is a member and they have been together for several years. He is in his late 40's and has trouble with his eyes (probably due to his drinking problems in the past) and is not blind, but has a lot of trouble with them. His date is set for the 5th of September.
We also have another part member family that we are working to get their daughter Delayne baptized the 12th of September. She is about 18 and is finishing highschool. Other than just praying in the mornings she is progressing and will make the date.
The final person is another teenager named Jessica. She is friends with Delayne, and learned a little about the church from her. Then the missionaries found her and now she is on date for the 12th of September as well. Originally no one knew about this little tad bit of info (till I dug into why her mom avoided us, it took time but I found out something huge) her mom is a member. Or was baptized a member with her family at a young age and was active up till she came to the US at the age of 15 in which she stopped being active. So technically this would be a part member family. I'm not to sure how it would be called since the mom has in a sense apostatized but not a big deal. We are going to try to teach her. I came up with a funny idea which she thought was funny to. I and Elder Schonemann will eat the hottest chile she has to offer without milk, in return she will come to church.
So because of the dedication of the temple we were not going to have church. So we figured we should go to Mass, or communion. Hahahahaha so we were invited to attend the local Catholic mass from some of our investigators. It was a little hard to understand in Spanish and the Father did not speak Spanish very well which made it a little more difficult.
This last Saturday we had the great opportunity to watch the cultural celebration of the Temple which was very good and fun to watch. It was a little short which was disappointing but good none the less. I think if you want you can watch it on Youtube or go to the churchs website.
Now I will finish this email out with what happened with us and the dedication. We went to one of the local church buildings that was broadcasting the final dedication. Boy what a powerful experience. It was a perfect way for us to finish the day out. The spirit was so strong. Its a little bittersweet for us that it if done the work for opening the temple is finished. But now begins the work to fill it.
I loved the words of President Eyring when he said (this isnt exact) when we truly understand the blessings of the temple then the sacrifices that the early saints and the current saints have done are are not sacrifices. They are prices willingly paid for the eternal blessings we can receive, the guarantee that Families Can Be Together Forever.
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