Hola, this is the week of transfers. My final with Elder Latu, he will be heading up north to serve in the place he was trained (Elkhart). I will stay here in Lafayette, most likely I will either serve with Elder Paxman, or perhaps Maxwell, its a little unknown still what exactly will happen. Either way though there are some progressing things going to happen. After having some meetings with the Stake and President Cleveland, it has been decided that they are going to put in a striped (one english, one spanish) pair of missionaries into Frankfort. Which will mean that me and my companion will not work as much in Frankfort or being the main missionaries there. We will probably be more of support if anything. I haven't worked out the details yet but because I will be the only Spanish missionary here with experience of the area there will be a lot of meetings to figure out how to best help the area. Most likely what I think we will do is go down maybe once or twice a week depending on stuff and then help find potential investigators that if they do show a interest we trade them to the other missionaries to handle.

But there is also more. A part member family's husband, Franklin from the Dominican Republic, wants to be baptized finally (he's the type that knows its true but just kept dragging his feet, so when i say finally i mean, FINALLY). As such we plan on calling and scheduling a time that we can meet, probably sundays, and get him ready in a months time. 

Also the new family La Rodrigues son is almost 8 or will be in a few days, we are preparing him for baptism and Hermano Rodrigues a very charismatic man, just really awesome (the rest of the family is the same) asked if I would like to baptize his son Santiago. I told him I would be so honored (I was in a bit of shock) but said that he should have the privilege of doing so. He only smiled and replied that he has already baptized his three other daughters he doesn't need another. So as of right now I have at least beaten him down to having Santiago decide who he wants. I and Hermano Rodriguez have a friendly/funny sparring going on over who will baptize. Its pretty funny, because I am losing badly due to the lack of Spanish, but occasionally I get a lucky hit in.

We also had a Zone Conference which involved a few talks some lessons, and a lunch with soup and sandwiches. It was pretty good. After that we had our "march madness" which was running drills and playing some basketball games and such. After which we took the picture of the whole zone which I believe you have seen (I am next to Cleveland).

 

A lot of my friends in Lafayette are leaving now though. The two zone leaders are going. Smith is going home, and Bromely who has only one transfer left (don't know why they would move him) is off to somewhere. Sister wilkinson will possibly be made into a sister training leader and sent somewhere. Sister Thalman who came out the same time as me will stay. But ya its really sad to see sister wilikinson, and Smith/Bromley go.

 

But thats how it rolls. 

 

I also did another talk on sunday for the Frankfort meeting talking about the Love of God. I will have to send that talk home because its actually not bad. Grammar is very bad, but overall it is fairly ok, I was enthusiastic about sharing it.

 

Oh I am actually in Indianapolis just for the day because Elder Smith goes home so he leaves sometime tonight or tomorrow morning and Elder Bromley his companion needs to hang out with us. We will probably head back home sometime tonight and just get Latu and Bromley packed and ready to go. I am really bummed out Bromley is leaving, he helps cater to my occasional nerd, and my love for Star Wars.

 

But I think I have covered most of this week. I miss you guys a lot. I mean I am not homesick, but sometimes I do miss you guys a lot. Well I love you all, you all have a good, safe, and spiritually uplifting week.

 

As a spiritual thought read Matthew 4 verse 11. But then immediately read in the footnotes the Joseph Smith translation. Its just another example of Christ's unselfish nature, and his great love.

 

Well I need to go, don't worry about me, I will return soon. I love you.

 

Sincerely the Oregonian boy in the east, Elder Ryan James Trapp

Some Pictures

 A Ryan kind of meal

February 16, 2015

Another week bites the dust. And this marks the very last week of this transfer. Yes this is it, the finale, the end of training (honestly though I am still going to be a trainee for a few months if not on paper in feeling). I must say it went very quick, and the time for change is fast approaching. So I will probably talk more about it next week but this is just a heads up of what is happening.

 

This week was ruff because we didn't work very hard, appointments fell through, and it just wasn't a great week of work. But thats okay because its a start of a brand new week which is very good. We weren't able to meet with Carlos, or really any of our main investigators, they were all busy, but occasionally we were able to leave notes, and call them to come to the mini sacrament/fireside meetings we are having in Frankfort now. The spirit was very strong and member presence was high. The branch here is small but it is strong.

 

We did meet a lady with kids during tracking that said she didn't believe in God, but did believe in Satan. The rarity of finding a English satanist is high, but a Spanish one???? Though she didn't look like it at all and was very kind, the inside of her house was also normal, so over all not at all like a satanist i would of expected. Weirdly enough her family lives in Utah and are members of the church. But she said that she has just seen to much to believe that there is a God (so you turn to Satan????). She was the last person we taught to for that day and after we got into our car (10 degrees, wind chill below 0) we prayed for her. She we will probably try to go visit again.

 

But that is the highlights of the week. I hope you are all doing well and that you are staying warm. Probably are in comparison except for maybe Bobbie, I think I heard that the east coast is getting hit with some storms.

 

Well I love you guys and I miss you all.

 

Sincerely the one missionary that you all know or are related to,
Elder Ryan James Trapp

February 9, 2015

Well another week bites the dust. And rather scary is the fact that I have two weeks left till the end of my training period. Then its the follow up training period. How exciting.

 

Here not much has happened. Our new main investigator Carlos we taught the restoration, and invited him to pray about the message we shared. It went fairly good but he didn't pray with us at the end so thats a worry. We meet with him again this tuesday, and we hopefully will be able to get a member to come with us to the lesson.

 

But that's whats happening on that front. They are going to start doing the mini sacrament meetings over in Frankfort (30mins away but tons of hispanics) just to make it easier to get the work progressing there. We actually had a meeting about it thursday. Funny enough when asked when to start the sacrament meetings I suggested to just kick it off now if only to get the wheels to start moving. About everyone agreed and so now we get to have two sunday sacrament meetings. Should be fun.

 

Whats more is that we also suggested they stripe the area (one spanish, one english) to help both the spanish and english branches. And the Stake really likes the idea, and with President Cleveland supporting the Stake in whatever they decide, its a big possibility.

 

Well there is not much more happening here. But perhaps I can end with telling you more about Carlos our investigator. He was once married for several years before getting divorced only two or so years ago. He has three or four sons, of them he has only met maybe two of them. Most of the rest of his family has passed away or disappeared though he does have several friends that live a block or so down. He is originally from Mexico (cant remember exactly where), and while he says his english is bad it is actually fairly decent, or at least understandable. Very nice man in his 60's very lonely and his only experience with religion is from reading the bible.

 

So if I could ask for two things from all of you (though you all have already given so much) is to pray for Carlos, and pray that my Spanish will improve. I honestly cant thank you all enough for all you do, for the support and especially the love you give. I miss you all, dont worry I will be back soon.

 

Sincerely(the elder you should all know), Elder Ryan James Trapp

February 2nd email

I have done something insane today. I have uploaded more or I will upload pictures to the dropbox. Theres not a lot though, I forget to bring my camera to places and I dont want it sitting it the cold for to long.

 

But things are going good. We have spent finally more time in Frankfort and have met with some people and even have a new investigator named Carlos (prayers for him). But other than that not much else. We celebrated Sister Hivners (crawfordsville missionary) birthday. We had a nice snow blizzard come in with just a couple of inches nothing to significant.

 

Last night with the Hortons we ate in a funny way. So the table was covered with a plastic cloth, and Sister Horton gets really angry at all of us and throws the spaghetti and meatsauce all over the table. But it was all part of a funny joke and I enjoyed the experience known as table scoop where you just scoop whatever food you want over to your side of the table and eat right off it. It was a lot of fun, and is a great date/activity idea. Then we ate brownies, sweat bread, and chocolate cookies for dessert. Mmmm it was delicious.

I am sorry to hear that the Seahawks lost the superbowl. Me and Elder Smith were both fairly disappointed to hear that. Though I hope you all focused on the more important aspect of the superbowl, the commercials.

 

Well I am sorry this is short but I have uploaded some pictures and videos for you guys. Thank you all for the continued support and love you show, it helps alot.

 

But as a closing thought I read in the BOM Omni which talks about King Mosiah's (not ammons father, its King Benjamins father, so ammons great grandfather)  experience meeting the people of Zarahemla. This people did not speak his language, did not have any scripture, did not believe in God, and were constantly at war with each other. But through his missionary efforts these people will become the Nephites. Missionary work is hard, but through hard work and diligence any obstacle can be overcome to bring others unto Christ. This Mosiah probably had the most difficult circumstances a missionary could have, but look at what he accomplished through his faith and obedience in the lord.

I love you all

Sincerely your missionary in Indy, Elder Ryan James Trapp

Some Pictures

Birthday Party

January 26th email

Bienvenidos mi familia, welcome my family emails back to monday, yay.

 

This week got a little cold, with a brief snow storm freezing us up and the arrival of more snow coming soon, it should be pretty chilly.

We finally went down to Frankfort this week which we had planned to make a regular thing two weeks ago but complications arose and estabien. Frankfort is about 30 minutes away and has a significant hispanic population. We were able to meet several nice but very uninterested people. But theres a lot of work that can be done down there so we shall see.

 

The new family we had on date to be baptised has not been meeting with us. We havent seen them in the last two weeks and it has proven to be very worrisome and disappointing. But we will find them and hopefully get the family back on schedule.

 

We also have several other investigators or people we are trying to work with daniel (young kid has cousin in church), Franklin (married to member), Maria (found her but havent been able to contact). Along with those several in actives. Though in Spanish land sometimes inactives are that way because they have moved away into a different state or country, which tends to make it tricky.

 

My Spanish is still fairly bumpy but and this is very funny. The members and people I talk to almost all say that I have a funny accent with my Spanish, many of them say French which sort of confused me. But then I realized and asked them if it was German and they agreed hahaha. Go figure right, I guess two years of German pays off even in Spanish land.

 

I am still trying to work hard on it, pero espanol esta muy dificil por me, no se porque, pero yo se que yo peudo aprender este lenguage.

 

My talk sunday was okay. Its the second time I have had to talk and I am fairly certain that they at least understood what I was trying to say. But it went fine, nothing big.

 

 

But that has been my week. Thank you guys for getting the emails of daniel perry and christopher bryan for me. I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying the ending of winter. For us winter is still on but not as bad.

 

Thank you again for all you do, for the letters and packages, emails, and prayers. You all make it possible to survive out here. Well I got to get going. Dont worry I will be back soon.

I love you all

Sincerely your missionary in Indy, Elder Ryan James Trapp

January 20th Email

Bievenidos a mi mensage sobre... me. Hello hello hello my dear family and friends, you might be wondering why I am writing on tuesday. And that is because monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day and the librarys were closed. So I write to you now to give really a brief account for this week.

 

One of our sisters unfortunately had to have two teeth removed. As such she has been in alot of pain, and using a lot of drugs to try to keep it together. But she has slowly improved and should be back on her feet in a couple weeks. Lets see what else. The plan to hold a new spanish sacrament meeting in Frankfort (30 mins away) has been postponed for a little while. And I also have to give a talk this upcoming sunday about something. I dont know the details, but this will be the second talk I have or will be giving. I wont lie I am a little stressed about it because of the language but thats okay it should be good. We also have snow inbound for the next couple days but I dont know if that will be true due to the really warm weather we are having, we shall see.

 

In terms of the work, we were not able to meet with the new family we met the previous week because they were not there. But we now have the number so we will find them and set up a time. Thats perhaps the most significant news in terms of the work, we are just trying to find, and teach what we have. This week in district meeting I taught a training about finding balance in our lifes using the trick of a salt shaker, two forks, and two toothpicks. That lesson I stole from dad and everyone was actually really impressed with it. But that will probably one that will probably be used in several of our member lessons now.

 

Well I dont have much else to say except thank you for all your continued support and love. I really appreciate and it makes living out here a possibility.

 

Now I do have a couple of demands which will probably focused on Bryans and parents but for the life of me I have lost the list of some of the people I wanted to email. One of them is Sir Mr. Christopher Bryan, the other is Daniel Perry in our ward. If you guys could do yet another favor and try to send me theirs that would be excellent.

 

Well I am afraid I need to end so I end by saying I love you, miss you, and will see you soon.

 

I love you parents\

love you grandparents trapp

love you grandparents rojas

love you mufflers

love you laughmans

love you dukes

love you browns

love you bryans

I love you all

Sincerely your only elder(or elder that really matters), Elder Ryan James Trapp