Gary & Nancy Post

This is Gary and Nancy

Last week we received a phone call on our answering machine in Spanish.  As Nancy was in Rhode Island watching the Brown girls, I had to hold the phone up to the answering machine for her to hear.  It turns out it was from a Sister, Corrina Munez, in Columbus, Indiana.  She wanted to tell us what a good missionary Elder Trapp is.  So, Nancy called her back and Corrina told us that when Elder Trapp was originally transferred out of Columbus (this is his second time serving there) her family was sad and cried.  But then he was transferred back and they were so happy and excited again to have him back.  She said he always taught with the spirit and brought the spirit to their home.  They loved having him there and teaching them.  By the end of the call, both Nancy and Corrina were crying.

This is not first time we have had a member call us and tells us what a wonderful missionary and young man Elder Trapp is and that we should be proud of how he is serving and representing the Lord.  We had two contracts from Logansport with the Ward Mission Leader calling and telling us that Elder Trapp was, perhaps, the finest missionary he has ever worked with.  Another family sent us a very nice letter and homemade candles telling us about how special Elder Trapp is and what a positive impact he had in their home.

Anyway, it sure wonderful to hear that Ryan is doing the Lord's work to the best of his ability and impacting people and lives.

January 18, 2016

Well well well. Its been a interesting week full of exciting announcements, interviews, and the work.

Lets kick off with some highlights of what will be happening with the branch.

They are going to keep it for now. We are going to be joining partly a english ward that will offer its youth program or primary and youth and also other classes of english for the mixed families of english and spanish. We will have our own Sacrament meeting and adult classes in Spanish. This way we have a better retention rate with the few members we have and still provide all the classes for the kids. As for how long this is going to last that is up for discussion. But now we have a clear goal in mind and that is trying to get the less active members to return, that would be the real big goal the branch has. Kind of like consolidating the few numbers we have and working on fellowshipping of those who have left. So very exciting and we will see how the future will unfold with this new effort.

Now onto other news. We had interviews with our Mission President and that was fun, interesting, and short. Usually me and Pres dont talk very long. He talked about the branch and how he knows the struggles of the area and how difficult it is. He mentioned how I may go back to English as a possibility and I tried to argue my case of being companions with Elder Ryan (fellow oregonian) expecially to finish off my mission. He just laughed and wrote his name down on my paper so who knows. He said I would have another 6 weeks here which I think he is telling the truth but who knows he changes all the time.

As for this week, it was very cold. Monday we nearly froze and then tuesday we froze but with snow. After that the temperatures increased a little but was still a bit chilly. But apparently warmer weather was just a quick thing because then we dropped back down to the 20s and now today we have a lovely 6-8 degrees to keep us on our toes. But that all good.

In terms of the work we have been meeting a little success but are still trying to find new people. Our man Franco who we found not to long ago is being a little hard to find now. Kind of a bummer but it happens. And like I said earlier the branch wants a focus on the less actives more so we will be going on the hunt this week for them.

Things are good here.

January 11, 2016

This was quite a week ending with a Saturday at 50 degrees then dropping to 20 degrees with a couple inches of snow.

In fact this monday we are at 13 degrees with clouds.

But lets kick this off with some interesting highlights.

I and Elder Wright have been knocking alot of doors and checking up on potentials. Funny enough we have had very little if any success in those regards. Either we knock the door and they just have no interest, or they say they do but they are just trying to be nice. As for former investigators we go to their houses and they have moved away, usually back to Mexico.

But we finally had a little miracle Saturday. We knocked on a former house where we were greeted by a completely different hispanic man who spoke perfect english and immediately invited us in to talk and get out of the rain. His name is Franco and he is perhaps one of the nicest and humblest people I have met in a long time. He earnestly is trying to get closer to Jesus and has been working hard to change his life for himself and his family. We now have his number and are going to try to hook up with him when we can.

We also had a lot of service involving moving a english member family out of their house. Funny enough the husband is from Utah but the wife is from accross the pond in Jolly good ole Nottingham England. That took multiple hours and days because they had a lot of stuff.

So many lovely exciting things going on. This last Sunday we had a very small congregation come and that is including the two high councilors. Some of the core members are extremely worried about what the future will hold for the branch. With talking with the Branch president and his counselor I know that they are having a very big meeting thursday with the stake presidency to decide the future of our little branch.

But its all good. We also had to take a long trip this last Sunday (hour long drive) to some less actives who are kind of going off the deep end. They are married but they dont like each other and the only reason they are staying together it seems is because of their son and future baby. Plus the husband now wants to go off and become a preacher which was a bit of the random they threw in. Gah one of those situations where we just have to have our branch president come and talk with them. But they are really nice people who are very good they are just a little crazy.

But those are the highlights for the week and what has been going on in the life of elder trapp.

As a spiritual thought and suggestion. I would strongley recommend watching the World Wide Devotional. The speakers were Elder Nelson and his wife.

https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/worldwide-devotional/2016/01?lang=eng

January 4, 2016

Well I will start with what we did for New Years Eve and New Years Day.

New Years Eve we had district meeting where I did a well applauded training about charity and love a christlike attribute. I organized a survey of incredibly random and funny questions. After they all answered their own questions they had to guess and vote on how each person answered their questions. It was fun and they enjoyed it, I then related it to communication and getting to know one another. And whether it is with your investigator, companion, or other members in your district by communicating and getting to know one another we can develop greater understanding which leads to greater love. After the district meeting we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate together. Then we all departed with us going to the library for 30 minutes of family history, and then trying potentials. Now time to talk about a miracle.

As we had a fair amount of miles that day to use. I felt impressed that we should instead go and try to find a less active couple by the name of Carlos and Elizabeth. The only information we had was the towns name and that they were living in government housing. So with that we proceeded. We went to the library and looked up where government housing was in this little town which nether of us were very familiar with, we got a address and proceeded from that point. After probably a little more than a hour of traveling we arrive at the government housing which had more several buildings with who knows how many appartments in them. We got out and elder wright feeling inspired wants to try a specific apartment. A nice lady answers and after asking her if she knew Carlos or Elizabeth she said "oh ya Elizabeth is in the back I will get her." The very first door, in a town neither of us had ever been before, with nothing more than a rumor where they were. Elizabeth came out and we had a very nice discussion and now have a appointment with them on thursday. President Miajongos is coming with us to the appointment. After that we went home and enjoyed a nice lovely relaxing evening.

New Years Day we didnt do much. We relaxed in the morning and took naps around lunch time. After that, Elder Wright wanted to go on a shopping spree so we went to a nearby outlet and some other places. After that we came home and had plans to go to a party but instead just stayed and hung out with the Nehrings. We had a nice dinner of chinese food and then watched the Cokeville Miracle one of the few approved films they let us see. The rest of the night was one of taking it easy.

But those are the days of New Years. There is a lot of stuff we still need to do in terms of the work but we are making headway. Slowly but surely.

 We are striving to work with our small group of investigators and may be losing some soon. Time will tell.

But as always I love you guys and miss you. I hope you have had a wonderful New Year. As a spiritual thought with the start of something new. Think back on the story of Lot's wife in the old testament. As they were leaving Sodom before its destruction they were instructed to "not look back." However Lot's wife did and she was turned into a pillar of salt. From a quote I believe from President Uchtdorf he said "the reason Lot's wife turned to salt was not because she looked back, but because she looked back with longing." The lesson being that we can not continue forward to a happier and more brightful future if we continue to look back on the past with "longing."
http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/new-years-look-not-behind-thee?cid=HP_MO_12-28-2015_dPFD_fMRMN_xLIDyL1-A_

December 28, 2015

Well this was the week of christmas and now we are entering the week of the new year.

This last week had its ups and downs though the biggest challenge was staying busy. We had a lot to do and very little time to do it in. With how quickly it gets dark here it makes the work at times difficult but now the weather is starting to look a little nasty in the upcoming weeks. 20 degrees and possible snow.

But lets focus on the days of Christmas for this email.

Christmas eve we went out and had a wonderful lesson with a recent investigator with a member present. It was spiritual and the investigator understood it very well. Unfortunately that was the last of our success that day. We knocked and visited everyone we could but due to the holiday every one was either not at home or way to busy to talk with us. As a side note we were instructed to work till 5 and then call it a day. So after having very little to no success we tried our back up plan of doing family history only to find the library closed. With that we had nothing to do so we returned home to plan for Christmas and the following days. That night we went with the Nehrings doorbell ditching (we left treats and stuff). Then we returned and just hung out and played some games and ate a lovely pizza dinner.

Christmas: I woke up early around 6 and decided to sleep in till about 7. A whole 30 mins of sleeping in felt really good truth be told. I knew that the young kids in the house were planning to wake us up around that time to so I decided to beat them to the punch and went up stairs and listened to scriptures for a few minutes with them. Elder Wright was still sleeping downstairs where all the presents and the present opening activities would take place. The little kids were really begging me to tell them what I had seen santa bring them for Christmas. But I was good and didnt tell them about the turtle and the stuff stockings and all the little toys and such. Well Elder Wright came out for a bit to watch and participate in opening of presents. It was a lot of fun. After that I helped clean up a bit and then had planned to go and sleep some more but instead helped cook breakfast. I was in charge of the hashbrowns, and we had a glorious meal of english pancakes (like swedish but ours are alot better in my opinion, though they were tasty), bacon and other items. After all this we took it easy played some basketball, went on a bike ride, and finished the night with about 15 minutes of a musical christmas carol and stopped the film to eat a turkey dinner. After this elder wright wanted to go play more basketball with the missionaries at the church which we did near the end of the night.

So overall a very merry Christmas for us here in columbus. But I left out something of key importance. And that was calling and facetiming mom, dad, bobbie (brownites), christina (the muffles), nicole (laughmanites), and shannon (the dukes). Truly that brought the christmas spirit more than anything else. And home felt very close to me. This Christmas has helped emphasize how much I miss you all, and love you. This is also a significant Christmas because it is my final one here in Indiana.

2016 rapidly approaches and as we get near this point we prepare to make resolutions of doing something. My resolution that I want to make is to finish this year going out strong in the work I do. That doesnt mean it is going to be easy rather it is a goal I want to do.

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year. I love and miss you all very much.