April 4, 2016

Bienvenidos por la opportunidad leer esta carta o algo asi ‏

It is a rare opportunity for missionaries to simply have a time where we can sit and relax and be edified. Sundays are those days on a weekly basis, however with meetings and demands in the schedules we can sometime find it to be a day a little stressful. This weekend we had the marvelous opportunity to listen to our beloved prophet, seer and revelator Thomas S. Monson. We had the blessed chance of listening to the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to his various servants among the seventies, and other general authorities.

This week was busy with visiting various members to help remind them that the Conference was this week and that it would be broadcast at the church or on byu tv, and the internet.

One of the less active members name is Chris. He has gone through multiple divorces and is currently trying to gain custody of his children. Due to bad financial choices, and choices in general he is finding that he will have to move out and live with a friend for awhile. He is a man who we have visited multiple times always with the same result of him ranting about his ex wifes and how he would like to do horrible things to them. It finally got to the point where I cut him off and told him straight off that the purpose of us being there was to help him grow closer to Christ. That his hatred of his ex wifes and of God (blames him for all his problems) will keep him exactly in the unhappy and miserable position he is in. I instructed him to pray to allow the hate be tempered and leave, and that when he has done that honestly and truthfully we will come back and talk.

We also had the great opportunity to visit some of our investigators (david and angela) where we discussed some of their needs. The big one was reading the Book of Mormon. After some discussion Angela came up with the idea of taking it to work and reading during her break as she typically would just sit and eat and that is it. We gave her that encouragement and emphazided the blessings involved with doing such.

My goodness we had a ton of service this week from mowing lawns, to blessings, and moving a 1000 pound piano. To say to the least we were very busy and tired almost every night.

Now onto the big discussion of general conference. I loved it. Saturday sessions we spent with a family called the Shoafs, we then went a little earlier to the priesthood session because they had icecream and watched the priesthood session at the church.

The following day we watched the morning session with another member name kim and her non member husband steve. Afterwhich we went to a pitch in (every brings food) at the church and finished the final session there.

What a wonderful conference we had. I must say that I am bias in the thinking that I believe the Priesthood session was of particular excellence. But throughout it all each session and each speaker was amazing. Dad has commented that the quote of the conference was  "there is no perfect woman and even if you did find one, why would she marry you?" from President Uchtdorf. However my vote goes to another quote of his where he quotes a German line and follows by saying "for those of you who dont speak the celestialize language it means..."

Truly all the talks were amazing. I wait to say which one was my favorite and most significant for me until I have more time to study and reread them. I suppose that can be my challenge to you my friends and love ones, conference has ended but that does not mean the talks have lost their spiritual significance. Probably I will try to study 2 or 3 during this week, and then the following week study another 2 0r 3 and so on and so forth. I wish to invite you all to that challenge for these truly are the words of those called of God to deliver these powerful messages.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04?cid=HP_SU_3-4-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

 

March 28, 2016

Feliz Pascua ‏

Well this was a very special week. It is the week of easter where we celebrate Christ rising from the tomb and the assurance of living again.

This week was one of a busy nature.

So I want to share the story of finding the investigator Jaime and her family. A month and a half ago we were searching for a referral who has no interest what so ever in listening to us which was a unfortunate. However we decided to knock doors around the referral. We knock into Jaime's door where after talking with her we found out that they had just recently moved there and were looking for a church to attend. Well we set up a return appointment for next week and proceeded. Well her son broke his foot and had to be taken to the hospital. So we reschedule for the following week. But then they were out of town. Reschedule for following week then they were all sick and etc etc. Needless to say after a month and half we finally got to meet up with them this week. We had a wonderful discussion and are striving to work with them.

We also had the opportunity to meet a very nice young man (17) name Nickolai. He is dating on of the members daughters and came to church this last week where he not only enjoyed church but loved it. He is unique for being a type of person who truly is searching and wanting to find the gospel and he is only a teenager. However just on the onset is he facing opposition. His mother who says she is a devout baptist though she doesnt go to church or read the scriptures is fighting him about his desire to learn more and go to church. But we have talked with him and he is going to talk with her and work it out.

Now real quick note about Easter. We combined the spanish with the english ward because the children were singing. It was a beautiful service. Later on we went to the Shoafs family house to eat lunch. They are so fun, hard core farmers. After that we went to eat dinner at the Fairbanks house where it was more of a party/dinner lots of people. Then we finished the night with some of the other missionaries. Truly a fun easy day.

A message we were sharing with people this whole week naturally was the atonement or christ's sacrifice for us. We used a scripture from the Book of Mormon Alma chapter 7 which I will put at the bottom of this email. But the scripture talks about the importance of what Christ did for us, and also that while his death is a important part his resureccion is something we focus and rejoice in. Because he lives we to can live. If we have faith in him, and follow him we have that promise of eternal life with our Heavenly Father and our families.

So as a challenge for you all this week and since it is already past easter its a little late but oh well. This week take a moment to pause and consider personally why easter is so significant in your life. Or even why is the savior so significant in your life. Specifically your life not everybodies life in general but in yours.

 

March 21, 2016

Bienvenidos la carta de Trapp ‏

 Well it has been a fun week. Full of exciting and interesting things going on.

First off with investigators.

Kathy Parton is the friend to David and Angela the old hoosier couple I have talked about in the past. Kathy has gone through a lot. She and David and Angela came to church this last sunday and loved it. Kathy wants to be baptized as soon as possible but we explained to her that we needed to teach her a few more things and then we could work towards that goal.

Funny enough we have a new investigator by the name of Ana who is another friend of David and Angela came and listened to one of our discussions where we talked about the plan of salvation. She rather amusingly sort of stole a Book of Mormon from a hotel and so when we offered her one she explained why she already had one. But we are going to start working with her, she also came to church this last sunday.

Sorry that this email is going to be short and quick but truth be told we havent had too many crazy things happening.

We have been staying busy and are striving to find new investigators.

We are excited for the future. We have a new plan for improving the work for the Spanish which involves me going with Brother Nehring who speaks spanish and visiting the hispanic less actives.

But thats the exciting stuff of the week I love and miss you guys.

March 14, 2016

Viva la vida ‏ 

So before I start off may I just say what a very wet week it has been for us. Almost every day we got rain which isnt bad I love the rain.... however it does make tracting or knocking doors quite a aweful experience. Plus in my experience here in Indiana people have more reason not to answer since it is raining. You would think some sympathy were in order but nope. But thats what Indiana is like and thats why we always have a long list of less actives, members, and various investigators to go and visit.

Now on to the week.

The trio of investigators David and Angela (married) and Kathy (friend) are doing good still however they had to cancel our appointment due to reasons. I am thinking it is health related however it could be something different which would indicate growing disinterest. We will have to just wait and see with them. Still alot of potential but at the same time a little worrisome.

So we met again with our lovely hispanic man hector. Our last lesson i gave him a Libro de Mormon to read with Moroni 10 4-5. Well he read that and then he went a little beyond that and read the first three chapters of Nephi. He had so may questions about Nephi and Lehi and alot of confusion why in the world Nephi would go back to Jerusalem when he thought that the people were trying to kill him and so many things. Really very interested in the book of mormon and wanting to learn it all. I invited him to baptism with a specific date in mind (april 2) which he agreed to but then asked how we would get him baptized since he was leaving in two weeks to go to mexico for about a month. Well that threw quite a wrench into the mix. He had talked about before going to Mexico for month long trips but he had told me that the next one wouldnt be till June. Well its a bit sooner than that so now I have a new plan. Thankfully the church is world wide and literally we have missionaries everywhere. So I am going to get down all his information and address and send word to the missionaries down south about Hector. In this regard I am truly excited because also he is going to be with his friends and family so there might be quite a few more people who might be interested.

That is some of the major exciting stuff that is happening with us as of right now. We are always looking for new investigators and are striving to get some members to quit smoking. Those would have to be the major goals of the week.

As for a spiritual thought you may remember the videos (like 2 mins long) the church puts out for easter and christmas. Well the one for this easter season is here.

En espanol: https://www.mormon.org/spa/pascua

In English:

https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SU_3-13-2016_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

Soon enough it will be on youtube, or probably be on youtube the next couple days. Heck it might already be on there. EIther way its a great way to show people what we believe. And so as a official challenge to my family, and friends your challenge is to share this video with one NON member friend. Considering how the whole world has a smart phone of some capability this is relatively easy.

But thats my challenge to you guys.

March 7, 2016

Como Estado ‏

 So this has been a fantastic week.

I believe I have talked about David and Angela in the past. They are a older couple who invited there friend Kathy to sit in with our discussions. Well to make it short they are all on date for baptism and there is alot of potential for them. We had a wonderful lesson with them where we talked about Joseph Smith's vision where Kathy said she wanted to be baptized, and Angela was similiar in that regard. David is wanting to learn more but he is also on board and has even commented how this makes sense to him.

Hector is a hispanic man who we have been working with a lot. We are going to try to put him on date. He is a man from Puebla, Mexico. He moved to the US California when he was 28.  He moved away because of trouble with his family.

We have also been busy with trying to work with the less actives, and getting them back on a solid schedule of attending church.

But other than that we have been busy with just knocking doors and trying to find missing members and stuff like that.

As a spiritual thought the First Presidency has released a wonderful topic called "learn of me."

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2016/03/learn-of-me?cid=HP14FPM&lang=eng

But as always I love and miss you guys and hope everything is going well.

February 29, 2016

Tenemos casi siete meses mas ‏ 

Well we have had a few miracles this week. This is going to be another short one because we might have to leave early for appointment. I know right appointment on our day off but this one should be pretty fun.

But thats besides the point lets get started with the miracles.

As we were getting ready to go to a appointment we had a little extra time to burn so we decided to do some tracting. First door is a bust but the second door we meet this very nice Hispanic man named Hector who invites us in after a couple seconds. ANd while he does have a decent accent he speaks English very well. We had a wonderful gospel discussion which switched to Spanish (much to the dismay of my gringo companero). We have our next appointment set up for Tuesday. Hector moved to the US when he was 28 (he is 60 right now) and lived in California with his family till his divorce. He moved to Indy only a few years ago. We are very excited for the future with him.

Our next miracle happened with some hoosers. So this is a story about David and Angela a older couple (60's). We met david a few weeks ago who told us to come back and when we did we met angela who told us they were sick and we needed to come back another time but that she had been trying to get in contact with us and had a friend (Kathy) who would like to be part of our discussions. Well we planned for this last Saturday where we did have a wonderful lesson. When we talked about The First Vision Angela said she got chills from what was said, and Kathy then told us a experience where she was in a coma and saw a angel or jesus but that he looked just like he did in the picture of the Vision we showed them. They not only agreed with everything but loved learning about it all. So now we have it worked out to see them every Saturday. We are very excited to see what the future will hold.

But I have to end now with my love and thanks going your way. Keep having fun and enjoy the beginning of spring.

February 22, 2016

Pues estamos acerca de Marzo, tiempo esta corriendo ‏

Well we have several big highlights this week and I must say we have had so many fun things happen this week and one or two weird things also. So we will start with the weird things.

So we met with a less active who full heartedly believes in the gospel but is a little weird. He proceeded to go on a rant about how much he hates when missionaries talk about the bible and book of mormon..... ya it was a awkward hour long discussion. So we left a little befuddle and a little worried because we have to make another appointment with him.

But moving on.

The sister missionaries in our district have a pentecostal investigator who invited them to a youth activity as a deal that he would go to church the next day. Well they got scared about it because I had to explain what Pentecostals are and so they called us and kind of one of those moments where its like "gosh dang".

So we went and it is quite what I knew it was going to be. No offense to them but it is not quite right. We had the vast majority of people crying and then laughing, then swaying, and drooling (no joke) yep that was quite a way to end the night.

But moving on.

This last saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to take a elderly recent converts Todd and Loretta they are in there 70s to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the very first time. They drove us and I was up in the front seat so me and Todd talked alot. We get there and we wait for a few minutes before entering right away Todd and Loretta are loving it. Well we didnt specifically baptize and confirm them because there were just so many people. Afterward they couldnt stop talking about how strong the spirit was and when they would be coming back to do more of their family names. It was a wonderful experience.

So a very good week.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-04-0250-president-thomas-s-monson?category=topics/love&lang=eng&cid=HP_TU_2-16-2016_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyI-2_

But as always I love you guys and miss you. I hope your all doing great.

As always I love and miss you guys a lot.

February 15, 2016

Lets kick this email off with a happy valentines day. We got a couple inches of snow to celebrate our day. But I will get into our Valentine day fun later.

This week had many ups and we were kept busy. Lots of driving.

So monday we got to meet with the Lopez family who I dont think I have mentioned before. The wife is american and doesnt speak spanish and there 4 kids while they look hispanic do not speak very much in spanish. Mr Lopez speaks only a little english or purely in spanish. So I have been teaching him, and he has a lot of potential. I have talked with him several times and now I think he is ready to learn more.

We are continuing to work on several of the less actives in the English ward who are doing a great. They are coming to church on a regular basis and are really trying to make a big effort to change.

One of the recent convert families we are working on to get to the temple this saturday to do baptisms for the dead. They are this very nice couple named Todd and Loretta. They are older couple like in their 70s. There story is amazing as they were online one day and somehow ended up on LDS.org where after a little pop up ad came up offering a free bible. They kept clicking no till finally after the 5th time they clicked yes. Well missionaries showed up and invited them to come to church. They were very open minded about it so they went. Its there that Todd said that for the first time in his whole life, and they had attended so many different churches but this was the first time he had ever felt the spirit.

We are also launching the ward mission plan which is basically all the members will pray for three names and for missionary opportunities with them.

So with this Sunday we had dinner with a family of redheads who are awesome. There names are the shoafs. They live almost 25 or so minutes away so they gave us a ride back which was good because inbetween that time we had a snow storm. When we got home they were just getting ready to ground cars but we decided to try to make it out to a less active who we had schedule which luckily enough we did and then got back home safely. Elder Walton wasnt feeling very well so he just went to bed and I finished the night watching a movie (17 miracles).

But those are the highlights and all the really big things happening this week.

As always I love and miss you guys alot.

February 8, 2016

Well now here we are working hard to find more investigators and to progress the ones we have. But I do have some very fun highlights which I think you will all enjoy.

So when I first came to Columbus back in August we had two baptism and one of them was a young lady by the name of Jessica she is 18 years old or so and her mom is a member but has been inactive for probably like 25 years and has wanted nothing to do with the church. Well during my first tour of duty here I challenged her that if I hate really hot chiles she would have to come to church. That challenge was accepted and I had third degree burns on my mouth and felt sick the rest of the day. Well she agreed to come to church and then never came. Flash forward to this week about 5 months later I talked with her this week and told her the new time for church (9 oclock) and that she owed me. She gave me a maybe. Well that saturday night I get a text from jessica saying that they are coming for sure. Well that sunday to my shock there she was, with our small congregation and everything. I asked Jessica later if her mom liked it and another fantastic thing is that she did. Jessica explained that while her mom didnt give specifics she did say that she felt something and that she is not sure what it was but that she felt it. Also that she wants to come next week and perhaps make this a regular thing.

In other news we have a less active who has finally gotten her patriachal blessing mailed. Well as a little background she has been having major problems with smoking, this has been a problem her whole life. Well she called us up because one of the things in her blessing was a very specific warning concerning those things, specifically that if she falls into that temptation that it would be a difficult one to leave and so on. When we went over there to talk with her about it she was in tears. So we are working on her with that and she has now a firmer knowledge that heavenly father loves her.

I also had the privelage of meeting a hispanic man by the name of six toes. Yes that is his name and no I dont know why. He is being taught by the other elders because his wife is american and only speaks english. He speaks fairly ok english but its obvious that spanish would be better for him. He is quite a interesting guy.

But those are some of the highlights of this week. This Saturday we will be traveling to the mission home to get our brand new car which is kind of fun. We like having a new car, plus its a fusion so its just about the nicest car we can get on our mission.

We also have a returned missionary for LA california who will be helping the branch with the mission work. His name is brother cox and he is pretty nice.

Well those are the highlights for the week. As a closer because I dont think I have I will talk about mi companero elder walton. He has been out for about 8 months, is very relaxed, and is a big fan of playing basketball. He is from Utah and while a bit short is really a good guy and we get along fairly well.

February 1, 2016

So. First things first our current address is correct we are still living with the Nerhings. I am now working in the 2 ward of columbus and the spanish branch. How that works is a little complicated.

The spanish branch has its sacrament meeting during the time that the english have their meeting. I go to the spanish meetings and play the piano/bless the sacrament/prepare sacrament/teaching the classes. Meanwhile my companion (elder Walton) goest to all the english meetings.

Makes things tricky, but funny enough President cleveland is actually going to give me my own personal phone to help balance out working both the branch and ward. Kind of fun that I am the only missionary getting his own phone for the work.

My new companion is Elder Walton we get along well and have a fair amount of fun.

In terms of the work itself. We are focusing mostly on the less actives for the spanish branch, just trying to focus on that and the part member families. The same goes for the English ward. Though recently we have found new people that will be good potentials so we will see how things develop.

I have had the privelage this last week of meeting a good chunk of the english members. It will be a lot of fun to get to know them and to work here.

But those are the highlights of the week.

As always I love and miss you guys.