Monday, July 21, 2014

4 More Letters

Words cannot describe how great this week was!!!!! The Lord is so good!!!!!!! So last week, we set a goal to beat the mission record in lessons, which was 52 in one week. Well.... Here's how the week went:
Mon. - 2 lessons, one of them was with a worker at the bank that my companion was working with. Haha the other was dinner.
Tues. - What a crazy day! We went on splits for 6 hours at different times of the day and we accomplished a lot!! By lunch time, we already had 2 hours of service and 4 lessons. We got 10 more lessons throughout the day for a total of 14.
The service we did was for the Patrick family. Their neighbors, who are members, referred us to them and they have had the missionary discussions in the past. Well, we offered service and they took us up on it. It was really good! They are golden!
We met a wonderful lady named Karen as we were walking around contacting. She was lovely. She is working on becoming a Christian counselor for children and we talked for a little while about God and she was so nice! She appreciated the work we are doing and was commenting about how exhausting it can be when we are serving the Lord full time and both me and Sister Gregerson were thinking, "You have no idea lady!" Haha but it was a really good chat and it was really uplifting too. We got her number and she said to text her and let her know about activities that are church is having and she'd love to come to some when she can.
Wed. - We did service all morning and afternoon and had 0 lessons by 5pm... Our goal was 9 for the day. So we kept praying and praying and we reached 9 lessons exactly by the end of the night!
One of the services we did was mucking out a horse stall!!! it was so fun!!! It brought back good memories. I've been wanting to muck out stalls for service my entire mission, and never got the chance till now! We were in the stall and I told my companions, "Sisters, this is what heaven will be like." It made my day! 

Wednesday is when we really started our new and wonderful thing. Drumroll...... We've started singing to everyone!! EVERYONE!!! It's so great! People we contact, we ask if we can practice our singing with them and then we talk about the song we sang and pray with them at the end. And they feel the spirit super strong! We've been told about 4 times this week that we should make a record. Haha
Thurs. - We had Zone Training Meeting in the morning, but after that, we went to the Veteran's Hospital to visit a member we go see every week, Glen, but when we got there, he was in the middle of a procedure and would be for another 15 mins. So we asked the nurses if there was anyone we could visit that would like company and maybe a song. She was going through list of guys and then she said, "oh! I got it! You should go see Mr. Tullis!" Well, we did and it turns out that he is a less active member of the church! Miracle! He was born in Utah and he quite going to church when he was younger. He was so sweet! And we sang to him and got to know him and he even agreed to let us come back next week!

We also met a few other guys there too and sang to them and asked if we could come visit them again. That place is a gold mine! And Glen was looking so much better this week! It was so good.
We ended up with 11 lessons by the end of the day. 

Fri. - We met with Effie, the Greek Orthodox investigator. It went very well! We talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. She's so cool. I think the only problem with her and her husband is going to be when it comes down to it is the culture. They already believe a lot of the same things we are sharing with them.
We got 7 lessons on Friday.
My MTC companion, who was serving here in the Livermore zone with me, called me Friday night and told me that she was going home the next day. :( It was a very sad night. She had to go home because she's been having problems with her jaw and they needed to do an emergency surgery, but she only had 4 weeks left till she went home, so they just sent her home to get it done. I was so sad. I won't even be able to spend my last night in the mission field with my MTC companion. 

Sat. - We had dinner with a member of the stake presidency and I was so close to convincing him that I'd only been out a little over a year. No luck! My companions ratted me out. But it was good. He's so cool. After dinner, we went on splits with the STLs because they needed our help. It's a long story, but I got to go to Pleasanton! They cover the sisters there too and they were having a meeting with them and I was talking to the sisters that are working with my recent convert, maybe you remember her, Grandma Shirley. Well, sad news. She doesn't claim she's a mormon anymore. :( the sisters told me that she told them that she "Found herself in her cross." It broke my heart. I was going to ask her to speak at my outgoing fireside, but the sisters told me that she was at least going to the outgoing. So I've decided that when I speak at it, I will be focusing on her. I don't understand how people can come to know that this church is true and then fall away so fast! But at least Shirley is still meeting with the sisters. They are reading the Book of Mormon with her. So hopefully that works!
We ended Saturday with a total of 8 lessons.
Sun. - Well Sunday was great! My companions each got their own sacrament cups. We went on splits for church so it wasn't as crazy as last week. Which was great! We accomplished a lot and got home at 9:15 with 11 lessons for the day! Which, if you haven't been keeping track, is a total of 62 lessons for the week!!!!!!!! We beat and exceeded the mission record!!!! Not only did we do that, but all of our other numbers were bomb too! We got the standards of excellence in every single category of key indicators!
As you can see, it was an amazing week! But, you know, we could not have done it without the Lord. We prayed so hard this week and we saw several of our prayers answered. We even prayed to have a car full time one day, and we got it the next. It was sad circumstances that we got it under, but it happened. We have seen so many miracles this week and I know that it is because the Lord is blessing us for our hard work! This transfer has been the best and it will continue to be, but I will be sad when it's done.
I love being a missionary so much! It's the best thing in the world! This work is so good and so true! I wish everyone in the whole world would just do what so many people have done and ask God if it's true! Life would be so much easier for them!
Well, I love you all! And go out and have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

lots of updates

July 14
This week was the longest, busiest, shortest, most fun week I have had in a really long time! Where to begin?!

Mon - we barely got a P-Day. There was way too much going on to do anything fun. 2 people in the apartment were packing and it was just crazy!

Tues - Transfer meeting! Sister Livingston went home :( but I got 2 new companions!!! It was the best transfer meeting I've been to! (And I've been to a lot...) So here's the story. President calls out the LIvermore zone. He starts listing off areas and then he says, "And covering Livermore 1st and 4th wards, Sister Swapp and Sister Harris..." And we're already sitting by each other because we were already living together and we jump up to hug each other and Sister Harris screams "Shut Up!" All excitedly and we start to sit back down and President goes ... "And Sister Gregerson" And we're like, "What?!!?" And run out  into the isle to hug her too. Haha it was the best. So, we now cover 2 wards again, and Sister Harris and I totally called it! We were sitting in bed one night after we knew her comp was being transferred and I was like, "Sister Harris, they're going to combine our wards and we're going to be companions." And we both laughed and said, "Ha! Like they would ever put us together!" Then they did! With Sister Gregerson too! I served with Sister Gregerson in my last zone and she is the BEST!! She has so much faith and is so hardworking! She told us that her last week in her last area, they got 52 lessons without splits or anything! So, our goal is to blow that number out of the water. There is so much work here to do! And now that there is 3 of us, we will be able to go on splits so easily! Eventually, we want to find 3 women to split with us so we can do triple the work. It's going to be so fun!

What a way to end my mission. This is going to be the best last transfer anyone has EVER had in the history of missionary work! We went to teach our first lesson together on Tuesday after transfer meeting, with absolutely 0 preparation, and it was probably the best 1st lesson I've taught in my entire mission. Usually, in trios, we have to work on teaching in unity because it's so hard, but we haven't had any problems at all. It's great!

Wed - We met with our new investigator from last week, Dylan, and he is so cool. We asked him how he liked church and he said he liked it a lot. One of the things he liked is that we don't have a cross anywhere on our church. We told him why and he completely agreed and said "If I were Jesus, I wouldn't want to come back and see the thing that killed me everywhere I go. And what if he came to Earth later on and was killed in an electric chair? Would they hang an electric chair at the top of all the buildings?" Haha it was the funniest, most valid point I've ever heard about the cross. Dylan is solid.

Thurs - We had our first district meeting with our new district leader. During transfers, we changed districts. Still not sure exactly why, but it is what it is. Our "Miracle day" goal was to get 20 street lessons. (a lesson taught on the street while contacting that contains a principle taught, an invitation, and a prayer.) It went okay, but we didn't quite reach the goal all the way... We got super close though. Our companionship at least did our part. We also went to see Glen Morris. He is an older man that is staying in the Veteran's hospital in town. I would go visit him when I was in Livermore the first time and he was the funniest to go see. He was so talkative and always cracked jokes. Well, this time we went, it wasn't so great. He couldn't speak. He looked like he was asleep the whole time, but when his care giver would ask him a yes or no question, he would barely move his head. It looked like he was in a lot of pain doing that. It was the saddest sight ever. I don't think he has many days left.

Fri - We started out the morning with a huge service project that lasted for 4 hours! We were spreading woodchips across school playgrounds. We didn't even get it all done, so we had to go back on Saturday morning for 2 more hours!

The whole day, we kept remembering that Megan's baptism was that night. It was weird, I've never been so chill when I've had a baptism that night, but we figured we were all so chill because we had already had it all planned out for like a month already. But the baptism was so great! It was one of the best I've been to! Megan was wonderful. AND.... Her parents came!!!!!!!!!! It was so funny. We went up to meet them before and they seemed a little skeptical of us and then we went to talk to them afterwards and they had totally warmed up to us! Her dad even tried giving us hugs! Haha that was fun... And we've decided that I just look hug-able because when men go to hug us, it's me they go to hug first. That happened like 3 times this week... Awkward! But the baptism was great. The spirit was super strong! And Megan is now a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. How exciting! There were so many people that came. Probably because it was the first baptism in Livermore since March.

We also got 3 new investigators on Friday. We went to teach an investigator that lives in the same complex as us and some of his friends were hanging around and we taught all of them right there on the stairs to their apartment. Haha it was great!

Friday was just a great day all around. We had 4 hours of service, 6 lessons, 3 new investigators, and we even took a nap at lunch time. It was our Miracle Day. The best day ever!!

Sat - We woke up so sore and so not ready to go and do the same service as the day before... But we did anyways. We did some weekly planning and got the area way more organized, but not completely yet.

And we went to an Indian family's home for dinner. That was fun... SO we call them Friday night and tell them that one of us can't have sugar or gluten (Sister Gregerson is allergic) and right after I tell him this he kind of just chuckles, says, "Okay." and hangs up. We were like, "Do you think he knows what gluten is?" "Nope." "Well this will be fun." Haha it was... We actually did it really well. Haha so they made some sort of fried FLOUR torilla things with stuff inside, and Sister G can't have the flour... so they dish us up and quickly while they're not looking, she takes the filling out on her plate and passes the tortilla under the table to Sister Harris, sitting next to her. Then, they bring out plain fried tortillas and give Sister G some and she's trying to figure out how she's going to do that and puts it up to her mouth as if she's took a bite, puts it back down while she fake chews and passes it to Sister Harris under the table. Haha This went on throughout dinner and whatever Sister Harris couldn't eat, she passed under the table to me. Good thing we were all sitting on the same side of the table and that Indians don't sit with you while you eat. haha It was an adventure. Then we had to ride our bikes back to our apartment and we were all dying. Too much food plus something in it that wasn't settling well, plus peddling a bike equals major discomfort. We barely got the bikes up our stairs to put away and when Sister Harris got to the top, she looked at me with a pained expression and said, "Sister, I am legit having contractions right now. The baby is coming!" Haha

Sun - let's just say that Sunday, we were running around like chicken with our heads cut off trying to get to all our meetings without splitting up because we wanted everybody to see us all together the first Sunday so they knew there was 3 of us now. IT. WAS. CRAZY! But Megan got confirmed! That was good! Oh and the funniest part of the day was during our second sacrament meeting. The deacon passing the water comes to our row of 4 with only 3 cups left in the tray. Megan takes one, I take one, and Sister Gregerson takes on, takes a sip of it and hands it to Sister Harris... The deacon was like, "it's okay, I'll get more! I'll come back!" While Sister Harris is debating on doing it or not, then she does. Yep... It happened. They shared the water cup #ServeTogetherAtoneTogether Haha it was so hard not to burst into laughter during the sacrament. Good thing we took the sacrament twice, because we're still not sure if that was kosh or not. But it was dang funny!

Well, this week has been... great as you can tell. I love you all. Stay tuned for our book entitled #TrioProbs coming to a store near you.

Love,
Sister Swapp


July 7

Hello! Happy 4th of July! Did you get to watch fireworks? I did!! Yep, we have the coolest mission president ever!

We got to meet President Mella this week. It was so great! I love them so much! A few months ago, one of the missionaries going home told us that having a second missionary is like having a second child; you don't think it's possible to love the second one as much as you did the first, but then you do. :) That's so true! The Mellas are going to be so great for this mission. They have that Greenie fire too! And you can just tell how much they love and want to be here.

So funny story dealing with President Mella... We had the outgoing fireside for the missionaries going home (including my companion) last night and we were talking to one of our recent converts from the area we served together in at the beginning of our missions who is from India and we were telling him about how we do Zumba every week with the stake here and that there's a Bollywood dance that we do. Well, he insisted that we show him. So it's me, Sister Livingston, and another sister we live with, Sister Harris and we start doing the dance and all of the sudden President Mella walks up sort of behind the other sisters and I'm the only one that sees him. So I sort of half do the dance trying to get their attention to stop, but they don't notice. All of the sudden President Mella goes, "I want in on this!" And the other 2 sisters freak out and burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was the funniest thing ever! But President Mella was super chill about it. Haha that's why I love him.

Anyways, yes, the outgoing fireside was last night. And yes, sadly, my companion is going home. We sang at the meeting with a few other sisters. It was fun.

So we picked up 3 new investigators this week.

The first one is a young man that we met while we were walking to someone's house. He was sitting on his porch reading and we said hi and talked to him for a little bit and invited him to church. His name is Dylan. He said that he would definitely come because he likes trying different "flavors" of religion and this year, he is researching more about Christianity. Last year was Buddhism. But we told him the time and place for church and on Sunday, he showed up! It was fast and testimony meeting, of course, and if you've served a mission, you know how nerve racking that can be when an investigator comes for his first time on that day and how hard you pray that they don't hear or pay attention to some of the things said... Well, that was yesterday. More than ever, I hoped that Dylan's ears were shut during some of the people's "testimonies"... But, he stayed for 2 hours and we set up a time to meet with him this week and talk more about it. So I guess it didn't scare him away too bad. :) He's so cool though! And so prepared!

The other 2 new investigators is a couple, Effie and Nick. They are Greek Orthodox Catholic. Think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Effie grew up in that church and Nick had to convert so that he could marry her. But they are they sweetest people on Earth! We taught them the first lesson and the whole time, Effie would interrupt us (a good thing) and say, "That's interesting you would say that. That's similar to..." and go on about something they believe. So it was fun to teach the restoration to them.

We taught Carmen and Raul this week! They are so prepared. The first question they asked was, "So what is the difference between your church and other churches?" We actually didn't get to answering the question, because we got side tracked, but promised we would answer it next time we went over. So I'm excited to teach them again.

Thursday, we set our daily zone goal for our "miracle day" as 8 received referrals for the whole zone, so an average of 1 per companionship. Us as a companionship hasn't received any referrals for a while, but we decided we could get at least one that day. Well, we went about our day, to a lesson, to dinner, and we left our bikes at dinner and just walked to our next appointment, but when we came back to get them, the husband was out front and he was talking to us about his neighbor across the street who was watering her lawn and talking about how God must be mad at us because He hasn't given us any water. So we said, "Well, we can go visit her if you want!" and he didn't really respond and he starts talking about all his other neighbors on both sides and another one across the street and my companion says, "So what are their names?" And he tells her and she says, "Okay, I'm going to write those down and we'll go try and see them sometime. Is that okay?" And he was like, "Yeah of course!" Bam! 4 referrals all at once! Miracle!!! By the end of the day, the zone had 12 referrals.

Well, our investigator, Megan, has been doing really well. Her sister tried making her move her date back again and Megan told her no, that that was the day she was getting baptized. So that's this coming Friday. I'm super excited! She's the best. And yesterday, we "made" her get up with us to bear her testimony in sacrament meeting. It was so good! She talked about how fasting helped soften her parents heart. Megan is just so cool! I love her!

We invited our other investigator, Rudy, to be baptized this week and his only reason not to get baptized is because he feels like he needs more time. But he's pretty much told us that it will be soon in a round about way. When we had our lesson with him, he told us that he will get baptized, and he'll just let us know when. Then at the 4th of July breakfast, he came up to us and asked us how much notice we would need to get a baptism set up. We told him probably about a days notice. And he said okay. So he's super close. I think it will happen at least before I leave. He's so ready. He just doesn't know it.

Well, that's all for this week. It's been so great! And it will be interesting to see who my next, and last, companion will be tomorrow! The zone leaders called on Saturday night (transfer call night) and I answered and they said, "Sister Swapp!" and paused "You are..... not getting transferred!" Oh goodness. They almost gave  me a heart attack! If I would've gotten transferred my last transfer, I would have been SO mad! But no worries, I will die here in Livermore. Along with a bunch of other missionaries.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week this week!!

Love,
Sister Swapp


July 1

We got a new mission president this week. I haven't met him yet, but I've heard nothing but good things. He should be great! It was sad to see President Watkins leave, but I'm excited to get to know President Mella for the few weeks that I have left.

We met with a young Vietnamese boy that we have been trying to this week. His name is Tien. He moved in with a member family this week, with our help. He would've been homeless otherwise. But we used that as an opportunity to set up a time and teach him! We invited the Vietnamese elders and had a lesson and it was one of the best lessons I've ever been in! The spirit was so strong! I just know that he is going to get baptized soon. So we passed him to the Vietnamese elders and they are going to take lead in teaching him. We will still go see him every once in a while, since the elders have to drive all the way from San Jose, so that will be good.

We went on exchanges this week with the STLs as well. It was a lot of fun! The sister I went with was so great and taught me lots!

On Thursday, we had district meeting and all 4 of the Assistant's to the President came to Livermore to join each companionship of elders for the day. It was fun. After district meeting, the whole zone got together, and under the direction of the APs, we set a zone goal for that day of finding 16 new investigators, that's an average of 2 per companionship. Well, by the end of the day, we had 19 as a zone! It was incredible!

Our investigator, Megan, is doing well. She moved her baptismal date back to July 11th, which is sad because Sister Livingston goes home 2 days before that, but it's a good thing because her mom is finally coming through! We fasted with Megan on Saturday for her family's heart to soften towards this decision she's made, and Saturday night, she texted us and said that her mom has made the decision to try and accept it. She's going to meet with a preacher at her Catholic church to help her, which we don't know how great that will end up, but at least she's making the effort!

Sunday, we had a missionary 5th Sunday lesson in 3rd hour that we helped with. It went great. We taught the members how easy it is to do missionary work. All they need to do is invite! It's as simple as that. And that the measure of your success is in the invitation, not whether or not they accepted the invitation.

We went to the beach yesterday! Surprise :) I'm trying to upload pics, but my computer isn't letting me... So sorry! I'll try next time!

Anyways, I wish you a great week this week!

Love,
Sister Swapp

 June 23

This week was great! We met some wonderful children of God! I just love the people here so much!

This week, we have been focusing on cleaning out our potentials lists in the area book and organizing them into areas and stuff. It's been pretty interesting. We have records from back in 2010 when they used to go tracting in this mission. So we stopped by a lot of those and found that most of them had moved. In some cases, we picked up new potentials. Which is great!

Yesterday, we decided we should go and visit some less active people on our list because we didn't have any less active lessons to report for the week, which is unusual, because our mission is a hard core rescue mission. We went out and I kid you not, every single less active's door that we knocked on opened up! It was a miracle! Usually our days are filled with no answers, but it was amazing! We even stopped by a family that was marked as "DNC" (Do Not Contact) by some sisters before us and he opened up the door and was SUPER friendly! We couldn't understand why he was marked as DNC. But we figured that his heart has just been softening since last time the sisters stopped by. He told us that his grandfather had just passed away and kind of broke down in front of us. We didn't really teach anything, but it was a really good contact that we had with him. I shared my experience of similar trials I've had recently with him and it was really good.

Well, I don't have much time to email today because our zone is meeting earlier than usual so we have to get everything done. We're playing Hunger Games this week. Guess who has never read or seen Hunger Games? This sister! Who knew that I should've been reading that instead of PMG to prepare for my mission. Haha


June 17

This week, we are emailing on Tuesday because we went on a trip yesterday to Santa Cruz! It was so much fun! A member drove us there and we hung out at the beach and did fun things and we also went to a place called the Mystery Spot. If you haven't heard of it, you should look it up. It's incredible! It's basically a place in the middle of the woods where gravity is all messed up. It's hard to explain. But it was super trippy! Definitely a place I would recommend if you ever find yourself near Santa Cruz, CA.

So last week, I was sick for most of it. I had some weird stomach bug and was in bed all of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Being sick is the worst. Being sick as a missionary is MISERABLE!

SO that's what most of our week contained... Oh and our investigator that was supposed to get baptized on Friday post-poned her date to July 5th. She wants to wait for a little bit so that she can help her family understand her decision better.

Sorry this letter is soo short and lame. We had some really good days. It was a miracle to see how successful our week actual was when we were doing numbers on Sunday night after me being out for 3 days. The Lord is so aware of the work that we are doing here and is blessing us so much! It's amazing to be able to point out the miracles He gives us every day. I feel like I notice them even more as a missionary. Not only in my life, but in the lives of those I have the opportunity to teach. I love this gospel so much! And I love all of you!

Love,
Sister Swapp


June 9

This week has been one of the best weeks of my mission!! So many things to write about! I hope I have time.

Wednesday: We got a new investigator. Her name is Rosa. We went to go visit a potential named Oscar, who we had an appointment with, but when we got there, Rosa answered the door and Oscar wasn't there. So we asked Rosa if we could come in and share a message about Jesus Christ with her (that's the closest I'll get to tracting haha). She accepted so we came in and taught half of the first lesson. She's so amazing! And the Lord has totally been preparing her. She kept telling us that she's been wanting a change in her life and she basically let go of all her friends because she knew it wasn't good to be hanging out with them and she didn't know what to do. Then we showed up. :) We're meeting with her again today. She went to Oakland for the weekend and we told her to go see the temple while she was there and she said, yeah okay! That would be fun! We don't know if she did or not though.

Thursday: Okay, before I go any further, I just want all of you to know that the California San Jose Mission has the BEST mission president in the entire world! Well, at least until the end of the month. :( BUT! On Thursday, he sent all of the sisters on a shopping trip to NY&Co. He shops there all the time for his wife and us, so he came across a bunch of $50 coupons, so he let us loose with them! Haha It was fun, but it was super weird to be shopping on a day other than P-day. Let alone being in a mall. President Watkins haws a thing for the sisters looking their best. And we are all okay with it. Haha

Friday: We went out on splits for practically the whole day with some sister from the ward. It was so great! We've been focusing on visiting all the less actives and just offering service. And we've also been working on reaching our goal of member present lessons. So it was the perfect opportunity. I have a huge testimony of members coming on splits with us! We get into SOOO many more doors with them than we would by ourselves. I can't tell you how many times that happened on Friday whereas, if we didn't have a member, they would just say "No thanks, we're not interested." and slam the door in our face. Needless to say, we are going to be doing that more often.

Saturday: We took a member with us in the morning to go visit less actives again and had little luck. But it was okay because Friday night made up for it. One of the less actives that we work with and do service for regularly asked if we could help her with her cows. She raises cows and takes them to fairs. So we were like. "Heck yes! We'll help you with the cows!" Well, I was. She offered to feed us dinner beforehand too cause we didn't have an appointment and it was so good! We met at her parents house, who aren't members. She's the only member in her family. So we go to share the message and we had decided that prayer is good to talk about with them and we're teaching and Annie, the less active, is totally bearing testimony to her parents and husband and telling them that they pray wrong and all these things. It was so awesome! And the spirit was super strong.

So then we change and go out to the cows. It turns out, we're helping her halter break the calves. Sounds easy, right? Haha it was so entertaining to watch my companion! My companion is so wonderful, but she is not a farm girl! So I'm yanking on the cows halters while she tries to get them to move by rubbing their muli (that means bum in Samoan for future reference). Every time they moved, they would kind of jump around all crazy like. So my companion, bless her heart, is trying to get close enough to rub the cows muli, but stay far enough away so she doesn't get jumped on. Haha And while we were walking around the cows, she would stay behind me and say, "I'm just going to stay back here and follow you." It was so much fun though! At first, I was a little skiddish too, because I haven't been around large animals in a really long time, but I warmed up after a little bit. And we were in the same corral as a big bull and didn't even know it until after we went out and closed the gate and Annie goes, "That's the bull." We look and he's staring straight at us and he's HUGE!!!!!! He's like twice the size of all the cows!! I don't now how we didn't notice him at first!! But we had lots of fun. It was, by far, the most fun service I've done on my entire mission!

Sunday: Sunday was such a great day! We were invited into bishopric meeting to talk about our high goals that we've set with them and I've never been in a meeting where the spirit was so strong. We presented our goals, and a few people were a little skeptical to go along with it. They supported us in the high goals, just not as high of goals as we set. But we talked it through and told them that we know it can happen and we need to have faith. After discussing it for a little bit, we asked if we could kneel in prayer with them. They of course agreed. So we did and wow the spirit was super strong! They decided they would continue to discuss and pray about it.

Then we go into sacrament meeting and we got a new bishop! And also figured out why they were hesitant to set these goals for the ward. But Sacrament meeting was really good! And our investigator, Megan, who is getting baptized this Friday came and showed us the journal that she started. My heart was so full of joy when she let us read it. It's a journal that she started so that she can share this journey with her children. She wrote about the things she's been learning and she wrote about her feelings about joining the church and bore a super powerful testimony. I started tearing up just reading it. The best feeling in the world is when the people that you are teaching actually get it and bear strong testimonies. It's seriously the best!

This morning, Megan texted us. She had planned last night to invite her family to her baptism over family dinner when her whole family would be there. Her family is all very active and devout Catholics. She already told them that she had made the decision to be baptized and they were pretty supportive, but they didn't know that it was this week that she'd be doing it. So she texted us this morning and told us that she was scared and didn't know what to do. She knows that Heavenly Father wants her to do this, but she doesn't want to do it without her family. So we've been texting and talking to her all morning trying to calm her fears. We even suggested a priesthood blessing. And I think she's getting one today. We told our ward mission leader, who is super awesome, to give her a call and see if they can set up a time for her to get one from him. And he's a convert too from a family that was very catholic as well.

Speaking of our ward mission leader, he's the best! Yesterday, he nonchalantly called us his "2 new daughters". We didn't even realize what he was saying until we got in the car and were driving away. Awww Anyways, back to Megan, I know that she is going to pull through. She is very strong spiritually. And she completely knows that this is the true church. It has been so amazing to be here and to watch her make this decision. It's really hard for us to watch, but it's also pretty miraculous.

Well, here's to another great week! The Livermore 4th ward is just booming with miracles!!!
It's wonderful to be a part of it!

Love,
Sister Swapp

June 2

Wow, what a week this has been. Well, first off, I want to apologize for my scatter brain today. If there are parts of this email that don't make sense, I'm sorry.

So, as you know from last week, I am back in one of my old areas, and I have been super impressed with how many people remember me! Mostly because I was only here for a short time over a year ago. It's been fun seeing all the people that I knew here before. And there have definitely been signs that have proven to me why Heavenly Father put me back here. Oh and before I forget, here's my new address for those of you wondering:
3819 East Ave. #64
Livermore, CA 94550

Well, we have seen sooo many miracles, it has been amazing! On Saturday, we did our weekly planning. And this was right after a get-together with the stake president to meet all the new missionaries in the area and he gave us an uplifting pep-talk. So we got home and my companion turns to me a goes, "Ya know sister, I'm kind of feeling like we should reset our monthly goals." We had already set them and sometimes, as missionaries, we kind of just get in the trance of setting mediocre goals. And that's what we had done. Our goals were not stretching us whatsoever. So, we got down on our knees and opened our weekly planning session with a prayer and asked for the inspiration to know what goals we needed to set. Well, long story short, after A LOT of prayers and discussion, we set our final goals. We are going to baptize 20 children of God this transfer, get 35 lessons a week (Standard is 20), and 100 baptismal invites. And we set 3 days that we are moving forward and planning baptisms on, we just need to find people to be baptized. The dates are June 21st, July 5th, and July 22nd. At first when we set these goals, I was a little hesitant. But, if the Lord can part the Red Sea and move mountains, He can help us find 20 people that are prepared and ready to make covenants with Him through the waters of baptism. Our zone leaders were a little skeptical too, but we explained to them that we have the faith and know that this is the Lord's work and if we want to see miracles happen, we need to bind Him. And that's what we are doing. To reach these goals, we have set smaller goals on how we are going to reach them. Goals on how we are going to be more obedient and Christ-like and goals on how we are going to visualize everyone we see in white. Already, since Saturday night, we have seen so many miracles and I know without a doubt that it is because Heavenly Father is showing us that we can do this.

It's amazing how aware I have been lately of the Lord in my life and in His work. I know that it is Him that has prompted us to set these goals. And I know that it is ONLY through Him that we can reach them. Alma 26:12. This transfer, I am putting ALL my trust in Him. Every single ounce that I have. We are going to see miracles.

That's really the only big news for this week, but I wanted to share with all of you how grateful I am for the Plan of Happiness. It is such a huge blessing to be able to have the knowledge of where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. This morning, my dad called me. (It surprised me to see his number calling on our phone) He informed me that my Granny had passed away over the weekend. Needless to say, I broke down right in Target when he told me. I will miss my Granny, but I know that I will see her again because I know that the Plan of Salvation is real. This plan was put in place by our Heavenly Father because He loves us so much! And He wants us to be happy and return to live with Him and to be with our families for eternity! How grateful I am that I can share that with the whole town of Livermore right now! There is nothing I would rather be doing. One of my favorite quotes goes something like this: "Missionaries leave their families for 1 1/2 to 2 years so that others can be with theirs for eternity." It's so completely worth it. I can testify of that! I invite all of you to study chapter 3 lesson 2 in Preach My Gospel and try and find/learn something you never knew before.

Love,
Sister Swapp


May 27

This week has been CRAZY! Guess what!? I got transferred again! Surprise!! We had transfer meeting today. And guess what? I'm back in Livermore! Remember that place that I spent 5 weeks at over a year ago? I can't believe it's been a year, but it's true. I'm in one of the same wards that I covered back then. It will be a nice change up to be only over one ward. Actually, thinking about it now, I don't think I've ever served in just one ward. Not counting the YSA branch, because technically, we covered 6 wards there.

I think the Lord has sent me back here so that I can have a chance to learn to love it. To be honest, my experience last time was not the greatest and I kind of felt like just a placement holder so that nobody was a single missionary, but I'm so grateful to be sent back here. I think I am going to LOVE it here! And my companion! Ready for this? She's my sister! We were trained by the same person, at the same time even! When I was "born", she was 6 weeks into her training and she got her own companion and we became an awkward quad-ship. So we've already served together before! And I just love her so much! Oh, her name is Sister Livingston. From Spanish Fork, Utah. This transfer is going to be so great! It's my companion's last. SO we'll be partying it up all transfer and doing fun this-is-my-last-transfer things! If that makes any sense. And! We're in a car share, which means... I'm back on bikes!! I'm so excited! I can loose all this weight that I've gained on my mission right before I go home! (I didn't pray for that at all... haha)

Right before we came to the library, we set a baptismal date! Her name is Megan. She's so awesome! She will be getting baptized on June 13th as of right now.

Well, last week... I honestly don't remember anything big that happened. I know I had a lot of things to tell you about last week, but it's been a crazy day, I don't remember, I forgot my planner, and did I mention it's been a crazy day? It's just been a crazy weekend really.

I was sad to leave my last area and my last companion, but it's good to get a fresh start. And at least I know that I will be finishing my mission here since I only have 2 transfers left. Let me rephrase that... I better finish my mission here because I only have 2 transfers left... We are getting a new mission president at the end of this transfer, and he could decided to continue to make a joke of my name too. I'm praying that he doesn't.

Well, I'm grateful for the opportunity to come back to Livermore and redeem my experiences here. I've sort of had a bad taste for Livermore, but things are changing and it's only been a day. :) I'm grateful to be able to be a missionary here. And just be a missionary period. I love it so much! There are no words to describe it. And I'm grateful for all of you, my family and friends, who have supported me in this journey of a lifetime. There is no where else I would rather be. Except in a pool on really hot days... Haha I'm just kidding. Not even that is worth it.


Thank you all! I love each and every one of you! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Swapp

May 13

We went to Polynesian P-day yesterday and were planning on emailing afterwards at 4. Well, we got here at 4:15 and didn't realize they closed at 4:30... So they told us to come back another day.

Anyways, this week has been so wonderful!!

Tuesday, we had Zone Training Meeting and our Mission President's wife came to speak to us. She covered everything under the sun from manners to driving to public speaking and so on. It was a really good meeting though. I am in the best zone ever.

Wednesday, we met with Angela and helped her move some TVs because she was getting new carpet. We took a member with us and after we helped her, we talked more about the Book of Mormon with her. The member we brought with us bore a super powerful testimony of the book and shared her amazing conversion story with Angela. It was amazing! I love having members at lessons!! (Most the time haha)

Thursday, I learned how to hula from my companion. She's an amazing dancer and makes it look WAYY easier than it is!

Friday night was insane! We had 2 dinner appointments... We had our scheduled one, who was the only person that signed up to feed us all week, so we felt bad cancelling. And our recent converts invited us over for a party for one of the elders that is going home soon, and they fed us so much food!! We went to them first and then our scheduled dinner. It was so bad. I've never been in that much pain from eating. My stomach was still in pain on Monday morning from it... Oh the sacrifices missionaries make so that people don't hate them.

Saturday was so amazing! We got a referral from mormon.org for a person that hasn't been to church in 10 yrs. That's what the note said. So we went by and knock on the door and they totally just welcome us in! We sat down and the lady that answered the door asked my companion if she was Tongan or Samoan. They were Polynesian as well and I was just hoping and praying that they were Samoan! Haha Well, my companion told them Samoan and they lit up and said, "So are we!" So, if you don't know anything about Polynesians, the whole family tries to stay in the same house. So the girl we got the referral for is the sister-in-law of the lady that answered the door and the parents live in the house and a few more kids and their spouses and kids. There are a lot of people in that house. And out of all of them, only 2 of them are members and neither of them are active. We walked into a miracle. And the best part of it all is that my companion speaks Samoan!!! She connected like that with them! And the dad is a Methodist minister. Haha She was apologizing to him for coming over and he was like, "Oh it is okay! Come whenever you want! We all believe in the same God, and we are all going to the same place, we are just on different boats. And I'm okay with that." He was so chill about us being there.

We also picked up another investigator on Saturday. Her name is Beatrice. We met her when we did that thing at the library and we got her info there and called her up a couple weeks ago and set up a time to meet with her. So we did that on Saturday and she kept asking really good questions like "what makes the Mormon church different than all the others?" Of course, we answered them as we taught the first lesson. She's so great though! She's so open to learning more. Unfortunately, she's going to school and finals are coming up and she's super busy, so we probably won't get anywhere until those are over at the end of May. I'm so excited to teach her more!

Sunday was Mother's day!! My companion and I gave talks in the Mission Peak ward and that went really well. After all the speakers, all the priesthood came up and sang a version of "As Sister's in Zion" with a few changes. It was so awesome!

Then we went to 2nd and 3rd hour in Milpitas ward and during 3rd hour, the men served lunch to all the sisters and took care of all their duties for them. It was so great!!

After church, I got to talk to my family! Which was the best! I miss them so much!

Then, yesterday, our zone hiked Mission Peak. We didn't go because we had Poly day and wanted to not be dead for that. And they went super early in the morning. But they got together for breakfast after the hike and we joined for that. All the elders prepared and served breakfast for all the sisters. It was so awesome! We have the best elders in the entire world! it was really painful to watch them cook, but we're still alive to tell about it. Haha They really are the greatest!

Then we went to Poly day! That was a lot of fun. President was teasing me about my pasty white legs. Haha We played lots of Volleyball, at food, and just hung out. I got to see some of my past companions and we talked about old times. It was fun!

Well, that was my week! It's been so great! I love being out here and I love serving the people in this area. They are all so great!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's day, and remember, you can still be a mother even if you don't have children of your own. :)

Love,
Sister Swapp

May 5

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

I don't know about where you're at, but here, the kids get today off school... I NEVER got Cinco De Mayo off!! It was just another day. I guess that's what happens when you live in a super duper diverse area... Haha

Anyways... My week was so good! Remember the goal that our zone had of passing out 21 boxes of The Book of Mormon by the end of April? Well, we did it!!!!! Woohoo! It was so much fun! We did 21+ boxes cause most of the companionships already had a box or two before we started and passed out those too.

This week has been sooo hot here! It got up to 100 degrees according to our car one day. Almost every night we would come home (our apartment is on the 2nd floor) and it would be WAYYY too hot in our apartment, so we would take our desk chairs out to our porch and do our planning outside. Haha (We caught the elders getting home late so many times! Lol) After about 3 days of super hot weather, we went to a member's house to help her and do some service and she found out we were dying of heat at home and she goes, "Oh I have an extra swamp cooler in my storage that I'm not using. You sisters can have it." Hallelujah! Ever since, we get home, turn on the A/C in our room, wait for a few minutes outside for it to cool off, then go into our room and plan. It's so nice! Such a huge blessing!

We picked up one of our former investigators again. We dropped her a few weeks ago because she kept giving us excuse after excuse after excuse of why she couldn't meet with us, So we decided to give her a little bit of time. But this week, we got done with an appointment early and we were trying to figured out what to do and a thought came to my mind, "Go see Christina." So we did. She was home and available for us to talk for a little bit! Turns out, she's been having a few health issues and been going back and forth to where she used to live going to doctors appointments and stuff and that's why she hasn't been able to meet. But she told us that she has been planing to give her friend a copy of the Book of Mormon! How much more solid can she get! She's already being a missionary! Haha She's so great.

We taught my favorite recent converts, Amy and Thanh, this week about eternal families. It went so well! We told them that they had to wait for a year after their baptism to go to the temple to be sealed as a family for all time and eternity and Amy goes, "Will it be like another wedding?" And we were like, "yeah kind of." And her face lit up and she said, "Does that mean I get to get another dress?" Haha Thanh looked at her like, "Seriously, that's what you're excited for?" Haha it was so cute. Then she turned to us and said, "Will you be there?" And I said, "Yes! I am coming back for it no matter what!" The best part of it is that their 2 boys are getting baptized in 2 weeks, so they'll be able to all be sealed together next March! This is what makes my mission so worth it! Seeing families enter into covenants that will help them be united for eternity is absolutely priceless!

Well, that's all for this week. This coming week will be another great Tutweek! I hope all of you are looking forward to Mother's Day as much as every single missionary out there and their families are. :)

Love,
Sister Swapp


April 28

My week was sooo great this week!! We worked so hard! And it showed.

Tuesday, we had exchanges with our STLs. We have some amazing STLs. They are in the Spanish program, so I got to go and be in their area for the day. It was so much fun! Minus the eating till we burst part... But I could understand way more than I thought I was going to be able to. Thank goodness I took 2 years of Spanish in High School. I could get what they were talking about, but not word for word. I twas so awesome being with the STL. She helped me a lot with things I've been struggling with.

Wednesday, we had another Boom of Mormon Blitz in downtown San Jose. I was still with the STL, so we went to the "Latino area". It was so fun! I love contacting downtown! After that, we switched back and I went back to my area. It was a crazy night. We went to see our investigators that live in the same house. We discussed before we went in that if Enrique was there, we were going to teach the Plan of Salvation, but if it was just Alex, we were going to teach the 10 commandments. So we went in and they were both there! So we started teaching the Plan of Salvation. Shortly after we started, Enrique had to leave. Well, Alex has already had the lesson, and we were at the part where we talked about Earth Life, so we switched into how we are on this Earth to be tested and tried and Heavenly father gives us commandments to follow that will make us happier. It was the most sly transition I've ever made. haha But we didn't even get to finish the lesson because right as we were turning to the scriptures about the 10 commandments and Alex's 2 year old brother was walking around and lost his balance and fell into a chair head first... They had to go to the ER. It was crazy. One second, there was a dent in his head, the next it was like a giant golf ball sticking out. But we went to see them last night and his head is okay. Just a bump.

Thursday, we went to my favorite service. We do service as a zone at a place called Lake Cunningham. It's so much fun! We spread mulch around the park, weed, and do random things to beautify the facilities.

Friday was weekly planning day! We went to a member's house to weekly plan to help her out. Long story, but basically, when she has people over, her landlords don't bother her and she needed to get work done. So she lives in the basement of a mansion in a nieghborhood full of other mansions. She calls it Babylon. haha So after we were done weekly planning and driving out of the neighborhood, my companion starts telling me about how when we were eating lunch and talking, she looked out the window and sees a tiger looking animal in the neighbor's back yard staring at her through the window... And she didn't even say anything or point it out or anything!!!!! Can you believe that?! These people possibly have a pet tiger and my companion said nothing! Haha We told the member about it and she had the same reaction, "You saw a tiger and you didn't say anything?!?!" Now she's keeping her eye out for it again.

Saturday, we stopped by the former investigator that I think I mentioned a few weeks back. Her name is Angela. We knocked on her door and she let us in this time. We asked if she was going to go to church and she said no. We were like, "What? Why not?" ANd she was like, "Okay, what time is it at?" We told her and she said, "Okay what time are you going to pick me up?" We told her that we couldn't, but that there were other people in the congregation that could. She didn't want a ride from somebody she didn't know though, so that's what we're working on this week. But while we were there, we talked about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. We talked about the First Vision because she mentioned how confused she was with all the religions and we said, "You know, there was actually a boy in 1820 who was in your same position!" And recited the first vision. She loved it. We committed her to start reading the Book of Mormon and as we were leaving, she thanked us for stopping by and bugging her because she knows that God is telling her to go back to church and she knows He's sending us to push her! She said that she just loved how we recited the first vision and she could tell that we know that what we're talking about is true and that makes her want to believe it because we're so young. The spirit was so strong in her home. Even with the TV on in the background with some not so great show on. It's amazing how the spirit can testify to someone in any situation! I love it!

Sunday, we went to church and it was ward conference in one of our wards. The theme for it was, no surprise, Hastening the Work. It was really good! I love it when they talk about hastening the work because then we can use what our leaders say to get them pumped for it and it's not just the missionaries pressuring them to do it.

Well, that was my week. It was so good! This area is flourishing with people that are prepared and ready to receive this glad message! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp

April 21

This week was wonderful! It was so successful!

So Tuesday, we had a zone "book of Mormon Blitz" in Downtown San Jose. We all met at the institute and split into groups and scattered around downtown and shared the Book of Mormon with everybody! Our companionship alone handed out 13 copies and got 5 lessons out of it. The whole zone together handed out at least 71 (some of the companionships left early so didn't get to report their number). That's a lot! All in the space of 2 hours! It was so good! I've gotten so much more comfortable contacting with only books. Usually we use cards and pull out the books when there is somebody that is actually interested, but not this week! We're handing out the word of God like candy!!! :) My companion and I passed out a total of 33 this week. We're doing so much finding! The only thing is that all the people we meet, we end up giving their info to other missionaries. but hey, we're all on the same team, right!

The elders that we co-cover one of our wards with set up a thing at the local library so that we can go and set up a table for about 3 hours once a month. They invited us to come so Saturday was our first day doing that. The library gave us 2 rules: 1. We had to wait till the people came to us before we talked to them, and 2. We couldn't follow people around the library. So, the elders asked if we could make signs. One of them said, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?" The other said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" And at the bottom it said, "Come get your FREE copy of the Book of Mormon." So we were there for about 2.5 hours and only handed out 1 copy... Nobody was coming up to us. About that time, my companion and I left for a few minutes to use the bathroom. When we came back, the elders told us that they were there by themselves and nobody was coming up, so they decided to walk to the opposite side of the hallway that we were in. While they were away from the table, so many people came up to it to check it out! So when we got back, they decided to experiment and see if people would come up to the table if it was just us sisters that were there. They took a stroll around the library and came back after about 5 minutes. We had passed out 3 copies while they were gone. Haha so they kept leaving. In total, the whole 15 minutes that they were gone, we passed out 5 copies of the Book of Mormon. haha It was really actually kind of funny. So, needless to say, we are now in charge of this gig at the library and the elders won't be joining us... I feel kind of bad because they are the ones that set it all up. But, I guess that sisters are just less intimidating! The quote of the week comes from this experience. Quoting from one of the elders about 2 hours into this event, when nobody was stopping at our table:  "I feel like the Terrestrial Kingdom is going to be way over-crowded." Haha

One of the biggest miracles that we saw this week happened yesterday at church! So we walk into church and set our bags down and go out to the lobby to greet people. Right as we get to the lobby, a girl walks in the doors dressed in jeans and a nice shirt. She walks right up to us and says, "Hi! I'm Jasmen. I'm not a member. My friend, Dave, who lives in Seattle told me to come to church today and look for the sister missionaries. So I googled the address and found this building. I live right down the street." Well, me and my companion are baffled at this point.! We welcome her and tell her how things work a little bit and invite her to sit by us. So we take her into the chapel and sit down with her and start talking with her. It turns out, she has been in the "mormon social group" for almost 5 years. She had all mormon roommates, all mormon neighbors, and a bunch of mormon friends because of that. She has been submersed into our culture. haha She's been to church with friends a few times where she used to live down in Southern California, but she recently moved here. So her friend told her to come to church yesterday! It was amazing! We were sitting there talking and families start walking in and she goes, "Oh this is a family ward?" Haha yep. It sure is. So we took her to all the classes and stuff and after church, we were just standing out in the hall talking to her and we told her that if we could get her number, we could give it to the sisters in the YSA branch here. She wasn't interested in taking the lessons right now, but we told her that they could just tell her about activities and stuff. She's so prepared and she doesn't even know it!!! We were standing there talking for about 30 minutes when we finally had to tell her we had to go. I was kind of getting the impression that she didn't want to leave.

Well, that's about it for this week! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! And if you haven't seen the Because of Him video, I STRONGLY suggest you look it up! You can find it at mormon.org/becauseofhim

Love,
Sister Swapp

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

April 8th

April 8th


Here's my week in a nutshell:

Monday:
It was pouring so hard!!! Being from Oregon, I had to go out and play in it. I got dressed in my P-day clothes really quick and while I waited for my companions to get dressed, I ran outside and played in it! It was so fun! I never thought I would say this, but I miss the rain.
Tuesday:
We went around to a bunch of people so that Sister Li could say goodbye to all of the people she's gotten close to here. We dropped her off at the mission home that night and she flew out Wednesday morning. It is so weird only doing things in twos now. Tuesday night, we were driving home and it felt like there was something missing. But she's back at temple square now fighting off antis and giving tours in Chinese.
Wednesday:
We got a new investigator! Her name is Marilyn. She's 14. The Hermanas have been teaching her, but she speaks perfect english, so they passed her off to us. The only reason they had been teaching her was because her nanny is a less active, spanish sister. That's how they found Marilyn too. She's so wonderful though! She has really good questions and you can tell that she really has a desire to know more.
Wednesday night we were going to dinner and we were a couple minutes early, so we decided to park a few blocks away and contact as we walk there. So we walk past this house, not even paying attention and the sprinklers all of the sudden turn on. We, of course, scream and run into the road away from it, and they all of the sudden turn off. We started laughing and didn't make any assumptions. We just thought it was a coincidence, like someone was in the back and turned the wrong nob or something. So we went on to dinner and tell the family that we're eating with about it and they thought the same thing, just a coincidence. After dinner, we're walking back and we get to right before the house and I'm like, "Oh no worries. it was an accident." but my companion doesn't want to go on the sidewalk, so she walks in the street and right before we get past the house, I'm was like, "see nothing!" so my companion comes back to the sidewalk, and... again. Sprinklers. I don't think it was a coincidence anymore... My companion actually saw someone at the window before we passed and the lights were on, but they turned off right before we passed. Either they hate Mormons or they hate Polynesians. I wonder if they know that they have neighbors that are members. We just laughed about it. Some people are so silly! Like some sprinklers are going to change our beliefs? It makes for a great story though. haha
Thursday:
We got another new investigator! His name is Enrique. He's 10 years old. We met him when we went to visit one of our investigators, Alex. He's 11. They were outside playing and we went to talk to Alex and we shared a scripture with him and let him read it and Enrique goes, "I want to read one!" So we read one with him and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he wanted a spanish one to give to his mom. It was so awesome! He said he loves talking about God and always has. I'm excited to teach him more.
Friday:
We got to go to the temple!!! It was so amazing!! I love the temple so much! I wish we could go more often, but I'll take what I can get. The spirit in the temple is so amazing! I wish I could just take everyone in the entire world there to show them how wonderful it is!!
We also taught Kevin and Lucas on Friday. This lesson went so much better than last weeks! We watch Jesus the Christ with them and the Spirit was so strong! We've actually passed them off to the elders. Friday was our last official lesson with them. But, we'll still see them around when we go and meet with their parents, not to mention they live right next door to us... But we felt like the elders could do better at helping them understand things.
Saturday and Sunday:
Wasn't conference the best!!!!! I loved it so much! Watching conference as a missionary is so wonderful! I feel like I get so much more out of it! I can't even pick a favorite talk. There were so many good ones!
Sunday night, we were contacting and we ran into a lady who was VERY interested in hearing our message. She contacted us! I love it when that happens! We gave her a card and started walking away and said, "What church is this for?" We said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." "Where is that church?" We told her where it was and she said, "Oh I've never heard of that church. is it Christian?" "Yes it is! Would you be interested in learning more?" "Of course!" So we got her address and phone number. Unfortunately, she lives out of our boundaries. But fortunately, there are missionaries there too! Haha
Monday:
Yesterday, we got to go to Santa Cruz as a zone! It was so much fun! but really hot... I may or may not be a little burnt... But only a little. It could be worse. It's a little awkward going to the beach on a hot day as a missionary. The only good thing is that you can find your group easily; just look for all the people wearing clothes! It was fun though. We played all sorts of games in the sand and just hung out. It was relaxing.
Well, that's my week! It was great! I hope everything is going good for all of you! I'm out of time now.
Love,
Sister Swapp

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

March 31st
 
where did March go?! Holy moly time is flying by wayyy too fast! 
Well, this week has been great. I've been sick for most of it, but that's okay. I'm better now and we are going to move forward in full speed to make up for all of the work we missed out on this past week. 
Well, Sister Li leaves us this week on Wednesday. :( She goes back to temple square. President told us that another temple square sister is coming that speaks Chinese, but he didn't say it was a for sure thing that she would be joining us. I hope she does! We have so much work that we need someone who speaks Chinese! We can't do most of the work without it. So that will be an interesting change. 
Other than that, things have been great. We started teaching Amy and Thanh's 2 boys and they are so quiet. It's definitely a different experience than we had teaching their parents. It should be good though. 
The Women's conference this past week was so amazing!!! I loved every minute of it!! And I'm so excited for General Conference this week! One reason is because it means we get to go to the temple!! I'm so excited for that! We only get to go 2 times a year around general conference. I wish we could go more often! And I'm also excited to hear what the Lord wants all of us to know about. It's so amazing to know that we have living prophets and apostles that God speaks to us through! It's such a blessing! I love this gospel! It's so true! 
Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week this week! I love you all!
Sister Swapp

Monday, March 24, 2014

Pictures

 
Above  Me, Monica, and Sister Craig.
Below:: Back: Vietnamese elders, Sister Li, Amy, Thanh, the members that baptized them. Front: Sister Tuala, me, and Sister Savila.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My Companions
 
Balute

 

Lots of Updates

Feb 3rd

Hello everyone!! 

This week has been wonderful!! We set another baptismal date with one of our investigators. She's an older Indian lady and she is so prepared! She lives right next door to some other sister missionaries (but in our boundaries) and that's how she was found. They just talked to her one day and missionaries have been working with her ever since. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and has seen how when she read it, everything gets better. The power of the Book of Mormon is so amazing! And if you're not reading it regularly, I would strongly suggest you start. It has such an amazing spirit about it. I know it's true because of all the things it's been able to do for me. Not to mention that I've prayed about it too... 

Well, yesterday was the superbowl... and it was miserable! Nobody answered their doors! 

This week, we tried really hard to get our service hours in. My mission is really unique in the sense that we focus on service. We strive to do 5 acts of service for 10 hours every week. This area has been struggling a lot with reaching that goal, so Saturday morning, we went out and picked up trash around our neighborhood and nearby parks for 2 hours. It was so much fun! And it opened up lots of conversations with the people walking by. We then went to an appointment in the afternoon and afterwards, picked up trash for another 2 hours! Haha and we still didn't even reach our goal for hours! This week, we've planned better though. But if you're looking for something to do in your community, I would suggest just going on a walk and picking up trash around town. It's fun! But take gloves... 

Well, that's all for this week! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp
 
 
Feb 10th
 
This week was so wonderful!! We got to listen to an Apostle of the Lord speak to us and leave our mission with an amazing apostolic blessing. Elder Cook came to speak to us on Saturday. It was so good! The whole mission gathered to hear him and after he left, we had a giant mission-wide zone conference. I love meetings where all of the missionaries get together! The spirit is so strong! Especially when we all sing missionary songs. There really is nothing else like it. It makes me so grateful to have this opportunity to dedicate myself to the Lord and His work in this moment of my life. 
Well, other than that amazing meeting, we had such a great week!! We set another baptismal date. Now we have a baptism every week for 3 straight weeks starting at the end of February. It should be good! The new baptismal date is with a 9 year old girl. Her name is Mikayla and she comes from a less-active family. Although, it will take a huge miracle to make this family active, I don't foresee this little girl's baptism being that miracle, unfortunately. BUT anything is possible with the Lord! So I'm not throwing that out the window just yet! It could happen. 
We also met with one of our other baptismal dates, Amy, the Vietnamese one, and she brought her husband to the lesson too. The ward had a Chinese New Year celebration that night, so we were just going to meet with her after that. We found out earlier in the day that she was going to bring her husband and kids, but we got there late because we had a dinner appointment in one of our other wards. So we walk in and see her and go and say hi. It turns out only her husband could make it, so she pointed us out to him (he wasn't standing with her) and he's one of the guys that's helping cleaning up!!! We all thought that he was just another member that we didn't know when we walked right passed him going into the gym... That's just a glimpse of how awesome he is! So we finally get done cleaning up and go to a room to have a lesson and we teach them about the Plan of Salvation. (This is our 2nd meeting with her, but 1st with him). They both loved it so much! At the end, we asked them what they thought of the plan and he was telling us that he's been trying to get his questions about where we go after we die for a while and reading several books to try and get the answer, but this is the first time he's ever really got it answered. And then he talked about the celestial kingdom and how he wants so badly to go there with his family. We talked about how we can go there, but there are a few things that we need to do first. Then invited him to be baptized. He said yes without any hesitation and Amy's face was just glowing! But they mentioned that he will need a little bit more time than her and we explained that we are here to help them understand. We asked if they had any questions and Amy asked about how she can share this with her family and how she can help them get to the celestial kingdom as well, so we talked about temple work. It was just such a great lesson over all! This family is GOLDEN! She's the one that found the church online and just walked into church one day... And she brought her husband and one of her sons to church yesterday! She's amazing!!!! 
It has been such a great week here! Oh and! I don't remember if I told you about the state-wide fast for rain this past fast Sunday, but it has been such a miracle to be here! Our area authority spoke to us as well on Saturday and he was telling us about the drought we've been having a little bit. He said that there has been a high pressure area over California for 63 days, which means no rain, and this time of year usually is very very rain, supposed to be. So the first presidency announced a state-wide fast for rain. The day that we were scheduled to fast, first off, it was raining when we left our apartment, but he was also telling us that that day, the high pressure area completely disappeared. How miraculous is that?! Well, it's been raining off and on ever since... On the way driving here, we were driving on the highway and it was so bi-polar! I had the windshield wipers on the lowest setting, then I had to turn them on the highest setting 5 seconds later, then turn them down a little, then turn them completely off a few seconds later, then back to the lowest setting. It was all over! Haha 
Well, that's about all I have to report for this week! Things are going so well! And the work is progressing forward! I love you all! Stay warm!
Sister Swapp
 
 
Feb 24th
 
This week was the best week ever! It was just packed full with miracle after miracle! So we had a baptism on Saturday. It was so good! It wasn't the best prepared baptism I've ever been to, mostly because it was combined with another 8 yr old girl from the ward and her mom only planned for 25 people... Well our investigator is from a Samoan family. And if you know anything about Polynesian families, you know that they are not small. So that was interesting, but it worked out fine. 

We also picked up 2 new investigators this week! One of them is the daughter of a very less active lady. (we like to teach and baptize children here... They need the gospel too!) The other new investigator is so awesome! (not that the other one isn't...) But her name is Christina. She just moved here a few months ago, but where she lived before, she would go to church with her son, who is also an investigator. But all the time that she was there, she never got taught by the missionaries because the lady she lived with didn't allow them to come to her house. I don;t know why the missionaries there didn't offer to teach her somewhere else, but they didn't. So she moved in here with her daughter and the bishop got word of her and sent us over. We went there, got to know her and started teaching her the first visit! We taught her the first lesson and she loved it! She soaked it all up! So, we invited her to be baptized. Her response was, "Of course!" And we set a date! She loves this church so much. She was talking to us about the 3 hr block on Sunday and she said, "I don't understand why people complain that it's so long. By the time the 3rd hour is over, I'm going 'it's time to go home already?'" She's soooo prepared! So she's getting baptized on March 29th.

So at the beginning of the week, people were cancelling lessons left and right and we were a little worried we would have a hard time reaching our goal for lessons. Well, by the end of the week, we exceeded it! Our goal is 21, we got 25. Also, our zone leaders had a little competition for street contacting this week... Well, being who I am, I took it seriously. So did my companions. Our goal was to beat just them, and if we beat them, we'd be fine, because in our zone covers SJSU and there are 2 sets of sisters that go contacting there. Well, that just happens to be the hot spot for contacting in the entire mission. So we figured there was no way we were going to beat them. We didn't even try. But, we get emails every week from the mission with charts attached showing the numbers for each zone. I just got done looking at them and we blew every one in our zone out of the water with our contacts!! We got 500 this week. I was so shocked! It was a lot of fun too! I love talking to random people! Haha 

Actually, last night, we were contacting and we ran into an Anti... That was fun. I gave him a card for mormon.org and he started walking away, but turned around and said, "oh no thank you" and handed it back. He started walking away again, but turned around again and said, "You know, there is one thing I agree with about mormons. They teach a good work ethic." and he paused for a second and went on in a very stern voice and said, "Other than that, your religion is a demonic religion." My companion, Sister Li, said, "Sir, I'm sorry that you think that, but..."And tried to go on, but he cut her off and went in to say how the "founder" of our religion was a sick man who worshiped the devil and that we needed to do more research into our own religion. He also told us that we needed to read the bible and find out who Jesus Christ REALLY is. Sister Li, being from temple square, is trained to deal with these kinds of people. She handled it very well. She tried testifying, but when he kept cutting her off and yelling over her, she said, "Sir, we're not trying to argue with you. Have a nice day. And started walking away." The whole time with him yelling and screaming at her. I was so worried he was going to lay his hands on her. It was intense. 

Well, this coming week should be pretty awesome too! We're meeting with a referral that the elders gave us and she seems pretty solid already. We talked to her on the phone right after the elders contacted into her. They called us and said, "We have someone that wanted to talk to you." and handed her their phone and we set up an appointment with her for this week. 
Well, I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful time! I miss you all very much!
March 3rd
 
his week was great! I attended 2 different baptisms in 2 different languages. That was pretty cool! One was in Samoan and one was in Vietnamese. Both very different, but both very spiritual. 
For our zone activity last week, we played Jurassic Park. haha it was lots of fun! Some of the sisters in our zone made it up. Basically, we had to find objects hidden throughout the church building that would help us get off the island. We worked in companionships and if we got tagged by the "raptors" (one companionship of missionaries playing as raptors throwing balls at people) we had to go and take back all of our items and start over again. If we obtained all of the items, we had to get back to the "helicopter pad" (the stage) without getting caught. It was so much fun!

Well, this was the last week of the transfer and we are loosing Sister Tuala. :( I don't know what we are going to do without her in this area! She started this area up for sisters 8 months ago and has been here learning the area ever since! She has all of this knowledge about all the people in her head! We spent a long time during weekly planning this last week updating/creating teaching records for almost everybody we work with. It was lots of fun. NOT! I have a firm testimony in updating the area book regularly, not putting it off and putting it off until you have a billion things to update or worse, not even doing it at all so the past missionaries won't have any idea where these people are at and what they've already been taught. 
We went to the temple visitor's center last week with a less active/part member family. The wife has been less active since her youth and the husband is not a member. We had FHE with them every Monday night. The deal is, we teach the lesson and they provide the treats. So last week, we went to the temple for the lesson. It was so great to be there! I love going to the temple! 
One of our investigators is scheduled to move into our apartment complex this weekend! Right next to us actually! It will be so good because right now, they are living with her mom, who is VERY Buddhist... and they can't all go to church because then she will get suspicious, so when they move, they will all be able to go to church with the mom finding out. We haven't even met their 2 sons yet. So, we are very excited for them to be so close to us. Pretty soon, our whole complex will be members. The managers are members (that's how we got our investigator connected with this place), there's another member family that lives there, then there's both us and the elders that live there. Haha so much fun! We were talking with the managers a couple nights ago and they were joking around and saying that we should just make the pool that's in the middle of all the apartments into a baptismal font. Just put a gate on each side and line them up to go in on one side and out the other! Haha Then, we'll convert the whole complex next door, then the one across the street, and pretty soon, we'll have a chapel right there! 
Well, I need to get going. Not much time left on the computer. But, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Swapp
 
 
 
March 10th
 
This week has been pretty good. Lots of changes have taken place. We no longer cover 3 wards. :( they took one away from us. And of course, it was the ward that we had the most work in... I think president is just trying to even out the load. Some of the other sisters in our zone now cover that ward, so we know it's in good hands. It's just sad because that's the ward that we had the best connection with and knew more of the people. It was really hard saying goodbye to the people that we met with regularly this week and passing them off to the other sisters. But now, we can focus more on the other 2 wards and do the work there that needs to be done. It's actually been amazing seeing how when we put our efforts into it, the Lord will guide us to the people that are prepared. We received 3 referrals this week and gotten several people's information while contacting that seem legitimately interested. It's been amazing!

One night, we were contacting, and we were rushing back to our car to go to dinner because we were going to be late (rush hour here is miserable.), and Sister Li quickly contacted a lady with a Mormon.org card; the typical "Can we share this card with you? It's for a website we're inviting people to check out that talks about Jesus Christ." The lady took the card and as Sister Li was saying "Have a good night." the lady stops her and says, "What's your name?" and she told her, and the lady goes, "Can I have your number?" Meanwhile, I was way up ahead and thought she was right behind me until I hear her say her name and realize she was definitely not right behind me. So I turn around and head back and we start talking to this lady and it turns out she's been doing a lot of research about different religions. She said her mom was Baptist and she went to church with her growing up, but since she's turned 18, she's been looking for her own church. It was so awesome! So we got her info and went on our way. Her name was Kristian.

Oh and we have a new companion! Her name is Sister Savila. She's from Samoa as well! She actually knew our last companion back home. They went to the same high school. She is so funny! I love her!

We had Zone Training Meeting this week and it was great. We talked a lot about post-mission plans. That was weird... We talked about education and marriage and families. I felt like I was at a YSA fireside or something. Especially since it was at the institute... But that's what our mission president is stressing a lot right now. I think he's getting trunky. Haha He goes home in July. :(

They asked our companionship to talk about how we can have fun and still be obedient to the mission rules in our daily lives. It was actually lots of fun. They asked the right companionship to talk about it, because we are always having fun! We do random things all the time (that are obedient) that make us laugh. We shared some of those things and asked for other ideas. It was great!

Well, that's all for this week. I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp
 
 
March 18th
 
(and easier) than any other hike I've been on since I've been here. God's creations are so amazing!!

So the biggest thing to be excited about is that Amy & Thanh Duong are getting baptized this week! We've been finalizing the plans for it now and it realy is happening. They are both so cute about it too. Amy is super nervous and it's cute because her husband, Thanh is just like, "It's okay, just relax and everything will be fine." Haha like Sunday, we were discussing how things were going to happen and Amy was getting really worried that she wouldn't be able to plug her nose and Thanh kept telling her, "It will only be 5 seconds under the water. Just hold your breath." We ended up showing her how it was going to be done and that she could plug her nose. My favorite is when we taught the Law of Chastity to them. We explained it and everything and invited them to keep it and they just looked at each other and smiled and he held out his hand and she took it and they said, "There won't be any problem there." It was adorable! This couple is just so ready to accept the gospel in their life. They have seriously been being prepared for forever! I'm so excited for them to finally be able to enter into covenants with the Lord this weekend, and then in a year as well when they can go to the temple and be sealed for eternity!! This morning, we went over to see her and she was telling us that last night, they had their very first family prayer. They've been living with her mom who doesn't even know about any of this whole church thing, so they couldn't ever gather their kids to pray as a family the way we pray. And I don't think her kids know that they have been investigating the church either. But she was telling us that last night, she brought her two boys into the family room and she said a prayer with them and afterwards, they were asking her questions like, "Who's Heavenly Father?" and "Whose Jesus Christ?" Because previously, they would pray to Buddha. And she said she even prayed long sentences in English. (Vietnamese is her first language and she's been trying to learn English only for a little bit). She said that ever since she's been meeting with us, she's been getting better at speaking English. We told her we are so excited for her to be baptized and she was like, "I am more excited than you!" Haha She's so cute. Pics will come next week. 

Another great story of the week is that I witnessed my companion and one of the elders eat balute. Bleh! If you don't know what balute is, it's half developed duck egg. They get a fertilized duck egg that has a baby duckling growing inside of it, and they boil it just like a hard boiled egg. Then, they eat it. It's a Filipino dish. They eat all of it! Feathers, bones, and all! I was gagging just watching them eat it. My companion couldn't even finish it. Haha 

Anyways, I don't have much time left. But I just wanted to say that I love this gospel so much! I know it's true. It has blessed my life so much! I don't know where I would be without it and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than right here sharing it with all of the people here in the San Jose Mission boundaries. 

Love,
Sister Swapp
 
 
March 24th
 

Well, this week was fantastic! Let me rephrase that, Saturday was the best day of my mission thus far!!! I got to witness 3 baptisms of people that I love dearly. 
The first one was Monica. She is amazing! This girl has been planning on being baptized for 14 months! Her parents wouldn't give her permission though. So she had to wait till she turned 18, which was this past week! I got had the privileged of getting to work with her when I was in Pleasanton. My companion, Sister Craig and I got to the area and the elders said, "You have a baptismal date!" We said, "Awesome! Who and when is it?" And they said, "Monica Hernandez. She's getting baptized in March of 2014." And we were like, "Say what? That's so far away" it only being June of 2013. But, we made it! And she is now officially a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ. 

The second and third baptisms I was able to be a part of was Amy and Thanh's baptism! They are so wonderful!!! I just love them so much! The baptism was a sweet and spiritual experience. And they got confirmed in sacrament by the Vietnamese elders so that it could be in their own language ad they could understand it better. It was kind of funny. After being confirmed, the person conducting got up and said, "If you didn't understand that, it was Vietnamese." I'm sure the half of the congregation that isn't Chinese thought it was Chinese. haha And the Chinese half was all sorts of confused. So when he said that, we heard everyone go, "Ohhh" quietly. 
These were the highlights of my week! It was so wonderful to see these wonderful children of our Heavenly Father be able to enter into the waters of baptism and take upon themselves His name. Oh how blessed they will be. 
I was also able to see some of my favorite people in the whole world up in Pleasanton! I was reunited with my old companion, Sister Craig, and we went to lunch with the best people ever! The Millers. With President's permission, obviously. They were giving us rides back to our areas after the baptism and President was there, so they asked if they could take us to lunch. It was so much fun! 
Well, I can't think of anything else to report on for the week. We are going to play Jurassic Park again today as a zone, so that should be fun. I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Love,
Sister Swapp