June 10th
Greetings!
So this week, President Obama was in town. We went street contacting in downtown and walked past a hotel that was surrounded by security people and secret service. It was crazy.
I really can't think of anything else spectacular that has happened in the past two weeks... How terrible is that? I'll send pics next week to make up for the shortness of the letter this week... Haha
Transfers are coming up too... We'll see what happens!! I'm excited. There are 28 new missionaries coming in this time. Most of them, if not all, are sisters.
Well, I hope you are all doing well! I love you!
Love,
June 17th
Hello!
Today is such a great day!! We are so busy!! We're in charge of FHE tonight for the branch. It's going to be lots of fun! We're so excited! We're trying to get the YSAs excited about doing member missionary work, so we're having a "member MTC experience". When they come in, they will receive mission calls (called to the streets around the building) and a nametag. From there, they will meet their districts and receive companions based on the color of their nametag. Then, they will go to one of three places. My companion and I will be teaching a workshop, the other set of sisters serving here will teach one workshop, and we have a member helping us with another workshop that will basically be some sort of relay game. And throughout the whole night, there will be a points system so they can receive points and the district that has the most points at the end will receive a prize. And then, we have a guest speaker. Our mission president will be speaking to them after all of their workshops. It's going to be so much fun! I'm way excited! And hopefully it does what we're hoping it will in getting them all pumped up and excited to help us out and be member missionaries!
June 24th
Hello everyone!!
July 8th
Ready for the big news of the week? ...... I'm getting transferred again! For those of you that have lost count, that is 3 times for me now. Once for every transfer that I've been out... So usually what happens is you stay in an area for 6 months, which means that sisters would have 3 areas for the entire mission... Not this sister... Try 3 areas in lass than 5 months! But it's going to be good. I'm going where the Lord needs me.
I will miss this area a lot though. I feel like I am at home here. I love all the people that I've worked with since I've been here. It's been a great transfer. But, it's time for me to move on. If I could stay in this area for the rest of my mission, I would, but then I wouldn't have the opportunity to grow any.
Well, I don't have much time this P-day as I have to pack up all of my belongings... Sorry for the short letter this week. Not much news... But I love each and every one of you and I know at least two other people that do as well (Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ). If they didn't love you, you wouldn't be here on this Earth. I hope you all have a great week. Stay safe!
Love,
Sister Swapp
July 1st
Hello everyone!
So as I told you last week, I got transferred! Again! 4th transfer and fourth time being transferred... I've now been in 3 different areas in less than 5 months. I'm now at the very tippy-top of the mission. Livermore was pretty close when I was there, but this area is right on the boundary. I love it here! My companion and I are both new to this area. We have been white-washed in. Kind of. We are covering two wards; Pleasanton 2nd and 3rd, but each ward has their own set of elders as well. Neither ward has had sisters for a very long long time and everyone was very excited to hear that they finally had sisters. There is so much work for us here. We are basically just in charge of the single sisters and the sisters who's husbands are not around as often; basically the houses that the elders can't get into. But it has been so fun. It's been a challenge for our brains trying to remember who is in what ward and everything, I have never had to work so hard to remember something in my life, but it's a good workout for my brain everyday. Every night we get home and are just emotionally exhausted from all of the brain power we use throughout the day. Haha And there have been several moments where we can't remember where we're going or what we're doing. Lol It's been great.
My companion is my "step-sister" in the mission. We were both half-trained by Sister Cannaday. And we were "born" in the same area. Right after transfer meeting, My old district leader came up to us and said "Oh no, it's the seed of Cannaday uniting together. This could be dangerous." Haha No, it's great! I love it here so much! Her name is Sister Craig. She's from Georgia. She's been out for 9 months this week. It's been so much fun already. People can't believe we've only known each other for a few days.
We have a brand new car (only 13 miles on it when we got it), brand new phone (with no old contacts that we have to weed out), and a nice apartment. The wards are fantastic.
So funny story from our first day here... We're at the mission office, just got our new car and phone and our zone leaders come up to us and tell us we're going to be moving into their old apartment. So we get everything loaded up and another elder who served here in the past gives us an address, but tells us this isn't our address, it will just get us to the right apartment complex. So on the way we text the zone leaders asking what apt number we are. They tell us 26. So we get there, go to door 26, and try to unlock it with the key they gave us. It's not turning, so we try and jiggle it into working. All the sudden, a lady opens the door... Whoops, she thought we were her cleaning service... Awkward! So we tell her what's going on and she tells us there's another 26 in the complex. How confusing is that??? So we go to the other 26 and we decide to knock on the door first... Good thing we did. A shirtless guy answers the door and we apologize and quickly walk away... So we're wandering around trying to figure out where it is that we live when a guy that works there asks if we're looking for the elder's apartment. We tell him yes and he guides us there. It was number 24... Thanks zone leaders! haha at least it made for a good laugh.
So Wednesday, we decide to go around and visit the auxiliary leaders in each ward so we can get some names of people they want us to focus on. But we also needed to go to the store to get some things so we could get organized. So we go to a few people's houses and nobody's home. Then we decide to go to the store. (and this is just one example of how fried our brains are) We're following the GPS and my companion looks at me and says, "who's house are we going to right now?" I though she was joking and say, "Walmart...?" She gives me a blank stare for a few seconds and starts busting up laughing. It was probably a had-to-be-there kind of moment, but it was really funny.
So Friday, we plan to get some maps of our area because there are none yet, so we go to the city hall and get some maps. Then we go home and piece our area together and it's really small, so we decided to go and get it enlarged and laminated. And UPs is where we had decided to go. So we get them enlarged and they start to laminate it and their laminator breaks... So they send us to another UPs location and give us terrible directions so we start to go, thinking I know where they're talking about, but no. So we type it into the GPS and it sends us to a UPs store nearby. We go in with all of our stuff and they have no idea what we're talking about (the first store called ahead and let them know we were coming). So she send us in another direction. And we start going to where I think she's talking about and we can't find anything. At this point, we've been driving around for almost an hour... So then, we get the genius idea to call the first store and get their number from our receipt. We call them and they give us better direction to the store they were talking about. It turns out it is an almost brand new store that isn't in the GPS and by the time we get there and get done, we spent and hour and a half getting maps for our area. They better last a really long time.
Saturday, we got to go to a baptism in my last area for an awesome guy!! He's been investigating the church for 2 years and he just got baptized Saturday! It was such a great baptism and the Spirit was so strong! I love baptisms. There was also a baptism here in Pleasanton that we got to attend for one of our wards. It was for a 10 year old boy. Both were phenomenal baptisms.
Well that's about it for this week. Lots of new and exciting things, lots of fried brains, and lots of people we still haven't met! So much to do!
I hope all of you have a fantastic week! Stay safe! I love you!
Love,
Sister Swapp
July 8th
I got welcomed to my new area with some very hot weather this past week (which apparently is abnormal... I sure hope so!) It was actually 117... It cooled off one degree while we were getting our cameras to take the picture.
This is how Sister Swapp and Sister Craig play dodgeball on P-day!
So that's been Pleasanton! It's great! I love it here! It's completely different than a single's ward... But it's fantastic! We're working with both the YW and the Relief Society in both wards and the people here are just so great!
Well, that's about it for this week. I hope all of you are having a great week! I love you all so so so much! Thanks for all of the support and prayers!
Love,
Sister Swapp
July 8th
Happy Monday everyone!
Anyways, this week was great! It wasn't as crazy as last week, but it was still way busy! We visited lots and lots of people. I'm finally starting to feel like I know the area.
I got to hold a kid this week!!
And last week, my companion and I got to see our trainer (a.k.a "mom"). We were both half trained by her, which makes us "step-sisters" in the mission. My trainer is the one in the middle; the one without the tag...
July 15th
Hello Friends and Family!!
How are all of you doing this week?!
Well, this week has been such a great one for me and my companion, Sister Craig! We're finally starting to learn the area and people are finally answering their doors! What a great thing! Haha
We got to go to the temple visitor's center on Thursday with an investigator. It was such a wonderful experience. We took Shirley. She is our 90 year old investigator and she is the cutest little thing EVER! The elders found her about a week before we got here (so about a month ago) and we took over teaching when we arrived. We've invited her to be baptized several times because she tells us that she knows it's all true and she loves all of it, but when we first asked her, she said she wasn't ready. At the beginning of this week, we asked again and she said, "Yes, but I want to set the date by myself. Don't push me. I want my daughter to be there and I need to get a perm." Then, Thursday, we asked at the temple again and she said, "I know I'm going to get baptized, and it's going to be soon. I just need to get a perm." Hahaha Well, I guess the experience she had at the temple motivated her to go and get a perm because she got one the next day! We then, went over and she told us she wants to be baptized this coming Saturday! Oh, and her hair looks great. Hahaha She is just the most adorable little thing ever! I love her so much! She calls us her granddaughters.
This is all of us at the visitor's center. The elders wanted to come as well, so they got one of their investigators to go too. He got baptized just last Saturday. But they both loved it so much! (In order from left to right: Elder Kerby, Jeff, Elder Bingham, Shirley, Me, and Sister Craig) Shirley is just glowing! She went up to the statue when we first got there and raised her hands up in the air and screamed "I'm in Heaven!!" Meanwhile, my companion was behind her and she got hit in the face when Shirley raised her arms up. haha It was a little comical.
Yesterday at church, we found out that the ward boundaries for all of the wards except one in this stake are changing... Sister Craig and I are so frustrated about that. We JUST got a giant map of both our areas figured out and stickers for every member in those boundaries put on the map, color coordinated and everything! And now, we're going to have to change it all up... The Lord is teaching us patience and flexibility. We won't know what the changes are until next Sunday and they don't take effect until Aug. 1st.
Well, that's about it for this week. I hope all of you are having a good summer! You are all in my prayers! Stay safe!
Love,
Sister Sarah Swapp
July 22nd
Hello friends and family!
This week was a fantastic week! We got so much work done and saw so many miracles!
Well, the ward boundary change happened and the effects were very minimal (thank goodness!). They barely changed. So, no stressing here over the maps that we have already created for our areas. We did, however, loose our recent convert that we just baptized this past weekend, but she will still be attending our ward as we work with the other missionaries to get her transitioned to that ward.
Speaking of her, she is so wonderful! I mentioned her last week. She's the 80 year old lady. Her name is Shirley. She's adopted us as her granddaughters, so we call her Grandma Shirley. Haha she is the best! Let me just tell you a few things that will help you get to know her. The night before Saturday (when she was to be baptized), we had dinner at a member's house with the elders and Shirley. As we were leaving, she looked at Elder Bingham (the one that was to baptize her) and said, "So you're the one that's dunkin' me tomorrow?!" hahah It was the funniest thing coming out of an 80 year old's mouth. I couldn't help but laugh. Then, Saturday comes and they're in the font, she goes under and comes back up and just looks out at all the people there, pauses and gives the BIGGEST grin you have ever seen! She was literally glowing!!!! It was the sweetest thing ever. But don't think that's the end... Sunday, when she gets confirmed, she goes up on the stand to sit in the chair and while all the men are standing around getting organized, she blows kisses to the entire congregation. Haha and afterwards, she's still sitting in the chair and she just says, "I'm so happy" out loud for everyone to hear. And when we all welcomed her as the newest member of the ward by the raising of our right hand, you could just tell that she felt like the most important person in the entire universe. I'm so happy for her! But I'm really sad that she won't be in our ward. :(
We are also teaching another lady. Her name is Norma Shipp. She has 6 children, including a set of triplets. The triplets and another daughter are baptized already and the elders have been working with her for a while. A family in our ward has fellowshipped them so well and is helping the triplets, who just graduated, get to college. And we found out that the only reason she is meeting with us is out of obligation to this family for all their help. When they offered their help, she asked how to repay them and they told her that the only way she can repay them is by meeting with the missionaries every week. Not ideal, but it's a start. She's been through a lot in her life. She's spent almost all of her adult life struggling to make ends meet and support her 6 children as a single parent. The dads are no where to be seen in the picture, and that's probably a good thing, but it's been very hard for her. What we have decided to do is basically teach one single principle from the lessons each week. We started with the nature of God this past week and it went very well. We're trying to get her to recognize the Spirit. That's been more of a challenge. But, we're praying and praying that she will be able and willing to progress. And the member that has been her fellowshipper challenged us to get our families involved as well. So, moral of the story, I'm telling you all this so that you can get to know her like I have and inviting you to pray with me and my companion and so many others for her progression. She is a wonderful lady that has worked so hard to be where she is at right now and the gospel will just help her so much more! I wish she would see that! I wish everyone would see that!!!
Other than those two ladies, we are teaching a 17 year old girl who is currently out of town at a mini boot camp for the coast guard. Her name is Monica. She's great too! She is sooooo intelligent. She can recite ALL of the books in the bible (old and new testament) in less than 30 seconds. My companion and I are working on that. That's what comp study consists of. Haha She likes to play games that get you using your brain when we go over. The only reason that she isn't baptized already is because of her parents... Stinkin' parents! But we have a baptismal date for March 22, 2014. A few days after she turns 18. She is basically the one that teaches us when we go over. It's great!
Those are our investigators. We're also working with lots of less active members. One of which, just had puppies!!!!!!! Needless to say, we offer our service to her all the time to help her with those little bundles of energy. She's older, so she enjoys our help. Before we got here (we found this out after the second time of us going over there) she hated the elders coming over. She would avoid them like the plague! The first time we went, she was a little hesitant, but she opened up a lot once we started talking about her puppies. They are so adorable! If we didn't have apartment or mission rules, we would totally take one home with us! It is so entertaining to watch them play with each other too. hahaha
We might be going into a car share. Which means we will be on bikes part time. We're doing a trial run tomorrow to see how it goes. My companion is a little hesitant on that. She doesn't know how to ride a bike... Or so she says. We'll see! It will be an adventure! Haha
Everything else is going wonderful! I love it out here so much!! I never want to leave! Not that I don't miss all of you, but I have just grown to love this area a lot and being a missionary here is the best thing I've ever done! For those of you trying to decide on if a mission is right for you, I highly recommend it! I promise it will be the best decision you will ever make!
Well, have a great week! I love you all and you are all in my prayers! Stay safe and know that I love you!!
Love,
Sister Swapp
