Hello!
So today has been busy! This morning, our whole zone went on a sunrise hike! We woke up at 4am and hiked to the top of this very steep mountain and watched and took pictures as the sun came out of the clouds! It was beautiful! Then, after that, we drove down to San Jose and we picked up a mini missionary from the mission office. She's going to be with us this week! Her name is Sister Koroitanama. And actually, both my companion and I already knew her from our previous area!! She already has her call for her mission too. She leaves in 3 weeks to go to Las Angelos. So we went on a hike, drove to San Jose and back and it's not even noonyet! What a crazy morning!
This week was pretty great too. We also just got done having another mini missionary from our stake join us for the weekend. It's been one mini missionary to the next. It's fun!
We took an active family on a church tour this week, which is basically taking people around the church with strategically placed pictures that are already in the building, just moved, and the pictures help us teach the first lesson as we go through the building. It's an awesome experience and the spirit is always so strong because the building has already been dedicated to have the spirit in it all the time. And active members love it too because it gives them a chance to recognize that spirit. Most Sundays, people don't realize the spirit in the building because they're mostly running around trying to get things done, but this church tour helps remind them of the powerful spirit that resides there. Well this particular time, we were giving it to an active family and we decided to experiment a little. The tours are still kind of a new thing so we're trying to perfect the art of it. So this time, we decided to add music to it. We have already been showing a video at the end of it, but we decided to add music in the background at one of the pictures. The picture we chose was the first vision. The song we chose for the background was a piano playing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer". I didn't realize how strong the spirit was going to be there until we got to that picture, cued the music and started reciting the first vision. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I tried to choke it out. It was an amazing experience that definitely strengthened my testimony of what happened that day. Just like Joseph could not deny what he saw, I cannot deny what I know he saw. I cannot deny what I know to be truth. the video that we showed at the end was Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon. If you haven't seen that mormon message, I would strongly recommend it. Elder Holland puts it into perfect words that I never could.
I love being a missionary and being able to feel the spirit so strongly all the time. Sometimes, I take it for granted, but there is always something that the Lord puts in my path to help me remember that wonderful feeling.
This morning, as we were walking up a lot of giant hills, I was pondering about how it can relate so closely to our lives. We walk and walk, and sometimes there's flat areas, and things aren't very hard. But other times, the hill is so steep and you feel like you are never going to be able to make it to the top. But as you take it step by step, you will make it. it might not be as quickly as you'd like it to be, but you WILL make it. And then, when you do make it, you see the view from the top and wonder why you ever complained because the view just made everything worth it. We have to go through trials to help us grow and be able to appreciate the beauty that will come. I know that the beauty that will come from the trials that we all face will be SO worth it. We'll all look back and say, "Why did I even complain. I'm glad I went through all of that to see this."
Anyways, that's been my week! Sorry if any parts of this email are hard to understand. I'm running on 2 hours of sleep currently. We had a sleepover with all of the sisters in our zone last night because it was one of their birthdays and she happens to be our Sister Training Leader (STL), so we got permission to do a sleepover and didn't get to sleep till 2. Then we woke up at 4... You do the math. So, my companion and I are going to go crash in the apartment right after this. But, i love you all and thank you for all of your prayers and support.
Love,
Sister Swapp
