a much needed update

Sorry to all those whom have been waiting for an update. Here is the passed few months. Pictures will be added another day.





October 14

Hello everyone!

This week was so great! We were planning on having 2 less active members we teach and one investigator to church this week and we were SO excited about it, but none of them showed up... :( But there's always next week! And besides, we saw many other miracles yesterday! A less active that I've only met once and never really talked to showed up at church! But not only did she show up... She bore her testimony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How amazing is that!!! Yep. Pretty wonderful. So that was good! And we got the opportunity to teach relief society in one of our wards. It went so well. We taught about the Savior's mission while he was on the earth. We used something that I was able to do when I was in the MTC. Our teacher asked us to answer 3 questions in our study journals. Those 3 questions are:
1. How have you seen the Savior in your life today?
2. What has the Savior done for you?
3. What are you willing to do for the Savior?
When I did this activity,it was such an eye-opener to how much the Savior really has done for just me. And it's done so much for all of us! Then, when I answered the 3rd question, I realized that there is nothing that I can do to repay my Savior for everything He has done for me. It's an amazing activity.

We were also able to go on another sunrise hike this morning as a zone and it was amazing! We had a testimony meeting at the top and sang hymns. It was the best morning ever! I was reflecting on the beauty of God's creations and realized that you can find beauty in EVERYTHING God has created. And it's not just nature that He's created. He created each one of us and I know that that same thing is true. That we can find beauty in each one of us. I've struggled with that for myself, like probably a lot of you have, but it's a wonderful thing to think about. We are all children of a loving Heavenly Father, and when we make fun of ourselves or think we're not good enough, I can just imagine tears coming to Heavenly Father's eyes, because that's telling Him that you think His creations aren't good enough or beautiful enough. That's what Satan wants us to think. But it's not true.

It was just a wonderful experience! I love nature! AND the stars when we went outside our house this morning were shining SOOO bright!!! The brightest I've ever seen them on my entire mission! And if you know me, I LOVE looking at the stars!! It was breathtaking!

Well, that's been my week. It went slow, but it flew by at the same time. That's pretty much the theme of my entire mission basically... I wish it would slow down!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp


October 7

This week was soooo great!!!! We finally reached a lot of our goals that we've been struggling to reach since I got here! It was so great. The pace is finally picking up here regarding the work.

We had the funniest lesson I've had in my entire mission this past week. Hahaha I'm laughing just thinking about it. So we teach this one less active lady, she's about 80. We go over and read the Book of Mormon with her (actually we have it read to us by her). She's working on going to the temple. So we walk in and sit down where we usually sit and wait for her to come out and she comes with her husband right behind her. Well, her husband has dimensia... So we're just sitting there and he starts talking about us and how "we're always together and we love each other and then one of us leaves and another one comes, but we still love each other." (He's not a member) Then he comes over to my companion and stands over her behind the couch, puts his hands on her shoulder and starts kissing her on the forehead... over and over and over again... It was hilarious!! My companion was like "ahh what do I do?!" It's not like you can push an old guy off of you... So then their caretaker finally gets him to stop and go sit down. That's just the beginning though... Sister Ghofranian (the less active) started reading and she's going fine and we read a couple chapters in about 45 mins. Then we get to the next chapter and she asks if she should go on. My companion said sure! And as she was looking through the chapter, noticed it was forever long... Way more than 15 minutes worth of reading... But we go on. About 45 verses into the chapter, Sister Ghofranian starts to, what I thought was loose her place repeatedly. She would stop reading, kind of look up with a confused look, we would tell her where she left off, and we would start reading again. Then it happened again. And again. Finally one time, she stops reading, we look at her... and her eyes are closed....... It wasn't till then that we realized she was falling asleep. We didn't know what to do!!! Haha we both just sort of looked at each other and tried to silence our laughter. It was the funniest thing! Then she sort of wakes up,  we tell her where she left off, she read on and a few minutes later, she started talking crazy. She was reading the verse and all the sudden goes, "Oh yes. It's like jumping off a boat into the water." and "you're in a tube and it's a little tight, but you have just enough room and a liiiitte bit of air. Not much, but just the right amount." and "you have the two horses and one of them is white. and one is black." My companion and I were so lost! It was all we could do to not laugh hysterically! FINALLY she really woke up and admitted to us that she was falling asleep. Haha so we finished the chapter cause we only had a few more verses and at the end of one of those verses it said, "and their souls did delight in fatness" so she's reading that and says, "And their souls did delight in fitness, I mean fatness. Fatness.... Well, that's weird!" in the funniest voice! It was by FAR the funniest lesson I have ever been in!!!!!

Conference was sooooo amazing this weekend!!!! This past week, we met with the Moffats, a less active couple. The husband is so so so close to coming back! And the wife is a little further behind, but her heart is softening so much! So we invited them to watch conference and he said he really wanted to. We said great! And asked if he wanted us to give him a call Saturday morning to remind him. He said he would love that. So Saturday, we call him up and he says, "Okay! Let me go downstairs and turn the machine on!" So we gave him a call Saturday night to invite him to come to the church on Sunday and watch it with us and also to see what he thought of Saturday's sessions. So i was talking to him and I asked what he thought of Saturday's and he said, "It was really good! My favorite talk was the last one of the first session." And I was racking my brain trying to remember who it was... It was President Uchtdorf... I asked what he liked about his talk. He said, "He was very convincing. I felt like he was speaking directly to me." And without even thinking or missing a beat, the words, "Well maybe you should act on those promptings" came out of my mouth... I tried really hard to stop them when they started to come out, but they were already out. I was cringing preparing myself for his response and my companion was looking at me with the most worried look. But, obviously the words I said needed to be said because what he said after that needed a hallelujah chorus to accompany it. He said, "Well, I've been seriously considering it." My heart lept for joy! This is a guy who hasn't stepped foot in a church building for probably about 20 years! That's as long as I've been alive!!!!!!!! I was so happy!!! needless to say, he didn't show up the next day, but I still have hope for this coming week!!! He is so stinking close!!! I just love conference! I wish everybody in the entire world would watch it!

So we got to go to the temple this week too! I love the temple! We only get to go 2 times a year because the temple is out of our boundaries. It's only about 45 minutes away from me, but out of the mission boundary unfortunately. But I'm grateful we at least get to go twice! It's better than nothing. But really, if I could live there, I would. The Oakland temple is so beautiful! And the view is gorgeous!On a clear day, you can see the golden gate bridge.
I hope you all have a wonderful week! You're all in my prayers!

Love,
Sister Swapp


September 13

I'm so out of time right now.... So this is going to be kind of short. I apologize in advance!!

This week has been good. A little stressful, but what's a mission without stress? Haha But things are looking up. I got a priesthood blessing from the elders last night. I have never received more blessings than I have on my mission in my entire life. Haha It makes me regret not taking advantage of it before my mission. I look back and I remember times when I clearly needed a priesthood blessing and didn't get one. The priesthood is so underused in my opinion. This is our zone. Best zone ever! Really though! The stake president does a breakfast every transfer so he can meet all the new missionaries in the stake. And he wanted some pics of us this transfer.We had sister's retreat this week, that's where this picture came from... It was a blast!!! I wish we could have it every transfer! We went to San Jose at 8, the meeting started at 9:30 and went till 4, at which time, there was a clothing exchange, and we didn't get back for dinner till almost 7. It was a long day. But so spiritually uplifting! It was good. And with the Relief Society broadcast Saturday night, it was just a good week to be a woman. Hahaha

Friday night, we had dinner with a part member family. They're Indian (with the dot, not the feather). The husband is a member, convert for a few years, and very knowledgeable in the gospel. The wife isn't a member. And the husband's mother was there too who knows lots about the church, but isn't a member. It went really well! We taught about baptism and the authority of the priesthood. And the food... was DELICIOUS!! I've developed a love for Indian food on my mission. :)

Well, I'm REALLY out of time now... I love you all so much! Thanks for everything! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister Swapp


September 23

Hello Family and Friends!

This week was fantastic! We had stake conference yesterday and it was great! My companion and I sang in the choir. So we got to sit on the stand. The speakers talked a lot about the For the Strength of Youth standards and how it has been given to us by a prophet and if we believe that he is really a prophet, than why question the things he tells us.

President Watkins (my mission president) and his wife talked about member missionary work (surprise) and how you can measure your success of being a member missionary just by the fact if you invited or not. Sister Watkins said, "If you invited someone, then you were successful. Plain and simple." I think that's how it is for full time missionaries too. We have to talk to every single person and INVITE them to come unto Christ. That's our purpose. If we don't invite, we've failed. And if we do invite and they don't accept, that's them using their free agency. That's on them, not us. We've done what we can do.

It was a good conference. And the songs we sang were some of my favorite! The first was "If the Savior Stood Before Me" and the last one was "Come Thou Fount" one of my all time favorites! It was a great meeting over all! AND we only had 2 hours of church instead of 6 so we got lots of work done yesterday when every single week, we can barely get two lessons on Sunday! It was so weird and great to have all of that time!

On Saturday, it rained SOO hard! It was wonderful!!! Made me feel like I was at home. haha And my companion was super excited to wear her rain coat. Hahaha
I felt so bad for the sisters that were on bikes that day. But they texted us later and said that they just went home once it started to get really bad and waited it out while they updated their area book and did some weekly planning. So that's good. Other than that one weird day, the weather has been really sunny! It's like the perfect weather all the time! I love it!

Other than all of that, nothing really exciting happened. Oh! And..... drumroll please... Sister Swapp has broken her record of staying in one place more than 7 weeks consecutively!!!! This is finally it! I made it!! (well, technically I have to make it through today, but I'm thinking I'm pretty safe.) It feels so good to finally not worry about learning new faces and names. Don't get me wrong, I have loved every single person I've met, but I don;t know if my brain can take anymore of this remembering thing.

Well, I'm out of time... Again... So I hope you all of a great week! And remember who you are! (A Child of God. How cool is that?! Just think about it. You are a child of a divine being!!! I love it!!) Talk to you all next week!

Love,
Sister Swapp



Hello!

This week was great! We have finally been picking up on our numbers. But that's not the important part. The important part is that we are growing and helping others come closer to Christ.

This week, we ran into a guy on the street that was not very open to us... He was basically saying that Joseph Smith was deceived by the devil and we have been too. He kept saying over and over that we'll be held accountable in front of Jesus Christ and God for the words that we say. All we could do was testify. He asked us if we would put our lives and our family's lives on the line for this gospel. We, of course, responded yes without needing to think about it. He paused for a little bit and said, "I believe you. And I'm sorry for that." He talked to us for almost an hour and called us several not so nice things in a round about way... It's amazing how you don't really realize how strong your faith and testimony is until it's tried and shot down. We found out towards the end of our conversation that he talked to the elders MINUTES before we ran into him. He was telling us that he's talked to 5 people already today about God. And said two names, as if we should know who they are. And we were so confused... Then we realized that he was talking about the elders, except used their first names. He tried to ask me my first name, but I just told him it was "Sister" and he gave up. So we called the elders afterwards and told them who we ran into and they were like, "Ohhhh no!" They told us that this guy REFUSED to call them elder. And we told them what he called us and said to us and they got super upset! They wanted to go back and find this guy. It's nice to know that the elders have our backs. It was an interesting conversation. It's funny how people try and tell you all these things like it's going to change your mind. They just don't understand.
I listened to some awesome talks in the car this week! Oh man, I love powerful talks... The first one is called "Prophets & Plates", by Brad Wilcox (it's 2 talks together), and the other two were by a girl, I can't remember what her name was, but the names of the talks were "Sleeping Through Gethsemane" and "Prayers that Reach Heaven". And I read an awesome poem in personal study. It's called "The Touch of the master's Hand". If you get a chance, look them up! They're so good!!

Well, transfers are this week.... I didn't get a transfer call, but I've come to realize that means nothing... But I'm hoping that this means I will finally be breaking my record of staying in an area longer than 7 weeks!! I'll let you know next week if I've reached it. Haha *crossing my fingers*

That's about it for this week. Nothing too exciting and fun. Just working hard, laughing lots (my companion is great) and teaching people. For those of you wondering, my elbow is almost completely healed. It's amazing how fast it went! I just have a tiny scab (that my companion won't let me pick...) and a little bit of a bruise that is definitely not as noticeable as it used to be. So, no worries!

In closing, I just wanted to thank all of you out there who have prayed for me, taught me things, and supported me on my mission. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here today. And I'm so grateful that I am. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love being a missionary so much! If any of you are debating on going on missions or not, I would strongly suggest you do. It will be so worth it! I promise! You won't regret it at all. I love you all and have a great week!

Love,
Sister Swapp


September 3

Hello everyone!

This week was great! We did lots of work! My elbow tried to convert the road... It failed.
Haha here's what happened:

It was actually probably very funny to watch. My companion was bummed that she was in front of me rather than behind me when she found out everything was okay. Lol I was going down a hill, getting ready to turn right at the bottom of it and I was slowing down and all of the sudden, I was going over my handle bars. My brakes are just better than I thought they were. But this is the most serious injury I have. It could have been WAY worse. The tender mercy of it all is that the person driving behind me ended up being a member of our ward. Haha She got out and asked if I was okay and when I said yes, the very next question she asked was, "Where's your companion? I'll go find her!" (She had already turned the corner...) But it was cool. She said that if she were inches closer, she wouldn't have had time to stop, resulting in running me over (because I had fallen into the road). I definitely have a testimony that the Lord watches over His servants.

And last night, we went to see a less active and she told me to put cooking oil on the bruise and honey on the scrape. That will help both of them heal faster. So I did it and woke up with my bruise more yellow than purple, which means it's further into the healing process. So, that was cool to learn! Who woulda thunk?!

Other than this, everything is going great! One of our wards is getting ready to start a 40 day fast in a couple weeks, so I'm excited to see the blessings that will come from that. They said that last time they did it, they saw a family get baptized and a guy start to investigate the church. We still teach that guy. He totally knows everything is true, he's just waiting to get baptized so that his aunt can be there for it. Blood family is very important to him. He says that every time he goes to baptisms, he sees their families there and he just does't want to be that one person that has no family there for him. We keep telling him that the ward is his family. But we aren't blood related... We're praying for him.

Anyways, how are all of you? I hope things are going well. I'm just about out of time, but I hope you all have a great week!!! Stay safe!!
Love
Sister swapp

August 23

This week is going to be a super short one, sorry!

Nothing really super exciting happened. i was sick for a couple days and we had zone conference. Zone conference was really good, like always. Being sick, not so much, but I'm better now. As a result of both of these things, our work was very little. but this next week is going to be great! We're going to convert like crazy!

Sorry again for the short update... I'm out of time though. I hope you are all doing wonderful!

Love,
Sister Swapp




August 19


This week was so great! Okay, I have to tell you a funny story before I start into the week. So we were driving to the library this morning  and we're about to turn onto the road we needed to, but there was this boy walking his... PIG!! My companion and I were like, "Is that a pet pig?! No way!" So, despite all the excitement to go and email, we drove around the block, pulled over, and got out to talk to this boy. He was maybe about 12. He was telling us all about this breeder in Texas that breeds these pigs to be pets! Haha Not only did it have it's own, home-made looking leash, but it had little booties on it's feet!!!!!!!!! It was adorable!! The boy told us that the pig just walks around their house like a dog. It sleeps with him and everything. Haha And he let us feed him raisins.
In other news, I survived 2 days in a row on bikes without any accidents! I forgot if i told you or not, but we are in a car share with some other sisters from the zone. So we have bikes the days they have the car. The only problem I've had is this one giant hill... It's the overpass for the highway and half of one of our wards is over that hill. My first day, I had to walk the bike up it. But the second time, and every time since, I've been determined to ride all the way up. So I put it in the lowest gear possible and... MADE IT!!!! Barely... I was so proud of myself the first time I did it! I kept think in my head the whole way, "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right." What my dad always tells me.

So about the rest of the week... Not too much out of the ordinary happened. We're teaching this one part member couple. They husband is very active and the wife is not a member. They are from India (there is a lot of those out here). She is so awesome! We went over there one night this weekend and spent waaaaaaaaay too long there... But we taught like 5 lessons in one. So because they are Indian, they don't let anyone leave their house without feeding them... So we had to wait for her to finish cooking dinner. Meanwhile, we were talking about things and my companion finally brought it back to the gospel, miraculously, by sharing a scripture. Then, that got the husband started on asking us to just keep sharing verses. So we would take turns sharing our favorites with them and then discussing them. Then, dinner was finally ready. So we ate and afterwards, we asked if she had been reading the Book of Mormon and she said no. So he suggested that we read right then with her... So we started reading Alma 40, because we had planned to teach her the Plan of Salvation but gave up, then we used this opportunity to go through with it. So we got through about 5 verses and then had a great discussion on the Plan of Salvation the rest of the time. We talked about the plan, temple sealings, the celestial kingdom AND baptisms for the dead. It was so great! She was joking around and was telling her husband that she was going to come down from the Celestial Kingdom to visit him in the Terrestial Kingdom. It was funny. So then, of course, he said, "Well, you have to do a few things to be able to qualify to make it to the Celestial Kingdom." So we talked about the need to be baptized and then we invited her. But he interrupted and said that she wasn't ready. He wants to make sure that she is doing it for the right reasons, not just so that she can be sealed to him. Which, is good, but if she believes in the plan of salvation, and that it's truth, she doesn't have that much farther to go. So we just invited her to pray about it to know for herself it was true. It was a good lesson, we were just there faaaar too long...

Well, I am out of time for the day... Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp


August 12

Soo... Remember last week when I told you that I wasn't going to be transferred and that I was training? Yeah... Well... Neither of those happened. I got transferred and I'm not training anymore... Some last minute changes were made. My companion and I were sitting there Tuesday morning (transfer day) doing some personal study, getting ready to move into companionship study and our phone rings... It's our zone leaders. They told us that we needed to be at transfer meeting because one of us was being in-zone transferred. Transfer meeting was at 10. It was already 9 o'clock. And we had to drive down to San Jose... Yep, that's how much notice I got this time. 1 hour. So I got transferred to the other 2 wards in Pleasanton. I'm serving in Pleasanton 1st and 4th wards. And we are the only missionaries in both wards. I've decided that all of the moving I did growing up has prepared me for all the moving I do on my mission. Haha I'm very used to change now.


4th area. 6 months. Yep. That's me. Everybody keeps making jokes when they find out how many areas I've been in. And I was totally planning on breaking my 7 week record of staying in one area this transfer... But it didn't happen. The cool part is that the ward boundaries changed a couple weeks ago and a lot of the members from 2nd and 3rd wards (my last wards) were transferred to 4th ward. So I already know most of those people. Which has been a big help. And i'm still in the same zone, so that didn't change.


My new companion is Sister Wheeler. She's from Mesa, AZ. She's wonderful! She's been out for 3 months and it seems like she's been out for 15. She knows her stuff so well! And we get along really well too. The other day, we were weekly planning and we got on the subject of Daniel and the Lion's Den, which reminded me of VeggieTales because they have a pizza party in the den. So we sang VeggieTales songs for a good 20 mins. Hahaha It was great! You have to do something to keep you sane while you do weekly planning. I know that it is so necessary, but it's pretty much the most boring thing ever. I always just want to be out sharing the gospel with people.

And! This week I met someone who knows where Scappoose is!!! I was very excited. He knows it because his brother used to live there. Some of you might know him. Jared and Lily Lee. haha Yep, his brother is in my ward right now. They're getting ready to move though. But I was super excited to finally meet someone who knows where Scappoose is. And it was cool that I knew who he was talking about.

Well, that's about it for this week. Just working hard in this new area. I hope all of you have a wonderful week. Stay safe!

Love,
Sister Swapp


August 5


Well, I don't have much time  to update you this week, but it's been a great last week! It was the last week of the transfer and any missionaries know what that means... Transfer and training calls... And... I'm going to be a mom!!! That's right, I'm training. My companion and I are training together (at least we think so... We both got training calls and no transfer calls, so we think we're going into a trio). but I'm so excited!!!

We got to go to San Jose 3 times this week already and one time this coming week. We've already used 270 miles and it's only the 5th of the month... Good thing our mission isn't super duper strict on mileage...

Our mini missionary went great! I think I already told you that she was going to LA for her real mission in 3 weeks and she gets to go straight there. No MTC. And when she was with us, I found out why... She doesn't need it!! She's already prepared plenty for a mission. She was wonderful to spend 4 days with. I loved it.

Well, I was planning on adding pics to this email, but I have no time left... I will add them onto next weeks email. I love you all!! I hope you have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Swapp