october 28th

Well, this week, I'm going to run into a first time thing in my entire 9 months here.... My companion is getting transferred. I've never been the one that has been in an area longer! It will be interesting. I'm not really sure if I'll be able to manage without my current companion's knowledge of the area. She knows it so well. And I...don't. But, it's a new adventure.

We stopped by a part member family last night so Sister Wheeler could say goodbye to them and the husband (the member) shared a great analogy he heard. He said that the gospel was like salt and we (missionaries) are the salt shakers. And the person controlling the salt shaker is the Lord. And on our missions, the Lord knows what areas need salt, so He moves us around so that we can spread salt here and there. I took it even deeper when he was explaining and thought about how each person we talk to is a grain of salt. We're not going to hit every single person, but the people we do bring closer to Christ matter. Not everyone is meant to be "sprinkled" by OUR salt shaker. It might be someone else's salt shaker that touches them. That's why we get moved around. It was a cool way to look at my mission, especially because of all the places I've served...

This is the family who's wife is not a member that we are working with. Last Sunday, we went and had dinner with them and watched the restoration video and invited her to pray to know if it was true. She had so so many questions that we were able to answer and agreed to pray about it. We went over Thursday to see how it was going and we asked her if she had prayed yet and she said, "Yes, sisters. I prayed Sunday night after you left. And I have not received a sign, but have prayed every day since you last came. So hopefully I get a sign soon." We didn't have time to teach her about the Holy Ghost that time, because she had to go upstairs right after that, but when we went over Sunday night, they asked us to sing for them before Sister Wheeler left, so we sang "I know that My Redeemer Lives" for them and I saw her wipe a tear from her face. So, things are moving right along with her. She's basically a dry mormon, minus the coffee drinking thing...

So this week, we had a lesson with our favorite less actives, the Moffats! I wasn't able to go to the lesson :( but I told my companion to remember and tell me every single detail afterwards! She came home and told me what happened and I was bursting with joy! This is what happened: The first counselor in the bishopric called us last weekend to see if he could come to our lesson with the Moffats. We told him yes and Sunday when we saw him, he told us that he was going to invite them to give a talk because he had gotten a prompting when he went to the temple earlier that week. So we said yes! That would be great to ask Brother Moffat to give a talk! (not knowing that he actually meant both of them... Keep in mind that Brother Moffat is the one that is getting so close to coming back. Sister Moffat still wants nothing to do with stepping foot in the building.) So they all got there and were talking and Brother Bean, the first counselor, just jumps right in because he can't stay very long. he starts off by saying something along the lines of, "I've never really known you or given much thought to you. To be honest, you've basically just been a name on the sister's progress record that is occasionally brought up in ward council." But then he goes on to tell them that he went to the temple the past week and he was sitting in the celestial room, not even thinking about them at all, and all of the sudden he received the prompting that Lynn and Jennifer Moffat were going to speak in sacrament meeting on November 10th. he told them that it just came out of the blue and that he KNEW it was from God. He then went on to say that this is what God wants for them, not himself. As soon as he told them that, Sister Moffat flipped out! She was throwing her arms everywhere and laughing hysterically and saying, "You want US to speak in sacrament!?" I think she was a bit shocked and taken off guard. The whole time this was going on, Brother Moffat was sitting on the other side of the room silent, with a deep-in-thought look on his face. Sister Moffat finally turned to him and asked if he was going to do it. He said that he was seriously considering it. She said that she would go and WATCH him if he spoke, which is still A LOT of progress!!! Then, Brother Bean left and they started talking about it more and Sister Moffat asked him again, "You're not seriously thinking about this, are you?" He said, "Yes. I am." She asked why and he said, "He touched me."

How amazing is that!! Oh man! If Brother Moffat speaks in church... Oh I will be so happy!!!! In case you don;t remember, this is the guy that hasn't been to church since before I was born and listened to conference and thought the Pres. Uchtdorf was speaking directly to him. I will be so blown away! Even if she just comes to watch him! Holy moly! I want to tell Brother Bean that I'll speak in place of her is she goes to watch him speak at least. Haha

Yesterday, Rhanya, our 9 year old investigator getting baptized, came to church! It was so great! A couple of the ward members are so great and came up to her mom (less active) and introduced themselves. It was so good for her! And she participated a lot in Sunday School! That's about the only news with them. She's still amazing!

Well, that's about it for my week! I hope things are going well for each and every one of you! I love you all and thanks for the support!

Love,
Sister Swapp