Nov 18th & 26th

Nov 18th

Hello!

Today is such a crazy p-day! So, if you did email me this week, I appreciate it, but I won't be reading it till later today when I'm done emailing, just to save time... I'll respond next week. :) And, unfortunately, I don't have time to write individual emails, so this is going to everyone that I usually email on P-day. Sorry Mom and Dad... Lol

But, this week has been phenomenal! We had zone conference Friday, which is always good! There was a lot of good things that we taught about. President Watkins showed us some stats and,long story short, our missions stats are consistently going up. Which he commended us for. 

Saturday, we had the best day ever! We got to go to a baptism in my companion's last area and we got one of our recent converts to take us (because we aren't allowed to drive ourselves, so we have to find a ride.) It was so much fun! We got to spend some much needed quality time with her. She just got her patriarchal blessing last Sunday, and the adversary has been working on her really hard. So we were able to help with that. And she's from the tribe of Asher! How cool is that?! I've never even heard of that tribe until she told us. She's been asking us to help her do some research on that tribe, so it's been pretty interesting learning about the tribe of Asher. 

Saturday night, we ate dinner with some of the best member missionaries ever! They signed up to feed us a couple weeks ago and they were super excited and so were we. Then, we call to confirm the time and... She tells us that there were going to be about 20 people there... So, just a tip, if you invite the missionaries for dinner, NEVER invite them to a party unless you handle it like this family did. Missionaries hate parties! It doesn't allow them to get to know the family better or even share a message most of the time. And it's just really awkward... BUT this family was awesome! They had us over and started the party by introducing us to all the less-active and non-member people they invited and said that we were the reason they started this whole party, so if it weren't for us, none of them would be there. Haha then we ate and mingled and got to know people. Then, for dessert, they just put all the desserts on one table and we all sat cozy around the table and played a little get to know you game. But that wasn't the end... After that, the family told everyone a little about what we do as missionaries and invited us to give our message. It went so well!!! I wish everybody could see how easy it was for them to have some non-member friends over and us at the same time and it NOT be awkward for everybody! That was probably the highlight of my week. 

And, like always, there have been so many miracles this week! I just love writing them down at the end of each day and seeing how many there really were throughout the whole day. Sometimes, it's hard to pinpoint them, but other days are just so chalk full of them! It's perfect to be able to recognize them at this time of the year as Thanksgiving is approaching us quickly (too quickly). 

My companion and I are pretty sure that this is going to be my last transfer in this area. We've kind of had the feeling since the beginning of the transfer, but it was pretty much confirmed yesterday. We both got blessings and in her's, she was told to learn as much about the area from me as she could as quickly as possible and to not be shy in making connections with ward members. It wasn't in those exact words, but it was pretty close. So... yep. I'm out of here in about 3 weeks. :( I've loved this area so much! Probably because I've been here long enough to fall in love with it! Ha 

Well, I don't have much time left... A member offered to take us on an adventure today in Fremont (one of the cities nearby). We're going to see a mission. Not a mission like what we do mission. It's supposedly like an old church and they're called missions. Apparently, they're all over this area and pretty cool to go and see. I'm excited! 

So, that's about it for the week! I hope all of you are having a wonderful time with whatever you are up to! 

Love, Sister Swapp

November 26th

Hello all!

This weekend has been so eventful. It has probably been one of the best weeks on my mission so far! Let me explain...

Thursday:

I got to see one of my converts from the other ward I was in 5 months ago. You may remember the name. Her name is Shirley. We call her Grandma Shirley. :) It was so great to see her! She actually lives in the boundaries of one of the wards I am over now (4th ward), but was baptized into the 2nd ward. She lived in 2nd ward but a few weeks after her baptism, the ward boundaries changed and she now lives in 4th ward. But we didn't feel like it was a good time to move her over to a completely new ward where she didn't know anyone, so we kept her in 2nd. So we decided to drop by this week to see how she was (mostly because I miss her dearly). She was still fantastic and still can't understand why more people aren't lining up at the church to be baptized! Haha she's a hoot. 

That same night... We finally were able to set up an appointment to meet with a potential (who has been a potential for almost 6 months). It was amazing!! Let me just tell you the miraculous story. So the sisters right before I came into the area street contacted into him and got his number. He seemed really interested, so they tried calling and tried calling and tried calling. No answers. Ever. So they kind of gave up. When I got to the area, his name was on our white board under potentials. I asked who he was, my companion told me the story and decided he was a lost cause, so erased his name. About 2 days later, TWO days! We were out contacting and ran into him! He recognized my companion and we talked to him for a while. We gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read a chapter. We also gave him our number because he said that the reason he doesn't answer calls is because he doesn't know the number. Now he would know we were calling. After that, we called and he answered a few times but was always busy. As time went on, we would try calling and... no answer and no answer and no answer... His name remained on our board once again and when my amazing current companion came, she asked who he was. I told her the story and she said we should try calling him right then! I was less than enthused, thinking he wouldn't answer, just like all the other times we tried... but! He did answer!!! It was totally unexpected on my part! So we tried setting up an appointment and it wasn't 2 weeks after that till we actual set up a firm time to meet. We ended up going to a coffee shop to teach him and had the best lesson ever! The whole time, all I was thinking about was how the Lord has been completely preparing him for this message that we have. Not only has the Lord been preparing him, but his 13 year old daughter has already been attending church. She went to girl's camp, has gone to church very regularly, and even spoke in sacrament meeting a few weeks ago about her experience at girl's camp! The only problem is that this is all in 2nd ward... They are very fellow-shipped by members already, just in the wrong ward.... So we're going to try and work something out there. Oh and his daughter has been invited to be baptized already by those missionaries and declined. I firmly believe that it is because she was worried about bringing it up with her dad, but now that we're teaching him! Hopefully it won't be a problem! :) I am so excited to continue working with Robert and his Daughter!

Sunday:

We had appointments with both of our investigators and they both cancelled... So we had a lot of free time and decided to go and see one of our other investigators, Bill, that is also really hard to set up a time with (that seems to be a theme... Hmmm). So we drove by his house and it appeared no one was home, but we decided to try anyways. Knocked on the door and... nothing. So we went back to our car and as we're sitting there trying to figure out where to go next and... he pulls up and into his garage! What perfect timing! My companion and I both felt prompted that we should go and see him, but were disappointed when no one was home. But, we are constantly being reminded that everything is on the Lord's time! So we chatted with him for a few minutes and talked about the nature of God with him. i just wish we could find a time to meet with him so that we can have a formal lesson, not just one standing on his porch or on his driveway... But, at least we can meet with him briefly every once in a while. 

Also that night, we got invited to go to Monterey for P-day by our sister training leader (STL) and had planned to drive down to San Jose and stay at her apartment for the night and leave for Monterey in the morning. So we get done with our appointments for the night, pick up some other sisters in our zone that were going too and headed down there. We get about 10 minutes away From their place and get stopped on the highway. There was a car in flames about a hundred cars in front of us! We could see the flames and everything! It was crazy! We had no idea what to do because we were literally stuck there. they weren't letting anyone through. It was so chaotic! We called up our STL and she said to try and turn around and go back to Pleasanton if we could, but that was not an option. She then said to call them if it got to 10:15 and we were still stuck there. I don't know what they were planning on doing if it got to that, but it was about 9:45 when she told us that. Firetrucks and cops were coming past on one side and cars barely had room to move out of the way because we were on an overpass with nowhere to go. Well, eventually, at about 10:08, they had put the fire out and were squeezing cars past the accident. We got to the sisters apartment at 10:25 and were in bed by 10:30. That's right... Obedience is crucial in this mission! But it was a crazy night. 

Monday:

The best P-day ever! We woke up, got ready, did our studies and went to the mission office to prepare for Monterey! I just want to preface this by saying that we really do have the best mission president EVER here in San Jose. Hands down. We found out that it was his idea to invite us to Monterey and he had given us money for food AND one of his personal cars to drive down there. Who else can say that they have driven their mission presidents car? Yes, I was the designated driver. We drove his Ford Explorer down. We met him at the mission office and he gave us the run through of where to go and what to do and to be safe and sent us on our way. We got down there and had a blast! It was me and my companion, and my MTC companion, Sister Goodman and her companion. It really was the perfect group to go with. All the sisters in our zone were invited, but the other 2 companionships were being party-poopers, but I think it ended up being more fun with just us. We went to the wharf and watched sea lions and saw a BUNCH of jelly-fish in the water and went into a few shops and spent the rest of the time on the beach! As we were getting ready to leave, like we were all in the car, I had it in drive with my blinker on to enter traffic, one of the sisters was like, "Is that President?" haha it was! He was just walking around by himself on the other side of the road in street close! it was so weird to see him in street close! But we yelled at him and he ran through traffic to come and talk to us and see if we had fun. Hahaha it was the funniest sight I have ever seen watching president dodge cars coming at him as he jaywalks through traffic! But we got home and went to dinner and did a few other things and the day was over. That's the reason I'm emailing on Tuesday rather than Monday. :) Here's some pictures from our trip:

Well, that's it for this week! I hope everything is going well with all of you! 

Love,

Sister Swapp

nov 5th & 13th

In two days... I will have been on my mission for 9 months... That's so weird to me. I remember when I first got here and saw other sisters that had been here for 9 months and thinking "They're so experienced and awesome at missionary work!" But now that I'm here, I definitely don't feel like that... I still feel like I barely know what's going on! And now all the missionaries that had SOOO long to go till they went home are going home... it's crazy how time flies.

Anyways, this week has been grand! I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Palmer. She's from Sandy Utah. She's been out for 9 months too. We were actually in the same zone in the MTC, but only knew of each other back then. Neither of us thought that we would become companions eventually! But she is so great! I love her already! This is pretty much only her second area. She stayed in the same area (kind of) for the entire first 9 months of her mission. How crazy is that!? But I can see how she is going to make a huge impact on this area. I don't think she sees it yet, but she will. :) We've already see so many miracles since she's been here! And we have many more to come this transfer, I'm sure.

We started a thing called the 21-day plan. It's where we pick out 10 people that we want to see changes happen with, whether that be baptism or coming back to church or something like that. We start off our 21 days with a fast and then pray morning and night for each and every one of these people for 21 days straight, without missing a single prayer. We started yesterday with fast Sunday. And we've kind of added something else to it... Each night, we're writing down the miracles that we see that day. The promise is that at least one of these people will experience a dramatic change in their life. And our zone leader pointed out that in the scriptures, it is always the faith of the missionaries that help the people be converted. And my companion and I have full faith that we will see a miracle in each of the 10 people's lives that we've chosen.

Our area has officially been split. We are now primarily just over the Pleasanton 1st ward. We went to ward council in the 4th ward yesterday and some of them were a little surprised that we were there... They've been anxious to get rid of us and get elders apparently... But we are still backing the elders up in 4th ward and still have an investigator we're working with, so we'll still be attending regularly. But my companion definitely noticed that the bishop favors elders. I don't even know why! I've been trying to figure it out since I got here. It's really frustrating sometimes. It's also been frustrating because the entire time we were over 4th ward we were always asking "what can we do to help?" to the bishop. Constantly! And he always told us, "Oh nothing." Well, he brought up in ward council that the elders stopped by to see him this week and asked what they could do to help.... he gave them a giant list........ Yep. So, I'm trying to look at it as a good thing that the elders have taken over, but the natural man in me sometimes comes out... I think I have pretty much come to terms that we have done everything that we know how to do to help that ward and nothing is working, obviously. So this change will be a good thing. The elders even asked us when they knew the change was going to happen what they could do to best help the 4th ward. I tried really hard to think of something... But we told them that we honestly have no idea and that we've tried everything.

So that's a little bit of stress off my shoulders. It's been a little crazy trying to help 3 missionaries learn the area when I feel like I'm still trying to learn it myself. It was super difficult the first day. I was feeling a lot overwhelmed, but i decided to get a priesthood blessing and that has definitely helped me in keeping calm. I love blessings! Every time I get one, it just increases my appreciation for the priesthood.

Well, that's pretty much it for this week. I am so very grateful for all of you and your support! I love hearing from everyone about how they're doing! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Stay safe!

Love,
Sister Swapp


Nov 12

This week was so great! I love serving here at a time when the work in this area is finally starting to pick up! As I told you a couple weeks ago, my companion and I have started the 21 day plan. Every night, we write down the miracles we have seen that day. It has definitely opened my eyes to sooo many miracles that we would otherwise look over. And we probably aren't seeing ALL of them either!

Wednesday was probably the biggest day for miracles this week. We made cookies for a few people in our wards and we were delivering them and stopped by one lady's house and she wasn't home (which she is pretty much always home...). So we left them with her son and went on our way. Well, as we were turning off of her street, we see a guy riding his bike. It was one of our investigators that we have been having a hard time getting in contact with who we've been worried is dropping us slowly!!! So we stopped the car, got out, and talked to him for a while. We caught up with him and then we asked where his reading was and he said he's been reading and finished 2 Nephi (he was in the middle of 2 Nephi the last time we saw him.). So we told him to read Alma 32 and let us know what he thought of it. Fast forward to the next morning and he texted us with lots of insights!!! He never texts us out of the blue! We always have to initiate the conversation!

Okay, so rewind back to Wednesday night. After we ran into him, we went by one of our potential investigators that we've also been having a hard time reaching and he wasn't home... So we decided to deliver some cookies to a family on the same street as him that just had a baby. It was a part member family and the non-member husband was very nice to us. We got to know them a little bit better and shared a scripture with them even! We were there for about 30 minutes and when we got back in our car we decided we would drive by Bill's again (the potential investigator) even though it hadn't been that long. So we drove by and.... There was a light on in the garage! So we pray really fast and get out and as we're walking to the door... A light inside turns on! I got so excited! So we knocked and he answered. He said he had just gotten home from work not even 2 minutes ago! Perfect timing! We stood on his porch and talked to him for a while and taught him a lesson too. It was so great!

But that's not the end of the night... After we saw Bill, we decided to stop by another part member family who we've been working with that is barely ever home/awake... So we stop by and... They answer!!! So we go in and teach them too! By the end of that, it was time to go back to our apartment for them night. But it was such a good day! And it was our 9 month mark. The Lord was definitely helping us have a good day! Which then helped us have a good week!

Well, that's how my week has been! I hope all of you are having wonderful weeks as well!

Love,
Sister Swapp