January Letters

January 13th

Happy Monday!

It's been a great week! Weird, but great! I got a letter in the mail from the mission informing me of my release date... It was super weird. FYI, it will be August 20th. 

My companion and I sang a duet in church yesterday... It was scary. It was the hymn "O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown" to the tune of "If You Could Hie to Kolob." We sang the first verse together, the second verse was just me, the third was just my companion, and the last was both of us. I've never sang by myself in front of big crowds like that ever before! We were both so nervous. We were doing everything we could to clear our throats that morning and the night before. It went well though. The last verse was the best because we were done being stressed about our solos. Haha But people kept telling us that they couldn't even tell that was our first time, we looked like pros. I think that was definitely the Spirit helping them see that. Hahaha 

But it was a really cool experience that strengthened my testimony a lot! I had been praying that we could deliver the song, and no matter what, that the spirit would be there, because I've learned that if the spirit is there, then what comes out of our mouth doesn't matter. And I know that the spirit was definitely there while we were singing. It reminded me of when I gave my farewell talk. I was so so nervous! I had never ever given a 15 minute talk before and was so scared! But I prepared, and the whole morning, I had been praying that I could deliver my talk and say the things that needed to be heard. And that my nervousness wouldn't show too much. It was the first time that I had given a talk without stuttering or my muscles uncontrollably twitching and I was actually able to speak up and out, whereas, before I had just always read my talks and mumbled it out to get it over with as fast as I could. I've definitely learned through these experiences and sooo many others that the Lord will help us with anything, even speaking, but we have to ask for the help first.  

We also wore matching outfits! Haha So here's the story. We were at a members house last week for dinner, right after we were asked to sing, and they were watching "Cheetah Girls" before we got there. So we were joking around and saying we should sing the song from that that goes, "We are sisters, we stick together," when we sing. Haha so the mom was like, "Oh my goodness, if you don't sing that song, you MUST at least wear cheetah print or something, and we'll be the only ones that know what you actually wanted to sing." So

Not only did we wear cheetah print, but we also coordinated colors. :) 

We had interviews with president this week and it was so nice. He helped me a lot with figuring out what to do after my mission. He also basically told me that I was getting transferred this time around, which happens to be next Tuesday... He said it's not set in stone, but I'm pretty sure it is and he's just saying that. I don't know where I'm going, but since next Monday is a holiday, I will have to email on Tuesday, and by then I'll be in my new area. So I'll inform you then! :) 

I went on exchanges this week with our STL (sister training leader) and her companion. I went down to their area with her companion and she came here with my companion. It was so good! We both learned a lot! One of the things that impressed me was how easily Sister Voyles (the sister I was with) made it look to contact people without any materials. Contacting is definitely NOT my strong point, as you can imagine, but every time I see it done like the way I saw this sister do it, it gives me confidence. Then I go to actually do it... and the confidence leaves when I get shut down... It's a vicious cycle. The area I'm in right now is sooo hard on missionaries trying to street contact! Nobody is interested, if there even is anyone out on the streets to talk to. We'll go a whole night contacting about 30 people and only really share the gospel with like 3 people... Everybody else just passes by and doesn't even acknowledge you. It's rough. That's why we have to rely on the members to give us referrals to find people to teach. 

Which, we just started this week with really laying it heavy on the members that we need their help and can't do it by ourselves. We've gotten more referrals this week than ever since I've been in this area! We got 2 referrals! Haha unfortunately, neither of them were interested, but statistics show that 1 out of 3 referrals are interested, so our next referral will be golden! *crossing our fingers*

Well, that's how my week has been pretty much. This is my last full week in this area. :(

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Swapp

January 21st

Wow! What a crazy and amazing week!! This past week has seriously been one of the best so far in my entire mission! 

So my companion and I decided we were going to have more meaningful contacts, which is what we struggled with a lot. It's scary to talk to people. Even for missionaries! So, we decided to go contacting in parks, because people aren't rushing usually. So our first night, Tuesday, we went to a park right before dinner and we ran into a guy named Rafi. We only had about 5 minutes till dinner and were actually debating on whether or not we had time to go talk to him. I'm glad we decided to! Because he was not having a very good day. :( We talked to him for a little bit and we shared Matthew 11: 28-30 with him and gave him a Book of Mormon and got his information and prayed with him. He told us that he knows we were a sign from God telling him that He is still there and appreciated us coming and talking to him. 

A few nights later, same situation, only a few minutes left till dinner, we saw a girl sitting on a table eating food and debated again whether we had time to talk to her. We do and it turns out she's been looking for a church. We gave her a Book of Mormon and gave her our info and prayed with her. 

These experiences have taught me so much about how Heavenly Father tries our faith and loyalty. It seems like it's always in the last 5 minutes before we have to go that he places someone that is prepared. It's taught me to be diligent and just go and talk to them no matter how much time you have left! 

We also picked up a new investigator who is soooo prepared!! Some awesome members brought him to church a couple weeks ago and we met him and gave him a Book of Mormon after our Sunday School lesson on the Plan of Salvation. We got a call from the members that brought him (the guy is the wife's cousin) and they told us that he had read some of the Book of Mormon and was going to church with them the next day and wanted a lesson from us when we came for dinner Sunday night (they had signed up to feed us). Well, the funny part is, is that we were planning on cancelling on them because we had planned to go to the temple with Rhanya, our recent convert, and wouldn't have time to make it for dinner. But we promised the member that we would have missionaries there to teach him and that we would figure something out. Well, it turns out that Rhanya woke up with a fever Sunday morning, so she cancelled our temple trip. Which we were super sad about, but it meant that we could go and teach Matt that night! So we get to dinner and after we eat, we start teaching him the restoration. It was such a good lesson! The Spirit was sooooo strong! And he had so many good questions. We also had another member family come over and the husband was a convert to the church as well, so we had him share how he came to know the Book of Mormon was true and it was so powerful and perfect! 

This week, also, we exceeded our goal for lessons! WHich NEVER haas happened since I've been in Pleasanton! Our weekly goal is 20, and we had 24 by the end of the week! The Lord is just hastening His work so much in the Pleasanton area! We are finally starting to see the fruits of our labors and it is so great! Just in time for me to leave too... 

The last bit of news I have is..... I got transferred and am now in a new area! It's going to be a lot of fun. We cover 3 family wards (I thought 2 was bad...) and I'm in a tri-panionship! And I'm the only one in our trio that's from America!!! Hahaha The sister that's been in the area the longest is Sister Tuala. She's from Samoa. She's been out 1 transfer longer than I have. The other sister is Sister Li. She's from Hong Kong. They are both so wonderful! Because Sister Li speaks Chinese, we have a Chinese investigator and we just came from a lesson with her. It was amazing! The church is true even in other languages!! Hahaha It was really interesting though because the investigator can understand english, she just learns better in her native tongue, which makes sense. So Sister Li would talk with her about who knows what (well the gospel, obviously) and then she would turn to one of us and say, "Sister Swapp, do you want to explain how Adam and Eve's decision to partake of the fruit affects us?" And I would explain, then she would go back into speaking Chinese and turn to one of us again, "Sister Tuala, do you want to talk about what the spirit world is?" Haha it was really interesting. But, I know I am going to love it here! I already sort of know the area. 2 of the wards we cover are wards that I covered when I was in the YSA branch. So I know all the ward member's YSA aged kids!! Hahaha I'm really excited though. A little overwhelmed maybe... but I know that I have so many wonderful things to learn and grow from in this area, otherwise the Lord wouldn't put me here. 

I love you all so much! And I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Swapp

January 27th 

Hello!

This week has been so great! I love it here! It's a little crazy with the 3 wards, but I think I'm getting it down. I think I had a harder time getting 2 wards down when I was in Pleasanton. It's amazing how the Lord strengthens your ability to serve in a certain area. Both of my companions will be leaving soon and I think that has something to do with it. Sister Li will be going back to Temple Square in April, she's a temple square sister on her outbound assignment right now. And Sister Tuala will be getting transferred at the end of this transfer most likely, she's been here ever since they opened this area 7 months ago.  So I really am relying on the Lord to help me learn everything I can from them before they leave.

It's been so fun though! Usually you think a trio would be really hard, but things are so great in this trio! We all get along so well! And we teach really well together too. It's the best trio ever. We're always laughing together too, which is important. :)

So we set a baptismal date this week! My very first full day here, we met with a Vietnamese woman named Amy.  She's been so prepared! She found the church on her won and came to church one Sunday, but the sisters (this was before I came) weren't there because they were attending the other 2 wards we cover, so a member fellowshipped her, got her number and gave it to the sisters. The sisters then called her and set up a time to meet with her. When I met her, it was only their second meeting with her and we taught her the restoration. It was perfect! We had a member there and she had some really good questions. So, I have a box that I keep my scriptures in and I have pictures from the ensign all over it and so when we were talking about Christ's earthly ministry, the member grabbed my scripture case and showed her the picture of Jesus Christ being baptized by John the Baptist and it opened up a huge discussion about baptism. That's when I knew we were going to be inviting her to be baptized sometime throughout the lesson. Well, we went on and after we had finished teaching about the Book of Mormon, I invited her to pray about it. She said yes and I said, "As you pray and come to know that this is true for yourself, will you prepared yourself to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone that holds the authority of God?" She said, "Yes!" without skipping a beat! She kind of said it in a "duh I'll be baptized" kind of way. Haha The Spirit was so strong! She's so amazing!

I have fallen in love with the people here! They are all so amazing and sweet! I love all of the people I've met. My heart is just bursting with love for them!

Also this week, I started a gratitude journal. It's been really fun to write every night about a couple things I'm grateful for. I don't have enough time to write about every single thing I'm grateful for in one night, so I decided to do a couple things each night. I love writing down the things I'm grateful for and why I'm grateful for them because I end up recognizing why I really am thankful for the things I have. Sometimes even deeper than I thought. It's amazing. The Lord has given me so many blessings! I'm excited to fill up this journal with them!

Well, that's my week for you! It's been amazing!

Here's my new address for those of you wondering...

46703 Crawford St. #20

Fremont, CA 94539

Love you all,

Sister Swapp

Update

December 23rd

Merry Christmas!!! 

This week was so great!! Every day was just so amazing! There was really no reason, it's just the holiday season! Isn't it great!? 

We went street contacting last night and ran into some born again christians... That was fun. they kept telling us that we didn't believe in the same God as the God in the bible and that the God in the Book of Mormon is a different God. To that I told them that it says over and over again in the Book of Mormon that the God we believe in is the same God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed in from the BIBLE. And they told us that we won't be saved until we come to know God, and we can't do that without His son, Jesus Christ. And we were like, yes. And they were like, well you don't believe that! You believe that God and Jesus Christ are different people, but Jesus IS God. And we were like,yes, we believe they are 2 separate beings. the whole time they were talking, they were confusing the heck out of me with what they believe in... They kept saying that Jesus was God, but then 2 seconds later, they would mention that Jesus is the son of God. And i was like, that doesn't make sense! you're telling me that Jesus is his own son?? Tell me how that works???? Well, I didn't say that to them, because I quickly realized that nothing we could say would change their minds, so we might as well not waste our time trying, because we had an appointment soon. But i love running into born agains because the very last part of their lecture to us, they always say something along the lines of, "Well, I'll pray for you that you come to a realization and they you can get to know God like I have." Haha It's just funny to me. we were telling our appointment right after that about this and he served a mission and LOVES stories like this and right when we said they were born agains, he was like, "ohhhh did they tell you the exact time and day they were 'saved' and came to know Jesus?" And we were like, "Yes! they totally did!" haha apparently, they are really good at that and you can't talk to them without them mentioning that exact time and day! Haha it was funny. 

Well, we had really good Christmas programs yesterday at church in both our wards. it was really good! In 1st ward, we had so many less actives and non-members there! It was amazing! We didn't know who to talk to first after sacrament meeting! There was even a less active in the choir that we've stopped by a couple times and she doesn't even let us share short messages with her... But she sings in the choir at Christmas!!! What? Well, I guess going to church on Christmas is better than not going to church at all... but the program was really good. The song selection were chosen very well, and the Spirit was really strong the whole meeting. And they had the hand bells! Which is always awesome! 

We almost didn't have a place to go for Christmas this week too... the people that signed up had a family emergency and told the Relief Society President that they probably wouldn't be able to host us for Christmas, but they announced it in sunday school and someone signed up again! And we're really excited! It's a new move in family and they are the aunt and uncle of one of the sisters that served here not too long ago. She's still in the mission. In fact, I replaced her when I got moved here, that's how recently. But we're really excited to get to know them better! And we're really excited to talk to our families!!! 

Well, that's about it for this week! I'm just looking forward to the holidays! It's going to be a great year! One I will never forget! I love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Sister Swapp

December 30th

Merry Christmas!!! 

This week was so great!! Every day was just so amazing! There was really no reason, it's just the holiday season! Isn't it great!? 

We went street contacting last night and ran into some born again christians... That was fun. they kept telling us that we didn't believe in the same God as the God in the bible and that the God in the Book of Mormon is a different God. To that I told them that it says over and over again in the Book of Mormon that the God we believe in is the same God that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob believed in from the BIBLE. And they told us that we won't be saved until we come to know God, and we can't do that without His son, Jesus Christ. And we were like, yes. And they were like, well you don't believe that! You believe that God and Jesus Christ are different people, but Jesus IS God. And we were like,yes, we believe they are 2 separate beings. the whole time they were talking, they were confusing the heck out of me with what they believe in... They kept saying that Jesus was God, but then 2 seconds later, they would mention that Jesus is the son of God. And i was like, that doesn't make sense! you're telling me that Jesus is his own son?? Tell me how that works???? Well, I didn't say that to them, because I quickly realized that nothing we could say would change their minds, so we might as well not waste our time trying, because we had an appointment soon. But i love running into born agains because the very last part of their lecture to us, they always say something along the lines of, "Well, I'll pray for you that you come to a realization and they you can get to know God like I have." Haha It's just funny to me. we were telling our appointment right after that about this and he served a mission and LOVES stories like this and right when we said they were born agains, he was like, "ohhhh did they tell you the exact time and day they were 'saved' and came to know Jesus?" And we were like, "Yes! they totally did!" haha apparently, they are really good at that and you can't talk to them without them mentioning that exact time and day! Haha it was funny. 

Well, we had really good Christmas programs yesterday at church in both our wards. it was really good! In 1st ward, we had so many less actives and non-members there! It was amazing! We didn't know who to talk to first after sacrament meeting! There was even a less active in the choir that we've stopped by a couple times and she doesn't even let us share short messages with her... But she sings in the choir at Christmas!!! What? Well, I guess going to church on Christmas is better than not going to church at all... but the program was really good. The song selection were chosen very well, and the Spirit was really strong the whole meeting. And they had the hand bells! Which is always awesome! 

We almost didn't have a place to go for Christmas this week too... the people that signed up had a family emergency and told the Relief Society President that they probably wouldn't be able to host us for Christmas, but they announced it in sunday school and someone signed up again! And we're really excited! It's a new move in family and they are the aunt and uncle of one of the sisters that served here not too long ago. She's still in the mission. In fact, I replaced her when I got moved here, that's how recently. But we're really excited to get to know them better! And we're really excited to talk to our families!!! 

Well, that's about it for this week! I'm just looking forward to the holidays! It's going to be a great year! One I will never forget! I love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love,

Sister Swapp

January 6th

Happy Monday!! Guess what everyone!? Today is my 11 month mark... *gulp* Yep. You read that right. It's crazy to think that! I feel like I just got here!

So this week has been so awesome! I'm officially a certified Preach My Gospel Missionary too! (Which I should've been 8 months ago, but due to the fact of getting changed around a lot and having 2 different trainers... I wasn't). Here's the story: 

So our mission president has required of us that we get re-certified as PMG (Preach My Gospel) missionaries. So, I don't know what other missions are like, but here, they include getting certified in the 12 week training program you do in your first 12 weeks in the field. So because soooo many new missionaries have been exploding up our mission, there has been a lack of technical competence, because they come, train for 6 weeks, then their off training someone else when they don't even have the whole idea of what their doing. So he's been stressing that a lot. Well, at the beginning of the month, our dear zone leaders gave us all a new certification packet and said, "President wants you all to be re-certified by the end of the year." And we all thought, "Ahhh you want us to do 12 weeks worth of certification in a less than 4 weeks?? How is that possible?" Or at least, that's what I thought. And I actually didn't get certified the first time around. Shhh Probably because I had two different trainers... So I got SUPER stressed about it and that night, I took it to the Lord. I told Him that I wanted to be a certified missionary, but that it was not possible for me to do it by myself. And that if He helped me (which I knew He would), that I would do my best to be a better servant to Him at all costs. Well, the first experience I had with this is that I did finish before the end of the year. With half an hour till bed time to go! :) We worked on it ALL week. We've been working on it as a district the whole month little by little, but this past week, we met together Monday and Tuesday morning and just booked through it. Oh I forgot to tell you what all the things were that we had to do. There were 3 parts. The first one was we had to memorize all the PMG chapters and subheadings, the 2nd was we had to teach all of the fundamentals of conversion, and the 3rd was that we had to teach all of the 5 lessons in PMG without skipping any points in any of the lessons. And we could pass all these off little by little, it wasn't a do-it-all-at-once type of thing, thank goodness. 

So the second experience I had with that was we were working on it Tuesday morning and it was kind of hectic in the room. Lots of talking and stuff, you know. And I was working on the first lesson, The Restoration, and I went to pass it off (talking one-on-one with my zone leader, but still in the same room as everyone else) and I got to the part where we recite the first vision and I started and the whole room went dead silent and the Spirit was there so strongly! It was really cool to see how the Spirit can be there in rooms that are on the verge of chaos and how strong talking about the first vision can bring it even in just reciting it! I wasn't even teaching anyone! After I recited it, there was a way more spiritual and reverent mood in the room the rest of the time. Super cool! I've had several experiences with the first vision that just strengthen my testimony so much more about what really happened to Joseph Smith in that grove since I've been here. It's amazing! And I love it so much!

Oh and I mentioned last week that we got a new WML and.... He is the BOMB!!!!! He's seriously so awesome!! We had a meeting yesterday and words can't even describe how excited I am for the work that will finally be moving forward with him as the WML. This ward is practically perfect now as far as leadership! One day, we're going to go to ward council and nobody will be there because they'll all be translated. Haha In ward council yesterday, at the end, bishop turned to us and asked what they can be doing better to help us, and I literally could not think of anything! We finally had to come up with something so the one thing we could think of was helping us get more involved with the youth so they can know what to expect when it comes time to go on their missions. That was it. They then proceeded to come up with a plan to do just that. I just love his ward so much! It's sad to think that I'll probably be leaving in a couple weeks. :( 

Well, we have lotsl to do this week! Our president is coming to inspect our apartments this week, so lots of preparing will commence as soon as we leave the library... 

I hope all of you are having a wonderful new year! 

Love,

Sister Swapp