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
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