Lots of Updates

Feb 3rd

Hello everyone!! 

This week has been wonderful!! We set another baptismal date with one of our investigators. She's an older Indian lady and she is so prepared! She lives right next door to some other sister missionaries (but in our boundaries) and that's how she was found. They just talked to her one day and missionaries have been working with her ever since. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and has seen how when she read it, everything gets better. The power of the Book of Mormon is so amazing! And if you're not reading it regularly, I would strongly suggest you start. It has such an amazing spirit about it. I know it's true because of all the things it's been able to do for me. Not to mention that I've prayed about it too... 

Well, yesterday was the superbowl... and it was miserable! Nobody answered their doors! 

This week, we tried really hard to get our service hours in. My mission is really unique in the sense that we focus on service. We strive to do 5 acts of service for 10 hours every week. This area has been struggling a lot with reaching that goal, so Saturday morning, we went out and picked up trash around our neighborhood and nearby parks for 2 hours. It was so much fun! And it opened up lots of conversations with the people walking by. We then went to an appointment in the afternoon and afterwards, picked up trash for another 2 hours! Haha and we still didn't even reach our goal for hours! This week, we've planned better though. But if you're looking for something to do in your community, I would suggest just going on a walk and picking up trash around town. It's fun! But take gloves... 

Well, that's all for this week! I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Swapp

 

 

Feb 10th

 

This week was so wonderful!! We got to listen to an Apostle of the Lord speak to us and leave our mission with an amazing apostolic blessing. Elder Cook came to speak to us on Saturday. It was so good! The whole mission gathered to hear him and after he left, we had a giant mission-wide zone conference. I love meetings where all of the missionaries get together! The spirit is so strong! Especially when we all sing missionary songs. There really is nothing else like it. It makes me so grateful to have this opportunity to dedicate myself to the Lord and His work in this moment of my life. 

Well, other than that amazing meeting, we had such a great week!! We set another baptismal date. Now we have a baptism every week for 3 straight weeks starting at the end of February. It should be good! The new baptismal date is with a 9 year old girl. Her name is Mikayla and she comes from a less-active family. Although, it will take a huge miracle to make this family active, I don't foresee this little girl's baptism being that miracle, unfortunately. BUT anything is possible with the Lord! So I'm not throwing that out the window just yet! It could happen. 

We also met with one of our other baptismal dates, Amy, the Vietnamese one, and she brought her husband to the lesson too. The ward had a Chinese New Year celebration that night, so we were just going to meet with her after that. We found out earlier in the day that she was going to bring her husband and kids, but we got there late because we had a dinner appointment in one of our other wards. So we walk in and see her and go and say hi. It turns out only her husband could make it, so she pointed us out to him (he wasn't standing with her) and he's one of the guys that's helping cleaning up!!! We all thought that he was just another member that we didn't know when we walked right passed him going into the gym... That's just a glimpse of how awesome he is! So we finally get done cleaning up and go to a room to have a lesson and we teach them about the Plan of Salvation. (This is our 2nd meeting with her, but 1st with him). They both loved it so much! At the end, we asked them what they thought of the plan and he was telling us that he's been trying to get his questions about where we go after we die for a while and reading several books to try and get the answer, but this is the first time he's ever really got it answered. And then he talked about the celestial kingdom and how he wants so badly to go there with his family. We talked about how we can go there, but there are a few things that we need to do first. Then invited him to be baptized. He said yes without any hesitation and Amy's face was just glowing! But they mentioned that he will need a little bit more time than her and we explained that we are here to help them understand. We asked if they had any questions and Amy asked about how she can share this with her family and how she can help them get to the celestial kingdom as well, so we talked about temple work. It was just such a great lesson over all! This family is GOLDEN! She's the one that found the church online and just walked into church one day... And she brought her husband and one of her sons to church yesterday! She's amazing!!!! 

It has been such a great week here! Oh and! I don't remember if I told you about the state-wide fast for rain this past fast Sunday, but it has been such a miracle to be here! Our area authority spoke to us as well on Saturday and he was telling us about the drought we've been having a little bit. He said that there has been a high pressure area over California for 63 days, which means no rain, and this time of year usually is very very rain, supposed to be. So the first presidency announced a state-wide fast for rain. The day that we were scheduled to fast, first off, it was raining when we left our apartment, but he was also telling us that that day, the high pressure area completely disappeared. How miraculous is that?! Well, it's been raining off and on ever since... On the way driving here, we were driving on the highway and it was so bi-polar! I had the windshield wipers on the lowest setting, then I had to turn them on the highest setting 5 seconds later, then turn them down a little, then turn them completely off a few seconds later, then back to the lowest setting. It was all over! Haha 

Well, that's about all I have to report for this week! Things are going so well! And the work is progressing forward! I love you all! Stay warm!

Sister Swapp

 

 

Feb 24th

 

This week was the best week ever! It was just packed full with miracle after miracle! So we had a baptism on Saturday. It was so good! It wasn't the best prepared baptism I've ever been to, mostly because it was combined with another 8 yr old girl from the ward and her mom only planned for 25 people... Well our investigator is from a Samoan family. And if you know anything about Polynesian families, you know that they are not small. So that was interesting, but it worked out fine. 

We also picked up 2 new investigators this week! One of them is the daughter of a very less active lady. (we like to teach and baptize children here... They need the gospel too!) The other new investigator is so awesome! (not that the other one isn't...) But her name is Christina. She just moved here a few months ago, but where she lived before, she would go to church with her son, who is also an investigator. But all the time that she was there, she never got taught by the missionaries because the lady she lived with didn't allow them to come to her house. I don;t know why the missionaries there didn't offer to teach her somewhere else, but they didn't. So she moved in here with her daughter and the bishop got word of her and sent us over. We went there, got to know her and started teaching her the first visit! We taught her the first lesson and she loved it! She soaked it all up! So, we invited her to be baptized. Her response was, "Of course!" And we set a date! She loves this church so much. She was talking to us about the 3 hr block on Sunday and she said, "I don't understand why people complain that it's so long. By the time the 3rd hour is over, I'm going 'it's time to go home already?'" She's soooo prepared! So she's getting baptized on March 29th.

So at the beginning of the week, people were cancelling lessons left and right and we were a little worried we would have a hard time reaching our goal for lessons. Well, by the end of the week, we exceeded it! Our goal is 21, we got 25. Also, our zone leaders had a little competition for street contacting this week... Well, being who I am, I took it seriously. So did my companions. Our goal was to beat just them, and if we beat them, we'd be fine, because in our zone covers SJSU and there are 2 sets of sisters that go contacting there. Well, that just happens to be the hot spot for contacting in the entire mission. So we figured there was no way we were going to beat them. We didn't even try. But, we get emails every week from the mission with charts attached showing the numbers for each zone. I just got done looking at them and we blew every one in our zone out of the water with our contacts!! We got 500 this week. I was so shocked! It was a lot of fun too! I love talking to random people! Haha 

Actually, last night, we were contacting and we ran into an Anti... That was fun. I gave him a card for mormon.org and he started walking away, but turned around and said, "oh no thank you" and handed it back. He started walking away again, but turned around again and said, "You know, there is one thing I agree with about mormons. They teach a good work ethic." and he paused for a second and went on in a very stern voice and said, "Other than that, your religion is a demonic religion." My companion, Sister Li, said, "Sir, I'm sorry that you think that, but..."And tried to go on, but he cut her off and went in to say how the "founder" of our religion was a sick man who worshiped the devil and that we needed to do more research into our own religion. He also told us that we needed to read the bible and find out who Jesus Christ REALLY is. Sister Li, being from temple square, is trained to deal with these kinds of people. She handled it very well. She tried testifying, but when he kept cutting her off and yelling over her, she said, "Sir, we're not trying to argue with you. Have a nice day. And started walking away." The whole time with him yelling and screaming at her. I was so worried he was going to lay his hands on her. It was intense. 

Well, this coming week should be pretty awesome too! We're meeting with a referral that the elders gave us and she seems pretty solid already. We talked to her on the phone right after the elders contacted into her. They called us and said, "We have someone that wanted to talk to you." and handed her their phone and we set up an appointment with her for this week. 

Well, I love you all and hope you are having a wonderful time! I miss you all very much!

March 3rd

 

his week was great! I attended 2 different baptisms in 2 different languages. That was pretty cool! One was in Samoan and one was in Vietnamese. Both very different, but both very spiritual. 

For our zone activity last week, we played Jurassic Park. haha it was lots of fun! Some of the sisters in our zone made it up. Basically, we had to find objects hidden throughout the church building that would help us get off the island. We worked in companionships and if we got tagged by the "raptors" (one companionship of missionaries playing as raptors throwing balls at people) we had to go and take back all of our items and start over again. If we obtained all of the items, we had to get back to the "helicopter pad" (the stage) without getting caught. It was so much fun!

Well, this was the last week of the transfer and we are loosing Sister Tuala. :( I don't know what we are going to do without her in this area! She started this area up for sisters 8 months ago and has been here learning the area ever since! She has all of this knowledge about all the people in her head! We spent a long time during weekly planning this last week updating/creating teaching records for almost everybody we work with. It was lots of fun. NOT! I have a firm testimony in updating the area book regularly, not putting it off and putting it off until you have a billion things to update or worse, not even doing it at all so the past missionaries won't have any idea where these people are at and what they've already been taught. 

We went to the temple visitor's center last week with a less active/part member family. The wife has been less active since her youth and the husband is not a member. We had FHE with them every Monday night. The deal is, we teach the lesson and they provide the treats. So last week, we went to the temple for the lesson. It was so great to be there! I love going to the temple! 

One of our investigators is scheduled to move into our apartment complex this weekend! Right next to us actually! It will be so good because right now, they are living with her mom, who is VERY Buddhist... and they can't all go to church because then she will get suspicious, so when they move, they will all be able to go to church with the mom finding out. We haven't even met their 2 sons yet. So, we are very excited for them to be so close to us. Pretty soon, our whole complex will be members. The managers are members (that's how we got our investigator connected with this place), there's another member family that lives there, then there's both us and the elders that live there. Haha so much fun! We were talking with the managers a couple nights ago and they were joking around and saying that we should just make the pool that's in the middle of all the apartments into a baptismal font. Just put a gate on each side and line them up to go in on one side and out the other! Haha Then, we'll convert the whole complex next door, then the one across the street, and pretty soon, we'll have a chapel right there! 

Well, I need to get going. Not much time left on the computer. But, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Swapp

 

 

 

March 10th

 

This week has been pretty good. Lots of changes have taken place. We no longer cover 3 wards. :( they took one away from us. And of course, it was the ward that we had the most work in... I think president is just trying to even out the load. Some of the other sisters in our zone now cover that ward, so we know it's in good hands. It's just sad because that's the ward that we had the best connection with and knew more of the people. It was really hard saying goodbye to the people that we met with regularly this week and passing them off to the other sisters. But now, we can focus more on the other 2 wards and do the work there that needs to be done. It's actually been amazing seeing how when we put our efforts into it, the Lord will guide us to the people that are prepared. We received 3 referrals this week and gotten several people's information while contacting that seem legitimately interested. It's been amazing!

One night, we were contacting, and we were rushing back to our car to go to dinner because we were going to be late (rush hour here is miserable.), and Sister Li quickly contacted a lady with a Mormon.org card; the typical "Can we share this card with you? It's for a website we're inviting people to check out that talks about Jesus Christ." The lady took the card and as Sister Li was saying "Have a good night." the lady stops her and says, "What's your name?" and she told her, and the lady goes, "Can I have your number?" Meanwhile, I was way up ahead and thought she was right behind me until I hear her say her name and realize she was definitely not right behind me. So I turn around and head back and we start talking to this lady and it turns out she's been doing a lot of research about different religions. She said her mom was Baptist and she went to church with her growing up, but since she's turned 18, she's been looking for her own church. It was so awesome! So we got her info and went on our way. Her name was Kristian.

Oh and we have a new companion! Her name is Sister Savila. She's from Samoa as well! She actually knew our last companion back home. They went to the same high school. She is so funny! I love her!

We had Zone Training Meeting this week and it was great. We talked a lot about post-mission plans. That was weird... We talked about education and marriage and families. I felt like I was at a YSA fireside or something. Especially since it was at the institute... But that's what our mission president is stressing a lot right now. I think he's getting trunky. Haha He goes home in July. :(

They asked our companionship to talk about how we can have fun and still be obedient to the mission rules in our daily lives. It was actually lots of fun. They asked the right companionship to talk about it, because we are always having fun! We do random things all the time (that are obedient) that make us laugh. We shared some of those things and asked for other ideas. It was great!

Well, that's all for this week. I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Swapp

 

 

March 18th

 

(and easier) than any other hike I've been on since I've been here. God's creations are so amazing!!

So the biggest thing to be excited about is that Amy & Thanh Duong are getting baptized this week! We've been finalizing the plans for it now and it realy is happening. They are both so cute about it too. Amy is super nervous and it's cute because her husband, Thanh is just like, "It's okay, just relax and everything will be fine." Haha like Sunday, we were discussing how things were going to happen and Amy was getting really worried that she wouldn't be able to plug her nose and Thanh kept telling her, "It will only be 5 seconds under the water. Just hold your breath." We ended up showing her how it was going to be done and that she could plug her nose. My favorite is when we taught the Law of Chastity to them. We explained it and everything and invited them to keep it and they just looked at each other and smiled and he held out his hand and she took it and they said, "There won't be any problem there." It was adorable! This couple is just so ready to accept the gospel in their life. They have seriously been being prepared for forever! I'm so excited for them to finally be able to enter into covenants with the Lord this weekend, and then in a year as well when they can go to the temple and be sealed for eternity!! This morning, we went over to see her and she was telling us that last night, they had their very first family prayer. They've been living with her mom who doesn't even know about any of this whole church thing, so they couldn't ever gather their kids to pray as a family the way we pray. And I don't think her kids know that they have been investigating the church either. But she was telling us that last night, she brought her two boys into the family room and she said a prayer with them and afterwards, they were asking her questions like, "Who's Heavenly Father?" and "Whose Jesus Christ?" Because previously, they would pray to Buddha. And she said she even prayed long sentences in English. (Vietnamese is her first language and she's been trying to learn English only for a little bit). She said that ever since she's been meeting with us, she's been getting better at speaking English. We told her we are so excited for her to be baptized and she was like, "I am more excited than you!" Haha She's so cute. Pics will come next week. 

Another great story of the week is that I witnessed my companion and one of the elders eat balute. Bleh! If you don't know what balute is, it's half developed duck egg. They get a fertilized duck egg that has a baby duckling growing inside of it, and they boil it just like a hard boiled egg. Then, they eat it. It's a Filipino dish. They eat all of it! Feathers, bones, and all! I was gagging just watching them eat it. My companion couldn't even finish it. Haha 

Anyways, I don't have much time left. But I just wanted to say that I love this gospel so much! I know it's true. It has blessed my life so much! I don't know where I would be without it and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than right here sharing it with all of the people here in the San Jose Mission boundaries. 

Love,

Sister Swapp

 

 

March 24th

 

Well, this week was fantastic! Let me rephrase that, Saturday was the best day of my mission thus far!!! I got to witness 3 baptisms of people that I love dearly. 

The first one was Monica. She is amazing! This girl has been planning on being baptized for 14 months! Her parents wouldn't give her permission though. So she had to wait till she turned 18, which was this past week! I got had the privileged of getting to work with her when I was in Pleasanton. My companion, Sister Craig and I got to the area and the elders said, "You have a baptismal date!" We said, "Awesome! Who and when is it?" And they said, "Monica Hernandez. She's getting baptized in March of 2014." And we were like, "Say what? That's so far away" it only being June of 2013. But, we made it! And she is now officially a member of the restored church of Jesus Christ. 

The second and third baptisms I was able to be a part of was Amy and Thanh's baptism! They are so wonderful!!! I just love them so much! The baptism was a sweet and spiritual experience. And they got confirmed in sacrament by the Vietnamese elders so that it could be in their own language ad they could understand it better. It was kind of funny. After being confirmed, the person conducting got up and said, "If you didn't understand that, it was Vietnamese." I'm sure the half of the congregation that isn't Chinese thought it was Chinese. haha And the Chinese half was all sorts of confused. So when he said that, we heard everyone go, "Ohhh" quietly. 

These were the highlights of my week! It was so wonderful to see these wonderful children of our Heavenly Father be able to enter into the waters of baptism and take upon themselves His name. Oh how blessed they will be. 

I was also able to see some of my favorite people in the whole world up in Pleasanton! I was reunited with my old companion, Sister Craig, and we went to lunch with the best people ever! The Millers. With President's permission, obviously. They were giving us rides back to our areas after the baptism and President was there, so they asked if they could take us to lunch. It was so much fun! 

Well, I can't think of anything else to report on for the week. We are going to play Jurassic Park again today as a zone, so that should be fun. I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Love,
Sister Swapp