Hermana McKenna Swapp: 2016

Happy New Year!! 12-28-2016

¡Hola Familia!

Lo siento no tengo mucho tiempo hoy! I'm sorry I don't have a lot of
time today but I'll do my best! I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
It was a very merry one here in Louisville and the best part was
skyping and seeing everyone!! We have some awesome members here who
let us in their homes and we had a ball!

The whole week was great, our hearts were touched as almost every
night this week members invited us in their homes and gave us a little
Christmas present. It meant so much to know that we are loved and we
have people here who care about us.

So a quick miracle story this week! We found Domingos on the street
and so we talked with him and we set up an appointment with him. He
didn't have much time during that first appointment and so we read a
little from the introduction and left him with a restoration pamphlet.
Well a couple days later we had a video lesson over Facebook and
before we could say anything he said, "It's true, it's all true. The
Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is true. I believe it all." He
then started teaching us the Restoration! Of course we set a baptismal
date with him and he is excited. It was such a tender mercy from God!

Some other great things this week was we had a fun Christmas
Conference with two other zones and we had a blast, we had some hammer
time and went to lunch with the famous Darryl Isaacs, we got to go to
the temple today, and we had the yummiest tamales in the world last
night!! It was great. We've found two more families to teach this week
and it has been a lot of fun getting to know them!!

We also got to go to the doctor for my shoulder this week (from my
fall a couple weeks ago), it's not looking so hot so I would love some
prayers! But I know Heavenly Father is looking out for me and it will
all work out!

I'll send lots of pictures and y'all can just see what a great week we had(:

I'm sorry for the lame email but I hope y'all know how much I love
you! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I hope you all have
a very happy new year! And be happy. Because life is too short to be
anything else. (:

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in
Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every
place."
-2 Corinthians 2:14

A cute family from our ward!

Christmas Conference!

Christmas Eve with the Wolf's!

Christmas Jammies!!

Christmas Day Skype! Yay!

We changed P day to today to go to the temple and Elizabeth came with us!!

2:40 PM
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FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!! 12-19-2016

¡Hola Familia!

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I. Am. So. Excited. Yo
espero que todos tengan una feliz Navidad! This is just the happiest
time of year ever and I can't wait to celebrate the Savior on Sunday!
(And happy birthday to Elder Bair as well).

But folks, it has gotten cold here in good ole Louisville! We were
down to the teens and 20s for the temperature and missionary work just
turned into a whole new game! We are bundling up here and drinking
lots of hot chocolate! It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas
(we just need some snow now).

Let's see here... A little update on Arcadia! So Fidel is doing great.
He came to church yesterday and we had a lesson with him this week as
well. He loves the Book of Mormon! He thinks it's so cool that it's
his ancestors and he keeps asking us for chapters to read. He's
awesome! He's a character too, he can make anyone laugh. Yesterday,
after I translated at church he came up to me and said, "Hermana, tu
español es fea. No quiero él traducción la próxima semana." (Your
Spanish is ugly and I don't want translation next week), he was trying
to be funny and joking around but it's also a good indication to all
of you at home how my Spanish is going haha! Oh boy, I study so hard!

We found a new family! Berenice and Jose, they're awesome. They're
don't quite get our message, they get a lot of things mixed up with
their religion but they really are interested and are letting us come
back. So we're excited to be teaching them!

We also found another guy named Fernando! He is great! He moved here
from El Salvador and is just such a happy guy! He had met with the
missionaries before so we just reviewed the Book of Mormon with him
and got to know him. We read the introduction with him and he loved
it! At the end we asked him to pray and he hadn't prayed before but he
finally said he would. There's nothing I love more than listening to
someone offer their first prayer. And in his prayer he said, "Thank
you for sending me these missionaries and please help me to understand
their message because I know it's something I need in my life." He was
incredible and the spirit was so strong! I love the Book of Mormon.

We were able to do some service this week and to have some lessons
with the less actives in the ward. I love this Christmas time because
people's hearts are so softened and so opened to their Savior! The
lessons we've had have been so special!

We haven't been able to have any lessons with our new investigators
from last week, it's a great time of year but also a busy time of
year. So we're hoping we can find them all this week and continue to
help them build their relationship with their Father and Savior.

So a couple crazy experiences this week I already told mom and dad
this one in a different letter but we were trying to surprise the
other set of sister missionaries in our ward with a little Christmas
present. We have the key to their apartment so we snuck in and left
their presents there and when we came back out they were sitting in
their car so we booked it so they wouldn't see us (they did haha) and
when we got to the car there must have been ice because I totally
slipped and my feet came up from beneath me and I had the greatest
fall anyone ever did see. One second the sisters could see me, the
next I was gone! I lied on the ground for a solid 5 minutes and just
laughed. I hope one day when we're all in the celestial kingdom
together that God has a big screen and plays that moment for us all to
laugh at and enjoy together.

Saturday night we had tornado warnings all night and we were told to
stay in but we still needed to talk to 27 people so we went to the gas
station across the street and talked to as many people as we could (we
got 28 😏) but we looked like we had taken a long swim in our clothes.
It was so much fun and so cold! And don't worry we were safe, we
followed the spirit and there was no tornado!

I'm sorry my letters are so lame one day my writing will be as good as
my Spanish haha! But I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and
remember the Savior during this time. I want you all to know that I
know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. I cannot and will not
deny it. I know He knows each one of you personally and He came to
this earth to save you. I am so very grateful for all He did for me
and you, and I am so grateful for this time of year we have to
celebrate Him and His life. Remember to #LightTheWorld this week and
every day after this week as well! I love you all so very much and I
cannot wait to skype you on Sunday! I will see you then but until then
be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. Merry
Christmas!

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends."
-John 15:13

Our Christmas set up! Thanks mom! And sorry,

 this is the only picture from the whole week!

4:27 PM
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We got 11 new investigators this week 12-12-2016

¡Hola Familia!

I hope everyone has had such a good week! I'm sorry I'm writing so
late, we just got back from the Louisville Slugger museum, it was
awesome!! Hunter and Payton would've loved it!

But We had a great week here in Arcadia! I actually felt like a
missionary we had so many lessons! We got 11 new investigators this
week and set 4 baptismal dates which is good for us, so we are super
excited! Heavenly Father poured the blessings on us this week and I am
so grateful!

Silvia wasn't there for her lesson on Monday so we went and knocked on
an inactive's door and she let us in! We talked with them and she has
a son who is 9 years old and we got to know them and he told us he
wants to get baptized and loves the Book of Mormon so we were super
excited about that. Her name is Mareni and her son is Yosimar. They
are incredible.

We were tracting on Tuesday and we knocked on a door and found
Magdalena and Alejandro. They didn't want to talk with us and so we
showed them the #LightTheWorld video and they let us in right away. We
sat down and talked about the Book of Mormon and we read 3 Nephi 11
together and they loved it! They even invited us to come back!

We found Manuela on the street and she told us to come to her house
and so we did. We taught her and her family, Jesus and Jose! We taught
them the restoration and the spirit was so strong! They didn't accept
a baptism date but they said they would be once they learned more!

Dalila was a referral and we felt super impressed to go find her on
Thursday and so we did and when we got there she said it was her only
day off of work! It was a miracle, we taught her the restoration and
it was incredible! She accepted it and it totally made since to her.
She's going to be preparing for baptism on January 14th! She is so
cute!

We went looking for Silvia on Friday and when we knocked on the
apartment door it was a completely different person and furniture and
everything. We were so confused. Brenda answered the door and she told
us she had lived there for 7 years.... It was like Silvia was a ghost
(we probably just wrote the wrong address down haha!). But she let us
in and we had a great lesson with her, she invited us back!

On that same day we were doing our studies and we got a call from the
Elders who asked us to translate for them so we drove to DQ and skyped
in on a lesson with the Elders. It was amazing, it's crazy the
resources Heavenly Father has given us to do His work. I am so
grateful for the technology on my mission.

On Saturday we found Margarita! It was such a miracle, but we found
her. She has been super sick it made me sad :( but she's doing okay
and said she still wants to get baptized and asked us to come back
during the week.

Then we found Sandra and Kevin. They just moved here from Guatemala
and we tracted their door and they let us in! We had an amazing lesson
with them (their cousin sat in and he was so drunk. He was yelling the
craziest things, it was kinda funny but the amazing thing is he didn't
distract from the spirit). They were both incredible and accepted a
baptismal date as well. Kevin said his first prayer and it was
beautiful! I love hearing somebody offer their first prayer, they're
always amazing.

And Fidel he is doing amazing! We had four lessons with him this week,
he is so funny! He calls Hermana Boyson - Hermana Niño Hijo. He calls
me Hermana Intercambiar. And he calls himself Hermano Feliz, I love
lessons with Hermano Feliz! He's getting baptized in January and were
so excited. He came to our ward Christmas party this week, then he
came to church, then he came to the stake Christmas devotional! He's
awesome! He loves it so much, and he's doing great!

So sorry this email is kinda all over the place! But the work is great
here and I am loving my mission. I'm getting super excited for
Christmas and I hope you all are too. I am so grateful for the Savior
and all He did for us. Remember He lives! I love you all so very much
and I hope you all are happy. Because life is too short to be anything
else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of
the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye
believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe
in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of
Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that
they should do good." -2 Nephi 33:10

Decorating a Christmas Tree!

Exchanges this week!

KFC

Fidel wanted a selfie!

Slugger Museum!

4:07 PM
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I was bawling, I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a long time 12-05-2016

¡Hola Familia!

¿Cómo están? La semana pasada fue bien y difícil. I hope everyone has
had a great week. I know I say it every week but what a tough week.
Just like the Brother of Jared I have never had to cross so many great
deeps in my life before, but I have truly learned to be grateful for
these hard weeks. I am learning so much more than I ever thought I
would and I am grateful for that. Heavenly Father has really given us
some blessings this week though, I know that's what He does for His
children as they endure their trials.

We were tracting one day and we found this little boy walking home
from school and decided we would talk to him. It seemed like he was
having a bad day and so we showed him the #LightTheWorld video and
his mouth hung open and he continued to say, "¡Que Bonita!" (How
Beautiful). I just had so much love for him fill my heart! He then
told us we needed to go to his house to show the rest of his family.
His aunt Silvia was the only one home and we were able to have a
lesson with her and she loved it! And we have another appointment with
her tonight.

Another miracle, we found this man named Jaydien on the streets and he
wasn't very kind and had no interest but we had the strongest
impression to share the Mormon message "Earthly Father, Heavenly
Father". We asked to show it to him but he said no. Well the prompting
wouldn't leave so we found him on Facebook and shared the video with
him. After a couple days of messaging and bugging him to watch it, he
did. And he messaged us back and said, "Wow I really needed this. I
just got custody of my two kids and I really feel like I needed to
hear this. Can I come to your church?" So we set up a church tour for
the next day! It was incredible! He speaks English though so the other
missionaries get him!

We went on splits one day with the sisters in our ward and I got to go
out with Sister Endemann, she's incredible! We went looking for some
less actives in our ward and we found a cute lady who let us in to
talk to her. At the end of the lesson she gave us two big bags of
food. We had lots of raisins, apple sauce, and peaches! We had a long
walk back to the car so we knocked on some doors on the way. We
knocked on this one door, he was a grandpa who just got custody of his
two granddaughters (their mother had just passed away). We could tell
he didn't have much and without hesitating Sister Endemann said,
"We're here to bring you some food." We gave him our two big bags of
food and his eyes swelled up with tears. It is incredible how amazing
Heavenly Father is.

Yesterday we had an incredible day! We left the apartment at 9:00 am
to go to church and didn't get back to our apartment until 9:30 pm. We
had the busiest day and it was great! After church we had a couple
appointments. We went to this Hispanic store and sat to have a lesson
with Fidel, he is incredible! We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon
and during this lesson we had 6 other Hispanics who overheard us come
up and ask some questions! We set appointments with two of them! Fidel
loved it and we gave him a Book of Mormon, Restoration Pamphlet, and
Plan of Salvation Pamphlet and he was so excited and he couldn't
believe it was actually all his to keep and when we told him it was he
made us write Para el Hermano Fidel on every single one (For brother
Fidel). He made us laugh, it was like a kid at Christmas time!

Then we went tracting at this apartment complex and someone came up to
us and said, "My girlfriend is a Mormon, please come upstairs and talk
with us." So we went upstairs and met with James and Yamonica and she
really was a member! We had a great lesson with them and even set a
return appointment. They speak English as well so the other
missionaries will get them too.

Yesterday night the sisters had an appointment with their investigator
Komi but they didn't have a member who was able to go with them so
they asked us to because they weren't allowed to enter the house
without a woman. Holy cow, it was the most incredible lesson. We
watched the Joseph Smith video and we all bore out testimonies. I was
bawling, I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a long time. The
sisters have been trying to help him accept baptism for quite some
time but he kept saying, "I want to be certain." Well we asked him
last night if he had the faith sufficient to kneel with us and ask God
for an answer and we promised if he would pray with real intent he
would be certain. And so we did just that. And after the prayer he
said, "I'll get baptized, I'm certain."

But I do want to bear my testimony to all of you. Just like Nephi, I
don't know everything but I do know that God loves his children. And I
know that I am a daughter of God. And I want nothing more than to
return to live with God forever one day. And I know He wants the same.
And I am so eternally grateful for my Savior because without Him there
would be no way for me to return to my Father. I will never be able to
thank Him enough. But I also know it's impossible to return without
doing the things God asks of us and one of those things being baptism.
I am so grateful to Joseph Smith for restoring the gospel of Jesus
Christ to the earth once again. I am so grateful for all that he did
and all of the sacrifices that he made so that I can return to live
with my Father in Heaven forever. I know with all of my heart that
Joseph Smith truly was a prophet of God. I know that he truly saw God
the Father and Jesus Christ and I know that because of him the one
true church of Christ is on the earth today. I am so grateful for
Joseph Smith and all that he did so I could have a chance at eternal
life.

Well I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for all of the
prayers and love that are sent my way! I hope you all have a fabulous
week and know that someone in Kentucky loves you all very much! Be
happy, life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
-Romans 8:38-39

How we started #LightTheWorld

Sister Endemann!

10:24 AM
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We're going to #LightTheWorld 11-28-2016

¡Hola Todo!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and ate enough turkey to
hold you over until next year! The Thorn family took care of us here
in Louisville and fed us more than we could handle! It was so much fun
and so yummy! We had a whole day off for Thanksgiving (except for
studies in the morning of course) and we ate, slept, fed the ducks,
and ate some more.

The work here is going. We didn't have any lessons with Margarita this
week because she hasn't been feeling very well. But we worked a lot
with the less actives. We had a few lessons with Jennifer and her
family! They are doing great and are making great progress, I'm so
proud of them! (They even made us tamales MMM!). And we were able to
have a lesson with her cousin Yajaira who is not a member. They're all
amazing!

We went over to Rebecca's house a couple times and she is a less
active as well. She is incredible. She's only less active because of
her health but besides church she is very active in the gospel. We go
over there and she ALWAYS feeds us physically and we always plan to
feed her spiritually but she even ends up feeding us spiritually as
well. She's incredible! She was sick one day and needed to get
something cooked for visitors so we went and helped her cooked! We
made some Puerto Rican sofrito and let me tell you! MMM! It is good!
And she also spoiled us with some empanadas this week as well. I'm
just loving all the Hispanic food here.

Also, this week has been so much fun with the new #LightTheWorld
campaign or whatever you wanna call it. I hope you all have seen the
video (if not I'll put the link in here and you better watch it). It
is amazing and makes talking to people on the streets so much fun. We
went to the gas station to fill up one night and started talking to
everybody there. We ended up being there for an hour and talked to 40
people! We showed almost everyone the video and asked them to join us
by lighting the world. My favorite part was watching some people who
were having bad days, all of them had a smile on their face by the
time the video was over. And that's my favorite part about being a
missionary, bringing real happiness into people's lives.

We had our Spanish sacrament meeting yesterday and so we spent our
whole week preparing for that. We made a bunch of fliers and visited
every less active Hispanic on our list. We made some new friends and
were able to get into some homes that haven't allowed missionaries in
for a while. We really saw some miracles. Hermana Boyson and I poured
our hearts out to Heavenly Father pleading for his help with this
sacrament meeting. We so badly want there to be a branch here and we
were so worried the whole week. But let me tell you. "Ask, and ye
shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen."

The Spanish sacrament was the biggest miracle of all. We had 37 people
come and that might not sound like a lot but it was! The Spanish
branch president from the downtown branch came and spoke and he said
there were more people at our meeting than at his branch earlier that
day. It was a miracle! The spirit was so strong and it made me so
happy to listen to a sacrament meeting all in Spanish. I hope that
this continues and the Hispanic people can eventually have the
opportunity to listen to the gospel in their native language every
week. It was such an amazing night, and my heart was full of gratitude
for all that my Heavenly Father had done.

I am amazed at my Father in Heaven. There was so much to get done this
week and I thought there was no way this sacrament meeting was going
to happen. I have too many weaknesses and we didn't have enough time
to get everything done we needed to. But I have learned how amazing
the Atonement is. There was no way we could've gotten that meeting
together on our own, but we did our best and did everything we could
in our power to make it happen and the Savior took care of the rest.
He was able to make up for everything we couldn't do. And I am so very
grateful. "It is impossible to fail when you do your best when you are
on the Lord's errand." -Elder M. Russell Ballard.

I love you all so very much and I hope you have an amazing week full
of happiness, Christmas music, and service. Don't forget to join us by
serving others starting on December 1! We're going to do this
together! We're going to #LightTheWorld. Never forget how much I love
you and be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else!

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they
speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the
words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all
things what ye should do." -2 Nephi 32:3

Thanksgiving Day!

Cooking at Rebecca's!

I got my Christmas tree all set up! Thank you mom!

10:12 PM
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We've had an incredible miracle 11-21-2016

¡Hola Familia!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope it's a good one for y'all and I
hope this past week has been a great week for everyone. It's been
great here in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission and we're making
some progress. Slowly but surely. This week has been another humbling
week but this won't be another email about me, don't worry.

We've had an incredible miracle and she actually showed up the week
prior to this one. Her name is Margarita and she is amazing. She moved
here from Cuba so she has the blond hair and blue eyes. I look more
Hispanic than her. Let's be real I look more Hispanic than everyone.
But she has taught me so much. She was a referral we received and when
we met her it was quick to see how amazing she is. She hasn't ever had
any religious experience in her life and doesn't know God or Jesus
Christ. The first lesson we had with her Hermana Boyson bore a sweet
testimony of our Heavenly Father and Margarita was shocked. She said,
"Wait, you're telling me that He knows me even though I don't know
Him?" Made my heart melt. When we left we gave her the Restoration
pamphlet and a Book of Mormon.

When we came back to see her a few days later she had all of her
reading materials there and was so excited to share. She had read the
entire pamphlet and I mean the entire thing and she had read all of
the testimonies and a few chapters in First Nephi and she was so
excited to share all about it. She learned so much and we hadn't even
taught her the Restoration at that point. She taught us about the
Priesthood and the prophets and she taught us the Restoration and she
loved it. She was so excited she kept pointing to pictures of Jesus
and saying, "Wait is this Jesus or my Heavenly Father?" She is so
cute.

So we taught her the Restoration and she asked us if she could get
baptized. She's incredible. So we're helping her prepare for that, I
think the only hold back we're going to have is she is elderly and has
some health problems. So we're praying lots for her. But she loves it
and when we left her house she told us she was going to read for two
more hours!!

We talked to over 150 people on the streets and set a ton of
appointments for the following week so we're hoping some of those will
follow through. Also, this Sunday is the Spanish Sacrament meeting.
I'm just praying we can have a good turn out. I can't even explain how
badly I want these people to have a branch to go to close by.

So quick funny story/embarrassing moment. This week was Stake
Conference and Elder Montoya and I were asked to translate. Well Elder
Montoya is a native so I was just planning on having him translate the
entire time, well he got tired after a little bit and so I translated
for one guy. Barely made it through, it was a struggle. Definitely
didn't have the gift of tongues that day. Well Elder Montoya goes
again and then it's my turn again and the guy gets up and starts
talking about airplanes and aircraft men and all this stuff about
planes and I froze and right in the mic in English I said, "I forgot
the word for airplane." And then realizing how stupid I was I
basically threw the mic at Elder Montoya to finish. Oh those poor
people. So I translated for like a total of 5 minutes hahaha oh boy it
was rough. But I now will never forget the word for airplane. It's
avión everyone.

So we did a ton of service this past week! It was a beautiful week in
the 70s and 80s (but the weekend was freezing) and we got lots done.
We helped Barry with the rest of his yard and it took a long time! And
so he insisted on taking us to Churchill Downs for some fall horse
races and guess what! President approved it. So we got to go to the
fall races where the Kentucky derby always is. It was the coolest
thing ever. Don't worry I didn't gamble, but we couldn't stop Barry.
(Looks like we know what we'll be teaching him next).

I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving this week and that
everyone remembers to thank God for all He has done for you. I have a
testimony that happy people are grateful people. I started a little
journal in the beginning of October and I write down three things
every day at the beginning of my studies that I am grateful for and I
have seen a big difference. It's amazing to see all that God has given
and has done for me. He is everything and I am so thankful. Here's a
little quote/challenge for you, "Begin today with a private and family
prayer of thanks for all God has done for you." -Henry B. Eyring. And
"Gratitude requires awareness and effort not only to feel it but to
express it." -Bonnie D. Parkin

I love you all and hope you have the greatest week ever. Eat lots of
turkey, and turkey sandwiches, and then more turkey. And pie. Lots of
pie. I pray for you all every day and I hope you know how much I love
you. Be happy! Because life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
-Philippians 4:13

Raking at Barry's!

Zone Conference

How we do the dishes!

6:59 PM
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We still haven't had much success 11-14-2016

¡Hola Familia!

Yo espero que todo tuvieran una buena semana. As I think of this past
week I try to reflect on the missionary work that took place and what
I can share that can edify anyone who reads my letters. We still
haven't had much success in most people's eyes and if you could see
our key indicators you would think we are failures. But this week was
the most valuable week of my mission and most successful in my eyes
because I became God's investigator and the true miracle was what took
place in my heart. I have felt a lot like the currant bush in Elder
Christofferson's talk "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten".
Here's the story:

"President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a
counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He
told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went
about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant
bush that had grown over six feet high and was yielding no berries, so
he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw
a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if
the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

'How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. …
And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down
on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener
here.'

President Brown replied, 'Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener
here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a
fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and
someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are
going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me
down.’'"

This week has been a week of correction, frustration, and lots of
cutting down. I think about Paris a lot. I thought I was a good
missionary and I thought I had things figured out, I truly thought I
was doing the best that I could do. And as I have come here to Arcadia
and as I have done the same things as I had done in Paris I have
learned that I am far from what I thought I was. I have been cut down
each day.

And this week as I have prayed I have cried, "How could you do this to
me? I was making such wonderful growth. ... And now you have cut me
down. Every missionary in the field will look down on me. How could
you do this to me?"

It has been hard for me to look at my small stumps this week and
wonder what I did to deserve it. But because I'm a daughter of God and
because He loves me I was able to hear His voice say, "Look, Hermana
Swapp, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I
didn’t intend you to be just any missionary. I want you to be a true
disciple of Jesus Christ, a missionary that makes Satan tremble, and
someday, Hermana Swapp, when you are laden with fruit, you are going
to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me
down."

As I looked at where I was this week and as I looked at where God
wanted me to be, I realized how far away I was and knew there was no
way to become who God needed me to be without my Savior. So I studied
the enabling power of the Atonement. Elder Bednar says, "I wonder if
we ever learn to acknowledge our daily dependence upon the enabling
power of the Atonement." And as a missionary I hadn't. I feel sad to
say that I haven't always been dependent on my Savior throughout my
mission. A lot of the times I have done things as a missionary because
I knew they had worked before, not because the Spirit prompted me to.
Of course I had grown so much without bearing any fruit because I
wasn't allowing my Savior to help.

Elder Bednar continues to say, "The enabling power of the Atonement of
Christ strengthens us to do things we could never do on our own." I
knew I needed this power because truly alone I am nothing. I searched
for what I needed to do on my part to access the enabling power of the
Atonement and I found three requirements: 1) Be humble, 2) Have faith
in Jesus Christ, and 3) make efforts to overcome your weakness(es). So
I've given up my orgullo (pride) and have done everything in my power
to access the enabling power of the Atonement. And I have.

Obviously as I write this I'm still not that missionary that God wants
me to become. The enabling power of the Atonement didn't fix
everything at once, it's going to take time. I'm still just Hermana
Swapp and my weaknesses are still staring at me from underneath a
magnifying glass. But even though every weakness I have is right there
for me to see I've learned that it isn't a sin to be weak, it only
means I'm human. And do you want to know the best part about that is?
The one who's going to help me overcome my weaknesses is so much more
than a human. He is perfect and His grace is sufficient.

So here I am with my little stumps and right now I'm trying to do
everything I can to allow my Savior to help me. I know it's going to
take some time for me to grow to be the person God wants me to be, but
I know it'll be worth it. And even though I still am nothing but a
little stump I have already prayed, "Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for
loving me enough to cut me down. For loving me enough to hurt me."

I am so grateful for this week as I have become God's investigator and
have learned a lesson that will forever bless my life. I hope to
forever have an attitude of humility as I continue to be cut down in
life. I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that He lives and
that His grace is truly sufficient.

I love you all so very much. I hope you can forgive me for the lack of
detail of the work going on here in Arcadia. I hope you have the best
week ever and that you're happy. Because life is too short to be
anything else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I
give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make
weak things become strong unto them." -Ether 12:27

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng

Hermana Boyson hit her 2 month mark so of course we celebrated.

District meetings.

We had some BWWs this week!!

6:28 PM
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We've been busy making cookies all day! 11-07-2016

3:42 PM
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Happy Halloween! 10-31-2016

Hello everybody!

Happy Halloween to the best family out there! I hope you all have a
very spooky night and you get lots of candy to fill your hearts with
joy. We have an entire day P-day today so that is weird! We just have
to be in the house by 6 so we're going to the mall with some sisters
and then we're going to come back to the house and make cookies,
color, and watch "Meet the Mormons" (thanks mom)!! So it'll be a fun
Halloween for us! I don't have a ton to report on but let me tell you
we had a good week anyway!

We were able to finally have a lesson this week which was great! We
had a lesson with Jennifer she's a recent convert and her sister's
boyfriend who is not a member joined in on the lesson! And the good
news is it was all in Spanish! They are a super cute family and I'm
super excited to continue to work with them.

That's about it for lessons this week but we talked to over 150 people
on the streets and talked to even more people at their doors and lots
of them spoke Spanish! We haven't had much success setting up
appointments or finding people who are interested but we have set a
couple appointments for next week so hopefully those go through!

We've spent most of our week doing service and it has been a blast. We
found our good friend Berry this week (I thought of Payton) and he has
a HUGE yard just covered in leaves. He isn't in the best of health so
we've been raking leaves all week for him and he even bought us a
pizza one day! We'll go over next week to get his backyard done! We've
also been helping a cute lady in our ward move into her new home and
minus the part of me breaking one of her light bulbs we had a good
time! (Don't worry I bought her more.)

Poor Hermana Boyson one day while we were raking some of Berry's
leaves a big little Boulder rolled onto her foot and totally crushed
her toe! I felt so bad for her. Her toe turned purple and the mission
nurse hasn't let us go to the doctor yet so we're praying that it gets
feeling better. She's such a trooper though. She still tracts and
works hard even though she's in a lot of pain. I'm telling you, I got
blessed with the best!

One miracle we had this week was we had the wrong address for Jennifer
(our recent convert) and when we went to the house there was a girl
outside. We asked if her name was Jennifer and she said yes. We
congratulated her on her baptism and gave her a big hug and started
talking to her about the church and she looked at us like we were
crazy. We quickly realized that it wasn't the Jennifer we thought it
was hahaha! But she said she was interested to learn more and we set
up an appointment with her!

As I dissected Alma 34:32 this week I found some pretty cool
definitions of the words in that scripture in the scriptures and
resources we have been given. And one definition for the word PREPARE
in the scriptures was "the potential to become like God" and another
was "to repent". And I realized that the purpose of this life really
is to become like God and the way we do that is through repentance. We
are told to teach repentance out here and now I understand that not
only do we become closer to God when we repent but we become more like
God as well. I think repentance has such a negative connotation but my
mission has taught me that repentance is one of the most beautiful
gifts we have been given. It's the way we can access the Atonement and
become like God. I seriously have such a love for ponderizing
scriptures now, I learn so much!

I'm sorry this letter is a little scattered but be expecting some
miracle stories next week because they're coming! I can just feel it!
I love you all to the moon and back and I hope you all have a
wonderful week filled with Christmas music! I love you!

Be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else!

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

Ponderized Scripture (PS) get it? Haha:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." -James 1:5

The four of us in the ward!

We had a chili cook off with the ward and one of the activities was drawing so

Sister Endemann and I drew each other!

We got some chicken pot pie hot pockets!

7:52 PM
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Wow. This week has been tough 10-24-2016

Hello Everyone!

Wow. This week has been tough. This week has brought back some
memories from white washing Paris when I was being trained. I felt so
blind and this time is no different haha! It's been a crazy week and
I'm homesick for Paris and my family there.

Even though I miss Paris like crazy, Louisville is amazing! It's huge
and there's so many people here! So many. It's been such a blessing
for Spanish as well, every other person you talk to speaks Spanish so
that rocks!

My new companion is Hermana Boyson. She is amazing. She is from Ogden,
Utah and has been a 4th grade school teacher for the past 4 years.
She's 29 years old and she's just incredible. She was just living life
and had the prompting to serve a mission and went right away. Talk
about faith right? She is awesome and I feel so blessed to have her as
my companion.

So this week started out crazy and ended crazy too. Since the white
wash was a last minute decision the Hermanas here didn't have time to
get anything ready. Poor girls were awake until 3:30 just getting
everything packed. So we came here with literally nothing. They had
given us a couple names and addresses but that was about it. And the
area books are all on the iPad's so we have to wait a couple days to
get it synced. Wow, it was a challenge. It took us an hour just to
find Walmart our first day.... It ended up being just a couple miles
down the street from our house. Hahaha oh it was an adventure for
sure. Poor Hermana Boyson was half scared to death when I pulled over
to ask some random guy on the street for directions (and talk about
Christ of course).

But don't worry we finally found Walmart and we were able to find the
rest of our appointments for the night after some trial and error.
After a couple days the sister missionaries in our area gave us their
GPS until we get used to the area, I was so grateful. This area is
huge, that GPS is gonna come in handy.

But we didn't have one lesson this week. We've made phone calls and
knocked on doors and nada. The Hermanas here didn't have a ton of
investigators right now so it's almost like starting from scratch,
which is a lot of fun! We've found some really nice people and we've
talked lots of Spanish! It was crazy in Paris we had about one lesson
a week in Spanish and we got to use the language on the streets about
once a day if we were lucky but here it's like everyone and their dog
knows how to speak Spanish so that has been awesome, and I don't think
we should have too much of a problem finding people to teach (fingers
crossed)!

The ward here is really nice. Sunday was a little crazy so I didn't
really get to meet a lot of members but we have a dinner appointment
every day this week so that will be a great way to get to know people.
There's this one family here named the Perez's and they are absolutely
incredible! Brother Perez served his mission in Mexico and Sister
Perez served her mission in Washington (Spanish speaking) and they
only speak Spanish in the house so all of their kids know it super
well. They are an amazing family and very missionary minded. They've
already invited us over to their house to have lessons with
investigators twice!

Everyone in this area keeps telling us to be careful and that we don't
live in a good neighborhood (poor Hermana Boyson.. She freaks out
every time someone says it) but I love being a missionary. I feel so
protected and safe here. I know we are being watched over and as long
as we're being obedient and following the spirit we are going to be
okay.

So some fun things... Our district meetings our held in Indiana so I
now have been in another state I've never been in before. And let me
tell you that drive is so pretty, I loved it! We've had lots of
opportunities to do service this week and we even helped cut some wood
(don't worry I didn't use the chain saw, as much as I wanted to, I
didn't). Hermana Boyson got pretty sick yesterday so we stayed home
pretty much the whole day and I studied my little heart out for hours,
it was great.

That's about it for the week though, not much has been going on. I'm
hoping we can have a better week this week and find lots of people to
teach the amazing gospel of Jesus Christ to. I love you all and I hope
you have the best week ever. Be happy, because life is too short to be
anything else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

Ponderized Scripture: "For behold, this life is the time for men to
prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for
men to perform their labors." -Alma 34:32

Ps: will someone please tell Ziggy happy birthday for me this week?

Hermana Fluckiger always wanted to paint in Paris so that's what we did last week.

Check the mail this week mom you might have something coming your way (;

Hermana Boyson

9:22 PM
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