I will officially not be training anymore! 7-25-2016
12:48 PMBuenas Tardes!!
Yo espero que todos tuvieron una buena semana! I'm sorry I don't have a ton of time to write today because Hermana Crowther and I need to get everything cleaned and packed because she's leaving tomorrow!! I can't believe it, it makes me so sad. It's crazy how she has become one of my best friends in such a short amount of time, I'm going to miss her so much! She has been such a blessing to me and has taught me so much. I will never be able to thank her for everything she did for me, I'm going to miss her so much. But transfers are tomorrow and I will officially not be training anymore... Woo Hoo!! My new companion is Hermana Milligan and she's awesome. I've met her a few times and she's going to be a lot of fun! She'll come to Paris tomorrow and we will get to work!
This week wasn't too exciting so I don't have a ton to write about anyway, but as always we did have some miracles! The first way cool one is Oscar. The cool thing about him is he called us! Hermana Crowther and I were at the church and he called us and asked if we could come meet with him because he wanted to learn about our church. He lives in Winchester so we set up a time and drove down there and got to know him. He's from Guatemala and when I told him Johny was serving there he got super excited and told me to tell Johny to go find his family hahaha! It was super cool, he gave me his family's information and everything but I think it's in a different mission in Guatemala. But we taught him a lesson and he's been prepared, he loved everything and when we finished teaching him he asked, "What do I need to do to get baptized?" We've taught him a couple times and we'll continue to teach him, he's working for a baptism in the end of August!
Another miracle was we found the Garza family! Brother Garza was baptized a long time ago but he had gone inactive shortly after. He's the only one in his family who is a member so we've really wanted to find the rest of the family and teach them. We've tried the entire 12 weeks we've been here to find them and get a hold of them but we haven't been able to. Well a week ago we found this lady at Wal-Mart and we started talking to her and told her we'd be happy to teach her English and she was super excited. Well during this past week we went and knocked on the Garza's door and it was the lady from Wal-Mart!! She's Sister Garza! I think it was a tender mercy we saw her at Wal-Mart first because she invited us in and was so friendly to us! Except she kept telling us that she was atheist and then her daughter had to explain to her that she was saying the wrong thing, it was super funny! But they were super friendly and told us we could come back and teach them!
We've been teaching Sean (Fidencio's son) and he keeps asking and begging us to get baptized. We keep telling him once he learns everything he can get baptized, he's been a lot of fun and he's learning so much! It's so cool to watch them grow as a family! Also, Fidencio got the priesthood yesterday at church!! I was so happy and excited for him, and he'll get to baptize his son! How cool is that? He's also going to start passing the sacrament and going to the temple, I can't even begin to explain how happy it makes me! The gospel truly blesses families and I have seen it bless Fidencio's family.
We've had a bunch of opportunities to serve this week and that has been a blast! We've been going to the Young's all summer and helping them with their garden, it has been so much fun and I already decided when I get home I'm having my own garden! I'm a pro weed puller and seed planter now! And this week we also had a big pioneer party with the ward. There was a big dinner, pie contest, and a bunch of games. The missionaries were in charge of the pie contest, we had to eat 19 pies and judge which one was the best. It wouldn't have been as bad if I didn't have a huge plate of dinner first and if I didn't go back for seconds... Hermana Crowther warned me and I should've listened. I thought I was going to explode after the 5th pie, but I did it! And none of us missionaries were kidding when we told everyone we gained 5 pounds that night! But it was a fun night and a huge success, we even had people who weren't members show up! For the games they had a watermelon eating contest, seed spitting contest, rag doll booth, horse shoes, tug-a-war, the stick pull, and more. It was a lot of fun and I've learned that horse shoes is not my forte.
That was our week, we didn't have a ton of exciting things going on but it was good and it was fun! Next week is about to get real crazy with transfers so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to write about next week!! But every week I learn more and more out here and I become more and more grateful for the gospel. It really is the greatest blessing that I have and I couldn't imagine my life without it. I started the Book of Mormon over when I got to Kentucky and I finished it this morning. I want you all to know that I know with all of my heart that it is true and I am so grateful for it. Every day as I read from it I grow closer to my Savior and I can feel His love for me more strongly. I am so grateful that I have a loving Heavenly Father who loves me and all of us enough that He was willing to give us more guidance and direction. I'm grateful for Moroni's challenge and I know it's true that we all can know for ourselves of the truthfulness of that book if we are willing to sincerely ask our Father.
I love you all so much and I'm so sorry this letter is all over the place. But thank you for everything you do for me. Thank you for all of the emails, letters, prayers, and love you send my way! It means the world to me and I am so grateful for you all. I hope you have the best week ever and remember to be happy. Because life's too short to be anything else!
Con amor,
Hermana Swapp
Our last district meeting with this district!
All the sisters from our district.
They have a snow cone place here just like Lani's!
All the pies we ate!
Daniela at church!
The Salas family!!
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