My heart is so full as I sit and write this email. 8-8-2016
12:12 PM
¡Hola!
I'm having a hard time writing this email and deciding what to say!
This week has been very good and it has been very hard! It has been
another great week full of adventures, I have learned so much, laughed
so much, and cried so much! Paris, Kentucky is amazing and the people
here are even more incredible, they teach me so much and help me
understand what's most important in life. I am humbled each week as I
see the amazing sacrifices these people make to draw closer to their
Savior, Jesus Christ. My heart is so full as I sit and write this
email.
We've been teaching amazing people here. We've been teaching Zaira &
Jorge and their family, Noemi & Silverio and their family, Oscar (our
Guatemalan investigator), Sean, and Mario. We've also been working
with so many other amazing people in the ward and other less actives.
Every single time we go to a lesson or talk to these people my heart
is so full. They are the most incredible people and are teaching me
way more than I could ever teach them. I feel so incredibly blessed
that my Heavenly Father has placed them in my life. I will never be
the same person as I was before my mission, and I am so grateful.
Because of these people I am a better person and I will never be able
to thank them enough.
Zaira & Jorge: They are the cutest little family. Just a reminder,
they're the ones who have moved from Georgetown to Paris and they have
been meeting with missionaries for three years. They have the three
cutest little boys who only speak Spanish - I think it's the cutest
thing ever when little kids talk in Spanish (it's also embarrassing
when you realize a 4 year old can speak better Spanish than you).
They are incredible they already know everything! When you walk in
their home they have the Family Proclamation hanging up and all the
pictures of the little kids have a sign next to it that says, "Soy un
hijo de Dios" (I am a child of God). They are dry Mormons. But they
amaze me every time we go over there to teach them a lesson because
they're the ones who end up teaching us everything (like I said they
know everything). Zaira is the most amazing woman ever. She has the
strongest desire to do good and to be baptized. They have been in my
thoughts and prayers so much, I don't want anything more than for them
to be an eternal family.
Noemi & Silverio: They're situation is so similar to Zaira and Jorge.
They are such a cute family with three little kids. They know the
church is right and they know what they're learning is true, we're
just trying to help them get to church. I think if they came to church
they would know right away that everything they have been learning is
right. They are amazing and always so nice and welcoming.
Oscar: He is so much fun. Unfortunately, he cancelled both lessons
this week :( His boss has made him work late all week so we haven't
been able to drive down to Winchester for a lesson with him. But he
loves the Savior and he loves this church so much already. We don't
have to convince him of anything, he is so humble and so willing to
change his life so it's in harmony with God's teachings. And he's fun
he has like three guitars that he has no idea how to play but he loves
to grab them and him and Fidencio make up songs for us every lesson
haha! Once they get Elizabeth on board to sing with them and once they
buy some sombreros we're going to have our own personal mariachi band!
Sean: He is Fidencio's son who is 9 years old. He is the cutest thing.
He wants to be baptized so bad and brings it up every time we see him!
This week we taught him and his sister Daniella the Plan of Salvation
(thanks Maddie for the cut outs) and they absolutely loved it! They
we're jumping up and down in their seats when we were telling them
about the Celestial Kingdom and that's all they wanted. Daniella
started panicking though, she told us that she fights with her brother
and was telling him sorry over and over again because she wanted to go
to the sun hahaha. They are the cutest little kids! He should be
getting baptized towards the end of this month or the beginning of
next month.
Mario: He has taught me more than anyone else. He is incredible and he
has made me so grateful for all that I have. He lives in a trailer
park and it is the grossest trailer park in all of Kentucky and the
sad thing is he doesn't even get a trailer. He lives in this little
camper that has no electricity or water. His neighbors are horrible to
him and take advantage of him. They make him buy their beer for him to
be able to take a shower and they make fun of him for going to church.
It breaks my heart. Whoever he rents this little tiny camper from
takes total advantage of him too and makes him pay way too much. He
doesn't have much money and sometimes has to go days without eating.
Every once in a while someone will take him to the store to buy his
groceries. When Hermana Crowther and I first got to Paris he kept
calling us over and over again to come teach him but we were told by
the former Hermanas to ignore him because he's creepy. So we just
ignored him. Well Hermana Crowther and I kept praying and as we prayed
we felt very strongly that we should go meet Mario. We met him and he
told us how badly he wanted to be baptized and do the things that God
asks him to do. He can't drive so Jacob (a member in our ward) has
taken him to church every Sunday and we have really been able to get
to know Mario. We quickly realized that he has a small learning
disability. He doesn't have the capability of remembering a lot and he
acts almost like a child at times. But he absolutely loves the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and has more faith than anyone I have ever met. He has
almost like a childish faith and that has taught me so much, he trusts
God with all of his heart. We've had to get special permission from
the Mission President and Bishop to baptize him and they gave us the
"okay" and he is getting baptized this Sunday. But yesterday at church
he taught me the most incredible lesson. During fast and testimony
meeting he walked up there and asked me to come up and help him
translate and he bore the most beautiful testimony I have ever heard.
After sacrament meeting he went and grabbed a tithing slip and said,
"Hermana, help me I need to pay my tithing." (In Spanish of course). I
just looked at him and I was amazed. He isn't a member and he has
almost no money and he still wanted to pay his tithing. I think he
knew what I was thinking because he said, "I want to build God's
kingdom." I helped him pay his tithing and watched him pay a very
generous amount. I was so humbled and touched at what he taught me.
This life really is not about us, it's about helping build God's
kingdom.
We've been meeting with Fidencio every single day and he is doing
great! We either teach him a lesson every day or he comes and helps us
teach a lesson. He's making such good progress and his testimony has
grown so much! Also, he got his temple recommend yesterday! He is so
excited and all he can talk about is the temple, I can't wait for him
to go inside! It's really been incredible to watch the Atonement work
in his life! Also, he wants to pass the sacrament but he can't afford
a nice shirt and tie because his boss won't pay him, well yesterday at
church the bishop's wife pulled me aside and said, "I have a really
nice suit that doesn't fit anyone in my family, set up a time and I'll
come over and tailor it to fit Fidencio." My heart was so full again.
I am just amazed at the people here and how willing they are to serve
one another and help each other out. Every single person in the ward
has been so welcoming to Fidencio and it has been so amazing to watch.
And... I showed him a picture of Hunter and I got him on video telling
me he needs a hair cut! It's super funny, I'll attach it to this!
We've also been seeing Angie regularly. She's an inactive in the ward
but her baptismal records have been lost so we've been working with
her to try to find them. But her husband speaks Spanish but she
doesn't and so they have a huge language barrier in their marriage so
we've been going over to her house several times a week to teach her
Spanish and it has been so much fun and has helped me a lot with my
Spanish too! She's been fun to get to know and I think she is the most
selfless person I have ever met!
Last thing, as you all probably know we are now officially a Facebook
mission! How crazy is that? It's been super weird, but I think it's
the biggest blessing! We are now able to have lessons with people
where it would be impossible to have without Facebook! We cover a huge
area and we have people who want to learn but they live an hour to an
hour and a half away so it just hasn't been possible for us to teach
them but now we are able to have Facebook lessons with them to help
them learn the gospel of Jesus Christ. It'll also be a huge blessing
to have with Oscar because he lives far away and we're not able to go
inside his house so it makes it hard when it's raining so to be able
to have a Facebook lesson is going to be a huge blessing. I feel so
incredibly blessed to live in a time where we are so easily able to
share the gospel to people all over the world!
This week has been great and I am so grateful for the many humbling
experiences I have had. My heart is so full and I am so grateful for
the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have
of my Savior and to know that through him anything is possible. I love
my mission and I love my life! Thank you for being the most amazing
family I could ever ask for! Thank you for all of the love and
support, I really am so blessed! I love you all so much and pray for
you always. I hope you have the best week ever and I hope you have a
happy birthday this week grandpa! Remember to always be happy because
life is too short to be anything else!
Con amor,
Hermana Swapp
Also, will someone please tell Anne Lavigne happy birthday for me? and
that I love her! Thank you!
Me and Hermana Spencer, oh how I love her!
Daniella disappeared during the lesson and we found her trying to hook her baby up to our bike rack haha!!
Some of us missionaries at the Facebook training!
Louisville
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