My Heart is Oh So Grateful 09-26-2016
9:12 PM
¡Hola Familia!
First things first Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You've made it 25
years holy cow! But let's be real, things didn't start getting fun
until your fifth anniversary (; I'm teasing, you can see how humble
the mission has made me. But really happy anniversary, I hope you have
a great day today!
So I hit my 6 month mark last week and it made me want to cry. It's
going by way too fast and I feel like a year is not enough time. I
want to be a missionary forever. Oh please slow down!
I wish I had some super cool stories to tell y'all this week but I
don't. The work has been slow. We again had one lesson in Spanish for
the entire week. And we had a total of 4 investigator lessons for the
week. We've been spending so much of our time talking to people on the
streets, searching for potentials, and looking up former
investigators. It's been tough finding people but we've had a lot of
fun doing it.
The Elders totaled their car and so we now share a car (thanks
Elders!) and it's been fun! Hermana Fluckiger and I biked a day and I
would just like to take a minute to express my gratitude for biking
shorts so the whole world doesn't have to see my religion. And let me
tell you, I was winded. Hermana Fluckiger is like Don Armstrong or
Michael Armstrong (whoever it is I'm not really sure who's the biker
and who walked on the moon) and I'm over in the background winded. But
we had a lot of fun and laughed a lot! And good news! My dress didn't
get caught!
UPDATE: the fleas are gone, I repeat the fleas are gone. But we did
find a really nice bed bug. Sleep tight!
Correction: I was just informed on both the names his name is Lance
Armstrong and the moon guy is Neil Armstrong. There you have it. I'm
laughing really hard, I really wish you all could see me. I was 0 for
2.
But anyway we did have a really good lesson with Amanda and her
daughter Blair. I seriously love this family so much. We had taught
them all the Restoration except for Blair and so she wanted to have a
lesson all to herself to get caught up and it was awesome! She really
opened up to us and the spirit was so strong. She is like a sponge and
is absorbing everything, I love her! But she really understands the
lessons and she's making great progress, she even accepted a baptismal
date! I'm so excited for her.
We had a lesson with Zaira and Jorge. It was kinda cool that morning
in our studies I prayed my heart out for that family and I did all of
my studies. Well when our hour was over and we had companion study
Hermana Fluckiger and I realized we had studied the exact same thing
and received the exact same revelation for Jorge. It was the coolest
thing ever! The lesson went really well and I feel like we are slowly
making progress with this family.
It was Mario's birthday this week and were pretty sure he had never
had a party in his life so we threw him a surprise party! And he was
so happy! You should've seen his face, I have a video it's pretty
good!! We had dinner, cake, presents, and a piñata. His face was lit
up he was so happy! We gave him three ties (thanks Maddie and Jeff)
and he loved them, he even wore one of them to church! And the piñata,
let me tell you those Hispanics really know how to hit one. He knocked
it down on his first hit! It was so much fun and the best part was we
forgot a blind fold so we used two party hats to cover up his eyes! It
was so funny and such a good night!
Friday we had a super good zone conference, man I love those. The
spirit is always so strong and I learned so much!! The whole mission
had a fast in the beginning of September so that every companionship
would baptize in October and the whole training was on faith and how
to have the faith to make that miracle happen.
Also, Angie came to church on Sunday and guess what!! She brought her
4 nieces with her! Holy cow, it was awesome!!
And let's talk about the women's conference! How amazing was that!! I
had been asking Heavenly Father a very specific question about my
patriarchal blessing my entire mission and hadn't been given an answer
so I kinda gave up on it and trusted I would eventually know when the
time was right. Well I went into the women's conference with some
different questions and then all of the sudden President Uchtdorf
started talking and I couldn't stop the tears. He answered my question
I had long forgotten about word for word. I was blown away. I couldn't
believe it. My Heavenly Father truly knows me and he heard my prayers.
He heard my cries and He loved me enough to give me an answer I
needed. It was incredible.
I've really gained a testimony on my mission that Heavenly Father is
truly our Father and a very loving one too. And I love to testify as a
representative of Jesus Christ that it's true. And I testify to
everyone who is reading this that Heavenly Father is very real and He
is very aware. He knows each of you personally and loves you very
much. I know that He wants nothing more than to have you with Him in
His kingdom forever and He wants it so badly that He was willing to
give His only begotten Son for you. He was willing to watch His
sinless and perfect Son suffer and die so that you could live with Him
forever. Never ever forget your worth. Never ever forget how loved you
are.
So this Wednesday we are having a sister's conference and I cannot
wait! All of the sisters in the mission will get together for some
trainings and there was even a rumor that there may be some nail
painting so I am pumped. But Hermana Fluckiger and I have been asked
to give a training on how to ponderize a scripture. And I will admit I
never listened to that talk before and I've never ponderized a
scripture before so I repented. And I'm going to tell all of you to do
the same as well. I invite you all to read the talk "My Heart
Pondereth Them Continually" by Devin G. Durrant. I'll even put the URL
in here so you'll have no excuse. But read it and choose a ponderized
scripture every single week for the next year or until I come home.
And I promise you it will be such a rewarding experience that when I
come home you won't want to quit.
https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/11/sunday-afternoon-session/my-heart-pondereth-them-continually?lang=eng
But I'm sorry this letter is scattered and all over the place and I'm
sorry it's really dumb. But just for the record, I laughed really hard
as I wrote it. But I hope you all can somewhat feel the spirit as you
read parts of it and I hope you all know how grateful I really am for
my mission. I know it's cliche but I've quickly learned that I was
wrong. I really thought I was doing a service for my Heavenly Father
by choosing to serve a mission. I really thought it was the greatest
thing I could do for Him. But I am humbled and grateful and I now know
that it was the greatest thing my Heavenly Father could have given me.
It's the greatest service He could do for me. And my heart is oh so
grateful.
I love you all. Thank you so much for all of the love, support,
prayers and packages I've received this week. I'm excited to open them
in a couple of days! Y'all are really the best! I am blessed. I hope
you know how much I love you and how often I pray for you. Please have
the happiest week and go out somewhere good to eat Wednesday night (;
I love you and. Be happy. Because life is too short to be anything
else!
Con Amor,
Hermana Swapp
PS: my ponderized scripture this week is
"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders,
that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in
bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me
hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do
visit my people in their afflictions." -Mosiah 24:14
First things first Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You've made it 25
years holy cow! But let's be real, things didn't start getting fun
until your fifth anniversary (; I'm teasing, you can see how humble
the mission has made me. But really happy anniversary, I hope you have
a great day today!
So I hit my 6 month mark last week and it made me want to cry. It's
going by way too fast and I feel like a year is not enough time. I
want to be a missionary forever. Oh please slow down!
I wish I had some super cool stories to tell y'all this week but I
don't. The work has been slow. We again had one lesson in Spanish for
the entire week. And we had a total of 4 investigator lessons for the
week. We've been spending so much of our time talking to people on the
streets, searching for potentials, and looking up former
investigators. It's been tough finding people but we've had a lot of
fun doing it.
The Elders totaled their car and so we now share a car (thanks
Elders!) and it's been fun! Hermana Fluckiger and I biked a day and I
would just like to take a minute to express my gratitude for biking
shorts so the whole world doesn't have to see my religion. And let me
tell you, I was winded. Hermana Fluckiger is like Don Armstrong or
Michael Armstrong (whoever it is I'm not really sure who's the biker
and who walked on the moon) and I'm over in the background winded. But
we had a lot of fun and laughed a lot! And good news! My dress didn't
get caught!
UPDATE: the fleas are gone, I repeat the fleas are gone. But we did
find a really nice bed bug. Sleep tight!
Correction: I was just informed on both the names his name is Lance
Armstrong and the moon guy is Neil Armstrong. There you have it. I'm
laughing really hard, I really wish you all could see me. I was 0 for
2.
But anyway we did have a really good lesson with Amanda and her
daughter Blair. I seriously love this family so much. We had taught
them all the Restoration except for Blair and so she wanted to have a
lesson all to herself to get caught up and it was awesome! She really
opened up to us and the spirit was so strong. She is like a sponge and
is absorbing everything, I love her! But she really understands the
lessons and she's making great progress, she even accepted a baptismal
date! I'm so excited for her.
We had a lesson with Zaira and Jorge. It was kinda cool that morning
in our studies I prayed my heart out for that family and I did all of
my studies. Well when our hour was over and we had companion study
Hermana Fluckiger and I realized we had studied the exact same thing
and received the exact same revelation for Jorge. It was the coolest
thing ever! The lesson went really well and I feel like we are slowly
making progress with this family.
It was Mario's birthday this week and were pretty sure he had never
had a party in his life so we threw him a surprise party! And he was
so happy! You should've seen his face, I have a video it's pretty
good!! We had dinner, cake, presents, and a piñata. His face was lit
up he was so happy! We gave him three ties (thanks Maddie and Jeff)
and he loved them, he even wore one of them to church! And the piñata,
let me tell you those Hispanics really know how to hit one. He knocked
it down on his first hit! It was so much fun and the best part was we
forgot a blind fold so we used two party hats to cover up his eyes! It
was so funny and such a good night!
Friday we had a super good zone conference, man I love those. The
spirit is always so strong and I learned so much!! The whole mission
had a fast in the beginning of September so that every companionship
would baptize in October and the whole training was on faith and how
to have the faith to make that miracle happen.
Also, Angie came to church on Sunday and guess what!! She brought her
4 nieces with her! Holy cow, it was awesome!!
And let's talk about the women's conference! How amazing was that!! I
had been asking Heavenly Father a very specific question about my
patriarchal blessing my entire mission and hadn't been given an answer
so I kinda gave up on it and trusted I would eventually know when the
time was right. Well I went into the women's conference with some
different questions and then all of the sudden President Uchtdorf
started talking and I couldn't stop the tears. He answered my question
I had long forgotten about word for word. I was blown away. I couldn't
believe it. My Heavenly Father truly knows me and he heard my prayers.
He heard my cries and He loved me enough to give me an answer I
needed. It was incredible.
I've really gained a testimony on my mission that Heavenly Father is
truly our Father and a very loving one too. And I love to testify as a
representative of Jesus Christ that it's true. And I testify to
everyone who is reading this that Heavenly Father is very real and He
is very aware. He knows each of you personally and loves you very
much. I know that He wants nothing more than to have you with Him in
His kingdom forever and He wants it so badly that He was willing to
give His only begotten Son for you. He was willing to watch His
sinless and perfect Son suffer and die so that you could live with Him
forever. Never ever forget your worth. Never ever forget how loved you
are.
So this Wednesday we are having a sister's conference and I cannot
wait! All of the sisters in the mission will get together for some
trainings and there was even a rumor that there may be some nail
painting so I am pumped. But Hermana Fluckiger and I have been asked
to give a training on how to ponderize a scripture. And I will admit I
never listened to that talk before and I've never ponderized a
scripture before so I repented. And I'm going to tell all of you to do
the same as well. I invite you all to read the talk "My Heart
Pondereth Them Continually" by Devin G. Durrant. I'll even put the URL
in here so you'll have no excuse. But read it and choose a ponderized
scripture every single week for the next year or until I come home.
And I promise you it will be such a rewarding experience that when I
come home you won't want to quit.
https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/11/sunday-afternoon-session/my-heart-pondereth-them-continually?lang=eng
But I'm sorry this letter is scattered and all over the place and I'm
sorry it's really dumb. But just for the record, I laughed really hard
as I wrote it. But I hope you all can somewhat feel the spirit as you
read parts of it and I hope you all know how grateful I really am for
my mission. I know it's cliche but I've quickly learned that I was
wrong. I really thought I was doing a service for my Heavenly Father
by choosing to serve a mission. I really thought it was the greatest
thing I could do for Him. But I am humbled and grateful and I now know
that it was the greatest thing my Heavenly Father could have given me.
It's the greatest service He could do for me. And my heart is oh so
grateful.
I love you all. Thank you so much for all of the love, support,
prayers and packages I've received this week. I'm excited to open them
in a couple of days! Y'all are really the best! I am blessed. I hope
you know how much I love you and how often I pray for you. Please have
the happiest week and go out somewhere good to eat Wednesday night (;
I love you and. Be happy. Because life is too short to be anything
else!
Con Amor,
Hermana Swapp
PS: my ponderized scripture this week is
"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders,
that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in
bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me
hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do
visit my people in their afflictions." -Mosiah 24:14
Mario's surprise birthday party!!
Zone Conference
This one lady gave us the biggest apples we ever did see!
If you lived in Kentucky this is probably what you would see if you answered the door after hearing a knock. A couple of girls laughing their heads off.
Louisville
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