We have fleas!! 09-19-2016

4:47 PM

Hola Todo!

La semana pasada fue loco! This week has been crazy! I have been sicker than a dog and we have fleas! I'm not even kidding real life fleas that are gray and nasty and bounce around our mattresses and clothes! AH, it's seriously been the grossest thing ever and pretty fun at the same time. Hermana Fluckiger and I have been waking up all week with little bites on us, like everywhere. We've been going crazy itching ourselves. And I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to fleas because every bite I have swells up like crazy! (But shout out to Elizabeth for the anti-itch benadryl cream). We were checking our mattresses last night and found them bouncing all over so we called the district leader (who laughed) and told us to call the APs, so we called the APs (who laughed) and told us to call President, so we called President (who laughed) and asked us if the fleas speak Spanish. I bet if they had been bit all week they probably wouldn't have laughed as much haha! But we were hoping we could maybe get permission to sleep at the church or at a members house or something because we didn't want to spend another night with the fleas and President just basically wished us luck! Hahaha! So Hermana Fluckiger and I stayed up till midnight last night (don't worry President gave us permission) pouring salt all over our carpets, vacuuming the mattresses and washing our bedding. Hermana Fluckiger did most of it though because I was so sick, I didn't even have a voice! We finally went to bed and we survived the night with only a few more flea bites! Yum! So we have been evacuated out of our little home today while we have 4 bug bombs going off in the apartment haha! Oh the joys of Kentucky(:

But this week has been rough for the missionary work here in Paris. We have struggled finding people to teach and we both have been very sick this week. I try to talk to people on the streets and they just look at me like I'm crazy and tell me they can't hear a word I'm trying to say... there's nothing more frustrating than not having a voice! (But don't worry it came back today!!). We have been in the member's homes a lot this week and we've been working with less actives because we have not had any success in finding people to teach. We had one lesson this week in Spanish... that's right one. Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever going to learn this language! (Don't worry, I know I can and I know God knows I can).

But one night Hermana Fluckiger and Elizabeth, and I went out looking for some of our potential investigators. It was about 8:30 and it was already dark and we felt like we should go find a man named Diego. Elizabeth stayed in her car and Hermana Fluckiger and I went to knock on his door. When we got up to his home we found two doors and we were wondering which one we should knock on. I didn't feel super good about the situation and I looked at Hermana Fluckiger and I said, "We need to pray." So we said a prayer out loud together and I went up to one of the doors and knocked on it. Hermana Fluckiger said right away, "We need to go, I just had the craziest visual of a man opening the door and grabbing you." So we walked quickly back to Elizabeth's car and got in. When we turned around to put our seat belts on we saw a man in the doorway of the door we didn't knock on just staring at us. It looked like he was going to grab us but something was holding him back. Elizabeth hurried and drove off. Right then so clearly I heard a voice saying, "You're safe because he heard your prayer." It was the craziest and scariest thing ever (even though it really doesn't even sound that scary) but it was also one of the most spiritual experiences too. Heavenly Father is so aware of us and I am so grateful for all the people who pray for the missionaries! (Mom and Dad please don't freak out I don't share these stories to make you scared, only to show how amazing our Heavenly Father is).

But for our investigators... they're doing alright. We didn't have one at church yesterday, but we're going to have all of them show up next Sunday so it's okay! David isn't allowed to meet with us during the week because his family hates the Mormons so we use Facebook a lot with him. We have chats over Facebook and send him pamphlets and materials to study since we can't meet with him in person. He seems to be making some progress. Amanda and her family are amazing. They've had every bad thing hit them but they are still making it a priority to meet with us! They're kids are loving it and we get to go over tonight to teach them more. Angie is a saint. She would get baptized tomorrowif she could. We're still trying to get that whole situation figured out. And Zaira and Jorge... ah so frustrating. We went for our lesson with them and Jorge wouldn't come inside. He thought it was more important to work on his truck. So we just had a lesson with Zaira and it was the same thing as usual, she wants to get baptized but he's not really making an effort. One day... one day. That's about it for our investigators, Oscar and Hiram haven't responded to any of our phone calls or text messages.

Even though we haven't had a lot of success this week, we still have had a lot of success this week. We've been getting in with a bunch of members and less actives and trying to help them come closer to Christ. We're trying to help them develop good habits and develop a stronger testimony. We're reaching a bunch of our goals and we're still learning 30 words a day. We were waking up every morning at 5:30 until I got super sick, but we bought our emergency and as soon as we're both better we'll be getting up at 5:30 again every morning so we can have an extra hour of language study. I just know God has people prepared for us to teach and I know Satan is doing everything he can to stop us. I guess our companionship is known as the Job companionship in the mission right now, I had to repent after we earned that nick name because I had complained a lot haha! But I really do feel a shower of heavenly blessings each day from my Father. He has given us so much and now we just need to exercise patience until we find more people to teach.

I don't mean to sound negative or anything because really this week still has been incredible. We have little miracles happen every day that push us a long and Hermana Fluckiger and I are having so much fun. We laugh and laugh and laugh all day long. I still love Paris and I still love my mission. It really is the best decision I have ever made in my life to serve. I'm sure as I live my life I'll always look back at my mission and always remember it as the best decision I would ever make in this life. I love my Savior so very much and I am happy to wake up every morning and I am happy to fight anything Satan throws at me because it is the very least I could do after everything the Savior did for me. I am so so very grateful for this week and everything it has taught me.

I'm sorry for the lame letter this week but I hope you all know how much I love you. I hope you are all doing so well and I hope you have a great week. I'm going to send you a bunch of videos of our war with the fleas (don't pay attention to my voice I know I sound like a man). I really do love you and I hope you are happy. Because life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp