¡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!