¡Hola Familia!

La semana pasada fue muy bien. ¡Tuvimos muchas reuniones y tuvimos
mucho divertido! I hope y'all had a great week. My week was great! We
had so much fun this week and we were able to meet a lot of amazing
people.

Last Monday was great, we were able to find two new people and they
are incredible! We first met David he was outside of his apartment and
we started talking to him and we taught him a lesson right on the
spot. At first he told us we could teach him what we believe but then
he had to tell us what he believed. We were worried because we thought
maybe he only wanted to bible bash but we shared the gospel of Jesus
Christ and his heart was softened. He didn't care to tell us what he
thought anymore and only listened. He was great and I'm excited to
teach him more.

The next one we met was Arturo, he is amazing! He just moved here from
Utah and has a cousin serving a mission in Texas right now so he's
very familiar with Mormons. He's 17 years old and he told us he is
very Catholic but was open to learning more. So we taught him the
Restoration and the spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson we
asked him if he would be baptized and he said, "I believe you and I
feel like what you said is true. You just have to understand this is
going to be a huge change in my life and for my family so I'm going to
need some time and help." He committed to March 18 and he is amazing!
He said the closing prayer and for the first time in a long time I was
able to hear one of those prayers that make you love being a
missionary. He's been in the hospital all week afterwards he got super
sick so we've been praying lots for him and hoping he's well enough
for us to go see him this week.

On Tuesday we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council). It was my first
one and I loved it. There are some amazing missionaries here in
Kentucky and I learned so much from them! The spirit was so strong.
Hermana Heil and I also got put in charge of the musical number for
zone conference at MLC and I was not a happy camper haha! Hermana
Dickson (MTC companion) can  vouch for me that I refuse to sing or
anything in front of people.

So that brings us to Wednesday. We drove to Louisville for my last
physical therapy appointment YAY! And then met up with some other
missionaries to practice for the musical number. We got Sister Draper,
Sister Endemann, Elder Jolly, Elder Winward, Elder Smith, and Elder
Gunnell to help us out. I needed some people to drown out my voice. We
practiced for a little bit and they all sounded great. Except for
Elder Jolly and I hahaha! We then drove back to Shelbyville and went
to Sister Smith's to do our weekly service with her horses and to eat
dinner.

We had a few lessons with Maribel throughout the week and she is just
amazing! We've been having a lot of help from the ward and we're
getting her new member lessons all taught. She is just incredible, I
wish you all could meet her!

Friday we had zone conference and it was so good. I love zone
conferences so much, they are my absolute favorite. We had some really
good trainings from President and the APs. And we got the musical
number out of the way! But I seriously love being a missionary and
being able to have so many incredible spiritual moments. I love my
mission and all of the people here I get to serve with, I am the
luckiest girl.

So Saturday we had a Spanish activity at the church and we learned how
to make tamales! I did a really good job... At eating them. They all
did a great job at making them though! It was a lot of fun and I was
able to speak so much Spanish.

We had a couple lessons yesterday and the first one was with Manuel.
We started teaching the Restoration but the spirit was just not there
and then halfway through this crazy guy comes up to us and he just
stands there forever. We kept asking Manuel if he knew him and he was
just acting super weird. The guy kept getting closer and closer to us
and I had my pepper spray all ready to go and then we realized that we
were in the middle of a drug deal. So we got out of there real fast!
Hahaha oh Kentucky! We were safe but the guy was a weirdo!

We then found a family!! They are amazing. They have three kids and
they are the cutest thing. We started teaching them the Restoration
and we were only able to get halfway done because they had some
company show up. But they seem pretty solid and we'll be going back
next week.

But immigration has been a mess! They're taking everyone. Everyone
we've been teaching has disappeared or moved and won't give us their
new address. The ones who are still here are all terrified and
whenever we ask if we can come back for another lesson they always
say, "If we're still here." It breaks my heart, I couldn't imagine
being them and being afraid to answer the door or wondering if I'll
lose everything. I've been praying so hard for everyone.

But despite immigration this week has been great. I've laughed a lot
and have felt the spirit a lot and I've learned so many valuable
lessons. I am so grateful for the sacred calling I have and for the
opportunity to be a representative of the Savior Jesus Christ. I hope
you all know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you. Have a
great week and be happy. Because life is too short to be anything
else.

Con amor,
Hermana Swapp

PS: "And when they had brought their ships to land, they ​​​forsook​
all, and ​​​followed​ him." -Luke 5:11

Hermana Fluckiger! 

Elder Gunnell and Hermana Heil! 

 

Look who it is!! Hermana Spencer!! We're already deciding 

where we want to go to lunch mom (;