¡Hola Familia! 

This one's going to be another short one! The weather is finally warming up here in Shelbyville and I am loving it! There's been tons of rain and things are starting to get really green and pretty. I've been pulling out all my summer clothes and I am one happy girl. 

So we have dropped every single one of our investigators except for Raul so the hunt has been on and it has been a hard one. But I'll first tell y'all about Raul. It was amazing! We went over there Tuesday and he was a changed person. He had read Alma 32 and we asked him what he thought. And he loved it and he said, "I realized the reason I don't know God is really my fault. If I want to know if he's there I need to put in the effort, show a little faith, and do those things he's asked me to do." It was incredible! We had an amazing lesson with him and then we haven't heard from him since... it's crazy, I swear we meet the most amazing people and then they just drop off the face of the earth. So hopefully we can find him this week and help him make some more progress. Because he's amazing! 

So Aisa and Vincente... hold on to your seats folks. We went over there Thursday for a lesson and we started off by asking them if it was important for them to know if there was only one true church. And they both said they didn't feel like they needed church to know God. They then continued to talk about how they don't like the Bible or the Book of Mormon because they don't feel like they need to read a man written book to get to know God either. So we showed them the Daily Bread video (if you have not seen those you need to see them now, they're incredible) and had the most powerful lesson. You could not deny the spirit that was in that room and I knew we all could feel it. But Aisa still denied it. We ended up getting dropped and Hermana Heil and I cried the entire drive home, not one word was spoken that whole drive. 

It's amazing how heart broken you can become when someone chooses not to accept the gospel. I know Aisa had received her answer that the church is true, she knows it is. I know how happy she and her family could be if they continued in faith and put in the effort. This family is the cutest family and I want so badly for them to become an eternal family. Darn agency... it's okay, I think one day they'll eventually get there. 

We knocked on lots of doors this week, made millions of phone calls, and talked to as many people as we could on the streets. We've kept busy and we've had fun while doing it. Hermana Heil and I have a game where we try to use different words during contacts, she used the word flamingo and mucus. I do my best not to laugh every time. But hey! We got a referral out of it! 

We got to go to the Women's Conference this week and how amazing was that? I've had a lot of things weighing heavily on my mind and my heart and I talk to Heavenly Father a lot about them and I was amazed at that conference because every worry, concern, and question I had was addressed. It's always humbling to me that someone as small as me has so much importance to someone as great as Him. He is so very real and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to defend Him. I love Him. 

We did lots of service and finding this week and that pretty much sums up my week. We're going to work even harder this coming week and I'll have some pretty amazing miracles to report next week, I just know it. I hope you all take the time to watch general conference this week, I am so excited! Here's a little challenge: before conference go to your Father in prayer and ask Him some questions that you have and I promise you, they will all be answered. They always are. He is aware.

Oh also, I hit my one year mark this week. You woulda thought I was having a midlife crisis or something! I think it became very real to me for the first time that my mission won't last forever. Man, I wish it could. But I want you all to know how very grateful I am for my mission, it is the biggest blessing I have ever received. I realized that going on a mission was never a sacrifice, because I've gotten way more out of it than anything I gave up. My mission saved my life, and in more than just one way. 

I love y'all so very much. Thank you for everything. For the love, prayers, and support. I certainly feel it. I hope y'all have an amazing week and be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd."

Elder Jolly went home and I cried ten tears. So here's an awkward picture with Sister Brough photo bombing. 

Zone Conference!

The Fab Four!

I love Hermana Heil

¡Hola Todos! 

Espero que todos tuvieran una buena semana. Nuestra semana fue muy ocupada pero muy divertida. Encontramos nuevas personas para enseñar y tuvimos muchos milagros. I hope y'all had a very good week and that you remembered to wear green! This week is going to be a short one but I'll share a couple cool experiences with you! 

So since we don't really have any investigators right now we spent most of our week tracting and boy am I tired. But one day we had a really cool experience. Before we started down one street Hermana Heil and I said a prayer and asked our Heavenly Father to bless us with one person who would have a lesson with us.  We spent a little while knocking on doors and it was just about time to go in for the night and we knocked on one last door and Raul came out.  He told us right away he was Atheist but after a little while of talking to him he asked us to come by the next day. We were so grateful Heavenly Father blessed us with that one person. 

We went back the next day and had a powerful lesson on God is our Heavenly Father and taught him about the Holy Ghost and prayer. At the end we showed him a video and when Christ came on the screen he started crying. He totally believes it. We asked him what he thought and he said he didn't believe it. And he went on saying some things. Let me tell you this guy is a modern day Korihor. The next day in my studies I read Alma 30 (the story of Korihor) and I was shocked because Raul literally said word for word what Korihor said. I couldn't believe it. And in the institute manual Ezra Taft Benson said, "The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time."

So we went to Raul's the next day and of course we read Alma 30 with him. He right away pointed out that he was a Korihor. But the lesson was so powerful and you could totally see when it clicked in his head that it was all true. He said, "so if I start believing in this and if I start going to your church then what does that all mean?" He totally believes it! But he's so prideful and at the end of the lesson he said, "I still don't believe it, if God has to strike me dumb then he can strike me dumb." Hahaha it was so frustrating. But you can totally tell he believes it he just doesn't want to admit he's wrong. But poco a poco (little by little) he's going to get there. He's amazing and he's going to get it! I just know it! But it's been super cool working with him and as I've studied for him I have grown to know my Heavenly Father better as well. 

We had another day we were tracting and again the very last trailer that we knocked on we found Jose and Enis. They let us in and we told them about the Book of Mormon she was so excited to hear about it and they asked us to come back. It was so cool, and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father always blesses us when we do our part. 

We had exchanges this week with the Frankfort sisters and it was a lot of fun! Sister Groesbeck came to Shelbyville with me and she is amazing! She may be a sister but let me tell you she's actually an Hermana! Her Spanish is incredible! No joke, she knows more than me! I was blown away! We were at a lesson with Maribel (and Maribel can understand English) and I asked Sister Groesbeck if she wanted to explain part of the lesson and she just explains it out in Spanish I was like what?! It was the coolest thing ever, she is amazing!! She's such a good missionary! 

But that's about it for our week. We spent a majority of our time tracting and looking and it was a good week! We have a pretty good week coming up and I'm excited for it. I hope y'all have a very good week and know how much I love y'all. Be happy, because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

Exchanges featuring Sister "Hermana" Groesbeck and Hermana Parra. And I know I totally look like I have a hunchback.

Mama Rhonda came to Shelbyville again to take us out. I love her so much, it made my heart so happy. She's doing good and Jacob made it on his mission in Colombia!

¡Hola Familia!

How is everyone doing? Things are going well here in Shelbyville, we just ended the craziest week of my life. Oh it has been so busy but such a good one. 

So we'll start with last Monday... oh boy. Hermana Heil and I had the brilliant idea last week to dye her hair. We thought it would be so much fun. She decided to go blonde. So we bought the box dye and got back to the apartment and she told me I was the one dying her hair. I would not have let her buy the dye if I knew I was the one dying it. I'm not sure why I thought she would dye her own hair but I just thought she would. So I asked her how to do it and she said she had no idea so I started with doing it by strands and then at the end with whatever left I had I just kinda dumped it and like shampooed her hair with it. Well that's not how it works. 

When she dried her hair there were spots everywhere it was so bad. I had a little heart attack and called Sister Clary up right away. She's a member in the ward we begged her to fix it and she just laughed at us. So we bought another box of dye and drove to her house and we spent the next four hours trying to fix it (which she did. Thank goodness too we had MLC the next day with President Brough). So we spend the rest of the night painting her house for her to give her a little service too after everything she did for us! Haha! Tip #1 when you have the idea to dye your hair on your mission, don't do it. 

Tuesday we were in Louisville all day for MLC. It was such a good experience, the spirit was so strong and I learned so much. I seriously love those meetings. After MLC we exchanged some of our sisters. Sister Wilde came to Shelbyville with me. She's incredible, she's a brand new missionary but you would never guess it. She has such a powerful testimony and does such a good job at following the spirit, she's incredible and I learned so much from her. We had a blast together. 

Wednesday Hermana Heil and I were back together at 6:00, went to a dinner appointment, went to coordination, and then we had an hour to prepare for a training we were going to give the next day at zone meeting. 

Thursday we went to Crestwood early for DLC (district leader conference- they have the STLs join for those) and then we had zone meeting. Hermana Heil and I gave our training on Finding Joy and let me tell you, Heavenly Father blessed us. We didn't have hardly any time to prepare for the training but he still allowed us to have the spirit and I think it turned out okay. After Zone Meeting we went on another exchange. I went to La Grange with Hermana Linares this time. We had so much fun, she's so cute. We had some incredible lessons where the spirit was so strong and we also got to do some fun service together. She was my STL a few transfers ago so it was a total blast to go on an exchange with her again. She's a spirit power house, I love Hermana Linares. 

Friday afternoon I came back to Shelbyville and we did our weekly planning and then we had a lesson with Yohandri. It was short, and we didn't get to talk a lot (he loves to talk)! Then we had a dinner appointment and then we Skyped into a lesson for some Elders in Lebanon. They're teaching a Spanish family but they don't have any Spanish missionaries in their area so we translated the lesson for them. Then we were able to have a good lesson with a less active in the ward. 

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with Sister Dickerson. We talked about temples and we all ended up in tears, the spirit was so strong. She is making great progress. Then some members took us out to eat at Cracker Barrel, that was a lot of fun. We then drove to Taylorsville and found a few people there and had a couple lessons with some less actives and members. And then we had a lesson with Maribel, she's doing so good. I seriously love her and her family. After her lesson we had about an hour left for me to prepare for my talk I was giving the next day...

Sunday I woke up early to finish my talk. Again Heavenly Father blessed me. I only had an hour to prepare for it but again He still allowed the spirit to be here and I think it went okay. Yohandri didn't come to church again. :( but we had a potluck after church and some of the less actives we visited on Saturday showed up so it was a success. After church we did some studies and then spent three hours walking around a couple neighborhoods looking for people to teach. We ended up having to drop almost every single one of our investigators this week. We dropped Yohandri's baptismal date and we're just waiting to see if we ever hear from him. The only other investigators we have is Arturo and then Aisa and her family. 

We did have a miracle with Arturo though. During weekly planning we said a prayer to know what we could do for him. And right after that prayer we got a text from him saying, "Hey guys, I'm going to Utah tonight but I'll be back in a week from Monday. Do you think y'all could come by when I get home to teach me more?" It was a total miracle. He even told us he had been reading in the Book of Mormon. I was so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that miracle. 

That was my week though it was crazy but so much fun. I feel like I'm on a spiritual high but I am so exhausted haha! I really felt the power of the enabling Atonement throughout the week. He gave me strength to accomplish everything we needed to. I am so grateful for my Savior and for a very aware and loving Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have such an amazing week with lots of joy. I hope you know how much I love you and care for you. Have a great week and be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you." -Alma 5:33

 MLC. Crestwood Zone got snap backs and the zone leaders wanted to get a picture with President and Sister Brough in them. We got the zone leaders, APs, and President Sister Brough in the first picture. Obviously we're missionaries - none of us have a good thug face.

 Exchanges with Sister Moore and Sister Wilde!

 Crestwood Zone doing their best to look cool. The mini vans really add to the thug theme we're going for.

 Exchanges with Hermana Banks and Hermana Linares.

¡Hola Hola!

I hope y'all have had a very good week. I can't believe another week has come and gone, it's going by oh too fast. Shelbyville is doing great and I am loving every minute of it. This is seriously such an amazing area. This week has been fun and Hermana Heil and I have learned some things about ourselves this week... especially that cooking is not one of our talents, I'll explain in a bit. 

We started our week last week with a dinner appointment with the Hebdon's. They're a cute family in our ward and they live right next to a golf course so of course I brought up golf and asked if they played. Well their cute 8 year old does and I got a brand new best friend. He brought me to their back yard immediately (their backyard is like 6 acres) and was hitting golf balls for me. Then we'd run and go get them. Let me tell you, he's a pretty good golfer. I honestly think he can hit it further than me. But it was fun I got to swing a golf club for the first time in a long time and it was such a tender mercy. And then he followed me around at church yesterday haha, seriously the cutest kid. I love that family. 

We had a great lesson with a less active in the ward. She's so cute and we've been working with her for a while, we really want her to come to church and start making some changes in her life to align it with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we shared a lesson we had planned for her and the spirit was so strong. And before we could commit her to anything she said with tears, "Thank you. This is what I needed to hear and now I know I need to make some changes in my life. I need to go to church." It was incredible. Those are my favorite lessons, when you do absolutely nothing and the spirit teaches them exactly what they need to learn. 

We did lots of service this week. Anything from helping with horses to painting cupboards. We did lots of tracting and just anything to find new people to teach. Hermana Heil and I had this brilliant idea one day to make a ton of cookies and then to visit absolutely everyone. Members, investigators, less Actives, former investigators, everyone. So we decided to make a batch of cookies and we tripled the batch. Well the cookie dough seemed sticky to us so me being the great baker I am had the idea to add more flour. So we started with a cup but it still seemed sticky so we just kept adding and adding until we pretty much dumped the whole bag in. But it looked good, it looked like the consistency of cookie dough and the cookie dough tasted good. So we baked our cookies and they looked awful but we had hope that they would taste good so we ate it and it tasted like a blob of flour. There was no taste except for the occasional chocolate chip. So we dumped a bag of brown sugar and granulated sugar and a few more eggs and a stick of butter with hopes it would fix the problem.... nope. So we gave up and we dumped the "cookie dough" in a grocery bag and left it on the Elders' car with a note that said, "Tip of the day: you can't add as much flour as you want to cookie dough. #shouldvetakenpersonalprogressmoreseriously." We still visited everyone we wanted to but we showed up with empty hands haha! Hermana Heil and I haven't stopped laughing about it since! Who just adds more flour? It made sense at the time...

Saturday was a great day. We had lesson after lesson. From 6:00-9:00 we were able to have four lessons, it was awesome. We had two with less actives and two with investigators and they went really well. The last one for the night was with Aisa though and it was a heart breaking lesson. Her and her husband were there together and we showed the Mormon Message "Waiting on our Road to Damascus" and asked them what they thought. Vincente really opened up he said it really put things into perspective for him and he knows it's true and that he needs to make more time for church and for the Book of Mormon. Then Aisa said, "I just don't know if it's true. It doesn't give me the feeling I feel like it should." She basically went on and on how it wasn't satisfying her needs and she's okay without it. It broke my heart because you could see how badly Vicente wants it and how much it means to him. And I know Aisa knows it's true. She's had way too many spiritual experiences not to know. It broke my heart, we've been praying for them and just wanting to know what we can do to help them feel the truthfulness. But I know they'll get there eventually. 

Yohandri has gone missing, we haven't seen him since last Sunday. We've been calling and texting and messaging on Facebook and stopping by his house and nothing. So hopefully we can find him this week. A is doing good. We just found out she'll be moving to Guatemala soon since her boyfriend got deported, so that was sad news. But this week we're working hard and we're going to do all we can to find those who are prepared. We're going to get our bikes checked out today so hopefully we can use those a lot more and just do anything possible to find those of the House of Israel. 

Our mission President pointed out something cool to us. He was talking about Picasso and Van Gough and how they have incredible art talents and he said, "Do you think they just developed these talents here on earth?" And he said, "No, they were talents they developed in the pre-earth life and they brought them here with them. How about Mozart and Beethoven? It's the same thing with them they developed those musical talents before this life." So at this point I'm feeling pretty crummy because I didn't bring any talents obviously I didn't bring any cooking talents with me. And then he said, "but there's a talent that all of you brought here with you. All of those who are of the House of Israel have the talent of being sensitive to the spirit and to spiritual truths. Why don't you think everyone is a member of the church? Or why isn't everyone begging to be baptized? Well it's because that wasn't a talent they worked on before this life. Those who have the talent of being spiritually sensitive are part of the House of Israel and those are the ones we need to find." In Preach My Gospel it says "The gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them." How neat is that? 

Hopefully that made sense. If not... sorry. 

We had exchanges this week. Hermana Espinoza came to Shelbyville with me and she is incredible. She moved here from Guatemala and so she only speaks Spanish. So for 24 hours that is all I spoke, it was a lot of fun and we did lots of charades. (: but I learned so much from her and I have never met anyone with such a powerful testimony. I can't even explain it, the second she opens her mouth the spirit fills the room. It was incredible. We had a lesson with Maribel and Maribel told us that she was at work and someone started talking about Joseph Smith and was saying all of these horrible things and then that's when she found out about polygamy. And she asked us, "Is that really true? Did they really practice polygamy?" My heart sunk and I honestly had no idea what to say because I don't know all of the details or the why's. So I just said, "God commanded there to be polygamy at the beginning of the church. And I don't know why but what I do know is that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith and Hermana Espinoza did too. And the spirit that was there was incredible. And nobody could deny that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Maribel even bore her testimony of Joseph Smith and it was a special moment. 

That was pretty much our week. I'm sorry this letter is all over the place, maybe one day they'll make sense, but don't count on it. I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for everything y'all do for me. I hope y'all have a good week and remember to be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." -Alma 31:35