¡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.