You woulda thought I was having a midlife crisis 3-27-2017

3:34 PM

¡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."