Hermana McKenna Swapp: April 2017

We got called devil worshippers 4-24-2017

¡Hola Familia!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week mom! I hope you have a very happy birthday and I hope the family spoils you. I'll be celebrating for you here in Kentucky this week.

This week has been crazy. So much has happened and I don't even know what to share because I can't remember what happened this week. All the weeks are blending in together! But Tuesday we had interviews with President. Interviews are always my favorite and he always has the best advice.

And after interviews we exchanged the Lexington Hermanas. Hermana Banks came to Shelbyville with me and it was so much fun. She is such an amazing missionary and I love going on exchanges with her, I always learn so much from her and she makes everyone feel so loved. She's such a good example of a Christlike missionary.

We've had some amazing lessons with Kristy and Aniyah and they are making such good progress. They are still so excited to get baptized and they spend like every day studying he Book of Mormon and their gospel principles book. I am super excited for them and it has been fun watching them make some changes in their life.

Raul, we found him! And then we injured him... let me explain. We found him this week and he was back to his dumb Korihor self. Oh I was so sad and frustrated, but we told him to read the Book of Mormon and he said he would. We went to his house Thursday and he had been reading! So we shared the restoration with him (finally) and he really understood it well and he even accepted a baptismal date. And in his prayer he said, "God please help me do all that I can so I can be baptized on May 27." It was awesome and so good to hear! So hear is where we injured him...

We thought it would be a good idea to get all of our investigators and less actives together for a soccer game. And that way they could invite all of their friends and we could meet more people. So we put the soccer game together and it had been raining a little bit that day. We were there with our investigators and less actives and the elders brought theirs and we shared a spiritual lesson and said a prayer and then we played some fútbol. The game hadn't even lasted for 30 seconds and Raul totally slipped on the grass and hurt his ankle. Oh I felt so bad for him. He hobbled off the field and decided to go home. We even said a prayer for safety... Hermana Heil and I were dying. He ended up going to the hospital and he has a huge brace and he's on crutches for 3 weeks. We thought for sure he was never going to meet with us again and that he hated us and Hermana Heil was doing everything in her power not to laugh and the whole thing was just crazy. But we visited him on Saturday morning and he wasn't mad at all. Phew. But the whole thing was actually really funny, but Raul would say differently. But we learned our lesson... fútbol is a good idea, just not when it's raining.

So Friday we got a call from President Brough. One of the members fell in love with Hermana Parra so he had to get her out of the area so he asked us to do an emergency exchange for the weekend until he could do an ET. So I've actually been in Versailles/Frankfort Kentucky for the past couple of days with Sister Groesbeck and I will be here until tomorrow.

Saturday night was thunder over Louisville, like the biggest firework show in the world to kick off Derby! President Brough told the missionaries to go who lived within 40 minutes and to talk with as many people as we could. So we got to go and it was so much fun. There was basically like 2 zones of missionaries there and a million people. So we grabbed some boxes of Book of Mormons and we had little competitions to see who could get their Book of Mormons passed out the fastest. Each companionship took some books and then when we got them passed out, we were to meet up at our meeting spot. Last ones back lost. It was a ton of fun, Hermana Spencer and I went together. We talked with some really nice people and talked with some really mean people. We got called devil worshippers and a bunch of other names that I can't write down haha! One guy hated the Mormons so bad I thought he was going to throw some punches. But it was a super fun night and the firework show was incredible!

We found some other people to teach this week and that was good. One of them is named Faustino and he's awesome. We knocked on his door and he let us in, at first we thought he just wanted to Bible bash but we were able to teach him the restoration and he was super receptive and I'm excited to see him progress.

Versailles/Frankfort has been fun. It's a tiger team (one Spanish sister and one English sister) so yesterday at church was fun. I got to translate all three hours and then we had a fireside last night and I translated that as well. I was tired of talking by the end of the day haha! It's weird not being in Shelbyville, but Frankfort is pretty cool.

But that was our week, it was a crazy one but a good one. I hope you all have an amazing week and know that I love you! Be happy, because life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -Matthew 11:28-30

Our exchange with Hermana Espinoza and Hermana Banks.

Thunder over Louisville

Part of the MTC group last night at the fireside.

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Easter was so good here in Kentucky 4-17-2017

¡Hola Familia!

I hope y'all had a very happy Easter! Easter was so good here in Kentucky, and this week was seriously the happiest week. I love how softened people's hearts become as we celebrate the Savior. I had so much fun going around sharing the Prince of Peace video with as many people as I could and seeing a light turn on as they watched it. Those videos do such a good at inviting the spirit so quickly.

We had a lot of fun this week, on Saturday we went to a member's farm and there were so many people there! The whole ward was pretty much there. But they had a big Easter egg hunt and a brunch for everyone. It was fun to be able to talk with all of the members and to enjoy such a yummy brunch.

Sunday was amazing. I think this was the greatest Easter I've ever had. I hate to admit it but I think it was the first Easter I've had that was totally focused on the Savior. And the spirit that was there all day was just incredible, my heart was so full of gratitude. I am so grateful for my Savior and for all the He did for me. I know Him and I know He lives.

We have the best ward ever, we had four families invite us over for Easter dinner and many more people inviting us over for dessert! We couldn't go to all of them but I am so grateful to be serving in a ward where they take such good care of us missionaries! It was such a good Easter.

This week was awesome, so busy, and full of miracles. We had MLC on Tuesday and so we spent most of our day in Louisville, but MLC is always the best. We had some great trainings on following the spirit and on the Godhead. I love these meetings, they get me motivated every time to be a little better.

We had Zone Meeting on Thursday and Hermana Heil and I got to do a training for it. It was the coolest thing as we were preparing for this training, I've never felt so guided by the spirit before. It's always such a neat experience being able to feel the spirit so strongly and knowing exactly what your Heavenly Father wants you to say. After Zone Meeting we went on exchanges and Sister Moore came to Shelbyville with me. It was a party, we had so much fun. Sister Moore is seriously the most amazing missionary I was amazed at her Christlike example. I want to be like Sister Moore when I grow up.

We did lots and lots of service this week. We did our weekly service at the food bank, we did lots of yard work, and we were able to help some other people out with their house work. And I forgot to tell you in your personal email dad, but I mowed my first lawn this week! It was so much fun and shout out to Hermana Heil for teaching me! We had a ton of fun doing all of our service this week, and the weather was in the 80s so it was perfect!

We had some really cool spiritual moments throughout the week as well. Carla, we were able to have some contact with her this week, but we didn't get a lesson in. She got a new job so she's been busy with work. Raul, we didn't hear from him all week. And Kristy and her daughters weren't home for their lesson. Well we went to a lesson we had at 8:00 on Friday and our appointment didn't show up but right then we got a call from the Elders saying they just saw Kristy and she wants us to come over. So we ran over there and we had a great lesson with her and her daughters.

We had a lesson about baptism and the two girls, Anaia and Adrian, are the cutest little girls you'll ever see. They kept asking so many questions and kept saying they wanted to be baptized. We asked Kristy if this was something she wanted as well and she said yes! So we talked about the baptismal covenant and all that they need to do to prepare. Their baptismal date is May 27 and Kristy wrote it down on her calendar as soon as she heard it, it made me so happy. And to end the lesson Adrian told us her miracle she had during the week. She's 7 years old so just imagine the cutest 7 year old ever saying this, "I was outside playing and I looked up and the clouds were really dark and scary and so I closed my eyes and I said a prayer that the clouds would go away and when I opened my eyes the clouds weren't dark and scary anymore!" They are such a fun family, and I am so excited for them.

We've met with Mauricio and Pedro almost everyday this week and they are doing great. We're still reading in the Book of Mormon with them and they even said they feel so happy when they read in the Book of Mormon, it made me so happy for them. We asked them to go to church and the little stinkers said no, but Pedro was able to get a priesthood blessing last night and they're slowly but surely making progress.

Maribel finished her new member lessons this weekend and it was great! She hadn't been to church for three weeks in a row and when we got to her house she told us she wasn't going to be at church because she was going to be with her sister for Easter, so we were super sad. But we had a great lesson about baptism and confirmation with an emphasis on renewing our covenants through the sacrament. We prayed and prayed all week that we would be able to get her to church.

Hermana Heil and I had prayed and pleaded with our Father in a heaven that we could get new investigators and more of the people we are teaching at church. And as the week went by it seemed as if nobody was going to come. But we prayed and prayed and did everything in our power to get everyone to church. We called Mauricio and Pedro first Sunday morning and they said no. We made a few other phone calls and then decided to go knock on Raul's door before church. It was pouring rain and we went up to his house and knocked on his door. Nothing. So we knocked again. Nothing but at this point we're sopping wet. So third time's the charm and we knock again. Right as were about to leave Raul came out. It's 9:30 at this point and church starts at 10:00. After 10 minutes of begging and pleading we finally got him to agree to come to church but he said he needed to shower and change. So to make sure he was actually going to come we told him we would wait in the rain until he was ready and so we did. And right at 10:00 he came out all ready for church and he followed us over to the church.

We were sooo happy we were able to get Raul to church but the greatest thing was when we walked into the church (and we were late) we saw that almost everybody we had invited to church came. Maribel was sitting there with her family, Kristy and her daughters were there in their Easter best, Pedro surprised us and was sitting there waiting for his translation, and there were three other Hispanic less actives who had showed up that day. I was so grateful that our Heavenly Father blessed us with so many people at church and I was so happy as so many of our brothers and sisters were able to partake of the sacrament and renew their covenants with God. It was an Easter miracle for sure.

Easter was so amazing and I am so grateful for the sweet spirit I was able to feel yesterday. I am so grateful for our Savior's sacrifice and for his resurrection, I know it's true and I know one day all of us will have the priceless gift of being resurrected as well. I know He lives.

I hope y'all have an amazing week, I hope you know how much I love you and care about you! Be happy, because life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives! For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God." -D&C 76:22-24

A crappy MLC picture.

Some of my best friends out here. Elder Olson, Sister Endemann, and Elder Crystal.

Our daily library lessons with Mauricio and Pedro.

Exchanges with Sister Moore and Sister Wilde!

Rhonda came to take us out to lunch! I love her so much!

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I think my legs are going to fall off! 4-10-2017

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Okay General Conference. How amazing was that? 4-3-2017

¡Hola Familia!

First off... Happy Birthday Maddie!! I hope you have the greatest day ever, I love you! I hope y'all had a great week. This past week was amazing, we worked so hard and even got on the bikes. We were able to have some really cool experiences and disappointing ones as well! Also, transfers are tomorrow! Hermana Heil and I will be together for a third transfer, I am so excited! It's not super common in our mission for companions to be together longer than 2 transfers so I am so happy. I prayed we could have one more together, Hermana Heil is probably dying to get away from me haha! (;

So we had some amazing lessons with Sister Dickerson this week. I wish y'all could meet her, you just walk in her house and the spirit is there. She is the sweetest person I have ever met. We had a really good lesson about callings and she is making some good progress.

Tuesday we had a million names written down that we were going to see, it was the most inspired planning session I've had on my mission. And we were able to go to every single person's house we had written down. Most of them weren't home but when we were looking for one of our potentials we saw somebody sitting on their porch at the next house over so we talked to him. His name is Jose and he is incredible. We showed him the Mormon Message "A Book of Mormon Story" and he loved it and asked for a copy. We gave him one and set up another appointment with him. Well we went over yesterday and he explained to us that he was studying another church as well and wanted to be honest with us. But he was open to hearing the message. So we taught him the Restoration and the spirit was so strong! He had so many good questions and we were able to answer them all for him. And thanks to the gift of tongues Spanish was so easy for Hermana Heil and me during that lesson, we were able to communicate all that the spirit needed us to. He accepted a baptismal date and was even excited about it and it was such a powerful lesson. Well a couple hours later we received a text from him saying he didn't want to meet with us again and he wasn't interested. Ah! It was like somebody ripped my heart out of my chest and stepped on it. Stinking agency and Satan! I was so sad.

Jose was the only person we really found this week that was solid. So it was so frustrating and sad to receive that text, but that's okay that's all part of being a missionary right?

So we've really been working hard on the Hispanics in the ward, we really want to build up the Spanish group. There's like 30-40 Hispanics baptized and only two families and a couple other people show up to church. So in total it's like 8 people. We've been working a lot with Mauricio and Pedro, little stinkers. We didn't know what else to do for them so we tricked them into meeting us at the library and we had Bishop come. They were both surprised when they saw him but it ended up being a really good thing. Our bishop is awesome and he served his mission in Venezuela so he speaks Spanish too. He was able to establish a good relationship with them and I think it helped them a lot.

After the lesson we got a message on Facebook from Pedro though and he said he didn't believe this church was true. Ah why is Satan so dumb?! But we were able to talk to him and we had another good lesson with Pedro and I think deep down he knows it's true. We're going to have to work a little harder and a little longer with him, but he'll get there. But Pedro and Mauricio came to general conference! It was the greatest thing ever! We may or may not have bribed them with brownies but the important thing is they came and they both enjoyed it!

We've also been working with Ismael. He's another inactive in the ward, he breaks my heart. He's an alcoholic and every time I have met him he's been drunk, but let me tell you he is the nicest drunk person you will ever meet. We were able to find out a lot this week and really establish a good relationship with him. He never used to drink until his brother died about 4 years ago and it was really hard on him. Every time we meet with Ismael an overwhelming feeling of love for him comes over me. He's very special to our Heavenly Father. Ismael doesn't see his potential. He doesn't think he's worth anything or that he'll ever be able to give up his alcohol, it breaks my heart. But if I've learned anything on my mission it's that God is still a God of miracles and that Christ really does change men.

We found Roberto, another inactive. Every time we meet with him I am always saying, "Hermano, excusas excusas." And then he just laughs. He's an awesome guy, he has a testimony, but he's just full of excuses and he knows it! He's a lot of fun though we always tease when we're over there. He had work this weekend but we're hoping to get him back to church soon. He can't read though, so we're thinking of different ways we can build his testimony!

Maribel and her family are still doing amazing. Every time I go over there they have a tongue twister for me to do in Spanish or a riddle to solve, they're awesome.

Okay General Conference. How amazing was that? The spirit that is there is just incredible and I love it so much. It's amazing how much revelation I was able to receive and how many prayers were answered. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father. On Saturday during Elder Holland's talk we got a call from Carla, we had met her a few days prior. She had come to the church to watch General Conference! We were so excited! We have an appointment this week with her too so hopefully we'll be able to start working with her!

But I hope you all had an amazing experience with General Conference. I am so grateful for our living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson and for the apostles. I know they are truly called of God and I am so grateful for their counsel.

I love you all so very much and I hope you have a great week! Be happy because life is too short to be anything else!

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments." -Helaman 10:4