I felt a little like Rocky Balboa 7-26-2017

11:40 AM

¡Hola Y'all!

Wow tengo mucho que quiero decir sobre la semana pasada. So first off we switched our P-day to today so we could go to the temple and it was incredible, I'm so grateful we were able to go. But that means we had an extra long week so lucky for you all you get an extra long letter(:

This week was incredible and so much has happened! So we'll start off with Chrystian. We were teaching a guy named Jorge, he was super solid and even had a baptismal date and then one day he just disappeared. Seriously, we still haven't seen him or heard from him. We went to his house one day and left a note on his door. Well a couple days later we get a call from Chrystian and he said he had gotten a note on his door and he was just giving us a call. We told him we were looking for Jorge but if he was interested in learning we would love to teach him, so we set up an appointment with Chrystian.

We went over for our appointment with Chrystian and we started teaching him the Restoration and as we started talking about prophets he told us he'd already been baptized, so we asked him in what church and he said ours. So we asked for his full name and we looked him up on the records and sure enough there he was. But get this, all of his information is wrong. He had since moved and changed his phone number so the Spanish branch has had no way to get in contact with him. He was baptized two years ago and he told us that he told the Hermanas he just wasn't ready but they told him he was so he got baptized, well shortly after he went inactive. He doesn't have much of a testimony in the church and has a lot of doubts. So we finished teaching him the Restoration and at the end Hermana Corona bore her testimony on faith and I bore my testimony on Joseph Smith and Chrystian said, "Wow, I had all these questions I was going to ask you and you both answered them before I could ask them. It's like you know what I'm thinking, this makes me believe that what you're sharing has to be true. You two explain this so differently from what I remember but it feels good." It was an incredible lesson, the spirit was so powerful and it was definitely the spirit teaching the lesson, not us. We've kept in contact with Chrystian throughout the week and we've even had a couple lessons over Facebook. He's making great progress. He's reading in the Book of Mormon and was even going to come to church but got called into work. It's incredible how the Lord led us to Chrystian through Jorge.

Also, we've been working with Mary Beth. She was a member of our church but was excommunicated quite a while ago, she called us one day and told us she's ready to come back. We've been working with the bishop and her and she is doing great. About two years ago she went to the Mormon Battalion in San Diego, CA and had a pretty spiritual experience and then a couple months ago she had a loved one pass away and had the same spiritual experience and she decided it's time to come back. We met with her a couple times last week and she even came to church! She is incredible and I am so proud of her.

Lorenzo... that guy. We made him a baptismal calendar to help him stay on track for his baptism and we brought it to his lesson and his face showed pure fear haha. He told us he didn't want to get baptized on August 26 and that he needed more time but we explained to him that if he did everything on his calendar he would feel ready and want to be baptized and he gave us an okay! We had good contact with him throughout the week but when Sunday came he said he wasn't going to church so we went over to his house and knocked and knocked until he answered the door and when he saw us he said, "Hermanas, I'm not going to church and I'm not getting baptized." After talking for a minute and sharing some scriptures he got a big smile and said, "okay Hermanas, I'm coming." And with a huge sigh he came to church. But he left after the first hour and kept saying, "Me siento mal Hermanas." And we haven't heard from him since, we've been calling and calling so hopefully we can get in contact with him soon and find out what's going on.

Elizabeth just made me and Hermana Corona want to cry. She's the one that her husband and son were baptized recently and she just won't commit. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with her and the spirit is always so strong with that movie and after the movie she expressed some of her doubts and concerns. So we reviewed the Plan of Salvation and some other things and the spirit was so strong, you could not deny it. And she told us she believes the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet but that other churches are true too. So she's just not understanding. It was such a powerful lesson and the spirit was able to answer all of her questions but she still denied that she had felt anything. We just want her family to be together forever.

Sister Goodspeed is not doing good. Every time we visit her she's worse than the time before, it breaks my heart. It's her birthday tomorrow and we're going to throw her the greatest birthday party an 84 year old has ever had.

Guadalupe was making great progress. We had a few lessons with her and then I offended her. I did a good job at that all last week. She kept saying she didn't need the Book of Mormon and she only needed the Bible and that the Book of Mormon's stories don't line up with the Bible and that it just couldn't possibly be true. So I said it as nicely as I could and I felt like I said it out of love but I just told her she wasn't understanding and that the Book of Mormon is a completely different book and not another version of the Bible and she got real offended and kinda went off... so we haven't seen her since. I felt bad, I didn't mean to make her mad. Hopefully we'll be able to mend the relationship.

So one night we decided to go visit Araceli and I am so grateful that we did. We got there and she was having a pretty hard day, her cousin had just passed away. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and it was a pretty special experience. There's nothing better than being able to teach someone about the Plan of Salvation and seeing the peace that it brings to them. Araceli was still pretty sad when we left but she was smiling when we told her about the Spirit World and the Celestial Kingdom.

Saturday night we went out looking for new people to teach and we found a group of Hispanics outside and they were pretty drunk and they had a nice fresh 24 pack of Coronas waiting for them. So Hermana Corona and I had a quick Word of Wisdom lesson with them by dumping out all their beers for them. I think they got a kick out of Hermana Corona dumping out the Coronas. But they had fun (even though I'm pretty sure they don't remember it) and they've even called us since to learn more.

We found a couple investigators in Lexington named Moises and Vicente. And I'm not going to lie I didn't think they were very solid and I didn't think we'd ever see them again but we've already had two other lessons with each of them. And Vicente is preparing to be baptized. We seriously saw so many miracles this week and Heavenly Father put so many people in our paths.

So the mission has a new push of finding one new investigator every day and we've been able to have some success with it but I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed. We have investigators in three different towns and I have felt like we haven't been able to give them the attention they need. We're working with 25 investigators and 10 less actives/recent converts and they're all so spread out. I was praying on Monday and telling Heavenly Father I was feeling overwhelmed and the scripture 1 Nephi 3:7 came to mind "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." I know the push for one new investigator a day came from God and I know He was telling me He would prepare a way.

Yesterday the Lord prepared a way. We found all of our investigators on Facebook and we were able to get in contact with every single one and even have a few lessons over messenger (video calls). We had 9 lessons yesterday and we were literally teaching lessons from 11:00 until 9:00 and found three new investigators. We were able to teach our investigators in Lexington, Frankfort, and Versailles without leaving Versailles. I am so grateful for the technology we have been blessed with and being able to see the Lord hasten his work.

A couple fun facts for you: 1. Hermana Corona and I both hate fish but we both want to like it super bad so we have a family in the ward and each week they're feeding us fish to help us acquire some taste. I ate a whole tilapia fish by myself people. 2. This week for service we got to help Sister Hatchett catch her chickens. I'm not going to lie, it's harder than I thought. I felt a little like Rocky Balboa, but we had a ton of fun.

Last little thought for y'all. I was reading in the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi and I read in 2 Nephi 2:11, "And it shall come to pass that the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." And Henry B. Eyring said, "This is describing a day when the Savior will come, a day we all look for and want our students to prepare for. This scripture says that in that day, all of us who thought we were special and wonderful will seem smaller, and the Lord will be exalted. We will see better who He is, how much we love Him, and how humble we should be. … I understood why Isaiah told me it would be helpful to foresee the day when the Lord would be exalted and to know how much I depend upon Him. We need Him, and the faith we have in Him makes us see Him as great and exalted and ourselves as small and dependent." I cannot wait for the day when the Savior comes again. I know He truly lives and that everything I have accomplished is because of Him. I love Him so very much.

I love you all and I hope you have the greatest week! Be happy because life is too short to be anything else.

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt." -Mark 14:36