Well first of all thank you so much Mom for the package!! Hermana Crowther and I were freaking out when we saw we got Chick-Fil-A gift cards. We were super excited and she says thank you. Also, thank you for the dress it's super cute and comfy! The inside feels like a blanket! And thanks for all of the goodies and the picture. We have it up on our dresser, we love to look at it and to remember that Christ is walking with us every single day. So thank you. 

This week... let's just say things from here can only go up! We gained 6 new investigators and lost them all in one week. That's gotta be some kind of record or something ha! But we'll start with Monday. This will be just like one big journal entry for you all to read. Monday: We spent our Pday cleaning, grocery shopping, and then writing everyone. Then at 6 we had a dinner appointment with the Toadvines. They're the kindest people ever. We got there and they had their grandson B there, he's 5 years old and is the cutest kid. The second we walked in he turned around and said, "Alright, which one of you is the painter and golfer?" (I mentioned I like to paint and golf in my talk on Sunday). When he found out it was me we became instant best friends. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to a dresser and pulled out his art set. He flipped through his entire paint book and showed me everything he had painted and then we painted a star together. He even let me choose what colors we painted it. Then we had the most amazing meal ever. They had grilled pineapple! It was super good!! And Brother Toadvine has a super bad stomach too so we were able to tell each other all of the fun adventures we've had in our lives with our stomachs. And then after dinner B took me out to the backyard to show me his golf clubs. He had a 9 iron, wedge, and some wiffle (don't know how to spell that) balls. So we had a little competition in the back yard. It was so much fun, I can't even tell you how nice it was to hold a golf club! And just so everyone knows I got a hole in one every time. B thought I was a pro golfer haha it was so much fun. Then we went back inside and we taught them a little lesson about Christ like attributes. After we were done we went to our appointment with Heriberto and he didn't show up... oh Heriberto. We called him and there was no answer. So we decided to go look for Arturo. We drove to this neighborhood and walked to his house. We found Arturo and Andres. They were busy then but we set up an appointment with them for Sunday. So we walked around the neighborhood for the rest of the night and talked to everyone. Some people are super respectful and nice and some people just hate us and they have no problem telling us their feelings about it haha. We talked to like twenty people and then it started getting dark and we were in a sketchy area so we decided to leave. So by the time we got back to our car it was time to go home anyway. 

Tuesday: We did our studies and then we went to do our service! We do a weekly service at a little store called the Bargain Box. It's kinda like a little DI but different. It's run by like 5 older ladies who are all retired and they do it as volunteer and all of their profits go to charities. They are seriously the sweetest ladies in the whole entire world. We organized some of their clothes and swept. While we were sweeping we swept up a cockroach and I had a mini heart attack haha. I kept calm though and it was a miracle I didn't start screaming. But we had a ton of fun. Later that day we went to a trailer park to find Lupe. He wasn't home so we decided to walk around and find some other people and everyone in that neighborhood made it clear to us that they were not interested. Then Sister Elizabeth picked us up and we went to a dinner appointment in Carlisle (another city in our area, our area is huge). Sister Curran fed us. She's like a mom away from home. I love her and we seriously had a feast. We ate so much food and had way more cookies than we probably should have haha! Then we taught a little lesson to her and then left for an appointment we had in Carlisle with a lady named Sandra. We went to her house and.... she wasn't there. But it was a house with about 8 Hispanic men living there so they let us in and we taught them The Restoration. It didn't go super well. I think they were more interested in having girls in their house than hearing about the gospel haha! So... I don't think we'll be seeing them again. We drove home and it was pouring rain. I don't think I've ever seen so much rain in my whole entire life. And I guess there were a bunch of Tornado watches going on but don't worry Mom they were far away from us. Sister Elizabeth dropped us off at our house that night and we had littler 10 steps to our house and we were soaking wet when we got in haha! 

Wednesday: The most amazing day of my whole entire life. We drove to Lexington because we had a multi zone conference with Elder Kopischke of the Seventy. We had a training with him and it was amazing. It went from 10-4:30 and that sounds like a super long time but it wasn't because it was incredible! The theme was basically that it's not our calling or responsibility to prepare people to accept the gospel but to find the people who are prepared. We need to find the elect and we need to find the people who WANT to live a life that God lives. We need to find the Kingdom Builders. The people who once they are baptized help build up the kingdom and not just go straight into inactivity. It was incredible and the spirit was so strong. Also, another thing that was brought up that really hit me. Someone said if you don't like doing God's work here (your calling, the rules, temple work, scripture study, etc.) what makes you think you're going to want to live with Him forever one day? That hit me so hard. There have been so many days before my mission and on my mission that I complained about going to church, activities, reading my scriptures and so much more. But if I want to live with God forever I better love to do His work. Anyway, after the training we went on our exchange. I went with Sister Webb to Winchester and Sister Griffiths went with Hermana Crowther to Paris. It was a total blast and Hermana Webb and I are like the same person! She golfed all 4 years in High School so we had a lot to talk about in the golf world and she has a boyfriend on a mission too right now. So we had a ton of fun talking about everything. She's seriously so cute. When we got to Winchester we had a dinner appointment. I am so grateful for all of the members who are so willing to feed us, they have no idea how much it means to us missionaries! After the dinner appointment Sister Webb and I went to a neighborhood and talked to a million people. And we were actually looking for a lady named Rita but the address in the Area book was incorrect and the house didn't exist so we were super sad. So we just walked around and we ran into this lady outside and we started talking to her. And she was like, "I want to hear about your church. How about one time I take you girls out to lunch and you can tell me about it?" Of course we accepted and then as we were leaving we asked her for her name and it was Rita!! God really wanted us to meet her. So it'll be fun to hear how everything goes with her. 

Thursday: Sister Webb and I taught a few lessons and then went to downtown Winchester and talked to everyone. You would not believe how many people have been anti-ed out here! We say the church's name and people start bashing Joseph Smith. It always makes me so mad when people start talking bad about him, he was such an incredible man. But I just take Grandpa's advice and smile and bear my testimony of the church, The Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. It makes me so sad when people aren't even willing to listen or when their hearts are so hardened. I just have to keep reminding myself... "If they knew what I had to offer they would come running to me." The exchange ended at 4 and Hermana Crowther came and picked me up. I asked her how the lesson went with Gio (the one with the baptism date). Gio is a heart breaker. He didn't show up for the lesson and he wouldn't answer any of our calls or texts. But then we went and had a lesson with Carlos. He's doing great, he is a star student! After Carlos we went to see Miguel and Dionicio. Miguel made it clear he isn't interested and Dionicio wasn't home so we left him a note on a sticky note with our number. As we were walking out we saw someone moving in to a new apartment and he had a ton of things to move in and it was just him and his 13 year old brother. So we helped them move into his apartment. We had a lot of fun and it was pouring rain which made it funner. And no I'm not being sarcastic we really did have a good time!

Friday: Beverly(a member in our ward) had a family member pass away and today was the funeral and she really wanted us to be there for the meal at the church afterwards. So we got to the church and helped with what we could. Sister Denninghoff (Relief Society President) and Bishop Scalf had it all set up pretty much so Hermana Crowther and I basically greeted people. It was pretty hard watching everyone come in, funerals are not fun. We were there for a majority of the day. After everyone left Hermana Crowther and I ate dinner with the food that was left over and then we helped Bishop and Sister Denninghoff clean up and get everything put away. Then we went over to the Salas's house. They're awesome. Sister Salas is from Mexico and she served in the Kentucky Louisville Mission about 10 years ago!! This is where she met her husband so they got married after her mission and have lived there ever since. They're such a fun family. They have a 2 year old and I have never met someone who talks more in my entire life haha she is adorable! And her vocabulary is incredible! I have the cutest video of her, I'll send it home! After the Salas family we went to Hiram's for our appointment and... he wasn't home. But one of his roommates were and we tried sharing our message with him but he didn't want to hear it either. 

Saturday: We had coordination this morning and it was super fun. When it was over Brother Harney asked us what we had next and both us and the Elders just had our lunch hour so Brother Harney ordered a pizza for us. It was sooo funny. So the pizza guy gets here and Me and Brother Harney's son S go answer the door. S pays for the pizza and of course I do the missionary work. I ask the guy, "Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?" And he says, "No I'm Muslim." And so I say, "Well, do you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ?" And he looked at me like I was the biggest idiot. It was so funny and we all laughed about it while we ate our pizza. You probably had to be there for it to be funny, but it was super good. We had 4 appointments for this day and all four of them fell through. No. One. Is. Interested. So we just started visiting a bunch of less active members. Then we went to Susie's house. She's a member in the ward. We had a lot of fun visiting with her and getting to know her better. Then we went in for the night and made a bunch of phone calls and tried to figure out what in the world we were going to do to find the kingdom builders. 

Sunday: We had ward council in the morning and then church. After church we drove to Lexington to attend the Spanish branch. I thought my head was going to explode, I've never heard so much Spanish in my entire life and they talk so fast, I had no idea what was going on. And the best was in Sunday school the teacher kept asking me to read but I had no idea what he was saying so it took like 5 minutes every time just for me to read a small paragraph haha I felt bad! But it was so much fun, some people I can understand super well and some people it's almost impossible for me to understand what in the world they are saying. But it was awesome because in the third hour the entire branch went into the primary room for a fiesta! One of the people in the branch had a birthday so they had a big cake and chocolate milk so we all had a mini party. It was so much fun and it was nice to be around so much Spanish. That's the only way I'm going to learn. After church we had 4 appointments and every single one fell through again. We didn't have on lesson. So Hermana Crowther called Fidencio. He was an investigator here when she was here last year and he said we could come over. So we got there and visited them and then Hermana Crowther asked him why he never got baptized and he said because he didn't want to give up coffee. So I told Fidencio in the best Spanish I possibly could, "Fidencio what's more important to you the blessings that come from being a member of the church or coffee?" I told him all of the amazing blessings he would receive if he became a member and told him that coffee isn't worth it. He said he would pray about it and he wants us to keep teaching him. So hopefully he has a change of heart. Also, we looked for Gio every single day this week... nada. 

So not much has happened here in Paris when it comes to missionary work, but Hermana Crowther and I are working as hard as we can. We know there's kingdom builders here and we know there are people here who are waiting for the gospel! Kentucky is fun, it's super cold right now I feel like I should've brought my Winter gear, but we're having a lot of fun and Hermana Crowther and I are getting along great! Thank you for being the most amazing and the most supportive family in the whole entire world I love you!

Also, just a little spiritual thought for you (I'm already becoming that person Hunter thought I would become haha!) So many people here ask why do bad things happen to good people? Or why would God make me go through this? And so many other things but during my studies this morning I really feel like God gave me an answer to those questions. Here you go Hunter, here's your scripture 2 Nephi 2:11. As I read that scripture I realized how good the bad things are because without them we wouldn't know what happiness is. And to me that would be the saddest thing of all - being happy but never knowing it. God really knows best and he knows that we need the bad things and the bad times to appreciate the good. So just a little spiritual thought for you all.     

Sorry for the novel. But I love you all and I'm grateful for you all. I hope you have the most amazing week and thank you for all the emails. It was so fun to go home and read them every night. Good luck at state this week Hunter (at least I think it's this week?) and good luck Payts with all of your games, you're gonna kill it. I love you!

Hermana Swapp 

Oh and PS we called the landlord about the weed smoker and he kicked him out!! I celebrated by running around the house spraying febreze! I was so Excited!

(Hermana Spencer and me at the training (Sarah and Rachel Nance's Cousin)

Some of us who were in the MTC Together

Sister Webb, she's amazing.

Sister Griffiths, Hermana Crowther, Sister Webb, and me!

Hello Everybody!

How fun was this week? I got to call you at the airport and yesterday for Mother's Day! It was so nice to talk to everyone and see everyone! And it was super fun seeing Grandma and Grandpa and Kathy at the airport! It was so good! The bishop couldn't stop laughing yesterday. He said your family sounds like so much fun I could hear them all screaming the second they saw you! It really was so good to see all of you and to see Jasper!! I've missed you more than you know! Everything reminds me of you! Even Wal Mart! Who knew we had so many memories! I hope you had a Happy Mother's Day mom! It sounds like the family made you a yummy breakfast and dinner! I wish I could've been there today, but I'm glad I got to be there for a part of your day!

I hope you're ready for a long email because a lot happened this week!! I said goodbye to everyone at the MTC and it made me super sad. It made me super sad just to say goodbye to that place. The MTC was the most amazing experience I've had in my life so far. The Spirit was amazing and the happiness I felt there was incredible. I could've served my whole mission in the MTC, not really... but it was super amazing! I woke up at 2:45 Monday morning, got ready, and walked to the travel office. I met up with my other fellow Kentuckians there. We took a bus to the Front Runner, got on the train and then took tracks to the airport. Right when we got to the airport I saw grandma and grandpa and they gave me their phone to talk to all of you because my phone card wasn't working. While I was talking to you that's when I saw Kathy! So it was super fun to talk to and see everyone. After I hung up the phone I talked to grandma and grandpa for a minute and then I had to get on the plane. We first flew to Georgia and it was like a 4 hour flight. I slept the whole way and I guess I sleep with my mouth wide open so that's embarrassing. And then once we got to Georgia we got right onto our next plane to Kentucky. There was a bunch of turbulence but it was such a short flight so it was fine. We got off the plane and entered into good ole Louisville! There's horse pictures everywhere around the airport. It's great. We got a group picture and met the Mission president and his wife and his APs. They are all awesome and so kind. We went to the Mission home and had dinner, went over some information, and had a testimony meeting. It was really good. Also, we had interviews with the Mission President and he is such an amazing guy! I'm lucky! I was the only missionary that arrived today that he knew where I was going and who my companion was going to be. I was the only Spanish missionary who showed up so it was pretty easy to pick for me because I was the only one who needed a Spanish Trainer.

So the next day we got ready and headed over to a church to meet our trainers and get more instruction. My Trainer is Hermana Crowther. She's very nice and she's from Washington. And our Area is the Paris Area. It is beautiful, everyone told me I got the promised land for my first area. And I really feel that way. I've never seen so much green in my whole entire life. They don't even need sprinklers here!! But you just look out the window while you're driving and there's green hills that go on for forever and there's horses everywhere. And there's these beautiful huge houses and then they have tons of land, it really is just so beautiful!! We got to our house and it's the cutest little house in the world! And it's yellow... my favorite color! Someone must've told them! ;) It's really such a cute house and we're so lucky we probably have the nicest living arrangements in the whole mission. The only problem is it smells like weed all the time. We have people who live in our basement and it comes up through the vents... it's pretty bad! But don't worry we bought loads of febreze at walmart today!

Our area was "white washed" well "pink washed" because were hermanas. But that just means that the two hermanas serving here both left and they brought two knew hermanas in. So when we got to the house there were no notes from the other sisters and we couldn't get our area book until the next day. So it was super difficult. We just made a few phone calls to people in the ward to try to figure it all out and we didn't find much out. But the good thing is Hermana Crowther was in this area a year ago so she knows the ward members and where everything is, she just doesn't know who the investigators are because a lot changes in a year. So we drove around to some ward members and visited them. That night we talked to the Ward Mission Leader who is Brother Harney, he is awesome! And his family is amazing too! When we stopped by the Elders were there too, so we got to meet all of them.

Wednesday, we spent a lot of time at the library setting up my iPad and downloading the area book. We finally got it and then we went back to our house and Sister Elizabeth came over. She is a member in our ward (Oh yeah were in an English Ward) and she comes with the missionaries all the time. She is amazing, I love her! She updated us on a ton of people and told us what was going on in the area because the area book didn't have the best records so she was a ton of help! After we got caught up we visited the Turner family, they're also in our ward. They're so much fun. Then we went to the church because mutual was going on and we wanted to meet the ward members. We met the Bishop and the rest of the Bishopric. They're super nice. And he didn't ask us to speak on Sunday that night was a success! After the church Elizabeth drove us around town and we just knocked on doors.

Thursday, we had district meeting in Lexington. That's just barely outside of our area, but it was good. The best part is we went to Chick-Fil-A after. It was soooo good! We came back to the house finished our studies and then went to Beverly's. She's another member in the ward. We taught her a lesson about temples and invited her to work for her temple recommend. She's such an amazing person and she has the cutest family. She just needs to give up smoking to get to the temple so we want to help her get there! She's so close too!! After we visited Beverly we drove to Winchester (another city in our area) and met with an investigator Carlos. He was baptized the previous Sunday but is still considered an investigator until he is confirmed. But he is amazing. He told us his story and he is incredible! He changed his life around and you can see how much he has changed his life. He gave up so much to be a member and it's incredible to see the sacrifice he was willing to make. He can't read so we read to him from the Book of Mormon and we call him every day and read to him. He is amazing.

Friday, we studied in the morning. Then we looked in the area book and we had an appointment with Vladimir. We had no idea who he was and there was no information about him except for an address. So we thought we might as well go see who it was. We knocked on the door and we asked for Vladimir and the person who answered had no idea who that was, but then Hermana Crowther was like hey I know you, you're Hiram. Hiram was an investigator when Hermana Crowther was in the area, but when she left he moved and the new Hermanas had lost contact with him and had no idea how to find him! Milagro!! (Miracle) It was incredible that we found him. He told us he still reads his Book of Mormon every day and wants us to come back next Friday. (This was all in Spanish, and yes I understood it! I just can't really respond yet). So that was amazing that we found Hiram he's so ready for baptism too, he just works on Sundays so it's going to be hard to get him to church. After we found Hiram we went to the Relief Society President's house. She's incredible too. Seriously everyone in Kentucky is amazing. She helped us with telling us who was struggling and who is inactive so we have a list of people that we can hopefully help! After her Sister Elizabeth called us and she had a flat tire and the Elders weren't answering so we drove over to her as fast as we could. I grabbed the car manual and started figuring it out. Good thing we have those manuals... and it's a good thing Jeff got a flat tire last year on his car and I was able to learn how to read a manual haha! But really we didn't do much, her dad came and did most of it, we just went to the store and bought her eggs for her because she couldn't. After we went to her parent's house and helped them set things up. They're were having a ward BBQ. Lots of people showed up and it was super yummy!! Then we finally had some Latinos show up and they spoke Spanish!! And I understood them perfectly and I was actually able to speak to them too! Finally they said something I didn't understand so I looked over to Hermana Crowther for help and she translated for me and they were all so surprised. They were llike "What?! We thought you were Hispanic!! We thought you were a Native Speaker. You look Hispanic and you have a really good accent!" That made my entire day! They were so shocked too when I told them I didn't have any bit of Hispanic in me. And I really struggle speaking the language, but at least I know they think I have a good accent haha! That made my day. After the BBQ we decided to go to Wal Mart because it was 8:30 and our "curfew" is at 9. And we have a goal everyday of how many people we're going to talk to and we hadn't reached our goal yet so we thought we would go to Wal Mart. MILAGRO!!! (Miracle). The second we walked in we ran into a man named Cesar and he had his two kids. I guess Hermana Crowther taught them last year and they were about to be baptized but Cesar decided he didn't want his kids baptized and that the missionaries couldn't come by anymore. Right when he walked in he came up to us and told us how happy he was to see us. He told us to come over next Wednesday! Sounds like his heart has been softened! It was pretty incredible. Well right after we talked to him we ran into Miguel. He was baptized two years ago but he hasn't come to church for a while and basically ignored the missionaries because he felt bad for some of his decisions. He was so excited to see us too and he had his little family there! His girlfriend just had a baby and it is the cutest little baby I have ever seen! He gave us his phone number and asked us to come by sometime! He is the happiest person I have ever met, and it was so fun to run into him. Well right after we talked to Miguel we ran into Angel, Cheyeanna, and Shawna. They were three investigators and the missionaries lost contact of them right after Hermana Crowther left and we talked to them and they told us they wanted to feed us and have us come over! Seriously the most amazing trip to Wal Mart I have ever had!! (Oh and the bishop asked us to speak on Sunday tonight... so I guess tonight wasn't that much of a success haha!)

Saturday, we did our studies and then went to a street called Bradford Street. We knocked on some doors for a little while and two people asked us to come back, so that was super good! Then we went to Winchester and right when we got there we saw 5 men sitting outside of an apartment so we got out of our car and asked them if we could teach them a lesson and they said yes! Their names were Miguel, Manuel, Enrique, Dionicio, and Inmer. They are all from Honduras and only spoke Spanish so it was great! I got to use more Spanish!! We taught them the restoration and I could tell Inmer, Manuel, and Enrique weren't having it, but Dionicio and Miguel were very interested. Manuel is actually Carlos's brother, but they don't have a super good relationship. So after we taught them Dionicio asked for a Book of Mormon and him and Miguel gave us their addresses for us to visit and we'll head over there next Thursday! After that we talked to the Alvarez family. They're members in the Winchester ward, they're super awesome and fed us cookies! Which was amazing, I was starving!! They told us about everyone in Winchester and gave us an update so that was super nice! Their daughter, D goes teaching with missionaries all the time so she was very helpful. After we got done talking to them we met Carlos. He was just glowing, he was so ready for his confirmation. We taught him more about the Holy Ghost and he was so ready!

Sunday, we started the day at church and Hermana Crowther and I both spoke! It went okay, we didn't have a ton of time to prepare but it was fine! We went to church and then we drove over to Bishop Scalf's for dinner and to Skype everyone. We normally would go to a Spanish Branch after our ward but we couldn't today because we got to talk our mothers! It was so much fun! But anyway they fed us spaghetti which was so yummy and they had dessert for us too. They're so nice. Well after we drove back to town and stopped by Heriberto's. He was baptized but he hasn't come to church and he's been avoiding the missionaries. We knocked on his door and he came out and told us we could come back and visit! So that was amazing. After that we found another less active member and talked to him for a minute. So then we decided to drive to a street and just talk to people. We got out of the car and talked to everyone. There were so many people because everyone was with their families and the weather was nice. Some people were super nice, and some people were not so nice. Some people accepted a Book of Mormon. But the highlight of the night was this... We were about to leave but I saw someone at the bottom of the hill and I told Hermana Crowther that I felt like we should talk to him. So we did, his name is Gio. He's still in high school, but we got talking to him and asked him if he would be interested in hearing our message and he said yes and asked if he could hear it right then. So of course! We taught him the restoration and the spirit was so strong. We asked him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it and he accepted. Then we asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on June 11th and he accepted!! He is so amazing and so sincere! We asked him to say the closing prayer and he made me cry. He said, "God, thank you for sending me someone to remind me that you're still there and that somebody loves me and cares about me." Seriously the most amazing prayer. We'll meet with him again on Wednesday, so I hope he keeps progressing because he's incredible.

I have learned so much in this week. I learned that the southern accent is strong in Kentucky, I've learned that Nyquis or whatever won the Kentucky derby, and I've learned so much more about God and his Gospel. It's crazy how aware he is and much he loves each of his children. He really wants them all to know they are loved and to know the truth. I also feel like I've taken a little baby step in Christ's shoes this week. It's crazy at home I could go up and talk to anybody and they would be kind, but now that I have Christ's name on my chest I have people who will yell at me and call me a crazy Mormon, or tell me I'm stupid, or pretend they don't even see me. It breaks my heart that people treat Christ like that. He was the most perfect and loving person and people were horrible to Him, but He still died for them. He is the most incredible example of love. And I'm so grateful that I can take a short time out of my life to serve Him.  

I love you all so much, and I'm sorry I cried during out Skype call. I am super homesick, but I'm okay. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thanks for all of your support and thank you for being the best family I could've ever asked for! I'll be able to see your faces again in a short 7 months and hopefully by then I'll have my emotions under control haha! I hope you all have a very good week, I love you!

Love,

Hermana Swapp

(From the Louisville Missionary Moms Page)

I made it through my last week in the MTC and it went out with a BANG... in the microwave. Wait till you hear this... seriously so funny! So every night my companions and I visit the girls in our zone and give them a little spiritual thought and pray together. So this week we went up there one night and right as we were about to start the fire alarms went off. We were all so confused so I grabbed my camera of course and started filming the whole thing like any normal person would. Girls were running everywhere, people were freaking out, and then we all went outside. I felt bad for all the girls who were showering...  As soon as we got outside I could smell it, the smoke was so bad! So like all missionaries would, we knelt down and said a prayer together. There were probably 400 of us outside at 10:15 at night. As soon as we were done praying we all split up into our zones to make sure we had everyone. You had three types of girls: 1) the ones freaking out and crying 2) the ones who thought the whole thing was a joke and 3) the ones who started singing, "The spirit of God like a fire is burning."

We had to wait outside for about 45 minutes. The fire department never showed up but the cops did and the MTC security was rolling in huge fans to the building to air it out because the windows don't open. Finally around 11 o'clock we were able to go back inside and everyone was able to get ready for bed. Well... nobody told us what had happened so my companions and I thought it would be a good idea to visit the other floors in the buildings and get some witnesses. (Don't worry, I filmed the whole thing). We asked everyone we saw what they knew and I think it is the funniest video ever. When we got to the third floor we found the microwave that had been responsible for it all. Either a Sister cooked her popcorn too long or the microwave blew up while she was cooking the popcorn, we weren't able to really get to the bottom of it, but all we know is it was either the microwave or popcorn that caused all of the smoke. And the best part of this story is you get the pleasure of watching it all when I send my SD card home! 

But anyway on a more spiritual side, my last week in the MTC was amazing! And to answer your question Maddie on Tuesday night I would guess he showed up at 6:30, but we didn't hear from him until 7, we had the privilege of listening to Elder Dallin H. Oaks. How cool, in my six weeks here at the MTC I was able to hear from two apostles. The MTC presidency told us they only have 3-4 apostles come talk to them a year and I was able to be here for two of them. I feel so lucky. Being in the same room as an apostle is the most incredible thing in the world and his message was amazing. 

Every Sunday we take a walk as a zone to the temple after all of our meetings. It's so nice to be able to walk around and just have a little break. This week we got there and we were walking around and guess who was there! Hermana Tracy!! It was so good to see her! I missed her so much! She's doing okay, I think she's getting her gall bladder out! Poor girl, she also has to eat radioactive eggs or something... gross. But we were able to talk to her for a little while and it was so nice. 

This week has been so crazy and it flew by. We mainly reviewed Spanish and other important things in Preach My Gospel. I just have to get down as much Spanish as I can before I leave on Monday! We've still been teaching our investigators Eric and Miranda and they have been going really well. And guess what else, we were able to Skype this week and we were able to teach a man from Mexico, how cool. Technology is amazing. I've been working really hard and I can't wait to teach everyone in Kentucky. We had In-Field Orientation this week which is just an entire day for the missionaries leaving to help them really prepare for the field. It was super cool and it made me a million more times excited to get out there! But that's about all that has happened, I feel bad, I don't have a ton to write about.

This week has been crazy with saying goodbye to everyone. We said goodbye to our teachers: Hermano Corbin, Hermana Litster, and Hermana Bradshaw. They were the most amazing teachers I could've ever asked for, and I'm so grateful that we got them. Also, Hermana Clausen left this morning for Mexico! I'm going to miss her so much but she is going to make the most incredible missionary ever! And in less than 48 hours I'll say goodbye to everyone else.

I'm really so incredibly grateful for the MTC. It has been the most amazing experience of my life this far. The spirit is amazing and the things you learn are incredible. God is so real and he is so aware and I'm so happy that he trusts me enough to preach His gospel. I love you all and I hope you all have a good week! Make sure Mom has a Happy Birthday today and the next time I write you I'll be in Kentucky! Wish me luck! 

I love you all!

Hermana Swapp

 Hermana Litster

 Hermano Corbin

Hermana Bradshaw

 KENTUCKY

 We've got the states and Mexico covered!

Saying goodbye to Hermana Clausen

All the girls going to Kentucky!

Our last time at the temple!

¡Hola!

A lot has happened this week! So much has happened I feel like this week alone has been a month! Hermana Clausen and Hermana Dickson are my companions, we are a trio once again! On Sunday we were made Sister Training Leaders and the Elders became the Zone leaders. The other district left and we were all that was left haha! We got a new district on Wednesday and it is so much fun! The Elders are: Elder Memmott, Elder Noyes, and Elder Tyler. The hermanas are: Hermana Greenwall, Hermana Jones, Hermana McPhie, and Hermana Anderson! They're all incredible and we are so lucky to have them in our zone! I feel like I got four new sisters this week and three more brothers! Also, a Sister Swapp arrived here this week! She's from Nevada, but her great grandpa is from Southern Utah, so I definitely think we're related! She's headed to Russia, but we were both freaking out when we saw each other just because Swapp is not a common name! And... Johny made it to Guatemala this week!!! I'm so excited, and thank you everyone for writing me and updating me! He's going to be the most amazing missionary! 

Gregory Schwitzer from the Seventy came and spoke to us this week. It's so incredible and I feel so extremely blessed to hear from all of these amazing men each week. Don't worry, no bats came out this time. 

Class is going good, and I'm learning more and more Spanish each day! I'm a little frustrated because I wish I knew more, but I just keep reminding myself that as long as I'm giving it my all, God will help me with the rest! We learned past tense this past week and let me tell you, that's some tricky stuff! haha, but I love the language and I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to be learning it! 

So every week every body has to prepare a talk and when we get to sacrament meeting the Presidency calls up random people to give their talk so nobody ever knows when it's their turn to speak. It's a little scary. Well this week I totally forgot about it and I didn't have time to write my talk, so I threw one together the best I could right before the meeting and it was super mediocre. And I got called up! It was so great and so bad haha! But it's okay I got mine out of the way and won't have to worry about it anymore. I'm the only one from my district who has spoken, so that means they all probably will have to speak this week and I can just relax and watch ha! 

I got my travel itinerary this week! I was so excited I was screaming! I leave on May 2nd and my flight is at 8:30 so that means I'll probably get to call you Mom around 7! Sorry it's early I know, but if it makes you feel any better I have to be at the travel office at 3:50 that morning! And guess what else I'll be flying with 8 other people! It was so fun I was in the cafeteria and I ran into that sister going to Kentucky and she stopped me and her whole district is going to Kentucky!! So there's four sisters and I was able to meet them all, they're all so cute and I'm so excited to get to know them! And there's two Elders in their district going to Kentucky as well, but I haven't met them yet! And then there's two other missionaries flying with us so I don't know if they're serving in Kentucky or if that's their layover or if they're going to Kentucky, but speaking another language, but we'll find out! It was so exciting meeting them all! 

Our lessons with our investigators have been so good! The spirit is always so strong! Sophia committed to baptism and so did Martha (I don't know if I've already written this so sorry if it's a repeat), but it's so incredible. I know they're not "real" investigators, but it's incredible how strong the spirit still is. I can't wait to get to Kentucky and I can't wait to teach people! We have a little motto here in our companionship, it was started by Hermana Tracy, but we have a sign in our room that says, "It's a great day to save a life." I try to work the hardest that I can work here so when I get to Kentucky I can save a life. I could not imagine a life without this gospel. I could not imagine a life without God in it. I could not imagine a life without the happiness this gospel brings me. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has saved my life, and I hope I can give that to somebody else. 

I have nine days left here and then I'm out in the real world. I am so excited, but I'm also sad to leave the MTC. It's such an incredible place. I know with all my heart that Christ is here with us. This is His work and I know He is sitting next to me in class, I know He is sitting next to me in my lessons I teach, I know He walks with me everyday, and I know He is training me. No one at home needs to worry about me, because how could I not be happy with the Savior next to me at all times? I'm so grateful for the sacrifice He made for me, a mission is nothing compared to His sacrifice, but just like the Savior saved me I hope I can help Him save someone in Kentucky. This church is true and don't ever forget how much Heavenly Father loves every one of you. And don't forget how much I love you too. I'm so blessed to have you all in my life. Have fun celebrating Mom this week, and make sure she has the best birthday she's ever had, because she deserves it! 

Estoy agradecido por la iglesia. Yo sé que es verdadera. Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y mi Hermano, y le amo Él mucho. 

I love you all very much,

Hermana Swapp

 I had to get a picture with the peak!

 The sisters from the new district!

 

Our zone at the temple together!

The next day she arrived (her name is Hermana Clausen) and she is awesome! She is from Canada and is going to the Mexico Puebla Mission. We have had a ton of fun. So it became Hermana Dickson and Hermana Clausen as a companionship and Me and Hermana Tracy as a companionship and it was perfect! Mine and Hermana Tracy's lessons went so well! We taught Sophia and she is getting baptized so that was good news! It's crazy how perfect the companionships are! Then Thursday came... that morning we found out that one of our Elders from our zone went home and it broke all of our hearts. We were so sad to see him leave and it changed the mood for the entire zone. We went to lunch and it was just kind of a downer feeling. When we came back to class Hermana Litster asked me and Hermana Tracy to practice our lesson for her. I talked the entire time and I could tell something was wrong with Hermana Tracy because she wasn't saying anything. I stopped in the middle of the lesson and asked her if she was okay and she ran out of the classroom to the bathroom. She was sooo sick. I thought she had the stomach flu because she was throwing up so much, so we decided to go back to the dorms. She slept for the entire day and I studied for the whole day. 

We finally went and got a sack lunch that night for dinner and we brought it back to the dorms to eat and sure enough she started puking again. So the Elders gave her a blessing and she came back in and slept some more and I studied for the rest of the night. Friday morning we got up and got ready for the day and she was feeling okay. So we went to class. After an hour we went to breakfast and sure enough during breakfast she got sick again so we went to the doctors office. We spent half of our day at the doctors office and then we went back to the dorms where she slept some more and I studied some more. I was studying out in the hall and the sister training leaders found me and said someone needed to meet with Hermana Tracy so I went and woke her up and we went and met with the guy. I waited in the waiting room for an hour and Hermana Tracy came back out and we started to walk back to the dorms together and she stopped me and said, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm going home. My mom is coming to pick me up in an hour and a half." 

We found the other sisters and went back to the dorms and helped her pack. I guess she had stomach problems before she came out here and they were never able to figure out what was wrong with her and it just got worse here so she's going home to figure out what's wrong and then she'll be back out! But last night was awful. We were all crying, and hugging, and sobbing, and packing, and then we had her all ready to go. Her mom came and got her and we said goodbye! It was so sudden and I am so sad because we got so close, but it's the best thing for her! She needs to get her health back! 

But other than Thursday and Friday, this week has been really good! We got to host again on Wednesday and it was so fun! I was waiting at the curb when two sisters walked behind me and right as they were walking by the one asked the other where she was going and she said... KENTUCKY! I ran at her and screamed and gave her the biggest hug in the world. I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm the biggest freak. She's English speaking so that means we get to fly out together! I was so happy to see her and I see her around every now and then and it's so fun having another person here coming to my mission! Also, I escorted a girl who is going to Sweden! It makes me think of Dad every time. I got to walk her to her class and the classroom was decorated with the Sweden flag and there were pictures of Sweden hung up all over the room! It was fun to hear them talking in Swedish too! 

This week in gym was so much fun. My district has just been playing basketball and trying to make these ridiculous shots that no one can make and even though we're not supposed to bet we make bets on bags of cookies. My NBA play is Steph Curry. I have to represent Payts. So every time I shoot I have to yell Steph Curry and Cookies to make sure everyone knows who is placing the bet and what the wager is. I thought Payton would be so proud, I represented Steph Curry well. Also, Daniel Willett. Who the heck is Daniel Willett? I cried ten tears when I found out Spieth lost the Masters. All I'm saying is he better win the US Open. 

But just a little fun fact for you, every Sunday night we watch "movies" which are just devotionals that have happened here. And most of the devotionals we get to watch you can't find anywhere else except for the MTC and they're amazing!! I wish everyone could watch them. We watched one by Elder Holland this Sunday and it has seriously changed my life. I have never wanted to work harder, I have never wanted to be more Christlike, and I have never wanted to serve more in my life than I do now after watching the video. It was incredible. The whole talk he said when you signed up to be a missionary, you didn't sign up for just 18 or 24 months. You signed up to be a missionary for the rest of your lives. And he ended by saying, "For as long as I can breathe and as long as I can move my lips I will be a witness of Christ." It was amazing and it was exactly what I needed to hear. 

I love you all so much, and I'm glad you're doing well. Keep me updated and know that I am so grateful for every single one of you and I'm grateful for all of the support. 

Les Amo!

Hermana Swapp

 

 

 Saying Goodbye to Hermana Tracy. I know we all look funny, we were bawling our eyes out. Also, Hermana Clausen is on the end! She is awesome!

I hope everyone is doing well, I love you all so much and I miss you a ton! Thank you so much for all of the packages and letters this week! You are all the best and make me feel so loved! I don't know how I got so blessed to have an amazing family like you! I hope you all know how much I love and appreciate you. 

I don't want to sugar coat anything, I want to be completely honest with everyone! But the start of this week was so incredibly hard for me. I was so beyond home sick on Sunday. I missed my family and I was so sad I couldn't be there for Maddie's birthday, I missed my friends, and I missed my sweetheart. And then on top of it, some things were happening in our district and we were all having a hard time getting a long so it was very hard for me. But I am so grateful that Sunday was General Conference. It completely boosted my spirits! (And don't worry everything is fine with our district again. We're still a family). But how amazing was General Conference? Both Saturday and Sunday! Amazing. I hope everyone was able to watch it. It was so cool as I was preparing for General Conference I prayed and asked God specific questions that I really wanted the answers to. And every single question was answered word for word with how I asked them. Those men are so inspired and I am so grateful for a living prophet and apostles. 

And then to make Sunday even better BYU Vocal Point came that night for a devotional. It was perfect. It was the most perfect devotional they sang us a bunch of songs and each person bore their testimony. The spirit was so strong and I know a couple people in the group so it was nice to see some familiar faces. Also, speaking of familiar faces I've seen Madi Golding a lot here and it's been such a blessing to be here at the same time. We always just go into each other's rooms to talk. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father put us here at the same time! 

So wanna here something funny? Okay I knew you did. On Tuesday night Ian Ardern of the seventy gave the devotional and in the middle of the devotional a bat comes out of no where and starts flying around! It was the greatest thing ever. No one could focus on him because we were all too scared that this bat was going to land on our heads. Even the cameras were following the bat so the big screen was just a video of the bat flying around haha! But I don't know what happened to the bat but it eventually went away, it was just super funny. But in all seriousness the devotional was amazing. I think it is so cool that I get to see a general authority every week. It's incredible and I'm so glad that I can see and listen to them in person. 

So we have 3 investigators now and we get a new one on Monday, Martha (Hermana Bradshaw acting), Eric (Hermano Corbin acting), and Sophia who is a student at BYU. The lessons with Sophia are going super well. She is seriously the cutest girl in the world and she is so fun to teach. And she's really easy to understand. And she's fun because when we don't know how to say something or we don't understand what she's saying we play a little charades. I'm so grateful we have her for an investigator. But the lessons are going super well, we taught her how to pray and she's been praying a lot, and she committed to reading the Book of Mormon which I'm super excited about! She makes me so excited to get to Kentucky to teach people!

This week was super cool because I got to host! It was so fun we all lined up on the sidewalk and every time a car came in we all did the wave. I know, we looked like morons but we had fun. The girl that I hosted was adorable, she's from Utah and she's heading to West Virginia. But it broke my heart her and her family were all bawling. It reminded me of when I was dropped off and how sad I was to say goodbye to everyone. But the second we got walking she was fine and excited. You're just way too busy to be sad on the first day. But it was really fun. And at first me and my companions were assigned to traffic duty so we got these really cute bright yellow jackets to wear but we begged them to let us be hosts so we did. I've got a sweet picture coming your way. 

It was cool so they're building a new building for the MTC just because they need more classrooms and so they had these two giant beams and they wanted all the missionaries to sign their names and their missions on the beams. So we did. And yesterday they had a huge ceremony and we listened to speakers talk about the importance of the building and the tradition of the beams. And then we got to watch them put the beams on the very top of the buildings so that's cool. If Hunter and Payton ever come here they'll get to be in the classroom where my name is! 

I love it here, even though the start of the week was super rough, it ended up being a really good week. The weather is beautiful so we're able to have class time and study time outside and it's so nice not being surrounded by white walls all day. There's flowers every where and there's popcorn all over the apricot trees. (I think someone might kill me if I sing that song one more time). I keep looking for Bob, but I haven't seen him yet, and I haven't worked up the courage yet to break an elevator. Maybe the day before I leave I will. Oh and DAD!! Guess what, we went to the temple this morning and we ate breakfast there and they had Apple turnovers! I didn't even have to sneak out to get a turnover from Arby's. Blessed. I love you all so much, thank you again for all of the prayers and the support. I love you and I hope you have the best week! 

Les Amo MUCHO!! 

Hermana Swapp

I made it through my first week, can you believe it?? It's crazy how fast and slow it's been I feel like I have so much to tell you!! First of all thank you for the package, thanks to you me and my companions are no longer starving anymore. We refer to the package as the treasure chest because it's like gold to us haha. Anytime we're hungry we say, "I'm heading to the treasure chest real fast. haha! And also, I forgot to tell you last week but I got a bottom bunk! My prayers were heard haha! So right now there's like no missionaries at the MTC. They all come in the summer and winter so Me and my companions have a room to ourselves which is way nice there is so much room everywhere! There's 3 bunk beds so we all got a bottom!

But Easter was awesome Elder Ballard came and it was so cool!! The second he walked in the feeling in the room changed, seriously the most amazing feeling and the spirit was so strong. It was so cute when the devotional was over and he was leaving, we all stood up and he was about to walk out the door and he turns around and gives us a huge smile and a big wave. I don't know how to explain it but it was just an amazing feeling. Easter was good here we had two more devotionals that day and it was not fast Sunday for us so we could eat all of our candy! We had another devotional on Tuesday and Terence Vinson from the 70 came and it is seriously the coolest thing having general authorities speak to us! 

Our zone is a singing zone so we're all required to join the choir and I'm so happy because it is amazing! The choir teacher is incredible as we're learning the song he teaches us the history of the song and the history of the church that goes with it. The spirit is even incredible during choir practice and I'm so happy our zone is a part of it! 

So Johny and Maddie you are going to be so proud of me! But every day we have an hour to work out and guess who is actually working out... that's right ME! Me and Hermana Dickson go up and do all the workouts you've shown me Maddie and I think Hermana Dickson is going to kill me haha. We both laugh the whole time because we feel like dying and neither of us can walk after we work out. But we have a super fun time. And then the last few minutes of work out time we go down and play four square. I'm pretty much always in the queen square. No just kidding I stink. But I wear my Kentucky shirt Johny got me for Christmas and that's all anyone calls me around here! I'll walk in my classroom and they call me Kentucky not Hermana Swapp, but I love it! haha. 

But remember that investigator I was talking about last week? Well her name is Mayra. And she forgave the elders and they were able to teach her again. We taught her everyday this week except for Friday. Monday and Tuesday's lessons were really bad. I felt like crying and giving up because I was struggling with the Spanish and everytime we plan a lesson she has questions for something else and we have to bag the plan and make up something on the spot with the Spanish we know. It's super hard and frustrating. On Tuesday she said she didn't know what to do because her boyfriend was beating her for taking discussions so we didn't know what to say! So we just told her to pray and promised her that God would protect her. So then on Wednesday our teacher came in and said just so you know you're teaching Mayra today for 15 minutes, you have a half hour to prepare. So we decided to read her 1 Nephi 7:16-18. It's the story of Laman and Lemuel tying Nephi up and they want to kill him but Nephi prays and the Lord bursts the bands. She started crying and said she didn't know why she was letting her boyfriend beat her up and that she wanted to be a member. So we met with her Thursday and she told us that she broke up with her boyfriend and committed to baptism so the spirit was super strong and it was really amazing! But get this... We got to class Friday night for our evening class and our teacher Hermano Corbin walks in with Mayra!! Mayra is one of our teachers we were all so surprised! She served her mission in New Mexico and Mayra was someone she taught so she was just acting her part! I don't even know her name she's just Mayra to me haha!

But are you ready for a super funny story? Well Mayra was teaching our lesson and she was reading a scripture about someone asking for bread so she kept saying he asked for bread. And so he asked in spanish is pidá (pee-dah) and bread is pan. So she kept saying pidá pan and everyone understood her except for me and Hermana Dickson and we just kept looking at each other because we had no idea what was going on and so finally Mayra asked her what we didn't understand and I said, "I just don't understand what Peter Pan has to do with any of this." And everyone just started laughing I don't think anyone could breathe for like 5 minutes and then she finally explained to me that she was saying he asked for bread and not Peter Pan. You probably had to be there for it to be funny but it was good. Also, it was super funny my companions and I were all getting ready to go one morning and this loud alarm sounded like way loud and we just looked at each other like is there a fire or what's going on? And all of a sudden this urgent voice gets on the intercom and says, "ATTENTION LADIES THERE IS A MAN IN THE BUILDING, I REPEAT A MAN IN THE BUILDING!" We all just died, they acted like we have never seen a male in our lives. It's happened a couple times since and we just laugh every time. 

I'm still loving it here the spirit is amazing and I've already seen so many miracles. Here's a couple... This week on one of the nights I got the worst sore throat in the whole entire world and my nose got stuffy and I was feeling awful! I thought there was no way I was going to be able to make it through the next day if I felt this sick. So I asked Heavenly Father to help me make it through the next day and when I woke up I felt completely fine, my cold and my sore throat was gone and it hasn't come back! Another miracle, Hermana Tracy forgot to set the alarm one night and Hermana Dickson just happened to wake up right at 6:30 the next morning, I have no doubt that it was Heavenly Father waking us up. Heavenly Father is amazing and he is very aware of us. Also, I can feel all of your prayers, thank you so much! And I hope you all know how much I love you, I pray everynight that you know how much I love you. I think about you every morning Dad when I walk to class and I see the peak! And I think about everyone at home everyday! I love you all and I miss you very much! Thank you for all the letters and packages. The days I get mail are so much better! I hope you all had a very happy Easter and April Fool's Day haha! 

Les Amo,

Hermana Swapp

Oh and ps: My address isn't unit 9 anymore it's unit 211