¡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. 

 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!

Lo siento muchísimo pero no tengo tiempo para escribir. Im sorry but I have no time to write today. We came to Louisville with a big group of sisters to play volleyball and frisbee and we just didn't leave enough time to email so this will be super short! Sorry! So I hope y'all had a good week ours was great! We found Raul! We were able to set some good expectations with him and I think he should start to be pretty solid! He got a new job so it's been kinda hard to schedule times to see him, but he's awesome! When we found him he said, "Life has been pretty good lately and I can't help but think it's because God has played a big role in it." So he's definitely not atheist anymore! It makes me so happy! 

Hermana Heil and I got caught in a huge thunderstorm this week while tracting and we were soaking wet! It was the funniest night we were so wet we ditched the umbrellas and danced in the street as we went from door to door. Also we rode bikes this week. Shout out to all of those bike missionaries because I think my legs are going to fall off! But it was a total blast and it helps me work off all this southern cooking I'm eating. 

Carla, she's awesome. She's the one who came to general Conference last week, we were able to have a lesson with her and we set a bad date with her so I'm super excited for her!! And Danna (Maribel's daughter) came to her lesson with us. 

Sister Dickerson came to church!! Ah it was the greatest thing in the whole entire world!! It was so good to see her there, it was a prayer answered for sure. Also, during church a former investigator, Kristy showed up with her two daughters and she even bore her testimony during testimony meeting! It was the coolest thing ever and the best little miracle! 

We did tons of Finding this week and we're meeting lots of new people. Hopefully getting closer and closer to those who are prepared. We've been meeting with Mauricio and Pedro lots and we're starting to make some really good progress with them. Hopefully we start seeing them at church. 

So I am still just so grateful for General Conference. It was exactly what I needed and I have enjoyed so much going back and reading the talks this week. I've completely changed my studies and I'm learning so much about my Savior. I've really focused on Him and His life this week and it has been incredible the change it has made in my life. The way I think and act is completely different. I love how much more I think of Him during the week and how much more love I have for everyone. For complete strangers I don't even know. For people who are rude. For everyone. I love them all! I love my Savior and I am so grateful for the example he is to me. 

I hope y'all have a great week and a very happy Easter! Make sure you go to Mormon.org and watch the #princeofpeace video and share it with someone this week! I love you all and be happy! Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Com amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "But the ​​​fruit​ of the ​​​Spirit​ is ​​​love​, ​​​joy​, ​​​peace​, ​​​longsuffering​, ​​​gentleness​, goodness, ​​​faith​, Meekness​, ​​​temperance​: against such there is no law." -Galatians 5:22-23

 

Kentucky

 All of us hanging out in Louisville today. 

 Danna came to a lesson with us!

 The Shelbyville Squad (our district)

Us on our bikes

 I may or may not have fallen off my bike...

 

 I made a great recovery.

¡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

General conference with Arsenia and her daughter and Mauricio!

 Pedro wouldn't take a picture so I snuck a selfie with him.

 The Hurt's had us over for dinner and they have some pretty cool snakes.

 Ismael giving Hermana Heil some advice haha!

Kentucky!

¡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."

Elder Jolly went home and I cried ten tears. So here's an awkward picture with Sister Brough photo bombing. 

Zone Conference!

The Fab Four!

I love Hermana Heil

¡Hola Todos! 

Espero que todos tuvieran una buena semana. Nuestra semana fue muy ocupada pero muy divertida. Encontramos nuevas personas para enseñar y tuvimos muchos milagros. I hope y'all had a very good week and that you remembered to wear green! This week is going to be a short one but I'll share a couple cool experiences with you! 

So since we don't really have any investigators right now we spent most of our week tracting and boy am I tired. But one day we had a really cool experience. Before we started down one street Hermana Heil and I said a prayer and asked our Heavenly Father to bless us with one person who would have a lesson with us.  We spent a little while knocking on doors and it was just about time to go in for the night and we knocked on one last door and Raul came out.  He told us right away he was Atheist but after a little while of talking to him he asked us to come by the next day. We were so grateful Heavenly Father blessed us with that one person. 

We went back the next day and had a powerful lesson on God is our Heavenly Father and taught him about the Holy Ghost and prayer. At the end we showed him a video and when Christ came on the screen he started crying. He totally believes it. We asked him what he thought and he said he didn't believe it. And he went on saying some things. Let me tell you this guy is a modern day Korihor. The next day in my studies I read Alma 30 (the story of Korihor) and I was shocked because Raul literally said word for word what Korihor said. I couldn't believe it. And in the institute manual Ezra Taft Benson said, "The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time."

So we went to Raul's the next day and of course we read Alma 30 with him. He right away pointed out that he was a Korihor. But the lesson was so powerful and you could totally see when it clicked in his head that it was all true. He said, "so if I start believing in this and if I start going to your church then what does that all mean?" He totally believes it! But he's so prideful and at the end of the lesson he said, "I still don't believe it, if God has to strike me dumb then he can strike me dumb." Hahaha it was so frustrating. But you can totally tell he believes it he just doesn't want to admit he's wrong. But poco a poco (little by little) he's going to get there. He's amazing and he's going to get it! I just know it! But it's been super cool working with him and as I've studied for him I have grown to know my Heavenly Father better as well. 

We had another day we were tracting and again the very last trailer that we knocked on we found Jose and Enis. They let us in and we told them about the Book of Mormon she was so excited to hear about it and they asked us to come back. It was so cool, and I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father always blesses us when we do our part. 

We had exchanges this week with the Frankfort sisters and it was a lot of fun! Sister Groesbeck came to Shelbyville with me and she is amazing! She may be a sister but let me tell you she's actually an Hermana! Her Spanish is incredible! No joke, she knows more than me! I was blown away! We were at a lesson with Maribel (and Maribel can understand English) and I asked Sister Groesbeck if she wanted to explain part of the lesson and she just explains it out in Spanish I was like what?! It was the coolest thing ever, she is amazing!! She's such a good missionary! 

But that's about it for our week. We spent a majority of our time tracting and looking and it was a good week! We have a pretty good week coming up and I'm excited for it. I hope y'all have a very good week and know how much I love y'all. Be happy, because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

Exchanges featuring Sister "Hermana" Groesbeck and Hermana Parra. And I know I totally look like I have a hunchback.

Mama Rhonda came to Shelbyville again to take us out. I love her so much, it made my heart so happy. She's doing good and Jacob made it on his mission in Colombia!

¡Hola Familia!

How is everyone doing? Things are going well here in Shelbyville, we just ended the craziest week of my life. Oh it has been so busy but such a good one. 

So we'll start with last Monday... oh boy. Hermana Heil and I had the brilliant idea last week to dye her hair. We thought it would be so much fun. She decided to go blonde. So we bought the box dye and got back to the apartment and she told me I was the one dying her hair. I would not have let her buy the dye if I knew I was the one dying it. I'm not sure why I thought she would dye her own hair but I just thought she would. So I asked her how to do it and she said she had no idea so I started with doing it by strands and then at the end with whatever left I had I just kinda dumped it and like shampooed her hair with it. Well that's not how it works. 

When she dried her hair there were spots everywhere it was so bad. I had a little heart attack and called Sister Clary up right away. She's a member in the ward we begged her to fix it and she just laughed at us. So we bought another box of dye and drove to her house and we spent the next four hours trying to fix it (which she did. Thank goodness too we had MLC the next day with President Brough). So we spend the rest of the night painting her house for her to give her a little service too after everything she did for us! Haha! Tip #1 when you have the idea to dye your hair on your mission, don't do it. 

Tuesday we were in Louisville all day for MLC. It was such a good experience, the spirit was so strong and I learned so much. I seriously love those meetings. After MLC we exchanged some of our sisters. Sister Wilde came to Shelbyville with me. She's incredible, she's a brand new missionary but you would never guess it. She has such a powerful testimony and does such a good job at following the spirit, she's incredible and I learned so much from her. We had a blast together. 

Wednesday Hermana Heil and I were back together at 6:00, went to a dinner appointment, went to coordination, and then we had an hour to prepare for a training we were going to give the next day at zone meeting. 

Thursday we went to Crestwood early for DLC (district leader conference- they have the STLs join for those) and then we had zone meeting. Hermana Heil and I gave our training on Finding Joy and let me tell you, Heavenly Father blessed us. We didn't have hardly any time to prepare for the training but he still allowed us to have the spirit and I think it turned out okay. After Zone Meeting we went on another exchange. I went to La Grange with Hermana Linares this time. We had so much fun, she's so cute. We had some incredible lessons where the spirit was so strong and we also got to do some fun service together. She was my STL a few transfers ago so it was a total blast to go on an exchange with her again. She's a spirit power house, I love Hermana Linares. 

Friday afternoon I came back to Shelbyville and we did our weekly planning and then we had a lesson with Yohandri. It was short, and we didn't get to talk a lot (he loves to talk)! Then we had a dinner appointment and then we Skyped into a lesson for some Elders in Lebanon. They're teaching a Spanish family but they don't have any Spanish missionaries in their area so we translated the lesson for them. Then we were able to have a good lesson with a less active in the ward. 

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with Sister Dickerson. We talked about temples and we all ended up in tears, the spirit was so strong. She is making great progress. Then some members took us out to eat at Cracker Barrel, that was a lot of fun. We then drove to Taylorsville and found a few people there and had a couple lessons with some less actives and members. And then we had a lesson with Maribel, she's doing so good. I seriously love her and her family. After her lesson we had about an hour left for me to prepare for my talk I was giving the next day...

Sunday I woke up early to finish my talk. Again Heavenly Father blessed me. I only had an hour to prepare for it but again He still allowed the spirit to be here and I think it went okay. Yohandri didn't come to church again. :( but we had a potluck after church and some of the less actives we visited on Saturday showed up so it was a success. After church we did some studies and then spent three hours walking around a couple neighborhoods looking for people to teach. We ended up having to drop almost every single one of our investigators this week. We dropped Yohandri's baptismal date and we're just waiting to see if we ever hear from him. The only other investigators we have is Arturo and then Aisa and her family. 

We did have a miracle with Arturo though. During weekly planning we said a prayer to know what we could do for him. And right after that prayer we got a text from him saying, "Hey guys, I'm going to Utah tonight but I'll be back in a week from Monday. Do you think y'all could come by when I get home to teach me more?" It was a total miracle. He even told us he had been reading in the Book of Mormon. I was so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that miracle. 

That was my week though it was crazy but so much fun. I feel like I'm on a spiritual high but I am so exhausted haha! I really felt the power of the enabling Atonement throughout the week. He gave me strength to accomplish everything we needed to. I am so grateful for my Savior and for a very aware and loving Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have such an amazing week with lots of joy. I hope you know how much I love you and care for you. Have a great week and be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you." -Alma 5:33

 MLC. Crestwood Zone got snap backs and the zone leaders wanted to get a picture with President and Sister Brough in them. We got the zone leaders, APs, and President Sister Brough in the first picture. Obviously we're missionaries - none of us have a good thug face.

 Exchanges with Sister Moore and Sister Wilde!

 Crestwood Zone doing their best to look cool. The mini vans really add to the thug theme we're going for.

 Exchanges with Hermana Banks and Hermana Linares.

¡Hola Hola!

I hope y'all have had a very good week. I can't believe another week has come and gone, it's going by oh too fast. Shelbyville is doing great and I am loving every minute of it. This is seriously such an amazing area. This week has been fun and Hermana Heil and I have learned some things about ourselves this week... especially that cooking is not one of our talents, I'll explain in a bit. 

We started our week last week with a dinner appointment with the Hebdon's. They're a cute family in our ward and they live right next to a golf course so of course I brought up golf and asked if they played. Well their cute 8 year old does and I got a brand new best friend. He brought me to their back yard immediately (their backyard is like 6 acres) and was hitting golf balls for me. Then we'd run and go get them. Let me tell you, he's a pretty good golfer. I honestly think he can hit it further than me. But it was fun I got to swing a golf club for the first time in a long time and it was such a tender mercy. And then he followed me around at church yesterday haha, seriously the cutest kid. I love that family. 

We had a great lesson with a less active in the ward. She's so cute and we've been working with her for a while, we really want her to come to church and start making some changes in her life to align it with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we shared a lesson we had planned for her and the spirit was so strong. And before we could commit her to anything she said with tears, "Thank you. This is what I needed to hear and now I know I need to make some changes in my life. I need to go to church." It was incredible. Those are my favorite lessons, when you do absolutely nothing and the spirit teaches them exactly what they need to learn. 

We did lots of service this week. Anything from helping with horses to painting cupboards. We did lots of tracting and just anything to find new people to teach. Hermana Heil and I had this brilliant idea one day to make a ton of cookies and then to visit absolutely everyone. Members, investigators, less Actives, former investigators, everyone. So we decided to make a batch of cookies and we tripled the batch. Well the cookie dough seemed sticky to us so me being the great baker I am had the idea to add more flour. So we started with a cup but it still seemed sticky so we just kept adding and adding until we pretty much dumped the whole bag in. But it looked good, it looked like the consistency of cookie dough and the cookie dough tasted good. So we baked our cookies and they looked awful but we had hope that they would taste good so we ate it and it tasted like a blob of flour. There was no taste except for the occasional chocolate chip. So we dumped a bag of brown sugar and granulated sugar and a few more eggs and a stick of butter with hopes it would fix the problem.... nope. So we gave up and we dumped the "cookie dough" in a grocery bag and left it on the Elders' car with a note that said, "Tip of the day: you can't add as much flour as you want to cookie dough. #shouldvetakenpersonalprogressmoreseriously." We still visited everyone we wanted to but we showed up with empty hands haha! Hermana Heil and I haven't stopped laughing about it since! Who just adds more flour? It made sense at the time...

Saturday was a great day. We had lesson after lesson. From 6:00-9:00 we were able to have four lessons, it was awesome. We had two with less actives and two with investigators and they went really well. The last one for the night was with Aisa though and it was a heart breaking lesson. Her and her husband were there together and we showed the Mormon Message "Waiting on our Road to Damascus" and asked them what they thought. Vincente really opened up he said it really put things into perspective for him and he knows it's true and that he needs to make more time for church and for the Book of Mormon. Then Aisa said, "I just don't know if it's true. It doesn't give me the feeling I feel like it should." She basically went on and on how it wasn't satisfying her needs and she's okay without it. It broke my heart because you could see how badly Vicente wants it and how much it means to him. And I know Aisa knows it's true. She's had way too many spiritual experiences not to know. It broke my heart, we've been praying for them and just wanting to know what we can do to help them feel the truthfulness. But I know they'll get there eventually. 

Yohandri has gone missing, we haven't seen him since last Sunday. We've been calling and texting and messaging on Facebook and stopping by his house and nothing. So hopefully we can find him this week. A is doing good. We just found out she'll be moving to Guatemala soon since her boyfriend got deported, so that was sad news. But this week we're working hard and we're going to do all we can to find those who are prepared. We're going to get our bikes checked out today so hopefully we can use those a lot more and just do anything possible to find those of the House of Israel. 

Our mission President pointed out something cool to us. He was talking about Picasso and Van Gough and how they have incredible art talents and he said, "Do you think they just developed these talents here on earth?" And he said, "No, they were talents they developed in the pre-earth life and they brought them here with them. How about Mozart and Beethoven? It's the same thing with them they developed those musical talents before this life." So at this point I'm feeling pretty crummy because I didn't bring any talents obviously I didn't bring any cooking talents with me. And then he said, "but there's a talent that all of you brought here with you. All of those who are of the House of Israel have the talent of being sensitive to the spirit and to spiritual truths. Why don't you think everyone is a member of the church? Or why isn't everyone begging to be baptized? Well it's because that wasn't a talent they worked on before this life. Those who have the talent of being spiritually sensitive are part of the House of Israel and those are the ones we need to find." In Preach My Gospel it says "The gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them." How neat is that? 

Hopefully that made sense. If not... sorry. 

We had exchanges this week. Hermana Espinoza came to Shelbyville with me and she is incredible. She moved here from Guatemala and so she only speaks Spanish. So for 24 hours that is all I spoke, it was a lot of fun and we did lots of charades. (: but I learned so much from her and I have never met anyone with such a powerful testimony. I can't even explain it, the second she opens her mouth the spirit fills the room. It was incredible. We had a lesson with Maribel and Maribel told us that she was at work and someone started talking about Joseph Smith and was saying all of these horrible things and then that's when she found out about polygamy. And she asked us, "Is that really true? Did they really practice polygamy?" My heart sunk and I honestly had no idea what to say because I don't know all of the details or the why's. So I just said, "God commanded there to be polygamy at the beginning of the church. And I don't know why but what I do know is that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God." I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith and Hermana Espinoza did too. And the spirit that was there was incredible. And nobody could deny that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Maribel even bore her testimony of Joseph Smith and it was a special moment. 

That was pretty much our week. I'm sorry this letter is all over the place, maybe one day they'll make sense, but don't count on it. I love you all so very much and I am so grateful for everything y'all do for me. I hope y'all have a good week and remember to be happy. Because life is too short to be anything else. 

Con amor,

Hermana Swapp

PS: "Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." -Alma 31:35