Sister Barfs a lot

hello everyone... the title of this week's email may be a little shocking but i feel is captures the week beautifully......"A Week in the Life of Sister Barffs-A-Lot"

in case you didn't gather this from the title of my email.... this week was a week full of the stomach flu. it all started with my poor companion getting the flu. i was doing my part as a comp and was taking great  care of her and eating food right in front of her. well wednesday night it hit me hard! i caught the stomach flu, probably as payback for eating in front of my comp who didn't feel like food at all. well then it was my turn for the flu. it was a bad one. today is the first day i feel well enough to be outside of the house and eat. it was a long week of feeling terrible and being stuck inside (a missionary's worst nightmare) but in the end it was a great last week together with my companion. she is getting transferred this wednesday and i will be training a new sister missionary. my next companion is still in the MTC as we speak. she has no idea what a crazy weird trainer she is about to be put with. muahaha

well highlights of the sicky sick week:

- the elders in our district were having a weight loss competition and asked if we wanted to join when we were still healthy. i refused to join their competition because all elders have to do to lose weight is cut down from 4 cupcakes every night to 1 cupcake and night and they lose 12 pounds. well since the stomach flu week hit i entered the contest and will probably win. the elders don't think its fair. oh well. contest is in the bag. thank you stomach flu.

- we have an amazing ward filled with people who love us. we were definitely taken care of this week. i would even say spoiled rotten. we never felt a lack of love throughout our week of sickness.

- i have read 200 pages in the book of mormon this week. not a lot of entertainment so i read and read and read some more.

- have realized that patience is a virtue. yes i prayed for patience last week so it was no wonder we got hit with a bad flu this week.

- i got a sweeet video of sister shumway doing the Irish jig on our table. we got bored and we heard an Irish song. what would you do?

- i have truly realized how awesome it is to be able to go out and serve people every single day!  being in for an entire week i missed that and saw how happy this work truly makes me:) im excited to get back to work this week!

Even in times when life doesn't seem to be going the way you want.... we can always find the blessings and see the Lord's hand in every single detail. I am excited to get a companion fresh out of the MTC who is on fire to work. Now that i am an old fart missionary it will be nice to have a youngin' around. :) it will be a blast! Remember that the Lord loves you! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Swisher

AKA Sister No-More-Barfs :)

Gorilla!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!..... oh i mean HAPPY ST PATTYS DAY!

you may be wondering if it is snowing here in virginia.... the answer is a big yes. you may also be wondering if i will ever live in the snow after college... the answer is a heck no. hahaha but it is a good opportunity for service. we help a lot of people snow shovel when it snows. my poor companion is really sick today so we arent venturing too far today. so this week was a crazy awesome one! we had sister conference which is always amazing. my favorite part of sister conference is at the end when we all stand up and sing "called to serve" together. it gives me the chills! i look around at the 90 sisters we have in the mission and imagine all the lives they are touching through their service and how their future families will be blessed immensely! what a cool sight. there really is nothing quite like it. i mean elders are cool too and all but sisters dress way cuter and smell better. lets be real. then on saturday night i was given the opportunity to speak in front of 500 people and represent all the full-time missionaries in stake conference. i loved it! heavenly father seems to find every opportunity he can to have me speak in front of people. it sure is making me grow a lot. but an amazing thing about this time is that i was not even a tiny bit nervous. i always get a little nervous before speaking in front of large crowds but i was cool as a cumcumber. huuuge blessing! so a funny thing about my talk is that i was dared by two men in our ward to include the word gorilla in my talk. here is the line from my talk " we as missionaries are not here to bombard your dinner parties like a bunch of gorillas and scare your friends away. we are here to assisst you in sharing the Gospel with the people you love in ways the spirit directs you." pretty sly huh? every one was laughing and i got a stuffed animal monkey and gluten-free snacks for including it in my talk. it was pretty fun. this week i have learned a lot about giving heavenly father your all and truly sacrificing all you can to do what he asks of us. its blesses our lives in ways we cannot imagine. as we show our love for the gospel and our love for everyone around us, we will experience happiness like never before. a great way to reach out and share christs love with all is to compliment them. i usually am not one to over compliment because i feel cheesy. but this week i challenged myself to compliment people right in the moment. it has made so many people smile. including me. life is good! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Swisher

"Nor shout, nor rush, but hush..... for God is here."

-unknown

Pink Eye!

this week started out as a snowy week. it was snowing really hard last monday and we couldnt drive. one of our favorite families drove us around every where and let us hang out at their house. gluten-free pizza and brownies, painting nails..... i mean really it was a PARTY!

the rest of the week went by so super fast! we had appointment after appointment after appointment. we had one of our investigators take us to cracker barrel which was sooo much fun! 

we took one of our investigators to the temple visitors center on saturday and she had a blast. she loved it! 

then all of a sudden sis shumway and I felt this pain in our eyes. we each had on eye that was getting really red. we got home from the temple and found out we had pink eye. can you say sick nasty? we had to stay in for the rest of the day! it was pretty boring if you ask me. i heard that if you put a warm bag of chamomile tea on your pink eye it goes away so i tried it. i took a picture because i look like a freak. we got some good laughs from our dang pinky eyes. 

yesterday at church we had two of our investigators come out which was amazing! i love this ward and i love being a missionary!

I got some great news today! if you remember daniel and bethanie from the savage mill ward.... Daniel is getting the melchezidek priesthood on sunday and they are taking a trip to autrailia next week where he will bless their baby addie! i am so excited i could scream! i love seeing families blessed because of the great things from the gospel. the Gospel is true and i love being a part of it. i love all of these families out here :) they have helped me grow and learn. life is fantastic! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Swisher

AKA Sister Swishy Wishy 

Time Flies!

HEY!

So this week has been a blur and a half. i have been trying to get used to being in a new area and this ward has made me feel right at home. i love them already and feel like part of the gang. you know those moments in life when it hits you that there are sooo many reasons you are in a specific place at a certain time? well i had several of these moments this week!

there is a man of a recent convert that will not learn about the church because he will NOT give up coffee. he is so stinking nice just really stubborn. so i heard him out, listened to his concerns and then told him he can answer every question he has with prayer and the book of mormon. after some doing, he agreed to read it! its like i was sent here to teach him because i am just as loud as he is. poor guy didnt even see me coming.

there have been moments like that throughout my mission where i just thank heavenly father for letting me be the instrument in His hands because there is no way i could do it on my own. besides His plan is much better than mine.

i have been freezing my buns off today! its snowing HARD! we had to walk in the snow to get to the church to email today. and i am soo glad i will be able to have walkng in the snow stories to tell my kids in the future. i can see it now. itll start along these lines... " when i was on my mission, i had to walk uphill in the snow to get to the church..." oh yea i am going to milk it.

well this week we saw a ton of miracles! we had a lot of people come to church and they loved it and felt so good afterwards. we made a lot of new friends, helped a lot of people, and laughed our heads off everyday. being a missionary is the best thing in the world. i cant believe how fast time is flying. i know i say that everytime but its true. TIME FLIES! life is too short to waste away your days dreaming about things you want. look around you and enjoy what you have right here, right now. Heavenly Father has blessed us with everything. i lvoe you all and am grateful for ya'll! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Swisher