Baptisms and gardening

hey ya'll!

ok so it was another amazing week! so we had a really busy week of service and fun! we helped people garden every single day this week! i learned so much about gardening. i definitely want a garden when i grow up. we had a lot of missionary meetings this week as well. it was awesome! i have learned sooo much this week. ok so first miracle of the week. we have been challenged to talk to literally every one we see. so we have been doing just that and we were out on friday night talking to people and we saw these older gentlemen walking and we talked to them and invited them to the baptism for susan on saturday morning. the next morning we were filling up the font and the elders were helping us when all of a sudden one of the men we invited showed up for the baptism! we introduced him to the elders and they gave him a tour of the church while we finished setting up. he told the elders that he read a bit about joseph smith and the book of mormon and prayed about it and knows it is right! the elders are starting to teach him! miracles from talking to EVERYONE!!! 

so susans baptism went amazingly and she was sooo happy. after she got out of the water we asked her how she felt and she got this big huge smile on her face and she said i feel new! later that day we called her to check on her and she said one of her friends called her. he has been giving her a hard time for becoming a mormon for a while. so he called her right after her baptism and said well are you one of those stinking mormons now? and she said yeah! i am a latter day saint!!!! haha its awesome to see how happy she is! then sunday she was confirmed and received the gift of the holy ghost. im telling you i have never seen a more happy person in my life. 

then after church on sunday i got to go back to martinsburg west virginia adn see betty get baptized! i showed up and she started crying and i started crying. it was sooo good to see her get baptized. she had been waiting for soo long. another miracle is that sister bingham, my comp that i taugh betty in martinsburg with, was visiting that day! so sister bingham got to attend the baptism and i got to see her!! she went home in february and was taking her mom around her mission. :) 

seriously it is the best to be a missionary. the best part is, all of these eternal friendships you make. i have met the most wonderful people i love them with all my heart. my heart is split into 3 wards here on the east coast. i would never trade my mission for anything. i get to be friends with all of these people for eternity and it has changed my life so much. life is good. MAKE GOOD CHOICES

Love,

Sister Swisher

p.s. pictures will come next week sorry!

MIRACLES!!!

hey every one!!

holy cow this was one of the best weeks i have had in a very long time. it was one of those weeks that makes the hard times worth it! we saw sooo many miracles and we had a blast!

for starters... we went on exchanges with the harpers ferry sisters! i went up to harpers ferry west Virginia. it was a blast! i love sister ekins the sister i went on exchanges with! we laughed the entire 48 hours of the exchange! i also had one of the coolest miracles of my whole mission! so we got out of an appointment with a less active member which was also a miracle because she said she would be coming to church! so we were all pumped when we got out of that appt. then randomly we decided to go try by a name of a less active family who we had never met before. so we pull up to this house that is kind of in the middle of no where. we knock on the door and bam! i recognized the family! it was a family that i used to teach in martinsburg! i was like what are you guys doing here?? they said they had just moved to the area from martinsburg. They said the family that we were looking for hadn't lived there for years. Then they invited the sisters back to have them start teaching them again. seriously what are the chances that i was on exchanges in the area and we decided to try by this random house and it was some family i used to teach in martinsburg!!! Heavenly Father definitely has plan for that family!! holy cow i still get the chills when i think about it!

then after exchanges we got the opportunity to hear Elder M. Russell Ballard speak to our mission along with the dc north and south missions. there was 760 missionaries all in one room! it was like being back at the mtc! it was an absolutely amazing conference and Elder Ballard made us all pumped and ready to conquer the world! the work is hastening!

then we had an amazing day at church yesterday. our investigator who is getting baptized is having issues with her arm. she was in a lot of pain before church. but she still came. she told me that satan was trying to keep her away from church really hard but she told him to get the heck outta the way because she was going to church! it was awesome! and she stayed for a baptism afterwards with us while still being in pain. after seeing the man get baptized she said she could hardly wait for her baptism on Saturday!

then i just found out some amazing news! so an investigator that i taught in martinsburg is getting baptized on sunday! so Saturday susan will be baptized then confirmed on sunday. then right after church i am heading up to martinsburg to see her get baptized!!! i am soo excited! this is going to be yet another amazing week. the church is sooo true and the work is going so fast we can hardly keep up! miracles after miracles after miracles. Heavenly Father is so amazing! i am so blessed to be able to be a part of His work! i love being a missionary!!! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!

Love,

Sister Swisher

P.s. sorry if this letter is a little over enthusiastic.... oh wait no i am not sorry :) hehe

Softball game! That's right a base hit!!!

hey ya'll!

so another crazy awesome week in Virginia! so we started out last monday night with a big ward party to send our third companion sister gates home right! it was sooo much fun and there was a ton of really good food. Every one in this ward is an amazing cook.... EVERY ONE! so we had a nice time at that. 

Transfers on wednesday was pretty fun and crazy! got so see a lot of amazing missionaries. i love the missionaries i serve with! what a great mission! we had a less active drive us to transfers and she just loved the whole thing. it was a really good experience for her. 

Saturday was the ward softball game! we played against the local Lutheran church. it was really fun! and i was really nervous to play because i was one of the only girls playing (my companion was on the sidelines chatting) and the Lutheran team had matching jerseys and everything! they were pretty serious about it. it was funny to look at their team all geared up and ready to play and then look at the mormon team and it was a bunch of dads in their "big bang theory" shirts with their dad bellies. hahaha yup our intimidation factor: -3... well it was my turn to bat and i turned to the elders and said i am about to embarass the swisher name. watch this. then i went out their and by some miracle on 34th street i hit the first ball they pitched to me! i got on 2nd base!! what in the world? i surprised pretty much our whole team and myself hahaha. it was a really fun day!

sunday was of course Mother's day! i was so excited to skype my family all day i could hardly see straight! it was soo good to see their faces and talk to them all! i cant believe how fast time has gone. that was my last skype call.... weird, just weird people. well with it being my second mother's day out on my mission i have gotten to spend mother's day with other families and celebrate their moms. moms across the world are just plain amazing! but let me tell you... i have THEE BEST MOM in the world! i have been reflecting on everything i have learned from my mom and how much she has influenced me throughout my life. it baffles me how much she does for others and how much she just LOVES people. she is always serving others. she is my best friend, my role model, and my biggest fan. i can't thank her enough for the support she has been to me in life and especially on my mission. my mom has taught me truly how to LIVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ. i know that we all have great moms and influential people in our lives. i hope that you were able to express your love and appreciation to them and i hope we remember to do that always. :) moms are the best!! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Swisher 

SWEEET!!!

hello!! 

this week was pretty crazy! first we started off with a girl from the ward coming on a mini mission with us. she stayed with us for 3 days and was a missionary. it was awesome. we got triple the work done because there were four of us. holy cow it was awesome! we had a lot of fun!! this week we saw a lot of miracles. so susan our investigator who is getting baptized is on fire! so i did the no sweets thing with her for a solid week. longest time i have been without sugar... ever! then we were teaching her on friday night and she said ok sister swisher you can have sweets again, i gave up tea forever and am never going back! i was sooo stoked for her to show such dedication to the gospel.... and to be able to eat sweets again! ok another susan miracle.... so she had a miracle with a blessing that i talked about last monday. so she was telling her friend all about it. her friend is going through a hard time. so susan has been trying to share the gospel with him. so sunday we were at susans and her friend walks in. susan just stands up and hands him a book of mormon and tells him its the book shes been telling him about and that if he has any questions that he can ask her. then she sets up a time for us and the elders to come back and start teaching him! amazing! we are going over on tuesday night to teach him! sweeeeet!!!! the gospel is true and the book is blue people! i love when people feel the happiness that come from the Gospel and just want to tell the whole world about it! if we saw every one we meet as our brothers and sisters we would be able to share this message with them. :) i love seeing miracles. Heavenly Father has truly blessed me with many opportunities to see how the Savior can change people's lives. I know He has changed mine! this week was just soo amazing! and this week is transfer week. hermana astorga and i will be staying in woodstock together and sister gates is going home. she finished her mission strong. :) well i hope everyone is doing well! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

LOVE,

Sister Swisher