Hugging is against the Rules!!

hey everyone!

the weeks are going by faster and faster! this week we had a lot of miracles. we had leadership meeting and an exchange which always makes for a busy fast week! this week we have another exchange and general conference is this weekend! i am sooo excited i could pee my skirt! whoop whoop!

 

so we had a really good lesson with our investigator that is on date for baptism. she is really uncomfortbale with praying in front of us so we showed her this page in the pamphlet that has a little outline of how to pray. so we told her she could follow the model. it gives instructions on how to pray. well we all folded our arms and she began to pray... by saying "address your heavenly father.. expresss things you are greatful for... " she read the entire part of the pamphlet that teaches you how to pray. sis barrett and i opened one eye during their to look at each other and smile. after the prayer she looks up and says that was great i feel a lot better! we told her it was awesome then explained that she doesnt need to read that word for word but can come up with things from her heart. she said she will next time. haha it was so awesome! i lover her! her little son just loves primary.

 

on saturday we were in baltimore helping a woman move then we went to this less actives house that we have been trying to get a hold of the wholetime i have been here. she was recently baptized and hasnt been to church in a while so we have been really worried about her. so we were going to try by her house for the millionth time. and as we drove by guess whose head was hanging out the window of her row house??? the less active! we finally got to talk to her! it was a huge miracle! she opened up about not feeling worthy to come to church and we were ableto comfort her and she is willing and ready to come back! :) while we were talking to her on her steps... btw we were on n curley street in baltimore... the sketchiest street in the city.... this big man walks out of his house a few doors down from us and starts walking towards us. he doesnt say a word but opens up his arms really wide and walks towards me to hug me... i got scared and backed up but the wall stopped me and before i could say anything this big man was hugging me! then the less active was like " you cant be hugging them sisters like that! thats against the rules!!! " haha then he got embarassed and walked away without saying a word. i was like " who was that man that just hugged me?" the less active told me it was her neighbor and he asked her earlier if he was allowed to hug the church girls and she said no. haha it turned out to be really funny but not going to lie... in the moment i was quite scared!

 

well it was an amazing week that ended with womens conference on saturday night and a few less active ladies came to the dinner we had before the broadcast! it was amazing! i love serving here and i love being a missionary! MAKE GOOD CHOICES and have  a great week!

Love Sister Swisher

Sleep over!

hey every one!

so this week was seriously amazing! we had a lot of fun and did a lot of work! why is being a missionary soooo great?? ok sometimes it is really hard but most of the time is outta this world amazing. :)

 

so this week we taught a lot of our investigators and invited some new ones to be baptized and they accepted! they are on fire and loving it! i feel like we are running so fast all the time to get to everything we need to get done!

 

well tuesday night all of us sisters from the baltimore zone got to sleep over at pres and sis richards house! it was sooo much fun to have a sleepover with all of our sisters :) we woke up and had breakfast with pres and sis richards then left for the sisters conference in harpers ferry west virginia! we all went on the famous maryland heights hike! it was the bomb! we all got to the top and sis richards gave a really good spiritual thought and then we hiked back down and had lunch and then all of us sister training leaders gave some more spiritual thoughts. it was such a fun and amazing day! i love all the sisters in our misison. seriously we have amazing sisters that amaze me every day.

 

after that we went to dinner with this less-active woman and her husband who is not a member and he agreed to have us start teaching him! whoop whoop! they are soo cool! they take us out to eat once a week:) well we also found another investigator this week and her and her little son came to church yesterday! they loved it!

 

ok so last night Pres jason wright came to our ward to give a fireside! it was sooo good to see the wright family again! well this woman named michelle showed up to the fireside and she isnt a member but she would like to learn more so we are going to start teaching her this week! how cool is that??? seriously miracle after miracle this week! we are starting up exchanges for the transfer so we will be busy for the next four weeks going on exchanges and all that good stuff. i love life and i love my companion! i cant believe how fast everything is going... well i hope you are all having an amazing week! love ya! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

 

Love,

Sister Swisher AKA swishy (this cute little kid started calling me that and now its catching on to the whole ward haha)

 

 

Wow! Only 5 weeks to go!

hey every one!

ok so another crazy weeks of transfers! it was a lot of fun to see every one at transfer meeting! i love being able to catch up with every one. this is going to be the best transfer ever! my new companion is sis barrett and she is 6 feet tall! she makes me feel just a tad short haha we are already having sooo much fun together and are getting a lot of work done.

 

i am in this awesome phase that i just want to work through the night and not even sleep so i can get even more work done! too bad sleep is necessary to survive.... i dont even have enough time in the day to do everything i want to get done here in the chesapeake ward! well i am enjoying getting to know the ward members better and talking with every one we see on the streets!

 

so this week we were walking around this neighborhood talking to every one! and we got a lot of appointments to come back and teach them! miracles were happening left and right. then we were on a porch talking to this family when all of a sudden a few doors down our investigator that we have not been able to get a hold of walks onto her porch to get her mail. we walk over to her and she says that she knew she didnt have any mail but something told her to go out and check the mail. it was so she could run into us! any ways we were able to sit down with her and she let us know that the reason she stopped talking to us is because she felt guilty due to the fact that she started smoking again. and we had a good talk about it all and she told us she needs us and wants to come back to church and be baptized! whoa! holy miracles on 34th street! can i get a whoop whoop??

 

this was such a great week! i cant believe how fast each day is going by. its freaky. but i am taking advantage of every second i have here! i want to help out with this work as much as i possibly can! i cant believe how great life is as a missionary! well every one, have a great week and MAKE GOOD CHOICES! love ya'll!

 

Love,

Sister Swisher

What in the espanol world was going on!

hellooo!!!!

 

so this week has been pretty stinking exciting and unexpected. one of the biggest things i have learned about life is that it never goes according to plan. most of life is  plan B or C..... or D. haha and in order to be happy we have to learn how to just roll with it. so we had our last two exchanges planned out this week then one call from president and all the exchanges changed! its funny how that works out. but i got to go on an exchanges with the spanish sisters. i went to their area and tried to listen and understand what in the espanol world was going on! lets just say i got really good at saying "soy Hermana Swisher" then just standing there and smiling. haha then i would say "mucho gusto" then they would try to speak spanish to me and i just looked at the hermana i was with and said "que?" hahaha but i seriously had a blast!!!!! it was great to see how different the work is in a different language and culture. i love the spanish culture but holy cow i would gain 406598 pounds if i served spanish speaking. they feed ya til ya cant eat no mo'! pretty sure i had to be rolled back to my apartment after the exchange was over.

 

we had an amazing week of seeing people who had not been to church in a really long time tell US that they want to come back and get on track again. it is amazing to see that when people go through the roughest times of their life and see no hope.... they know where to find that hope. that is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. i cannot tell you how many times on my mission i have seen eyes brightened and budens lightened (yup that rhymed) because people have come closer to their Savior. it makes me sooo HAPPY! seriously on my mission sometimes i am sooo happy i feel like exploding! i probably freak people out with how happy i am when they meet me on the street! haha oh well..... i am a swisher... that is what we do... freak people out ;)

 

ok so as i enter my last transfer.... i am realizing really how much this experience has changed my life! i know i say it all the time but this is the best decision i have ever made. i look back at the hardest times on my mission and i am so glad that i stuck with it. that saying "no pain, no gain" is fo reals people. when we go through trials we grow and learn to more fully rely on our Savior. i love that we get to rely on him in the happy times of our lives as well as the sad times. he is just always there. its as simple as that.

 

before coming out on my mission i was freaking out about getting all the Gospel and scripture knowledge possible. but what i have realized is that it doesnt matter how much you know it matters how much you love. love people and you will be happy and be able to help. my testimony is simple but i know it with all of my heart! i love to share it with the people i meet out here. :) i love you all and MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!!!

 

Peace out....

 

Love,

Sister Swisher 

Orioles Game!

Hey everyone!

Sorry I missed the update last week! All of our prep days are sooo stinking crazy! Well the past two weeks have gone by in a blur. i really cannot believe that i start my last transfer next week. i feel old... really old. 

well last week in church i gave a talk. i didnt know i was giving a talk until the morning of but it worked out just fine. i love giving talks! we had an amazing last couple of weeks! we have seeen sooo many miracles that i cant even tell you all of them. we have also had so many meetings that i dont even want to tell you about all of them. haha.

well here are the highlights:

-new amazing investigator

-talk in church

-orioles game

-an investigator came to church that we have been trying to get there for months!

-found a cool new family that we hope to start teaching soon. they were atheist but then found the love of Jesus Christ

-we met a cool less active lady from the phillipines and she is feeding us lumpia this week!! oh yeah score!

-we went on a lot of cool exchanges with amazing sister missionaries

ok so quick background on the cool new investigator. she is a members neighbor and at first she just wanted to bible bash with us and prove us wrong. but we remained calm and just said hey our purpose it to invite you to find out the truth for yourself. we dont want to convince you of anything. we want you to ask God what is right. she did. she knows its true. she completely changed from bible bashing to praying about it. it is soooo cool to see how that Lord softens people's hearts!

orioles game! i had sooo much fun. and of course i was sooo busy talking to everyone in the whole mission and the wright family :) that i forgot to eat dinner in the park! whoops. oh well i had a blast and i am in the best mission ever. well my opinion may or may not be a little bit bias haha :) the orioles won! whoop whoop

ok our investigator that finally came to church! we had a miracle lesson with her where the spirit was sooo strong then we took her on a church tour! she loved it and came out with her concern of why she hasnt been coming to church. she felt like she wasnt good enough and that every one else was perfect. we were able to help her resolve that concern and boom she came to church ! it was amazing to see her there! she loved it :)

well i learned a really big fat lesson this week. its a hard lesson to learn but it will stick with me for the rest of my life. as human beings we often think that when we are unhappy we need to take time to focus on ourselves and see what the problem is. although this is true... we cannot focus on ourselves for too long because then we just have a little pity party. true happiness comes from serving others and helping others who are in a worst circumstance than you. it is how we truly become like our savior and find the happiness that the Gospel is meant to bring us. i consider myself a pretty happy person but on my mission that happiness has been taken to a new level. i know that the reason for my extreme happiness (seriously sometimes i cannot contain it) it because i am serving others 24/7! it is amazing to me how the world has spun that around. happiness in todays world comes with being beautiful, having the nicest things, the nicest hair, blah blah blah. not true. happiness comes when you are just giving of yourself to help others out. that is what makes us happy! 

well on another note... for the first time in my entire life i was asked if i was from Spain. this guy looks at me and is liek "where are you from?" i said "california." he said "oh not spain?" i thought he was joking. nope he was serious as a heart attack. not going to lie i felt pretty darn cool after that. haha i am a dork and a half. well i love you all! MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Love,

Sister Spanish Swisher

How to make hiccups go away

helloooooooo

 

ok one of the craziest most stressful weeks of my life but of course sis davis and i had a blast! what else is new?

 

we started off the week by shopping in innerharbor baltimore. it was sooo much fun and i loved being by the water. well when we got back to our house i realized i no longer was in posession of my wallet. yes i lost my wallet people. after much searching it was time to give up. so my poor mom had to scramble to figure that situation out with the senior couple that serves with us. i was trying to look for the blessings and finally decided that maybe if i had my license and was able to drive, maybe i would have gotten in an accident or something? i know its a weak blessing but its the best i could come up with. the real miracle is that i got a passport before i left so i will still be able to get on the plane ride home.

 

well we had a lot of obstacles come up in the work this week. it was hard. sometimes life is just hard for all of us. but when we put our trust in the Lord and realize that our plans are not always what he has planned, then we can find peace and comfort. i know that prayer works people!

 

through all of the obstacles that came up.. we were able to see miracles that happen when you just talk to everyone you see and love them. while i was on exchanges with sisters we met sooo many amazing people as we just talked to others. when in doubt... talk it out. seriuosly when i have felt down on my mission, i just go out and talk to people and share my testimony of the gospel with them. it always turns my whole day around!

 

so my funny story...... so i got the hiccups and they werent going away while we were in the car. and they were painful. and sis davis was like holy cow does that hurt? and i started to tell her all about my history with hiccups and how i can never get them to go away and then mid sentence she just turns and screams her head off. and i have the reflexes of a dead cat so i turn to look at her and then like 5 seconds later let out this blood curdling scream. then sis davis just started laughing her face off. i was like what the heck was that for? and she said hey your hiccups are gone. she literally scared the hiccups out of me! that had never worked before. it was soo funny. we of course have told this story to every single member and missionary we have seen since. they all think its pretty good. we are weird. no i take that back.... my companion is weird not me... haha yeah right.

 

well im excited for this week we have a head of us. more miracles to come! MAKE GOOD CHOICES! :)

 

Love,

Sister Swisher 

Hot date to get some dentures!

hey hey!!!

ok so this week has been especially crazy and fast. so we got to go to the temple on wednesday and it was amazing! the temple is always amazing! so we have three of our investigators getting baptized within the next 3 weeks. so safe to say we are stinking busy. we went on exchanges with the baltimore YSA sisters. it was a blast. i had a lot of fun getting to go on exchanges with a sister that i have been on a lot of exchanges with. :) i lvoe the sisters in our mission. we have the best sisters in the world! i love how good of friends we all are and that we all are working towards the same cause.

so we had one of the most spritiual lessons of my whole mission this week. i cant even explain how strong the spirit was when we taught this woman about the plan of salvation and she got answers to many of the questions she had about life. seeing her eyes brighten as she learned made my whole week worth it. it was a lesson i will never forget.

i am always amazed when i get to a new area and dive into getting to know everyone. its crazy how fast you get to know and love people. i feel like i already have strong relationships here in the baltimore area.

so my companion is just hilarious. we are easily the silliest companionship in the whole mission. we are always laughing.i know that is shocking to you all that i laugh a lot. ok funny stories: so this morning we were studying and i hadnt looked up at my companion in a while because i was doing my personal study time. well i looked up at her as we were kneelling to pray and the woman is wearing a huge sweatshirt with a maxi skirt and 90-year-old grandma slippers. i started to laugh but then almost choked on my carrot i was eating. she was like what the heck are you laughing at? and i told her she looked like she was ready to go out on a hot date to get some dentures. we were busting up and had to try to contain ourselves so we could say a prayer..... we laughed through the whole prayer.

another story: we try to make the routine of studies more exciting by reading the materials in different accents. today we kept trying to do a west virginina accent but it kept ending up as a chinese accent...... we couldnt do it for the life of us. the struggles of companionship study.

well i have a million funny stories but i dont have time to tell ya'll all of them. i will give you more next week! im sure we have many more weird stories ahead of us.

ok something that i learned this week was that obedience is not meant to be easy. if it were always easy to be obedient, we wouldnt get the chance to show HEavenly FAther just how dedicated we are. its great to be obedient when times are easy and life is breezy. but its when life is hard and nothing seems to be working out but we still strive to be obedient, that is when the real growth comes. obedience is the most important. above all else, obey. it makes life so much better in the end. i can promise you that! so MAKE GOOD CHOICES! have a great week!

Love,

Sister Swisher

This picture is for Bishop Garrison