Elder Swalberg: Friday July 26th, 2013 - Reassignment till Visa comes in!

Hey Family!

Questions/Notes from Mom & Dad email

1. We never received your SD card did you send it?
2. Any news on your re-assignment or visa?
3. Did you get the bag? What are your thoughts? Will it work for you?
4. Did you get the button extenders from Missionary Mall?
5. We sent a care package with stamps, socks, and treats. It should arrive on Saturday.
6. G &G Swalberg address .... 5541 S 235 E, Murray, UT 84107
7. G&G Landon address... P.O. Box 162, Ucon, ID 83454
8. How are YOU?
9. How is the language coming?

1. I was wondering about that! I had some problems with getting it in the mail on Friday so I didnt get it in the mail until Saturday evening (probably after the mail was picked up.) But I sure hope it comes soon. Send me a dear elder as soon as you get it! (NOTE: We received his letter w/ an SD Card - see photos at the bottom of this blog post)

2. YEAHHAHAHAHAHAH! I got my reassignment about 15 minutes ago! My whole district got them! I AM GOING TO THE "NEW HAMPSHIRE, MANCHESTER MISSION"!!!!! Crazy right?! I am so stocked! There are 4 of us going there. Both of my companions and one other Elder in our district! The other ones are going to River Side, California mission, One in New York, and 2 of them are leaving tomorrow morning at 9:30 to go to Salt Lake City South Mission! It is freakin crazy! I am so excited though. I leave Monday morning the 29th, from the Salt Lake City Arport at 7:10ish and go to a lay-over in Atlanta, GA, then to Manchester, NH and will arive about 4:30 PM. But yeah It doesnt say anything on my travel info about calling parents while we are there. But I will be able to ask my Branch Presidency on Sunday. I will be able to get online to send a quick email about it I am sure! (Note: see info his Mom sent him via email about his new assignment.)

3. I did get it!!!! I love it a lot! Thank you soooooo much! It holds all of my stuff so well! It helps a lot to carry my books and I feel like it will be great in the field! Thanks so much for ordering it!

4. And I got the button extenders too! Thanks, I just got them last night so I havent tried them yet, but they look like they will work great, Thanks for those too!

5.Oh thanks so much for the package! I look forward to it! :D (Hoping it gets there as promised by Saturday!!! or he will miss it leaving that early on Monday morning!)

6. & 7. Thanks for their addresses! I hope they know how hard it is to write letters to them and everyone else! I love them so much and love hearing from them, but it is so hard to get any letters out. But I should have time today or Sunday to write them both! I think of them so often and love them lots!

8. I am good! Thanks for asking! I feel kind of stressed when writing letters home, cause I feel so rushed and cant get everthing out that I want to! I wish I could tell you more and hopefully you will get my SD card soon so you can see a little more of what it was like here! But Im good! Time here goes so fast but yet so slow! Its weird but maybe you and Dad can understand. Days are long but weeks are short. And days here make me feel like I am bi-polar! I feel the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows all in about.....10 minutes! haha It can be really stressful, and also really peaceful and spiritual! It is such a weird experience! But I have loved it and learned so much. Especially yesterday at the In Feild Orientation that we had yesterday. (I will write more about that after the questions.) But yeah I am doing good, I have grown so much in this last 6 weeks and have felt more in tune with the spirit than I ever have been in my whole life, and I know it will get even better when I am in the feild working with real investigators. But really over all I am doing so good! :) The MTC impresses me more and more each day I am here! It does so much for us missionaries!

9. The language... well it obviously needs work and I am by far not the best in our district but I am getting there! I can teach a lesson with no notes even in English now (as long as we have prepared and talked about it before hand.) Our last lesson was so cool. We taught an investigator named Ana that we have been teaching for a while and she has been struggling with getting an answer about the truth of the Book of Mormon and Joesph smith. So I thought it would be good to just read a chapter in the BOM with her and help her learn how to really study it. We also helped her understand that if she gained a testimony in the Book of Mormon then she would also gain a testimony of the Prophet Joesph Smith. So we read in Mosiah 2 and told her to stop whenever she saw something that she could apply to her and her new family. And we did the same. It was soo cool to see her pick out things in the book of mormon that she applied to her own life and we were able to bare testimony multiple times of the principles that were talked about. I really felt the spirit and I could tell she could too! And I did that all in Portugese! The gift of tounges I feel is not something you really notice until you look back on it. It really seems like you are the one responsible for saying everything but then you look back and see that there is no way I could have said all of that by myself like that. But yeah, I look forward to being able to study the language some more before I go out to Brazil and I know the Lord will continue to help me retain the things I have learned, but still pray for me! haha

Oh and so about this last week a little more! We got to Help the senior missionaries 2 now and that was pretty cool to meet them and get a break form class. hahaha But Pioneer day was on Wednesday and everything is closed! Holidays here suck! haha No mail, bookstore closed, barber is closed, and practicly everything else is closed too! haha But yeah we had to wait till yesterday evening to get mail! haha

So talking about yesterday we had our "In Feild oreintation" from 8am to 5pm and it was sooo great! I wish they could have all ward missionaries, ward miss leaders, and Bishops go through that whold trianing! I so wish missionaries implimented everything that was taught. Our missionaires must have slept through it or didnt care, becasue if they applied what they had learned here they would have been sooo much better at involving members in their lessons, their lessons wouldn't just include watching a movie with the members (thats what they did quite often when I was with them) and they would have had soooo much more success! The thing that I learned the most was that I am the servant of Lord and that is all I am doing here! I will tell my Bishop that :"my calling is to build the Kingdom of God and right now my kingdom is your ward, so that is all I have to do 24/7!" If the members aren't working with the missionaries, then I will get them to work with us! If the Ward Mission Leader is helping the members help us,,, I will help them help get to know what their calling is. All of this will be done with love of course, but I want to help them get into a system where missionary work is a big priority and be able to use us as much as possible. I am so ready for it! And I will start to do this in the New Hapshire, Manchaster Mission!

Well I will hopefully be able to get on later today too and see what you guys have replied. They give us more time becasue of our reassignments.

(Note: He did get on for a moment - but nothing much more than sending his love, and that we will likely get to talk on the phone on Monday when he is at the airport in Salt Lake or in Atlanta)

A few Photos....