Monday, Dec 9th, 2013

Well, I don't have a whole lot of time: But here the big news is Norm has a baptismal date of Janurary 11th for sure! in our last visit, he said, "Good news: I want to be baptized." haha We are so happy! We are working to get the details all worked out and will give you more information this next week. 

As well Kathy and Crissy have a baptismal date! It is so awesome! They are as well preparing for Janurary 11th. That is the last Saturday of this Transfer. Chrissy has some addiction problems but we are going to start the stop smoking program with them this next week. They want to meet with us twice a week. I am so stoked! 

The Davis family has not made contact with us like they said they would. So I am really praying hard that as we stop by sometime this week that it will go well and that we can continue to teach them! They are so sweet and want them to enjoy the blessings of the gospel so badly! 

We have used the Christmas program as a perfect follow up visit for all of our potentials, so we have seen and invited about 8 people to it and I really hope some of them will come! They are all really close but just need that little extra interest to want to know more and have us come more consistently to teach.

Like I said, I am really running short on time today, and I am really hoping to be able to finally be able to catch up with you guys at Christmas! I can't wait to talk with you guys! 

I love this work and its an amazing time to do missionary work during this Christmas season! Take advantage of it! 

Love you all! 

-Elder Swalberg

Photos:

Exchange with Elder Dahlberg pictures

Snow ("Hi MOM")

The District

Haircut Time

Oatmeal with Pomegranate - His "sweet-tart" oatmeal

Monday, December 2, 2013

Elder Swalberg will be in Damariscotta, Maine for Christmas.  This mission office is asking that Christmas mail be sent directly to the missionaries to lighten the mail traffic that goes through the office.  So, Christmas cards/packages for Elder Swalberg should be sent to:
Elder Landon Swalberg
P.O. Box 1102
Damariscotta, ME  04543

Thanks!
Tonia

Hey, good news: I'm staying! Actually no one in our district is leaving! I think it is a pretty small transfer this time. Last transfer was huge so that makes sense. But yeah I am so glad to be staying! 

Anyway here is the update, and one of the days will be more detailed in that letter home! 

So It has been a cold week for sure here in Damariscotta, Maine and it looks like I get to enjoy it here for another 6 weeks! We had transfer calls last Saturday and no call came! Neither for the sisters in our Branch either! In fact our whole district is staying! Its pretty exciting! I am so glad that they are staying. This transfer is going to be really great! There are a lot of good things happening right now and it will be good to be here for Christmas as well! 

Well on Monday we had the normal p-day stuff, but that evening, we got to go to Lisa and James's home for dinner and FHE! They are the recent converts with lots of little kids! So prepared a thanksgiving lesson and for the activity we made Turkey's out of foam paper and had a lot of fun with that! haha I took some pictures but I still need to see if I can even send them at all. :/ 

But Tuesday has been the Miracle day of the week! I mean it was what I like to call "Harvest Day" of the Transfer! This whole transfer has been really rough on finding new investigators. We have been making finding a priority all 6 weeks and it all paid off this week! We actually went on exchange for that day as well. So I was with Elder Dahlberg that day! We get along super well! Btw he has a blog as well so you should take a look at his as well. He said his mom found mine last week! haha Kind of fun! Anyway this is a short version but my letter home will explain more because there were so many little miracles that were evident through out the whole day, and I knew this email wouldn't do it justice! haha
We finally were able to meet with Andie's (Recent convert of Oct. 26th--12 year old girl--) Grandmother and Andie's Mother who are both non members but have been coming to sacrament meeting since Andie's baptism and confirmation. They have not missed a week, but have been too busy to meet with us until this thanksgiving holiday when they had some time off work. This past Tuesday was their first lesson. We had 2 members there along with Andie as we taught them both the Restoration using the pamphlet. When we got to the part of Joesph Smith's role in the restoration, Andie wanted to tell the story and did a wonderful job! We were then able to bare testimony of what she said! As we testified of the first vision, Andie's uncle walked in and instead of trying to just walk by, he actually started to listen, one of the members saw his interest and gave him a pamphlet to look as well. He payed super close attention to the pictures and asked questions about them. We were able to give them all a Book of Mormon, and challenged them to read it, ponder it, and then to pray about it. They all readily agreed! Phil, the uncle said he would come to church this week as well! It was amazing! These three had been being prepared for this whole transfer and now we have 3 new investigators to teach. 

The Grandmother, Kathy, and her daughter, Chrissy, were there again at church this week but sadly Phil was not there. But, Kathy said that she thinks he felt bad that he didnt come. So I know we will get him next week! Such a miracle! 

That same day, Tuesday, we followed up with a family that we tracted into, that said we could come back. We shared a message about how families could be together forever, and as well had Brother Duffy with us who is a convert and answered a lot of their concerns as he told his story of coming into the church. They were nodding their heads and agreeing the whole time. Brother Duffy, the member with us, invited them to church this Sunday and said they would like to come and would talk about having us back over. So after much prayer and fasting, The Husband and wife both showed up with their 2 yr old son. And stayed for sacrament meeting. He is a dentist and many of the members know him because of that. They had a family they knew well that they were able to sit with and everything. They loved the meeting and soooo many members came up to talk to them before the meeting and after the meeting. It was a miracle and I know the Lords hand was in every part of it! 

That made our weekly key indicator for new investigators this week:5! Like I said, "Harvest Day"! It was such an amazing day. 

On that same day...yeah its not over...we also saw Brother Carlson. And Brother Duffy and Giusani were there! We got to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him and so we brought up Baptism again as we cover Baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost. We discussed how he felt about it and what he wanted from Baptism, and after that, it was a perfect time to invite him a specific date again. We told him we had prayed about it and invited him to be baptized on the 11th of January. He has a hard time with committing to something like this, but the closest thing to yes is the answer we got. He said he doesn't know, but he would commit to that week or the one after that one, and he said "And that's a big thing for me to say!" haha Then Brother Giusani bore a powerful witness that this date is for him to be ready spiritually and that he shouldn't worry about the physical issues, that that part would work out. Then Brother Duffy gave his experience of when the Elders that taught him gave him a date and how he didn't agree to it right away and said he would let them know in a day or so if the date was okay for him.He said he prayed about it that night and called the Elders back and set it for 2 weeks earlier! haha But he told his experience in such a perfect way that I could tell set Brother Carlson at ease. We asked if we could bring a calender of what we want to cover with him in the next coming weeks to help him feel ready by that date and he said that would be just fine! And we asked him to write down any concerns that he had as well so we could incorporate them into the calender, and he said he would do that as well. 

I know he is ready, and is just amazing at church as well. He asks such great questions in classes, even in priesthood that really help the class as well! He is so smart! I love him, and want him to be able to make this step so badly.

 I am just so happy to be able to be in this area for another 6 weeks to see these Miracles progress and get even closer to these people in this area!

Well there were other things that happened in the week, but this sums up what I have been thinking about all week!

One thing I learned by all of this is that our Heavenly Father always answers our prayers and fasting is a powerful addition! I have prayed all transfer for these new people to teach and they have come! I know He is aware of us and loves us so much! 

I sure love you all! 

-Elder Swalberg
Wine