Hey there!
Week 5 of the transfer is already over?! I can't believe it! Time goes by so fast! This Saturday we get transfer calls! This transfer is going to really mess up our district! Most of our district has been here 3 or more transfers. So its going to be a sad transfer, but we will just have to wait and see what it will bring!
But until then, I am loving it here and there are some great things that happened this past week!
I'm not sure if I mentioned it in last weeks email but last Sunday we met with Kathy after church and had a lesson that Brother Duffy joined us in. She had a concern that she brought up about tithing. She is so willing to give and pay tithing but she already gives a lot of what she makes to her children to help support them. And during the winter her husband is out of a job and so they depend on her makings right now. So she wanted to know what to do, because she still wants to be baptized and to be able to pay tithing. This was a hard question to answer, I simply stated, "I honestly don't know what you should do, BUT what I do know is that your heavenly father wants you to be able to pay your tithing and he will show you how!" I read to her D&C 9:8-9 and talked to her about how to receive an answer requires us to study it out in our minds, pray, and listen. She said she would do that and pray and read the scriptures everyday.
On Tuesday, we met with her and the first thing she wanted to tell us was "This morning I was driving to work and I got my answer!" We smiled and inquired more, and she continued, "It happened just like you said! I got this burning feeling, and my heart started to beat really hard! It was such a good feeling, I know it was my answer! I didn't think you were lying to me when you told me this, but I just didn't know it would really happen, but now I know!" WOW! So cool! I loved hearing that! We got to share with her another lesson and go over the baptismal questions again, to make sure she was comfortable. She was so ready! haha
Norm as well we met with a few times. We helped him get his car get registered and get his new plates at the town office for him on Monday. And he got his car back later that day too, which was good! Then on Wednesday we got to see him again, sadly without a member this time. But we still had some good lessons with him. Elder Dally asked him at the end of our lesson, what was the favorite thing that the Elders had taught him in the past? His answer was so great! He said, "Well I dont know of anything specific that I could say that is my favorite but the thing that I got most out of these lessons and that God can talk to me. That I can connect with him as I pray listen to the spirit." How cool, right?! It was really cool to hear that!
On Thursday we got a voicemail from the assistants saying that there everyone in the mission was to not drive that day! There was a storm that hit us and pretty much everyone else in the mission so they said all cars were grounded. Well that kind of killed all our plans so we decided to make some banana bread, and deliver it to a member that is only about 1 or 2 miles away from our apartment. It had been snowing all day, lightly, but it meant walking in the snow and on our way back we say a sign next to the bank in Damariscotta saying it was -4 degrees! We had walked about 4 miles in that with wind blowin! Yeah...it was cold! This Texas boy was happy to get back into the warm apartment after that walk! haha But we met this interesting guy as we tracted a few doors on our way home. His name is Clayton. At first we met some of his friends. When we knocked on the door a man came out and looked at us asking who we were and Elder Dally said, "Mormon Missionaries" He turns the company in the house and asks, "Are we letting Mormon missionaries in tonight?" They said sure, so he told us to come in! haha So we chatted a minute and then one of the ladies said, you should talk to our friend Clayton down in the basement, he would be interested in talking with you. So just go outside and knock on the door down and around the corner of the house." SO...we did! haha He said come in, and although he had a sailors mouth, he amazed us! We began the conversation of what the difference of THE truth and truths. He had written a book about this. But he said its never going to be finished because he has been adding to it for 50 or so years! He then described how he has essentially been in tune with the spirit since he was 17 years old. He talked about how it feels just like any member of the church would talk about their experiences about feeling the spirit! I told a couple of experiences of others following the promptings of the spirit and the miracles that followed, and he just smiled wide, and said in a soft but excited voice, "I #$?%!* love that stuff!" haha Anyway we handed him 2 pamphlets and he said we could come back and talk some more with him sometime. So who knows what will come of it but it sure was an interesting conversation! And now we refer to him as the Swearing Mormon!
Anyway Lastly, we had 2 baptismal interviews this past Saturday! It was awesome! Kathy and Norm both passed! Elder Lund (our district leader) was very impressed with both of them! And so are we! They have both come a long way and both really desire this!
The baptism will be next Saturday starting at 2 at the church building. And that is when we will have the program and Kathy's baptism. And then afterwards we will go to the Wiscasset Recreational Center to have Norm's baptism at 4 o'clock. We are so excited for them both and can't wait for the big day. It is so cool that just a few months ago 3 others were baptized and now 2 more! That is huge for up here in New England. And you can see it in the excitement of the Branch members here! They are so supportive of our new converts.
Well we are all prepared to get some people wet, and will be sure to take some pictures to send home. This will be an exciting week! :D
Thanks for all the support and everything! I love y'all!
-Elder Swalberg
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