Just to update y'all on Landon's visa....we have once again been asked to get a current police clearance with even more information that before. The Brazil Consulate has changed their requirement for visas once again. In addition, we have been asked to submit his curriculum vitae on 2 separate sheets of paper (notarized) (before it was only on one sheet - back and front - with the notarization stamp on the back side which showed through to the front when they scanned the document....picky!) and get 2 updated passport photos (recent within 6 months). We are confident that Landon will get to Brazil; however, in the meantime he is LOVING serving in the New Hampshire mission.
Thank you all for giving him so much support!
Tonia
Well I found out yesterday at Zone Conference. (This was regarding him needing to get to updated passport photos.) Because I was on exchange the day they called me about it. And my companion forgets EVERYTHING and didn't tell me or I could have had them to you already. I will be at the computer tomorrow as well so I think I can take them tonight and get them to you tomorrow afternoon. I think I remember the specifics. just in my suit, with a non smiling face, with a white background. Thanks for helping with this. Sister Skidmore said that she would be helping me out this week with anything else I need to do.
Anyway, I just wanted to get that out first.
I am so glad it got to you! Brother Hutchins is great! The article actually helped us out here too! We had multiple people come up to us saying they saw us in the paper. Its been pretty cool!
And I have found winter stuff from the apartment/mission old missionaries’ clothes. So far I am feeling fine with what I have. I will send a couple pictures of what I have been wearing. haha
And I am thinking I will send home my SD card this week or next so you guys can get all of the pictures that I haven’t sent cause I am getting behind and you can then see the recording as well! But the guitar is awesome to have! haha
Ah I am so excited for BEN! Man, that is so awesome! I am so happy for him! Portugal will be great for him! That's where my MTC teacher went and he loved it! I can't wait to talk Portuguese with SESH when we get all back! We will have to teach Kelsey I guess. haha She learns fast, so it will be good! :D lol
So cool about Brittney too. Grandma told me about her too last week!
Well I thought I would send you the letter I sent in my Letter to President just so you know a little more that I won't be writing in the update of this week. Thought you might like it:
Dear President Stoker,
I am so happy to have another chance to write to you today. I am so grateful for everything you did yesterday for me personally and all the missionaries during Zone Conference! I loved every minute of it! I learned a lot and recognized a lot that I need to change as well to become a better missionary! But I continue to follow the principle of exact obedience but I always can improve and will strive to do so!
This week has been tough. We have not been able to meet a lot of our goals this week and many days where our numbers are hard to look at. BUT we have really been studying chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel to give us guidance on how to find more people to teach. We have had many miracles happen. I had the goal to never tract my entire mission because I had been taught there is always a better way. But with not many members in our area and very limited miles we recognized we needed to do something. I prayed really hard for 2 days and came to the conclusion that tracting a little bit through-out the week would be successful IF we sought for inspiration to where we should go, how long we should do it, and what time to go do it. With all three of those factors in place we had short tracting sessions and would find people that were interested enough to listen to us and possibly let us come back to teach more. I saw this as an answer to my prayers! I let go of a goal that was of myself and formed my actions to God's will and I saw beautiful results! I will always need those same factors to come into play for me to still tract because without them I am simply randomly knocking, which is not the best use of time.
Our 1 progressing investigator Norm C. has been doing great! We will be following up on his commitment to pray sincerely about the Book of Mormon and what we have taught him and I know he will be headed to baptism shortly after! I am so impressed with this man! He listens to the prophets and apostles talks and loves hearing their words and never misses a Sunday at church.
My companion, Elder Dally, and I are very different. But I am determined to make our companionship work! We had a good discussion during companion inventory last week and talked about being more open with each other instead of letting feelings be bottled up inside, because for us it isn't let go until we let it out. I have really relied a lot on prayer! I felt an increase of love for him every time I pray for it! I know it is the savior helping me feel in such a way. We may have conflicts but we discuss them in a way that we feel good afterwards not worse.
I am so grateful for all that this area is teaching me. I know that I am here to help in the effort to make this Damariscotta area boom! There is great potential here, so now it just needs to happen!~I am thankful for the opportunity to be here at this time!
Thanks again for all you do,
-Elder Swalberg
So this week has been interesting: Our numbers have been down in our key indicators but that's because we have been putting so much of our time into finding new investigators. We found another family during tracting last Monday who let us in to warm up and that was our chance! I connected well with them because they are a homeschooling family and said how much the gospel was incorporated into that schooling as well. They liked that. They first told us that they don't like organized religion but by the end of us talking to them and telling them more about the plan of salvation, and offering service. They might call us to have us over for dinner! WOW! It amazed me from 5 minutes before we left they told us they were all set and don't like organized religion to asking us questions that they had about life after death and wanting us back sometime for dinner! It was a miracle to me that it all happened as soon as they let us into their home and we were in an environment to be able to gain their trust and bare testimony! It was great, and we are hoping to follow up with them soon!
Norm is doing great! He is still coming to church and last time we met we watched the 3 part series of Elder Bednar Mormon Messages. "Patterns of light" It helped him understand how to recognize the spirit better. He is praying more often and said he will pray about the book of Mormon and what we have taught him this week for sure. I am so excited to meet with him tomorrow! He is so great and I love seeing him progress!
The rest of the week included an exchange with my district leader Elder Lund! He is great I went up to his area in Bath, ME. We had a great time! He had Elder Woodall as his companion for the last 12 weeks (Elder Woodall is now in Brazil as of transfers) and so we connected really well with the many stories that we had and talked about how we worked with him. Anyway it was like a vacation being with him for a day. We are a lot alike. That night we were both really hungry and he told me there was a Little Caesars...and I said, "WE ARE GOING NOW!" hahaha So we split a cheese pizza. I will attach a picture. IT was awesome to learn from him as well he is coming up on a year that he has been out now.
Sunday was great. Our Gospel Principles teacher didn’t show up so us missionaries looked at each other and said, "looks like we are teaching today." So I turned open to the chapter we were on and went from there. I led the class and it actually turned out very well! One of the sisters in our ward sat in that usually didn't and afterwards came up to me and told me It was a wonderful lesson, but I don't think she knew I winged it. I let her think it was prepared! haha. But it was fun though. I love being a missionary and getting to do those kinds of things at the spur of the moment. haha But then we got to go to the Fireside for the stake with Elder Neilson! He really got all the leaders of the stake and wards hyped up on missionary work!!! EXCLAMATION POINT! haha He used that a couple times. haha But really it was great! I loved hearing him speak about the close relationships he had with the 12 and the 1st presidency. He said earlier that week, he had the opportunity to pass the sacrament to the Quorum of the 12 apostles and 1st Presidency! CRAZY right?! With those kinds of things shared that night it made his statements about missionary work even more meaningful, knowing that it is the same message that any of the prophets would give! He said the missionary work is their top priority! Wow, what a statement! It was so great, and it was even cooler to spend the whole next day with him and his wife and President Stoker and his wife during Zone Conference! I will have to write a letter home with some of the things I learned because there is just so much, but just know there was such a special spirit there all day and I will never forget the feeling and memories of being with Elder Neilson for the day!
I know we are led by true and living prophets and general authorities! They are truly called by God and receive revelation from Him of what we need to do in this day and age! I love them all they do! I know this gospel is true with every fiber of my being, and I love baring testimony of it each day! Everyone deserves to hear this message and the Lord will not stop hastening this work until everyone has!
I love you all and thanks so much for all the support you give!
-Elder Swalberg
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Friday, November 8, 2013
Elder Swalberg in the News!!!
A member who serves on the public affairs committee in New England sent us this image from the Lincoln County News.... Fun to see!!!
Monday, November 4, 2013
Monday, November 4th, 2013
Well I now have my feet planted in the cold ground of Damariscotta, Maine!
I am getting to know the area very quickly and also the members! I love them all, and it is actually a lot easier to serve in area with a Branch at least when trying to get to know everyone in the Branch, because there aren't as many names to remember! haha But really there are some great people up here! What I love is that so many of them are converts, its more of a rarity to find someone born in the church than not! It sure helps when teaching with them! I love it!
Going from a trio to a regular companionship is really really weird! It is so quiet now! haha Its been wired but I am getting used to it and it is working just fine. My companion Elder Dally, is from Provo, Utah, but originally from New Mexico and Alaska. He is 20 yrs old now and has been out about 7 1/2 months. This is his first time being senior companion, so it allows me to learn a lot with him. So that is good.
With our last 3 baptisms this past weekend, we are not visiting them as much. Our Branch Mission Leader, Bro. Royer, has stated he wants the Branch Missionaries to teach them along with other members (home teachers and visiting teachers). I think it will be good. But that also cuts down on our normal lessons. But we are still teaching a few others.
One of them that is progressing a lot is Norm Carlson! Bro. Carlson is great! He is like already a member! He is soooo nice and lives a very good life. He is 83 years old and a very large man, practically wheelchair bound, but can get up and walk with a walker as support if he needs to. But since I have been here he has stopped drinking alcohol and coffee. Coffee was the biggie for him. But he has come to church without missing for more than 2 months, and has an amazing fellow-shipper, and previously less-active member no less! His name is Brother Giusani! He is awesome! He has been active for the past 3 or 4 months now. He still shows up in his sweets to church just like Norm, but I thinks its great! haha Bro Giusani goes with Norm to help in and out of his car and wheel him into the church building and to classes through out the day. Bro Giusani is retired, probably in his mid 60's, but really him and Norm are best buds! Its the best!
Norm also recently got a roku box and has been watching everything he can possibly watch on Mormon Channel on his TV. Last time we came over we finished watching President Monson's Biography called "To the Rescue" with him. It was great! We had Bro and Sister Duffy (Branch Missionaries) with us that time and she bore here testimony later in the lesson about her own conversion and how she got an answer, and we were able to challenge him to pray about what he has learned so far, and he accepted. He also accepted a date for Nov. 30 to be baptized if he comes to know these things are true! I can't wait for our lesson with him tomorrow to talk to him more about it! He is such a great guy! Oh and his voice is the best he has the most calming deep smooth voice you can imagine! haha I love hearing him talk and read things in the scriptures aloud! haha
Anyway we have a few other investigators that we teach every once in a while but aren't really progressing right now. But I will tell you more about them as time goes along.
One miracle we saw this week was concerning our district goal though, it was to tract for 5 hours this week. We all (4 companionship) had not received any new investigators and not many referrals. So that was our goal. I was not a big supporter of this at first. I had not tracked one door on my mission and I thought that was how it should be now that we are working with the members so much and it worked in my last area sooo great! But this is a new area and through much study, prayer, more study and more prayer I came to a very spiritual conclusion that I needed to support this decision to tract and so I put all of my faith into finding someone through this goal. Well the next night we went out and knocked on a total of 4 doors before we were let in by the husband of a librarian that we are with every week helper her out at the library! Her name is Jen and her husbands name is Brooks. they asked us to tell them more about our church and we had the opportunity to teach them the restoration very quickly and invite them to church. They didn't come yesterday but I know we will have the opportunity to see and meet with them again! They are looking for a church right now and I know this was meant to be! The Lord really does have a plan for each of his children and inspires us to do certain things to accomplish those plans! I am grateful for the gift of the holy ghost to lead and guide me and receive answers to what the Lord wants me to do!
Well Thats all I have time to say this week but I am so happy to be hear and am excited to see what more this area brings to my life and mission.
I love you all!
-Elder Swalberg
I am getting to know the area very quickly and also the members! I love them all, and it is actually a lot easier to serve in area with a Branch at least when trying to get to know everyone in the Branch, because there aren't as many names to remember! haha But really there are some great people up here! What I love is that so many of them are converts, its more of a rarity to find someone born in the church than not! It sure helps when teaching with them! I love it!
Going from a trio to a regular companionship is really really weird! It is so quiet now! haha Its been wired but I am getting used to it and it is working just fine. My companion Elder Dally, is from Provo, Utah, but originally from New Mexico and Alaska. He is 20 yrs old now and has been out about 7 1/2 months. This is his first time being senior companion, so it allows me to learn a lot with him. So that is good.
With our last 3 baptisms this past weekend, we are not visiting them as much. Our Branch Mission Leader, Bro. Royer, has stated he wants the Branch Missionaries to teach them along with other members (home teachers and visiting teachers). I think it will be good. But that also cuts down on our normal lessons. But we are still teaching a few others.
One of them that is progressing a lot is Norm Carlson! Bro. Carlson is great! He is like already a member! He is soooo nice and lives a very good life. He is 83 years old and a very large man, practically wheelchair bound, but can get up and walk with a walker as support if he needs to. But since I have been here he has stopped drinking alcohol and coffee. Coffee was the biggie for him. But he has come to church without missing for more than 2 months, and has an amazing fellow-shipper, and previously less-active member no less! His name is Brother Giusani! He is awesome! He has been active for the past 3 or 4 months now. He still shows up in his sweets to church just like Norm, but I thinks its great! haha Bro Giusani goes with Norm to help in and out of his car and wheel him into the church building and to classes through out the day. Bro Giusani is retired, probably in his mid 60's, but really him and Norm are best buds! Its the best!
Norm also recently got a roku box and has been watching everything he can possibly watch on Mormon Channel on his TV. Last time we came over we finished watching President Monson's Biography called "To the Rescue" with him. It was great! We had Bro and Sister Duffy (Branch Missionaries) with us that time and she bore here testimony later in the lesson about her own conversion and how she got an answer, and we were able to challenge him to pray about what he has learned so far, and he accepted. He also accepted a date for Nov. 30 to be baptized if he comes to know these things are true! I can't wait for our lesson with him tomorrow to talk to him more about it! He is such a great guy! Oh and his voice is the best he has the most calming deep smooth voice you can imagine! haha I love hearing him talk and read things in the scriptures aloud! haha
Anyway we have a few other investigators that we teach every once in a while but aren't really progressing right now. But I will tell you more about them as time goes along.
One miracle we saw this week was concerning our district goal though, it was to tract for 5 hours this week. We all (4 companionship) had not received any new investigators and not many referrals. So that was our goal. I was not a big supporter of this at first. I had not tracked one door on my mission and I thought that was how it should be now that we are working with the members so much and it worked in my last area sooo great! But this is a new area and through much study, prayer, more study and more prayer I came to a very spiritual conclusion that I needed to support this decision to tract and so I put all of my faith into finding someone through this goal. Well the next night we went out and knocked on a total of 4 doors before we were let in by the husband of a librarian that we are with every week helper her out at the library! Her name is Jen and her husbands name is Brooks. they asked us to tell them more about our church and we had the opportunity to teach them the restoration very quickly and invite them to church. They didn't come yesterday but I know we will have the opportunity to see and meet with them again! They are looking for a church right now and I know this was meant to be! The Lord really does have a plan for each of his children and inspires us to do certain things to accomplish those plans! I am grateful for the gift of the holy ghost to lead and guide me and receive answers to what the Lord wants me to do!
Well Thats all I have time to say this week but I am so happy to be hear and am excited to see what more this area brings to my life and mission.
I love you all!
-Elder Swalberg
Monday, October 28th, 2013 - Damariscotta, ME
Well wow where to start?! Well like you know I am in Maine now! Its pretty similar to any other part of New England. haha But it is a little chiller here. It hasn't been above probably 75 since I have been here! But I got to keep a flees jacket I got in my last area. But it hasnt snow...yet. I know I need something much warmer but the sister training leader that is in my district said the mission will make sure that I get something. So either through the mission or the members should get me all set.
And yeah we live above an orthodontist place. It was just recently made into that, but yeah we live in an apt just above it. Its pretty nice, but it still needs an Elder Swalberg clean before I am totally comfortable. haha :) It sounds like a great week and busy like usual! Sorry to hear you are sick now too! :( I'll keep ya in my prayers!
And Dad, glad to hear you finally had some time on Saturday to put aside work and enjoy yourself a little bit! You sure are amazing and are such an example to me of a hard worker and how well you provide for us!
Oh and yes you are right about our building its the smallest kind BUT its a building! Its cool to be in a branch, its easier to get to know the members! haha We had 80 at sacrament mt this week is what our branch President said. (Pres. Quinlan) He is a great guy but travels a lot because of his work. But anyway yeah its a great branch.
thanks for the rest of the things you mentioned! I will recount a little from my last week really quick!
So this week has been great, tough, stressful, exciting, and NEW! haha Many more words could describe how I feel, but the main thing is that I am ready to make this new area as great as my last area in Ascutney.
This new area I am in is Damariscotta, ME. It is on the coast of Maine and is about the same scenery as my last area but the temperature is just a little chiller! haha It sure is colder than I ever thought I would be feeling in Brazil, thats for sure!
I have loved getting to meet the members of this branch! There are about 80 active members that come and I am actually remembering their names! There are some great people and I love getting to know them!
This area actually had 3 baptisms this weekend! Andie who is a happy 12 year old girl and a couple Lisa & James. They were both confirmed yesterday in church and Andie asked me to confirm her on the spot. I was able to remember what I needed to so that was good. She calls me Veggie "Berg"er cause my name is hard to remember. She is really cute!
I will have to tell you more about our other investigators next week. But I sure am getting excited to make this area just as great as my last area and I know it will happen!
I love being a missionary! And I have noticed so much that I have learned from my last area now that I have left it and come to a new one!
Thanks for all the support and emails I get! It still means the world to me!
I love you guys tons!
-Elder Swalberg
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Thank you for this detailed update on the family! And let Austin know how much I love him and that I will be keeping him in my prayers everyday! It’s sad to hear that, and wish I could do more for him as I'm sure you feel too.
Answers to your questions I will be sure to explain in my letter, all of them have great relevence to what happened this week. You just have that perfect motherly sense that you know what is going on before I even tell you.
So here is the scoop:
I had the opportunity to confer upon Troy the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain him to the office of Priest this Sunday. I told him that I would somehow get a hold of my priesthood line of authority and get it to him. And I was just so proud to know how I received my priesthood and of who gave it to me, you! I am so glad to have had a consistently worthy priesthood holder as my dad. It had affected me so much in who I am today. Thank you.
Well this week has been another week full of miracles! Tuesday, we have a lot lessons with Recent Converts. We have 5 recent converts (within 1 year baptized) that we try to visit weekly. Troy R, Armida R, Scott D, the Lucky family, and Rob V. We got to visit 4 of the 5 that day and taught them great lessons that day! Many of them are planning on going to the temple with the youth this Saturday. I sure hope they will make it!
One Wednesday we had District meeting and took a district picture because it was the last meeting before transfer calls. I will attach the picture. Then we did our normal service at Brenda's (Simply Comfort) with Kateleen. I hope to get a picture of them today so you know what they look like. They are so sweet to us. Almost every time they see us Brenda feeds us and gives us left overs from the previous day, tons of it! She says, "Well, I've got to take care of my boys!" She is like one of our mothers out here. And Kateleen is like a sister for us! To sum it up, they make us feel at home! :)
Thursday was sweet! We did splits for the first time and afterwards we didn't know why this was the first time we did it! The idea first came up from Elder Tewksbury. We had a conflict in schedule with a dinner and teaching appt. with the Lucky family and teaching Alan. So the Luckys would always do a barbeque because they are a Marshalese family like the Rings (Armida) and thats just what they always cook....tons and tons of meat! (as Elder Tewksbury described) haha So he said, "Well this is perfect, Myself and Elder Terry can go to the dinner appt with the Luckys and contact a referral out that way while you go with Brother Best now that he is all fired up and contact some of the less active names that he gave us, and teach Alan! And you will not have to eat meat!"
So that’s what we did and it really was perfect! The referral was a success and they want us to come back, My companions stuffed themselves with meat! While I connected well with Brother Best and had supper great lesson with Alan. Brother Best bore a super powerful testimony to him about his own conversion story and he comforted him in the fact that he doesn't have to know everything to become baptized. He said, "All I knew before I got baptized was that I knew God and Jesus were real, they loved me, and that they wanted me to keep his commandments, and for me to come back to them. And that was enough!" It was perfect for him and it led to us helping him make more commitments that will help him get closer to baptism!
It was exactly what he needed to hear. We stopped by a couple less-actives and sadly they didn't want anything to do with us, and seemed very against the church but were still on the records. But I know that it is needed to visit all of these less actives even if it is just to rescue one! So I felt so successful after that night and was a huge miracle for me this week.
The Saturday we received a call from President Stoker and I will be leaving the area, I am excited for the change and will find out where I am staying tomorrow at transfer meeting!
I love being a missionary and see miracles everyday because of it!
I love you all so much!
-Elder Swalberg
Answers to your questions I will be sure to explain in my letter, all of them have great relevence to what happened this week. You just have that perfect motherly sense that you know what is going on before I even tell you.
So here is the scoop:
I had the opportunity to confer upon Troy the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain him to the office of Priest this Sunday. I told him that I would somehow get a hold of my priesthood line of authority and get it to him. And I was just so proud to know how I received my priesthood and of who gave it to me, you! I am so glad to have had a consistently worthy priesthood holder as my dad. It had affected me so much in who I am today. Thank you.
Well this week has been another week full of miracles! Tuesday, we have a lot lessons with Recent Converts. We have 5 recent converts (within 1 year baptized) that we try to visit weekly. Troy R, Armida R, Scott D, the Lucky family, and Rob V. We got to visit 4 of the 5 that day and taught them great lessons that day! Many of them are planning on going to the temple with the youth this Saturday. I sure hope they will make it!
One Wednesday we had District meeting and took a district picture because it was the last meeting before transfer calls. I will attach the picture. Then we did our normal service at Brenda's (Simply Comfort) with Kateleen. I hope to get a picture of them today so you know what they look like. They are so sweet to us. Almost every time they see us Brenda feeds us and gives us left overs from the previous day, tons of it! She says, "Well, I've got to take care of my boys!" She is like one of our mothers out here. And Kateleen is like a sister for us! To sum it up, they make us feel at home! :)
Thursday was sweet! We did splits for the first time and afterwards we didn't know why this was the first time we did it! The idea first came up from Elder Tewksbury. We had a conflict in schedule with a dinner and teaching appt. with the Lucky family and teaching Alan. So the Luckys would always do a barbeque because they are a Marshalese family like the Rings (Armida) and thats just what they always cook....tons and tons of meat! (as Elder Tewksbury described) haha So he said, "Well this is perfect, Myself and Elder Terry can go to the dinner appt with the Luckys and contact a referral out that way while you go with Brother Best now that he is all fired up and contact some of the less active names that he gave us, and teach Alan! And you will not have to eat meat!"
So that’s what we did and it really was perfect! The referral was a success and they want us to come back, My companions stuffed themselves with meat! While I connected well with Brother Best and had supper great lesson with Alan. Brother Best bore a super powerful testimony to him about his own conversion story and he comforted him in the fact that he doesn't have to know everything to become baptized. He said, "All I knew before I got baptized was that I knew God and Jesus were real, they loved me, and that they wanted me to keep his commandments, and for me to come back to them. And that was enough!" It was perfect for him and it led to us helping him make more commitments that will help him get closer to baptism!
It was exactly what he needed to hear. We stopped by a couple less-actives and sadly they didn't want anything to do with us, and seemed very against the church but were still on the records. But I know that it is needed to visit all of these less actives even if it is just to rescue one! So I felt so successful after that night and was a huge miracle for me this week.
The Saturday we received a call from President Stoker and I will be leaving the area, I am excited for the change and will find out where I am staying tomorrow at transfer meeting!
I love being a missionary and see miracles everyday because of it!
I love you all so much!
-Elder Swalberg
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Okay so a run down of the week:
So this week like last week hasn't been too great according to our numbers or key indicators. BUT yesterday we saw the fruits of our labor! Between our Mission Vision, Zone goal, and General Conference, we have been directed to work with the members over and over again! That is the inspired way that we will have the most success. Well this has been practically going to see Less Actives, Recent Converts, and members! We only got to see Glenn this last week. So other than him we have been working with the members solely! We probably did like 12 or 13 ours of service this last week! A lot of which for the members! It was good though! We are starting to see that trust that the members have in us by asking for our help! We get to know them better and get to serve them at the same time! They are also feeling more comfortable with the missionaries too!
This has been great! And we also do member stop bys where we just go to members homes and try to stay for 20ish minutes and quickly get to know them and know how we can help them at all. And then share a message with them. This is truly an inspired way to work.
We get to council with the Bishop quite often. This week we met with him for about an hour and discussed the happenings of our work and what we needed form him. During this meeting he asked us to visit a member that he noticed that hadn't been to church in 8 weeks and thinks they had been offended in some way. So we said that we would the next day we had some extra time in the evening and I felt prompted that we should go over and talk with them. So we did. We simply went to go and ask them how they were doing and if there was anything we could do to help them out. We talked for a little while on their porch and asked them about how they were doing and the Sister almost started to cry and looks to her husband and says, "Well the missionaries stopped by." And went on to explain that earlier that day they had talked about maybe coming back to church this week. And that all she was really waiting for was someone to come by or call her to show that they cared and that she was missed!
It was such an eye opener to me! We expressed the love and concern that many of them had expressed to us about them and said we really would love to see them at church again! They agreed to come and could tell how much they appreciated our visit.
I know this is the case for so many other less active members. They were either offended, felt forgotten, or simply not loved. And all they need is a friend. Someone to reach out and care about them. Someone to express the wards love for them and that our heavenly father loves them too. And that He wants them to be at church. There were so many talks in conference about going "TO THE RESCUE" for all of these less active members! This is missionary work too! And its a great place for the ward members to start doing missionary work. These are people who have already been taught the gospel, these are people who had a testimony or still have testimony, and are the ones who are really in trouble for not going to church, because they have already made those baptismal covenants.
Ward council yesterday was sweet! Most of the meeting was revolved around missionary work. Our ward, like many others, have close to 400 inactive members on the ward membership list in the area. I got to share briefly our miracle of visiting a less active member and the huge benefit those visits can be for those people and asked for their help to recognize those who have missed church for a while and to then give them a call or visit them. Bishop made a few comments about visiting all of these less actives also. We saw a big drive and excitement from the whole ward council to go and visit as many as possible. They were willing to do it and a finding night is in the works where all of the ward council including us will go out and visit a bunch of people we don't know and invite them back. It was a great meeting!
After ward council, Our Ward Mission Leader bore his testimony during sacrament meeting he was like the first one up there. He said how he felt "chastised by the Holy Ghost" (in his own wards) this morning as he didnt want to come to ward council this morning and was late. He said he has had a change of heart towards his calling and that he needs to do truly magnify his calling. He bore a beautiful testimony about prayer, reading the scriptures and then magnifying our callings! It was incredible! And he also told us after the meeting that he didn't want to wait for them to set up a date for a finding night. He asked us to find a night we can go out on splits with him and we can find some of these less active families and get them back! We were so excited to hear him say that and were totally on board!
During Elders Quorum he came in and gave me a piece of paper with 5 names on it with addresses and phone numbers and said. "Here are 5 name of people I don't know that I found, all in Newport. (one of the towns in our area) Lets start here! Let me know when you guys can go in the next couple days and we will visit them and a few others that I have in mind!" WOW! It was awesome! I have never seen him so fired up! Such a miracle
Many other members came up to us during church asking for our help with service opportunities, help on setting up a mission prep class for the youth, meal appointments for the week, and even asked who they could go visit in their area to help us out! It was a miracle and I know it came because of our efforts to work with the members more and make them our focus! These are the fruits of our labor and although we may not see them in our numbers they were definitely evident!
I am so grateful for the guidance we receive from our leaders! It is all so inspired! This work is hastening and is in the Lords hand and nothing will stop it form coming forth! I love this work, and I love being such a big part of it at this exciting time! Miracles are real and I see them happen everyday! And they happen according to our obedience to what our father in heaven asks of us! Keep up the member missionary work at home, and get all excited about this work!
I love you all so much and think of you often!
Your prayers are much appreciated! I still need them! This is a fun work, but hard work!
-Elder Swalberg
So this week like last week hasn't been too great according to our numbers or key indicators. BUT yesterday we saw the fruits of our labor! Between our Mission Vision, Zone goal, and General Conference, we have been directed to work with the members over and over again! That is the inspired way that we will have the most success. Well this has been practically going to see Less Actives, Recent Converts, and members! We only got to see Glenn this last week. So other than him we have been working with the members solely! We probably did like 12 or 13 ours of service this last week! A lot of which for the members! It was good though! We are starting to see that trust that the members have in us by asking for our help! We get to know them better and get to serve them at the same time! They are also feeling more comfortable with the missionaries too!
This has been great! And we also do member stop bys where we just go to members homes and try to stay for 20ish minutes and quickly get to know them and know how we can help them at all. And then share a message with them. This is truly an inspired way to work.
We get to council with the Bishop quite often. This week we met with him for about an hour and discussed the happenings of our work and what we needed form him. During this meeting he asked us to visit a member that he noticed that hadn't been to church in 8 weeks and thinks they had been offended in some way. So we said that we would the next day we had some extra time in the evening and I felt prompted that we should go over and talk with them. So we did. We simply went to go and ask them how they were doing and if there was anything we could do to help them out. We talked for a little while on their porch and asked them about how they were doing and the Sister almost started to cry and looks to her husband and says, "Well the missionaries stopped by." And went on to explain that earlier that day they had talked about maybe coming back to church this week. And that all she was really waiting for was someone to come by or call her to show that they cared and that she was missed!
It was such an eye opener to me! We expressed the love and concern that many of them had expressed to us about them and said we really would love to see them at church again! They agreed to come and could tell how much they appreciated our visit.
I know this is the case for so many other less active members. They were either offended, felt forgotten, or simply not loved. And all they need is a friend. Someone to reach out and care about them. Someone to express the wards love for them and that our heavenly father loves them too. And that He wants them to be at church. There were so many talks in conference about going "TO THE RESCUE" for all of these less active members! This is missionary work too! And its a great place for the ward members to start doing missionary work. These are people who have already been taught the gospel, these are people who had a testimony or still have testimony, and are the ones who are really in trouble for not going to church, because they have already made those baptismal covenants.
Ward council yesterday was sweet! Most of the meeting was revolved around missionary work. Our ward, like many others, have close to 400 inactive members on the ward membership list in the area. I got to share briefly our miracle of visiting a less active member and the huge benefit those visits can be for those people and asked for their help to recognize those who have missed church for a while and to then give them a call or visit them. Bishop made a few comments about visiting all of these less actives also. We saw a big drive and excitement from the whole ward council to go and visit as many as possible. They were willing to do it and a finding night is in the works where all of the ward council including us will go out and visit a bunch of people we don't know and invite them back. It was a great meeting!
After ward council, Our Ward Mission Leader bore his testimony during sacrament meeting he was like the first one up there. He said how he felt "chastised by the Holy Ghost" (in his own wards) this morning as he didnt want to come to ward council this morning and was late. He said he has had a change of heart towards his calling and that he needs to do truly magnify his calling. He bore a beautiful testimony about prayer, reading the scriptures and then magnifying our callings! It was incredible! And he also told us after the meeting that he didn't want to wait for them to set up a date for a finding night. He asked us to find a night we can go out on splits with him and we can find some of these less active families and get them back! We were so excited to hear him say that and were totally on board!
During Elders Quorum he came in and gave me a piece of paper with 5 names on it with addresses and phone numbers and said. "Here are 5 name of people I don't know that I found, all in Newport. (one of the towns in our area) Lets start here! Let me know when you guys can go in the next couple days and we will visit them and a few others that I have in mind!" WOW! It was awesome! I have never seen him so fired up! Such a miracle
Many other members came up to us during church asking for our help with service opportunities, help on setting up a mission prep class for the youth, meal appointments for the week, and even asked who they could go visit in their area to help us out! It was a miracle and I know it came because of our efforts to work with the members more and make them our focus! These are the fruits of our labor and although we may not see them in our numbers they were definitely evident!
I am so grateful for the guidance we receive from our leaders! It is all so inspired! This work is hastening and is in the Lords hand and nothing will stop it form coming forth! I love this work, and I love being such a big part of it at this exciting time! Miracles are real and I see them happen everyday! And they happen according to our obedience to what our father in heaven asks of us! Keep up the member missionary work at home, and get all excited about this work!
I love you all so much and think of you often!
Your prayers are much appreciated! I still need them! This is a fun work, but hard work!
-Elder Swalberg
Monday, October 7, 2013
Monday, October 7th, 2013
Hey mom! This week has been crazy. I haven't really even been able to write in my journal much! Its kind of been an off week for me. But still good things happened.
To your last letter and this weeks:
So glad to hear about Zach's job and him getting started on that! My companion Elder Tewksbury worked for Best Buy for a while and really did well there and he loved it! He became a mobile specialist and was promoted a couple times, it sounds like a great place for Zach to work, if he hasn't applied there already!
Thanks for praying and fasting for my visa. I know that I will go on the Lords time and it will work out just fine!
So cool to hear about Jordan Reyes going to Riverside,CA! That is where 4 of the Elders in my MTC district got reassigned to! As far as I know they are still there waiting for their visas. All of my MTC district is still waiting.
And no to your question about the New Era we only get the Ensign.
Taylor, you are not a horrible brother! You are busy and so am I. I have the hardest time trying to write home and to everyone else that writes me! But I'm glad mom gives me an update on everyone though. Sorry to hear you have been sick though, and you too Austin! I can relate to not having time to be sick! Apparently our family is pretty close because even across the country I got sick the same time you guys are. The last 2-3 days I have had a really sore throat, cough, and mucus and snot out the wazzu!!! Luckily no fever, but just a little head ache every once and a while. Hopefully I will be over it in another day or two. Especially cause we are doing exchanges with the Zone leaders tomorrow for a day. I am going up to Lebinan Vermont to their area with Elder Tewksbury and Elder Terry will stay in our area with the other Zone leader. Anyway, I hope I will feel better for that whole ordeal.
And yeah, it is even prettier this week! I will send some pictures of it that show the colors even better!
During interviews with the president, we had a chance to talk with Sister Stoker too! She asked how our eating and exercising was doing and talked to us about how we can improve! She found out I was vegetarian and suggested I use quinoa instead of rice. Which I really think I should, and I already had bought some veggie bullion that is pretty good! Anyway I just noticed I can do better at my eating habits too!
I will talk about conference in my letter about what has been going on down below.
Dad
Thanks so much for the booklets! My companions and I loved having them! My companions both asked me to thank you for putting them together and sending them. Elder Tewksbury said this was the first time he ever watched all of conference and took notes for EVERY TALK through-out all of it! He was really excited about it and loved reading the facts about the prophets and apostles. i gave one to Troy and also one to Cristi Wyant. She is 19, and we know her family really well because they feed us every week! She was at the church watching it there every session so yeah. She really liked having it and thought it was super cool! Idk if I said this before but she is preparing to go on a mission, She just turned 19 a few weeks ago, but she is waiting for her older brother Cyle to come from his mission this December before she goes. Anyway The booklets were much appreciated and we loved them! haha
Thanks for your incites on the BSA broadcast this month with the church. I told Bro. Wyant about it and it seemed like they didn't know about it. So i hope I can help them know more about it and announce it in church and I love the idea of going to the other troops. i know who the scout master is in the ward so I hope to get ahold of him and get his help on inviting other troops to watch it. Is it going to be broadcasted to all the ward buildings like General Conference or what? I know you can watch it online but yeah I wasnt totally sure on that. I can research that a little more tomorrow during our hour of Mormon.org time tomorrow. But yeah 2 of the 3 of us are eagle scouts and one was at least involved in scouts. Thanks for this idea for finding and reaching out to the community.
Also thanks for your thoughts on Ward Mission Plans! I have studied that more this week in PMG and I really think our ward here needs to refocus themselves to it and improve it. I have already talked to the Bishop about it, but he doesn't even really know what it all contains. As we continue to visit more member homes I want to help them create a family mission plan and personal mission plans as well! I am excited to use what I have learned in Gen. conf. to help with that! There was some great council from elder Ballard to the members and missionaries! I will comment more about his talk later in this emial!
And thanks for the pizza we went out a week ago from this past saturday at Romutoz Brick oven Pizza! It was more expensive than I thought, but it was super good and thought you of you during it! You would have loved it! It was your kind of style of pizza for sure! You going to have a brick oven outside by the time I am home along with your outdoor kitchen? haha.
Thanks for the letters and emails! I got your post card also! That was a nice surprise! I also got a little package from lynette and her family also. Let them know I got it and that I will write back sometime to answer their questions in their letters! Thank them so much for that! It was awesome!
Alright here is what I wanted to share to you all for this week and I will try my best to get it all in before I run out of time. I took extra time to plan out what I wanted to share this time! haha
First the explanation about my face that Dad asked about.
So the Thursday before my birthday we taught Troy a lesson and were late to our next appointment so we were hurrying down the stairs in the apartment building and with my big thick soled shoes, that I am still not used to walking and moving around in, on I tripped about 6 stairs and fell straight into the wall below! I punched a whole in the wall trying to catch myself and then my face planted right on the corner of the wall. (that part was reinforced with metal so the wall didn't brake there...just my face! haha) But It was just bruised and sore for a couple days and made for a good converstation starter for the next week! haha. You can't tell at all anymore. So its all good. But the tripping jokes never stop from my companions.
Well here is an update on our investigators. It has been a kind of rough week with them. We only met once with one of our progressing investigators, Helen. She was asleep the other time we can by, so we just talked with Jason for a little bit. But she has smoked twice in the last 4 weeks which for her is seriously a MIRACLE! She is still on the patch but braking the habit of having a cigarette in her hand is a big accomplishment. We are going to talk to her about family history this week. Jason has been helping her find information and documents about her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family members that have died so that Jason can do the baptisms for them. She loves the idea of family history! So I am going to bring the pedigree chart that Grandma Landon and Grandma Swally helped me with before I left and also bring the stories of William Cook Prows and Austin Hammer and read her some of those stories! It should be a great lesson and discussion.
Alan canceled on us this week because he was feeling sick. But last week he essentially said he wasn't quite ready to commit to baptism yet. He knows he can't drink coffee but he doesn't want to give that up and also is worried about going to church every Sunday. But he also said that he believes what we have been teaching him and wants us to continue to come back. This man is 74 years old and hasn't had this desire to learn from the missionaries the whole time he has been married to Sister Bullis so this is really still such a miracle that he still wants to learn from us and continue to grow in his faith.
Leonice the Brazilian has been in Brazil this last couple weeks so really this week we just want to meet with her more.
Glenn we are still trying to get to the JSM, but he just struggles to accept commitments. But we will be meeting with them this week and hopefully have a great lesson with him.
Dang it Im running out of time.
Well this week we had interviews with President Stoker! I loved it and getting to talk to him about my struggles and accomplishments was great and really comforting! It was like talking to my parents again! President Stoker and his wife are so wonderful to each of us and I love spending time with them! They have such a concern for each and everyone of us!
Conference was sooooo great! Even though I was blowing my nose the whole time because I have been sick the last couple days, I loved it! I had candy to snack on through out it just like at home! haha and had the booklet which made it seem more like home too! But I loved doing it as a missionary. New things popped out to me as being a missionary. and also the Wyants were so gracious to invite us over both days for dinner! They are an awesome family and sure take care of the missionaries even when its a sacrifice for them!
I love so many talks but especially Elder Ballard's talk! He stated so boldly that "NOW IS THE TIME for missionaries and members to work together!" I know this is the way that the Lord is hastening his work! There is no other way that the work will progress faster! I can't wait to help members work better with us!
Well I did my best to get everything in. but I have to go now. I love you all so much and hope you continue in all the great things you are doing at home! Thank you for all your prayers and support!
-Elder Swalberg
Here are a few pictures also like I promised!
The trees are beautiful! and seriously there are apple trees everywhere so you can just pick them! I never have to buy apples! Haha I love it!
And guess who is in my Zone now!!! Yep Elder Richins! We saw each other at Zone interviews with the President! We both freaked out! haha Pretty cool! Make sure Momma Sorensen sees this!
To your last letter and this weeks:
So glad to hear about Zach's job and him getting started on that! My companion Elder Tewksbury worked for Best Buy for a while and really did well there and he loved it! He became a mobile specialist and was promoted a couple times, it sounds like a great place for Zach to work, if he hasn't applied there already!
Thanks for praying and fasting for my visa. I know that I will go on the Lords time and it will work out just fine!
So cool to hear about Jordan Reyes going to Riverside,CA! That is where 4 of the Elders in my MTC district got reassigned to! As far as I know they are still there waiting for their visas. All of my MTC district is still waiting.
And no to your question about the New Era we only get the Ensign.
Taylor, you are not a horrible brother! You are busy and so am I. I have the hardest time trying to write home and to everyone else that writes me! But I'm glad mom gives me an update on everyone though. Sorry to hear you have been sick though, and you too Austin! I can relate to not having time to be sick! Apparently our family is pretty close because even across the country I got sick the same time you guys are. The last 2-3 days I have had a really sore throat, cough, and mucus and snot out the wazzu!!! Luckily no fever, but just a little head ache every once and a while. Hopefully I will be over it in another day or two. Especially cause we are doing exchanges with the Zone leaders tomorrow for a day. I am going up to Lebinan Vermont to their area with Elder Tewksbury and Elder Terry will stay in our area with the other Zone leader. Anyway, I hope I will feel better for that whole ordeal.
And yeah, it is even prettier this week! I will send some pictures of it that show the colors even better!
During interviews with the president, we had a chance to talk with Sister Stoker too! She asked how our eating and exercising was doing and talked to us about how we can improve! She found out I was vegetarian and suggested I use quinoa instead of rice. Which I really think I should, and I already had bought some veggie bullion that is pretty good! Anyway I just noticed I can do better at my eating habits too!
I will talk about conference in my letter about what has been going on down below.
Dad
Thanks so much for the booklets! My companions and I loved having them! My companions both asked me to thank you for putting them together and sending them. Elder Tewksbury said this was the first time he ever watched all of conference and took notes for EVERY TALK through-out all of it! He was really excited about it and loved reading the facts about the prophets and apostles. i gave one to Troy and also one to Cristi Wyant. She is 19, and we know her family really well because they feed us every week! She was at the church watching it there every session so yeah. She really liked having it and thought it was super cool! Idk if I said this before but she is preparing to go on a mission, She just turned 19 a few weeks ago, but she is waiting for her older brother Cyle to come from his mission this December before she goes. Anyway The booklets were much appreciated and we loved them! haha
Thanks for your incites on the BSA broadcast this month with the church. I told Bro. Wyant about it and it seemed like they didn't know about it. So i hope I can help them know more about it and announce it in church and I love the idea of going to the other troops. i know who the scout master is in the ward so I hope to get ahold of him and get his help on inviting other troops to watch it. Is it going to be broadcasted to all the ward buildings like General Conference or what? I know you can watch it online but yeah I wasnt totally sure on that. I can research that a little more tomorrow during our hour of Mormon.org time tomorrow. But yeah 2 of the 3 of us are eagle scouts and one was at least involved in scouts. Thanks for this idea for finding and reaching out to the community.
Also thanks for your thoughts on Ward Mission Plans! I have studied that more this week in PMG and I really think our ward here needs to refocus themselves to it and improve it. I have already talked to the Bishop about it, but he doesn't even really know what it all contains. As we continue to visit more member homes I want to help them create a family mission plan and personal mission plans as well! I am excited to use what I have learned in Gen. conf. to help with that! There was some great council from elder Ballard to the members and missionaries! I will comment more about his talk later in this emial!
And thanks for the pizza we went out a week ago from this past saturday at Romutoz Brick oven Pizza! It was more expensive than I thought, but it was super good and thought you of you during it! You would have loved it! It was your kind of style of pizza for sure! You going to have a brick oven outside by the time I am home along with your outdoor kitchen? haha.
Thanks for the letters and emails! I got your post card also! That was a nice surprise! I also got a little package from lynette and her family also. Let them know I got it and that I will write back sometime to answer their questions in their letters! Thank them so much for that! It was awesome!
Alright here is what I wanted to share to you all for this week and I will try my best to get it all in before I run out of time. I took extra time to plan out what I wanted to share this time! haha
First the explanation about my face that Dad asked about.
So the Thursday before my birthday we taught Troy a lesson and were late to our next appointment so we were hurrying down the stairs in the apartment building and with my big thick soled shoes, that I am still not used to walking and moving around in, on I tripped about 6 stairs and fell straight into the wall below! I punched a whole in the wall trying to catch myself and then my face planted right on the corner of the wall. (that part was reinforced with metal so the wall didn't brake there...just my face! haha) But It was just bruised and sore for a couple days and made for a good converstation starter for the next week! haha. You can't tell at all anymore. So its all good. But the tripping jokes never stop from my companions.
Well here is an update on our investigators. It has been a kind of rough week with them. We only met once with one of our progressing investigators, Helen. She was asleep the other time we can by, so we just talked with Jason for a little bit. But she has smoked twice in the last 4 weeks which for her is seriously a MIRACLE! She is still on the patch but braking the habit of having a cigarette in her hand is a big accomplishment. We are going to talk to her about family history this week. Jason has been helping her find information and documents about her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and other family members that have died so that Jason can do the baptisms for them. She loves the idea of family history! So I am going to bring the pedigree chart that Grandma Landon and Grandma Swally helped me with before I left and also bring the stories of William Cook Prows and Austin Hammer and read her some of those stories! It should be a great lesson and discussion.
Alan canceled on us this week because he was feeling sick. But last week he essentially said he wasn't quite ready to commit to baptism yet. He knows he can't drink coffee but he doesn't want to give that up and also is worried about going to church every Sunday. But he also said that he believes what we have been teaching him and wants us to continue to come back. This man is 74 years old and hasn't had this desire to learn from the missionaries the whole time he has been married to Sister Bullis so this is really still such a miracle that he still wants to learn from us and continue to grow in his faith.
Leonice the Brazilian has been in Brazil this last couple weeks so really this week we just want to meet with her more.
Glenn we are still trying to get to the JSM, but he just struggles to accept commitments. But we will be meeting with them this week and hopefully have a great lesson with him.
Dang it Im running out of time.
Well this week we had interviews with President Stoker! I loved it and getting to talk to him about my struggles and accomplishments was great and really comforting! It was like talking to my parents again! President Stoker and his wife are so wonderful to each of us and I love spending time with them! They have such a concern for each and everyone of us!
Conference was sooooo great! Even though I was blowing my nose the whole time because I have been sick the last couple days, I loved it! I had candy to snack on through out it just like at home! haha and had the booklet which made it seem more like home too! But I loved doing it as a missionary. New things popped out to me as being a missionary. and also the Wyants were so gracious to invite us over both days for dinner! They are an awesome family and sure take care of the missionaries even when its a sacrifice for them!
I love so many talks but especially Elder Ballard's talk! He stated so boldly that "NOW IS THE TIME for missionaries and members to work together!" I know this is the way that the Lord is hastening his work! There is no other way that the work will progress faster! I can't wait to help members work better with us!
Well I did my best to get everything in. but I have to go now. I love you all so much and hope you continue in all the great things you are doing at home! Thank you for all your prayers and support!
-Elder Swalberg
Here are a few pictures also like I promised!
The trees are beautiful! and seriously there are apple trees everywhere so you can just pick them! I never have to buy apples! Haha I love it!
And guess who is in my Zone now!!! Yep Elder Richins! We saw each other at Zone interviews with the President! We both freaked out! haha Pretty cool! Make sure Momma Sorensen sees this!
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